Prawns with Romesco sauce

1. Halve the pepper lengthways and remove the seeds and stalk. Line a grill pan with foil and lay the pepper halves skin-side up, along with the whole garlic cloves, chilli and tomato. Grill for 2 minutes, turn the tomato, then grill for another 2 minutes. Take out the tomato, then peel, quarter, deseed and roughly chop it.
2. Keep grilling the pepper, chilli and garlic for 4 to 5 minutes, until the pepper and chilli skins have blackened and the garlic has started to soften. Once cool enough to handle, peel and halve the chilli and scrape out the seeds, then peel the pepper and roughly chop both.
3. Spread the nuts over the foil and grill until toasted, then finely chop the nuts and parsley in a food processor and tip into a small bowl.
4. Heat 3 tablespoons of oil in a frying pan, add the pepper, garlic and chilli and fry for 3 minutes. Tear up the bread, add it to the pan and turn it in the oil until lightly browned. Pulse it in the food processor with the tomato, salt, vinegar and oil until roughly chopped, then tip into a bowl, cool, and keep in the fridge for up to 3 days.
5. On the day, stir the toasted nuts and parsley into the sauce. Serve it in a small bowl on a plate with the peeled prawns and cocktail sticks for spearing.

Tips from the ZestyPlate Kitchen

• Char the peppers, chilli and garlic well, because that smokiness is the heart of romesco.
• Toast the nuts only until just golden, keeping a close eye so they don't tip over into burnt.
• Make the sauce ahead if you can: it keeps for up to three days and the flavour deepens.
• Stir the toasted nuts in on the day you serve it, so the sauce keeps a little texture.