Dining well at home doesn’t have to be too complicated. This simple recipe for prawns, slathered in garlic butter and Italian parsley and baked in a hot oven takes less than half an hour total to prepare and cook. It’s perfect fare for a casual dinner with friends or family. We normally enjoy this dish at the beach, and grill the prawns on the barbecue, see this previous post, but I figured it must be just as easy to do this at home. Start with live prawns if possible, or at least freshly harvested ones rather than frozen ones. Prepare a garlic butter mix by chopping up garlic finely, saute the chopped garlic in hot butter for a minute and turn off the heat (this will slightly pre-cook the garlic). I do this because the prawns don’t cook for too long and you risk a rawish garlic taste that is unpleasant to me. After the garlic has cooled a bit, add lots more butter, chopped italian parsley and some salt and pepper…
Cut a slit down the back of the prawns and remove the intestinal tract if necessary. Make the cut quite deep but not all the way through the prawn. Fill the cavity with lots of the butter and garlic mixture. Then I like to put a cookie rack on top of a baking sheet and prop up the prawns on the cookie rack so that the butter melts and flavors the prawn meat, rather than oozing out all over the pan. Bake in a hot oven say 400F for 8-10 minutes or until cooked (depends on the size of your prawns). Serve immediately with fresh lemon juice sprinkled on top if desired. Really easy to do, always a crowd pleaser. Oh, I forgot. If you want to get fancier, add some good breadcrumbs on top of the butter as it will absorb the fat and brown a little… :)
48 Responses
Garlic scent lingers in the mouth that chases away the vampires! I believe that’s how they came up with after dinner mint candies. The prawns looking robustly stuffed, appetizing and straight like an arrow. I like plain sauteed pasta in olive oil and chopped basil to go with the prawns! Must be a good match! What did you do with your prawns and they are straight like an arrow?
ooohh yum, reminds me of thermidor, but simpler, even I can do this!
…and then any drippings that accumulated on the cookie sheet, save it, MM. Then m abit more olive oil in a skillet, or any leftover garlic butter and olive oil together in skillet, chopped parsley, abit of ANCHOVIES chopped or anchovy paste, the drippings from the prawns, toss the pasta as Maria Clara would do and then add BREAD CRUMBS to the pasta. …my kids call it BREAD CRUMB pasta …really, really , reaally good!!!!
Propping the prawns on a cookie rack is a great idea!
Why didn’t I think of that? :)
…skewering the prawns from head to tail with bbq sticks will also make the prawns straight and will look good on a serving platter with lemon wedges.
You’ve done it again,MM and Bettyq!
I used the recipe for thermidor once but using prawns instead and had gone through the clamors of doing it again. It didn’t last long in the dining table. Had to go out and buy more ingredients. YuMMY!
Mmmmmmmmmmm…….this looks so delish. Yes bettyq have tried the breadcrumb thingey with pasta. Different. Guests cant figure out what it was…..
Wow!
Sarrrraaaaap!!!! Break open a bottle of wine with this and I am in heaven!
I’m salivating this very moment! and to think it’s only 9am…
just one little thing, MM…..i wouldn’t agree to “garlic gutter”, am sure it’s butter :-)
sarap! =)
millet, thanks for catching that, it has been edited. :)
I agree, MM that raw garlic taste is a bit sharp…so how about ROASTED GARLIC!!! When garlic goes on sale, I buy a whole kaboodle, roast them whole and then make a compound butter and shape into logs and freeze! …need to label it though. I have so many compound butters in the freezer!
bettyq, yes, roasted garlic would be great! I never thought to freeze it and stock it… yay! :)
simple and no mess..wow..wat a good idea!
Maria Clara: make a shallow diagonal cut on the belly side of the shrimps to prevent them from curling up.
Thanks for the tip Toping.
*speechless with awe*
grrr…. prawns are my second favorite pork species!
WOW!!!! this is my absolute favorite dish!! :D too bad the hubby is allergic to seafoods :( Thanks for this MM! im now imgagining grilled tangigue, kinilaw, lechon, puso and this dish on a sunny hot day at the beach :)
This is just absolutely delicious!
hi, betty. how do you roll out the butter compound? i always have difficulty making them into logs when the butter mixture is soft.
thanks ahead!
MarJ: first, save those toilet paper tubes ..the ones in the center when no more paper. Then plastic wrap. put you butter in center approximating the diameter of the toilet paper tube center. then put it inside the tube, close one end then hold one end and tap it on your counter and secure ends and freeze. When frozen remove the tube and you have a perfect roll with no flat ends….can you picture it?…If I don’t have those toilet paper rolls, I use the cutrite or foil centers …then cut them in half…much easier to handle than the long cutrite tubes.
SHRIMPS + BUTTER + GARLIC = heaven ! ! !
BettyQ : you are a domestic goddess..Nigella better watch out :)
Still haven’t made time to drop by plant stores for anti-mosquito plants. Btw my email addy is tinartiaga@yahoo.com
Wow betty! You’re like Martha Stewart without the jail-stock abandonment-thingy! ehehe
Awesome looking prawns. How did you keep them from curling up? I’ve also always wondered how they keep them straight in tempura? Thanks in advance for some tips you may have.
