Prawns flambeed, then finished in a confit of tomatoes and lemon-marinated shallots bound with Bordier Lemon-Olive Oil Butter. This is the most ambitious recipe in our Bordier series and Maison Bordier rates it difficult, mostly because four components have to land at once. It uses two Bordier butters: a smoked salt butter stirred through pilaf rice, and the lemon-olive oil butter that carries the sauce. Passion fruit spooned over at the last moment is what keeps the whole thing from tasting heavy. Serves four.
At a glance
- Difficulty: Difficult
- Serves: 4
- Active time: About 40 minutes (our estimate, Bordier does not state one)
- Cook: Roughly 20 minutes once the tomatoes go in, plus the time to cook the rice
- Key ingredient: Bordier Lemon-Olive Oil Butter, with Bordier smoked salt butter for the rice
Why this works
Bordier made the lemon-olive oil butter in 2009 at a chef's request. Extra-virgin olive oil is infused with lemon and then worked into the butter, which gives you two fats behind one flavor: the butter carries and emulsifies, the olive oil brings the peppery finish, and the lemon keeps both of them from feeling rich. That combination is why it belongs with shellfish. Prawns need acid and fat in the same spoonful, and this butter delivers them together instead of asking you to squeeze a lemon over the top at the end.
The structure of the dish is a slow confit under a fast sear. Tomatoes and lemon-marinated shallots cook down gently for 15 minutes until they slump into something jammy, while the prawns get one aggressive minute per side in very hot oil so they stay snappy. The two only meet for the last two or three minutes. The smoked salt butter in the rice sits underneath all of it as a quiet savory base, and the passion fruit scattered on at the end is pure acid, which resets the palate between bites.
Ingredients
Bordier does not give a weight for the rice, so cook the quantity you would normally serve four people, roughly 300 g (about 1 1/2 cups) dry.
| Ingredient | Metric | US |
|---|---|---|
| Shallots | 4 | 4 |
| Lemon | 1 | 1 |
| Sugar cube | 1 | 1 |
| Basmati rice | Quantity not specified | Quantity not specified |
| Bordier salted smoked butter | 50 g | About 1 3/4 oz, or 1/4 cup |
| Olive oil | To cook | To cook |
| Garlic clove | 1 | 1 |
| Medium prawns or shrimp | 20 | 20 |
| Vine tomatoes | 6 | 6 |
| Bordier Lemon-Olive Oil Butter | 75 g | About 2 1/2 oz, or 1/3 cup |
| Pepper | To taste | To taste |
| Passion fruits | 2 | 2 |
| Cilantro | To finish | To finish |
Method
Step 1: Marinate the shallots and cook the rice
Chop the shallots and put them in a ramekin with the sugar cube. Pour over the lemon juice and leave them to marinate while you work. Cook the rice pilaf style, and once it is done stir the salted smoked butter through it and set it aside. Pour a little olive oil into a saute pan and brown the crushed garlic clove.
Step 2: Sear and flambe the prawns
Sear the prawns in the very hot oil, turning them after one minute. Flambe them with rum, then lift them out and set them aside. Add a little olive oil to a frying pan and tip in the lemon-marinated shallots.
Step 3: Build the tomato confit
After two minutes, add the lemon-olive oil butter and the tomatoes cut in half. Sweat them and let them cook down into a confit over low heat. After 15 minutes, return the prawns to the pan along with the 1/3 cup of lemon-olive oil butter. Add a pinch or two of freshly ground pepper, Madagascar peppercorns if you have them, and cook for another two to three minutes. Reheat the rice in the microwave for two minutes.
Step 4: Plate and finish with passion fruit
Give each plate five prawns and two tablespoons of the smoked rice. Spoon the confit tomatoes and their lemon-olive oil butter over the shellfish and the rice, and check the seasoning. Halve the passion fruits, scoop out the pulp with a teaspoon, and scatter it over each plate from a height. Finish with cilantro fronds.
Tips from our kitchen
- Read Bordier's step 3 twice before you cook it. As written, the lemon-olive oil butter is added at the start of the confit and again with the prawns, but the ingredient list gives a single 75 g quantity. Our reading is to split it: about half to start the tomatoes, the rest stirred in with the prawns at the end. That is our guidance, not Bordier's.
- The rum is not in the ingredient list. Step 2 calls for a flambe with rum but no quantity appears anywhere on the source page. We use about 3 tablespoons of dark rum for 20 prawns, again as our own suggestion. If you would rather skip the flambe entirely, deglaze with a splash of white wine instead and the dish still works.
- Get the pan properly hot before the prawns go in. One minute per side only works if the oil is shimmering. In a lukewarm pan the prawns poach in their own liquid, go pale and turn rubbery. Cook them in two batches rather than crowding the pan.
- Add the lemon-olive oil butter over low heat. This is a finishing butter, not a frying fat. If the pan is hot enough to brown it, the lemon note cooks off and the emulsion breaks. Keep the confit at a bare murmur.
- Do not skip the passion fruit. It looks like a garnish but it is doing real work, cutting the two butters and the olive oil with sharp acidity. If passion fruit is out of season, a squeeze of lime over each plate is a defensible stand-in.
- Reheat the rice however you like. Bordier says microwave, but a covered pan with a spoonful of water works just as well and treats the buttered grains more gently.
How to serve it
Bring it to the table on warm plates and eat it immediately, since the prawns tighten as they sit. A cold, high-acid white is the right partner, a Picpoul de Pinet or a Muscadet, both of which have the salinity to keep up with the shellfish. If you want more ideas for cooking with citrus-forward butter, our guide to Bordier butter covers which flavors survive heat and which are better used raw.
Where to buy Bordier 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 Lemon-Olive Oil Butter by Bordier (4.4 oz): butter worked with lemon-infused extra-virgin olive oil, made in 2009 for a chef and built for shellfish.
The rice in this recipe traditionally uses Bordier's smoked salt butter, which is no longer part of our catalog. The closest thing we stock is Churned Salted Butter by Bordier (4.4 oz), semi-salted at 2.8 percent, which gives the pilaf the same savory backbone without the smoke. For the full range, browse the Maison Bordier collection.
Frequently asked questions
How much Bordier butter do I need for this recipe?
The lemon-olive oil butter is 75 g and a Bordier block is 125 g (4.4 oz), so one block covers it. The rice takes another 50 g, which is well within a second block if you are using salted butter in place of the smoked.
Can I use a different Bordier butter for the sauce?
Seaweed butter is the closest in spirit and pushes the dish further toward the sea. Wild garlic and Kampot pepper butter also works with prawns, though you lose the citrus lift that balances the confit.
Do I have to flambe the prawns?
No. Deglazing the hot pan with a splash of wine or stock achieves most of the same thing. If you do flambe, take the pan off the heat first, pour the spirit in away from the flame, and stand back.
How should I store the butter?
Keep it refrigerated in its wrapper and press the paper back onto the cut face. Flavored butters pick up refrigerator smells easily, so an airtight box is worth using.
Does the butter need to be refrigerated?
Yes. Bordier butter is a fresh, hand-churned product and ships cold. Refrigerate it as soon as the box reaches you.
Can I prepare any of it ahead?
The shallot marinade and the tomato confit can both be made several hours in advance. Sear the prawns and combine everything at the last minute.
Related reading
- Bordier Butter: What It Is, Why Chefs Love It, and How to Use It
- La Brujula Spanish Conservas
- Terre Exotique
Recipe and photograph adapted from Maison Bordier, with thanks. The French Pantry is an authorized US retailer of Bordier butter.