JAMIE OLIVER
THE NAKED CHEF 2 Book
Pecan Vanilla Ice Cream with Maple Syrup
2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar
2 handfuls pecan nuts
1 quart good quality vanilla ice cream
Maple syrup
Heat the oven to 350 degrees F (80 degrees C /Gas 4). Mix the icing sugar with the pecans on a baking tray and sprinkle with a little water to make a thick-ish paste.
Bake in the oven for a few minutes or until toasted and caramelized. Scoop out the ice cream into 4 glasses or bowls and sprinkle over the whole pecans then drizzle with a good glug of maple syrup.
Yield: 4 servings Prep Time: 3 minutes Cook Time: 4 minutes Difficulty: Easy
Spaghetti with Wild Mushrooms
9 to 11 ounces (250 to 300 grams) wild mixed
mushrooms (I would probably buy around 14 ounces (400
grams) mushrooms, as you have to trim a bit off)
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 to 2 small dried red chiles, pounded or very finely
chopped
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 lemon, juiced
1 pound (455 grams) dried spaghetti
A small handful grated Parmesan
1 handful fresh parsley, roughly chopped
2 ounces (55 grams) unsalted butter
Brush off any dirt from the mushrooms with a pastry brush or a tea towel. Slice the mushrooms thinly, but tear any larger mushrooms, like girolles, chanterelles. and blewits in half. Put the olive oil in a very hot frying pan, and add the mushrooms. Let them fry fast, tossing once or twice, then add the garlic and chile with a pinch of salt (it is very important to season mushrooms slightly, as it really brings out the flavor). Continue to fry fast for 4 to
5 minutes, tossing regularly. Then turn the heat off and squeeze in the lemon juice. Toss and season, to taste.
Meanwhile, cook the pasta in boiling, salted water until al dente. Drain and add to the mushrooms, with the Parmesan, parsley, and butter. Toss gently, coating the pasta with the mushrooms and their flavor. Serve, scraping out all of the last bits of mushroom from the pan, and sprinkle with a little extra parsley and Parmesan.
Yield: 4 servings
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Mushroom Sarnie
8 ounces (250 grams) butter, softened
4 sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
1 red chile, finely chopped
Garlic, finely chopped
A few sprigs fresh thyme leaves
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 large white mushrooms
1/2 loaf sourdough bread
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 bunch watercress, picked and washed
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C/Gas
6).
Mix the butter with the sun-dried tomatoes, chile, garlic, and thyme leaves. Season and spoon over each mushroom. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes, or until soft.
Cut the sourdough into 8 slices and spread with the Dijon mustard. Lay the watercress over the mustard and top with the baked mushrooms. Cover with the other half of bread, press down firmly, and cut.
Yield: 4 servings
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Warm Rocket Salad
Warm salads can be blooming amazing or a complete disaster. First, you have got to get your hungry guests around the table before you plate up, so as soon as their bums are on the chairs, you are tossing the warm ingredients in with the rocket leaves. Boom, boom, boom on a plate and it's in front of them.
2 medium red onions
8 whole rashers (slices) pancetta or smoked streaky
bacon
Olive oil
4 sprigs thyme
A good handful pine nuts
4 big handfuls rocket (arugula)
Balsamic vinegar
A piece of Parmesan, for shaving
Peel, halve, and quarter the onions then quarter again, to give you 8 pieces from each onion. Heat a frying pan and fry off the rashers of pancetta until crisp. Add a couple of lugs of olive oil to the pan, and add the sprigs of thyme, the onions, and pine nuts with a pinch of salt. Toss around and fry on a
medium heat for about 5 minutes until caramelized and sweet (not black!).
Then, throw everything into a salad bowl with the rocket or any nice salad leaves. Drizzle generously with balsamic vinegar, this will make a natural dressing as it mixes with the olive oil. Serve with some shaved Parmesan over the top, you can use a potato peeler to do this. Munch away.
