Our very own mini prawn festival.

Over the weekend, the Wife persuaded me to take her out to Howth (a tedious drive or a glorious cycle around Dublin Bay from our house), to see what was going on at the Dublin Bay Prawn Festival. Being the obliging person that I am, I got behind the wheel. As much as I got behind the wheel, Howth has got behind this festival and there was a great atmosphere out there. The festival tent had a raft of seafood treats on offer.

What else would you expect to see at a prawn festival?

The aromas were fantastic. Very hard to resist.

Look at the size of those!

“They look fantastic”, I said. “They taste even better”, he said.

We got a cone of calamari and walked around to the pier. We stopped into Doran’s and bought the last sixteen fresh Dublin Bay Prawns.

Dorans, like every other fish shop was very busy.

Home with our prize, I set about preparing some Prawns, Pesto and Pasta. 

The ingredients shot with youngest daughter cooking in the background.

The egg and the flour were to make the pasta. You can see how here, if you are interested. For the pesto, I toasted some pine nuts.

Toasting your nuts gives the pesto an extra level of sophistication.

Next I blitzed the pine nuts (as many as you see in the pan above), four cloves of garlic and the leaves of one store-bought basil plant along with three tablespoons of olive oil and a big handful of finely grated parmesan.

Really simple and tasty pesto. Well worth the little effort.

Shelling the prawns is made easier if you put them in the freezer for 20 minutes before taking them on.

Even the freezer treatment does not stop the shells cutting the pinkeys.

After shelling the prawns, put the heads and shells back in the freezer to make prawn stock at a later date. At least, that’s what I did. Devein the prawns and fry them, in some olive oil, on a medium pan until they start to change colour. Add a couple of big dollops of the pesto to the pan. stir to heat and then add the pasta.

The aroma from the pesto and prawns is sensational.

There is a bit of timing required here. The pasta is at it’s very best when fresh.

Mix the prawns, pesto and pasta to coat everything. Try to avoid stealing any prawns.

When everything is mixed nicely, serve to your appreciative better half / beau / lover / random stranger or whoever happens to be in the kitchen at the time.

Have a good look at this dish. It won’t be around for long.

They will scoff the lot in jig time and then sit back, belch and enjoy the glass of un-oaked chardonnay served to accompany. At least, that’s what I did….

The remains of our mini prawn festival. Thanks Howth.

The Dublin Bay Prawn Festival was fun and deserves to be an ongoing success. The Dublin Bay Prawn (Langoustine, Norway Lobster or whatever you choose to call it), deserves to be celebrated. This is probably one of the best ways to do it.