Avocados & Prawns with Lime & Tomato Salsa

Serves 4

Avocados, limes and prawns with a spicy bite spell summer. This salsa is also great on toast - simply toast sliced ciabatta, squish on some avocado and top with salsa.

Avocados & Prawns with Lime & Tomato Salsa Photo: Aaron McLean: https://aaronmclean.com

Ingredients

Lime & Tomato Salsa

• 2 medium-sized vine tomatoes
• 3 Tbsp extra virgin avocado or olive oil
• 1 Tbsp lime juice
• 4 makrut lime leaves, centre ribs removed, finely shredded
• 1 spring onion (white and pale green part only), trimmed and finely chopped
• 1 fresh hot red chilli, halved, deseeded and finely chopped
• ½ tsp salt

Prawns

• 12 medium-sized green (raw) prawns
• ¼ tsp ground turmeric
• ¼ tsp ground cumin
• 2 ripe but firm avocados
• Olive oil for hot plate

Method

1 Prepare the salsa ingredients first. Plunge tomatoes into a saucepan of gently boiling water and count to ten, then using a slotted spoon transfer tomatoes to a bowl of cold water. Peel the tomatoes; if they are hard to peel return them to the boiling water for a few more seconds. Quarter tomatoes, remove cores and flick out seeds. Dice flesh finely but don't add to salsa until just before serving.

2 Whisk together avocado or olive oil, lime juice, lime leaves, spring onion, chilli and salt.

3 If prawns are frozen, thaw them quickly in a sealed plastic bag immersed in a sink of warm water. Twist off their heads, then peel off shells, leaving the small piece of shell on the tail intact. Using a small sharp knife, slice down the back of each prawn and gently extract the red or black vein. Rinse prawns, then pat dry with paper towels.

4 Put turmeric and cumin on a plate and rub spices over prawns. Halve avocados and remove the stones. Put avocado halves on serving plates. (To stop avocado halves wobbling around on the plates, slice off a small piece of avocado from the bottom of each avocado half.) Cook prawns on a preheated oiled barbecue hot plate over a medium heat for a few minutes each side until they change colour. Alternatively, cook prawns indoors in a hot ridged grill pan in 1 tablespoon of hot avocado or olive oil.

5 To serve, add tomatoes to salsa ingredients and spoon into the cavities of the avocados. Arrange prawns on top and serve immediately.

Avocado with Hot-smoked Salmon & Ginger Dressing

Put a spoonful of hot-smoked salmon in the cavity of a halved avocado with stone removed. Remove the peel from a lemon with a small knife, taking all the white pith. Cut in between each piece of membrane and let the fillets fall onto a board. Chop finely and mix in a bowl with 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, ½ teaspoon of salt, freshly ground black pepper and 1 teaspoon finely grated peeled ginger. Spoon over avocado and serve.