Spot prawns are delicious – sweet, tender and extremely meaty, in a good way. They taste fantastic with salt, pepper and a squeeze of lemon, but lately we’ve been enjoying our prawns tossed in a Vietnamese-esque dressing of lime, fish sauce, sugar, chilis and cilantro.
Even though the Whole Foods prawns were delicious, with seafood fresh is always best, so Mike and I decided to go down to the docks for our next batch. They sell them to you fresh off the boat; they’re literally still alive and jumping. The prawners that I bought from were a bit strange – maybe they smoked a little too much “seaweed”? Anyway, one of them threw a small prawn into the ocean where it just floated for a while.
Live prawns are a bit more work than the prawns from Whole Foods. But, there is a definite taste difference: live prawns are sweeter, plumper and juicier. I guess you just have to get your hands a little dirty if you’re going to eat the good stuff.
SPOT PRAWNS WITH LIME AND CILANTRO RECIPE
- 1 pound spot prawns, or other large prawns, shell-onzest of 1 lime2 limes, juiced2 teaspoons fish sauce2 teaspoons sugar2 bird’s eye chili, thinly sliced1 cup cilantro, roughly choppedsalt and freshly ground pepper to tasteoil
Prepare your prawns: use a pair of kitchen shears to cut through the back of the shell. Cutting through the shell lets you de-vein the prawn easily. In a large bowl, mix together the lime juice, fish sauce and sugar until the sugar is dissolved. Add the zest, chill and cilantro. Taste and season with salt and freshly ground pepper.
Heat up a cast iron over medium-high heat. Add a bit of olive oil to the pan. When hot, add the prawns and cook without moving for 2 minutes. Flip and continue to cook for 1-2 minutes, until pink and firm. Toss the shrimp in the dressing. Enjoy
0 comments:
Post a Comment