Monday, June 13, 2011

Monday, May 30th - Spot Prawn Grill Fest

Spot Prawn Grill Fest
Spot Prawns are peculiar specialty for this area.  The first time I had them was at work, oddly enough.  A lovely girl on my team, shrimps (as in the verb) as a hobby on the weekend from their speedboat.  They catch nearly a thousand and freeze them.  We, non-shrimpers, were facinated with the whole deal.  So as a treat and to demistify the Spot Prawn for us new to the area, she brought in a large container of lightly poached with some cocktail sauce.  They were spectacular.  They were big, bigger than most shrimp of that size in girth.  The meat was quite sweet and didn't need the sauce at all to show it off.  Very cool. 

I was very surprised to find out that they are also pink when they are uncooked.  They are an extremely sustainable seafood.  In fact, when I was down on the Pier at the Granville Fisherman's Wharf  buying some from a boat, the purveyor dared me to eat one raw like David Suzuki had the other day when he went out catching with him.  They are only available for a few months a year and sell for a premium in Vancouver.  And like alot of rarer and specialty foods, alot of the catch is sold to Japan.   So our philosophy is, try to find them as often as we can and we must have them at least once a year.

I made a Paella a couple weeks ago that I have not yet posted but was fab!  It is similar to this Spot Prawn Paella I posted last summer.  Today, though, with my sister visiting, we just cleanly grilled them. 


Spot Prawn Grill Fest
Serves 3-4
2 lbs Live Spot Prawn (Not for the squeemish. Hence, D did this grilling.)
2-3 T Olive Oil
Lemon
Coarse Salt and Pepper
Fresh Parsley (optional)


Rinse the Live Prawn under water to wash any tank water off and drain.  Drizzle with Olive Oil. 

Place directly on a hot grill.  Turning once, cook for 6 minutes total. 

Remove from grill on to a serving platter or cutting board.  Squeeze the Lemon on top and sprinkle with Coarse Sea Salt and Pepper.  Add some fresh Parsley if you have it.  Remember to get the goodness in the head.

We served this with BBQ'd Baked Potatoes, Corn on the Cob and a simple Spinach Salad.  Wonderful!

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3 Leave a / Read COMMENTs:

Unknown said...

You had me drooling right up to the point where the live prawn are put on a hot grill. No can do. I couldn't even let Hubby do it. I'd be crying in the bedroom, imagining I could hear their little cries of pain. I'm a wuss. Which is a bummer because this looks SOOOOOO amazingly delicious.

Torviewtoronto said...

delicious looking shrimp

Yummo! said...

Haha! They do jump. Yikes! Though it was not as bad as the BBQ'd lobster. I won't go there again.