Twenty king prawns, a hot plancha, and a block of Espelette pepper butter split between the shellfish and the vegetables underneath. Maison Bordier's ratatouille here is cut fine and cooked briefly, so it stays bright rather than collapsing into a stew. The prawns are coated in softened butter before they hit the heat, which is what gives them their color and their seasoning at once. Allow about 40 minutes from start to finish.
At a glance
- Difficulty: Medium
- Serves: 4, at 5 prawns per person
- Active time: About 20 minutes, our estimate. Bordier does not state one
- Cook: 20 minutes for the ratatouille, 10 minutes for the prawns
- Key ingredient: 100 g Bordier Espelette Pepper Butter
Why this works
Espelette pepper and shellfish is a Basque pairing older than any recipe. Bordier's version of the butter arrived in 2008, after Jean-Yves Bordier met a producer of the AOP pepper, and it is AOP Espelette worked into salted butter. The heat is fruity and slow, closer to a good paprika than a chili, and that is what makes it safe to use as a coating on something as delicate as a prawn. A sharper heat would dominate the sweetness of the shellfish. Espelette shadows it instead.
The method is smarter than it first looks. The butter is softened almost to melting, not fully melted, so it clings to the prawns in a layer rather than running off. On the plancha that layer does three jobs at once: it seasons, it conducts heat evenly across an irregular surface, and its milk solids brown and stick to the shells. Bordier butter is churned by hand in Brittany on a traditional wooden malaxeur, and the fat content is high enough that it browns rather than sputtering. Keeping the heads and tail tips on gives the prawns something to hold onto and keeps them from curling too tightly.
Ingredients
Serves 4. Metric is what Bordier specifies, so treat it as the accurate column.
| Ingredient | Metric | US |
|---|---|---|
| Raw king prawns | 20 | 20, 5 per person |
| Bordier Espelette Pepper Butter | 100 g | 3 1/2 oz, about 7 tbsp |
| Zucchini | 2 | 2 |
| Fennel | 1 bulb | 1 bulb |
| Carrots | 2 | 2 |
| Yellow bell pepper | 1 | 1 |
| Red bell pepper | 1 | 1 |
| Tomatoes | 3 | 3 |
| Garlic | 2 cloves | 2 cloves |
| Pink Roscoff onion | 1 | 1 |
| Olive oil | 10 cl, 100 ml | About 1/3 cup |
| Salt | To taste | To taste |
Method
Step 1: Build the fine ratatouille
Wash the vegetables and cut them all into small, even cubes. Heat the olive oil in a Dutch oven and sweat the garlic and onion for 2 minutes. Add the rest of the vegetables along with 30 g, about 2 tbsp, of the Espelette pepper butter. Stir, then cook for 20 minutes, stirring at regular intervals. Taste and adjust the seasoning.
Step 2: Butter and griddle the prawns
Cut the remaining 70 g, about 1/3 cup, of Espelette pepper butter into pieces and soften it until it is almost melted. Shell the prawns, keeping the heads and the tips of the tails on. Slice down the back of each one and lift out the dark gut. Coat the prawns all over with the softened butter. Lay them on a hot plancha and griddle for 5 minutes, then turn them and griddle for 5 minutes more.
Tips from our kitchen
- Cut every vegetable to the same size. This is a fine ratatouille, not a rustic one, and the whole dish is cooked in one pan for 20 minutes. If the carrot dice is bigger than the zucchini dice, the carrot will still be raw when the zucchini has fallen apart. Aim for a quarter inch, about 5 mm, across the board.
- Add the carrots and fennel first if you are unsure. Bordier adds all the vegetables together. Our suggestion, not theirs: give the carrot and fennel a five minute head start, since they are markedly denser than the peppers and zucchini.
- Softened means almost melted, not melted. Take the butter off the heat while a few solid pieces remain and stir until they disappear. Fully melted butter slides off the prawns and burns on the plancha instead of coating them.
- Get the plancha genuinely hot before the prawns land. A moderate surface steams the shells and the butter pools. You want the prawns to sizzle on contact and take on color in the first minute.
- Ten minutes is a long time for a prawn. Bordier's timing suits large king prawns cooked in the shell. Smaller ones will be dry well before that. Watch for the flesh turning opaque and the shells going deep orange, and pull them then. That is our guidance, not Bordier's.
- Do not skip deveining. The dark line down the back is grit. Slicing down the back also butterflies the prawn slightly, which helps the butter reach the flesh rather than sitting on the shell.
How to serve it
Spoon the ratatouille into a shallow bowl and set the prawns on top, heads and all, so people peel them at the table. Put out finger bowls and plenty of bread, because the butter that renders out of the shells is the best part and belongs mopped up rather than washed off. A cold rosé or a Basque Txakoli is the natural match. For the other Bordier butters that suit shellfish, particularly the seaweed one, see the Maison Bordier collection.
Where to buy Espelette Pepper Butter in the US
The French Pantry ships Bordier butter across the United States in insulated overnight packaging, straight from the workshop in Brittany.
- Churned Espelette Pepper Butter by Bordier (4.4 oz): AOP Espelette pepper in salted butter, mild enough to coat shellfish without masking it.
For the rest of the range, including the seaweed, buckwheat, and Roscoff onion butters, browse the Maison Bordier collection.
Frequently asked questions
How much Espelette pepper butter do I need to buy?
The recipe uses 100 g, split 30 g into the ratatouille and 70 g onto the prawns. Our blocks are 125 g, or 4.4 oz, so one block covers the whole dish.
Can I substitute a different butter?
Bordier salted butter with ground Espelette pepper stirred through it will get you close. The heat will be less evenly spread, because in the original the pepper goes in during churning rather than afterwards.
I do not have a plancha. What else works?
A heavy cast iron griddle or a large cast iron skillet does the same job. What matters is a flat surface with real thermal mass that will not drop in temperature when twenty cold prawns land on it. Cook in two batches if the pan is crowded.
Can I use frozen prawns?
Yes, but thaw them fully and pat them completely dry first. Any surface water will steam the butter off and prevent browning.
How do I store the butter?
Keep it wrapped and refrigerated, and use it by the date on the pack. It freezes for up to three months if wrapped tightly.
Does the butter need refrigeration?
Yes. Bordier butter is a fresh, hand-churned product and ships cold. Refrigerate it as soon as it arrives, and take out only what you need to soften.
Related reading
- Bordier Butter: What It Is, Why Chefs Love It, and How to Use It
- How to Choose Your French Butter: A Buyer's Guide
- La Brújula Spanish Conservas
Recipe and photograph adapted from Maison Bordier, with thanks. The French Pantry is an authorized US retailer of Bordier butter.