PRAWN RECIPES

Because the Endeavour Prawn has such great flavour, it can be combined with bolder spices and accompaniments. Its sweet meat combines well with more robust flavours, and is delicious just on its own.

Endeavour Prawns can be boiled, steamed, grilled, sautéed, baked or deep-fried and can be cooked with or without the shell, with the vein or deveined.

Their modest size makes them particularly good for use in brochette form, especially as a smaller, bite-size portion for finger food with a citrus, chilli or soy dipping sauce. Endeavour prawns will also present well if shelled, and served inside a seeded avocado with a light vinaigrette, or in a tempura batter with chilli jam atop a bed of cubed mango.

If you have bought Endeavours that have already been cooked, then they should be added a few minutes before the end of the specified cooking time, just to reheat them, as overcooking could make them tough.

FLAVOUR AFFINITIES

Basil
Brandy
Butter
Chervil
Coriander
Cream
Fennel
Garlic
Lemon,
Marjoram

Oregano
Paprika
Red onion
Saffron
Shallot
Sugar
Tarragon
Thyme,
White wine

SUGGESTED WINES

Because of their sweet, tasty character, Endeavour prawns may be accompanied by a medium- to full-bodied white varietal such as verdelho or chenin blanc.

For tempura cooking, a fruitier white style such as a traminer blend will complement the spicy flavours of the dish.

A sparkling red wine will complement the strong, spicy flavours of the Endeavour prawn.

RECIPES

Here is a selection of great Endeavour Prawn recipes. Stay tuned as we invite some of North Queensland's leading chefs to add to this list.

Endeavour Prawn, Avocado, Bamboo Shoot & Taro Chip Tian
Chef: Craig Squire - Ochre Restaurant in Cairns

Serves 4 people as an entrée. (*gluten free)

» View and download recipe here

Endeavour Prawn Bisque
Chef: Craig Squire - Ochre Restaurant in Cairns

Why waste all those prawn shells when you can enjoy a beautifull bisque?

» View and download recipe here

Endeavour Prawn and Sweet Potato Flat Cakes

Great for entertaining.
Serves 6 - 8 people as an entrée.

» View and download recipe here

Basic Grilled Endeavour Prawns

As grilled prawn recipes go, this one is practically foolproof. OK, the only mistake you can really make is to cook the prawn for too long.

» View and download recipe here

Garlic Prawns

Simple, tasty and quick to cook. The perfect way to start your cooking Endeavours.

» View and download recipe here

Prawns Kataifi
Chef: Erwann Salaun - Nautilus Restaurant in Port Douglas

Rolled in shredded pastry, deep fried. Serves 6 people as an entrée.

» View and download recipe here

Endeavour Prawn and Avocado Salad

Healthy choice!
Serves 4 - 6 people.

» View and download recipe here

Embrace the region you live in by using local produce, writes
CRAIG SQUIRE.

It has been 10 years since a few passionate local chefs and food industry types got together to represent the produce of Far North Queensland. With nominal government assistance, no interest from local government and a little industry support we few took off to Adelaide to showcase our talent and produce at the bi-annual Tasting Australia.

Our culinary team notched up a respectable placing and we cooked and served 3500 portions of two uniquely tropical dishes – cold smoked barramundi with green papaya salad and sugarcane prawn sticks with lemon myrtle chilli sauce.

Thus a new collaborative body was formed called australiantropicalfoods.com – check out the website. Our aims were simple – to create a regional tropical cuisine, to promote and document niche local produce, to create a regional food trail and promote this to tourism
and to connect these producers to each other and the market.
Under the auspice of the Cairns Regional Economic Development Corporation (which has since lost its funding), most of these aims were realised and concepts such as tropical food trails have been picked up by both the private sector and government.

One of the products we identified as tropical that needed some promoting was Endeavour prawns, hence the sugar cane prawn sticks, using smaller prawns in a value-adding way. Endeavour prawns have a much maligned reputation, some believing them to be lacking in texture and appearance. I disagree and have been using them for the past 12 years both for hot dishes in the restaurant and chilled for salads and buffet catering. I believe Endeavour prawns offer a sweeter more complex flavour.

Food that truly represents Australian tropical cuisine is the perfect combination of fantastic local seafood with local native flavours and exotic tropical fruit and vegetables.
Like earlier recipes I will provide the ingredients list and method yet also leave some quantities up to you, reflecting the concept of learning how to cook by thinking about what you are doing and not just blandly following recipes. Taste what you do and mix flavours by preference. This gives you the experience to make the same style of dish again, constantly creating without having to follow a set recipe.

Craig Squire is the chef and director of the award-winning Ochre Restaurant in Cairns.