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Rocambole de camarão is one of my favorite family recipes, made by my mom for special occasions like Christmas and New Year’s Eve. Although it is not a typical Brazilian recipe, for I only ate it at home, I propose the recipe because it is exquisite.
It can be served as an appetizer or a main course, accompanied by white rice.

Ingredients

For the batter:
• 60 g butter
• 60 g all-purpose flour
• 400 ml milk
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• a pinch of salt
• 4 eggs

For the filling:
• 500 g medium-sized prawns
• 100 g tomato purée
• 250 g requeijão or cheese cream
• 20 – 30 g all-purpose flour (depends on the consistency of the cheese)
• 1 teaspoon Worcester sause
• 1 tablespoon chopped parsley
• 1 tablespoon green (spring) onions chopped
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• salt and pepper
To garnish:
• 300 g tomato purée
• whole prawns
• oil, garlic clove, salt and pepper

Preparation method

For the batter:
1. Melt butter in a saucepan, add flour and sauté them.
2. Add the hot milk, a little at a time, stirring constantly. When it begins to thicken, cook for 2 more minutes, stirring constantly.
3. Allow to cool and add egg yolks one at a time, sugar and salt, mixing well so the yolks don’t curdle.
4. Gently fold the stiff egg whites.
5. Pour the mixture into a rectangular baking tin (around 25×37 cm), lined with grease-proof paper.
6. Bake at 190° C until golden color. Stick a toothpick in the center of the cake, if it comes out clean the cake is done. It takes around 30 minutes.
7. Roll the “cake” into a cylinder with the grease-proof paper. Set aside and keep warm while you make the filling and the garnish.
Note: The “cake” can be made, baked and rolled the day before and stored in the fridge, wrapped with grease-proof paper and plastic film. Heat in microwave to use.

For the filling:
1. Wash and finely chop the green onion and the parsley.
2. Sauté the green onion in oil.
3. Add the peeled prawn and cook for a few minutes, season with salt and pepper.
4. Add the flour and sauté. Add the tomato purée and mix well.
5. Add the cheese and stir constantly over low heat until the mixture is homogeneous.
6. Add the parsley and Worcester sauce at the end.

For the garnish:
1. Sauté the prawn shells with garlic in oil.
2. Add the tomato purée, a half cup of water and let boil for a few minutes to flavor the tomato purée.
3. Pass the sauce through a sieve to remove the shells.
4. Season whole prawns with salt and pepper and sauté them with garlic in oil.

To assemble the recipe:
1. Roll out the “cake”, spread the prawn sauce cream over the “cake” and use the grease-proof paper to help with the rolling. Allow to rest “wrapped” for a few minutes.
2. Slide the “wrapped” roulade onto a bed of lettuce in a serving dish with the roll seam side down, and gently remove the grease-proof paper.
3. Spread the tomato sauce over the top.
4. Garnish with whole shrimps and/or parsley leaves.
5. Slice at table, when serving.

Posted on: 02 February 2012