Local Prawn Scampi with Zucchini Linguine

MAKE. THIS. NOW.

I live in catfish country. Catfish farm country, that is. The Mississippi Delta has historically been home to a huge number of catfish ponds and processing plants, so much so that a nearby town, Belzoni, MS, has been declared the Catfish Capital of the World. In recent years, however, the US catfish industry has suffered due to competition from foreign producers and catfish farming is becoming less and less common in the United States. In fact, between 2007 and 2013, US catfish production dropped from 164,000 acres of catfish farms to just 83,020 acres. Some of those newly available acres are located in my town, and a family of local entrepreneurs have repurposed their catfish ponds to raise freshwater prawns. I”m inspired by the way that the folks at Lauren Farms are innovating and building on the strengths of our community to provide greater access to healthy, local, delicious food!

I grabbed a bag of frozen, extra large prawns at the Leland Pop Up Shops last weekend, and was excited and a little intimidated, to try cooking with them this week, since I’ve only ever cooked with shelled and de-veined shrimp before. (For the record: prawns are very similar to shrimp, except for a few small things about their shells. My prawn-monger (lol, I have a prawn-monger. #fancy.) told me that they have a lighter, almost lobster-like flavor, but I think she is partial. Gross but important fact: she also told me that prawns don’t have a sand vein that you have to remove. I’ll be honest: peeling the prawns was gross enough for me; I don’t need to add veins to the mix. #nosir

The recipe I’m sharing with you today is actually my second attempt with prawns. For my first dish, I revisited my Pesto and Squash Noodles Recipe with very delicious results. I recommend Pesto Prawns with Squash Noodles so so much, but you smart people can figure out how to add prawns to your pesto dishes on your own, so I’m not writing about that today. Instead, I have a prawn version of shrimp scampi that is pure magic:

Local Prawn Scampi with Zucchini Linguine

Ingredients:

• 4-6 Extra Large Prawns/Shrimp per person (thawed and peeled. To peel, pull of the legs, use your thumbs to peel off the sides, and then you can leave the tail on or take it off depending on your preference. For a tutorial on deveining shrimp, head here.)
• 1 medium zucchini or yellow squash per person, spiralized or sliced very thin
• 2 TBSP ghee or butter (depending on your tolerance for lactose)
• 2 TBSP olive oil
• 1 TBSP Minced Garlic
• 1/4 cup fresh chopped parsley
• optional: lemon zest and thinly sliced lemons
• lemon juice, sea salt, red pepper flakes, and black pepper to taste

Directions:

• Melt the butter and olive oil over medium-low heat.
• Add the garlic. Sauté for 1 minute, being careful to not let it burn.
• Add the prawns, and season with salt and pepper and saute until they have just barely turned opaque (this will just take a few minutes!).
• Toss in your spiralized noodles and let them wilt just a bit (takes about a minute) and then remove the pan from heat. By this point, your prawns should be just pink.
• Toss in the parsley, lemon zest, lemon juice, lemon slices, and red pepper flakes.
• DEVOUR A.S.A.P. #nom