Prawns, prawns and more prawns

[switch]

I have been given a load of prawns by a close friend and would like to find some good recipes. We are having a party next weekend and the theme is going to be prawns -- so what I would like are your recipes for these litter buggers: soups, appys, main dishes, hell, even desserts!

Anything goes, discuss.

[StInGeR]

Here's one of my favourite prawn/shrimp recipes.

1 lb shrimp

1 stick unsalted butter

2 tb minced shallots

1 tb minced garlic

1 1/2 cup dry white wine

1/4 cup lemon juice

3 tb Italian parsley

1lb bucatini

Melt butter, add shallots and garlic (med heat). Cook til clear. Add wine & lemon juice. Reduce to half. Add parsley to wilt. Add shrimp.

Meanwhile cook bucatini to al dente

[fifi]

You have to do this recipe:

Aunt Audrey’s Pickled Shrimp

This recipe is at least 50 years old. I remember eating it at my Aunt Audrey’s house where we went every Christmas Eve. She was old enough to be my father’s mother so there is no telling how old it is. My sister got this recipe from her before she died and it has been handed down in my family ever since. It is truly terrific and I find it fascinating that this was around so long before recipes like this were trendy. Think of it as a very early escabeche. I have no idea where she got the capers back then but she did use them. I remember wondering what the heck those things were.

2 pounds shrimp, peeled and deveined

3 medium sweet onions, thinly sliced

12 or so whole cloves

6 or so bay leaves

1 ¼ cup salad oil (Canola or other light vegetable oil, NOT olive oil)

¾ cup white or cider vinegar

1 large clove garlic, finely minced

1 ½ teaspoons salt

2 ½ teaspoons celery seed

2 ½ teaspoons capers and juice

Boil cleaned shrimp. Do not over cook. Arrange shrimp and onion rings in layers in a glass bowl or jar.

Sprinkle with cloves and tuck in bay leaves as you go.

Cover with marinade made with the last 6 ingredients.

Let stand in the refrigerator for several hours or overnight. Can be kept for 3 days in a jar with a good lid.

Pretty served in clear glass.

Notes:

I tend to increase the cloves, bay leaves and capers. I think it makes it better.

I have marinated blanched asparagus in the left over marinade after eating all of the shrimp. Fabulous. You could do other vegetables as well and serve on top of greens as a terrific salad, including the onions.

Fresh shrimp are always best but you could get pre-prepared shrimp from the grocery and it would probably still be good. At least that might inspire you to make this.

[DTBarton]

My Mom has a recipe similar to Aunt Audrey's it's great. I like a little tabasco in my marinade, and I prefer to use small to medium shrimp (prawns). Eating the onions is as good as the seafood!

Just did this the other night, broiled shrimp from Marcella Hazan's Classic Italian Cookbook, and it was really good.

Peel, devein, rinse and dry the prawns. Mix a 50-50 blend of vegetable oil and olive oil with some fine, dry bread crumbs. Recipe quantities were 3 TBS of each oil and 2/3 cup crumbs, I think. Pour enough of oil/crumb mixture over prawns to create a smooth, even coating. Add some finely chopped parsley, salt and pepper. Let sit for 20 minutes at room temp. Turn on broiler to highest setting for 15 minutes before broiling.

Thread the prawns on to skewers so they won't spin when you turn them. Broil close and on high until brown, maybe 2 minutes. Turn and brown other side, another 1-2 minutes. Vary time with size of prawns, obviously.

Serve immediately with fresh lemon wedges to squeeze over.

Yum

[Chufi]

This only works with raw, unpeeled prawns:

Baked prawns with garlic and chili

Put prawns in a single layer in an ovenproof dish (or in individual dishes)

Pour in olive oil to come half way up the prawns (yes, that's a lot of oil. You need to choose your dish carefully, so that the prawns are really packed in there).

Sprinkle with salt.

Throw in a couple of peeled garlic cloves. Cut some fresh red chillies in large pieces and throw them in as well.

Put in a very hot oven for about 5 minutes. The oil will be boiling hot and the prawns lightly browned.

The best part about this dish is the oil. It's flavour is so delicious that you'll want to drink it! So serve with lots of crusty bread to dunk in the oil.

