Fabbrica’s Mafaldine, Prawns & Nduja Recipe

As the executive chef of Love Tilly Group and the brains behind some of Sydney’s most loved dishes, Scott McComas-Williams has a fair bit on his plate. When he isn’t sipping and sampling at one of the group’s eleven restaurants, he is crunching numbers, sourcing produce and tasting his way around Sydney. Here he shares a recipe for one of the group’s most popular dishes.  

5 Minutes With Scott McComas-Williams

Where do you draw inspiration for your menus?   

I have an affinity with Rome and its cuisine (as well as much of Italy) so I always like to start with the amazing dishes I’ve eaten when travelling there whilst utilizing the amazing produce we have access to here in Sydney.   

Pasta is a staple across each of the venues. What is your top tip for readers cooking pasta at home?   

Pasta is an absolute staple in my home with two young boys so I’m well adept at cooking it both in the venues and at home! Never drain the pasta over the sink, your pasta water is absolute gold to help emulsify your sauce. The same goes with unsalted butter, always add a chunk of cold butter to your pan whilst tossing the pasta and the sauce together.  

Are there any extra special tips for this beautiful prawn mafaldine?  

If you’re using fresh pasta, make sure you have all your sauce and subsequent ingredients ready to go as the pasta is only going to take a couple minutes to cook.  

How about beverage pairings? What would you be sipping with this dish?  

NV Costadilla ‘330 slm’ Prosecco – Veneto, Italy. Made from Glera (like all Prosecco) but fermented in bottle in a style known as ‘col fondo’. The 330 slm is vibrant and savoury with floral, balsamic and mineral flavours and more than enough acidity to combat the spice of the nduja – this is all about maximum refreshment. 

Ingredients:  

Serves 2  

• 60mL olive oil  
• 60g ‘nduja  
• 50mL shiaoxing wine (or dry white wine at a pinch) 
• 100mL tomato passata 
• 250g green prawns, peeled and chopped into 2cm pieces 
• 300g fresh mafaldine (Fabbrica Mafaldine is available at Maloney’s, Harris Farm, Woolies Metro amongst others) 
• 20mL white soy 
• 60g unsalted butter 
• 20mL moscatel vinegar (a sweet and bright sherry vinegar, if you can’t access it, replace with a nice chardonnay vinegar) 
• Sea salt to taste 
• 1 handful flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped  

Method:

Pop a large pot of water on to boil for the pasta. Meanwhile, take a large pan and get it warm over medium heat. Add olive oil and ‘nduja to the pan to fry off for a few minutes. Stir infrequently, allowing some of the ‘nduja to catch a little in the pan before deglazing with the wine and adding the tomato passata. Turn the flame down to low and cook the tomato out for around five minutes.  

When your pasta water has come up to a boil, throw the mafaldine in and cook for 2 ½ minutes. At the same time, toss your chopped prawns in the ‘nduja/tomato sauce and allow the heat of the sauce to cook them out. When the pasta is cooked, pull it out with tongs or drain, reserving about a cup of the cooking liquid. Add your pasta and half the reserved pasta water to the sauce and toss so everything in there gets to know each other. If it's not super saucy, add a little more of the pasta water.  

Finally, add the butter, vinegar and a healthy pinch of sea salt and allow the butter to emulsify the sauce and coat the pasta. At the last minute, throw your chopped parsley in and give it a taste, it might require a little more salt or even some vinegar to brighten it up. Take care when plating up the mafaldine, it has a habit of doing the opposite of what you want it to, which can be particularly precarious when dealing with a spicy red sauce. Serve with some bread to mop up any leftover sauce. 

Loved this prawn mafaldine recipe and keen to get back in the kitchen? Try this recipe for smoked lamb shoulder and this one for beef char kway teow.