Tag: shrimp

Fried Large Prawns

30 January 2023

Prawns and shrimps are very popular, just think shrimp cocktail, paella, salad with shrimps, pasta with seafood, stuffed eggs with shrimps, curry with shrimps and fried shrimps with garlic and lemon. Most of these prawns and shrimps are cultivated, frozen and then shipped. For this recipe you need really large, fresh, wild or organic prawns because the dish is all about the prawn, its flavour and aromas. The result fully depends on the quality of the prawn.
We use the shell, the legs and the so-called swimmerets of the prawns to create a sauce; a bisque like sauce. 

Wine Pairing

We enjoyed our Prawns with a glass of Picpoul de Pinet produced by Gérard Bertrand. A dry white wine, with a pale straw yellow color. It has aromas of citrus and gooseberries. The wine is full and round with minerality which is typical for a Picpoul de Pinet.
You could also combine the prawns with a glass of Chablis, Verdejo or Soave.

What You Need

  • Two large Prawns, fresh, either wild or organic
  • For the Bisque
    • One small Shallot
    • Chili Pepper
    • Olive oil
    • Armagnac or Cognac
    • Garlic
    • Tomato Paste
    • One Saffron Thread
    • Water
    • Bouquet Garni (Thyme, Parsley)
  • For the Tomato
    • One excellent dark Tomato
    • Olive Oil
    • Vinegar
  • Olive Oil
  • Black Pepper
  • Crusted Bread

What You Do

We start by making a bisque-like sauce, using the shell of the prawns.
Chop the shallot and a bit of chili pepper and glaze gently for 10 minutes in olive oil. In parallel use scissors to cut the shell of the prawn. Start behind the head and cut towards the tail. Just before the tail turn 90 degrees and make a cut around the prawn. This allows you to remove the shell and the legs of the body but keep the head and the tail on the prawn. Remove the black vein (the prawn’s intestines) and the slurry in the head (if any). Since you serve the prawn with the head (and tail) it is essential that the prawn is clean. You could gently rinse the prawn if you want to be absolutely sure about this. Transfer the prawns to the refrigerator.

Break the shell into smaller chunks. Add these to the pan and fry for a few minutes until red. Add a small splash of Cognac or Armagnac and flambé. Never do this when using the exhaust or range hood. Add one garlic glove, water, a teaspoon of tomato paste, the bouquet garni and the saffron. Stir well, cover the pan and let rest on low heat for 30 minutes.
Remove the bouquet and the shells from the pan. Use a spoon and a sieve to squeeze the juices from the bouquet and the shells, then discard. Blender the mixture and pass through a sieve. Taste the mixture, add pepper if so required. Leave for another 30 minutes on very low heat, allowing for the flavors to integrate and for the liquid to reduce.

Make a dressing by combining olive oil and vinegar. Wash and slice the tomato. Coat the slices with the dressing. Dry the prawns and fry them in a skillet in oil (depending on the size maximum 4 minutes in total) on both sides and on the back. Use warm plates, and serve the prawn on top of the sauce. Touch of black pepper on the prawn is fine. Enjoy with crusted bread.

PS

A few years ago we made a video showing you in detail how to prepare this dish.

Fried Large Prawn ©cadwu
Fried Large Prawn ©cadwu

Tomate aux Crevettes

12 January 2023

This simple and delicious starter is normally served in Belgium on special occasions. There are three key ingredients: tomatoes, small (grey) shrimps and mayonnaise. The tomato brings sweetness, umami and some acidity, the mayonnaise richness and a velvety mouthfeel and the shrimps saltiness and sweetness. Ideal combination.
We prefer to peel the tomatoes, because it makes it easier to jenjoy the dish, but it’s not necessary.
We thought it would be nice to tweak the recipe slightly. These ingredients are listed as optional.

