Lime candied prawns and lobster with avocado and grapefruit salsa

Posted by petra08 on January 3, 2016 · 21 Comments 

Some things will always catch my eye and I saw some green grapefruits that I have never tried before. They are a special kind, Oro Blanco. These grapefruits are sweeter, they don’t have any bitterness and have a short season. Needless to say I had to buy some to try them.

 

Oro Blanco grapefruit 

 

I wanted to make something special and after some thought I decided to make an avocado and grapefruit salsa. I thought the mild grapefruit would be nice with smooth avocado. Such a salsa needed a companion or two and as I haven’t eaten prawns for a while I thought that would be a good mix. The fishmonger had a couple of lobsters tucked away that he thought I would like and I couldn’t resist. I was making a starter for eight so two lobsters were not enough and I got some frozen raw prawns as well as I couldn’t get fresh ones.

 

If you ever need to thaw prawns lay them on newspaper paper and they will de frost faster and won’t loose any of their texture. I don’t know why this is but it works every time.

 

 

Plate up everything but the prawns, they are the only warm element to the dish and cook them last minute. Make the lime caramel and de vein the prawns beforehand.

 

Lime candied prawns 

preparation time 15 minutes 

cooking time 15 minutes + a few minutes to pan fry the prawns

serves 8

Ingredients

• 24 raw king prawns
• the juice of 2 limes, about 1/2 dl or 1/4 cup
• 4 tbsp demerara, raw cane sugar
• 4 tbsp water

Place the lime juice, water and sugar in a pan and reduce until it starts to caramelise and then take off the heat.

Cut the intestine out of the prawn. Heat butter and oil in a pan and add the prawns when the butter begins to brown. Let the prawns caramelise and when cooked through and slightly browned in the edges place them in the lime caramel. Make sure they are coated all around before plating.

 

 

 

Shell the lobster.  

 

Cut eight thick slices and remove the intestine. One of the lobsters was a female and was full of roe. I separated and saved the roe and set it aside with the lobster slices until it was time to plate up.

 

I cut the grapefruit into segments and set 16 aside. I chopped the remaining ones for the salsa. Save the juice from the grapefruit for the salsa. make the salsa a bit ahead to make sure the flavours come together.

 

Avocado and grapefruit salsa

preparation time 10 minutes 

cooking time 0 minutes 

serves 8 as a starter 

Ingredients

• 2 ripe avocados, chopped
• about 1/2 dl or 1/4 cup coriander/cilantro leaves, picked off the stem, kept whole
• about 1/2 dl or 1/4 cup dill, tear it instead of cutting it to leave slightly larger pieces
• juice of 1/2 lime
• chopped grapefruit
• grapefruit juice
• sea salt to taste

Mix all of the ingredients and add the grapefruit juice, a little at the time. You might not need all of it. Taste and last add salt to taste.

 

Place the salsa on a plate. Add the lobster with the roe on top, add the grapefruit fillets and last pan fry the prawns and dress them in the lime caramel. Place them on the plate, add some good extra virgin olive oil, I used my Antichi Frantoi Francescani Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Garnish with watercress leaves and chilli flakes before serving.

 

 

I could have eaten a bowl of the lime candied prawns but they worked so well with the grapefruit and the salsa. I might make it a main course next time as I could easily have eaten more than a starter. It seems a perfect dish for the summer with a cool glass of prosecco.

 

Fiesta Friday 100 is going on at the moment. Come on over and have a look, bring a recipe and just enjoy the most fun foodie party around. Thank you Angie who created this! This week has no less than four great co hosts, Judi, Cooking with a Juju, Mollie, The Frugal Hausfrau, Steffi, Ginger and Bread and Suzanne, A pug in the kitchen. All four co hosts have blogs filled with great recipes and inspiring images! I read their blogs regularly and it always makes me hungry!

 

 

 

 

Filed under Allotment/Veg, Avocado, Chilli, Dinner for friends, Fish & Seafood, Grapefruit, Herbs, Lime, Lobster, Prawns, Recipe, Starter, Watercress · Tagged with Antichi Frantoi Francescani Extra Virgin Olive Oil, avocado and grapefruit salsa, avocado salsa, candied prawns, lime candied prawns, Oro Blanco grapefruit, salsa, sfoodle.com