Prawns

Miaireland

I was down in my local fish shops today and bought a load of prawns in there shells.

I was wondering if anyone has nice easy recipes for them?
Thanks

Kimia

Oh I love prawns! Ok, how about keeping them in their shells, frying them quickly in olive oil, garlic and chilli, and then serving them as finger food with some yummy crusty bread?

Or you could put them in a chowder. Or you could make prawn curry. Or you could pan fry them in garlic and have them with pasta!

xzanti

I Love prawns too but I can't eat them once I've seen their faces :eek: they have to be nekkid.. My bf hates them so I get to eat all his prawns when he gets a special curry from the Chinese

Sigma Force

I love prawns but have to get frozen ones, I can't bare to look at their faces either. Reminds me of that little shrimpy/prawn guy on Shark Tale.

I love prawns with satay sauce, if they are nice and big perhaps stick them on skewers and pour over a nice satay sauce. With the nice weather perhaps BBQ them.

I just put a bit dollop of peanut butter, a packet of creamed coconut, dash lime juice, salt, pepper, little chillie dried or fresh adjust to taste.
Think that's basically it.

You could put onion or other things into the satay sauce if not using skewers and just let them swim in it (not literally lol).

Although the best best way I think for fresh prawns is just a bucket load of garlic butter, freshly made. Nothing beats it.

Miaireland

Thanks for the ideas guys.

I ended up shelling them (it took hours:(). deveined them, flash fried them with shallots and then added white wine, cream, and chilli.

It was lovely.

Swampy

I like to season them and toss them in olive oil. Then on to the BBQ. They get a lovely smokey sweet flavour this way.

I use a gas bbq by the way, you still get the smokey flavour.

Da Bounca

This guys seems to have the technique down for deshelling. It looks like he lopped off the heads first. prawns

Itsdacraic

Anyone else have any other ideas for prawns?

I am thinking of doing a starter tonight with prawns but not quite sure what to do. I'm thinking something like, a small portion of a Thai prawn stir fry/curry as I have some left over lemon grass and chillies and a can of coconut milk in the press, but not sure what to do with them all!

Help appreciated.

ya-what-now?

On RTE last night they had a programme on fish cooking - Martin's Mad About Fish, and he did a really easy prawn recipie with spaghetti
http://www.rte.ie/food/2010/0518/spaghettiandprawns.html

breakfast roll

Just boil the prawns in their shells, and serve with a soya chili garlic dip

Curry Addict

fry in chilli and garlic -> simple but amazing.
prawn green curry -> standard thai classic
tandoori jhinga -> probaly the best prawn ever

Minder

Prawns in the shell - heads off.

Dry roast a couple of tablespoons of sichuan pepper, mix with equal quantities of black pepper and sea salt. Grind to a rough powder.

Deep fry the prawns at 180c for a few minutes - they cook very quickly, drain and heat a wok to smoking. Add the prawns and shake about to scorch the shells (dry fry) - again only for a couple of minutes - add the spice and toss to coat the shells in the spice. Eat with your fingers, a finger bowl, a few napkins and a large quantity of very cold beer.

When peeling the prawns with your fingers, the spice coats the meat giving enough of a coating to add flavour. It doesn't work with shelled prawns.

vicecreamsundae

i like them naked too. coat in flour, then egg, then breadcrumbs and lemon rind, and fry up in some butter and garlic. served with lemony-garlic-mayo. YUM.

Itsdacraic

Itsdacraic wrote: »

Anyone else have any other ideas for prawns?

I am thinking of doing a starter tonight with prawns but not quite sure what to do. I'm thinking something like, a small portion of a Thai prawn stir fry/curry as I have some left over lemon grass and chillies and a can of coconut milk in the press, but not sure what to do with them all!

Help appreciated.

I stole this recipe for them, it was superb:

About 24 raw tiger prawns, shell on
1 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp mild curry powder
3 tbsp olive oil
200g mixed salad leaves of your choice
2 tbsp chopped fresh coriander
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Dressing:

1 fresh lemon grass, outer leaves peeled off then chopped finely
½ plump red chilli, seeded and thinly sliced
2 tbsp Thai fish sauce (nam pla)
2 tbsp light soy sauce
4 tbsp sunflower oil
2 tbsp rice wine or white wine vinegar
Juice 1 lime

1 Peel the prawns, leaving the tails if liked. De-vein them down the back, hooking out the thin black intestine. Crush the coriander in a pestle and mortar or with a rolling pin. Mix with the prawns, curry powder and oil. Leave for half an hour.
2 Meanwhile, mix all of the dressing ingredients together and set aside. When ready to serve, stir-fry the prawns in a nonstick wok until just pink, about
3-5 minutes. Season lightly.
3 Mix in the dressing and toss until heated and well coated. Place the salad leaves on a platter and spoon over the prawns and their pan juices. Scatter over the coriander and serve.

sandy_c

I always get real nervous when i get prawns with the shells still on, i thought all prawns needed to be de-veined before eating??? No??

unkel

xzanti wrote: »

I Love prawns too but I can't eat them once I've seen their faces :eek:

That's my favourite bit

@OP - next time get scampi (biggest sort of prawn, the French call them langoustine, maybe technically they are actually small lobsters?), grill them, say hello to their faces, rip their heads off, rip their shell open across their bellies and carefully pinch them out of their tails. Remove the vein from the back and dip in garlic / white wine sauce or just simple plain mayonnaise

Mellor

unkel wrote: »

That's my favourite bit

@OP - next time get scampi (biggest sort of prawn, the French call them langoustine, maybe technically they are actually small lobsters?), grill them, say hello to their faces, rip their heads off, rip their shell open across their bellies and carefully pinch them out of their tails. Remove the vein from the back and dip in garlic / white wine sauce or just simple plain mayonnaise

"Dublin Bay Prawns" is the common name for them here, even though as you said they are closer to lobster than prawns

shoes34

I was wondering what is the best way to freeze raw prawns - do I need to shell them and devein them or can I freeze them with the shells and heads still on and what is the best way to freeze them.

thanks.

unkel

Mellor wrote: »

"Dublin Bay Prawns" is the common name for them here

Aye I was wondering about that. But any Dublin Bay Prawns I've had were nowhere near the size of the mediterranean ones you get in France or Italy?

PrettyInPunk

unkel wrote: »

Aye I was wondering about that. But any Dublin Bay Prawns I've had were nowhere near the size of the mediterranean ones you get in France or Italy?

Im the same the only Dublin bay prawns i have had have been quite small

Mellor

unkel wrote: »

Aye I was wondering about that. But any Dublin Bay Prawns I've had were nowhere near the size of the mediterranean ones you get in France or Italy?

That's true, the reason is quite simple. Shrimp and prawns (including dublin bay prawns) grow bigger and faster in warmer water. So, dublin bay has smaller ones than available in the mediterranean