Yield: 4 servings Prep Time: 5 minutes Cook Time: 15 minutes Difficulty: Easy
Spaghetti Puttanesca
1 pound (455 grams) dried spaghetti, the best you can get
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 handful capers, soaked in water and drained
2 handfuls big black olives, pitted
12 anchovy fillets, roughly chopped
3 small dried red chiles, crumbled
1 tablespoon dried oregano
Extra-virgin olive oil
2 (14 ounce/400gram) cans tomatoes, drained and
chopped
1 good handful fresh basil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Cook the spaghetti in salted, boiling water until al dente. Meanwhile fry the garlic, capers, olives, anchovies, chiles, and oregano in a little olive oil for a few minutes. Add the tomatoes, bring to a simmer, and continue to cook for 4 or 5 minutes, until you have a lovely tomato sauce consistency. Remove from the heat, plunge the drained spaghetti into it, toss it over, and cover with the sauce. Rip all the basil over it, correct the seasoning, and drizzle with good extra-virgin olive oil.
Yield: 4 servings
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Fruit Cobbler
This is a fantastic American recipe equivalent to our crumble. Particularly good with strawberries and rhubarb, but you can use any fruit combo you like; about 680g/1 1/2 pounds of fruit should do it.
For the fruit:
2 apricots, stoned and sliced
1 pear, cored and thickly sliced
1 pint blackberries
1 pint blueberries
1 pint raspberries
1 stick rhubarb
5 tablespoons sugar
A good glug balsamic vinegar
For the topping:
4 ounces butter, chilled
8 ounces (225 grams) self-rising flour
2 1/2 ounces (70 grams) sugar
A large pinch salt
4 1/2 fluid ounces (130 millilitres) buttermilk
A little sugar, for dusting
Vanilla ice cream, as an accompaniment
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C/gas
5). Put the fruit into a pan with the sugar and the
balsamic vinegar. Put the pan over the heat, and cook
gently, until the juices begin to run from the
berries. Pour into an ovenproof dish.
Meanwhile make the topping. Rub the cold butter into the flour until the mixture resembles fine bread crumbs. Add the sugar and salt, stir well, and then add the buttermilk to form a loose, scone-type mixture. Roll balls of the dough and place randomly over the hot fruit. Sprinkle with a little sugar, and bake in the oven for 30 minutes until golden brown. Serve with vanilla ice cream.
Yield: 6 servings Prep Time: 5 minutes Cook Time: 35 minutes Difficulty: Easy
ot-roasted Pork in White Wine with Garlic, Fennel, and Rosemary
This pork recipe takes me about 5 minutes to prepare and get in the oven, so it's nice and quick as well as being unbelievably light, fresh and tasty. Also,
pot-roasting the pork as opposed to straight roasting gives you a lovely natural sauce made with the meat juices and the wine
1 (3 pound/1.5 kilogram) pork loin, off the bone and skin removed
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon fennel seeds
2 to 3 large knobs butter
Olive oil
8 cloves garlic, skin left on
1 handful fresh rosemary, leaves picked
4 bay leaves
1 fennel bulb, sliced
1/2 (750 ml) bottle Chardonnay
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). With 2 or 3 bits of string, tie up your pork loin, do
this any way you like. It doesn't have to be fussy,
you just want to keep the meat in a snug shape while
it's cooking. Season generously with salt and pepper,
then roll the meat in the fennel seeds until covered.
In a casserole pan or roasting tray, fry the meat for a couple of minutes in half the butter and a little olive oil, until nice and golden.
Throw in the garlic, herbs, fennel, and wine, then cover the tray loosely with some wet greaseproof paper and cook until an inserted meat thermometer reaches 150 degrees F. As the pork loin is off the bone it cooks very quickly. Remove from the oven and allow the meat to rest on a plate. Then, without using any more heat, finish off your sauce in the pan, scraping any goodness off the bottom and adding the rest of the butter. Remove any large bits.
