Valentine’s Day Dins – prawns in green pistachio butter recipe

Food Styling, Photography, Recipes, seafood, Uncategorized

For me it’s all about staying in on Valentine’s Day. The last thing I want to do is sit in a room with a load of other couples trying to be romantic. Where’s the intimacy in that? I actually love the fact that Valentine’s Day gives you an excuse to go to town on a three-course meal at home, which is something we don’t tend to do for ourselves unless we’re having pals over. It’s usually a case of ‘what’s in the fridge?’ or ‘what do you fancy?’, but there’s something really nice about actually planning a special menu for two. If you’re the same, and staying in tonight, here are some ideas for a menu that will delight but not exhaust. I created these recipes for Marks and Spencer and you can read the full article/interview here.

It doesn’t get much more romantic than shellfish doused in herbed butter, enjoyed with glasses of chilled champagne. Sweet, juicy tiger prawns work so beautifully – and a combination of shell-on and shelled prawns means you still get to lick the butter off your fingers.

Madagascan prawns with green pistachio butter

Serves 2

1 packet of shell-on Madagascan tiger prawns

1 packet of shelled Madagascan tiger prawns

For the herbed butter
50g pistachios
2 cloves garlic
¼ tsp toasted coriander seeds
60g butter
1 bunch of parsley, leaves only
Zest and juice of ½ lemon
Tbsp white wine
Salt and pepper
Olive oil
Watercress and lemon, to garnish

  1. To make the herbed butter, put the pistachios, garlic cloves and coriander seeds in a food processor and blitz to a coarse crumb. Add the butter, parsley, lemon juice and zest, white wine and season. Blitz until you have a green butter.
  2. Heat a tbsp of olive oil in a frying pan and add in the prawns. Fry for a couple of minutes, until the shells are starting to colour then add the butter. Allow it to melt slightly, then toss the prawns in the butter. Add in a slosh of water to loosen, and cook the prawns in the butter for about five minutes, or until heated through and well coated in the butter. Divide between plates and garnish with watercress and wedges of lemon. Enjoy with glasses of champagne.