Prawns with Banana Salsa

My sister-in-law’s husband works for this amazing place; The Meat & Fish Co. They are based in Charlotte, NC and have a storefront in this cute little market downtown. They also supply the freshest meat and seafood to the best restaurants all over the world. They have a commitment to quality and freshness that shows in their product. Anyhow, he did us a solid and sent me a big box of goodies this past weekend. One of their specialties are these giant prawns. These things are as long as my forearm. I’m not kidding.

Check this thing out! He sent us three of them. I decided to create a Thai inspired recipe with them, but it is definitely translatable to any kind of shrimp, or even the smaller prawns you can find in the grocery store everyday.  I paired this prawn with a banana salsa. I had a similar dish at a local Thai food place and thought I’d try to recreate it. This salsa was deliciously sweet and tangy and paired perfectly with the prawn.

I marinated the prawns for about 30 minutes in lime juice and a bit of olive oil. I also sprinkled some lime zest over them. Then I cooked them on the grill for just about 5 minutes on each side. Once they were done, the hard part came. I had to remove the shells and devein them. I’ll admit the husband took care of this part for me. I have a few pictures of this process in the slide show below. If you are using smaller prawns or shrimp, there is a chance the market or store has already done this step for you.

The banana salsa was really quick. I cut up all the ingredients, bananas last, so they wouldn’t brown. Then mixed it all together. Then I squeezed the lime juice in. I was afraid an entire lime would be too much but it was a nice combination with the sweet peppers and the bananas. (On a side note, I can’t type bananas without hearing that Gwen Stefani song in my head – It’s Bananas, B-A-N-A-N-A-S. Its the only line I even know from that song, but it’s like its on auto play in my brain every time I type bananas. Now, its it yours too right?)

I really hope you enjoy this recipe. We loved it at our house. These prawns have kind  of a lobster-y flavor, but we’ve done it with regular shrimp too, and its just as delicious. It’s a quick and easy weeknight dinner. Enjoy! Also, big props to my Bro in Law or  Uncle Lance as he’s known around here, for the box of goodies! We have loved it all!

Local Ingredient: Sweet Peppers from a local market.