I headed off early this morning to a fishmonger called Ocean Foods, to select seafood for today’s Good Friday meat-free meals. This popular fish shop is prominently positioned on the corner of a busy road in Drummoyne and often has a swarm of people lining up outside waiting to order their favourite freshly cooked-to-order fish and chips, prawns, scallops, squid or other super tasty seafood. 

I was faced with an impressive variety of seafood; some already expertly marinaded or threaded together on skewers, others glistening on ice, waiting to be turned into a flavoursome feast. I decided on boneless barramundi fillets for our evening meal and plump Australian king prawns for lunch. These were neatly wrapped in paper and soon I was on my way home, already thinking about what to team with these delicious edible delights. 

A marinade for whole barbecued prawns in Pete Evans’ cookbook My Grill soon solved the quandary of what to do with my beady eyed prawns. I have based the marinade below on his recipe, but have used a larger quantity of fresh herbs, added dried Italian herbs, reduced the chilli (cooking for kids) and I also shelled the prawns leaving on only the tails. 

I served up a platter of these prawns with ruby red chargrilled capsicums and cumin sprinkled corn cobs, caramelised onion and fresh pea brown rice salad. 

Fresh Lemony Herb Marinade for Prawns  – sufficient marinade for 2 kg of prawns

Ingredients
1 cup fresh flat leaf parsley and oregano leaves
2 large cloves of garlic
1 lemon
half a teaspoon chilli flakes
1 teaspoon dried Italian herbs
sea salt to taste
1 cup olive oil

The fresh herbs and garlic need to be chopped up finely. I find it easy and quick to do this in my mini KitchenAid food processor. You can also use a very sharp knife and chop finely on a board. 

The lemon rind needs to be coarsely grated and the lemon juice squeezed and set aside to be drizzled over the prawns as soon as they come off the BBQ. 

Prepare the prawns as follows: Remove the heads by gently twisting off and then peel away the shell and legs underneath. Remove the intestine by running a sharp knife along the curved back of each prawn. This exposes a thin, dark line which can then be pulled out. Rinse in cold water, then pat dry with clean paper towels. 

Then, simply combine all the ingredients for the marinade in a large glass or ceramic bowl. Add the prawns and mix to combine. 

Australian prawns soaking up the fresh herbs and lemon in this simple marinade.

Leave the prawns in the marinade at room temperature while your BBQ heats up. When it is ready, lay each prawn neatly on the BBQ plate to cook. It is very important not to overcook the prawns. They need to retain that tenderness and moisture, so I turned them over after 1 minute on the BBQ (which should be at at high-medium setting). I then allowed them to sizzle on the second raw side for another 2 minutes before whipping them off the hot plate and onto a platter. 

Squeeze over the fresh lemon juice that you had set aside and serve immediately. Oh, and don’t forget to suck out the sweet bit of prawn meat tucked away in the tail of the prawn. Mmm, most tasty of all!


Barramundi Fillets with Thyme and Rosemary – this marinade is enough for 8 ample pieces of fish. Halve the quantities if cooking fewer fillets. 

Ingredients
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
good grind of black pepper and sea salt to taste
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried rosemary
Juice of 1 lemon

When cooking fish fillets on a barbecue, it is essential to leave the skin ON and start off by placing each fillet SKIN SIDE DOWN. This results in a crispy outer coating, prevents the flesh from drying out and holds each piece together. 

Drizzle a platter or two with all of the olive oil, half the sea salt, pepper and half the dried herbs. Place the fish skin side down on this mixture. I then sprinkled the fleshy side with the remaining marinade ingredients. I favour this method because it ensures the skin is well coated with olive oil and is ready for barbecuing. 

When the BBQ is heated to high-medium, arrange the fillets on the plate and cook until the fish turns white half way up the side of each fillet. Carefully flip over onto the other side and cook until the flesh is no longer raw on the inside,but still moist. 

Squeeze over lemon or lime juice and eat immediately. I served this with a Crisp Cos Lettuce, Shaved Fennel and Sweet Baby Roma Tomato Salad with a Citrus Dressing.