Retro Din Dins
Prawn cocktail, also known as shrimp cocktail, is a seafood dish consisting of shelled, cooked prawns in a Marie Rose sauce or cocktail sauce, served in a glass. It was the most popular hors d'œuvre in Great Britain, as well as in the United States, from the 1960s to the late 1980s. According to the English food writer Nigel Slater, the prawn cocktail "has spent most of (its life) see-sawing from the height of fashion to the laughably passé" and is now often served with a degree of irony.
No irony at this table, this is good eating. I made a classic Marie Rose sauce by combining:
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 Tbsp ketchup
Pinch of salt
1 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/4 tsp Tabasco
Pinch of cayenne pepper
Layer iceberg lettuce, fat prawns and slop on the sauce (makes 4 portions). This elegant starter is best enjoyed in a glass - it is a cocktail after all!
Next up was the main event, a chicken kiev - straight out the packet and into the oven for 20 minutes, while I boiled up some little potatoes. The potatoes were clad in butter, salt and dill - you just can’t beat it! Some petite pois and microgreens added a fresh greenness to the plate.
What a treat!