The recipe below was given a wee make-over by some lovely friends. Matt Mason head chef at http://www.jackinthegreen.uk.com/Home took our tulip prawn cocktail and turned it into a Bloody Mary Prawn Cocktail for our demo at http://exeterfoodanddrinkfestival.co.uk. He replaced the cognac with an extremely generous splosh of vodka and added a good grind of celery salt. Delicious. My other lovely friend Marcus Bawdon then took a cracking photo of it when we demoed together at http://www.tobygardenfest.co.uk. His lovely food blog can be found at http://countrywoodsmoke.com and is well worth a visit as he is the king of all things BBQ! Thank you both.
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| Tulip Prawn Cocktail. Photo by Marcus Bawdon |
I have extremely fond memories of the classic prawn cocktail being served in wine glasses at dinner parties hosted by my parents. The height of sophistication! My mother floated around fancying herself as a bit of a Margo Leadbetter but in reality at an exaggerated 5ft 1inches and with the same spherical stature that I've inherited she more closely resembled Demis Roussos (obviously with less facial hair). Other classics of the 70s menu included an addiction to the newly discovered fondue set and Black Forrest Gateaux!
Either way - I digress but felt that the prawn cocktail could really do with a floral revival.
Ingredients
Serves 4
4 tulip heads (organic )
a couple of big handfuls of mixed salad leaves
400 grms of good quality prawns
Sauce
5 heaped tbsp good mayonnaise
3 teaspoons of ketchup (50/50 ketchup and tomato salsa if you want to mix it up a bit)
a decent shake of Tabasco sauce
a splash of Cognac
a pinch of prapika
Tulips
These must be from your garden (if unsprayed) or bought organically. For eating do not buy from a supermarket, florist, garage or garden centre. This is not me trying to drum up business but a proven fact that the vast majority of cut flowers are fed or sprayed with a cocktail of pesticides and fungicides in order to prolong their shelf life. These chemical do the plants no visible harm but are most definitely not designed for human consumption and could make you very ill indeed•.
Some recipes don't need mucking about with and this is no exception. My only concession to changes in the last 40 years is to offer you the option to add salsa as well as ketchup if you like a bit more bite to your sauce and of course to add a better selection of salad leaves. Well I would, wouldn't I! Back in the 70s the choice of salad leaves was pretty much restricted to lettuce and so in this recipe I've used a mixture of our watercress, sorrel and pea shoots which work beautifully with the recipe and still offer the crunch.
The only other addition is a splash of Cognac. I read this in a Simon Hopkinson recipe and agree that it does add a little something special to the dish.
Use a sharp knife to remove the stamens and carpel of the tulip (i.e. the inside bits which aren't petals) and cut the outer stem level with the base of the petals. What you should be left with is a ring of petals 'just' held together at the base with a slither of green stem. Tulip petals are quite stiff and in an ideal world you'd like to be able to pull on a petal and have it detach from the base so you can use as a scoop to shovel your prawns with. Pop your tulips in wide rimmed cocktail glasses.
What classic recipes would you like to see revived?
Whilst the general opinion is that all parts of tulips are edible, there is controversy about eating the tulip bulbs and care and research should be taken if you want to eat more than just the petals. (More information can be found at http://www.eattheweeds.com/tulips-famine-food-appetizer-assistant-2/. )
I should also add that (like with many foods) in rare cases some people are allergic to tulips. So if in doubt, nibble a little bit of the petals, spit it out and wait for 30 minutes or so to see you develop any typical symptoms of allergy such as flushing, dizziness, rashes or feeling sick in which case avoid.
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