Potted Prawns

Potted Prawns

Traditionally potted prawns are made with cooked prawns spiced with mace. However, mace can be hard to find so nutmeg and coriander can be used in its place. For convenience and purity of flavour, you could substitute 500g green prawn meat and poach in salted boiling water until opaque.

Serves 6 – 8
Preparation: 10 minutes
Cooking: 10 minutes + 20 minutes resting

Ingredients

400g unsalted butter, diced
1 teaspoon crushed coriander seed
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3 bay leaves
2 ½ tablespoons tarragon leaves finely chopped
500g cooked prawn meat (approx. 1 kilo whole prawns)
2 teaspoons salt flakes
Juice and zest of 1 large lemon (1/4 cup or 60ml juice)
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper or chilli powder, to taste
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Melba toast or crusty bread, to serve

Method

1. Place 300g butter, coriander, nutmeg, bay leaves and 2 tablespoons tarragon leaves in a small saucepan over a medium high heat, until it is golden but not nut brown. Remove from the heat and cool for about 15 minutes to infuse the flavours and allow the milk solids to separate. Reserve bay leaves.
2. Shred or chop the prawn meat to 1cm pieces; then process half to a finer, but still coarse texture. Transfer to a mixing bowl with salt, pepper, lemon zest and juice and cayenne and mix well. Strain over the flavoured clarified butter, being careful to leave the solids behind. Mix and check seasoning. Pack firmly into a 1 litre serving dish, and top with bayleaves or extra tarragon sprigs.
3. Add the rest of the butter to a clean pot and heat gently to clarify; set aside for 5 minutes to cool and separate. Pour over the top of prawns to form a thin film. Refrigerate until set.
4. Serve with Melba toast or crusty bread.

Lyndey’s Note: You could also pack the prawns into 6-8 individual ramekins and serve as an entree. While the potted prawns need to be refrigerated, they taste better if they are out of the fridge for at least 10 minutes, so packing into the esky for a picnic is perfect!

Melba toast recipe here