Laura, for tempura, they make slits in the shrimp to prevent it from curling. in some less scrupulous restaurant, they actually squeeze and effectively mash the shrimp so it is a rather limp mass of shrimp that is dipped into the batter.
Betty q, you are my idol homemaker! In our house, toilet paper tube goes directly to the trash bin. Never thought it can be of use. I can just imagine when your boys become grown ups and look for wives that would approximate your skills in the home. Imagine having you as a standard of what a homemaker should be…. daunting!!!!
MM, with all the baking you do, pop your garlic in at the same time. That’s what I do to save on gas, hehe. And I’ve also done this dish with roasted garlic which was just great. I didn’t use a cookie rack but I stacked the prawns side by side without any extra space so that they propped up one another.
On the contrary Ley, my boys are well trained …cooking, laundry, gardening that should they be on their own, they will be self sufficient and not have to rely on girlfriends when the day comes. I know some of hubby’s friends, got married and it’s the guys who do the cooking!
Oh, do you make your own flowers to decorate cakes? If you do make gumpaste flowers, you can use those tubes too…wrap it in plastic wrap and when you make petals such as for cattleyas or lilies, use that as a mould to get the bent shape.
Oh, mga Mrs…do not forget to label your compound butters and Marj: while yoou are tapping it or if you don’t want to tap it, hold both ends and twist gently until it is getting masikip inside the tube ….it should look like a fat sausage!!! When they are frozen, put the same ones in a zip plock bag so your freezer will not smell of garlic or herby stuff.
OK it is seldom I am “ganado” in sharing household or baking trade secrets. Have you guys wondered how those bakeries make their jelly rolls look perfectly round? …NO TOILET PAPER TUBES!!!…after you have slathered the buttercream icing all over the jelly roll, take a strip of wax paper about 2 to 3 inches wide and depending on how fat or skinny your jelly roll is, have about maybe 1 1/2 to 2 dangkal long strip. then hold one end of the strip against one side touching the counter. Then have the other end touching the other side with your other thumb and forefinger. the whole strip now should have the form or shape of the roll. Now, together slide that strip from top to bottom to smoothen the entire roll. Once you have done that , no need to put anything on top to hide the imperfections.
That is my last tip for tonight..Goodnight, MM and my virtual friends!
MM or betty q.
Pwede nyo po ba akong ampunin? ……….
really good!!
I’ll try it with “huelva prawns”.
Saludos from Spain, i love your blog =)
pwede ako din, pleeease?…..
Your tips are really good betty q. Akala ko ako lang ang nagtatago ng mga cardboard tubes. Even those from aluminum foils, paper towels, wac papers, etc. MarJ, if you want to re-use those tubes (that’s if you don’t use that much toilet paper each week), put the tubes in a plastic bag before you put them in the freezer. This way they won’t get wet and you can re-use them. To make bigger logs (for meat or whatever) I sometimes use cans – make sure you flatten the opening to avoid injuries and break your wraps. Wash the cans first too (he he he).
Wow, I was just thinking of roasting whole garlics this morning! Great tips, bettyq! Thanks!
definitely yummmy!
Oops didn’t realize my question has been answered – thanks for the tip toping – will try it :)
Thanks MM for the shrimp tempura tip!
mr. mm, now i’m super hungry… and angry… that I can’t get any of these soon enough. :)
thanks, Betty! a friend of mine told me to use the scraper and push the mixture back. i felt that wouldn’t hold that well yet.
Marj, Ley, Corrine, Kulasa…this is the easiest, no brainer way …I say life is hard enough as it is, so try this…
toilet paper tube diameter…another tube( foil or shelf liner tube )getting smaller than the diameter of the toilet paper tube, wrap platic wrap around it about dalawang beses paikot….then slip it into the toilet paper tube. make a buhol on one end and slowly pull the foil tube or shelf liner tube LEAVING THE PLASTIC WRAP in side the toilet paper tube. Now here comes the fun part. If you have a DISPOSABLE OR NON-disposable piping bag, fill it with the compound butter…NO TIP…cut one end and squeeze away. and twist the end, and make a buhol. freeze. You can have an assembly line of toilet paper tubes and pipe away. If you don’t have disposable piping bag, a zip plock bag will do…fill it with compound butter and cut one end…not too big….or you can make a cone out of parchmnet paper but using parchment paper is sayang!
I absolutely Love this dish. Was just wondering MM wether there is a lot of difference between italian parsley and the parlsey readily available in the supermarket. DO others add cream to have that creamy taste aside from butter ? or do they use bechamel sauce (not sure). Before i experimented adding roasted red bell peppers over butter garlic, parsley and cheese.
teny, if you can’t find Italian, use the curly parsley, but I do prefer he aroma/texture of the Italian or flat leaf parsley. Other do seem to add cream, more like a lobster thermidor…
Teny, i have seeds of italian parsley if you want…
Teny, if you want i have seeds of italian parsley
I made this last night and it was delicious. Thanks MM for introducing me to this simple yet wonderful recipe!
Hi, I tried this recipe and it was superb! Blogged about it here:
https://beadix.multiply.com/recipes/item/2/Prawns_with_Garlic_Butter
I will definitely keep this recipe in my “Tried and Tested” recipe file. :)
Amazing!!!! Thx for sharing!!!!!!