Psych 101

Everyday at around five, Jules sends me the usual 'what would you like for dinner?' text message. Just knowing that I'm not expected to cook, is enough to send me helter-skelter into the kitchen. We would starve, or at the very least subsist on dubious take-out, if it wasn't for reverse psychology. Smart man. I'll leave you to decide what that says about me.


Pasta with saffron-infused peas, prawns and ham

A generous pinch of saffron threads, soaked in 2 tbsp of hot water*
1 small onion, thinly sliced
1 clove of garlic, minced
Olive oil
1/3 cup of cream (thickened, if you have it)
A generous splash of dry white wine
2/3 cup of frozen peas
15 large prawns
2 slices of cooked ham
1 tbsp of chopped fresh dill
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Cooked pasta, enough for 2 and a half

Saute the onion and when it has softened, add the garlic, peas and ham. Once everything starts smelling like serious cooking, but before your garlic starts to brown, add the cream and saffron threads along with the water it has been soaking in. Give it a good stir, add the wine, dill and finally the prawns. Cook until the prawns curl up modestly and start blushing. Season the sauce, take it off the heat and toss in your pasta.

* Saffron needs to be soaked so it can release its color and fragrance. If I had bothered to soak it for longer than 30 seconds - 5 minutes would be ideal - the pasta would have had a richer colour and more obvious flavour.

A bit of a ramble on Saffron
Apart from being the name of a British It Girl, Saffron is also the dried stigma of the saffron crocus flower. But you knew that, didn't you? Apparently, 150,000 flowers are needed to harvest just one kg of dried saffron. Naturally, Saffron is also the world's most expensive spice by weight. This, my man never fails to remind me every time our stash runs low. But it's still cheaper than diamonds, innit! See, I told you he was smart.

In keeping with today's theme, I'll leave you with this. Enjoy.