The perfect prawns

I've seen a lot of prawn recipes that are very elaborate. And that's unfortunate as, really, prawns are nice enough to stand up on their own. So long as you buy good ones, I mean. Or have the facilities and the opportunity to catch them. So far as I'm concerned, you shouldn't bother working with prawns unless you can get fresh, local produce. Buy them on the day you plan on cooking them. Don't buy them on days when there's no way they could've been brought in fresh, like Sunday and Monday or after a public holiday. Don't buy the pre-cooked ones. They're rubbish. Don't buy the pre-shelled ones, either. They're terrible. When you're making a dish that only has a couple of ingredients, when you're allowing the ingredients to speak for themselves, the quality of your purchase is immediately apparent the moment you start eating. I mean, recently, a friend dropped by with a pile of prawns he picked up from one of the big supermarkets. In terms of freshness and quality, they paled in comparison to the prawns I picked up for less at one of the nearby Vietnamese fishmongers. Clearly, the customer base of the fishmonger is fussier than that of the average supermarket. Particularly during the summer holiday period, when many people are barbecuing.

So, yeah, buy good prawns, is the point. They need not be the most expensive, but they look and smell fresh. They shouldn't be all battered, physically. And they shouldn't smell too bad. If they smell kind of like a cleaning product, like ammonia, then refuse to buy them. If they smell really, really, really fishy, then yeah, don't buy them. If you're like me and live in a multicultural area, you'll probably have many butchers, fishmongers, delis, green grocers and spice stores within a reasonable distance of your home. Or if you live near one a fresh produce market, the same advice applies. Shop around.

Too, while you're out shopping, pick up some lemons. Seafood and lemon juice are a timeless and winning combination.

To prepare the prawns, take a sharp paring knife and drip the tip into the shell just behind the head. Carefully work your way along the prawn's 'spine' until you reach the tail. Now, gently pull the prawn open. You'll see an intestine. If the prawn's eaten lately, it'll be dark. Other times, it'll be a very pale green. It's very important you fish out the 'poo tube', as it does have a significant and negative impact on the taste of the flesh. Once you get used of the process of removing the 'poo tube', you'll be able to work your way through even a large pile of prawns in no time. This can be done ahead of time. Removing the 'poo tubes' of larger prawns is much easier than removing the 'poo tubes' of smaller prawns, so keep that in mind when shopping.

Place the freshly gutted prawns in a shallow bowl of olive oil. You can, if you want, add a crushed clove or two of garlic to the oil (remember the garlic oil will be even more flavoursome if you allow the garlic cloves to infuse in the oil overnight before adding the prawns). Cut the lemons into wedges. You're going to need them very soon.

When you're ready to cook, pre-heat a barbecue, grill pan or fry pan until the smoking point. Seriously, if you're using a pan, pre-heat it for a good five to ten minutes. Then add your prawns. Now, if you have a large amount of prawns, add only a few at a time. If you crowd the pan, the temperature will drop. Immediately squeeze lemon juice all over the prawns. Cook for maybe 45-60 seconds. Working quickly, flip the prawns over and squeeze more lemon juice over them. After 45-60 seconds, remove the prawns from the pan and place them on a serving platter.

And that's it. You can experiment, of course. If you really wanted, you could jam a thin sliver of chilli into the back of each prawn. You could add roughly chopped fresh parsley to the marinade, as they do in the MoVida cookbook. But whatever you do, keep in mind the whole point of the exercise is for people to be able to appreciate the lovely fresh prawns you've picked up. The last thing you want to do is to kill the flavour with a strong sauce or dressing.