Witches Hair with Bugs {Spaghetti with Prawns}

Try not to be too grossed out by the name (or look!) of this dish as it is the perfect Halloween dish to get you in the mood for trick or treating or to quickly gobble down after! There is something about black spaghetti that just screams Halloween and so I just can't resist making it to mark the occasion. I love this dish as it takes no time to make – literally just as long as it takes for the pasta to cook – it tastes fantastic and has the perfect Halloween look to keep the children happy! Of course when Halloween has past this is still a fantastic meal which can be enjoyed minus the black spaghetti and with whole wheat or regular white spaghetti instead. We eat this dish a lot as it is the perfect quick and easy mid-week meal!

{Serves 4 easily doubled for a crowd}

400g black (squid ink) spaghetti

3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

2-3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

1 long red chilli, finely chopped (de-seed for a milder child friendly dish)

1lb prawns, cleaned*

Juice of ½ lemon

Sprinkling of fresh parsley, finely chopped (optional)

Cook the pasta in a large pan of salted, boiling water for the time instructed on the packet. While the spaghetti is cooking heat 2 tbsp of the oil in a frying pan and gently cook the garlic and chilli until softened but not coloured. Add the prawns and toss well and cook until warmed through (or if using raw prawns until they have cooked properly). Squeeze over the lemon juice then take off the heat.

Drain the spaghetti reserving a tablespoon of the cooking water then add the spaghetti to the garlicky prawns. Add the reserved pasta water then mix well. Finish with the final tablespoon of olive oil to give a real 'glossy' look to the pasta then if using scatter over the parsley. Serve at once.

*For this particular dish I used small prawns since I thought they better resembled bugs(!) however ordinarily when I make this I use normal sized prawns. You can use either cooked or raw prawns for this dish, just make sure they have their shells off and have been cleaned. If you do use raw prawns they will require about 4 minutes to cook whereas the cooked prawns literally just need to be heated through.

**If you like you can miss out the prawns and have a super simple pasta supper of Garlic & Chilli Spaghetti – one of my favourites!