How to make Richard Corrigan’s ‘proper’ prawn cocktail

It’ll come as no surprise that seafood is a real passion of mine – the British and Irish shores are home to some of the best seafood in the world so any chance I get to use it, either at Bentley’s Oyster Bar & Grill or at home, then I will.

This recipe is for a “proper” shellfish cocktail using the very best crab, prawns, lobster tails and brown shrimps you can get your hands on.

Go to your local fishmonger if you can – they need our support and the quality will be infinitely better than you get in a supermarket. It’s a showstopper of a starter, or even an extravagant lunch, perfect for the warmer weather and ideal for any seafood lover. It’s quite possibly my favourite thing to eat. Even better, you can prepare everything ahead of time so if you’re doing a dinner party or serving it at a BBQ, you just need to plate up a few minutes before serving. Top tip: be generous with the Tabasco in the cocktail sauce.

Ingredients (serves 4-6)
• A mixture of seafood: picked white crab meat; Dublin Bay prawns; Atlantic prawns, the pink ones; cooked lobster tails; brown shrimps, peeled
• A squeeze of lemon juice
• 2 baby gem lettuce
• 1 small cucumber, peeled, deseeded and diced

For the Cocktail Sauce
• Mayonnaise removed
• Tomato ketchup
• A splash of brandy
• A dash of Tabasco sauce
• A pinch of paprika
• A squeeze of lemon juice

Method
• The quantities of seafood you use are up to you: just try to get a good mix of everything. How much sauce you make is really up to you, too. Keep tasting it, and adjust it until it makes you smile. The food writer Simon Hopkinson had a nice idea of mixing a little cottage cheese into a cocktail sauce; it lightens it up a bit and makes it less cloying.
• Mix together all the ingredients for the sauce.
• Take four old-fashioned cocktail glasses.
• Season all the seafood with a little extra virgin olive oil, salt and a drop of lemon juice.
• To assemble, put some lettuce and cucumber at the bottom of the glass, which will give a lovely crunch, then layer up your seafood, put a dollop of sauce on top and let people mix everything up, or keep everything separate, as they choose.

To book Bentley’s Oyster Bar & Grill go to bentleys.org, call 020 7734 4756 or visit 11-15 Swallow St, W1B 4DG