My garlic king prawn, mushroom and asparagus salad

Ingredients (for 2-4 people) :

• 12 raw king prawns (give or take, depending on your appetite and financial health), de-veined and peeled (note: you can leave the tail on for presentation)
• A large handful of asparagus (note: you can add more asparagus if you wish to bulk up the dish, or less asparagus if you wish to make prawns the star)
• 1-2 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 1 large red chilli, de-seeded and chopped finely (note: if you want it extra hot, you can use birdseye chilli instead)
• 6 button mushrooms, finely chopped
• 1 small knob of butter (30 grams give or take)
• Olive oil
• 1 lime (for garnish)
• 1 lemon, juiced
• 1 teaspoon of praprika (note: you can use smoked or sweet praprika in this dish, as both would go well with the prawns)
• 1 small knob of ginger, grated
• Salt and pepper (if you want it extra hot, use white pepper instead of black)

Peel the asparagus and blanch in salty boiling water for 30 seconds. Dump the cooked asparagus in icy water to stop the cooking process. Set aside.

Heat the pan over medium high heat, add olive oil and butter. When butter has melted, add prawns, garlic, ginger, salt, pepper and praprika. Sautee till prawns have changed colour and started to caramelize, it should take about 3-5 minutes (depending on the size of your pan, size of prawns, quality of pan, etc). Add chopped chilli and lemon juice. Cook for another minute or two, and take the prawns out of the pan. In the same pan, cook the chopped mushrooms with a little salt and pepper. You may wish to add a little more butter to the pan at this stage (note: if you cook the mushrooms and the prawns together, the mushrooms would give too much liquid for the prawns to caramelize). Cook the mushrooms till soft.

In a large bowl, mix the prawns, mushrooms and asparagus. Tip the pan juice into the bowl. Garnish the salad with some fresh red chili and a couple of wedges of lime.

Take it up a notch

Keep the prawn heads and shells, as that’s where you'd find most of the prawny flavour. In a hot pan, add olive oil and the prawn heads/shells, and cook them till they turn red. Drain the heads/shells well and squeeze out as much of the prawn ‘essence’ as you can from them before discarding. Use the flavoured oil to cook your prawns, and what you get is a flavour boost!