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Proper Prawn Cocktail with Marie Rose Sauce

Proper Prawn Cocktail with Marie Rose Sauce

Prep time: 20 minServes: 6

Pairs with

This dish has had a hard couple of decades but it's genuinely brilliant when made properly. Serve unironically. A crisp sparkling or Sauvignon Blanc handles the sweet prawns and the mayonnaise-based sauce cleanly.

Ingredients

  • 600g large cooked prawns, peeled with tails on
  • 2 baby gem lettuces, finely shredded
  • 1 avocado, diced
  • 1 cucumber, deseeded and diced
  • Cayenne pepper, for dusting
  • 6 lemon wedges
  • Marie Rose sauce:
  • 6 tbsp good mayonnaise
  • 2 tbsp tomato ketchup
  • 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
  • Splash of brandy (optional but recommended)
  • Squeeze of lemon
  • Pinch of cayenne

Method

  1. 11. Whisk all the Marie Rose ingredients together. Taste — it should be sharp, slightly smoky, and just barely pink. Adjust with more lemon or Worcestershire.
  2. 22. Toss the shredded lettuce with cucumber and avocado.
  3. 33. Divide between 6 glasses or bowls (martini glasses look great, so does anything else).
  4. 44. Arrange prawns on top, tails hooked over the rim if using glasses.
  5. 55. Spoon Marie Rose over the prawns, dust with cayenne, tuck in a lemon wedge.