Weekend Cooking: Throw a Prawn on the barbie

This week it was Australia Day and so it seems like a great time to talk barbecues, and particularly prawns. This was prompted by the fact that a couple of weeks ago I watched the episodes of Oprah where she came to Australia. In the first part where she was touring around, she went to the Great Barrier reef and was dropped on an island and Curtis Stone cooked for her and some of her travelling audience! They started with seafood, and Curtis mentioned throwing a shrimp on the barbie. Now first of all, Curtis should know better - it was a prawn, and secondly I wouldn't have minded getting my hands on those prawns because quite frankly they were huge!

And that prompted me to think that I haven't posted my favourite prawns on the barbecue recipe for at least a year, and certainly not as part of Weekend Cooking, and so today's post was born!

I've made this recipe quite a few times now - only difference is that I use prawn cutlets (no heads), and some times I use lemons instead of lime because they aren't always easy to find in the shops.


Low-fat barbecued prawns with lime, chilli & coriander

Preparation Time

20 minutes
Cooking Time

25 minutes

Ingredients (serves 4)

* 2 tbs fresh lemon juice
* 1 tbs fish sauce
* 2 tsp olive oil
* 4 kaffir lime leaves, deveined, finely shredded crossways
* 2 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
* 3 small fresh red chillies, deseeded, chopped
* Salt & freshly ground black pepper
* 1kg (about 12) large green king prawns, peeled leaving head and tail intact, deveined
* 2 tbs roughly chopped fresh coriander
* Lemon wedges, to serve (optional)

Method

1. Combine the lemon juice, fish sauce, oil, lime leaves, garlic and chillies in a large ceramic or glass bowl. Season with salt and pepper.
2. Add the prawns and toss gently until the prawns are coated in the marinade. Cover and place in the fridge for 30 minutes to marinate.
3. Heat a barbecue grill or chargrill on high. Cook the prawns in batches of 3-4 on preheated grill (depending on available space), brushing with the marinade, for 2-3 minutes each side or until they change colour, curl and shells are browned. Place the cooked prawns on a plate and cover loosely with foil to keep warm while cooking the remaining prawns.
4. Place the prawns on serving plates, sprinkle with the coriander and serve immediately with the lemon wedges if desired.

Weekend Cooking is hosted by Beth Fish Reads and is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, fabulous quotations, photographs.