🦐 Ell’s Chilli Prawn Winter Warmer 🦐
Raw prawns are the best, most shops have them fresh, if not they usually have them in the freezer - both are good. If you can only find cooked ones, these work too, just skip the butterflying bit.
All of this dish comes together quite quickly - so get your potatoes and peppers on before anything so you can do the rest while they cook.
Ingredients
Serves 2 ✌️
165g raw king prawns, sliced down the back and butterflied
500g new potatoes
4 large garlic cloves or 8 small, thinly sliced
1 red chilli, finely chopped (add more if you want a bigger kick)
400g baby plum/cherry tomatoes, halved
1 red bell pepper, cored, seeded & sliced into finger width pieces
100g pitted Kalamata olives, torn in half (I like these)
90g 'nduja sausage (this is great, but lots of options out there!)
50g extra virgin olive oil
Zest of 1 lemon
The juice of half a lemon
1 heaped tablespoon Greek yogurt
15g roughly chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
Salt and freshly ground black pepper (always Maldon sea salt)
Steps 1-3: Prep & Get Saucy 🍅
1️⃣ Prep the potatoes 🥔
Wash the potatoes, place in a pan and cover with plenty of cold water and a good pinch of salt. Bring to a gentle boil and cook for 25 mins, or until tender. Drain and allow to steam dry.
2️⃣ Roast the pepper 🫑
Toss the pepper with olive oil and salt. Roast in the oven at 200°C (400°F) for 20-30 minutes, or until the edges are charred.
3️⃣ Make the sauce 🍅
While those are cooking, make the sauce. Get your garlic, chilli & tomatoes ready before you start, the rest you can do as it cooks.
Heat the oil in a large skillet over a medium low heat. Add the garlic, chilli & a pinch of salt. Cook gently for 2 minutes in the oil, the garlic shouldn't colour, but the smell should fill the room. Add the cherry tomatoes and another pinch of salt. Let this all sizzle for 5 minutes, moving around the pan so nothing catches.
While this is cooking, zest your lemon & tear your olives. Add these both to the pan, plus a little spoon of the olive brine, because it's delicious. And why not, you know?
Cook this mix out for another 5 minutes, you should start to see the tomatoes breaking down. Add 300ml water & simmer for another 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Use the back of a spatula to crush the tomatoes down & release their juices.
Steps 4-5: Start to Assemble 🧩
4️⃣ Throw in the pepper
Around now, your bell pepper should be cooked. Remove from the oven and add to the pan of tomato chilli goodness. Stir in the 'nduja and reduce the heat to low.
Your sauce should be a beautiful, chunky and rustic red in colour, with a medium thickness. If it is too watery, let it bubble down a little further, if it's too thick, chuck in another 50ml of water. Stir it all well to make sure the tomatoes are broken down.
5️⃣ More potato action
Take your cooked potatoes and slice into chunky discs, drizzle with a little olive oil and set aside.
Steps 6 -7: The Finish 🏁
6️⃣ The prawns
The reason I love raw prawns is that you are in charge of how they are cooked, and that should be quickly, and only just. They also release so much wonderful flavour when cooked from raw. I like to butterfly them by making a small slice, 3mm deep down the back of the prawn from top to tail, this opens up as they cook and traps all the sauce. Winner.
Add the prawns to the sauce & cook for 2-3 minutes, or until they are pink and cooked through. Remove the sauce from the heat.
Stir through the lemon juice, Greek yogurt, & chopped parsley. Add a few grinds of pepper & an extra pinch of salt if needed.
7️⃣ The finish
Split your potatoes between 2 bowls and spoon over heaps of your glistening prawn sauce.
Garnish with additional fresh parsley and grated Parmesan, if desired - I recommend.
Drink with a cold beer, big red, crisp white or glass of water. Any or all work.
And that's it! Perhaps not your most traditional winter warmer, but it's a banging one. 🦐
Happy cooking,
Ell 🧑🍳
PS - if all of this sounds too much there's no shame in building a bundle 😉