Prawn Cocktail

This dish, immortalised in the 1970’s, was considered the height of sophistication and a must have at any fancy dinner party. These days it seems to have fallen from the culinary spotlight, so we have given the humble prawn cocktail a bit of a modern edge.

Ingredients

300g Cooked, Frozen Prawns
Some Lettuce (any kind will do)
About 8cm Cucumber

For the ‘Mary Rose’ sauce:

60g Mayonnaise
20g Ketchup
5g Horseradish Sauce
1g Salt
1 teaspoon Lemon Juice

Optionally:

A small handful of thyme flowers
A few pansy flowers

Preparation Time: 5 minutes
Cooking Time: n/a
Serves: 3

Method

Defrost the prawns by placing them into a fine seive and run them under cold water until the ice has melted, about 1 minute.
Place them onto 2 sheets of kitchen paper on a plate. Using two more sheets of kitchen paper on top, very gently press down on the prawns to squeeze out most of the liquid.
Place all of the sauce ingredients into a bowl and stir them together.
Arrange the salad leaves (we used Lollo Rossa) on the plate. Cut the cucumber into strips using a vegetable peeler and sprinkle the strips over the lettuce. Then place on the prawns.
Spoon the sauce on top of the prawns and dust it with a touch of paprika. Then garnished the plate with the fresh pansy and thyme flowers (they are both edible) and serve. If you want to be traditional about it, you can serve it with slices of buttered brown bread.

Useful Information

Can it be Frozen? No.

Can it be prepared in advance? Only the sauce, 3 days in advance

Will leftovers be nice? No.

Notes

The pansy flowers don’t really taste of much (they have a very slightly peppery ‘green’ flavour) but they do look spectacular. The thyme flowers taste of thyme but are much more delicate and palatable compared to eating thyme leaves. When picking flowers to eat, make sure they actually are the flowers you think they are and that they have NOT been sprayed with any kind of toxin (such as weed killer or insecticide).