Your weekend culinary delights: Chilled beetroot gazpacho with marinated prawns

Ingredients
Serves 4

Beetroot gazpacho

• 600g beetroot
• Salt and pepper
• 1 cucumber, peeled & diced
• 500g tomatoes, quartered
• 250ml raspberry puree
• ½ small onion, roughly chopped
• 2 small garlic cloves
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tbsp Sherry vinegar
• 4tbsp virgin olive oil
• Sea salt and black pepper

Mandarin gel

• Juice of 4 mandarins
• 180g sugar
• Juice of 1 lime

Marinated prawns

• 12 large red prawns, peeled & deveined
• 100g beetroot juice
• Juice of 2 limes

Beetroot “ravioli” jelly

• 200ml beetroot gazpacho
• 1.5g gellan
• 1.5g agar-agar

For the filling

• 2tbsp crème fraiche
• 1tsp grated horseradish
• Seasoning

To garnish

• 12 peeled pistachios
• Mandarin segments
• Red veined sorrel leaves

For the beetroot gazpacho

Wash the beetroot in cold water and place into a large saucepan.
Cover with 800ml cold water. Bring to the boil slowly, then turn down the heat and very gently simmer for 40 minutes until tender.

Remove from the heat and carefully take out the cooked beetroot. Leave to cool slightly. Peel the beetroots, cut into quarters and place them in a blender. Add the rest of the ingredients blend until completely smooth (add a little cold water if necessary).
Pass through a fine sieve, season to taste and chill for at least 2-3 hours.

For the beetroot ravioli

Place the beetroot gazpacho in a saucepan with the gellan and agar-agar. Mix well and heat to 90c. Pre-heat a flat gastronome tray and pour the liquid over the tray to form a thin layer. Leave to cool.

Mix together the ingredients for the filling.

Carefully cut the jelly into 5cm X 2cm rectangles. Place 2 rectangles together to form a cross and place a teaspoon of the filling in the centre. Fold over the edges to form a square “ravioli”. Repeat until you have at least 8 ravioli and chill until required.

For the marinated prawns

Place the prawns with the beetroot & lime juice in a vacuum bag and seal. Marinate in the fridge for 35 minutes, take them out of the bag and let the juice run off. Refrigerate until serving.

For the Mandarin gel

Bring all the ingredients to the boil and reduce until the gel starts to thicken. Pass through a fine sieve and store in a squeeze bottle in the refrigerator until required.

To serve

Pour the beetroot gazpacho into jugs to serve tableside. Place 2 horseradish raviolis in each bowl together with 3 marinated prawns. Garnish with a few drops of mandarin gel, mandarin segments, peeled pistachios & red veined sorrel leaves. Serve immediately.