Prawns in orange, tomato & cardamom

I tried this with supermarket pre-peeled raw prawns and it still tasted great, but if you can get your hands on whole large Mediterranean prawns with the heads still attached, you’ll not only enjoy their sweet flesh but the heads will ooze their lovely juices into the sauce, making it richer in that particular prawny flavor. If you are using pre-peeled prawns, you will need to add some more water to the pan to create a proper sauce.

This is a great dinner for 2 (or 1 greedy prawn-lover like me…)

3 tbsp olive oil

1 orange, thinly sliced

2 medium tomatoes, thinly sliced

2 cloves of garlic, peeled and thinly sliced

2 sprigs of fresh thyme

½ small red chili, seeds removed and thinly sliced

3 cardamom pods, crushed to reveal the black seeds

12–14 large peeled and deveined prawns (a scant ½ lb)

sea salt

freshly ground black pepper

3–6 tbsp water

Heat the oil in a frying pan over a high heat until it just starts to smoke. Carefully place the orange slices in the oil and cook for 30 seconds, then turn them over with a fork. Add the tomato, garlic, thyme, chili and cardamom and cook on a high heat until the tomato slices start to break down a little (about 2 minutes). Add the prawns to the pan and season with sea salt and pepper. Cook them for a minute on each side. Add 3 tablespoons of water and cook for a further 2 minutes or until the prawns have turned pink. If the pan is looking dry, add the remaining 3 tablespoons of water, so that you have enough liquid to form a sauce.

Serve immediately with bread to mop up the juices. Alternatively, munch all the prawns by yourself in the kitchen, mop the pan with bread and use it to prepare an omelet for your dining partner. Make sure you don’t have sauce on your lips when you leave the kitchen and say the prawns are ruined and that you’re not hungry.