Prawn Cocktail Recipe

Some friends and I endulged ourselves in a 1960s retro dinner - I was in charge of the prawn cocktails.  Thisrecipe  is from my little red handwritten recipe book - yes I've had it since then and I can still find it!
These days you could use frozen prawns (defrosted) but make sure they are well drained.

You need: prawns, lettuce or coleslaw, cream, lemon juice, tomato sauce, Worcester sauce, Tabasco sauce and optionally, paprika and lemon wedges

For 6

Mix together:

 .25 pint (almost a quarter litre) cream - whipped until starting to thicken

Squeeze of lemon             

1tblsp tomato sauce

1tblsp Worcester sauce

2 shakes Tabasco sauce 

Gently mix in 2 small tins prawns (or frozen prawns thawed out & thoroughly drained)

You also need:

Lettuce or coleslaw to set prawns on

Lemon slices to garnish + dash paprika (these are optional)

In a cocktail dish - (we used to use those wide champagne glasses that were all the rage before we got seduced by flutes, lay a bed of lettuce or coleslaw. Place the mixture on top of this, then sprinkle with paprika. Lay a couple of this wedges of lemon top. 

It's best to prepare this as close to serving time as possible, especially if using frozen prawns as these release alot of water while thawing and will make the sauce too diluted. Also your lettuce will go wilted if assembled too soon!

In the 60s it was considered frightfully infra dig if you ate the lettuce! People actually noticed!