Hot Chilli Prawns with Melting Cheese

I can’t quite believe that something as effortless as this can be so outstandingly good. It’s not even a cheat in the truest sense, since I have not used any short-cut ingredients apart from Sainsbury’s ready-grated mixed Italian cheeses, which is a wonderful combination of flavours and has great melting ability. I’ve also discovered a quite brilliant new way to avoid too many pans (and therefore washing-up). Here the chopped onions and chilli are pre-cooked under the grill in the same dish as the rest. Just goes to show it’s never too late to learn!

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  Serves 2

Ingredients
7 oz (200g) cooked shelled large Mediterranean prawns
juice of ½ lime
a few drops of Tabasco
1 medium-sized red onion
2 fresh red chillies (the fat squat variety)
1½ tablespoons olive oil
1 x 200ml tub half-fat crème fraîche
3 oz (75g) mixed, ready-grated Italian cheeses (available from Sainsbury's)
salt and freshly milled black pepper

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Equipment
You will also need a shallow, heatproof gratin dish.

This recipe first appeared in You magazine.

Method

Begin by pre-heating the grill to its highest setting and slotting the shelf in approximately 4 inches (10 cm) from the heat source.Now place the prawns in a bowl, squeeze in the lime juice, add some salt, freshly milled pepper and a few drops of Tabasco, and toss them around. Then leave them on one side for about ten minutes.

Meanwhile peel the onion and chop it into quarters, and slice the chillies in two and scrape out the seeds. Pile the whole lot into a Mini Chopper or processor (see How To Cheat Equipment Hero, below) and chop reasonably small. Now pour the oil into a shallow heatproof gratin dish, add the chilli and onion mixture. Toss it around to get coated with the oil and spread across the base of the dish.

Place the dish under the hot grill and, keeping a sharp eye on it, give it about 7-8 minutes or till the onion and chilli is sizzling and brown round the edge. After that add the crème fraîche to the prawns and stir well, then add these to the gratin dish.

Finally sprinkle the grated cheese all over. Then back it goes under the grill for 3-4 minutes (still keeping an eye on it) for the cheese to melt and the surface to become golden and crusty. This goes well with some Sainsbury’s Pain de Campagne (French country bread), Isigny butter and a green leaf salad (add the juice from the other half of the lime to the dressing).

How to Cheat Hero Ingredient
Sainsbury’s ready-grated mixed Italian cheeses

How To Cheat Equipment Hero
Kenwood CH180 Mini Chopper Available from Woolworths, Argos, larger Boots stores, Sainsbury’s House of Fraser, Allders and Safeway Delia says, 'If you want to short-circuit lots of tedious chopping and knife sharpening, I’m really enthusiastic about this ingenious mini food processor. 1 tablespoon chopped parsley: 2 seconds, ¾ packet watercress: 4-5 seconds, a finely chopped onion… you name it – thousands of fast little processes that save you time.'

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