Prawns with Aniseed
Fresh seafood and anise create a wonderful Danish combination. Langoustine tails or jumbo prawns coil on glazed spring onions. They are drizzled with anise-scented butter sauce and garnished with strips of reduced shrimp bisque. The carrot pieces are tournéed -- carved into small, 8-sided football shapes with blunted ends. The skill of tournéeing -- turning -- vegetables comes with practice; these elegant, evenly-sized pieces lend a formal air to any dish.
Ingredients
- Carrots - 6 large, pared
- Spring (green) onions - 8, cleaned and trimmed to 6 inches
- Sauce
- Carrot trimmings - above
- Onions - 2, chopped
- Olive Oil - 2 tablespoons
- Star anise pods - 9
- Sparkling white wine - 3 cups
- Unsalted Butter - 1/4 pound (1 stick)
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
- Prawns or langoustines - 12 jumbo
- Unsalted Butter - 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick)
- Extra-virgin olive oil for drizzling - 1/4 cup
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
- Shrimp bisque - reduced to a pasty consistency
- Anise Seed - 1 tablespoon, crushed and powdered
- Chervil Sprigs - 4
- Sesame tuiles - 4, (optional)
Instructions
To prepare the vegetables: Cut each carrot in two one-third of the way down the carrot from the top. Tournée the carrot pieces: trim each piece into a small football shape. Set aside; keep the trimmings for the sauce. Bring a saucepan of lightly salted water to a boil and add the tournéed carrots. Return to a boil and cook 30 seconds. Remove the carrots with a wire skimmer or slotted spoon and plunge into ice water. Put the trimmed green onions in the boiling water, return to a boil, and cook 30 seconds; plunge into the ice water. Drain the carrots and green onions on paper towels.
To prepare the sauce: Put the carrot trimmings, chopped onion, olive oil, and star anise in a medium saute pan or skillet and cook over medium-high heat until the onions are softened but not colored. Add the wine. Cook until the liquid has been reduced by half. Strain through a fine-meshed sieve. Set aside; keep warm.
To prepare the langoustines or prawns: Twist off the tails and remove the shells from the langoustines. If using prawns, remove the heads and shells. Roll up each tail or prawn and place a toothpick in each to hold in position. Heat the butter and olive oil in a medium sauté pan over medium-high heat and sear the tails or prawns on both sides until golden, 1 to 2 minutes per side. Remove from heat and drain on paper towels; take out the toothpicks. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Keep warm.
To serve: Whisk the butter into the sauce and season to taste with sea salt and pepper. Put the carrots and green onions in the sauce and turn in the sauce to glaze. Lay two glazed onions across the center of each warmed serving plate. Put the reduced bisque in a squeeze bottle and draw a line of bisque on either side of the onions. Space three langoustine tails or three prawns across the onions on each plate. Place a tourneed carrot on each tail or prawn. Baste the tails or prawns with the sauce. Sprinkle a fine line of powdered anise seed across the top. Garnish each dish with 2 chervil leaves and, optionally, a sesame tuile.
