The cicadas are screaming like there is no tomorrow, it is impossible to walk in the sun as the temperature soars above 30C. To joke, some people bluff that if it gets any hotter, they might fry an egg on their car bonnet. This is life in the Mediterranean on a hot summer’s day.
To refresh oneself in these conditions, water is essential, either to drink and rehydrate or else to jump into and cool down. Then comes the evening and the cicadas make way to long lazy evenings, preferably outdoors. There is a smell of burning charcoal wherever you walk. People are outdoors because the houses inside still retain the heat that has accumulated during the day.
As the sun starts to set, a nice breeze suddenly arrives. This is the time to enjoy the fruits of ones work.
In this case, the recipe below is the essence of simplicity. What you need is a good relationship with your fishmonger. Tell him or her what you have in mind, make sure what you are buying is extremely fresh and then let the ingredients do the showing off. Nothing tastes of freshness as these raw marinated prawns.
Serves four as part of an antipasto. With this I served some grilled calamari and a tartare of tuna (see recipes in subsequent posts).
Ingredients
- 12 fresh prawns
- One lemon
- Zest of one orange.
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Maldon sea salt (You can use fleur de sel)
Method
1. Clean the prawns. Remove the head, peel the skin one by one and rinse in cold water. Then remove the vein. What I do is cut a very small incision in the middle of the prawn and then remove with the blunt edge of the knife. Clean them again in cold water.
2. Place the peeled raw prawns in a plate or bowl. Add the juice of one lemon and a good drizzle of extra virgin olive oil (the best you can find). and then mix the prawns with the mixture to ensure that the prawns are all covered with the mixture. Then add the zest of one small orange of top for added acidity and freshness and sprinkle some salt on top.
3. Keep in the refrigerator until ready to serve (within two hours).
4. Enjoy.
Drinking recommendation: Raw prawns have a certain sweetness which cuts through the acidity of the lemon juice and orange zest. This dish screams Southern Mediterranean so I would stick with an acidic wine from South Italy. A Falanghina or Fiano d’Avellino from Campania would work extremely well as would a fresh Insolia from Sicily. I would also recommend it with a Vermentino from Sardegna, Tuscany or Liguria
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