If like me you often have seafood shells kicking around in your freezer, add to the chicken stock and heat to extract every bit of prawn flavour you can.

Ingredients
3 tbsps olive oil
100g onion, finely chopped
5 cloves of garlic, minced or finely grated
1½ tsp dried chipotle chilli flakes
500g raw peeled king prawns, pulsed in a mini processor
100g tomato puree
150ml white wine
1 x 400g tin cherry tomatoes
400ml chicken stock
1 Parmesan rind
½ tsp sugar
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Equipment needed
20-23cm square oven dish

Method
Start with the sauce.  Put 2 tbsps of the oil into a large pan on a medium heat and add the onion, cook for 5-7 minutes until soft and translucent.  Add the garlic and chilli flakes and cook for a further minute or two. 

Increase the heat to high and add the chopped prawns, cook for 8-10 minutes stirring from time to time, until the prawns start to go golden.  You need to keep stirring this through, folding over, ‘chopping’ with your spoon and eventually it will come good, you need to keep the faith.

Add the tomato puree and cook for a minute, stirring while it cooks.  Add the wine and stir until the mixture is boiling.  Cook for a further minute and then add the tomatoes and stock and bring to the boil.  Reduce the heat to medium so the mixture is just simmering and add the last tbsp of oil, parmesan rind, sugar and a good grinding of black pepper.  Check the seasoning, adjusting where necessary and cook for 20 minutes, stirring from time to time.

When the prawn mix has finished cooking, remove the Parmesan rind and stir through the chives and parsley and preheat the oven to 200c.

Before assembling, remove the pasta sheets from the packet and work out how many sheets you need per layer for your dish. We are aiming for 4 layers of sauce and 4 layers of pasta, you may need to cut your sheets to fit.  I also take my spoon and ‘divide’ the sauce in the pan into 4 so I know how much sauce I have per layer.

In a large square dish add a quarter of the sauce and evenly spread over the bottom of your dish and top with 2 tbsps of the cream, a fifth of the Parmesan and a fifth of the chives and top with a layer of the pasta sheets. Repeat 3 more times, ending with a layer of pasta.  On the final layer of pasta, add the remaining Parmesan and double cream and ½ tbsp of the chilli oil. 

Cover with foil and put into the oven to bake for 20 minutes.

After 20 minutes, increase the oven to 220c, remove the foil and continue to cook for another 12-15 minutes, until the edges are crispy. 

Remove from the oven and top with the remaining 2 tbsps of cream, the chives and another drizzle of chilli oil. Serve with a crisp green salad.

- An adaptation of a recipe by Ixta Belfrage