I think many of us, regardless of whether we’ve been blogging for months or years, will understand the friendships that can grow up through the connections we’ve made via our blogs. People leave lovely comments, ideas, share in the ups and downs of whatever we choose to discuss on our blogs. Some very kind folk go as far as sharing gifts and giveaways, allowing us the opportunity to try something from their country which we otherwise would never have come across.
Recently the lovely Margot over at Gather and Graze hosted a giveaway of some herbs from her home country of Australia, Lemon Myrtle and Wattleseed. Have you heard of them? I certainly hadn’t. Lemon Myrtle is (and I’m quoting from the packet here) “a fragrant Australian native plant which bears leaves with an intense lemon fragrance”. The packet of ground lemon myrtle really does explode with a beautiful refreshing lemony aroma.
The Wattleseed (which is roasted and ground) comes from the seeds of a species of Australian native acacia which have a roasted coffee-like aroma. It works beautifully with chocolate, and I’ll soon be sharing a recipe with you.
If you can’t get hold of Ground Lemon Myrtle (and I’m guessing a lot of you can’t), I’d suggest substituting the same quantity of finely grated lemon zest. I know it won’t be quite the same, but perhaps a good approximation.
The recipe comes from the packet sent to me (thanks again Margot!) and I served it with a salad and a lemon vinaigrette as a starter. I did change the quantities from the original recipe as I scaled the recipe down a little.
Ingredients (to serve 4 as a starter)
- 16 large peeled and deveined langoustines
- ½ cup of rice flour (use plain flour otherwise, but the rice flour does give a wonderful crunch)
- ¾ tablespoon of ground lemon myrtle
- ¾ teaspoon of smoked paprika (I used pimentón)
- A pinch of chilli powder
- Salt
- ½ cup of cooking oil (I used olive oil)
- 2 fresh chillies finely chopped
Mix the flour with the spices and toss the prawns in the mixture. Heat the oil over a high heat and cook the prawns quickly (they probably only need a minute or so on each side) until they have turned pink and crispy.
Drain on kitchen paper, sprinkle with salt and add the fresh chilli. Enjoy!
To see how Margot used her Lemon Myrtle, hop on over and check out her delicious Australian Apple Crumble recipe!
Chica Andaluza 
Crispy prawns, using rice! What’s not to like?! I’d like a larger plate than the one you photographed 😀
Ha ha – you should see what we ate for main course – beef ribs (they were enormous!). I could have eaten more prawns but I knew what was coming up next 🙂
How lovely! I spent 6 months in Australia, but haven’t knowingly tried lemon myrtle – something to rectify 😉
I expect there’s someone, somewhere in England that sells it but unless you know about something, you wouldn’t be able to search it out! I bought what I had left to Spain and shared with a pal….!
I’m sure there’s some in London – there are plenty of Australians and Australian chefs. It looks like they sell it in Alara on Marchmont Street, almost next to my dentist 😉
I know you’d track some down!
I’ll just have to be careful not to buy Moaning Myrtle 😉
No, or she’d be haunting your bathroom…..!
🙂
Gotta love the blog love. What wonderful and intriguing spices! Love seeing new things I wouldn’t ordinarily get at home and yes, the friendships built are wonderful!
Now if we could just get to visit with each other!
Have a beautiful day Tanya.
🙂 Mandy xo
Good food, news things to try and new pals….what’s not to like?!
Those prawns are so yumm. I love the sweet, firm, salty seafood.
Oh me too…and now you’ve got me thinking about scallops!
Love this plate! Langoustines are something I adore and summed up with your ingredients must be absolutely super!
As for making friends with other bloggers it would be lovely to meet each other , of course!
Grazie mille San Fermo!!!
I am an Aussie and I have managed to go half a century without tasting Lemon Myrtle. I wonder if lemon grass would make a good sub? Your tubes of the sea look wonderful Ms Chica. Glad you liked the myrtle 🙂
Aha – you don’t know what you’ve been missing Ms narf….dash on out and hunt down Miss Lemon Myrtle, she will be a good friend to you!
She is almost as foreign here as she is in Spain Ms Chica 😉
I know what you mean – it’s easier for me to buy Spanish Smoked Pimentón in England than in Spain!
Shrimp is such a staple at our place and love your simple recipe to have on hand:)
Glad you liked it Peri, thank you!
Oh, wow- 2 recipes for the price of 1 when I dash off to try Australian apple crumble as well 🙂
Good eh?! I love any apple crumble, especially if it’s drowned in custard 😉
You have put the biggest smile of the day on my face by using our ‘bush tucker’!! Lemon myrtle is one of my favourite tropically sourced Australian herbs and ‘Herbies’ is probably the most respected spices/herbs firm Down Under. And yes, they do mail order all over the world. One item to look for are their specialist boxes and I am certain there is an Australian one with all the recipes needed! Also by just wandering over their on line pages one can learn one hell of a lot of great cooking!!! Lovely recipe this – must put in my own menu order 🙂 !
Oh good – it’s always great to learn about something new and I was really impressed by the quality, the flavour and the fact that I was trying something so very different (to me, at least!) for the first time at my ripe old-ish age J
Lucky me, I’ve got some lemon myrtle in my spice drawer and lucky you to have received such an amazing gift 🙂
Oh good – someone who can get hold of it! It’s lovely, isn’t it?!
Yay! I’m so pleased you enjoyed using the lemon myrtle Tanya! Thank you so much for your very kind words and also for posting this recipe. It sounds totally delicious with the crispy rice flour coating… not sure why I haven’t already tried it out for myself! 😉 I look forward to hearing your thoughts on the wattleseed – they may take a little more getting used to than the lemon myrtle… quite different from anything else out there. Cheers, Margot.xx
It was such a delicious and easy dish to cook, and I’m looking forward to using the wattleseed. Am back in Spain and have shared a little of each with a neighbour who also enjoys to cook, so the herbs are becoming very international with all their travels! Once I’m back in the UK I’m going to order some other things from them. I wrote to the company to say how much I enjoyed their products and both Ian and Liz Hemphill wrote to me to say thank you. Says a lot about a company when the owners take the time to acknowledge their “customers”! Most impressive.
Looks utterly delicious… especially for this time of year. 🙂
Thank you – I expect you don’t have much time for cooking right now what being on Puppy Duty!
Its just inviting.
Glad you like it – thank you!
That looks lovely!
Thank you!
hemmm… delicious…. let me try….hemmm
Thank you!
Mmmhh I love anything fried and spicy! I will have to try rice flour sometime, didn’t know it was so crispy. Enjoy your time in Spain and try to extend it some more haha! 4 weeks is too short!
It is a short time 😦 but we’ll enjoy it to the limit!
What a lovely recipe. I’ve always wanted to try wattleseed. A lot of Australian recipes call for it. This is perfect for summer. Great post.
Thanks Amanda – it was new to me, but I’m so glad it “found” me!
Thanks Recipe good food , and I think it would be easy I made it
hmmmm, definitely tasty shrimp dishes once with the scent of lemon makes the appetite I peaked, do you think the fish in addition to shrimp can use this recipe ?
seafood 🙂 i like it