This is a simple version of a Shrimp boil or as we could call this modified version made in Australia – a prawn cook up. This is definitely not boiled and is served in a large ceramic dish, with a lid, so everything stays hot and all the juices can be scooped out and poured over the prawns, potatoes and corn.

It is such a weird combination of ingredients but the way it all comes together is such a surprise. Great food for a casual group of people and the only real side dish it needs is a lump of soft crusty cob loaf that can be torn into pieces and used to sop up the juices. I suggest serving it all in a huge casserole bowl that takes a lid. I believe the traditional way to serve it is spread out on table. Maybe it would work served like that for a large group of people but this method of cooking wouldn’t work with a party sized serving.

Here it is all made in a steam oven and uses mainly frozen ingredients that can be in the freezer for when you need to whip up a no fuss meal for a bunch of people. It can be put together and cooked with very little fuss. Just make sure all the ingredients are ready and it’s just a matter of starting with cooking the potatoes and then adding each ingredient in succession. For this quantity, which serves about 8, I used 2 oven trays to cook the potatoes, sausage and corn then poured off the excess juices (the frozen corn cooked in steam produced quite a bit of liquid), combined them into one pan and finished off with cooking the prawns on top of the vegetables so the prawns juices ran through all the potatoes, sausages and corn.

At the end it all gets tipped into a huge, warmed casserole dish and the butter sauce stirred through.

That’s it! Serve it in the bowl with the cob loaf on the side.

This uses Old Bay Seasoning, I have included a recipe for the seasoning but it is so much easier just to buy the pre-mix, which I found was available at Woolworths and is now a new spice mix to play with.

PRAWN and CORN COOK UP

Ingredients

  • Total of 7 tsp of Old Bay seasoning divided, this is way less than the small container that is available at Woolworths.

Potatoes

  • 1 kg baby red potatoes, washed well and quartered or halved, depending on size
  • 3 tsp Old Bay Seasoning

Sausage and corn

  • 700 g smoked sausages, cut into 1-inch pieces (it’s better if you use home smoked sausages, or even chicken sausages would work well. I find that Kransky and similar are strong flavours that don’t complement the prawns well)
  • 1 kg frozen corn cobs cut into 2 cm slices or for the easy option, in the spirit of this being an easy recipe just use them the size they come in the bag.

The prawns

  • 1 kg frozen jumbo prawns, peeled, deveined, tail on,
  • 1 tbs lime/lemon juice
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 2 tsp Old Bay seasoning

Butter sauce

  • 250g butter
  • 2 tbsp chopped fresh garlic, almost a bulb. Fresh is best here, really gives it a flavour kick
  • 4 tbsp fresh lemon/lime juice
  • 4 tbsp dried parsley
  • 1/4 tsp white pepper
  • 2 tsp  Old Bay seasoning
  • 1 tsp salt

Serve

  • 4 tbs fresh parsley
  • Lemon wedges
  • Warmed cob loaf

Method

  1. Preheat the Oven – Steam setting: Hot air with Steaming, Temp: 100C
  2. Season Potatoes and cook – Combine the chopped potatoes and Old Bar seasoning in large bowl. Toss well to combine. Spread out on to 2 lined sheet pans, spray with oil. Reserve the bowl with the leftovers of the seasoning, it is used all the way through the prep. Cook until fork-tender, about 30 minutes
  3. Add Sausage and Corn and cook – Add the sliced sausage and sliced corn in the spaces around the potatoes. Return to the oven and cook for 10 minutes.
  4. Season Prawns and cook – Once the sausage and corn go in the oven put the frozen prawns, 1 tbs lemon juice, 1 tsp salt and 2 tsp Old Bar seasoning in the bowl, toss well and set aside to allow the flavours to infuse.
  5. When the corn and sausage are done combine both trays of food and add the prawns, spread in an even layer on top of the vegetables and sausage.
  6. Return to the oven and cook until the prawns have just begun to turn pink. This takes about 5 minutes, depending on how defrosted the prawns were.
  7. Make Sauce – Once the prawns are in the oven begin the sauce. Soften the butter in a glass bowl in the microwave. Add the chopped garlic,  2 tsp Old Bay seasoning, 1/2 tsp salt, 4 tbs lime/lemon juice, 4 tbs dried parsley, and 1/4 tsp white pepper.
  8. Add Sauce and Serve – When the prawns are pink remove the tray from the oven, pour the butter sauce over the prawns and vegetables. Toss to combine and serve with lemon wedges and fresh parsley.

 

OLD BAY SEASONING

Ingredients

    • 2 tbs powdered dried bay leaf
    • 2 tbs celery salt (or 1 tbls. ground celery seed and 1 tbls. salt)
    • 1 tbs dry mustard
    • 2 tbs ground black pepper
    • 2 tbs ground ginger
    • 2 tbs smoked paprika
    • 1 tsp white pepper
    • 1 tsp ground nutmeg
    • 1 tsp ground cloves
    • 1 tsp ground allspice
    • 1⁄2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
    • 1⁄2 tsp ground mace
    • 1⁄2 tsp ground cardamom
    • 1⁄4 tsp ground cinnamon

Method

    • Combine all ingredients in an airtight jar, mix thoroughly.