Seasonal recipes for July: Six of the best ways to cook with prawns

Available all year round, paired with lighter flavours, tossed on the barbecue or served alone with a refreshing dip, prawns make the perfect summer dish

From cooking them tandoori style to serving them as a ceviche, prawns work best with a little warming spice (M Restaurant)

Cured prawns with peas and potato sauce

A summer reinvention using my favourite prawns. This dish is so fresh and light but packed full of flavour. It’s super simple and will be a winner at any dinner party!

For the pea puree

500g peas
50g unsalted butter
150ml whipping cream
½ bunch of mint (picked)

Add butter to a medium heat pan, add the peas and a splash of water to generate some steam. Cook until peas are almost soft and remove from pan. Place in blender, add cream and mint and blitz until smooth.

For the coal-cooked potato sauce

125g potatoes, dirty maris  piper
250ml rapeseed oil
100ml rice vinegar
50ml squid ink, optional
1 lemon, juiced

Cook your potatoes over fire, low and slow on the coals ideally, or roast in the oven wrapped in foil until cooked all the way through.

Blitz in a blender with the skin on, adding your ink, lemon juice and vinegar. Slowly add your oil until you have an emulsion similar to the consistency of a mayonnaise.

For the cure

150g sugar
100g sea salt
2 tsp coriander seeds, crushed
Finely grated zest of ½ grapefruit
Finely grated zest of ½ lemon

Ten minutes before you plan to serve, mix together all the ingredients for the cure. Spread a third of the mixture in a non-metallic bowl large enough to hold the prawns in a single layer.

Arrange the prawns on top, cover with the remaining mixture and set aside for 10 minutes. Remove the prawns from the cure, rinse well and pat dry.

To finish

12 red prawns, Portugese or Spanish variety
Peas to garnish
Pea shoots to garnish
Fresh almonds, or raw and skin on

First place your potato sauce down in a circular motion on your plate. Follow that with your pea puree in the gaps of your potato puree. Place your prawns down, 3 on each plate.

Dress your peas in a little lemon and olive oil and then garnish your plates with them, the pea shoots and the almonds, slightly crushed.

Recipe from M Restaurant

Tandoori-style king prawns and yoghurt rice by Vivek Singh

I like to use freshwater king prawns as they hold the marinade better and are sweeter and juicier, but seawater prawns work just as well. Serve with a fresh salad of your choice and chilled yoghurt rice on a hot summer’s day for the best lunch ever.

Serves 4

500g headless king prawns, peeled and deveined with tail intact
1 tbsp vegetable or corn oil

For the yoghurt rice

200g basmati rice
2 green chillies, chopped
2.5cm piece of ginger, finely chopped 
2 tsp salt
350g plain yoghurt
5 curry leaves, finely chopped
½ carrot, chopped into 5mm dice
½ cucumber, peeled, cored and chopped into 5mm dice
Seeds from ¼ pomegranate

For tempering

2 tbsp vegetable oil 
2 whole dried red chillies, broken 
1 tsp mustard seeds
10 curry leaves
1 red onion, chopped
1 tbsp chopped coriander

For the first marinade

1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
½ tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp salt
½ tsp carom seeds (optional)

For the second marinade

2 tbsp Greek yoghurt
2 tbsp cream cheese
2 tbsp single cream
1cm piece of ginger, finely chopped
1 green chilli, finely chopped
1 tbsp chopped coriander
1 tsp garam masala
2 tbsp vegetable oil 
1 tsp salt
Juice of 1 lemon

Soak 8 bamboo skewers in water for a couple of hours.

To make the yoghurt rice, boil the rice in a large pan of water for longer than normal, until it is almost overcooked, then drain and allow to cool. Add the green chilli, ginger, salt, yoghurt and curry leaves and mix well. Add the carrots, cucumber and pomegranate seeds and refrigerate to chill.

To temper the rice, heat the oil in a pan and add the dried chilli. When it splutters, smokes and changes colour to dark, add the mustard seeds, curry leaves and onion and cook until the onion turns golden brown. Tip this mixture into the prepared rice and mix in, sprinkle over the coriander leaves and serve chilled.

Place the prawns in a mixing bowl, mix in all the ingredients for the first marinade and set aside for 10 minutes. Heat the oil in a large heavy-based frying pan, add the prawns and sear quickly so that they curl up. Remove from the heat immediately and set aside to cool.

Preheat oven to 200C/gas mark 6.

Mix all the ingredients for the second marinade and dip the prawns in it. Thread the prawns on to the bamboo skewers, piercing the skewer through the tail of each prawn and taking it out through the tip of the head. Place on a baking tray and cook for 5-6 minutes in the preheated oven, then place under a hot grill for 1 minute and serve with the yoghurt rice and a salad of your choice.

Recipe by Vivek Singh

(Steven Joyce)

Crispy Falmouth Bay shrimp with sriracha creme fraiche

We don’t have any large native prawns around the shores of the UK, so we have to import ours from further afield. Many people aren’t even aware that we do have this fantastic species of British shrimp; although not very large, they are super-tasty. When deep-fried you can eat the whole thing, head and all. Any good fishmonger should be able to source these for you in season from late summer to early autumn, with some notice. Please give them a go!

Serves 4

Vegetable oil, for frying
200g Falmouth Bay/Mylor shrimp (small shrimp)
Plain flour, seasoned with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, for dredging
Sea salt, to taste
4 tbsp creme fraiche
1 tbsp sriracha chilli sauce
Lemon wedges, to serve

This recipe needs to be cooked and served immediately, so have everything ready to go. Ideally, use a deep fat fryer (if you haven’t got one, use a heavy-based saucepan) and heat the vegetable oil to 180-190C/350-375F.

