As a last hurrah, as Summer slips out the door, here are two delicious prawn salad recipes we have used this past season in our kitchens. Both have Middle Eastern flavours, one is a classic fattouche (a bread based salad) and the other introduces an amazing spicy ingredient called zhoug.
These will send you back to sunny days eating al fresco as we come into Autumn and the colder months ahead. Rug up warm and kept BBQing! It’s the only way to stave off Winter blues!
Prawn Fattouche Salad
This is how I cook, adjusting the ingredient to use what I have, you could add coriander, or feta, or watermelon, to this salad, even cooked zucchini.
Allow 5-8 prawns per person, peeled, seasoned cooked as you like.
This is a great salad for b.b.q or fry the prawns and add to the salad below.
Just adjust the amount of ingredients for how many people you have, sprinkle the salad with lots of sumac, some extra mint leaves and throw some lemon wedges on it before serving.
Combine in a bowl:
Marinated red onions
Roasted bread.
Salad Greens, any type from your garden, a small handful for each person. e.g.rocket, baby cos, mesclun.
Washed and chopped radishes, tomatoes, seeded cucumbers, flat leaf parsley and mint leaves .
Add enough dressing to suit your taste, squish in your hands a bit to mix the flavours.
For the marinated red onions:
1T sumac
¼ t allspice
¼ t pepper
1 red onion finely sliced
Soak sumac in cold water for a few mins and remove any husks, put the onion, sumac, allspice and pepper in a bowl and rub everything together, leave to marinate foe an hour at least.
For the roasted pita bread:
¼ round per person.
Tear pita bread into bite sized chunks, toss with olive oil and salt and pepper on a baking tray.
Roast in a pre heated oven, 175 degrees C, until golden, stirring often to get an even colour.
For the dressing:
Mix together (adjust ingredients to taste):
1 garlic clove, crushed with salt to a paste
Juice of one lemon
3T extra virgin olive oil
1T white wine vinegar
Zhoug prawn salad
You will need:
7 cooked prawns
½ large avocado cut into chunks
2 heaped spoons of sumac pickled cucumber and a good spoon of the liquid
1 heaped spoon of zhoug (make your own – here’s how) http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/spicy-zhoug
Pinch salt
Coriander
A few mesclun leaves
To assemble:
Mix prawns, avocado, cucumber and liquid and zhoug in a bowl. Add coriander, mesclun, flatbread and salt.
Sprinkle with sumac and pomegranate seeds.