Recipes

Black Bean Linguine with Prawns

Impressive and easy to prepare for guests, but quick enough for a weekday meal, this delicious pasta is sure to be one of your new favourites

By Catherine RBarr /

Credit: Catherine Roscoe Barr

Catherine Roscoe Barr

Green onions and cilantro give this flavourful black bean pasta with prawns a fresh kick

This recipe is super quick and easy, and gets a great big hit of flavour from the oyster sauce and black beans

I was invited to the home of Lesley Stowe, of Raincoast Crisps fame, two weeks ago for the launch of her newest product, Raincoast Cookies.

I’ve long been a fan of her crisps but I didn’t know about her background as a chef, caterer, or cookbook author. We were given a little goody bag as a parting gift stuffed with crisps, cookies and, most exciting, The Lesley Stowe Fine Foods Cookbook.

This is a fantastic cookbook with lots of recipes I plan to make at home and the first one I tried, this black bean linguine, is one of the tastiest meals I’ve made in a long time.   

I went to one of my local wine stores, the Yaletown Swirl Wine Store, for some advice on what to serve with my linguine and absolutely loved their suggestion – Thornhaven’s Gewurztraminer. I liked it so much that I went back for another bottle the next day to take to my book club.

For ideas on what to do with the leftover cilantro, check out the recipes for Firecracker Shrimp, Vietnamese-style Summer Rolls, and Beef Koftas with Curried Yogurt Sauce.

Ingredients

This recipe makes 8 servings (I halved it when I made it)

  • 2/3 cup olive oil (I used 2 tbsp for my halved recipe)
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 3 green onions, chopped
  • 2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and minced
  • 1 kg raw prawns 
  • 6 tbsp oyster sauce
  • 2 tbsp Chinese fermented black beans (I used black bean sauce)
  • 1 1/2 tsp sea salt (I omitted this because the black bean sauce was quite salty)
  • 750 g linguine
  • freshly ground pepper
  • fresh cilantro sprigs

Instructions

  1. Cook linguine according to package instructions.
  2. In large frying pan, heat oil over medium-low heat and cook garlic, green onions and jalapenos, stirring occasionally, until soft.
  3. Add prawns, oyster sauce, black beans (or black bean sauce) and salt (if using) and cook for 1 minute, or until prawns are cooked.
  4. Toss pasta with sauce, season with pepper, garnish with cilantro, and serve immediately.