Add the shrimp to a mixing bowl, sprinkle with seasoned flour, and turn with your hands, ensuring the shrimp are completely coated. Transfer to a sieve to remove any excess flour.

Now, carefully pour the shrimp into the hot oil and fry for 2-3 minutes, until crispy. Remove with a slotted spoon and place on paper towels to absorb any excess oil.

Transfer to a serving dish and sprinkle with a little sea salt. Mix the creme fraiche and sriracha together and serve on the side as a dipping sauce, along with lemon wedges to squeeze over the shrimp. Pairs well with a Cornish white wine, such as Knightor Trevannion.

Recipe from ‘Prawn on the Lawn: Fish and seafood to share’ by Katie and Rick Toogood (Pavilion Books) Photography: Steven Joyce

Shrimp ceviche

Serves 4

Prep time: 35 minutes

200g raw, whole medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
4 x 60ml bottles Tabasco or Tabasco chipotle sauce
240ml freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tbsp fine salt
150g diced tomato
150g diced red onion
50g roughly chopped fresh coriander 
½ avocado, cubed
30g sour cream
4 tostadas
50g crispy pork cracklings (chicharron), for garnish

In a large bowl, combine the shrimp, Tabasco sauce, lemon juice and salt. Set aside and marinate for 20 minutes. In a separate bowl, combine the tomato, onion and coriander and mix well. Season with salt to taste. Add avocado cubes.

Transfer vegetable mixture to bowl of marinated shrimp and mix well to incorporate.

Serving suggestion: spread sour cream on each tostada and top with ceviche. Garnish with slices of crispy pork cracklings.

Recipe by chef Antonio de Livier of La Panga del Impostor, Mexico

Sri Lankan coconut prawn curry

British prawns simmered in a creamy, fresh and aromatic coconut curry spiced with black mustard seeds and our Sri Lankan spice blend of turmeric, ground coriander, ground cumin and cayenne pepper. We’ve stirred in fresh tomatoes which contain lycopene, a powerful antioxidant.

100g black rice
1 brown onion
1 tbsp Sri Lankan spice blend
1 tsp black mustard seeds
1 tsp oil
200ml coconut milk
2 garlic cloves
2 x 150g raw prawns (shell on)
40g spinach
4cm fresh ginger
4 tomatoes
4 tsp desiccated coconut
6 cardamom pods

Boil a kettle. Rinse the black rice and add to a saucepan with 500ml boiling water and a pinch of sea salt. Simmer for 25-30 mins, then drain.

Finely dice the onion and peel and grate the garlic and ginger. Remove the cardamom seeds from the pods, lightly bruise the seeds with a rolling pin (or use a pestle and mortar) and discard the green shells. Roughly chop the tomatoes.

Heat a medium-sized pan on a medium heat with 1 teaspoon of oil and cook the onion for 7 mins until softened. Then add the ginger, garlic, cardamom seeds, black mustard seeds and Sri Lankan spice mix and cook for 2 mins. Add the coconut milk, desiccated coconut and diced tomatoes. Season with sea salt and black pepper and cook for 5 mins.

Meanwhile remove the shells from the raw prawns (if you don’t mind getting your hands messy when eating the curry then leave the shells on while cooking, as they will add extra flavour, and remove as you eat the prawns).

Stir the prawns and spinach into the curry, place a lid on the pan and simmer on a medium heat for a further 5-10 mins until the prawns have turned completely pink and are therefore cooked through. If the curry looks too dry add a little boiling water to thin the sauce.

Serve the Sri Lankan coconut prawn curry in two warm bowls alongside the black rice.

Recipe from MindfulChef.com

Majorcan style prawn stew

Majorcan new potatoes soak up Spanish-style flavours to create a fragrant and delicious spring stew. Adding tiger prawns just before the end of cooking leaves them perfectly cooked and juicy!

400g new potatoes
Flaked sea salt, to season
1 tbsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves, finely sliced
2 sweet white onions, finely sliced
200g chorizo sausage, sliced into ½ cm rounds
2 red pepper, diced
1 tsp dried oregano
2 sprigs fresh thyme, plus an extra tsp of fresh leaves to garnish
2 tsp sweet smoked paprika
2 x 400g can chopped tomatoes
8 tiger prawns
1 tsp fresh oregano leaves, to garnish
Aioli, to serve

Slice the new potatoes into 1cm thick rounds. Place a saucepan of water on to boil with a pinch of salt, add the new potatoes and simmer for 10 minutes, or until slightly tender, then drain through a colander.

Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large saute pan that has a lid over a low-medium heat. Add the garlic, sweet onion and chorizo, stirring so that the oil coats everything in the pan evenly. Cook for 5-7 minutes until the onions are translucent and the chorizo has started to brown slightly. Add the red pepper and continue to cook for 3 minutes.

Add the potatoes to the saute pan with the dried oregano, thyme sprigs and sweet smoked paprika, stir to coat then pour in the chopped tomatoes. Fill one empty tomato can with water and pour into the pan. Add a pinch of salt then stir and leave to simmer for 15 minutes.

Place the tiger prawns into the stew and cover with the lid. Cook about 5-8 minutes until the prawns have turned pink, depending on the size of your prawns, turning them over halfway through cooking.

Ladle into bowls, sprinkle with the fresh oregano and thyme leaves, and serve with a dollop of aioli.

Recipe from Seasonalspuds.com