Party Time means tantalising finger food!

Party time!   Bring out the skewers, light the BBQ and tantalise your tastebuds with the flavours of seafood, chilli and lime.   I buy frozen prawns in 1 kg / 2lb packets - such a quick, convenient meal to serve with a salad.

Chilli and lime skewered prawns

Serves 6 as as  a lunch dish or entree
36 green prawns, peeled (tails intact), deveined
lime halves to serve
Marinade - combine
2 tbsp fish sauce

2 tbsp grated palm sugar or brown sugar
1 long red chilli, seeds removed, chopped
5cm / 2 inch piece fresh ginger, grated
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
Dipping Sauce
2 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp sweet chilli sauce
Finely grated zest and juice of 1 lime  or 2 tbsp lime juice

Soak 12 bamboo skewers or disposable wooden chopsticks in cold water for at least 30 minutes.
Marinate the prawns for 30 minutes.  Preheat a chargrill pan or barbecue on medium-high heat. Thread 3 prawns onto each skewer and grill for 2 minutes each side or until just cooked. Serve with chilli lime dipping sauce and lime halves to squeeze.

 

'Prawn, fennel & feta salad' ticks all the boxes to enable you to fit in your jeans.



Easy, tasty, healthy prawns with feta

Salads have blossomed into a whole new genre in the last few years.  They can be as simple as a bowl of crisp greens, served as a side dish or like this salad, can come into their own to be satisfying enough to serve for lunch with some crunchy bread, or as a starter. 


With the wonderful texture, flavour and colour of fresh, raw vegetables, 'Prawn & Feta Salad' is high in protein, low in fat and carbohydrate, with the added advantage of a low GI estimate, so it ticks all the 'fit in your jeans' boxes. 
Clara

 Prawn, fennel and feta salad
Serves 4 as a lunch salad
3 lebanese cucumbers, peeled, shaved into ribbons with a vegetable peeler
I baby fennel bulb, shaved
¼ cup fennel sprigs (the green ferny tops are full of flavour)
24   large cooked prawns, peeled, deveined, tails intact (choices here to buy or cook your own green prawns, which is what I do since it only takes a minute.)
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
2 tsp honey
small clove garlic, crushed
Sea salt and cracked pepper, to season
200g / 7oz  Bulgarian or Danish feta, or goats cheese, drained, crumbled

Divide cucumber, shaved fennel and fennel sprigs between 4 plates. Top each
salad with 6 prawns.
To make dressing, whisk or shake  to combine the oil, vinegar, honey and seasoning.  Drizzle over salad.
Sprinkle feta over each salad and serve.
 


Fennel - versatile and tasty

 Fennel has a delicious sweet aniseed flavour and is great served raw in salads, although it may be sauteed, stewed, braised, grilled.  It features prominently in Mediterranean cuisine, where bulbs and fronds are used, in side dishes, salads, pastas, and vegetable dishes.   The lovely feathery leaves are delicately flavored and similar in shape to those of dill.
The best way to slice it,  is to do so vertically through the bulb. If your recipe requires chunked, diced or julienned fennel,  first remove the harder core that resides in the centre before cutting it as finely as you can, or use a mandolin slicer.  

Nutrition and health benefits

The seeds, leaves, and roots of the fennel have been used as medicinal agents as far back as ancient China when it was widely acclaimed for its weight loss, anti-aging, and cosmetic capabilities - and still it today.
Used for congestion, conjunctivitis, stimulating appetite (which is why Italians serve fennel as an appetizer), and increases the flow of breast milk, it has also been used to treat colic in infants. Fennel also serves as prevention against muscle spasms and helps to relieve gas and an upset stomach. Fennel is an antispasmodic, diuretic, expectorant and stimulant.

Prawn Salad gets fresh with melon, ginger, lime and mint

According to nutritionist Dr Rosemary Stanton, prawns are an excellent source of protein, a good source of omega 3 fatty acids and a great way to get iron, zinc and vitamin E. They are also low in saturated fats.
Based on a recipe which came from our Mosman Magazine, showcasing 'Eating In' by Philip Johnson, this way of combining seafood with fresh Asian flavours gets my tick.  I adore eating out but also love eating in, usually on a Saturday night - yes things have changed! 

Seared prawns with a salad of melon, ginger, lime and mint
Serves 6 as an entree

18 large raw prawns, shelled and deveined, with tails intact
3 cm / 1 in piece of ginger, very thinly sliced
2 tblsp olive oil plus knob of butter to taste
sea salt & ground black pepper
Juice of 2 limes, with lime wedges to serve

Melon Salad
1/2 rock melon, rind removed, seeded and cut into cubes
2 long red chillies, seeded and thinly sliced
3 spring onions, thinly sliced diagonally
Handful of mint leaves, torn

To make the salad, combine ingredients and set aside.

Meanwhile, heat olive oil in heavy based frypan, cook prawns in 2 batches, adding half the ginger and butter just before they are cooked. Season and remove from heat.

Add the prawns to the melon salad then drizzle with lime juice, and gently toss to combine.

To serve, pile some salad and three prawns onto each plate, then drizzle with any remaining juices. Garnish with lime wedges.

Tasty Prawns Starters use Coriander/mint/basil/rocket – one or the lot

Prawns with Asian Seafood Dressing and Fresh Herbs
Serves 6 as a starter

Clara's chorus - Coriander/mint/basil/rocket – one the lot at last minute as well as during.  Herbs can go in the dressing, or be part of a bed to serve.  Leafy greens are the little black dress of cuisine.


Stir fry or BBQ about 24 medium sized prawns (with a little olive oil and sesame oil) until they change colour – about 2 minutes. Serve with dressing – you can pour this on after they are cooked before serving.

Dressing

1teasp sesame oil
1teasp soy sauce
2 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp lime juice
½ teasp brown sugar
1 tblsp toasted sesame seeds (opt)


 
BBQ'd Prawns and Calamari with Chilli Lemon dressing 

Serves 6 as a starter


6 medium calamari tubes, cleaned, cut in half lengthwise, open out flat with the inner side facing upward. Score the flesh in a crisscross pattern.
12 medium green prawns, peeled and deveined (tails intact)Rocket - to serve as a bed
Lemon Chilli Dressing
Combine 1/4 cup lemon juice, 2 teasp zest with 1/3  cup olive oil, 1 clove crushed garlic, 2 large red chillies, seeded and finely chopped, 1 teasp sugar, sea salt.   Marinate prawns and calamari in 1/3 dressing in refrigerator (1-2 hrs).  

Clara's Chorus - Coriander/mint/basil/rocket – one or the lot at the last minute, as well as during.


Char grill over high heat in batches until cooked. Toss rocket with a little dressing, place on plates - top with seafood and extra dressing.