It's a messy dish to eat, but it's worth it..

edited to add that this is a recipe from Jane Grigson's Fish Book. She says the recipe was given to her by a Portuguese cabdriver in New York.

Edited March 7, 2005 by Chufi (log)

[dls]

Made the following with some prawns last night......

SHRIMP WITH GINGER, LIME, AND SERRANO PEPPERS

A. INGREDIENTS:

1. 3 TBS EACH: FRESH LIME JUICE, OLIVE OIL.

2. 1 TBS. EACH: MINCED FRESH GINGER ROOT, LIGHT BROWN SUGAR.

3. 1 TSP. EACH: GRATED LIME ZEST, TOASTED SESAME OIL.

4. ½ TSP. EACH: CUMIN, GROUND ALLSPICE.

5. 4 GARLIC CLOVES – MINCED.

6. 1 TBS. SERRANO PEPPERS – MINCED.

7. 1 LB. LARGE RAW SHRIMP – PEELED AND DEVEINED. RESERVE SHELLS.

8. 1 CUP BOTTLED CLAM JUICE.

9. 1 TBS. OLIVE OIL.

10. 2 LIMES – CUT INTO WEDGES.

11. 2 TBS. CILANTRO – FINELY CHOPPED.

B. METHOD:

1. ADD INGREDIENTS 1 THROUGH 6 TO A MEDIUM BOWL AND MIX.

2. COMBINE RESERVED SHELLS AND CLAM JUICE IN A MEDIUM SAUCE PAN. BRING TO A LIGHT BOIL THEN COVER, REDUCE TO SIMMER FOR 15 MINUTES. ALLOW TO COOL, STRAIN, AND ADD LIQUID TO BOWL.

3. ADD SHRIMP TO THE BOWL AND TOSS TO COAT THROUGHLY. COVER AND REFRIGERATE FOR 2 – 3 HOURS. TOSS COVERED BOWL EVERY ½ HOUR.

4. ADD OLIVE OIL TO A LARGE SKILLET OR SAUTE PAN. TURN HEAT TO MEDIUM HIGH – REMOVE SHRIMP FROM MARINADE AND ADD TO SKILLET. COOK UNTIL SHRIMP ARE UNIFORMLY BRIGHT PINK – APPROXIMATELY 5 MINUTES – TURNING ONCE MIDWAY THROUGH.

5. PLACE SHRIMP ON A SERVING PLATTER, SPRINLE WITH CILANTRO, AND IMMEDIATELY SERVE WITH LIME WEDGES.

C. NOTES:

1. AS AN INGREDIENT ALTERNATIVE, REPLACE THE SERRANO PEPPERS WITH 1 TBS. CHIPOTLE PEPPERS IN ADOBO – FINELY MINCED.

2. AS A COOKING ALTERNATIVE, THREAD THE SHRIMP ON SKEWERS - INTERSPERSED WITH THE LIME WEDGES – AND COOK DIRECTLY HOT GRILL.

[switch]

Great responses so far! much appreciated, keep em coming!

I am also trying to come up with a soup of some sort with the prawns and a link of homemade hungarian sausage I have in the fridge...

[origamicrane]

this one is nice

Piri Piri Prawn

1 large Bay leaf

4 large chili peppers sliced

1 large lemon juice

4 T. olive oil

4 T. coarse pepper

1 t. sea salt

6 cloves minced garlic

2 T. cider vinegar

blitz all the above ingredients in a blender and marinate prawns for a few hours.

skewer with chopped onion and peppes and grill until done

[Lonnj]

There's a restaurant here in Portland (Cafe Mingo) that makes grilled skewers of prawns and bread seasoned with red chili, fennel seed and olive oil (salt and pepper too). I've made it but didn't pay attention to the proportions, I just threw everything (not the olive oil) into my mortar and pestle, crushed it up and sprinkled it on the skewers (of alternating shrimp and good sourdough bread), drizzled on the oil and grilled it until the shrimps were just cooked.

Lonn

(Edited to prevent my high school english teacher from hunting me down and killing me.)

Edited March 8, 2005 by Lonnj (log)

[jackal10]

Potted Prawns

Potting was an old method of preservation, cooking and then sealing with fat, usually butter. Traditional with small whole shrimp, for prawns just use the shelled tails. Mace is a favourite spice with this.

