The Winter Blues

I'm loving blues music at the moment - my interest in it was sparked a few years ago when I went to see a random blues night at a random pub in London, and was rekindled when I saw the movie Black Snake Moan last year.  Anyway, a friend recently recommended The Black Keys (http://www.theblackkeys.com/) so I've been buying some of their stuff off iTunes to add to my collection.  And since then I've been trying to think of a recipe that would work with it so I can have a dinner party with blues as the background music.  I remembered a spicy creole prawn recipe I made a few years ago in New Zealand that seemed appropriate, and thought it would be even better making it here in Australia with all the fabulous fresh prawns available here. 

I'm actually writing this blog the night before the dinner party - since it's a midweek one I've actually made the creole sauce tonight so that hopefully I can just rush home from work, heat it and cook the prawns fresh.  Will see how it goes!  If it works I might make the base again, freeze it in portions, and then use it with fresh prawns for an easy meal for one.

Post dinner party comments: Yes it did work making the sauce the night before.  I've also since made another batch and froze some portions, which also worked well.  I used one portion with some white beans for a vegetarian version one night.  I've also added some paprika and thyme to add further depth to its flavour.

Post-post comments: I've added okra too.

Prawns in Creole Sauce

Serves 4. 

2 tablespoons oil
2 large onions, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
1 red pepper, deseeded and diced
2 stalks of celery, diced
2 large fresh tomates, chopped
1 can chopped tomatoes in juice
1 cup fish, chicken or vegetable stock
1/2 cup red wine
1 teaspoon chilli paste, or a pinch or two of chilli flakes to taste
Pinch of cayenne pepper
2 bay leaves
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon thyme
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon lime juice
200g okra cut into 2.5cm lengths
500g raw shelled prawns
Fresh coriander to garnish

1. Heat the oil and gently saute the onion for 5 minutes.  Add the garlic, peppers and celery and continue sauteeing until tender.

2. Add the fresh and canned tomatoes, salt and pepper to taste, chilli paste or flakes, cayenne pepper, bay leaves, paprika, thyme, stock, wine and lime juice and bring to the boil.  Add the okra.  Cover and simmer for 25 minutes.

3.  Add the prawns and cook for a further five minutes or until the prawns are tender.

4. Serve sprinkled with chopped coriander.