Gambas de queso with Majorcan tomato bread

You may remember the tapas from last summer’s recipe collection. They are well worth revisiting and make a perfect summer starter for two. The preparation is quite simple and the whole thing can be ready in a flash.

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Recipe adapted from Delia’s How To Cheat At Cooking published by Ebury Press, 2008.

Method

Preheat the oven to 200ºC, gas mark 6. First bake the bread for about 20 minutes until crisp and golden. Now skin the tomatoes (1 minute in boiling water and the skin will slip off easily), then cut them into quarters.

Place them in a mini chopper together with the garlic, olive oil and some seasoning, and simply whizz to a purée (a stick blender will do this easily, too). Now empty it into a sieve set over a bowl and let the excess liquid drain off for 30 minutes.

Then, for the prawns: drain off any liquid and put them into a medium-sized bowl. Crush the jalapeno peppers through a garlic crusher, followed by the garlic, and toss them together with the prawns, lemon juice, olive oil and seasoning.

Next arrange the drained grilled peppers in a shallow heatproof dish and pile the prawns on top. Cut the cheese into cubes, then whizz in the mini chopper to ‘grate’ it, and sprinkle it over the prawns. Cover with cling film and pop it in the fridge until you need it.

About 20 minutes before you want to serve the prawn tapas, turn the grill onto its highest setting.

When the grill has preheated for 15 minutes pop the prawns under the grill (10cm from the heat) until the cheese is melted and bubbling and beginning to turn golden on top – about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, split the baguette lengthways, spread the tomato pulp on, season and top with the Paleta Ibérico and some basil leaves. Serve the grilled prawns on warm plates with the bread on one side.

Nutrition 666kcals/49g protein/40.7g carbohydrate/8.5g sugars 34.1g fat/16.5g saturated fat/4.4g fibre/5.8g salt per serving