Ideas for a Dinner Party: Appetizer

This was an appetizer that I made recently at a dinner party. Because it is quite a simple recipe, easily prepared ahead of time, looks beautiful and has a refreshing taste, I thought I will share it with you.

Prawn, Roasted Corn salsa and Avocado

(makes 4 appetizer portions)

12 XL large fresh prawns (or 16 large ones)

2 slices of ginger

2 ripe avocados, diced and tossed with dressing (recipe below)

Roasted Corn Salsa

1 tomato, seeded and diced

2 ears of fresh corn, coated with butter and then roasted until cooked

Dressing

juice from 2 lemons

equal amounts of olive oil
salt

pepper

Garnish

coriander
tomato puree

1. Poach the prawns in a pot together with the ginger slices. About 10 minutes over the fire and then another 5 minutes in the pot. Drain the water and then shell and de-vein the prawns. Dice them. Set aside.

2. Make dressing by firstly juicing the lemons and straining the pitch, seeds, pulp, etc. Mix equal amounts of olive oil and add a bit of salt and pepper to taste. I like to put all the ingredients into a bottle and shake them all up.
3. Prepare the avocado by dicing the avocado and then tossing a bit of the dressing with it to prevent the avocado from oxidizing too much. Set aside.

4. Prepare the corn salsa by slicing the corn off the cob, mixing in the tomatos. Season with a bit of salt and pepper. Set aside.
5. Using a mould ( I used a stainless steel ring about 3 inches in circumference), stack with avocado followed by corn salsa and then finally the prawns. Top off with a bit of coriander leaves.
6. Optional: I used tomato puree to make dots around for presentation.