Friday, April 10, 2015

Prawns in Butter, with Garlic and Fresh Parsley



I was planning my menu for a girly lunch at home. Summer is here in full force and I wanted to make something relatively light on spices but full of flavour. I also wanted to cook a lot as this lunch was a special one. One of my closest buddies is moving away to another city and this was a sort of farewell do too.

The thing is, I'm not good with planning menus. I start with a sort of clear idea of what I want to try but I get easily distracted and it is quite rare that I actually cook what I planned to. My menu had a salad, a starter that would involve prawns, a roast chicken, and dessert. I also thought I'd make bread.

Typically, I got distracted while looking at recipes and cooking videos, discussing ideas with online friends, working, and dealing with mundane daily things and I suddenly realised it was the eve of the proposed lunch and I hadn't even done the shopping. It was already quite late in the evening, in fact, it was night.

Funnily, just around the time I realised this a friend posted his planned menu for a meal he was cooking the next day - the menu, the shopping, the techniques involved in the cooking, all neatly written down, and that too in perfectly legible handwriting... I stared in shock. As the admiration flowed in from other members in the group I had a few moments of absolute horror and then a feeling of complete inadequacy. How did I ever get this disorganised?!

Ha ha, after the initial shock I acknowledged that I am disorganised and have always been so. Who am I kidding here? I don't like rules, I don't like rigidity, and revolting is a knee jerk response - even to a menu. I know. I need to grow up. But anyhoo, lunch was a super hit and of all the things I cooked today what won my heart is this simple prawn starter.

Prawns Poached in Butter, with Garlic and Fresh Parsley

20 large prawns, shelled and deveined.
15 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
30 gms butter
a hefty slosh of olive oil
1 tsp parsley, chopped fine
salt
pepper

Marinate the cleaned and washed prawns in a little salt. Let it sit for around 10 minutes.

In a wok or small pan heat the butter and olive oil. Once the butter has completely melted add the garlic. Keep the heat at medium so the garlic sort of boils in the fats.

Add the prawns after a minute or so. Stir well to mix. Lower the heat and then cover the prawns and let them cook in their steam for around 3 minutes.

Stir again and ramp up the heat. Crack fresh pepper over the prawns and let all the moisture evaporate.

Sprinkle the chopped parsley and mix it in. Remove to a bowl and serve immediately. Don't forget to add the butter and scrapings from the pan.

This is a very simple recipe and there lies the rub. Prawns are easy to over cook and thereby destroy. Keep an eye on the prawns as you cook them. You might need to adjust cooking time depending on their size. Don't leave them unattended, even when they are cooking under cover. Peek in once and check.

We had the prawns along with a simple focaccia topped with sun dried tomatoes and rosemary. Mopping up the juices and the butter with chunks of garlic...ah, that was just divine!

Marathon Bloggers



2 comments:

vishlicious said...

Hi Rhea,
I'll be trying this recipe today with a few modifications :) will let you know how it turns out!

vishlicious said...

Tried it. Worked out great! Easy n quick :)