You don’t need much more than a pack of wild-caught spot prawns and a bottle of wine to pull off a lovely meal under a canopy of stars. These 5 spot prawn recipes are proof of that.
A few of these recipes integrate the best of the growing season’s harvest, giving you the opportunity to work with ingredients at the peak of their flavor to complement the sweetness of fresh spot prawns. More importantly, all of these recipes require you to cook with a bit of white wine, leaving you the rest of the bottle to enjoy along with your starlit meal — a built-in wine pairing that can’t go wrong.
Here are 5 spot prawn recipes that beg to be enjoyed under the stars:
Garlicky Spot Prawn Spaghetti
Get your garden shears out — or just go to the market — to gather some seasonal herbs to green up this simple but luxe spot prawn pasta recipe from Yewande Komolafe. It’s a fairly streamlined pasta dish, featuring herbs, lots of garlic, and the brightness of lemon zest, but it’s a testament to how impactful fresh, flavorful seafood can be in your food.
Wine pairing: Whether it’s Italian or American, a tart pinot grigio will pick up some of the zesty notes in this pasta.
Spot Prawns Sauteed with Summer Veggies
Robert Clark’s recipe for spot prawns draws out their flavor by sauteing them simply in butter, then tossing them with a reliably fresh combination of summer veggies in a bit of brandy and wine. It’s a minimal but effective recipe that is ready in under 20 minutes — and, as a bonus, only dirties one pan along the way, leaving you more time for stargazing. This is a great go-to for a light dinner or starter. Note: You’ll want to peel the spot prawns before using them in this recipe; as always, save the shells for another use.
Wine pairing: Since you only need a couple tablespoons of wine to make this recipe, why not upgrade it a touch with a dry sparkling white wine? You can go high with champagne or low with prosecco — as long as it has bubbles, it will do.
Seafood Bisque
Whether your evening is chill and chilly or hot and steamy, our crustacean-rich recipe for seafood bisque can either warm you up or cool you down. Made with a mix of Dungeness crab and spot prawns (or even go full-on crab), this creamy bisque highlights the natural sweetness and brininess of fresh seafood. And unlike some dairy-based recipes, this bisque won’t dull the flavors of the crab or spot prawns. Serve this seafood bisque hot or cold, depending on what the night has in store for you.
Wine pairing: Try a buttery Chardonnay with a balanced flavor profile (nothing too oaky or vanilla-forward!) to match up with the creamy weight of bisque.
Seafood in “Crazy Water”
The Washington Post’s recipe for shrimp in “crazy water” is an adaptation of Italian cuisine’s acqua pazza. And the acqua pazza itself is crazy delicious: a light tomato-based broth that you’ll use to poach whatever mild seafood you have on hand. Shelled spot prawns, with their clean sweetness, are ideal, but even a fillet of cod or halibut would do here.
Wine pairing: We suggest a fresh sancerre with herbaceous notes to complement the aromatic tones of fennel.
Feta and Tomato Salad with Warmed Spot Prawns
Scroll down on Wine Enthusiast’s page and you’ll see a lovely summer night’s recipe for a warm spot prawn, tomato, and feta salad from Vitaly and Kimberly Paley. It’s more intensive than a Greek salad, as you’ll be cooking a few of its components rather than just tossing them all into a bowl. This extra step goes a long way toward making this a memorable meal. There are a few typographical errors in the recipe that you’ll want to be aware of in order to make this salad: You’ll need a ¼ cup of white wine for this recipe (it’s buried in the ingredient list, without an amount), and you will “divide” the olive oil into two ¼ cup measurements to use for two different steps in the cooking process.
Wine pairing: Pick an acidic Greek white like assyrtiko to cut through the briny richness of this salad.
