Rick Stein’s Scampi in the Basket with Tartare Sauce
Served with chips and a fresh, herby tartare sauce, these crispy fried scampi from Rick Stein's Food Stories can be served up as a nostalgic dish, reminiscent of seaside summer lunches.
From the book
Introduction
We serve scampi in the basket with chips and tartare sauce at our pub, The Cornish Arms in St. Merryn. Sadly, it always seems to revert on the menu to scampi in A basket, although I’ve repeatedly tried to get it changed. For me, this is a classic dish of the seventies when breaded scampi (langoustine tails) were served in a reed basket with chips and a sachet of sauce. It was convenient pub grub you could serve in the bar. I believe the original dish came from Italy and was made with scampi from the Venice lagoon and served with thin chips. Over the years it’s been made more and more economical so that the scampi is of the smallest type, and indeed there was a suggestion that monkfish was sometimes used as a substitute but that’s now almost as expensive. I decided to make scampi using really good-quality langoustines from a fishing trip out on Holy Loch near Glasgow and I’m including a recipe for my own tartare sauce. It was utterly spectacular. Do reserve the langoustine shells for shellfish stock, which can be frozen and used in risottos, sauces or soups.
Ingredients
| 10 | fresh (or frozen and defrosted) langoustines or 12 king prawns, defrosted |
| 50g | plain flour |
| 1 | egg, beaten |
| 75g | panko breadcrumbs |
| 1 litre | sunflower oil, for deep frying |
| salt | |
| For the tartare sauce: | |
|---|---|
| 300ml | mustard mayonnaise (shop-bought or see p.267 of Food Stories) |
| 2 tsp | finely chopped green olives |
| 2 tsp | finely chopped gherkins |
| 2 tsp | finely chopped capers |
| 2 tsp | finely chopped parsley |
| 2 tsp | finely chopped chives |
| To serve: | |
| lemon wedges | |
| chips (shop-bought or see p.115 of Food Stories) |
Method
Mix all the ingredients for the tartare sauce together and refrigerate until needed.
Peel the langoustines or king prawns and devein if you like. Put the flour, beaten egg and breadcrumbs in separate bowls.
Take the langoustines or prawns and dip them first in the flour, then beaten egg, then breadcrumbs and set aside.
Fill a large, deep pan two-thirds full with oil and heat to 180°C. Carefully lower in the langoustine or prawns 3 or 4 at a time and fry for 1–2 minutes until golden and crisp. Drain on kitchen paper, sprinkle with salt and keep them warm while you cook the rest.
Serve with tartare sauce, lemon wedges and some chips if you like.
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