Prawns flamed with tomato and brandy
30.06.10
For 4 as a starter or 2 as a main course
1 large banana shallot
2 garlic cloves
2 large tomatoes
1 lemon
about 2 tablespoons light olive oil
16-20 big raw prawns, shells still on
2 tablespoons tomato ketchup
about 100ml brandy or Cognac
large sprig of tarragon
125ml white wine
handful of curly parsley
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Preparation
Finely chop the shallot
Leave the skin on the garlic cloves, but crush them with the flat edge of a large knife. This releases the flavour of the garlic, but allows you to avoid actually eating it, if you don’t want to, because the cloves are easy to take out.
Peel, deseed and dice the tomatoes
Squeeze the juice from the lemon
Method
Heat the oil in a big saute pan with handles, or a deep frying pan, over a medium heat. You need this typeof pan as if you have a deeper pot, the alcohol will be too far away from the flame when you add it in step 2. When the oil is really hot but not smoking, add the prawns, shallot, garlic and ketchup. Stir them around well, and then add the tomatoes.
Now we come to the flaming. If you don’t want the brandy or Cognac to flame, just take your pan off the heat and then pour in the alcohol and stir it in. Once it is absorbed into the sauce you can put the pan back on the heat.
If you do want to flame it, and if you are using a gas hob, keep the pan on the heat and pour the brandy or Cognac into one part of the pan near the edge and tilt the pan towards the flame. It will flame and then die down quickly, if you are nervous, you can add the brandy a tablespoon at a time and the flames will be much smaller. If you are using an electric hob, pour the alcohol into one part of the pan, as before, and use a match - preferably a long, barbecue match - to set it alight.
Once the alcohol is flamed, add the tarragon, lemon juice and wine. Turn up the heat and let it bubble up, to burn off some of the alcohol in the wine, and then turn the heat down to low and let everything simmer for 5-6 minutes, depending on the size of your prawns. The prawns will change colour when cooked. If you want to test whether they are ready, take one out and pull off the head. If the colour inside the head is orange, it is ready; if it is black/green and slimy, it needs a little longer.
While the prawns are cooking, quickly chop your parsley and stir it in. If you like you can finish with a twist of black pepper and some sea salt, but there should be plenty of flavour in the sauce.
