Neil Perry's gazpacho with an Aussie summer twist

This is a cracking summer dish, featuring the best produce of the season: ripe tomatoes, asparagus and beautiful, nutty Australian prawns. You can use any seafood you like - crab meat, lobster and marron are all great options. White asparagus is a nice alternative, or you can use both varieties.

For dessert, the cobbler is delicious with any stone fruit, and it's great with whipped cream, too.

KING PRAWN AND ASPARAGUS GAZPACHO

1 bunch asparagus

12 king prawns, cooked, peeled and deveined

sea salt and freshly ground pepper

1 lemon, juiced

extra virgin olive oil, to drizzle

croutons, to serve

For the gazpacho

400g vine-ripened tomatoes, peeled,

deseeded and roughly diced

1 Lebanese cucumber, peeled and

roughly diced

2 red capsicums, roughly diced

1/2 green capsicum, roughly diced

2 large red chillies, split, deseeded and chopped

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

1/2 small brown onion, chopped

1 tbsp red wine vinegar

60ml extra virgin olive oil

Tabasco sauce, if desired

Serves 4

For the gazpacho, place all the ingredients except the extra virgin olive oil and Tabasco sauce (if using), in a blender, and add 125ml water. Pulse, taking care to purée the gazpacho.

Push the mixture through a course sieve into a bowl. Add the olive oil, some sea salt and freshly ground pepper and stir through. Check the seasoning, and add a little Tabasco if you like it hot. Chill for at least two hours.

Break the bottoms off the asparagus and cook in boiling salted water for 5 minutes. Refresh under cold water.

Place the asparagus and prawns in a bowl. Season, drizzle with lemon juice and olive oil and toss.

Place a small pile of asparagus in the centre of each of 4 plates, place the prawns on top, and give a good grind of pepper.

Pour the gazpacho soup into 4 small bowls; one for each plate. Add croutons to the gazpacho, and serve.

PEACH COBBLER

butter for greasing

800g fresh ripe peaches, peeled,

seeded and chopped into 1cm dice

110g self-raising flour

55g caster sugar

1 tsp ground cinnamon

60g butter, chopped coarsely

1 egg yolk

60ml buttermilk

20g roasted hazelnuts, roughly chopped

20g blanched roasted almonds, roughly chopped

20g icing sugar

ice-cream, to serve

Serves 4-6

Preheat the oven to 180°C.

Butter a baking dish that fits the peaches and place the peaches in.

Sift the flour, caster sugar and cinnamon into a bowl; rub in the butter. Stir in the egg yolk and enough of the buttermilk to make a sticky dough. Drop heaped teaspoons of the mixture over the peaches and sprinkle with the chopped nuts.

Bake the cobbler for about 40 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven, allow to rest for 10 minutes, then dust with icing sugar.

Serve with vanilla ice-cream.

SOMETHING TO DRINK

Sauvignon blanc
The refreshing acid and mineral drive of this 2011 Pascal Jolivet sauvignon blanc from Sancerre, France ($39), is a great pairing for this meal. Fresh fruit and citrus balance the wine to complement both the prawns and the gazpacho.

Photography by William Meppem. Styling by Hannah Meppem. Food preparation by Dominic Smith.