The first thing I should say about this recipe is that while it looks fancy enough, you can have this all done in about half an hour including cooking time. Secondly - and this may be a biggie depending on how you feel about strong flavours or how Vampirish you are, but don't be scared off by the addition of raw garlic. However I will preface it by saying that for this dish, find the best possible garlic you can. I used Patrice Newell garlic which is a biodynamic, organic garlic grown in the Hunter Valley of NSW that is only available for a short while online as it sells out so quickly and is used by Kylie Kwong and Damien Pignolet. The better the garlic, the better the flavour of the sauce and it will lack the acrid burn of raw garlic. Dare I say that if you can't source a great quality garlic, you may need to saute it for a few minutes but if you can, dig in with gusto. This garlic was delicious and sweet and unmistakeably garlickey in flavour.
Patrice Newell garlic
Most garlic sold in Australia is imported from China and at 99c for 5 bulbs it is often a very attractive option. However after tasting this garlic it's hard to think that I could go back to that. There was even a note letting me know that once the bulbs start to shoot I could plant the cloves to get my own bulbs in the Summer months. The garlic also makes the most divine garlic bread.
In any case, my warning dispensed, this ravioli also takes advantage of those fantastic gow gee wrappers that you can buy nowadays in the supermarket. I always keep a stash in my deep freeze and thaw them out for use. If you find that the edges get a bit white, just use a round cutter to trim the ravioli.
The ravioli are divine, full of prawn with very few ingredients needed. The only issue I had serving these was that Mr NQN didn't feel that a couple of ravioli did him well, in fact he wanted to eat the entire lot. There's no problem with that in itself, it's only that I felt exactly the same way.
So tell me Dear Reader, do you like a strong garlic flavour?
Prawn, Lemon & Garlic Ravioli
Serves 4 as an entree or makes 8 ravioli
- 300g raw prawns with heads on
- 1 tablespoon cream
- 6 basil leaves
- 16 round gow gee wrappers
- 1 clove best quality garlic, chopped finely
- 1/3 cup of olive oil
- 1/2 lemon, zested using a vistrus zester
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
Step 1 - Remove the heads and shells from all but 4 of the prawns (choose the best ones for presentation). Set the best 4 prawns aside. In a food processor, blend the shelled prawn meat, cream and 3 basil leaves until it becomes a paste.
Step 2 - Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil. While it is boiling, assemble the ravioli. Take 1 teaspoon of the prawn mix and using water, seal the edges by pressing them well together. Ensure that they are sealed very well and try and flatten the prawn meat in the centre so that they are easier to balance on top of each other. Drop 2 at a time into the boiling water and cooked until the meat becomes pink- about 4-5 minutes. Drain and set aside onto the serving plates. Lastly cook prawns until pink throughout and drain and reserve.
Step 3 - As they are cooking, make the sauce which is very easy. Just place the olive oil, zest from 1/2 of the lemon, 2 tablespoons of lemon juice and garlic in a bowl and mix to emulsify. Shred remaining 3 basil leaves with your hands and add this too.
Step 4 - Assemble ravioli: place two on top of each other and then spoon 2 tablespoons of dressing over them. Then place one prawn on top of the stack and serve.