This Salmon and Prawn Salad with a Gravlax dressing is perfect for Christmas. It is rich yet light, feels posh but is super simple to make. As part of a Christmas feast it is the perfect first course.
Let's face it if you have a full turkey dinner ahead of you, you want your Christmas day appetiser to be light. But light shouldn't mean boring!!! No one wants to start a feast with something boring! Enter smoked salmon and king prawns. Two ingredients that scream Christmas Day starter to me.
Smoked salmon. Salty, sweet, smoky salmon oh how I love thee! Light but rich! Perfect especially when paired with meaty prawns. But when you are serving a table full, smoked salmon and prawns can quickly stretch the budget!!!! This dish uses a small amount of each ingredient and turns them into a pretty special appetiser course! An appetiser that does exactly what the name suggests. It wets your appetite, it starts the meal and gets you ready for the main event.
For the main event why not try my slow roasted turkey. It cooks gently overnight giving you some of the most succulent and juicy turkey breast meat you will ever have eaten.
This is the way Heston cooks his turkey and his has a bazillion stars!!! You pop the turkey in before bed and remove it before lunch. Means you have an empty oven for all the extra dishes and if like me you have summer Christmases, you don't have to heat the house up on Christmas Day!
I bet he would enjoy this starter too. A simple twist on a classic. Especially the dressing. Lets talk about the gravlax inspired dressing. It has that sweet dill flavour but the addition of crème fraîche make it rich and creamy. It is scrummy as a dipping sauce for prawns. Or spoon it onto crostini with a little smoked salmon as a great canapé idea.
Other than the dressing this is just an assembly job, so simple, yet it looks sensational. Hassle free, delicious and decadent food. Now that is my kind of Christmas!!!!
Salmon and Prawn Salad with a Gravlax Dressing
Ingredients
- 1 shallot
- 1 tablespoon fresh dill
- ½ teaspoon demerara sugar
- squeeze of lime juice
- 1 tablespoon water
- 2 tablespoon crème fraîche
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 4-8 slices smoked salmon
- 12 cooked prawns
- 2 handfuls small leaf salad
- splash of olive oil
Instructions
- Finely chop the shallot (you will need about 2 tsp) and the fresh dill.
- Place the sugar, lime juice and water in a jug and stir until the sugar has dissolved.
- Add in the crème fraîche, mustard and olive oil. Stir well, then mix in the shallot and dill.
- Set the sauce aside.
- Lay your smoked salmon onto your serving plates and arrange the prawns on top.
- Lightly dress the leaves with a little olive oil and create some height by adding them onto of the prawns.
- Spoon on about a tablespoon of dressing and serve.
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