Baked Prawns in Garlic, Chilli and Tomato

Ingredients

• 600g raw king prawns, peeled and deveined
• 5 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
• 1 tsp dried chilli flakes
• ½ tsp smoked paprika
• 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 400g cherry tomatoes, halved
• 100ml dry white wine
• 1 x 400g tin chopped tomatoes
• ½ tsp caster sugar
• 100g baby spinach
• 1 courgette, cut into 1cm half-moons
• 1 crusty sourdough or ciabatta loaf, thickly sliced, to serve
• 1 small bunch fresh flat-leaf parsley, roughly torn, to serve
• 1 lemon, cut into wedges, to serve
• extra virgin olive oil, to drizzle, to serve
• flaky sea salt, to serve

Method

1. Heat the oven to 220°C fan. Pat the prawns dry on kitchen paper and season them with salt and pepper — water on the prawns means steam, and steam in a hot sauce means rubbery, not plump.
2. Heat 3 tbsp of the olive oil in a large ovenproof frying pan or shallow casserole over a medium-high heat. Add the courgette in a single layer and cook for 5–6 minutes until golden at the edges and just tender. Don't crowd them — if they overlap, they'll steam grey instead of catching colour.
3. Turn the heat down to medium. Add the garlic, chilli flakes and smoked paprika and stir for 30–60 seconds until fragrant and the garlic is pale gold. Watch it — burnt garlic turns the whole dish bitter, and bloomed spices taste of themselves rather than dusty raw paprika.
4. Pour in the white wine and let it bubble hard for 2 minutes, scraping up any sticky bits from the base of the pan, until it has reduced by half and smells mellow rather than sharp.
5. Tip in the tinned tomatoes, cherry tomatoes and sugar, then add a splash of water to help the tinned tomatoes break down — bare tinned tomatoes simmered briefly taste of heated tin. Season with salt and pepper and simmer for 6–8 minutes until the sauce thickens and the cherry tomatoes start to collapse.
6. Stir through the baby spinach and cook for 1 minute until just wilted. Taste the sauce now and adjust the salt — adjust it here, not at the table.
7. Nestle the prawns into the sauce in a single layer, drizzle with the remaining 1 tbsp olive oil and season the tops. Transfer to the oven and bake for 8–10 minutes until the prawns are pink, curled into a loose C-shape and opaque through the thickest part — a tight O means they've gone too far.
8. Warm the sliced sourdough on a tray in the oven for the final 4 minutes until the crust crackles.
9. Pull the pan out, scatter the torn parsley over the prawns, finish with flaky sea salt and a generous drizzle of olive oil, and squeeze a lemon wedge over the lot — the acid lifts the garlic, chilli and tomato into focus. Serve straight from the pan with the warm bread and remaining lemon wedges alongside for mopping.