Donal's Irish Adventure

Dingle Bay Prawn Boil

Name: Dingle Bay Prawn Boil
Total time: 60 min
Yield: 8 servings
Cuisine: Irish
Ingredients: For the court bouillon:; 50g dried dillisk seaweed; 1 large white onion, chopped; 1 bunch thyme; 1 small bunch parsley; 3 sticks of celery; 3 large carrots, chopped; 2 lemons, halved; 3 bay leaves; 1 tbsp black peppercorns; 1 tbsp fennel seeds; 3 tbsp apple cider vinegar; 1 litre pale ale; 2 tbsp salt; 2 tbsp sugar; For the wild garlic bagna cauda:; 12 anchovy fillets; 3 large cloves garlic, minced; 125g butter; Small handful of wild garlic leaves, finely chopped; 2 tbsp olive oil; For the pot:; 35 Dublin Bay prawns; 1kg of baby potatoes; 4 corn cobs, cut in half; To serve:; Sourdough bread, sliced; Wild garlic flowers; Newspaper pages; Lemon wedges

Donal SkehanFrom the series · Donal's Irish Adventure

60 min totalServes 8Medium

Time60 min

Serves8

SkillMedium

ShowSuper Food In Minutes

Method

For the court bouillon, place a large pot over a high heat, add all the ingredients and top up with 1 litre of cold water. Bring to a steady simmer and cook for 35 minutes or until the liquid is aromatic. Strain the liquid into a clean pot with a fine sieve.

For the wild garlic bagna, place the garlic, wild garlic leaves & some sea salt to season in a pestle and mortar. Mix well until you have a smooth paste.

Add the butter, anchovies and garlic paste to a pan over a medium heat and stir through. When the butter is melted and begins to bubble, remove from the heat and transfer to a small serving bowl.

To cook the dublin bay prawn boil, bring the pot of strained court bouillon to a rolling boil and then add the potatoes to cook for 10 minutes. Add the corn next and cook for 3 minutes before adding the Dublin Bay prawns and turning off the heat. The prawns should be cooked after 3-4 minutes. Add iced water to stop the cooking and allow the pot to sit and infuse while you get set up to serve.

To serve, lay a table with plenty of newspaper, to soak up any excess moisture. Strain the liquid from the prawns and potato and tumble everything straight onto the table. Garnish with lemon wedges and serve with plenty of crusty sourdough bread and the bagna cauda.

Cook's notes

Timing the pot is everything: potatoes first for 10 minutes, then corn for 3, and the prawns go in last off the heat — they need only 3-4 minutes in the residual warmth or they turn rubbery.
Adding iced water once the prawns are cooked stops them overcooking and lets everything sit and infuse while you set up the table.
Strain the court bouillon through a fine sieve into a clean pot before the final boil so the broth is clear and the aromatics don't cloud the pot.
Keep the bagna cauda over gentle heat only until the butter melts and just bubbles — push it too hard and the anchovies and garlic catch and turn bitter.
Wild garlic is seasonal, so if it's out of season a little crushed regular garlic and chives stands in well for the bagna cauda.

Serve with Plenty of sliced crusty sourdough to mop up the buttery bagna cauda, lemon wedges for squeezing, and a cold glass of the same pale ale you cooked with. Scatter with wild garlic flowers if you have them.

Make ahead & storage Very much a cook-and-eat-now feast. Any leftover picked prawn meat is lovely cold the next day in a sandwich or salad; keep it chilled and eat within a day.

Recipe by Donal Skehan · From the series Donal's Irish Adventure · Photography © Appetite Media
Published 15 July 2026

Nutrition

Per serving · estimated

393kcal

15gprotein

46gcarbs

19gfat

Approximate — calculated from the ingredient list using USDA food data. A guide, not a medical figure.