This wonderful seafood dish is traditionally made with scampi. Langoustine also works well, but the real magic of the dish is the superflavorful tomato sauce in which they simmer. Be sure to have plenty of crusty bread on hand to soak up the sauce
100ml olive oil, plus extra to serve
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
3 shallots, finely chopped
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 large ripe tomatoes, peeled and chopped
pinch chilli flakes
pinch saffron strands
1 teaspoon salt
250ml white wine
24 large raw prawns, whole
2 tablespoons breadcrumbs
handful flat leaf parsley roughly chopped
freshly ground black pepper
METHOD
Pour 70ml of the olive oil in a frying pan and set over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and shallots.
When they are sizzling, stir in the tomato paste, chopped tomatoes, chilli flakes, saffron and ½ teaspoon of the salt. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring constantly to prevent the shallots and garlic burning, then add the wine and cook for a further minute.
Add 100ml water and the remaining salt, bring to the boil. Stir, then reduce the heat and let the sauce simmer and reduce for 20 minutes.
Bring a large pan of heavily salted water to a rolling boil (1 tbsp salt to 1l of water)
Taking care not to overcrowd the pan, add the langoustines, in batches if necessary, and cook for 3 to 4 minutes, taking care not to overcook them.
With the sauce still bubbling, add the Langoustine and coat them well. Season well with black pepper, and add a tablespoon of the breadcrumbs. Use more crumbs if the sauce is too thin.
Cook for a further 2 minutes then turn off the heat. Drizzle over a little more olive oil. Sprinkle with parsley.
Serve with crusty bread
Original recipe Rick Stein’s Istanbul to Venice
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