Prawn cocktail recipe: How to make prawn cocktail and Marie Rose sauce for Christmas Day

Prawn cocktails and Marie Rose sauce feature prominently in Christmas Day food plans. The holiday will see people eat for most of the day in small increments, but if they get a chance to settle down for a meal, these cocktails come first. Thankfully for anyone in need of a quick festive special, the recipe is quick and easy to follow.

How to make a prawn cocktail and Marie Rose sauce

Prawn cocktails, otherwise known as shrimp cocktails, are among the most sought-after Christmas dishes in the UK.

Supermarkets have long identified the dish as one of the most popular starters before people tuck into their turkey and stuffing.

According to Nigel Slater, the cocktails are a 70s classic and require a “basic” approach for the best taste.

The following recipe is from Jamie Oliver:

Ingredients – cocktail

  • Olive oil
  • Half a clove of garlic
  • Cayenne pepper
  • Eight large, unpeeled raw tiger prawns
  • A quarter of an iceberg lettuce
  • A quarter of a cucumber
  • One to two ripe tomatoes
  • One sprig of fresh mint
  • One small punnet of salad cress
  • 50g peeled little prawns
  • 100 g mixed white and brown crabmeat
  • One lemon

Ingredients – Marie Rose sauce

  • Half a lemon
  • One swig of brandy
  • One pinch of cayenne pepper
  • One heaped teaspoon ketchup
  • Four tablespoons of free-range mayonnaise

Method

To start, cooks need to pour oil into a pan over high heat and add crushed garlic.

Then, add in the tiger prawns mixed with a pinch of cayenne pepper.

People should toss the prawns for three to four minutes or until cooked through, after which they should remove and set them aside.

The Marie Rose sauce requires people to mix all the allotted ingredients in a bowl to set aside.

With the first stages complete, cooks should then layer shredded lettuce, diced cucumber, sliced tomato and mint leaves in bowls or jars, with cress snipped on top.

Place the peeled prawns on top with some Marie Rose sauce and put in the crabmeat and additional cress.

To finish, people need to dust the dish with another pinch of cayenne pepper and arrange it as they please with lemons to serve.

SOURCE

Avatar of The Editor

The Editor

We are a UK based nonpartisan, not-for-profit politics and policy platform, launched in 2021.

Our aim is to provide parliamentarians from across the UK, think tanks and those involved in developing and implementing policies a space to discuss legislation, campaigns and more generally political ideas through our website and magazine.