Prawns with tomato, chilli, garlic and parsley
Gamberi alla Busara is a traditional Venetian dish. Here is my version.
Eating with your hands
(aka the bit you skip if you just want the recipe and don’t want to listen to the author bang on something that happened when they were young)
I love eating with my hands. Shell-on prawns really can’t be eaten any other way (well, unless you outsource the shelling to someone else) but my love of eating with my hands began well before I got hold of a large prawn near a bowl of spiky aioli. Sure, some of it came from growing up eating Indian food but it extended far beyond that. Aged 7, my parents had some friends over for dinner and had made steak. I insisted on eating it with my hands. Cue much embarrassment from my Mother. I was just getting some revenge in early.
Prawns are a worry some when it comes to cooking them at home. Easy to overcook, undercook or veins to deal with, I hope this recipe makes it as easy as possible.
Ingredients
Serves 2 as a main or 4 as a starter
500g of shell-on raw King Prawns, deveined
150g of cherry tomatoes halved and thinly sliced
A clove of garlic either lightly crushed or finely sliced (see method)
A banana shallot finely diced
A small bunch of parsley, finely chopped
A small red chilli, finely chopped (adjust chilli and quantity to taste)
50ml of white wine (preferably what you decide to drink with this)
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Normal/cooking olive oil
Salt and pepper
Method
Step 1 — Prawn prep
Raw v pre-cooked: I don’t like pre-cooked prawns. I understand why they exist but the flavour is just not the same as a freshly cooked raw prawn. If you really want, you could use cooked prawns and add them in right at the end to warm through but the flavour just won’t be the same. Sorry.
Size: Prawns come in various sizes but king is the best one to use here. They eat well, have head that you can suck the goodness out of and look pleasing on a plate.
Vein: A good fishmonger will remove the veins for you but if you have sufficient skill you can do it at home. Alternatively, most farmed prawns have no vein to remove. You definitely don’t want to eat it!
I’m still worried they won’t be cooked properly: Okay, if you are really concerned, take a pan of boiling salted water and boil your prawns for 4 minutes or for however long the fishmonger or packet tells you and then immediately plunge them into ice cold water to stop the cooking process. You can then add them in at the end to warm through.
Step 2 — Other prep
If you want garlic in your finished dish, slice a clove as finely as you can. Two if you really want. Heck, twelve if you really really want, it’s your dish and if you are social distancing properly, few if any will know. If on the other hand you want a milder garlic flavour, lightly crush a single clove which you will fish out later.
Finely dice the shallot and parsley. Half each cherry tomato and then slice as thinly as possible. Try to retain as much of the juice as you can.
If the wine is in the fridge, measure it out and leave in a glass. (Leave it!) Fridge cold wine brings down the temperature of your pan dramatically so my general advice if using wine is to get what you need out early and avoid the temptation to consume it mid-cook.
Step 3 — Making the base
Take a large pan, one that can comfortably hold all of the prawns in one layer, unless you cooked them in advance in step 1. Get the pan to a medium heat and add sufficient regular olive oil to coat it. Add the garlic and shallots to the pan and stir for a few minutes. You want them to soften and not colour. Stirring keeps the heat down in the pan and stops them from browning which will make the garlic bitter. Once soften, if you are cooking the prawns from raw (ie you haven’t boiled them in step 1), lay them in the pan in a single layer and cook for two minutes on each side. Time this; you don’t want to overcook them.
(This is based on a King prawn which needs four minutes cooking time. If you are unsure, ask your fishmonger, check the packet they came in or boil them instead).
Once cooked on both sides, remove them to a bowl and avoid the temptation to eat them before you finish the sauce. Turn the heat up to full and add the wine, letting it reduce down to almost nothing. As it reduces, give the pan a scrape to collect all the sticky goodness that has built up so that it becomes part of your sauce.
Turn the pan back down to a medium heat and add the tomatoes, chilli and half the parsley. Stir and let it cook for a minute before bring the heat down to a simmer. If it looks dry then add a little water before putting a lid on the pan and letting it cook for three to four minutes.
Remove the lid and put the prawns back into the sauce. They go in at this point irrespective of whether you bought them cooked, cooked them from raw as I did or boiled them to be safe. Turn them over in a medium heat for two minutes to warm through and get coated in the sauce.
Arrange the prawns in warmed bowls and spoon over the remaining sauce. Drizzle some extra virgin olive oil on top and salt (Maldon Sea Salt if you have it) and then a twist of pepper to taste. Sprinkle over the remaining parsley.
Serve with bread to mop up the remaining sauce. If you have something robust like a sourdough you can drizzle it with olive oil and grill or cook in a rigged grill pan to serve on the side.
A bowl for the shells and perhaps a finger bowl (warm water and a wedge of lemon) if you are feeling fancy / like a 1970s throwback or some kitchen roll will help.
Twist of the heads, suck out the inside and then enjoy the anticipation of each prawn as you peel off the shell.
Enjoy.
Ish