On the first Tuesday of every month we like to head down to Guildford High Street to marvel at all the delicious, locally produced foods and compile a recipe for you based on ingredients we have managed to buy- here’s our offering for the November Farmers Market. We try and support businesses by buying some tasty little treats and picking up fantastic fresh food to cook great meals for under £5 a person. Doing this shows that you don’t need to break the bank to eat healthy food that is locally grown, sourced, produced and manufactured.
At this time of year people tend to have a lot of dinner parties- it is the season to be amongst friends and family and with the notorious British weather, it is also a great time to be indoors! Instead of picking a hearty meal such as the Sausage & Mash that we locally sourced last year, this time we thought of giving you a simple dish that could be used as either a fantastic starter for a meal, or served amongst other nibbles to give your party a high class taste.
Prawns are certainly not synonymous with November, but they often feature as an extremely tasty part of a sharing platter or a starter when people get together – think prawn tempura, prawn cocktail and BBQ prawn skewers. Here, we have a very quick dish that would work well if you’re busy preparing several other courses and can be mostly prepared in advance if need be. This can be served on plates for individual guests or on a platter to be picked at, plus it wont take up all your time and will taste so delicious your guests will be talking about it for days to come!
Ingredients:
1kg of King Prawns
A small box of watercress
1 tbsp Sichuan peppercorns
4 black peppercorns
2 tbsp sea salt flakes
A sprinkling of chilli flakes
1-2 garlic cloves
1 tbsp chopped coriander leaves
1 small red chilli
2 tbsp caster sugar
The juice of 3 limes
1 tbsp fish sauce
Cooking time: 20 mins
Serves: 4 people
Instructions:
- The Dipping Sauce: Rip some coriander leaves from their stalks and finely chop, alongside the red chili and garlic cloves before adding to a pestle and mortar. Pound in the sugar to the mix and add the juice from your limes and fish sauce- it should taste sweet, salty and spicy.
- The spice mix: Toast the Sichuan and black peppercorns in a dry frying pan over a medium heat for approximately a minute (or until fragrant). Take them off the heat, then finely grind in a spice mill or pestle and mortar and add the salt and chilli flakes, mixing together before transferring to a bowl.
- The Prawns: Wash the prawns in their shells and melt a nob of butter in a large frying pan. Cook the prawns in batches if need be as you don’t want to overcrowd the pan- they should take 4-5 minutes each, but you can tell when they are done as they will lose their translucent/silver colour and become a pinky orange. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain some of the fat off with some kitchen paper.
- Wash the watercress and scatter over a plate, placing the prawns on top and serving the dipping sauce on the side with a pot of the spicy salt & pepper mix to compliment as well. Let guests sprinkle the salt & pepper over at will and spoon sauce over the prawns or dip in the pot after de-shelling. Enjoy!
James Martin