My seafood pasta has pretty much reached perfection. For 2 (I’m assuming you know how to prepare pasta) :-

Finely chop 4 shallots, ½ a red chile, 3 cloves garlic, add the leaves from about 10 strands of fresh thyme, season and set in a frying pan over a low heat with the best olive oil you have.

Sweat for 5-10 minutes being careful not to brown the shallots. Add 1-2 handfuls of cherry tomatoes, 2 handfuls of prawns, 1 handful of cockles and cook on a higher heat until the seafood is done.

Add the juice of 1 lemon and 1 glass white wine (optional) and cook till the liquid is reduced (this won’t happen that fast as the tomatoes will expel liquid as they cook).

If the pasta isn’t ready you can hold it at this stage on a very low heat. Add a large chunk of unsalted butter and melt in. Drain the pasta and combine with the sauce.

Believe me – it may not sound like much but it’s pretty fantastic. I can’t decide if it’s better with or without the white wine – it gives it a little more sharpness. If you miss out the tomatoes you have to add the wine. And you can of course try different seafood. I just really like cockles though - weird I know.