Ingredients (serves 4 as a main, 6 as a starter)

• 75g unsalted butter
• 1 garlic clove, finely sliced
• 8 slices coppa di Parma, cut into strips 1 cm wide
• 250g peeled raw prawns, de-veined and cut lengthwise in half
• 1 fresh green chilli, deseeded and chopped
• 400g spaghetti
• 3 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Steps

Melt the butter in a large frying pan, add the garlic and coppa di Parma and cook gently for 2-3 minutes. Turn up the heat, add the prawns and chilli and cook for 2 minutes, until the prawns are pink. Check the seasoning, but be aware that coppa can be quite salty once it’s cooked.

Cook the spaghetti in a large pan of boiling salted water until al dente, then drain, reserving a little of the cooking water. Add the pasta to the frying pan, together with 3 tablespoons of the cooking water. Toss together with the parsley and some black pepper, cook over a low heat for 2 minutes, serve.

Theo Randall’s Notes “Coppa di Parma is a ham made from the shoulder of the pig rather than the leg. It is very versatile as it has a fairly high fat content, and is usually very reasonably priced.

I had a dish similar to this in New York at Maripo Batali’s Babbo restaurant. The combination of the salty, fatty coppa with the sweet prawns and lots and lots of parsley was inspired”.