Gino

Your secret weapons…

Tony, you know I love fish. So, this is easy for me. Maybe you haven’t eaten a lot of seafood, but it’s never too late to give it a go and broaden your palate. I would love you to try a little sea bass, or cod – so delicious. But listen, let’s make it as easy as possible for you. Here is a recipe that is so simple you’ll just love it. You’ve got prawns. You’ve got garlic. You’ve got chilli. Then a little lemon juice and chopped flat leaf parsley – that’s it. For me, the bigger the prawns the better, but if you have smaller ones, that’s fine, just make sure to adjust your cooking time accordingly. It is so quick to make this dish, but it tastes so good. Slice two large cloves of garlic thinly – if someone is not so keen on having a piece in their mouth, they can easily take it out – and finely chop and deseed 2 red chillies. In a large pan – I have several in my range – heat around 4–5 tbsp olive oil over a medium heat. Drop both garlic and chillies in the oil until they sizzle – all the flavour will ooze out into the oil. Then you have your prawns. They should be peeled, deveined and the tails removed. Making sure your garlic doesn’t get too brown, as it can get bitter, add 800g prawns, around 3 tbsp of parsley, the zest and juice of a lemon to the flavoured oil and turn the heat up high. Now, the magic. Stir everything together with a wooden spoon, mixing the garlic in with the prawns, and watch them turn quickly from silver to pink. And in just 1 min, it is ready. The worst thing you can do is overcook the prawns as they will be chewy. So remember, a hot frying pan, and 1 min, maybe 1½ mins, and they will be lovely and juicy. Job done. Serve on a platter, with some pan juices, a sprinkle of parsley and some crusty bread. There you are, my sautéed prawns with garlic and chillies. That’s what I call sexy food, Tony – you can do it!