Cafe Lula

I bet you didn’t think you’d ever see a salad recipe on here, did you? Honestly, neither did I. It looks kind of out of place amongst all the cakes and bread, doesn’t it? Unfortunately, those cakes and bread are responsible for the increasing size of my bum and action needed to be taken. So, I give you salad. It’s nice though, I promise! I would never make you a horrible salad.

I’ve gone for the classic combination of prawns and avocado, with a “can’t really call it marie-rose, but it’s similar” sauce. It’s ridiculously quick to put together, tastes fresh and light, and is the perfect antidote to all those leftover Christmas chocolates you’ve been eating. I saw you. Don’t pretend you didn’t eat them. The other day you said you were just going to have one, and then you ate four! And you put the sweet wrappers back in the tin instead of in the bin! What is wrong with you?

I have given the quantities I used per person because it made more sense to me that way than saying “chop up all this stuff for two people and then split it between your plates”. I feel weird giving quantities at all; you can play around so much with what goes in a salad. Really, you can have however much or little of each thing as you want, scrap some of it entirely, add new stuff, whatever you like. I recommend that you buy shell-on prawns and peel them yourself because the texture and taste are much better than that of the ones you can buy ready-peeled, but I won’t judge you if you buy peeled ones to save yourself some hassle 🙂

For those of you who came here expecting a massive cake, or just something with lots of lovely carbs, do not panic. Normal service shall resume tomorrow.

Prawn and avocado salad

A Cafe Lula recipe

Ingredients per person

1 big handful washed baby spinach leaves

1/3 red bell pepper, sliced

2-inch length of cucumber, cut into thin strips lengthways

1/2 avocado, sliced

250g shell-on, cooked prawns (or around 150g ready-shelled prawns)

15g ketchup

15g mayonnaise

1/2 lime

black pepper, to season

If using shell-on prawns (which you should, because they taste loads better!), peel them.

Toss together the spinach, red pepper, cucumber, avocado and prawns.

In a bowl, mix together the ketchup, mayonnaise, a small squeeze of the half lime and a grind of black pepper until you have a smooth sauce.

If you’re sophisticated, drizzle the sauce over the salad. If you’re like me, whack the salad in the bowl with the sauce and stir well until it’s all coated and not at all pretty, but very yummy.

Serve with some nice crusty bread.