Wine Pairing

We enjoyed our Tomate aux Crevettes with a glass of Muscadet Sevre et Maine sur Lie produced by Domaine Raphael Luneau. This is a very aromatic wine with a strong flavour and a long finish, which goes very well with the taste of the shrimps and the mayonnaise. The term ‘sur lie’ indicates that during a few months the wine stays in contact with the dead yeast cells left over after fermentation. This technique makes the wine more complex.
In general you’re looking for a fresh, light wine with a clear acidity. 

What You Need

  • 6 excellent ripe Tomatoes
  • 100 grams of (grey) small Shrimps
  • Mayonnaise
  • Black Pepper
  • Optional
    • Ketchup
    • Worcestershire Sauce
    • Lemon
    • Mustard
    • Walnut Oil

What You Do

Classic version: peel the tomatoes, cut of the top, remove the green centre, remove the inside of the tomato and discard. Dry the inside of the tomatoes. Dry the shrimps. Add some black pepper to the shrimps and mix. Put some mayonnaise inside the tomato, then a layer of shrimps, some mayonnaise and finish with shrimps. Put the top back on the tomato and decorate with a few shrimps.
Alternative version: mix the mayonnaise with the optional ingredients. A squeeze of ketchup and teaspoons of Worcestershire sauce, lemon, mustard and walnut oil should be fine. Taste, adjust and follow the steps in the classic version.

Tomate aux Crevettes ©cadwu
Tomate aux Crevettes ©cadwu

Season’s Greetings

19 December 2021

Perhaps you’re looking for some extra inspiration menu-wise for the Holiday Season? Let us help you with a few suggestions.

Apéretif

It’s of course great to serve a glass of Champagne, but why not start with a glass of Crémant de Bourgogne or Alsace? Or a Spanish Cava? The fun is that you can buy a slightly more expensive Crémant or Cava and enjoy a refined sparkling wine. Serve with Terrine de Foie Gras on toast or with a small prawn cocktail, served in a peeled tomato.

Starter

Scallops with fluffy cauliflower purée is a wonderful combination of flavours. The practical advantage is that you can prepare the purée a day ahead and grilling the pancetta is also something you can do in advance. Serve with a glass of Sauvignon Blanc. Dry, some acidity, touch of fruit.

Main Course

Canard à l’Orange, served with steamed Brussels sprouts and potatoes fried in butter: a dish that supports the festive character of your evening: sweetness, a touch of bitterness and crispy, rich potatoes. Enjoy with a beautiful Bordeaux. In general you’re looking for a powerful red wine, with aromas of berries and a touch of oak. The flavour must be round and long with subtle tannins.

Cheese

We tend to go for the classic combination of Stilton and Port. Spend some money and buy a Late Bottled Vintage Port.

Dessert

Continue the British tradition and enjoy a slice of Christmas Pudding with a coffee and a glass of Cognac or Calvados. No need to serve the pudding with brandy butter.

Season’s Greetings 2021 ©cadwu
Season’s Greetings 2021 ©cadwu

Prawn Cocktail

6 January 2021

Back in the 1960’s a Prawn Cocktail was a very popular hors d’œuvre. Simple and tasteful, always a pleasure. Today it’s not just unfashionable, it’s close to being hilarious (as far as food can be hilarious). A chef serving a Prawn Cocktail? You must be kidding me!

The two essential elements of a Prawn Cocktail are Prawns and Cocktail Sauce. Yes, indeed, another invention from the 1960’s: Cocktail Sauce. In most cases something in a jar or mayonnaise mixed with powder. But don’t underestimate Cocktail Sauce. It works really well with (cooked) seafood.

Prawns in this case must be grey shrimps, crevette grise, grijze garnalen, Nordseegarnele, quisquilla gris, the common shrimp also known as Crangon Crangon. Preferably home cooked and peeled, but home peeled is also fine. The peeled once have travelled half the world (because they were peeled in a low-wage-country), were twice frozen and treated with food preservatives leading to a loss of quality.

Basically there are two ways of serving the dish: serve the cocktail sauce in a champagne coupe with the prawns hanging on the rim of the glass or as a cocktail, so with multiple layers in the glass.

