Garlic and Saffron Prawns

Garlic and Saffron Prawns

When I made this dish, I was so very impressed by how cheap and easy it was, that I enthusiastically tweeted a picture of them, with the caption: "For dinner tonight I made quick&easy saffron garlic prawns. Only $3 for the prawns&feels luxurious!"... only to get a couple of tweet-replies saying that my tweet sounded sponsored or PR-driven. Haha!

It wasn't. I was literally just that excited by the dinner I'd made and wanted everyone to know! I don't often eat prawns, or even cook meals without following a recipe, and was just so pleased with how this off-the-cuff dinner turned out. Those of you who know me will know that it is entirely normal for me to flip out about mundane food things like this and irritate everyone around me with my enthusiasm. (E.g. "My local supermarket has lamb ribs now!", "That cafe near my work is selling cold drip!", "I used pine nuts instead of almonds in a salad and they were amazing!")

Just to be clear: this meal involved no prawn-sponsorships, no shady prawn-tweet incentives, no free prawns from the mysterious prawn people in exchange for positive prawn coverage. (If I were in cahoots with the prawn people, or if I'd gotten free prawns for some reason, I'd just say so! No reason not to!)

I just bought some prawns at the supermarket and cooked them up for dinner.

So, let's look at the meal itself. I simply steamed the prawns in white wine, using pretty much the same method as I do for mussels. Easy easy, fast, and cheap!

Garlic and chilli sizzling away in olive oil

Who doesn't love the smell of garlic sizzling away in a pan?

Prawns

I added a pinch of saffron to the white wine, enriched the sauce with a little butter at the end, and sprinkled it with parsley to serve. Dee-licious.

Garlic and saffron prawns, lemon wedges, bread roll, rocket

Garlic and saffron prawns, rocket, bread roll, lemon

Garlic and Saffron Prawns
An original recipe by Sarah Cooks

Ingredients
Generous pinch of saffron
1/4 cup dry white wine
Olive oil
1 clove garlic
1 chilli
200 grams shelled raw prawns
Flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped

Method
Place the saffron in the wine and set aside.
Peel and finely slice the garlic, finely chop the chilli (deseed it if you like).
Place the garlic and oil into a pan that has a tight fitting lid. Place the pan over a medium heat, cooking until the garlic aroma wafts up. Add the chillies and turn the heat to high.
Add the prawns, followed by the saffron and wine, which should sizzle ferociously. Stir around to mix, then clamp on the lid and cook for 2 minutes.
Remove the lid, and remove the prawns to a serving dish with a slotted spoon.
Boil the liquid to reduce and thicken it slightly. Add a little butter if you like, to enrich the sauce. Pour the sauce over the prawns. Sprinkle with pepper and garnish with chopped parsley to finish.
Serve with crusty bread and lemon wedges.
Serves one

Garlic and Saffron Prawns

When I made this dish, I was so very impressed by how cheap and easy it was, that I enthusiastically tweeted a picture of them, with the caption: "For dinner tonight I made quick&easy saffron garlic prawns. Only $3 for the prawns&feels luxurious!"... only to get a couple of tweet-replies saying that my tweet sounded sponsored or PR-driven. Haha!

It wasn't. I was literally just that excited by the dinner I'd made and wanted everyone to know! I don't often eat prawns, or even cook meals without following a recipe, and was just so pleased with how this off-the-cuff dinner turned out. Those of you who know me will know that it is entirely normal for me to flip out about mundane food things like this and irritate everyone around me with my enthusiasm. (E.g. "My local supermarket has lamb ribs now!", "That cafe near my work is selling cold drip!", "I used pine nuts instead of almonds in a salad and they were amazing!")

Just to be clear: this meal involved no prawn-sponsorships, no shady prawn-tweet incentives, no free prawns from the mysterious prawn people in exchange for positive prawn coverage. (If I were in cahoots with the prawn people, or if I'd gotten free prawns for some reason, I'd just say so! No reason not to!)

I just bought some prawns at the supermarket and cooked them up for dinner.

So, let's look at the meal itself. I simply steamed the prawns in white wine, using pretty much the same method as I do for mussels. Easy easy, fast, and cheap!

Garlic and chilli sizzling away in olive oil

Who doesn't love the smell of garlic sizzling away in a pan?

Prawns

I added a pinch of saffron to the white wine, enriched the sauce with a little butter at the end, and sprinkled it with parsley to serve. Dee-licious.

Garlic and saffron prawns, lemon wedges, bread roll, rocket

Garlic and saffron prawns, rocket, bread roll, lemon

Garlic and Saffron Prawns
An original recipe by Sarah Cooks

Ingredients
Generous pinch of saffron
1/4 cup dry white wine
Olive oil
1 clove garlic
1 chilli
200 grams shelled raw prawns
Flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped

Method
Place the saffron in the wine and set aside.
Peel and finely slice the garlic, finely chop the chilli (deseed it if you like).
Place the garlic and oil into a pan that has a tight fitting lid. Place the pan over a medium heat, cooking until the garlic aroma wafts up. Add the chillies and turn the heat to high.
Add the prawns, followed by the saffron and wine, which should sizzle ferociously. Stir around to mix, then clamp on the lid and cook for 2 minutes.
Remove the lid, and remove the prawns to a serving dish with a slotted spoon.
Boil the liquid to reduce and thicken it slightly. Add a little butter if you like, to enrich the sauce. Pour the sauce over the prawns. Sprinkle with pepper and garnish with chopped parsley to finish.
Serve with crusty bread and lemon wedges.
Serves one