In this modern take on the classic prawn cocktail, yabbies are dressed with a simple cocktail sauce and served over crisp iceberg lettuce.
INGREDIENTS:
16 live Yabbies (see notes)
½ iceberg lettuce
Salt flakes and freshly ground white pepper, to taste
4 lemon cheeks
Cocktail Sauce
1 cup whole-egg mayonnaise (see notes)
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon tomato paste
Few drops Tabasco sauce
1 tablespoon chopped dill
Salt flakes, to taste
METHOD:
Make Cocktail Sauce: combine all ingredients.
Boil yabbies in plenty of salted water for 2-3 minutes (depending on size), timed from when the water starts to return to the boil (see notes). Drain and, when cool enough to handle, peel.
Remove outer leaves of lettuce and slice tight inner leaves into 4 wedges. Remove the very heart of each wedge and drape the yabby meat over the lettuce. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, drizzle with Cocktail Sauce and serve with a lemon cheek on the side.
NOTES:
The easiest and most humane way to kill any crustacean is to chill them in the freezer for 30-60 minutes until they become insensible (but not long enough to freeze them). Once chilled, they should be killed promptly by splitting in half or dropping into rapidly boiling water. See NSW Department of Primary Industries or RSPCA for more details.
If you don’t want to make your own mayonnaise, use one made from whole eggs such as S&W or Thomy.
ALTERNATIVE SPECIES:
Bugs, Marron, Prawns, Redclaw, Rock Lobsters, Scampi.