As far as food is concerned, I'm finally looking forward to Spring!
Eating healthily has pretty much been off the radar completely - there's nothing like cold (and snowy..) days to make me crave braised meats, rich, hearty fare and general naughtiness (sticky toffee pudding I'm talking about you).
But now that we're halfway into March, I'm finally seeing a lift in the weather, yippee! We took Jasper out for a long walk on the heath today and it was warm enough to ditch the scarf - a first for 2018, and so I'm newly in the mood for some fresh, Spring grub.
We went and bought a load of fat, juicy prawns from Costco and I always seem to have some leftover rice to use up, so this recipe is a bit of a culmination of bits I have in the fridge - but nonetheless utterly delicious, and pretty healthy-going too.
I love making rice salads (because I'm a carb fiend and they feel far less frugal and diet-like than a bowlful of greens) and this one is so very simple. Ribbons of courgette, one of my favourite veggies, lace themselves throughout the salad, the griddle brings a tasty, charred flavour to the prawns, and everything is brought together with a zingy lime dressing - delicious!
I N G R E D I E N T S (serves 2 for lunch)
- 10 large king prawns (raw)
- 2 cups of cooked rice (you can of course cook some rice fresh, whatever suits)
- 4 spring onions
- 1 courgette
- a few mint sprigs (I make fresh mint tea with anything leftover - delicious)
- 2 limes
- 2 cloves garlic
- a few slices of red chilli
- 4 tbsps EVOO
- 1/2 tsp brown sugar
- a dash of salt and pepper
M E T H O D
- Start off by making the dressing/marinade. In a bowl, mix together the juice of one lime, the sugar, olive oil, around 4-5 slices of chilli, 2 squashed cloves of garlic, a pinch of salt and pepper. Leave to stand for around half an hour to a couple of hours - whatever time you have. Keep half in the bowl for the marinade, and pour half into a small jam jar - this will be the dressing for later so set aside.
- Reheat the rice under cling in the microwave with a tbsp of water to refresh it. Slice the spring onions into little rounds and throw into the rice.
- De-vein the prawns if necessary and pop them into the marinade.
- Set a griddle pan on the stove top and get smoking hot. Slice the courgette lengthways into ribbons, either with a knife, mandolin or a veg peeler. Lay the ribbons, dry, onto the griddle to char - they'll take around a minute each side.
- Thread the prawns onto wooden skewers (I don't pre-soak mine) and lay onto the griddle. The trick to getting nice bar marks is not moving them about! Also place two lime halves, cut side down, onto the grill - these turn deliciously caramel-y and sweet.
- When the prawns are done (maybe a minute and a half each side? they'll have cured slightly in the lime), it's just a matter of assembly. Fork out the rice and spring onion mix onto a plate, thread through some of the charred courgette ribbons, and place on the prawn skewers and caramelised lime half. Garnish with a few young sprigs of mint (this gives such a fresh lift to the salad), and pour over the dressing set aside from earlier. And my favourite part? Squeezing the charred lime over the prawns *heart eyes* - it has such a delicious, zingy-sweet, sticky flavour that's perfect for seafood.
Do let me know what your favourite dish of the moment is, and of course if you give this recipe a go!
xx
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