Swedish Prawn Cocktail (Skagenröra)

Prawn cocktail is a classic appetizer dish and this one I’m doing is a Swedish recipe called Skagenröra which uses prawns, mayonnaise, crème fraîche/sour cream and dill. I think I’ve seen it in Ikea’s restaurant before and truth to be told, this is my first time tasting it. Do I like it? Oh hell yeah. I LOVE IT so very much!!!

Just heavenly!!!

Let’s cook!

My lovely prawns! Rinse ’em then steam for about 10 minutes over boiling water.

Once cooked, soak the prawns in ice water to stop the cooking.

Shelled and deveined prawns. Here’s a warning: I spent more than half of the cooking time peeling and deveining these babies. *sweats

Chop the prawns coarsely. Set aside a few whole prawns for garnish later.

Meanwhile, toast some bread in the oven. Here I have sliced baguette which I will coat with butter. Put in the oven at 160^oC until lightly brown or grill ’em on a grill pan like what I did.

Next, add mayonnaise, crème fraîche and prawns. In my case, I’m using sour cream (couldn’t find crème fraîche). Chop a small bunch of dill finely. Oh yeah the dills were from my garden. 🙂 But it is dying slowly. 🙁 Leave some dill for garnish later.

Add dill, lemon zest and juice to the mixture and stir well. Here you get to adjust the taste according to your liking. For me, 1/2 tablespoon of lemon juice is good enough. Chill in the fridge before serving.

Here’s how I serve Swedish prawn cocktail (Skagenröra): add some prawn cocktail on the toasted bread and squeeze juice of a lime wedge on it. Then take a BIG bite. YUM!!! Tsk, have someone pull you back to earth after THE bite, okay? Hehe

Yummy and tangy. Everything just wrap in your mouth nicely. Highly recommended!!!

Swedish Prawn Cocktail (Skagenröra)
Adapted from Notes From A Swedish Kitchen
Serves 4

600g (1 1/2lb) cooked, unpeeled prawns (soak in ice water after steaming to stop the cooking)
6 tablespoons mayonnaise
6 tablespoons crème fraîche (I used sour cream), can also substitute with natural yogurt or Greek yogurt
1/2 bunch fresh dill
Juice and zest of 1 lemon
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon brandy (optional)

To serve
Slices of toasted bread
Lemon wedges

Method:
1. Peel and devein the prawn. Set few pieces aside for garnish later. Chop the rest up coarsely.

2. Mix mayonnaise, crème fraîche and chopped prawn in a bowl.

3. Set aside some dill for garnish and chop the rest finely.

4. Add chopped dill to the prawn mixture. Add lemon zest and juice to taste.

5. Serve chill on toasted sliced bread. Garnish with whole prawns, dill and lemon wedge.

Hope you like this dish.