Having just cracked a milly streams on Spotify, racked up a bunch of sold-out shows on their latest tour, and established themselves as leaders in the alt pop-punk ecosystem, you might be surprised to know that Melbourne-based, NZ-bred band Bakers Eddy have actual day jobs. Which means it was a bit of a double whammy getting Ian and Alex on the show, as the guitarist and bassist fit into the rare category of musician-chefs…
For their episode of Q The Music with Boo Seeka, the lads whipped up a prawn pesto using Warrigal greens — a native Australian spinach substitute, also known as NZ greens — to help thematically bridge the gap between our two countries over the barbecue.
Having had the pleasure of wrapping our laughing gear around this pasta, we can only say that whatever these guys are getting paid as chefs, they deserve more. It was that good. Check out the episode below, along with the recipe and an alternative for all the vegan fam out there!
Prawn Pesto Pasta
Serves 4
You’ll need
400g ribbed fettuccine
400–500g whole raw prawns
300g warrigul greens
1 bunch basil
1 bunch parsley
4–6 garlic cloves
1 long red chilli
2 lemons
Toasted pine nuts or wattleseed
EVOO
Pecorino Romano
Salt + pepper
L&P to serve
1. Pesto
Blanch warrigul greens in salted water for 3 mins. Ice bath, squeeze dry.
Blend/mortar with basil, half the parsley, garlic, nuts, lemon juice and EVOO.
Season. Don’t over-oil — loosen later with pasta water.
2. Prawns
Remove heads (keep tails on).
Quickly confit heads in EVOO with chilli, garlic, lemon peel + parsley stems. Strain oil for garnish.
Marinate prawns lightly in EVOO, lemon peel, garlic + chilli.
Grill hot and fast until just cooked, tails crunchy.
3. Pasta + Finish
Cook pasta in well-salted water. Reserve a splash of pasta water.
Toss pasta with pesto off the heat. Loosen if needed.
Plate up, top with grilled prawns, drizzle prawn oil, finish with pecorino + chopped parsley.
Backyard food. Loud tunes. Cold L&P.
Replace prawns with:
400g firm tofu (freeze, thaw, press)
Slice into prawn shapes.
Marinate 30 mins in:
EVOO, lemon zest + juice, white miso, mirin, vegan fish sauce, garlic, chilli, white pepper, crumbled nori (optional kelp/paprika).
Pan-fry until golden and caramelised.
Finish with vegan butter + lemon.
Serve over the same pesto pasta.
Top with vegan pecorino.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source lifewithoutandy.com ’
