Bugs are cheaper than lobster, sweeter than most prawns, and nobody knows what to do with them. Split them, butter the flesh, put them shell down over the coals and leave them alone. Australian truffle and shellfish is an old idea that keeps being right, and this is the version that takes ten minutes.
20 mins. Serves 4.
Ingredients
- 8 Green Balmain or Moreton Bay bugs
- 2 dessertspoons Plateit Truffle Chilli Crunch
- 80g Butter, softened
- 2 cloves Garlic, crushed
- 1 Lemon, halved
- Chives, snipped, a small handful
- Salt, a pinch
Method
- Freeze the bugs 20 mins to sedate them, then split lengthways through the head with a heavy knife. Rinse the head cavity.
- Mash the butter with the garlic and a pinch of salt. Spread it thickly over the cut flesh.
- Barbecue to high, direct. Bugs shell side down only, lid up, 6 to 8 mins. Never turn them.
- They are done when the flesh is opaque to the centre and the butter is bubbling in the shell.
- Spoon 2 dessertspoons of Plateit Truffle Chilli Crunch across them, chives, lemon. Eat with your hands.
Swap it: Same method on green lobster tails or large split prawns. Watch the timing, they run faster than bugs.