Shrimp'n'save

Last year a fish van came round our neighbourhood and they had proper fresh raw prawns, caught off the western coast of Denmark. They were amazing & we bought a few kilos. Every time the fish van’s been back we’ve wanted to buy more but they haven’t had them. This is a cause of great grief to me. I wish I could buy raw, frozen North Sea or Greenland prawns in fishmongers or supermarkets. But I can’t. Boiled-&-frozen-at-sea shelled & unshelled prawns are all I can get. Up until the arrival of frozen, raw black tiger prawns from the Far East a simple dish of prawns in garlic butter meant using the pre-boiled things. Even in restaurants. Straight from the freezer they’d bung them in the pan. Yuk. You don’t buy pre-boiled eggs & then re-boil them, do you? I like my seafood pretty under cooked so, until they design a machine that can reverse the cooking process, I’m stuck with the pollution causing, anti-biotic riddled black tigers. We can get fresh raw fjord shrimps in season but, whilst totally delish, are so tiny they can’t be used for much else than nibbles. After reading about it somewhere I collected a few dozen wood lice today. After giving them a quick rinse I poured boiling salted water over them. The theory is that they taste like shrimps seeing as they are not unrelated to them. Yes, they did taste shrimpish. No, they did not taste very nice. And anyway, it took me half an hour to collect no more than could be fitted into a teabag so feeding the masses is deffo out of the question. The following recipes are Mrs B's & my favourite prawn dishes….


Prawns in Garlic ButterOil

People tend to overcook their prawns. So I concocted this dish which keeps them really moist & juicy whilst not compromising on the garlic flavour. It’s dead simple and can be prepped early which is dead handy if you’re doing it for a bash. By using a combination of olive oil & garlic you get a nicer sauce. If only butter is used it tends to get too rich.

Raw black tiger prawns (with or without their heads)

Butter

Garlic

Un-waxed lemons

Parsley

Olive oil

Chilli (optional)

Crushed black pepper

In a frying pan soften the sliced garlic slowly in olive oil over a low heat. Use plenty of oil and lots & lots of garlic. You’re looking to infuse the oil so, as it softens, mash it up a bit. Dump in the black pepper and, after a while, the parsley (and the chilli if wanted). Now, whilst this warms away place your thawed & patted dry prawns in an oven dish. I use something that’s a medium sized flowerpot in shape (minus the holes in the bottom, ha ha). Bung in your garlic goo and mix well together. You really want to coat every critter with the stuff. Then cover with thinnish slices of lemon. The lemon is your lid which keeps in the juices. Put a few handsome sized knobs of butter on top of the lemon slices and your ready to chuck it in the oven (or put it in the fridge where it will marinate nicely for a few hours). Bake it for anything between 20 to 45 minutes depending on the amount of prawns and size of pot, at 180 degrees celcius. I like to take them out after 10-15 mins, remove the lemon, stir around the prawns so the inner ones take a turn on the outside, back on with the lemon slices and into the oven again. They’re done when they’re pink. Serve with crusty bread. The juices are sublime, the prawns should be soft and succulent, more like lobster than frying-pan garlic prawns.


Sack O’ Porn Prawns

This is a dish Mrs B & I had at the wonderfully named Thai restaurant Porn Sak. I guess we’ve eaten there at least half a dozen times and each time the dish had developed into something more and more bland (to pamper to delicate local palates, so the waiter said) so this is a tribute to the original hardcore experience.

Black Tiger Prawns (headless)

Limes

Bird’s-eye chillies

Fish Sauce

Sugar

Squeeze a couple of limes. Mix the juice with half a teaspoon of sugar, a few gluggs of fish sauce and some chopped chillies. Let this infuse in the fridge for an hour or so. Then peel the prawns (saving the skins for the next recipe if you’re game) then slice in two lengthways. Remove the black intestine thread-like thing and lay the prawns stripy side up on a serving dish. Just before serving pour over the lime mix. You can garnish with small wedges of lime and some fresh coriander if you’re feeling artistic. The wonderful thing about this dish is how the texture of the prawns changes throughout the meal. At the start they’ll be predictably raw and sweet then later on they’ll “cook” in the acidic lime juice becoming firmer & whiter. It’s the sort of dish you have with other dishes. It also goes well with sushi.


Crispy Prawn Shells

I take great pleasure in using as much of a beast as poss so this is one of my babies. It relies on the prawn shells not being too thick, the steroid taking, fast grown black tiger shells are perfect. Lobster shells less so.

Prawn shells

Olive Oil

Sea Salt

The prawn shells are simply fried in olive oil until they are nice and golden. As the moisture in them is cooked off they’ll fry quieter. The secret is getting them crisp but not burnt. Drain on kitchen paper and sprinkle with sea salt. You can also add dried chilli and/or fried minced garlic. Perfect with beer, wine, g&t's, bloody mary's.....