Citrus Butter Lettuce Salad with Poached Prawns

~The plating of this salad and vinaigrette, is inspired by Bouchon’s Bibb Lettuce Salad.  Crisp and refreshing, I wanted to add a bit more crunch and a citrus note. With the addition of shrimp, this makes for the perfect summer lunch. If serving for dinner, I would suggest omitting the shrimp and serve with a protein such as grilled salmon. The acid from the grapefruit and vinaigrette would work very well with salmon.

Serves 2

Ingredients:

1 full head of butter lettuce

3 radishes

½ beet

1 ruby red grapefruit

¼ lb tiger prawns

2 lightly poached eggs

salt

fresh ground pepper

1 piece rock sugar

Herb Vinaigrette

Directions:

1. Wash lettuce leaves thoroughly. Place leaves into salad spinner if available, to rid excess water. Otherwise, shake leaves thoroughly. Set aside.
2. Wash radishes thoroughly. Slice ends of radishes and discard. Slice radishes as thinly as possible using knife or mandoline. Set aside.
3. Peel beet and slice into matchsticks. Set aside.
4. Slice across top and bottom of grapefruit. Using a curving cut, slice off rest of peel. Slice each section out of the pith. Discard pith and peel. Set aside grapefruit sections.
5. In a small pot of boiling water, add a piece of rock sugar. Once sugar has dissolved melted. Remove from heat, once all shrimp are light orange and no longer gray at all. Drain hot water and add cold water to shrimp. Drain, peel, and set aside peeled shrimp.

Plating:

1. Divide up the leaves by size so that both plates would have relatively equal towers.  
2. Start with the largest leave and lightly brush with vinaigrette. Add a few slices of radish, shredded beets, a grapefruit section, and 2 shrimp. Repeat with each slice. Top the very highest point with a poached egg. Season lightly with salt and fresh ground pepper.
3. Repeat with second plate.