BC Spot Prawns – BBQ dem beasties!

The BC Spot Prawns craze has started!  The little beasties are in season May to early June in Vancouver.  I went down to Fisherman’s Wharf  to pick some up during the prawn festival and was terrified by the line up.  Luckily, you can pick some up on the dock’s yourself between noon and 1pm any day.

Here’s a quick ‘n easy spot prawns recipe – my favourite way to cook them. It’s very simple so that the flavour of the spot prawn is front and center.   A vid on how to shell them is on the right side bar…

Ingredients:

• 20 live spot prawns – cook them on the day you buy them
• 1/4 cup sea salt or kosher salt
• 1 Tbs fresh cilantro
• 1 Tbs olive oil
• 1 lemon
• wooden BBQ skewers (soak them in water)

Directions:

• Shell the prawns, (it’s wise to reserve heads for stock). Video on how to is on the right sidebar…
• Toss prawns in olive oil.  Skewer 5 on each wood stick.
• Use a mortar and pestle to grind the salt and cilantro together until it turns green.  Sprinkle on prawns
• Oil your grill, heat BBQ or grill to med-high.  Put prawns on grill for 1 min per side, do not overcook!  If you’re not sure of cooking times, test cook one prawn first.  The meat should be white all through, but moist.
• Serve hot on a nice, fresh apple, celery, rhubarb slaw (shown in pic) or any other salad you like.  Serve lemon wedges on the side.

Note: Fresh prawns freeze quite well, so don’t be afraid to buy extra while they’re in season.  It’s way better than buying crappy Tiger Prawns later in the year from who knows where.  Make sure you shell them before you freeze them though.