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11 hours ago
8
As a devotee of the small, sweet and winningly cheap cold-water prawn, I don’t often find myself at the court of the king variety, but as a way to conjure happy memories of holidays past, sunny terraces and cool tapas bars, this particular dish is hard to beat. Served sizzling hot and drenched in red, garlicky oil, it’s deliciously messy stuff, and best paired with bread and an icy drink.
Prep 5 min
Cook 15 min
Serves 4 as a tapa, 2 as a starter
8 sustainably sourced raw shell-on king prawns
Salt and black pepper
4 garlic cloves
120ml olive oil
A few flat-leaf parsley stems
4 small dried chillies, or 1 tsp cayenne pepper or paprika, or ½ tsp chilli flakes
2 tsp sherry vinegar, or wine vinegar or lemon juice
Bread slices, to serve
1 Raw shell-on prawns are best …
For the best-flavoured results, you need the prawn shells, but don’t worry if you or your guests prefer not to faff about peeling them at the table, because you use the shells separately here. Raw shell-on prawns are easiest sourced frozen – supermarkets, especially east Asian ones, have them, or find them, often with greater traceability, online.
2 … but if you can’t get them
That said, if you can only find cooked shell-on prawns, use those instead – you’ll just need to warm them through in step 8 instead. And if you can get your hands only on peeled prawns, you can also use them, but consider adding a teaspoon of Malaysian shrimp paste in step 7 or a dash of fish sauce in step 8, should you have either to hand.
3 Peel the prawns
Peel the shell-on prawns by twisting off their heads, then, laying one prawn flat on your other hand, use a fingernail to get under the shell and peel down the back, then twist off the tail. Put all the shells in a bowl. Run a small, sharp knife down the back of each prawn and, if it’s obvious and visible, hook out and discard the dark line of digestive tract (if you can’t see it, it’s probably clear, so don’t worry about this).
4 Salt the prawns
Sprinkle the prawn meat lightly with salt and set aside (you can prep this dish ahead of time up to the end of step 6; if doing so, store the salted prawns in the fridge for up to two days). Squeeze the contents of the prawn heads into a small bowl, then put the spent heads in the bowl with the rest of the shells.
5 Prep the garlic
Peel all the garlic, and squash two of the cloves with the flat side of a knife; leave the other two cloves intact for now. Put the oil in a frying pan on a medium-low heat (this makes a fair bit of oil for dipping, so cut down the quantity a little, if you prefer), then add the squashed garlic (keep back the remaining whole cloves for now), the prawn shells and the squeezed-out heads.
6 Fry the garlic and shells
Fry, stirring frequently, for five to seven minutes, until the prawn shells turn a deep pink; make sure the garlic doesn’t catch and burn. Meanwhile, finely slice the remaining garlic and roughly chop the parsley (this is the traditional herb of choice here, though if truth be told I prefer coriander). Pass the shell oil through a sieve into a bowl, then discard the solids.
7 Fry the chilli
Return the oil to the pan on a medium-high heat and add the chilli in whatever form you’re using it; small dried chillies look pretty, but cayenne pepper or paprika taste just as good. If you use chilli flakes, though, do so with caution, because the prawns should still be the dominant flavour. Fry for 30 seconds or so.
8 Add the prawns
Add the prawns to the pan, cook, stirring, for a minute more, then add the sliced garlic and cook, still stirring, for a further minute – the prawns should by this stage be just cooked through. Mix the vinegar or lemon juice into the small bowl of prawn head juices, then stir this mixture and the parsley into the prawn pan. Season and serve at once with bread.
9 Alternative seafood
A similar approach works with most seafood. Gently heat the oil with the squashed garlic in step 5 until it begins to colour, then scoop out and discard. Turn up the heat, add the sliced garlic, chillies and cleaned, dried and sliced squid, scallops, clams, whelks, chunks of fish, etc, and stir-fry until just cooked through.
