For ➍*4 firm red tomatoes or 2 coeurs de boeuf
200 g North Sea shrimps**, shelled & cooked
4 tbs mayonnaise, fresh if possible
juice of ¼ lemon
4 sprigs of parsley***
salt & pepper
Dry the shrimps. Sprinkle with lemon juice, salt & pepper****.
Drop the tomatoes 15 s in hot water and remove the skin. Halve the tomatoes, carefully spoon out the the liquids and inner meat. Put the tomatoes with the hollow side down on a plate in the refrigerator and let drain for 15 m. Keep some of the tomato juice. (Make a simple coulis from the sieved juice, by heating it until most liquid has gone. Put in refrigerator to cool.)
Chop the parsley***.
Mix the mayonnaise, lemon juice**** and tomato coulis avoiding getting too liquid. Add the parsley****. Add the shrimps (keep a few to decorate the dish) and mix. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Spoon shrimp mix in the tomato halves.
Serve 2 tomato halves (1 coeur de boeuf) per person*, with some lettuce or some tomato coulis. Rye bread is a good companion.*
**The North Sea small grey variety.
***Replace with shredded coriander.
****Choose either for adding the lemon juice to the shrimps or the mayonnaise.
One of the most popular Belgian dishes with very rare North Sea shrimps. It first appeared at the new sea resorts on the Belgian coast in the middle of the 19th century. Shrimps were abundant and easy to collect without boats, fishermen on horses simply dragged trawling nets along the shore, as it still done in Oostduinkerke. The dish was probably inspired by traditional tomato & prawns recipes from the French Mediterranean coast.
Try a low-fat version without mayonnaise.
