scampi arrosto!!
I'm sticking with my fish theme after stocking up at the weekend at Superquinn, they had nice fresh prawn tails so we had them as a "secondi" on Monday night after a big bowl of pasta. Prawns and shrimp actually belong to the same family as the lobster, my all time favourite fish!! The "gambero di aqua dolce" is a actually an exact miniature copy of the lobster and is almost as popular on the culinary scene. Like the lobster the many natural colours of prawns, from pale orange and deep red to dark grayish blue all turn red when cooked.
It is actually very difficult to get fresh prawns today due to a huge worldwide demand so most prawns are caught in large numbers and frozen on board enormous North Atlantic trawlers, there is a huge difference between fresh and frozen but we probably don't really know the difference here as most are probably frozen and we have no choice. In Italy the smallest gamberetti are usually eaten dusted in flour and deep fried until crisp, I've eaten them this way myself and they are sooo nice, you don't even have to shell it as they are so tender. The larger gamberoni or as they are known this side of the world as langoustines or Dublin Bay prawns can be either boiled or grilled with the shells on or just sauteed in the pan with just the body shelled with a little lemon juice and oil.
I like fish just served quite simple so you can actually taste the flavour of the fish. I hate spices with fish e.g cajun which seemed to be all the rage a while back, you can't taste anything except the spice so I always tend to use similar ingredients - olive oil, lemon, chilli, garlic etc which just enhance the flavour rather than drown it out. This recipe is very simple and as usual very tasty!!
WHAT YOU NEED:
- prawns
- 1 chilli seeded and diced (optional)
- 1 garlic clove finely chopped
- 2 tbsp fresh flat leaf parsley chopped
- juice of 1 lemon
- sea salt and black pepper
- olive oil
WHAT TO DO:
- preheat the oven to 220 degrees
- wash the prawns and pat dry and remove the black intestine. Put the prawns in a large bowl.
- mix together the remaining ingredients and season to taste. Pour over the prawns and leave to marinate in the fridge for about 30 mins.
- place the prawns in a metal roasting dish and roast them in the oven for about 10 mins, turning from time to time. Serve hot or cold with a simple rocket salad with shavings of Parmesan, a squeeze of lemon juice and olive oil.
This marinade could also be used for swordfish like I made here or with fresh tuna. Just pour over your fish when cooked.
BUON APPETITO!!!
reference - Silver Spoon, Carluccio, Valentina Harris
Lette :) (Comment this)
Rachel - I have to admit to eating them many a time and I'm still alive:)
Maryann - Happy Thanksgiving to you!! We don't celebrate it here unfortunatley:( I'm sure I'll read all about the wonderful food on yours:)
Kevin - Definitely one of my favourite especially when in Italy - surprise surprise!!
bigtree- I wish, that would require having some spare time in the day:) No, just got lucky I think - this photography thing is damn hard!!! (Comment this)