Salads from Australia

As I travel Australia I'm finding some of the best salads ever, a lot of them with variations on the theme seafood in …. In the following I’ll give you some of my favourites!

Prawn, pea & fennel salad, with warm tangelo dressing
(4-6 people as an entree)

2 tangelos, (grapefruit or blood oranges may be substituted).
20 large green prawns, peeled and cleaned, tails intact
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 clove garlic, crushed
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 bulbs baby fennel or 1 ordinary fennel
400g peas (fresh if possible)
2 cups water cress springs
1 cup snow pea tendrils (you know the part of the actual plant which the
snow pea grows on …)
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
1 teaspoon sumac

Method

• Using a small sharp knife, peel and segment tangelos over a bowl so as to safe the juices (the idea is to get the meet of the tangelo with out the skin thing – like it’s the pulp we want – and the juice).

• Combine prawns, olive oil, 1 tablespoon lemon juice and garlic in a non-reactive bowl, season to taste with salt and pepper. Cower and refrigerate 1 hour.

• Thinly slice fennel using a mandolin or something to get the slices thin enough, add remaining lemon juice and toss to combine.

• Cook peas in a saucepan of boiling salted water for 5 minutes or until tender, refresh under cold running water and drain.

• Combine peas, watercress and snow pea tendrils with the fennel mixture.

• Heat a frying pan over a medium-high heat, remove prawns from marinade and cook for 2-3 minutes on each side or until cooked through, then remove to a plate.

• Add extra virgin olive oil, sherry vinegar, 2 tablespoons of the saved juice from the tangelo and sumac to a pan and warm it through. Season to taste.

• Add prawns to fennel mixture drizzle with warm tangelo dressing and toss to combine.

• Serve, Bon appetite!