Yield: 6 servings
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Salad of Marinated Charred Squid with Cannellini beans, Rocket, and Chile
2 pounds 3 ounces (1 kilogram) squid, trimmed and gutted
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 (14-ounce or 400 gram) tin of cannellini beans, or
use 6 ounces (17 grams) dried ones, soaked and cooked
until tender
1 to 2 fresh red chiles, sliced
2 good handfuls rocket (arugula)
2 to 3 tablespoons lemon juice
4 tablespoons olive oil
Extra-virgin olive oil
Try to get your fishmonger to skin and gut the squid for you. Score the squid lightly in a casual criss- cross fashion. Set it aside while you get a griddle pan very, very hot. You can also use a wok or the barbecue.
Season the squid lightly with salt and pepper just before cooking, then add it to the pan. After a minute, it should be nicely charred, so turn it over and cook for a further minute. Remove the squid from the pan and set aside.
Heat up the cannellini beans and sprinkle them into a bowl. Add the sliced chiles to the bowl with the rocket, lemon juice, and olive oil, and season. Cut the squid at irregular angles and toss it in with the rest of the ingredients. A good drizzle of extra- virgin olive oil over the top will finish it off nicely.
Yield: 4 to 6 servings Prep Time: 5 minutes Cook Time: 5 minutes Difficulty: Easy
Panettone Bread and Butter Pudding
1 pint (575 millilitres) milk (don't use 2 percent, 1 percent, or skim)
1 pint (575 millilitres) double cream (heavy cream)
1 vanilla pod
4 medium eggs
6 ounces (170 grams) caster sugar (superfine sugar)
Panettone, cut into thick slices and buttered
1 orange, zested
3 tablespoons Cognac
A little icing sugar
To start the custard base, bring the milk and cream just to a boil in a saucepan. Cut the vanilla pod in half, scrape out the seeds and add to the pan with the zest. Whisk the eggs with the sugar until pale. Add the milk and cream and remove the vanilla.
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (160 degrees C/Gas
3).
Dip each slice of panettone into the custard and pile into a buttered baking dish. Pour the remaining custard slowly over the bread, place the dish in a roasting pan and fill halfway with hot water.
Sprinkle with the icing sugar and bake for about 45 minutes. When cooked, it will have a slight crust on top, but will still be slightly wobbly inside.
Yield: 8 to 12 servings Prep Time: 5 minutes Cook Time: 45 minutes Difficulty: Easy
Proper Polenta
1 1iter (34 ounces or a little more than a quart)
water
8 ounces (250 grams) instant polenta
8 ounces (2 sticks) butter
2 handfuls grated Parmesan
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Bring the water to boil in a large pan. Slowly stream in the polenta, whisking continuously. Once it's mixed, continue to stir over the heat for 15 to 20 minutes. Stir in the butter and Parmesan. You can add a little more water to make it the right consistency. Season and serve straight away
Yield: 4 servings Prep Time: 5 minutes Cook Time: 20 minutes Difficulty: Easy
Chicken in Milk
A slightly odd, but really fantastic combination, which must be tried
1 (3 pound/ 1.5 kilogram) organic chicken
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 ounces (115 grams) or 1 stick butter
1/2 cinnamon stick
1 good handful fresh sage, leaves picked
2 lemons, zested
6 garlic cloves, skin left on
1 pint (565 millilitres) milk
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C/gas
5), and find a snug-fitting pot for the chicken.
Season it generously all over with salt and pepper,
and fry it in the butter, turning the chicken to get
an even color all over, until golden. Remove from the
heat, put the chicken on a plate, and throw away the
butter left in the pot. This will leave you with
tasty sticky goodness at the bottom of the pan, which
will give you a lovely caramel flavor later on.
Put your chicken back in the pot with the rest of the ingredients, and cook in the preheated oven for 1 1/2 hours. Baste with the cooking juice when you
remember. The lemon zest will sort of split the milk, making a sauce, which is absolutely fantastic.
