Garlic Prawns with Cauliflower Mash and Chilli Pak Choy

Method

1. 1

   Break the cauliflower down

   Chop the cauliflower into rough florets. Get a dry pan over medium-high heat and let the cauliflower pick up a wee bit of colour for 2–3 minutes. You are not trying to cook it through, just kick-start a bit of Maillard reaction and build flavour before it ever sees the water. Then drop it into properly salted boiling water (taste it, it should taste like the sea) and simmer 8–10 minutes until a knife slides clean through. Drain well and leave it sitting in the colander for a full minute to steam dry. Wet cauliflower makes watery mash. Fact.

2. 2

   Build the mash

   Tip the water away, dry the pan, then warm 5g of the neutral oil over a gentle heat. Stir in the turmeric for 20–30 seconds until it becomes fragrant. Do not let it catch. Blooming the turmeric in oil wakes up the flavour and colour properly. Add 10g of the butter, then fold everything through the drained cauliflower with the cream. Mash until it holds together in soft golden clumps. Season with a pinch of sea salt, cover and keep warm.

3. 3

   Flash the prawns

   Melt the remaining 20g butter in a medium-hot pan with the minced garlic. Give it about 45–60 seconds, just until the kitchen smells sweet — not a second past, burnt garlic ruins the plate. Prawns in one flat layer, 60–90 seconds a side until just pink and curled. Lift the prawns out onto a warm plate but keep every drop of that garlic butter in the pan.

4. 4

   Fire the greens

   Same pan back on high heat, add the remaining 5g neutral oil to the leftover garlic butter. Pak choy in cut-side down, press it flat and leave it 60 seconds to char. Flip, throw in the sliced red chilli, then splash the rice vinegar down the side of the pan — it will steam up hard and finish the stems in another 30–45 seconds. You want the leaves wilted, the stems still with a snap.

5. 5

   Acid, then plate

   Off the heat, hit the pan with the lemon juice — it lifts the last of the garlic butter into a proper sauce. Spoon the mash into a warm bowl, lean the pak choy alongside, pile the prawns over the mash and pour every drop of the chilli-lemon-garlic butter across the lot. Zest the half lemon over the top, add cracked black pepper and eat immediately.