My Marie Rose Recipe Is Inspired by the One in Simon Hopkinson and Lindsey Bareham ’S 1997 the Prawn Cocktail Years

Shake up the remnants of a bottle of ketchup with a splash of sprits, a heap of mayonnaise and a few other simple additions, and turn it into one of the culinary world’s most famous sauces. My new favourite preparation for sauces, marinades and dressings is in a near-empty jar, tub or bottle, so I can upcycle all the remains. Rather than washing it and putting it in the recycling, I instead add a few store-cupboard ingredients to create a dressing or sauce, often re-exploring classics such as a retro Marie Rose sauce or my yoghurt-pot chicken.

It’s a convenient way to use up the last dregs of a ketchup bottle, for instance, which often seems to harbour exactly the right amount of sauce. My Marie Rose recipe is inspired by the one in Simon Hopkinson and Lindsey Bareham ’s 1997 The Prawn Cocktail Years. It’s wonderfully simple, with the sophisticated addition of a dash of cognac, though other recipes use brandy.

I had neither, however, but I did have some sweet vermouth left over, which worked exceptionally well, so feel free to experiment with whatever spirits you have to hand – vodka, for instance, works brilliantly, and gives the sauce a nice kick. Serve tossed with prawns, avocado, lettuce and cucumber in a classic prawn cocktail, or splat on to burger buns, or do as I did and serve drizzled over wedges of iceberg lettuce garnished with celery leaves and capers, and dusted with paprika. Glass or plastic bottles both work, though squeezy ones help to deliver a chef-like drizzle.

When I was a kid, I used to love ketchup on just about everything, so these days it seems a rather odd concept to mix it with mayonnaise and prawns. Even so, it is surprisingly good – well, of course it is – and a great way to use up the annoying last dregs in the bottom of the bottle.