Honey Sesame Prawn with Beef, Basil & Scallops

So last night was the inaugural grill on our new Egg. The old, worn, seasoned Egg looked on as if to say, “go on…It just won’t taste nearly as good!” Our good pals and neighbours Kevin, Danielle and Oscar came over to partake in this historic event. The meal? A mishmash of seafood and veg that will go down as one of the tastier meals we’ve had! And, Heather made her signature lemon meringue pie (my absolute favourite!)

So first up, the honey sesame prawn. This is what we did:

• 20 medium sized tiger prawn
• 5 tbsp dark sesame oil
• 3 tbsp rice wine
• 3 tbsp light soy sauce
• 4 tbsp good quality honey
• 5 tsp lightly toasted sesame seeds
• 1 tbsp Thai chili sauce
• 1/2 tsp Chinese 5 Spice powder
• 3 cloves of garlic, crushed and minced
• 2 slices of young ginger, finely chopped
• 3 green onion stalks, finely chopped and set aside for garnish

Remove the shell from your prawn but keep the heads and tails on. De-vein the prawn as well because kaka in your food is just not cool! Combine all of the ingredients above in a non-reactive bowl and then add your prawn. Toss them around and pop them back into the fridge for about 90 minutes.

Now the scallops:

• 20 sea scallops (fresh if you can get them)
• 3 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil
• 3 tbsp of freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 4 strips of lemon zest about 2 x .5 inches long – just use a vegetable peeler
• Kosher salt and fresh black pepper to taste
• Fresh basil
• 10 thin slices of shabu-shabu beef (salted and peppered)
• 10 bamboo skewers soaked in water for about an hour

Combine everything above except for the scallops and basil in a non-reactive container. Whisk it all together and then add the scallops and let that marinate for about an hour. Once done, skewer one scallop, followed by a big leaf of basil and the a piece of beef, repeat twice per skewer.

The vegetables were pretty simple as well. Roasted eggplant and tomatoes:

• 1 large eggplant
• 3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• 3 tbsp EVOO
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 1 tsp fresh thyme, leaves only, finely chopped
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 tsp chili flakes
• Kosher salt and black pepper to taste

The slow roasted tomatoes went like this:

• 4 big fresh tomatoes, sliced in half
• 2 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
• 1 tbsp quality honey (from Margaret River, WA)
• 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 tbsp EVOO
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Flat leaf parsley, finely chopped as a garnish

Now use the oven for this one or you can use the grill…your choice, I just ran out of room! Pre-heat to 300F (150C), place the tomatoes cut side up, coat in EVOO, put a 3 of 4 slices of garlic on each, drizzle with honey and vinegar. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and pop it in the oven for an hour! Pull them out and let them come up to room temp or you can even serve them chilled.

OK, on to the grill. Set it up for direct grilling at about 400F. Place the scallop skewers on first for 3 minutes on each side, with the dome open! Then do the same for the prawn. 12 minutes and you’re done. Now move to the eggplant and roast that for about 3 minutes per side. Tent everything in aluminium foil while you wait for everything else to get grilled.

We also served homemade sangria and a few bottles of wonderful wine courtesy of the Immerman family!

All in all a raging success only to be outdone by the @#$^&*!! lemon meringue pie! (love you darling but its my blog!!!)

Thanks Danielle, Kevin, Oscar, Heather and Kalyna for an amazing evening!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Overall Heather Rating: 10/10