Saturday Night Treats (Part 1 of 3) ... Skewered Prawns with Zataar, Cumin and Red Chilli

Saturday Night and everything sucks on TV. And then I’ve kinda hung up my dancing shoes for a bit (which is a seasonal thing with me. And NO that doesn’t mean I’m in the winter of my youth… Besides I have a friend staying over who says that she dances like a horse, and I’m sure she wasn’t referring to the ones you see at show jumping events, so I really wouldn’t have been able to drag her along. But I’m not complaining. It is wonderful having friends over. It gives me another reason to cook and receive a compliment at the end of it, which I’m certainly not averse to.

Now I wanted to enjoy my evening in every way and didn’t want to end up stuck in the kitchen all evening, so I prepped everything in advance and kept it simple, which left me free to chatter away, play a couple of hands of UNO, sip on some extra spicy Bloody Marys and listen to some music… Perfect!

Here’s a sneak peak at the menu…

1. Skewered Prawns with Zataar, Cumin and Red Chilli served with a delicious dip.

2. Feta and Olive Herb Focaccia 

3. Potato Salad with Spring Onions, Cucumber, Roasted Walnuts and Celery (with a home-made dressing… which I also used as a dip for the prawns).

But putting all of these into one post may just be too much, so I split ‘em up into three starting with…

The Skewered Prawns with Zataar, Cumin and Red Chilli…

You’ll need about 20 prawns (medium to large sized with their tails on)

2 teaspoons zataar

1level teaspoon freshly pounded cumin powder

1/2 teaspoon red chilli powder

large pinch of salt

juice of 1/2 large lime

1 tablespoon honey

2 tablespoons evoo (extra virgin olive oil)

Start by cleaning the prawns, or if you have pre-cleaned prawns make sure that the vein (aka the poop-chute) has been removed. Now some of the larger sized prawns have 2 veins, at the front and at the back, so make sure you get both of them out completely.

Wash the prawns well and drain them thoroughly, then pat them dry before marinading them in the zataar, cumin, chilli powder, honey, lime juice and 1 tablespoon of the olive oil marinade. Don’t add the salt in just yet.

Keep your prawns marinading in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours (An hour should also be okay if you’re in a hurry, but I prefer to keep them marinading longer).

When you’re ready to cook the prawns, sprinkle on the salt and skewer the prawns onto wooden skewers that have been soaking in water (This will prevent the skewers from burning) and brush with some of the marinade to which you have added the balance tablespoon of olive oil.

I used my trusty grill pan to grill the prawns

Then piled them onto a platter and served them with a dip/dressing I made from my own home-made mayonnaise and hung yoghurt.

I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves…