, Step by step

Avocado, prawn, and crab cocktail on fennel salad

This delicious update on the traditional prawn cocktail is guaranteed to impress your dinner guests.

Mark Stower, Director of Food and Service

Preparation Time: 20 mins

Cooking Time: 0 mins

Serves: 6

Method

  • Step 1

    Finely slice the fennel and mix in the lemon zest, juice and olive oil. Season with salt and pepper and leave for later.

  • Step 2

    Mix the crab meat with half the crème fraîche, then mix in the chopped chilli and fresh parsley. Season with salt and pepper.

  • Step 3

    For the cocktail sauce, mix the rest of the crème fraîche with the mayonnaise and enough ketchup to colour and flavour the sauce.

  • Step 4

    Finely slice the little gem lettuce, add to the fennel salad and mix together.

  • Step 5

    Place equal amounts of the salad in six cocktail glasses. Top with equal amounts of the crab mixture. Add two prawns to each glass and spoon over the cocktail sauce.

  • Step 6

    Cut the avocados in half and remove the stones. Peel the skin off and cut each half into three pieces lengthways. Finely slice and fan the avocado out and garnish each cocktail with the slices.

Nutrition

Avocados are classified as fruits – actually berries with large seeds – and are believed to have originated and been eaten in Mexico thousands of years ago.

They are very nutritious – rich in vitamin E, potassium and monounsaturated fats, so even though they are relatively high in calories, they are good for you!

Seafood, such as shellfish and prawns, used to have a bad name because they contain cholesterol, but it is now accepted that the cholesterol in these foods, as well as in eggs, is not an issue for most people – it is saturated fats that push up blood cholesterol levels. In fact, prawns, crab and other seafood are low in saturated fats, rich in beneficial omega-3 fats and low in calories.

Half an avocado counts as one of your 5 a day.

DR JULIET GRAY, COMPANY NUTRITIONIST