Test drove the rings today…junior Master Chefs watch your backs! (Recipe below)

Need (serves 2):

• 1 avocado, peeled, seeded, finely diced
• 2 tomatoes, halved, seeded, finely diced 2 spring onions, finely chopped
• 10 cooked prawns, 2 put aside, rest peeled, finely chopped
• 10 drops Tabasco sauce
• 1 tablespoon whole egg mayonnaise
• 6 Capers, finely chopped
• 1 Lime, cut into wedges
• Dash olive oil
• Sea salt and cracked pepper
• Cucumber ribbons and celery tops to garnish

Create:

Throw avocado, finely chopped prawns, mayo, capers, shallots, a big squeeze lime juice, pinch sea salt and grind of pepper into a bowl and gently blend

Throw tomatoes, olive oil, Tabasco, a tad of salt and cracked pepper into a separate bowl and gently blend

Shave ribbons of cucumber using peeler or mandolin, pluck a few celery tips, put these and the whole prawns aside for garnishing

Place ring in center of a large plate, pop a layer of avocado mix in, press down, add a tomato layer, another avocado layer and repeat until filled, finishing with tomato mix

Lift ring up and away from stack and repeat exercise with next plate…looking impressive?

Now place cucumber ribbon curls and an unpeeled prawn on each stack, tuck a celery tip and slither of lime wedge in and finish with a grind of pepper. Yum!

Serve with a crisp chilled white wine.

With girlfriends coming for lunch, got to work choosing the perfect morsel to pop in them. Too hot for a Laksa, a guest not keen on molluscs or sashimi, behold the humble prawn! Who doesn’t love a good prawn on a hot summer afternoon huh?

Fresh, light, tasty, my little ‘deconstructed’ Prawn and Salsa Cocktails looked rather cute and tasted even better, all the while taking care of my rekindled spoon fetish.

Enjoy!

A few spare spoons of your own? Here’s what to do…

Need:
2 x Avocados finely diced
1 x Tomato, seeds removed, finely diced
1 x Scallion (spring onion) finely diced

12 x Cooked Prawns, shelled, deveined, tails intact
Slither of fresh ginger finely diced
2 x Limes juiced

1 x teaspoon capers finely diced
1/4 cup Whole egg mayonnaise
Dash of Tomatoe sauce

Baby cos leaves (the tiny heart ones)
Julienned telegraph cucumber
1 x extra lime
Cracked pepper
Pinch rock salt

Do:
• Add diced ginger to lime juice, pop prawns in and leave aside to marinate while preparing remaining ingredients

• Gently toss diced avocado, tomatoe and scallion together with a good squeeze of lime juice (to prevent avocado from discoloring), to the create salsa. Season with salt and cracked pepper

• Pop diced capers into mayonnaise, add a squeeze of lime and dash of tomatoe sauce to taste to make the perfect seafood sauce, season with cracked pepper

Assemble:
Place baby cos leaf on spoon
Follow with a spoon of salsa
Nestle the prawn on its back on the salsa, tail upright
Add a small dollop of seafood sauce
Follow with a few julienne cucumber strips
Finish with a light pepper grind

Place assembled spoons a on a platter (I like them in nice tidy rows on a rectangular platter)

Serve with a chilled white or Brut sparkling wine