Roasted Butterflied Tiger Prawns in Garlic Butter

This is an amazingly good first course for garlic lovers and needs lots of really crusty baguette to mop up all the delicious juices. It is also delightfully simple and can be prepared well in advance.

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This recipe is from How To Cook Book 2, and Delia's Complete How To Cook

Method

To butterfly the prawns, first of all pull off the heads and legs with your fingers, then simply peel away the shells, which come away very easily, but leave the tails still attached, as this makes them look prettier.

Now turn each prawn on its back and, with the point of a sharp knife, make a cut down the centre of each prawn, but do not cut through. Ease open with your thumb like a book and remove the brownish-black thread, scraping it away with the point of the knife – it should also come away easily. Next rinse the prawns and pat them dry with kitchen paper, then place them in the buttered gratin dishes or on the baking tray.

Next make the garlic butter, and all this involves is taking a large fork and combining the rest of the ingredients together in a small bowl. Now spread equal quantities of the garlic butter over the prawns. You can now cover the whole lot with clingfilm and chill in the fridge till needed.

To cook the prawns, pre-heat the oven to gas mark 8, 450°F (230°C), remove the clingfilm if you've made them in advance, and then place the dishes on the highest shelf of the oven and let them cook for 6-7 minutes (they will need only 5 minutes if you've used a baking tray).

Serve sprinkled with the parsley and garnish with the lemon quarters.