Prawns with fermented shrimp-paste butter

Serves 4 as a starter Starters and mains

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Method

For the shrimp-paste butter, melt the butter in a heavy-based pan over a medium heat. Whisk in the shrimp paste and cook slowly until the butter is dark brown – you are looking for a nuttiness from the butter and a deep savouriness from the shrimp paste. Cool to room temperature, then season the butter with the tamari.

To prepare the prawns, cut the shell along the length of the belly with kitchen scissors, then again along the back, which will allow you to peel off half the shell from the body, keeping the head and tail in place. Cut along the length of the head, from the base, and butterfly it, removing the vein as you go.

Preheat the oven to 250C/ 230C F/Gas 9 or your oven’s hottest setting. Warm the shrimp-paste butter gently in a pan and keep it warm. Have the fried capers, lemon and the pepper mill to hand. Put a heavy, ovenproof (preferably cast-iron) frying pan into the very hot oven to preheat for around 10 minutes. It should be large enough to fit theprawns in one uncrowded layer. Alternatively, you can cook them in batches.

Carefully remove the very hot pan from the oven. Put the prawns, shell-side down, into the pan, then pour the oil in around their heads and return the pan immediately to the oven – take care as it will start to sizzle dramatically. Cook the prawns for around 2-3 minutes until just done, erring on the side of undercooking as you can always put them back in the oven for another minute.

Remove from the oven, pour the warmed shrimp-paste butter and scatter the fried capers over them. Add a generous grind of black pepper and a squeeze
of lemon and serve the whole prawns – the heads can be eaten along with the rest – with crusty sourdough, if using.