Sauteed King Prawns with Paprika

(serves 4)

2 dozen king prawns, raw with heads and shells on
1 tbsp smoked paprika
6 tbsps olive oil
1 tsp sea salt (or to taste)
fresh-ground black pepper
a lit­tle more olive oil for the pan
chives to garnish

dip­ping sauce:
1/2 cup mayonnaise
juice of 1/2 lemon
squirt of pre­pared wasabi (as hot as you like it!)
fresh-ground black pepper

Cut each prawn up the back with scis­sors, end­ing before the tail. Place the prawns in as sin­gle lay­er as you can fit, on a large cook­ie sheet. Sprin­kle with all mari­nade ingre­di­ents and smoosh them around, mix­ing the papri­ka with the oil. This releas­es a mag­nif­i­cent­ly earthy, sen­su­al aro­ma that will get your taste buds kick­ing in.

Sprin­kle a lit­tle more olive oil in a very large skil­let and heat till real­ly hot. Place the prawns in imme­di­ate­ly, all at the same time, and begin turn­ing them as they turn pink. Con­tin­ue to cook over high heat, turn­ing all the time, until they turn stiff and are com­plete­ly cooked (2–3 min­utes total time, depend­ing on size of prawns). Do NOT over­cook beyond being JUST done.

Sprin­kle with chives and serve over rice or spaghet­ti, spoon­ing out all the oil and cook­ing debris from the skil­let and sprin­kling it over. Serve with the dip­ping sauce and pro­vide a large body plate for the shells!