Passport & Plate - Tarascon Prawns
France | Monday, March 10, 2014 | 5 photos
Ingredients
4 Nigerian Prawns (or the largest prawns you can find)
1 onion, sliced
2 cloves garlic, loosely chopped
2 shots pastis (about 60ml)
1 cup liquid stock (preferably fish, otherwise vegetable)
1 tsp dried thyme
1 bay leaf
100ml rouille
olive oil, salt and pepper to taste
1 lemon and fresh bread for garnish
How to prepare this recipe Butterfly the prawns (see instructions below), then place on a plate, flesh down, cover with cling film, then put another plate on top to flatten, and place in the fridge.
Fry off garlic and onion in some olive oil at a medium-high temperature – let them brown a little. When they are nearly soft, add pastis, and cook down for a minute or so.
Add stock and herbs, reduce heat, and cover. Simmer until onions are very soft (about 15 minutes)
Strain sauce, and and whisk in rouille, then add creamy sauce back to onions back in the pan.
Remove prawns from fridge, sprinkle with salt, and grill under flame. Start flesh side down, then turn once the shells are pink, then cook until flesh is white and has no translucence. (about 5-8 minutes total) When cooked place on a plate, belly-up.
Warm sauce. It may split for a moment, but don’t be concerned - it will come back with whisking. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Pour over prawns and serve with crusty bread and lemon wedges.
To butterfly prawns leaving the shell on:
Remove head with a twist and a gentle pull. Most of the innards will come with the head.
The digestive tract should protrude a little. Pull ever so gently, and it should slide out fairly easily. If the prawn is not as fresh, it may break, but you can remove the rest later.
With kitchen scissors, cut off legs, then slice up the belly all the way to the tail.
With a sharp knife, slice down to backbone, then open up, removing any residual gore. Make a small cut with scissors at the head end.
Wash, then pat dry.
Place the prawn belly-down on a board or plate, then flatten with your hand gently. The shell will crack in places, but remain intact.
The story behind this recipeI call Tarascon’s Tuesday market "Maman" – Mother. It’s wholesome, hearty and welcoming. Not only that, it’s got a pot of something warm and yummy waiting for you as soon as you step over the threshold.
It’s a market famous for paella, but that’s not all you’ll find served up. Go early, and don’t eat breakfast. Your nose will find the market for you soon after you enter one of the many arches that lead through the ancient walls. It’s hard to go past the rotisserie chicken, dripping its lovely juices all over salted potatoes resting in the tray underneath, or the porc roti – rolled and stuffed with herbes de provence and rose pepper, then slow roasted until the fat breaks down and leaves only the meat behind. Buy it in inch-slabs and eat it with your hands as you stroll the rest of the market looking for lunch or dinner.
Tarascon is not a port town, but very close to Marsaille and the Camargue, and also resting on the Rhone River. You will find everything you need to put in a bouillabaisse – mussels, cockles, clams, calamari, gorgeous shiny dorade grise (sea bream) and prawns ranging from thumb sized pearly ones to king Nigerians almost the size of lobsters. The fish is bright and clean smelling – almost the best I’ve seen. It sleeps on ice, with clear eyes wide open, smiling, as if it knows it’s going to make a grand dish.
Every stall has a home recipe rouille (an accompaniment for bouillabaisse) in petit pots for sale by the gram. It's a traditional french sauce used with bouillabaisse. There is no definitive recipe for Rouille (pronounced roo-ee), as it has always been a home-made dish consisting of any left-over ingredients. It must include saffron, garlic and olive oil, and usually red peppers. It is thickened either with breadcrumbs or egg yolks – personally I prefer the latter.
This is the story of what I brought home from market, and the incredible dish it made.
