Making Friends With Salad: Grilled Prawn, Taramasalata and Cucumber Salad

I'm not quite willing to let summer go and for those of you in the Northern Hemisphere enjoying warm weather, this tasty grilled prawn or shrimp salad is a delicious meal in one. Garlicky lemon grilled prawns sit on a bed of taramasalata dip and crisp cucumber ribbons and radishes for a pretty as a picture salad that tastes as good as it looks!

I can't rave enough about this dish. In fact it got polished off so quickly that I was lucky to get some for myself. The creamy taramasalata dip is perfect with the juicy prawns and the cucumber gives them both freshness. I served it up on a cooler day where I would have normally chosen a soup but when it's this tasty, a salad in winter will do quite nicely.

How are you faring with this cold weather? We were so lucky that Autumn was so warm. I abhor the cold weather and literally count down the days until winter is over and spring appears. It may be my genes but I feel the cold very easily.

Sometimes I think Mr NQN thinks that I am making it up or he can't really fathom how I feel so cold when he feels so hot. We were on a cruise last month and all rooms have air conditioning that you can't turn off.

We always have arguments over the heating. I like it warm (hey I'm a hot blooded half Singaporean!) while he likes it cold (he's a cold blooded half Scandi!). We bicker over temperature way too much and he thinks I'm crazy.

I had the air conditioning set at 26°C because I was cold. His ideal temperature is 23°C or under which is too cold for me, 26° is juuust right (ok 30°C if I were by myself but I was trying to compromise).

In the middle of the night Mr NQN threw back the covers sweating and grumpy. He punched 23°C into the air conditioning unit and went back to bed satisfied that he was now cooler. Two minutes later, while I was sound asleep I started sniffling a bit. Then I started sniffling a lot. He then felt a bit guilty that I wasn't just being a diva or being argumentative, that I actually do get sick when the temperature is too cold!

So tell me Dear Reader, how are you finding winter so far? What is your ideal temperature? And does it differ from that of your partner or house mate?

Grilled Prawn, Taramasalata and Cucumber Salad

An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott

Preparation time: 10 minutes plus optional 15 minutes marinating time

Cooking time: 5 minutes

Serves 2 for lunch or dinner

• 500g/1.1lbs prawns with shell on, heads and shells removed
• 4 cloves garlic
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 tablespoon coriander leaves
• 1 tablespoon chilli oil
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon sumac
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 100g/3.5ozs. taramasalata dip
• 1 cucumber, ribboned with a vegetable peeler
• 3 radishes, sliced and quartered
• 2 pita breads, quartered

Step 1 - Blend the garlic, olive oil, chilli oil, lemon juice and sumac in a food processor until it becomes a paste. Coat the prawns in this paste and refrigerate for 15 minutes. Heat the grill and spread out the prawns on a single layer and season with salt and grill for 4 minutes or until prawns are cooked.

Step 2 - Warm the pita breads on the grill and place on two plates. Spread with taramasalata and top with prawns, dividing among two plates. Add cucumber ribbons and thinly sliced radishes and quarters.