Fish Supper

When I hear the phrase "fish supper" I conjure up an image of a rather posh couple on balcony with antiqued railings overlooking a shimmering bay below with the sun quivering just above the horizon.  There will be a couple of glasses of Chardonnay and some candles flickering and both will appear relaxed and content.  This would be the ideal setting for my fish supper, not sadly a soggy cold night in England.  However I do believe fish suppers have their place here.

We all hear of the importance of getting our fill of the slippery little creatures, with all their omega and oils and vitamins but I often find I have to work myself up to a fish dinner.  I consciously make the effort to have fish at home, it is rarely a choice I would make in a restaurant, being primarily a meat eater, but there is one ingredient that trumps them all for me when it comes to a menu and that is prawns.

I find king prawns make an excellent fish supper, especially if you are eating late and you want to avoid something heavy that will lie on your stomach later and keep you awake.  They are also great for a celebration supper or as a sharing platter with friends and my dish is unbelievably simple.

Ingredients

King prawns (raw)

Onion diced

Lemon juice

White wine

Double Cream

Flat Leaf Parsley (finely chopped)

Salt and Pepper

To serve

Hot crusty bread

·         Numbers of prawns really depend on number of people, I would say for a main meal you want about 6 prawns each and for a starter 3-4.

·         Dice half an onion (for 2 people, increase as necessary) into small chunks and fry off in a little butter in a frying pan.

·         Once the pan is hot with the onions, add a good glug of wine, I use the small bottles and I would use just under half for 2 people so I would say about 75ml and let that bubble away with a squeeze of lemon juice.

·         Now add your prawns and season (raw is best, but if you can only find the cooked ones, you will want to add your cream first).  Prawns take very little time to cook, and it is easy to over-do them.  When they are fully pink they are ready.

·         Once your prawns have been in the mix for about 2 minutes, check to see how pink they are, if they are pink on that side, flip them over and add a glug of cream (about 50ml).

·         Let this bubble for the rest of the time it takes the prawns to cook (another 2-3 mins).

·         Serve in the pan with the flat leaf parsley sprinkled over the top and hot crusty bread on the side to mop up all that delicious sauce.

Alternatives

·         You can always drop the cream if you are not a big fan and go for a lemon, wine and butter sauce.  Same premise as before only add more lemon juice and a knob of butter (1 ounce).  I call these Prawns a la Portugal because I often have prawns in garlic butter (minus the garlic) when I am out there.

·         Why not try prawns in a spicy tomato sauce.  Start with your onion base and add either fresh or canned chopped tomatoes. Season and add herbs of your choice; I would go for basil, and then add some chilli -powder or flakes are fine.  Always taste.  I was taught that you can always add more, you can never take away and with prawns being an expensive ingredient you really don't want to ruin them.

Tips

If you feel your sauce isn't going to plan, it hasn't reduced enough or it just doesn't taste right... you can always remove your prawns and set them aside, then work on a new batch of sauce and throw in your prawns at the very last minute.

This dish makes a very tasty and satisfying meal in under 5 minutes, and the best bit....prawns are very low in calories (we will ignore the cream). Enjoy!

Oh and by the way...I am still getting used to photographing my food before I eat and kind of couldn't help jumping in before taking this photo, there were a lot more prawns!