In theory you could arrive home from work after an exhausting day Ice Road Trucking, and 10 minutes later be sitting at the dining table sipping a chilled white Rioja and tucking into this tasty treat… quicker than it takes to microwave a bowl of Batchelors UnSavoury Rice.
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 5 – 30 minutes (depending on whether you roast your own peppers or use tinned)
Skill level: easy
Serves: 2
Ingredients
- cooked king prawns – 400g (or raw king prawns – peeled, tails intact and veins removed)
- 3 juicy cloves of garlic – thinly sliced
- coarsely chopped rosemary – 1½ tbsp
- extra-virgin olive oil – 30 ml
- 1 red pepper – roasted and cut into 1cm thick slices (or you could use the tinned roasted peppers)
- 1 can of butter beans – drained and rinsed
- the finely grated rind of 1 unwaxed lemon
- the juice of ½ a lemon
- a bunch of watercress or rocket
- s&p
- lemon wedges to serve
Start by roasting and peeling your red pepper in the usual way. If you can’t be bothered to fire up the oven for just one pepper, you can cut it into strips and fry it on the hob. Either way you want the skin to blacken and blister.
Heat the oil in a frying pan and gently cook the garlic and rosemary over a medium heat for a minute or two until the garlic is JUST beginning to colour.
Add the cooked prawns*, beans, pepper and lemon rind and cook for 2-3 minutes until heated through.
Add the lemon juice and watercress/rocket and toss everything together.
Taste, season, remove from the heat and serve immediately with a wedge of lemon.
*If you are using raw prawns fry them on their own for 3 minutes or until they change colour and are just cooked … and then add the other ingredients.
Life goes on … Sunday lunch at The Market Porter
Verdict: Deeeeeeeeeeeelish. Fast and tasty and lush. We used 1 tbsp of rosemary and the flavour was very subtle … which is why I suggest using 1½ (or even 2) tbsp.
Drink: Friday night … so a few Belgian beers and a bottle of white.
Entertainment: ‘Celebrity Masterchef’ and ‘The IT Crowd’ – we saw that Matt Berry in The Market Porter yesterday afternoon.