75g / 3oz butter

1 garlic clove (peeled and crushed) (optional)

2 tsp. fresh lemon juice

225g / 8oz peeled prawns

salt and plenty of freshly ground black pepper, mace

Melt the butter, optionally with the garlic

Stir in the prawns, salt and pepper, lemon juice

Put into ramekins. CHill. Top with fresh melted butter.

Serve with plenty of good bread.

Home made prawn crackers

These are amazing, and a good demonstration of the amazing properties of starch. Unlike commercial shrimp (US) crackers you can put a decent amount of prawn in them. You can make nice variations, for example by including shredded Nori. Its a lot of work, but the chips keep for a long time. and make a novel nibble.

1 lb shelled and minced prawns (or any fish etc)

1lb Tapioca flour (often available in Asian grocers)

1 oz salt

1 tsp ground white pepper

1 cup water.

Bring salt, water, pepper to the boil. Pour the boiling water onto the tapioca flour and stir quickly. Add the minced prawns and knead as you would dough. If its too stiff add more boiling water, but it should be on the stiff side.

Roll into a cylinder about an inch in diameter. Wrap in cheesecloth, if you have it, or put a cloth under and over the cylinders. Space them at last an inch apart to stop them sticking together. Steam in a bamboo steamer, or on a cake rack over a pan of plenty of boiling water at high for 45 minutes.

After steaming, unwrap and cool the dough on a rack. Re-wrap and keep in a cool place or the fridge to dry - maybe 3 days, untl you can cut very thin slices with a sharp knife. Don't hurry the drying process before you cut the chips. Lay the slices on a piece of cardboard and dry in the sun or a low oven until brittle. You can store for a long ime in a n airtight container.

To use deep fry in hot oil at 360F. They will puff in seconds.

Edited March 8, 2005 by jackal10 (log)

[Carlovski]

Potted Prawns

Potting was an old method of preservation, cooking and then sealing with fat, usually butter. Traditional with small whole shrimp, for prawns just use the shelled tails. Mace is a favourite spice with this.

75g / 3oz butter

1 garlic clove (peeled and crushed) (optional)

2 tsp. fresh lemon juice

225g / 8oz peeled prawns

salt and plenty of freshly ground black pepper, mace

Melt the butter, optionally with the garlic

Stir in the prawns, salt and pepper, lemon juice

Put into ramekins. CHill. Top with fresh melted butter.

Serve with plenty of good bread.

Home made prawn crackers

These are amazing, and a good demonstration of the amazing properties of starch. Unlike commercial shrimp (US) crackers you can put a decent amount of prawn in them. You can make nice variations, for example by including shredded Nori. Its a lot of work, but the chips keep for a long time. and make a novel nibble.

1 lb shelled and minced prawns (or any fish etc)

1lb Tapioca flour (often available in Asian grocers)

1 oz salt

1 tsp ground white pepper

1 cup water.

Bring salt, water, pepper to the boil. Pour the boiling water onto the tapioca flour and stir quickly. Add the minced prawns and knead as you would dough. If its too stiff add more boiling water, but it should be on the stiff side.

Roll into a cylinder about an inch in diameter. Wrap in cheesecloth, if you have it, or put a cloth under and over the cylinders. Space them at last an inch apart to stop them sticking together.  Steam in a bamboo steamer, or on a cake rack over a pan of plenty of boiling water at high for 45 minutes.

After steaming, unwrap and cool the dough on a rack. Re-wrap and keep in a cool place or the fridge to dry - maybe 3 days, untl you can cut very thin slices with a sharp knife. Don't hurry the drying process before you cut the chips. Lay the slices on a piece of cardboard and dry in the sun or a low oven until brittle. You can store for a long ime in a n airtight container.

To use deep fry in hot oil at 360F. They will puff in seconds.

←

Wow - I never thought of Prawn Crackers as something you could make at home.

[jackal10]

Commercially they are made in a heated double screw extruder that kneads and heats to gelatinisation at the same time. The home version is a little less exact, but works well enough. Making at home allows other flavours - smoked fish, or spiced for example

If there is enough demand I suppose I could make some and photgraph the process..

Edited March 8, 2005 by jackal10 (log)

[spaghetttti]

I really like Mayhaw Man's BBQ Shrimp

Don't they look goooood?

[DTBarton]

Great responses so far! much appreciated, keep em coming!

