Recipe: Prawn, chorizo and tomato stew with fennel

Paprika and tomato make this stew both delicious and beautiful. Photo / Olivia Moore - That Green Olive

With its fiery, flamboyant red hue and punchy flavours, this stew is truly special.

Prawn and chorizo complement each other’s respective subtle and vivacious notes, while the tomato and capsicum sauce provide richness and acidity.

I love fennel - its sweet and herbaceous taste works especially well with seafood.

This is one of those dishes that can be carried across seasons - it’s hot and smoky for winter, yet still fresh and vibrant enough for warmer weather.

Serve this over rice if you like - but whatever you do, don’t forget the bread! You’ll need it to soak up all that flavourful sauce.

Visit Olivia’s website for more recipes: www.thatgreenolive.com

Ingredients

Serves 2-3

• 1 onion, thinly sliced
• 4 large cloves garlic
• 75g Spanish chorizo, halved and thinly sliced
• 1 fennel bulb (200g), thinly sliced
• 1 red capsicum, cored and thinly sliced
• 1 tbsp smoked paprika
• 2 tsp ground coriander
• 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• 2 cups vegetable stock
• 400g can tomatoes
• 250g prawns, de-shelled
• 1 tbsp packed fennel fronds
• Zest and juice of 1 lemon
• 1 tsp salt

Method

1. Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic, and cook for 4-5 minutes, stirring often, until lightly browned.
2. Add chorizo, fennel and capsicum, followed by smoked paprika, coriander and cumin seeds. Stir to combine, then cook for another 5 minutes, stirring often, until chorizo has lightly browned and spices are fragrant.
3. Add tomato paste and stir through, then add vegetable stock and tomatoes. Cover with a lid, reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 25 minutes.
4. Add prawns, fennel fronds, lemon juice and zest, and salt. Simmer for a further 3 minutes until the prawns have turned white and are cooked through.
5. Serve hot, with bread and rice if desired.

Olivia Moore and her Taupō business That Green Olive offer recipe development, food photography - in studio or on-location - for restaurants and cafes, recipe video creation and social media content creation.