Octopus and Prawn Skewers

These are so simple and a big hit at parties. Putting the two on the same skewer spreads the cost around a bit and also adds interest. I have nothing against frozen prawns and the only baby octopus I can ever find is frozen in bricks. Read the notes for instructions on defrosting. Ingredients Fish Monger 1Kg Shelled Green Prawns, Tail On 1Kg Baby Octopus, Cleaned, Fresh or Frozen Green Grocer 100ml Lime Juice 1/2 bunch Coriander Stalks, Finely Chopped Dry Store 100ml Fish Sauce 200ml Peanut Oil Bay Leaf Salt Bamboo skewers Method

• Soak the skewers in cold water for several hours - this will stop them from burning too badly.
• Put the octopus in a pot with salted water (taste it, it shouldn't be sea water salty, just pleasantly salty).
• Starting from cold water (this is important), bring the water up to the boil and turn it off.
• Let the octopus sit in the water for 5-10 minutes before draining.
• Put the peeled prawns and octopus is a dish with the rest of the ingredients. Note that the marinade ingredient quantities were totally made up on the spot and forgotten soon after. These are the approximate proportions but you can mix these together before adding the seafood and taste it. It should be quite salty and quite sour.
• Leave to marinate in the fridge for a couple of hours.
• Skewer the meat.
• Cook it on a really hot char grill for just about a minute on each side.

Notes The best way to defrost anything is in the fridge. Put it in a deeper dish than necessary and be sure to drain any liquid that forms as it defrosts. This has a number of advantages over other methods: In a warmer environment, the outside of the food gets warm quickly and is exposed to bacterial growth. Soaking in water can cause flavour loss as will soaking anything in water. Microwaves tend to cook random bits of the food and will eventually give you cancer ;-) And, I've never tried those wonder defrost plates but it seems to me that it must make the bottom of the food heaven for bacteria before the top is defrosted. In an emergency, seafood can be defrosted quickly in really salty water. In this case it should be as salty as sea water. The reason for this is osmosis, kids. If you don't know what that is, go to wikipedia - this is a recipe not a science lesson.