Cook of the Month Recipe: Grilled Prawns and Rocket Salad

A quick and easy salad full of crunch and colour

There is some magic about grilled prawns and rocket mixed together – I’ve no idea why. I’ve tried to figure it out more than once. All I know is that the richness of prawns and the crunchiness of rocket - especially if you can get wild rocket is worth any amount of effort to get together. The lovely thing about this salad is that it’s no effort to make. You can grill the prawns ahead of time and simply take them out of the refrigerator and add to the rocket, or you can grill them, as I tend to do, on a teppan yaki grill and serve them immediately on top of the rocket.

What You Need
400g tiger prawns
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
100g rocket, washed and with heavy stems removed
2 garlic cloves
chopped zest and juice of ½ a lemon
Maldon sea salt and freshly ground red or black peppercorns

Peel the prawns and run a knife down their backs to pull away any small black threads. Rinse and pat dry. Heat the pan or grill, coating with a little olive oil. Cook the prawns quickly at a high temperature for about 3 minutes until they start to go golden. While they’re cooking, sprinkle them with the garlic, lemon zest, Maldon sea salt and coarsely ground pepper. Line a flat salad bowl with the rocket. The moment the prawns are done, remove from the heat. Add a garlicky-vinaigrette dressing to the rocket, place the prawns on top, sprinkle with lemon juice and coarsely ground black pepper or red peppercorns and serve immediately.

Source: Cook Energy by Leslie Kenton (Ebury, £16.99)

To order your copy of Leslie Kenton's Cook Energy, visit www.amazon.co.uk

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