Tried and Supplied founder, Domini Hogg, was inspired to invent this dish after talking with suppliers, Blue Sea of Aberdeen, about how they record the provenance of the fish and seafood they supply, and getting a better understanding of their ethical trading policy and how that was put together.

Prawns must be some of the most instant food available. Orzo pasta doesn’t take as much as ten minutes, and it also keeps warm better than most other pasta, so this is a very quick and convenient dish to make.

You can, of course, use kritharaki instead of orzo.

What to do with leftovers

If you have any of this over, it makes a great salad (every bit as good as the original hot pasta) the next day. Shred a small iceberg lettuce. Add the leftover prawn orzo. Dress with a dressing of sherry vinegar, olive oil, salt and Urfa pepper flakes. Add a couple of tablespoons of pine nuts (quite visually witty this, the shape of the pine nuts echoes the orzo). And serve.

Zingy and light prawn orzo pasta recipe

Serves 3

Ingredients

• 250g/1⅓ generous cups orzo pasta
• 2 medium courgettes
• 1 banana shallot or 5 spring onions
• 60 ml/¼ cup dry vermouth or white wine
• 5 medium cloves of garlic
• Smoked salt, and freshly ground black pepper
• ½ lemon
• Olive oil and butter for frying
• 300g/11 oz prawns (ideally frozen…and even cooked… go here to find out why)
• About four leaves of iceberg lettuce, shredded
• Chilli element – this could be Spanish smoked paprika… or a bit stronger, Aleppo pepper, both of which add a lovely red hue. Or it could be stronger still – chilli oil, or a little fresh chilli

Method

1. Defrost the prawns.
2. Boil a full kettle.
3. Peel and chop the shallot (if using spring onions, simply snip them in with scissors later – either fried with the courgettes, or at the end, raw), and slice the courgettes.
4. Put the orzo pasta into a medium-sized saucepan and cover generously with the boiled water, and some salt. Check it every now and then to make sure there is always sufficient water. Follow the cooking instructions on the packet, but it will probably take ten minutes.
5. Heat some olive oil in a large frying pan, and gently fry the courgettes and shallot (or spring onions). This will also take about ten minutes.
6. Peel and crush the garlic with a teaspoon of salt. Divide in half. Towards the end of frying the courgettes, add half the garlic.
7. Drain the orzo, pour in a little olive oil and stir to ensure the pasta ‘grains’ are all separate. Return to the saucepan. Add the contents of the frying pan to the pasta, stir through and keep warm.
8. Add a generous knob of butter to the frying pan, and add the thoroughly defrosted, prawns, If they are raw, cook them through. If they are cooked, just heat through. Add the vermouth, and some grinds of pepper. Add to the orzo and stir through.
9. Prick over with the shredded iceberg and serve.