Ingredient: Prawns
Frozen prawns are often fresher than the ones you find at the fish counter. This is because most prawns get flash-frozen on the boat within hours of being caught, while those glistening “fresh” ones have usually been frozen and thawed already, then sit around looking pretty. So, keeping a bag in your freezer isn’t a compromise, it’s actually quite sensible.
I try to buy the MSC approved wild Atlantic caught prawns, as there have been question marks over the farming of prawns and the routine use of antibiotics in farmed prawns. I nearly always have a bag of of these prawns tucked in my freezer, as they are such an easy way to get a proper meal on the table fast.
Whether they come with the shell and head on or off, prawns are easy to thaw under a cold tap. As soon as you start cooking them (perhaps with a little garlic and lemon) they turn from grey/blue to pink (some uncooked prawns are pink, so check the label) and are tender and sweet, so within minutes you’ve got a delicious, high-protein supper. And that pink colour isn’t just pretty, by the way. It comes from astaxanthin, an antioxidant that prawns pick up from their diet. So, they’re doing your cell repair a favour while looking gorgeous on your plate. Prawns are brilliant for your thyroid too, packed with selenium and iodine, which many of us who live in the UK don’t get enough of.
Prawn curry is probably my favourite way to eat prawns, and I also love them in a Nasi Goreng or Paella – or simply tossed through a lemony pasta with a handful of parsley.
