Prawns with fermented shrimp-paste butter

So much better than a shrimp on the barbie. The key here is high heat — you want the prawns to cook quickly enough so that the flesh is just cooked and translucent, while the shells and the heads get crisp enough to eat.

Serves 4 as an entrée 

Ingredients

12 large king prawns

2 tablespoons grapeseed oil

10g salted capers, rinsed, drained and fried crisp in hot oil

Lemon wedges, to serve

Shrimp-paste butter

125g unsalted butter

2 tablespoons Thai fermented shrimp paste

2 teaspoons tamari

Method

For the shrimp-paste butter, melt the butter in a heavy-based saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in the shrimp paste and cook slowly. You want to cook the paste for about as long as it takes to get the butter to a nice dark brown. There should be a nuttiness from the butter and a deep savouriness and an intense funk from the shrimp paste. Cool to room temperature, then season the butter with tamari.

To prepare the prawns, cut the shell along the length of the belly with kitchen scissors, then again along the back. This will let you peel half the shell from the body, keeping the head and tail in place. Now, cut along the length of the head from the base and butterfly it, removing the vein as you go. 

Get your oven hot, and I mean really hot. Warm your shrimp-paste butter gently in a saucepan and keep it warm. Have your fried capers, lemon and pepper mill at the ready.

Put a heavy, ideally cast-iron and definitely ovenproof, frying pan into your very hot oven to preheat — about 10 minutes. Now might be a good time to disable your smoke alarm and open a window. The pan should be large enough to fit the prawns in one uncrowded layer, otherwise cook them in batches.

Put the prawns, shell-side down, into the very hot pan, then pour the oil in around their heads and return the pan immediately to the oven. It will start to sizzle dramatically and start its work on frying the heads.

Cook the prawns till they’re just done — about 2–3 minutes. Err on the side of undercooking them; you can always put them back in the oven for another minute.

Drown the hot prawns in the warmed shrimp-paste butter and scatter them with fried capers and a healthy amount of black pepper. A squeeze of lemon brings it all to life.

I feel these are best eaten with your hands, aided by a good chunk of crusty sourdough for support. I’m always very happy when plates come back to the kitchen and the heads have clearly been savoured. Don’t be frightened by them; they’re delicious — possibly the best part of the whole prawn.

This is an edited extract from Ester ($55, Murdoch Books) by Mat Lindsay with Pat Nourse.