One of the joys of living in BC is that once per year we get to enjoy seven blissful weeks of spot prawns. They are a local delicacy and for good reason! Spot prawns are caught just off of our coast and they are sweet, flavourful and a beautiful pink colour. I haven’t tried this yet, but I have heard that they are so good you can eat them raw right off the boat!
I attended the Chef’s Table Society Spot Prawn Festival at the False Creek Fishermen’s Warf two weeks ago, and I have to say I was impressed. For only $10 we got a full plate of food, including heirloom tomato and cucumber salad, Israeli couscous, some great buns from Terra breads, and of course, poached spot prawns. There was also wine samples, beer samples and coffee samples. Quite a lot of food for $10!
About three hundred people attended. I am proud to live in a city where the foodies come out in masses to enjoy this rare delicacy and then stand in line in the rain to get a plate a food!
Vancouverites in the rain waiting for food!
La Piece de Resistance
I know what you are thinking: why am I telling you about spot prawns when you can’t taste them? You can! Head over to 1 Fish 2 Fish in Langley at 20534 Fraser Hwy. They have fresh spot prawns daily! Follow this recipe and you will start looking forward to spot prawn season, too.
Garlic butter spot prawns
1 lb fresh spot prawns – not peeled (heads one is better, but if you that makes you leery, go with heads off)
1/4 lb unsalted butter
4 cloves garlic, sliced
Kosher salt
Squirt of lemon juice
- Put butter in a medium frying pan and heat to medium-low temperature.
- Add the sliced garlic.
- Let the garlic sizzle in the butter for 2-3 minutes but don’t let it brown
- Season the spot prawns with the kosher salt and add to the garlic butter
- You are cooking these slowly so that they will absorb the garlic flavour. So cook on one side for 3-4 minutes and then flip over and cook on the other side for 3-4 minutes. Until no longer translucent
- Squirt lemon juice and stir
- Serve immediately with a nice bottle of Sauvignon Blanc. Oh, and a heads up, spot prawn shells are spiky, so be careful when you are peeling them!
Tags: Recipe, Seasons, Spot Prawns
