Prawns with romesco sauce

PREPARATION  30 minutes chilling time

COOKING  35 minutes

SERVES  6-8

30 large, raw prawns (shrimp)

1 tablespoon olive oil

Romesco sauce

4 garlic cloves, unpeeled

1 roma (plum) tomato, halved and seeded

2 long red chillies

2 tablespoons whole blanched almonds

2 tablespoons hazelnuts

60 g (2¼ oz) sun-dried capsicums (peppers) in oil

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

Peel prawns, leaving the tails intact. Cut down the back and gently pull out the dark vein, starting at the head end. Mix prawns with ¼ teaspoon salt and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

To make romesco sauce, preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F/Gas 6). Wrap garlic cloves in foil, put on a baking tray with tomato and chillies and bake for about 12 minutes. Spread the almonds and hazelnuts on the tray and bake for another 3–5 minutes. Leave to cool for 15 minutes. Peel the skin off the tomato.

Transfer almonds and hazelnuts to a small blender or food processor and blend until finely ground. Squeeze the garlic, and the tomato flesh, into the blender, discarding the skins. Split the chillies and remove the seeds. Scrape the flesh into the blender, discarding the skins. Pat the capsicums dry with paper towel, then chop them and add to the blender along with oil, vinegar, some salt and 2 tablespoons water. Blend until smooth, adding more water, if necessary, to form a soft dipping consistency. Set aside for 30 minutes.

Heat the olive oil in a frying pan over high heat and cook the prawns for 5 minutes, or until curled up and slightly pink. Serve with the sauce.