I am also trying to come up with a soup of some sort with the prawns and a link of homemade hungarian sausage I have in the fridge...

←

You just describes some gumbo on the hoof!

[switch]

Great responses so far! much appreciated, keep em coming!

I am also trying to come up with a soup of some sort with the prawns and a link of homemade hungarian sausage I have in the fridge...

←

You just describes some gumbo on the hoof!

←

I like the sounds of that -- recipe?

Still looking for some pasta and different appy dishes for the party -- keep em coming, much appreciated.

[petite tête de chou]

Peeled, deveined prawns roughly chopped, saute in oil with red pepper flakes, chopped garlic, s/p. Add fine breadcrumbs, fresh basil (or pesto), lemon juice.

Stuff mushrooms with mixture. Top with pine nuts and a drizzle of butter.

Bake at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes or until browned. Make sure the pine nuts don't burn.

Skewer peeled, deveined prawns, brush with butter or extra virgin olive oil, roll in crushed almonds, cayenne, fresh thyme or rosemary, garlic, s/p and bake in a very hot oven or broil. Serve with lemon wedges.

This is an especially tasty recipe. click

[Jason Perlow]

I really like Mayhaw Man's BBQ Shrimp

Don't they look goooood?

←

Yep, I was just gonna say, BBQ Shrimp a la Mayhaw (or a la Pascal's Manale or Mr. B's, depending on who you think makes the best in N.O.)

I don't really think there is a much better dish you can actually -make- with lots of shrimp than BBQ shrimp.

[origamicrane]

Commercially they are made in a heated double screw extruder that kneads and heats to gelatinisation at the same time. The home version is a little less exact, but works well enough.  Making at home allows other flavours - smoked fish, or spiced for example

If there is enough demand I suppose I could make some and photgraph the process..

←

yes please!!

[petite tête de chou]

Commercially they are made in a heated double screw extruder that kneads and heats to gelatinisation at the same time. The home version is a little less exact, but works well enough.  Making at home allows other flavours - smoked fish, or spiced for example

If there is enough demand I suppose I could make some and photgraph the process..

←

I'm sure interested in seeing it!

[suzilightning]

this is an adaption of a ming tsai <sigh, drool> hot and sour shrimp soup we use

1/4 cup neutral oil

1 lb. shiitake mushrooms, stems removed and reserved, thinly sliced

4 thai chilis

2 lb. shrimps, shelled, deveined and shells reserved

1 large onion and 2 medium shallots, chopped

2" piece of fresh ginger, sliced

1/2 cup fish sauce

3 quarts chicken stock

2 4 oz cans sliced bamboo shoots

1/4 cup fresh lime juice

1/2 cup chopped cilantro(or italian flat leaf parsley)

1/2 cup basil leaves, chiffonnaded

in a large, deep skillet heat half the oil then add the shiitake and season with salt and pepper. cover and cook over moderate heat until tender, about 5 minutes. uncover and cook, stirring until the mushrooms are browned,about 3 minutes. transfer to a plate. add the rest of the oil to the skillet, add the chiles, shrimp shells, onion and ginger and cook over moderate heat until the onion is softened about 10-15 minutes. add the fish sauce and stock and bring to a boil. simmer over moderate heat, about 10-15 minutes. strain the shrimp broth into a large bow. return the broth to the skillet, bring to a simmer over moderate heat. add teh shrimp, shiitake, and bamboo shoots. cook until the shrimp are pink and curled, about 2 minutes. add the lime juice and add salt and pepper to taste. to serve ladle into bowls and sprinkle with the cilantro(parsley) and basil.

[rooftop1000]

Great responses so far! much appreciated, keep em coming!

I am also trying to come up with a soup of some sort with the prawns and a link of homemade hungarian sausage I have in the fridge...

←

assuming you can peel a bunch to make stock what more would you need ...carrots celary onion sauteed with the sausage add canned tomatoes and some shrimp stock simmer salt pepper herbs add shrimp just before serving...maybe some sour cream swirled on ...a little tarragon?

T

[rooftop1000]

I once landed myself a FREE 5lb block of frozen shrimp, now you have to be ready when you defrost that baby

one thing i did was an asian flavored puree shrimp ginger soy garlic water chestnuts etc wrapped in wonton skins and deep fried

T