Jamie Oliver's spaghetti with prawns, chilli and rocket

I love Jamie, and I love this recipe.  I used to make it all the time.  Then I guess I must have missed cheese, so I veered away from fish based pastas.  But for Mother's Day I made it again, and it really is delicious - spicy, spring-like, fresh, gutsy (from the tomato paste, garlic, chilli and wine) and ultimately  ALL ABOUT THE LEMON ZEST.

Basically you fry chilli and garlic in olive oil, add the prawns and watch as they do their magic trick, turning from grey to pink:

Chuck in some sundried tomato paste, rocket, white wine and lemon juice:

Then toss the sauce through some spaghetti.  Can I just say that no matter how far I roam, spaghetti will almost definitely hold the dearest place in the pasta shaped chamber of my heart.

I think it's all about the perfection of straight lines, the hope of controlling things.

Anyway, combine with the other ingredients, stir through and top with a bit more rocket and some lemon zest.  I cannot stress the degree to which the lemon zest elevates this from good to GRRRREAT.

Totally delicious.

I was then lucky enough to go to lunch at Locanda Locatelli two days later, and being the pasta-whore that I am, ordered pasta with prawns and chilli and garlic, and pistachios:

Really very good.   But I have to say, I think Jamie's and mine had the edge.

Conchiglie with bacon, cream, mushrooms, radicchio and sage.

Conchiglie, one of my all time favourite pasta shapes.

Conchiglie truly would make a good friend.  Look at him!  Those private little sanctums where you can hide all your embarrassing secrets.

Like the fact that if you had your way, every single meal you ate would involve a combo of bacon, cream, fried onions and cheese.

Or the fact that you cannot keep a sage plant alive for more than one moment:

The fact that you only put radicchio in your pasta because you felt guilty about going three whole days without eating any of your five a day.

The fact that you would rather take a mushroom's photo and post it on the internet, than spend those same two minutes tidying up your increasingly chaotic living area.

No.  Not conchiglie.  Conchiglie would wrap up all your secrets safe and warm

and wouldn't unfurl them for anyone, least of all the internet.

And if your pasta was particularly delicious and creamy, with salty bacon and caramelised shallots and parmesan on top, then conchiglie might even share your joy by giving you a smile...