To serve, pull the meat off the bones and divide it
on to your plates. Spoon over plenty of juice and the
little curds. Serve with wilted spinach or greens and
some mashed potato.
Yield: 4 servings
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour 40 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Calzone
My London 'father', Gennaro Contaldo, makes these to use up all his leftover antipasti. They're great, a complete snack.
Basic Bread Recipe:
Just over 2 pounds (1 kilogram) strong bread flour
Just over 1 pint (625 millilitres) tepid water
1 ounce (30 grams) fresh yeast or 3 (1/4 ounce/7
gram) sachets dried yeast
2 tablespoons sugar
Sea salt
Extra flour, for dusting
Filling
2 courgettes (zucchini), sliced and char-grilled
2 artichoke hearts, char-grilled and sliced
A handful black olives
A handful sun-dried tomatoes
A couple slices Parma ham
A bunch basil, leaves ripped
A drizzle olive oil
A drizzle herb vinegar
1 ball mozzarella, ripped
A handful Parmesan shavings
A couple fresh plum tomatoes
2 ounces Montgomery cheddar
A good drizzle extra-virgin olive oil
Freshly ground black pepper
Maldon sea salt
For the bread:
Stage 1: Making a Well Pile the flour on to a clean surface and make a large well in the centre. Pour half the water into the well, then add your yeast, sugar and salt and stir with a fork.
Stage 2: Getting It Together Slowly, but confidently, bring in the flour from the inside of the well. (You do not want to break the walls of the well, or the water will go everywhere). Continue to bring the
flour into the centre until you get a stodgy,
porridge-y consistency, then add the remaining water.
Continue to mix until it's stodgy again, then you can
be more aggressive, bringing in all the flour, making.
the mix less sticky. Flour your hands and pat and
push the dough together with all the remaining flour.
(Certain flours need a little more or less water, so
feel free to adjust).
Stage 3: Kneading! This is where you get stuck in. With a bit of elbow grease, simply push, fold, slap, and roll the dough around, over and over, for 4 or 5 minutes until you have a silky and elastic dough.
Stage 4: First Proof Flour the top of your dough. Put it in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and allow it
to proof in a warm, moist, draught-free place until doubled in size, about half an hour. This proof will improve the flavor and texture of your dough, and it's always exciting to know that the old yeast has kicked into action.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C/gas
4).
Chop and mix all the ingredients for the filling and season well.
Divide the dough into 8 pieces. Roll into balls, using flour for dusting. Then roll into little frisbee shapes just over 1/4-inch (0.5 centimetre)
thick. Place a good spoonful of your filling into the middle of each, brush the edges with a little water, then fold the rounds in half, pushing their edges to seal. Some people prefer to use a fork to do this but I just pinch them with my fingers. Dust with flour,
do the same with all the others and move to a flour- dusted baking tray. Allow to sit for 5 minutes, then score the top of the bread to allow your filling to bubble over when cooking. Bake in your preheated oven for 20 minutes, until golden and scrumptious-looking, and allow to cool. Always good for picnics or as portable food.
Yield: 8 calzones
Prep Time: 25 minutes
Inactive Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Difficulty: Medium
Squashed Cherry Tomato and Smashed Olive Bruscetta
What you are just about to do makes complete sense in cooking. Tomatoes need salt, olives are preserved in salt, you've squeezed the juice out of the tomatoes, which in return draws the salt and the smoky flavour out of the olives. This makes the olives very edible and the tomatoes damn tasty. Rip in as much basil as you can afford and even a handful of rocket (arugula) if you have some. Lovely. P.S. If you have any leftovers then toss them in with some hot spaghetti.
2 handfuls cherry tomatoes
1 handful black olives
4 to 5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon dried oregano
A drizzle herb vinegar
1 dried chile
A handful fresh basil
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 ciabatta or other rustic bread, cut into thick
slices
1/2 clove garlic
4 boccacini
Parmesan, for shaving
This is probably the quickest salad or bruschetta I make, but no less tasty for that. Very few ingredients, simple flavours, complete sense. Try to make use of the wider range of cherry tomatoes available now: yellow, tige, and plum cherry tomatoes for instance. And, as I always say, it's much better, taste-wise, to buy olives with their stones still in than without. Trust me.
