Toowoomba Pasta is the Korean spin on an American dish that featured on the menu of an Australian-themed chain restaurant. Confused yet?
I was in a YouTube black hole the other day watching Korean cooking vlogs and I came across this dish: Toowoomba Pasta. My first thought was Toowoomba? As in the city in Queensland well known for the Carnival of Flowers and the Cobb and Co Museum?
Toowoomba Pasta was a dish on the menu of Outback Steakhouse, a chain of Australian-themed restaurants from the United States. They also opened up several locations in South Korea as well. The pasta dish had a creamy tomato sauce, with prawns, mushrooms and bacon. As the dish was recreated by many a Korean home cook, the ingredients changed (morphed?) and recipes began to include things like Korean chili flakes and soy sauce. And so the Toowoomba pasta as we see it here was born.
As for why it’s called Toowoomba Pasta, I couldn’t really find a solid answer. Perhaps Outback Steakhouse were just looking for Australian cities and towns to name all their dishes after? Who knows.
I am aware that this dish is many layers of untraditional. But you can’t deny that it’s tasty. It’s creamy, rich and comforting. The soy sauce adds umami and depth. Plus it has a slightly weird and fun backstory. Can’t argue with that.
Watch the video here.
If you make this recipe, be sure to tag me! I love nothing more than seeing you make these recipes.
Toowoomba Pasta
Ingredients
- 20 g butter
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 90 g mushrooms sliced
- 30 g bacon sliced into strips
- 2 cloves garlic sliced
- 1 spring onion sliced into 1cm pieces
- ½ tablespoon Korean chili flakes
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 250 g prawns shells removed and deveined
- 150 mL heavy cream
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- ½ tablespoon shaoxing wine
- Handful of grated parmigiano reggiano
- 160 g paccheri or rigatoni
Instructions
- Add butter and oil to a fry pan over medium heat. Sauté mushrooms and bacon until browned, 3-5 minutes or so.
- Then add in your garlic and spring onions and cook for a few minutes until softened.
- Sprinkle over chili flakes and pepper and stir through the oil for 30 seconds until fragrant.
- Add prawns, followed by cream, soy sauce and shaoxing wine. Stir sauce together before lowering the heat to a simmer.
- Cook pasta according to package instructions. Once your pasta is al-dente, use a slotted spoon to lift out of the water and into your sauce.
- Sprinkle over grated parmigiano reggiano. Let it melt slightly before adding one quarter cup of pasta water in, and then tossing the pasta and sauce until everything comes together.
- Divide among two plates. Top with additional grated parmigiano reggiano and finely sliced spring onions.
If you’re looking for more pasta dishes, check out my gnocchi with italian sausage and silverbeet or tomato vodka pasta.
