FENNEL SEED AND GRAPPA INFUSED PRAWNS WITH CHICKPEA PURÉE AND GRILLED RED PEPPERS

Brocade

First I want to remind you of this and for those of you who didn't see the announcement about our cooking classes, click here.



And now I am getting down to business, yesterday was the last day of the Paper Chef but I have asked Mike ,who is not only the host for this edition but also the nicest of men, if I could post my entry today and he said of course, I agree with him, Paper Chef is supposed to be fun too, not only a creative challenge so if someone arrives a little late with an entry it's OK, as long as it arrives before the roundup is done. Right Mike? Last month's winner was Cathy of ShowFood Chef so it was she who picked the ingredients and it is she who acts as The Judge. The ingredients turned out to be forgiving ones: prawns, fennel, sweet peppers and, this is Cathy's own chosen theme, passion. And my passion is the Paper Chef itself, I have loved this event since the first time I took part of it back in October 2005 and I was happy to take over the responsibilities when Owen of Tomatilla felt that he did not have the time to run it any longer. And here we are now me and my co-host Mike, it is a small event but the participants are pretty passionate about it I think. To the prawns, fennel (which I interpreted as anything fennel) and sweet pepper I added chickpeas and grappa and this is my entry:





FENNEL SEED AND GRAPPA INFUSED PRAWNS WITH CHICKPEA PURÉE AND GRILLED RED PEPPERS

prawns
fennel seeds
grappa or vodka
chickpeas, cooked
red peppers, either fresh ones that you grill yourself or the grilled ones in oil that you can buy in jars
chili pepper, ground
lemon juice
salt
extra-virgin olive oil

- Pestle fennel seeds and mix with a bit of grappa.
- Put the prawns without shells in a bowl and add the grappa and fennel seeds. Leave to marinate for 30-60 minutes.
- Heat up the chickpeas in a little water before puréeing them. Add little lemon juice and a pinch of chilip pepper.
- Cut the grilled pepper in thin strips or fine dice.
- Sautée the prawns quickly in olive oil and with a little of the grappa infusion.
- Make a bed of chickpea purée on a dish, put prawns on top and sprinkle the grilled pepper over before serving.