Black Tiger Prawn Salad

Yesterday on Twitter, Glass is Life asked me for an idea for a “healthier second breakfast”. Off the top of my head I suggested tomatoes with mozzarella, but today I’ve put together something else as well.

I hadn’t had prawns for ages, and I do try to make sure some of those handsome creatures are always chilling in my freezer. Perfect, then. I had something to start with. Mind you, I haven’t forgotten that I’ve already met most of the enemies of my MI 2014. Of course, that doesn’t mean I won’t run into them again 🙂 But it’s time to get to know my allies. Yesterday I introduced the first one, and today, here’s another. A salad.

I’ve called it “Black Tiger”. That sounds just right for Mission Impossible 2014. An Ally with a capital A, with plenty of oomph right there in the name.

It’s easy to make and it’s hardly fancy. But it seems just the ticket, particularly for a first breakfast, or even a second, or maybe a third.

At a glance:

Preparation time: 20 minutes

Serves: two medium portions (as pictured)

How many calories? If this were high in calories, life wouldn’t be worth living 😉

Ingredients for my ally:

• 8 black tiger prawns
• 3 iceberg lettuce leaves
• 3 fairly small tomatoes
• 1/3 of a long fresh cucumber
• 1 sweet red pepper
• a tablespoon of butter
• 4 tablespoons of olive oil
• 3 teaspoons of sesame seeds
• 5–6 mixed peppercorns
• ground hot paprika
• ground black pepper
• dried herbes de Provence
• salt

Method (quite a bit of peeling):

I started by washing and drying the lettuce leaves. I cut them into small pieces (my trick when cutting veg is to lay a paper towel on the chopping board so the salad definitely won’t end up wet) and tipped them into a big bowl.

I thawed the prawns (a quick dip in boiling water), dried them on a paper towel and “filleted” them, by which I mean I took the shells off the tails. I heated the butter with a drop of olive oil in a frying pan and fried the prawns. Literally 3–4 minutes in fairly hot butter with just a little pepper. I put them on a paper towel to drain off the fat.

I peeled the tomatoes (I’ve got a trick for that too: I put them in a tall plastic container, pour boiling water over them and, after two minutes, prick them lightly with a sharp knife while they’re still in the water. Once I drain them, the wrinkled skins just pull off), removed the seeds (I wanted salad, not mush) and cut them into thin strips. I cut the red pepper into squares and did the same with the peeled cucumber. All the veg went into the bowl with the lettuce.

I put 3 teaspoons of sesame seeds in a glass and poured in 2–3 tablespoons of olive oil. I added a few whole mixed peppercorns, a little ground hot paprika and a pinch of herbes de Provence. I mixed everything thoroughly.

I salted the vegetables in the bowl and poured the sesame and olive oil mixture over them. Gave it all a good toss. Finally I added the prawns and tossed again. Done. Enjoy!