Szechuan Style Prawn

This is a great, authentic tasting dish- the heat can be turned up a bit by adding more chilli flakes - or perhaps a fresh red chilli, sliced.
Really straightforward to make - and check out some of the other chinese dishes on the blog to try it with.
The level in the recipe is warm - rather than hot!

Serves 4

600g cooked, peeled large prawns
1 tin chopped tomatoes
3 large onions - sliced
1 tbsp grated ginger
3 tbsp oil
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp sugar
3 tsp chilli flakes
salt and pepper

1 Heat the oil in a heavy casserole
2 Add the onions and ginger and cook until the onions are soft and translucent.
3 Add the tomatoes and soy sauce, sugar and chilli flakes.
4 Season and leave to simmer on a low heat until you have a smooth, thick sauce - approximately 20 mintues.
5 Add the prawns to the sauce, and warm through.
6 Check the seasoning and serve.

Prawn Cocktail - back to the old school!

For Valentines I decided to go back in time - with an old school favourite - prawn cocktail, followed by a T-bone steak!

For the prawn cocktail I struggled to find the appropriate glasses - but managed to source a couple in a local charity shop.

For the basic sauce I reverted to my old recipe for mini prawn cocktails:

500g prawns

200 ml mayonnaise

3 tbsp tomato ketchup

1 tbsp lemon juice

Worcestershire sauce

Salt and pepper

1 Make the marie rose sauce. The only thing that is important here is to add everything to taste. Put the mayo and tomato ketchup in a bowl and mix, add the lemon juice to taste, and a few drops of Worcestershire sauce, which adds a background hint of heat.

2 Season the sauce and then add your prawns and mix well.

For the salad - I had thought it was traditionally just iceberg or little gem lettuces - but found there were lots of different versions. This was what I went for:

3 little gem lettuces

10cm piece of cucumber

1 avocado

2 tbsp lemon juice

1 Cut the cucumber lengthways - use a spoon to scoop out the seeds

2 Cut the cucumber into small dice

3 Peel the avocado and cut into cubes.

4 Place the avocado and cucumber into a bowl with the lemon juice and toss well

5 Shred the little gems and mix well with the avocado and cucumber.

6 Split between four bowls - leave a dip in the middle to scoop in the prawns.

7 Dress with a lemon slice, or a prawn with the shell on for full 70's points - and perhaps a sprinkling of cayenne pepper.

Get some Demis Roussos on the gramaphone - live the dream........