Seafood Challenge

Recently, we got a nice haul of prawns brought over from Leyte courtesy of my vacationing parents. They came in various sizes which included some that were so huge they were bordering on "mutant-ish"! They were so big in fact, that I got restless, hesitant and doubtful if they were edible to me at all... Do I dare eat these huge creatures hauled fresh from the sea?
Kidding.
Guided of course by my trusty tummy's sagely wisdom, I was instantly filled by the presence of these huge sea beasts not with hesitation nor doubt, but rather, with great joy.
An opportunity for a feast of fresh sea treasures.

Appreciating the wonderful bounty we had, I was left with the daunting task of figuring out what to do in order to capture the sweet experience of the gastronomic moment.

Pressure.

The usual course prawns took in our household on the way to our bellies was either via the steamed route or via the curry route. This time however, I figured that the opportunity would be wasted on cooking what was to us, a common dish already. It was time to explore other options. A quest that led me from website to website to a Yummy Magazine Liv bought a couple of months prior, where I found a recipe for what seemed to be the perfect dish for the occassion. Prawn Thermidor (the mag is currently missing right now so till I find it, let me just recount the experience and skim over the details).

The Prawn Thermidore Experience:

I cleaned the prawns and cut half of the bunch vertically in the middle so that they opened up like butterflies. The other half was chopped into bits.

Then I sauteed the chopped prawns with mushrooms, veggies etc.

After adding some cream and seasoning to finish the filling, I proceeded to stuff it into the butterfly-cut prawns' open middle.

And topped everything with grated cheese as the final touch before putting them in the oven to cook..

The result:

Man was it good! The sweet flesh of fresh prawns stuffed with the creamy mixture of prawn bits, fresh vegetables and mushrooms meshed perfectly with the rich melted cheese. I followed the recipe faithfully and got rewarded in the end.

The result was a big wipe out of every last morsel of the mighty prawns, leaving only hollowed husks and carapaces as evidence of the feast.