Simply squash your tomatoes into a bowl. I always have to put one hand over the tomatoes as I do this as juice and pips go everywhere (generally on me).
You can be as rough with the tomatoes as you like, as
the salad looks much better rough and rustic than
perfect and pretty. Then, gently smash the olives on
a board with a hard object, like a cup or a rolling-
pin. Remove the stones, throw the olives in with the
tomatoes, and toss together. Add a few glugs of oil,
the oregano, a drizzle of vinegar, crumbled chile,
and rip in the basil. Season, to taste, and that's
your salad.
My Mums Spottier Dick
This is a proper 'blokes' pudding ? loads of custard, a little warmed syrup over the top, and even some cream. Superb!
4 ounces (115 grams) suet
4 1/2 ounces (120 grams) dried apricots, chopped
8 ounces (240 grams) raisins or sultanas
1 orange, zested
4 1/2 ounces (120 grams) plain flour
4 1/2 ounces (120 grams) sugar
4 1/2 ounces (120 grams) bread crumbs
2 tablespoons grated ginger (or to taste)
Pinch grated nutmeg
Pinch salt
1 egg, beaten
1 pint (140 millilitres) milk
Grease a 3-pint (1 liter) pudding basin. Mix all the ingredients together, except the egg and milk. Add
the beaten egg and milk and mix well. (I do this in a mixer but you can do it by hand, no problem).
Put the mixture in the basin, cover with tin foil or a cloth, and put the basin in a pan with water half- way up the sides of the basin. Bring the water to a boil, put on a tight-fitting lid, and simmer for 3 hours, remembering to top up with (add more) boiling water now and then.
Yield: 6 servings
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 3 hours
Difficulty: Easy
Minty Mushy Peas
This is a fantastic recipe that is so quick and so simple and uses our reliable friends the frozen peas, which work really well here. Great with fish, meat,
or even as a vegetarian dish with a big dollop of butter on top.
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 bunch spring onions, chopped
1 handful fresh mint, leaves picked
1 pound (500 grams) frozen peas
2 large knobs butter
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Heat the oil in a pan and add the chopped onions, mint, and peas. Cover and leave for a few minutes to steam. Mash with a potato masher. You can do this with a food processor as well, just pulse it until smooth. Whether mashing or pulsing, when it's done add the butter and season very carefully, to taste.
Yield: 4 servings Prep Time: 5 minutes Cook Time: 5 minutes Difficulty: Easy
Fish and Chips
For the chips:
3 3/4 pints (2 litres) vegetable oil
2 pounds (950 grams) floury potatoes, like russets,
peeled and cut into large chips
For the batter:
1 cup plain flour
1 cup beer
2 egg whites, whipped to soft peaks
Salt
4 (9 ounce/250 gram) fillets haddock or cod, skin on, and pin boned
Pour all the vegetable oil into a deep pan or deep
fat fryer, and heat to 300 degrees F (160 degrees C.)
Blanch the cut potatoes in the oil until soft, but
not coloured, about 4 minutes. Remove and drain.
Mix together the flour and the beer, and then fold in the egg whites. Turn up the heat of the oil to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C). Dip the fish in the batter and fry for a few minutes with the chips until golden brown.
Drain on kitchen paper and serve with bread and butter, wally's (battered, deep fried pickles served with ranch dressing), and pickled eggs.
