Garlic & Rosemary Prawns
SUPER APPETIZER FOR SUPER LAZY WEEKEND ENTERTAINING
Happy Monday you guys! I gotta tell you this weekend dinner with friends was super laid back. Everything on the menu was simple yet fabulous. The reason being is that we had a very busy week. So, to preserve my sanity fair – although in my mind, sanity, seriously, is for the weak 🙂 – I went with ‘no fuss no mas’ dishes.
You know there have been many a weekend entertaining that I could be ridiculously unbearable for Eric. I got into that one mode that he dislikes the most: “obsessiveness.”
I obsess about the house being super clean. The food being served at the right temperature. The perfectly chilled wine. No dirty plates in the dishwasher, nor clean ones being air-dried on the countertop. Fresh hand towels in the powder room. Fresh tea towels, for friends who use my kitchen sink to wash their hands. All surfaces Windexed and Lysoled. ‘Dialed in’ ambiance setting, that includes music and lighting. Making sure that I’m no longer hanging out in the kitchen for too long when my friends arrive. Me, miss “I don’t care about time” becomes a time sergeant in a matter of 1 hour — the hour prelude to the guests arrival.
Can you imagine being Eric? Well, you may not want to 🙂 It’s tough to live with me, I’m telling you . . . So, for being a good boy (most of the time), I thought I should give my hubby a sanity break this weekend 😀
So here it is, my slackin’ h’ordeuvres: Garlic and Rosemary Prawns. Delicious, check. Elegant, check. Super simple, check, and… double check! This recipe is really good to have, especially if you’re pressed for time, or simply wanting to be lazy on your well deserved day-off 🙂 Also, this can be made with shrimp (of course). I myself like meatier, larger shrimp. Easy to pick up with your hands and definitely more satisfying.
To begin, you need to roast a whole head of garlic. This itself is a beautiful journey — starting with having your place filled with heavenly aromas, and building up to having such buttery soft, golden, sweet and mellow garlic cloves that easily come out of their skins when squeezed. Its flavor wonderfully mingles with the soft butter, minty and peppery rosemary, and lively crushed red pepper. Savory, slightly sweet, spicy and the fresh tang of lemon rounds up your taste buds.
Friends, let’s sound off for a slothful, “sanity fair”, uncomplicated entertainment weekend! (I may get used to it… Let’s hope.)
- 1 whole head of garlic
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ⅓ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1½ tablespoons fresh rosemary leaves, minced
- crushed red chili flakes, to taste
- ½ teaspoon fleur de sel
- fresh cracked pepper, to taste
- 10 to 15 tiger prawns
- Preheat oven to 350°F. On a small baking sheet, place garlic drizzled with oil. Roast for 40-45 minutes. Remove the garlic from the oven and set aside, let it cool down.
- Increase the oven temperature to 400°. Meanwhile squeeze the garlic cloves from their skins into a medium mixing bowl. Add butter, rosemary, chili flakes, salt and pepper. With a hand held blender (or a food processor,) mix to make smooth paste.
- On a rimmed baking sheet, place prawns and slather them with the garlic butter mixture. Cook for 10 minutes until the prawns just curled into a C-shape.
