TABELIAAUTHENTIC RECIPE
Gamberoni alla BusaraBusara-Style Prawns
A dish from Trieste and the Istrian peninsula: large shell-on prawns cooked with tomato, white wine and breadcrumbs. Cooking in the shells draws their savor into the sauce. Its distinctive technique uses breadcrumbs to thicken.
AUTHENTICITY SCORE
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Ingredients (2 servings)
- Large raw prawns, shell-onRemove the vein through the shell with a toothpick; do not peel600 g
- Tomato passata200 ml
- Dry white wine100 ml
- Fine breadcrumbsAdds body and savor to the sauce30 g
- GarlicFinely chop2 cloves
- Flat-leaf parsleyFinely chop2 tbsp
- Dried chili1 piece
- Extra virgin olive oil60 ml
Method
Chop the aromatics
- 1 Finely chop 2 garlic cloves.
- 2 Finely chop the flat-leaf parsley.
Sauté the prawns
- 1 Put 3 tbsp olive oil and the garlic in a frying pan over high heat.
- 2 Once fragrant, add the shell-on prawns and sauté for 30 seconds on each side.
Ready when
Proceed when the shells turn red.
Add wine and tomato
- 1 Pour in 100 ml white wine and boil for about 1 minute to remove the alcohol.
- 2 Add 200 ml tomato passata and the chili.
Ready when
Proceed when the alcohol smell has gone, after about 1 minute.
Coat in the sauce
- 1 Reduce over medium heat for 5 minutes.
- 2 Scatter in 30 g breadcrumbs and coat with the sauce.
Ready when
It is ready when the breadcrumbs have absorbed sauce and thickened it.
Plate with the shells on
- 1 Scatter with parsley and plate the prawns in their shells.
About this dish
Trieste is a port city at Italy’s easternmost edge. Facing the Adriatic yet long influenced by the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it has a Central European air. Its table, however, makes full use of the Adriatic’s bounty.
Gamberoni alla busara are large head-on prawns sautéed with garlic and olive oil, then simmered with white wine, tomato and breadcrumbs. One theory says busara means “nonsense” in Trieste’s dialect; another view sees the name as a remnant of fishermen’s improvised cooking with whatever ingredients were available.
Cooking the prawns with their heads lets rich savor dissolve into the sauce. Handed down in Trieste and Istria, the dish was born at a crossroads of culinary cultures across national borders.
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