Prawns are a great midweek meal ingredient as they only king soba noodles minutes to cook. You can buy them chilled or frozen, raw or ready-cooked.

Always defrost frozen prawns thoroughly to ensure safe and even cooking. Most recipes will specify shell-on or peeled but peeled are probably the most widely sold and convenient. 3-4 minutes until pink then drain well. Grilling prawns: Large raw shell-on prawns can be grilled either on a griddle, under a hot grill or on the BBQ in the summer. Just toss in oil and seasoning then cook for about 3 minutes per side until they turn from silvery grey to bright pink. You can tell prawns are cooked when they turn pink, curl up and feel firm when squeezed.

20 minutes is all it takes to make this mean midweek pasta dish, flavoured with all the good things: white wine, butter, olive oil and prawns. Our prawn linguine with ‘nduja is super quick and easy to make and packed with big Italian flavours. Check out more of our best linguine recipes here. Flavour prawns with harissa, dill, garlic and lemon, then serve swirled through orzo pasta for a speedy but sophisticated midweek dinner. Large juicy prawns with punchy chilli and orecchiette is an easy way to impress friends at your next dinner party.