Wine Pairing

We enjoyed our Prawn Cocktail with a glass of Muscadet Sèvre et Maine sur Lie produced by Domaine Raphael Luneau. This is a very aromatic wine with a strong flavour and a long finish, which goes really well with the taste of the shrimps and the velvety sauce. The term ‘sur lie’ indicates that during a few months the wine stayed in contact with the dead yeast cells left over after fermentation. This technique makes the wine more complex.
In general a fresh, light wine with a clear acidity, such as a Muscadet Sèvre et Maine, will go very well with seafood.

What You Need

  • 200 gram of unpeeled (and uncooked) Grey Shrimps
  • Black Pepper
  • Common Corn Salad
  • Walnuts
  • For the Cocktail Sauce
    • (Home made) Mayonnaise
    • Ketchup
    • Worcestershire Sauce
    • Horseradish (preferably fresh)
    • Lemon
    • Vinegar
    • Mustard
    • Tabasco Sauce

What You Do

Cook the shrimps for 2 or 3 minutes in water with a pinch of salt. Let cool. Peel the shrimps. This is time consuming! Feel free to keep the outer shell and the tails; they will make for excellent stock.
Combine two tablespoons of mayonnaise with three or four teaspoons of ketchup, two teaspoons of Worcestershire sauce, one teaspoon of grated horseradish, one teaspoon of vinegar and one teaspoon of mustard. Now it’s a matter of tasting and adjusting. Feel free to add some lemon juice. The cocktail sauce needs a bit of a punch, so add a few drops of Tabasco sauce. The cocktail sauce can be stored in the refrigerator for up to two days.
Coarsely crush two or three walnuts. Mix the shrimps with some black pepper.
Add some leaves of the common corn salad to the glass, sprinkle some walnut over the leaves, then a generous helping of cocktail sauce and finish with the peeled shrimps. Don’t forget to play some nice music from the 1960’s, for instance Helen Shapiro’s Walkin’ Back to Happiness.

Prawn Cocktail ©cadwu
Prawn Cocktail ©cadwu

Dashi with Nameko and Shrimps

9 December 2020

Nameko (or Pholiota Nameko) is a very popular, cultivated mushroom in Japan. It’s used in stir-fries and miso soup. The taste is nutty, the color amber brown and the texture is firm, also after cooking. The flavor combines very well with (home-made) dashi and shrimps.  The kamaboko (made from processed seafood) and the mitsuba (Japanese parsley) add colour and extra flavour to the dish. Light, delicate and refreshing: a memorable starter.

Sake Pairing

If you want to serve a drink with the soup, then serve taru sake. This dry sake is characterized by its refreshing taste and the aroma of Yoshino cedar. The sake was stored in a barrel (taru) made of cedar. Taru sake is about skills, history, dedication and refinement. Yes, you guessed right, we simply love it. Our choice? The one made by Kiku-Masamune.

What You Need

  • For the Dashi
    • 500 ml Water
    • 10 gram Konbu
    • 10 gram Katsuobushi
  • 100 gram Nameko
  • 2 large Shrimps
  • Sake
  • Light Soy Sauce
  • Yuzu
  • Kamaboko
  • Mitsuba

What You Do

Clean the shrimps and cut lengthwise in two. Let the shrimps marinade in two tablespoons of sake and transfer to the refrigerator for an hour. Clean the mushrooms with kitchen paper if necessary. Prepare the dashi; add a small tablespoon of sake and a similar quantity (or less) of soy sauce. Add the mushrooms to the soup. After a few minutes (depending on the size of the mushrooms) add four slices of kamaboko and the shrimps.  Taste and add some more soy sauce and or perhaps yuzu if necessary. Serve immediately when the shrimps are ready. If possible add some mitsuba.

Dashi with Nameko and Shrimps ©cadwu
Dashi with Nameko and Shrimps ©cadwu