Garlicky Spot Prawns Recipe

How to make it

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• Defrost the prawns overnight in the fridge. In an airtight container, add the prawns, minced garlic, a good amount of oil and fresh cracked pepper. Mix and let marinate for at least an hour, but up to 24 hours. Put a skillet on the stove on med-high heat. Get the skillet good and hot, and then add the prawns. If shell-off, cook until they are red. If shell-on, cook slightly beyond red.
• Take shells off before or after?: You can either take the shells off before you cook or let the guests do it when they are on their plates. How to decide? We think they are juicier if cooked in their shells. But, if you want to set the shells aside before hand, they make a killer stock. If you want the guests to do the tedious work you can avoid a half-hour in the kitchen. On the other hand, if you don’t want messy fingers, you should do the work ahead of time. This recipe works perfectly well either way...we usually cook these with the shell on. And, don’t worry about the vein…spot prawn poop is sweet and probably nutritious. Besides, we’ve never seen a vein in spot prawns…maybe they sweat their poop.
• A note about shrimp/prawns: There’s no such thing as fresh shrimp/prawns in the US, perhaps unless you live on the gulf coast or on a shrimping boat. If you get the prawns “fresh” the supermarket just defrosted them for you. It’s better to just buy them frozen and thaw them out yourself…they will be fresher that way. Most prawns in the US are tiger shrimp…most of these are intensively farm raised in former mangroves in SouthEast Asia. Their flavor/texture is not so desireable to us. Spotties are sustainably caught in shrimp traps in the North Pacific. They are fantastic.