A light supper

I've been back at work since Monday, but I have to admit I'm finding it hard to get out of 'holiday mode'. Motivating myself to open up my Edmonds book and complete a few more recipes has been harder than usual - especially since I had all that lasagne to keep myself fed!

This evening I was idly browsing recipes, trying to find something I felt like eating. It was hot and windy, and I'd had a big lunch. I really didn't feel like eating much. Finally, I came across seafood cocktail (p118), which I think is generally intended as a starter, but also seemed the ideal light meal for a hot evening.


I had to pop down to the supermarket for a few ingredients. The recipe indicates mixed seafood - shrimps, oysters, crab, prawns, crayfish - so I was hoping to get some kind of seafood mix from the deli section. Unfortunately, they were closing up as I got there, so the best I could manage was a handful of surimi mix, which makes for a much less interesting but considerably cheaper cocktail.


When I got home, I set the surimi aside while I mixed up the sauce, beating cream until slightly thickened, then mixing in tomato sauce, lemon juice and white pepper. That's really all there is to it - after that, you just need to place lettuce in a serving dish, arrange your seafood on it, and spoon the sauce over the top. I was making only one cocktail, so I quartered the sauce recipe. This still made twice the amount I really needed. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the leftover sauce.

There's an alternative to the cream mentioned in the recipe - you can also use plain yoghurt if you prefer. Usually I would have taken this option, but I wanted the leftover cream for something else.

The cocktail did make a suitable light meal. I found the creamy sauce a bit cloying though. I think it would be better made with yoghurt or sour cream. On the whole, I prefer the cocktail sauce recipe found amongst the sauces and marinades, which is chunkier and more tangy, being mayonnaise-based instead of cream-based. That's just my opinion, though: you'll have to try them and decide which one's your favourite!