Prawn Cocktails - go retro!

I have done 2 different lots of that ol' retro standby – the prawn cocktail.  And both turned out spectacular to look at (she says modestly) and best of all tasted great.

I didn't have any suitable cocktail glass so just used a bowl.

The first version:

I made it by putting a lettuce cup in the bowl.  I then shredded about one lettuce leaf and put it on top of the lettuce cup.

After than I put the prawns as decoratively as I could around the bowl.  I bought them cooked from the supermarket – nice big ones.  Expensive but worth it for a treat.

I put in some small lemon wedges.

I then drizzled on top a sauce I made – I call it a sauce marie rose (you may call it thousand island dressing).  I just mixed more or less equal quantities of ketchup (tomato sauce), mayonnaise and crème fraiche.  I seasoned it with cayenne pepper, white pepper and a smidge of salt.

Finally I sprinkled a little more cayenne pepper on top – but it could equally have been paprika.

Here's what the second version looked like:

This was made the same way except I mixed some finely diced red onion through the bed of shredded lettuce.  And for the sauce I added some fiery chilli sauce in – so it was a bit spicier.  I enjoyed both versions.