Yield: 4 servings
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 8 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Basil and Lime Sorbet
1 wineglass water (about 5 ounces)
1 wineglass sugar (equal in weight to the water)
5 to 6 limes, zested
1 glass lime juice
1 very large bunch basil, pounded to a puree
Place the water and sugar in a pan, bring to a boil, and simmer for 4 minutes with the lime zest. Remove from the heat, and allow to cool for a while. Add the lime juice and basil puree. Stir this up and leave to infuse for a while. Pass it through a coarse sieve
and pour into a plastic tub or earthenware dish and place in the freezer. Generally, sorbet takes 2 hours to set. Try to stir it around every 30 minutes, if
you remember. Serve it in a glass on its own.
Yield: 4 servings
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Inactive Prep Time: 3 hours
Cook Time: 5 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Tagliatelle with Saffron, Seafood, and Cream
A good pinch saffron
1 glass white wine
Olive oil
1 large garlic clove, finely chopped
1 pound dried tagliatelle
1 1/2 pounds (680 grams) mixed seafood (red mullet,
scallops, clams, debearded mussels, squid)
1/2 pint double cream (heavy cream)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
A bunch flat parsley, chopped
Soak the saffron in the white wine. Add a little oil and the garlic to a frying pan, and cook until softened. Add the clams and mussels, shake the pan around, and add the white wine and saffron mixture. Bring to a boil and cook until the shellfish opens, discard any shellfish that remain closed.
Then, lay the rest of the seafood, parsley, and the cream on top. Simmer for 3 to 4 minutes and season to taste. Cook the tagliatelle in salted, boiling water until al dente. Drain and add to the fish, serve scattered with some of the leftover parsley and an extra drizzle of olive oil.
Yield: 4 servings Prep Time: 5 minutes Cook Time: 20 minutes Difficulty: Easy
Seared Carpaccio of Beef with roasted Baby Beets, Creamed Horseradish, Watercress and Parmesan
1 1/2 pounds (680 grams) baby beetroots
Olive oil
Approximately 10 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 handful fresh rosemary, finely chopped
3 1/2 pound (1.5 kilogram) fillet of beef
3 1/2 ounces (100 grams) freshly grated or creamed horseradish
7 ounces (200 grams) creme fraiche
1 lemon, juiced, or white wine vinegar
3 good handfuls watercress
3 1/2 ounces (100 grams) shaved Parmesan
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C/gas
8).
Wash and scrub the beets, trim the ends, and toss into a large piece of foil with a little oil,
balsamic vinegar, and seasoning. Wrap and roast until tender. Cooking time depends on size.
Mix the rosemary salt and pepper on a board. Roll and press the fillet of beef over this, making sure all sticks to the meat. In a very hot, ridged pan, or on
a barbecue, sear the meat until brown and slightly crisp on all sides, around 5 minutes. Remove from the pan. Allow it to rest for 5 minutes, then slice it
all up as thinly as you can. Lay the slices on a large plate.
After preparing the beef, sprinkle the roasted beetroots randomly (whole, halved or quartered, depending on size) over the sliced meat. Now mix the horseradish and creme fraiche together. It has to be
Portuguese Chocolate Tarts
5 ounce (150 gram) slab puff pastry
1 egg yolk
2 tablespoons caster sugar (superfine sugar)
Pinch allspice
A couple pinches cinnamon
1 orange, zested
For the filling:
5 1/2 fluid ounces (160 millilitres) double cream
(heavy cream)
2 level tablespoons caster sugar
The smallest pinch salt
1/2 stick butter, softened
1/2 pound best-quality baking chocolate, broken up
1 1/2 fluid ounces (50 millilitres) milk
Cocoa powder, for dusting
Dust a surface with flour and roll out your pastry to a bit bigger than an 8 1/2-by-11-inch sheet of paper. Brush with the egg yolk and scatter the rest of the ingredients over, being subtle with the allspice and cinnamon. Roll the pastry up tightly like a Swiss
roll to make a long sausage shape. With a knife, cut across the sausage into 1-inch (2 1/2-centimeter) pieces. Take 8 pieces aside, and freeze the rest of the pastry for a rainy day.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C/gas
6).
