Author Notes
If you happen to find yourself in a California location where you can buy live Santa Barbara spot prawns swimming around in a tank then feel blessed. I've sometimes seen these sold in Chinese markets as "red prawns". If you are not so lucky, then hunt for other live shrimp or langoustines. You can substitute whole, head on (dead) shrimp but they won’t taste nearly as good. For best flavor do try to grill over real wood, such as oak or hickory. —pierino
Ingredients
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1 pound
spot prawns, alive and ready to kill you back
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1
stick unsalted butter or equivalent in ghee
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1 teaspoon
cayenne pepper
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1 teaspoon
black pepper
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1/2 teaspoon
dried oregano
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1/2 teaspoon
dried thyme
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1/4 teaspoon
cumin
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1/2 teaspoon
Ghost pepper salt* (very optional) or sea salt
Directions
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Fire up your coals on your Weber or whatever grill apparatus you typically deploy.
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Meanwhile, in a small sauce pan melt the butter. If you want to take the step to clarify it, I say good on you.
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Blend your other spice ingredients into the hot butter.
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Hopefully by now your grill is ready. If it is, it’s time to place your prawns/shrimp directly on the grill. Cover it and wait for about one minute. Now, grab a basting brush and paint your prawns with spicy butter. Cover once again.
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Turn the prawns once and baste some more until they look like the ones in the photo.
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Serve with white, long grain rice.
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*Ghost pepper salt is kind of a hip, new ingredient. It is salt flavored with ghost peppers which are way up there in scoville units of heat. But they are not essential to the dish, so feel free to use your favorite sea salt.
Standup commis flâneur, and food historian. Pierino's background is in Italian and Spanish cooking but of late he's focused on frozen desserts. He is now finishing his cookbook, MALAVIDA! Can it get worse? Yes, it can. Visit the Malavida Brass Knuckle cooking page at Facebook and your posts are welcome there.
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