Prawns in Puff Pastry

In an attempt to evict the old second fridge/freezer to save both money and power, I undertook the feat of condensing two freezer-loads worth of food into one. My Tetris skills, whilst impressive given the final result, were not so good that there were not casualties. I had a large, space eating bag of frozen prawns that were deemed to big to fit anywhere, so the just had to be eaten. As if that's a shame. Given than this months’s challenge on is seafood, I decided to revisit on old favourite.

I cooked this dish with salmon for the very first week of my cook book challenge, so I thought I'd try it with my favourite seafood.

If there's one thing I love more than prawns, it's puff pastry. Combing them is godly.

First step is to cut out and blind bake the base.

… and then somehow resist the temptation to eat the pastry while the rest cooks.

I love the little scales. Trying not to eat them whilst serving is another feat to overcome.

This dish worked just as well with prawns, though is obviously less "meaty" than the salmon version.

Here's how you can make your own:

Prawns in Puff Pastry

Ingredients

450g/1lb puff pastry

1 egg, beaten

3 hard-boiled eggs

90ml/6tbsp single cream

200g/7oz/1 ¾ cups cooked long grain rice

30ml/2tsp chopped tarragon

500g prawns, shells and tails removed and deveined

40g/1½oz/3tbsp butter

Juice of ½ lemon

Salt and freshly ground pepper

Method

1. Preheat oven to 190°C/375°F Roll out two thirds of the pastry into a large oval, measuring around 35cm/14in in length. Cut into a curved fish shape and place on a lightly greased baking sheet. Use trimmings to make narrow strips. Brush one side of each strip with a little beaten egg and secure in place around the rim of the pastry to make a raised edge. Prick the base all over with a fork, then bake for 8-10 minutes until the sides are well risen and lightly golden. Cool.

2. In a bowl, mix the hard boiled eggs with cream , then stir in rice and herbs. Spoon mixture on to the prepared pastry.

3. Melt butter in a fry pan then add prawns. Turn the pieces over in the butter so that they begin to colour but do not cook through.

4. Remove from heat and arrange on top of the rice. Stir lemon juice in to butter, then spoon over prawns.

5. Roll out remaining pastry and cut out a semi circle piece to cover head portion and a tail shape to cover the tail. Brush both with beaten egg. Score a criss-cross pattern on the tail.

6. Cut the remaining pastry into small circles and, starting from the tail end, arrange in overlapping lines to represent scales. Add an extra one for the eye. Brush with beaten egg.

7. Bake for 10 minutes, then reduce to 160°C/325° and cook for a further 15-20 minutes until pastry is evenly golden. Serve.

x-posted here @