Prawn Perfection Recipe

Prawn Perfection is an adaptation of a Joël Robuchon recipe (Joël Robuchon was named France's Chef of the Century by the esteemed Gault Millau restaurant guide).

The strong peppery flavour of the paper-thin slices of blanched turnip perfectly balances the sweetness of the king prawns and the red pepper sauce. Prawn Perfection is definitely one to impress your dinner party guests with.

How to make Prawn Perfection:

First make the sauce... Peel and finely chop the onions. Peel the red pepper, remove the seeds and cut into big chunks. Peel and finely slice the ginger. Peel and crush (mince) the garlic.

Melt just over half of the butter in a pan and add the garlic and onions. Cover the pan and sweat these for about 2-3 minutes. Add the paprika, salt and freshly-ground pepper, ginger, red pepper and fish stock and cook over a low heat for 20 minutes, so the sauce just simmers gently.

Remove from the heat, stir in the cream and set aside for 5 minutes. Then add the remaining butter and stir again until it has melted. Sieve (strain) the mixture, retaining the liquid and discarding the solids. Leave the sauce in the fridge to chill.

Slice the turnip very finely using a mandoline and cut the slices into circles about 3" (7.5cm) across using a pastry cutter. Blanche the turnip slices in boiling salted water for 15 seconds. Refresh in cold water and then pat dry with kitchen roll. Peel 16 prawns (leaving 4 in their shells).

To serve, Place some parsley leaves on each plate. On top of those, place a turnip disc. On top of that, place 2 large prawns, a slice or two or very finely sliced fresh ginger and a flat parsley leaf. Top with another disc of turnip and repeat the process. Place a small bowl of sauce on each place and decorate the plates with the unpeeled prawn.