Stir fried Prawns Broccoli and Red Capsicum

Stir fried Prawns, broccoli and red capsicum & Saturday Night at the Sydney Seafood School

It’s Saturday Night, and the Sydney Seafood School foyer is filling with people. There are some simple smoked salmon on crostini canapés and a selection of Australia red or white wine. We chat till the noise in the room reaches an almost deafening level.  With over 45 people drinking, eating and getting to know each other, this could be any successful party, but this is the Sydney Seafood school. We are welcomed and soon seated in a classroom-style auditorium facing our demonstrator, whose name tonight is Vini. Our wine has been confiscated, and we are now going to watch and learn before cooking and we won’t get our wine back until we have cooked and safely stowed our knives and other dangerous cooking equipment.

I know that some people like to go out on the town on a Saturday night, but for me this is perfect. I guess I’m not alone because there is a lot of people here. I received an invitation along with two of my friends from work at Lario Wine and Food, because we often supply the classes with Italian ingredients.

Tonight’s class is called “Fast and Fabulous” and we arrive for a 7 pm start. The demonstration will run for about 3/4 of an hour before we move on to the kitchen. So if you need to eat early, have a snack before you go. Vini gives us a bit of a lecture on buying the best.  My advice is always to try to buy the best quality you can afford. Attempt to think about seasonal ingredients and ones that are fresh and sustainable. Always try to buy from a farmer or producer if you can. It all helps. Don’t beat yourself up if you live somewhere you can’t source these kinds of ingredients or your budget won’t allow, we all do what we can, point taken Vini.

The workbenches in the kitchen accommodate up to six people. If you want to book as a group of 6 a discount is available. We were allotted a bench with a couple of fellas who booked together as a birthday excursion. You can tell there a few nerves as everyone files into the kitchen and stands at the benches. There is no need to worry though, as there are 2 assistants plus Vini to help with any questions. The kitchen isn’t bright and intimidating it has downlights over the benches that highlight the dark walls covered in white chalk-style drawings. There are no ugly fluorescent strip-lights, and lots of room between each bench.

Everyone puts their heads together and we divide up some of the tasks between each of us. There are 3 dishes. And I get in trouble from one of my friends for being a bit of a Gordon Ramsay wanting to get things done (this will be no surprise to some) so, although I have a habit for speed cooking, I step back and just enjoy watching every one cook and look forward to eating the mound of prawns we have been given to whip into a stir fry.

The recipes are simple and use interesting ingredients. They are cooked up quite easily and with enough time to spare. The dining room next door has 10 tables. Each group is responsible for setting their own table, and while the others finish the cookin,g I set our table with the things provided.

We are, of course, all encouraged to clean up by dumping all our dirty dishes in big trolleys. You didn’t think we had to do the dishes, did you? After cleaning down our benches and plating up our dishes, we head to the dining room to enjoy our dinner

A Hot Smoked Trout Salad with Orzo, watercress and preserved lemon.                             My favourite dish.

Crab Cakes with fresh horseradish dressing. A simple combination of already picked Queensland spanner Crab, breadcrumbs and egg.

We chatted over a few glasses of wine while we ate dinner with rice provided. This kind of class costs about $120.00 per person with everything included.

I ‘ve chosen a recipe from The Seafood School’s Fishline website. I changed it to suit my taste by adding a bit of lemon and ginger, however, it’s a great Summer recipe that you should be able to throw together in less than 20 minutes. Give this recipe a go and see what you think. I added chilli. Prawns make such a quick-cooking meal any time of the year.

Stirfried Prawns , Broccoli & red capsicum

5 from 2 votes

Buy the best fresh prawns you can afford and you will love this simple delicious dish. This recipe uses Australian cup and spoon measurements.

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Servings: 2

Cuisine: Asian Inspired

Ingredients Method

Ingredients

  

• 500 gm broccoli approx
• 1 clove garlic crushed
• 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
• 1 tablespoon Soy Sauce
• 1 tablespoon grated ginger
• 1 chilli sliced
• 1 tablespoon Sesame oil
• 750 g green prawns peeled and deveined
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 red onion peeled and sliced
• 1 red capsicum seeded and thinly sliced
• 40 ml lemon Juice 2 Tablespoons
• 40 ml water 2 Tablespoons
• steamed rice to serve
• 1 bunch coriander

Method

 

1. Trim the ends off the broccolini stalks, cut into florets and slice stalks on the diagonal.
2. Combine garlic, oyster sauce, soy sauce and sesame oil in a large bowl and mix well. Add prawns and leave to marinate for up to 30 minutes.
3. Heat a wok over high heat. Add 2 Tbsp oil, onion, capsicum and broccolini and stir-fry for 2 minutes, till just atarting to soften. Remove vegetables and set aside. Add prawns to wok with remaining 1 Tablespoon oil, reserving marinade and stir-fry for about 1 minute, until they just start to colour. Return vegetables to wok, add reserved marinade, lemon and water and cook, stirring constantly, until sauce boils. Add 1/4 bunch chopped coriander
4. Serve immediately with steamed rice.

 For more prawn recipes try HERE or the new Sydney seafood school cookbook