#FrannyCooks : Shrimp Fettuccine Puttanesca with Doña Elena Pasta #LovePasta

There's nothing that excites me more than a challenge... a foodie challenge, that is. When the folks over at Doña Elena asked me if I'm game to prepare a special pasta dish using their products, this got me so excited that I said yes. Luckily, the package came ahead of my twins' grand debut so I still have time to work in the kitchen before I start dealing with milk and dirty diapers.

I'm quite familiar with Doña Elena's product line-up as I used to buy their Spanish sardines, pasta noodles and olive oil among many others. I didn't know that they actually have their own pesto sauce and whole tomatoes too. Looking at my Doña Elena's loot, I was inspired to take the tomato-based route and prepare my version of Shrimp Fettuccine Puttanesca.



You may have noticed that I rarely do tomato-based pasta in the past. It's because I personally love olive oil or cream based pasta so I have the tendency to prepare those instead of the traditional tomato-based kind. However, I was so excited to try the Doña Elena Whole Peeled Tomatoes as well as the Doña Elena Sliced Olives so putting in a lot of thought, here's my very first tomato-based pasta recipe.

Shrimp Fettuccine Puttanesca
Yield: 4-6 pax

What you'll need:
- Half pack of Doña Elena Fettuccine Noodles
- (1) can of Doña Elena Whole Peeled Tomatoes
- Fresh prawns, peeled leaving the tail intact
- Garlic, chopped
- 1 tsp of orange juice
- Doña Elena Sliced Olives
- Olive Oil
- Salt
- Pepper

Do it in 8 easy steps:
1) Cook the pasta following the instruction on the package. Once cooked, drain but retain half cup of pasta water.
Note: I personally like adding in the prawn head and shell into the pasta stock to give it a richer seafood flavor. 


2) Lightly marinate the prawns by adding the orange juice, seasoned with salt and pepper. Mix well and set aside. You may opt to refrigerate it for 30 minutes while waiting for the pasta to cook.

3) In a separate pan, drizzle 2 tbsp of olive oil and saute the garlic and prawns. As the prawns are half-cooked, take it out from the pan and set aside.
4) Add in the whole tomatoes and use your spatula/wooden spoon to break it into tiny, bite-sized pieces. Add in half of the pasta water and let it simmer.
5) Add in the olives and season your sauce with salt and pepper.
6) Mix in the cooked pasta and if you feel it's starting to dry up, add in the rest of the pasta water.
7) Lastly, return the prawns in the pan and wait till it fully cooks. Turn off heat.
8) Bon Apetit!

Alternative step: For those who wants a bit more heat, you may opt to also add in some chili flakes in step 5. 

Pasta Puttanesca is an Italian staple dish as it's so easy to prepare. Take this recipe for example, it took me 30 minutes maximum from preparation to actual serving. I also made this low salt as I am currently on a low sodium diet at the moment. You may definitely adjust the seasoning depending on your taste however do note that the olives and tomatoes have natural sodium in them already.

I love how Doña Elena's Fettuccine Noodles were so easy to cook and it stayed al dente even if it took us a while to eat after I was done cooking. I also love how the sauce naturally clings to the noodles so I didn't end up with an anemic-looking pasta dish.

I'll stop typing now and I'll let you head over to the kitchen to give this recipe a try yourselves! Tell me your thoughts below.

#LovePasta #AlDente2017