Turn all the pieces of pastry swirl-side up and flatten them slightly. Dust the surface of your pastry with flour, then roll each piece out into a thin circle (around the size of a teacup saucer). Even I don't have proper pastry molds at home, so I just grease and flour the outsides of 8 of my glass tumblers. Then, I place a circle of pastry on top of each tumbler, pleating, pinching and hugging the pastry around them.
Place the tumblers on a baking tray, pastry at the top, and put in the preheated oven until crisp and golden, around 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and, while still hot, take a tea towel and pat the
slightly raised top of the pastry back down on to the............................
Roasted Sweet Garlic and Thyme Risotto with Toasted Almonds and
Breadcrumbs
Don't be scared by this one, the garlic is not overpowering, it's extremely subtle and delicate combination.
2 large heads garlic, whole and unpeeled
Approximately 1 quart (1.1 litres) chicken stock
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 shallots or 2 medium onions, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/2 head celery, finely chopped
14 ounces (400 grams) risotto rice
2 wine glasses dry white vermouth or dry white wine
Sea salt
1 good handful fresh thyme, leaves picked
Freshly ground black pepper
2 1/2 ounces (70 grams) butter
4 ounces (115 grams) freshly grated Parmesan
51/2 ounces (155 grams) shelled and peeled almonds,
lightly crushed, cracked or chopped
2 handfuls coarse fresh bread crumbs
Olive oil
For the basic risotto: Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C). Roast the whole garlic heads on a dish in the oven until soft, about 30 minutes.
Stage 1: Heat the stock. In a separate pan heat the olive oil, add the shallots or onions, garlic, and celery, and fry slowly for about 4 minutes. When the vegetables have softened, add the rice and turn up the heat.
Stage 2: The rice will now begin to fry, so keep stirring it. After a minute it will look slightly translucent. Add the vermouth or wine and keep stirring, it will smell fantastic. Any harsh alcohol flavours will evaporate and leave the rice with a tasty essence.
Stage 3: Once the vermouth or wine has cooked into the rice, add your first ladle of hot stock and a good pinch of salt. Separate the roasted garlic cloves and squeeze out the sweet insides into the
Beef with Soy Sauce and Ginger
2 (8 ounce/ 225 gram) sirloin steaks
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 pak choy or bok choy (even spinach or any other
greens will do)
8 tablespoons soy sauce
1 thumb-sized piece of ginger, peeled
1 chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
1/2 a garlic clove, finely grated
1 lime, juiced
Olive oil
On a very hot griddle pan, cook your seasoned piece of sirloin steak until medium or to your liking. Place in a plate and allow to rest for 2 minutes.
Now cook your greens in salted boiling water until tender.
While hot, douse with a good couple of tablespoons of soy sauce, and sprinkle with the garlic, ginger, chilli, lime juice and olive oil.
When the greens are cooked, simply divide onto two plates, thinly slice up the sirloin steaks, place on top of the greens and drizzle with any of the infused sauce left on the resting plate.
The Easiest Sexiest Salad in the World
6 ripe figs
6 slices prosciuitto or Parma ham
A good handful green or purple basil
6 small balls buffalo mozzarella, torn
For the Honey and Lemon Juice Dressing:
1 tablespoon good honey
6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons lemon juice
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Cut a criss-cross in the figs, but not quite to the bottom, and then, using your thumb and forefinger, squeeze the base of the fig to reveal the inside.
Place the figs on a large plate and weave around I
piece of prosciutto or Palma ham around each fig.
Add the ripped up basil and the buffalo mozzarella. Drizzle over the honey, making sure each fig has some
in the middle, then drizzle the olive oil, lemon
juice, and salt and pepper.
Or: Mix all the dressing ingredients together in a bowl and season, to taste, then drizzle everything with the honey and lemon juice dressing.
Yield: 6 servings
Margaritas
2 shots of tequila
1 shot Cointreau
1 shot freshly squeezed lime juice
Salt and lime wedge, to serve
Put all the ingredients into a shaker. Shake well and serve in a martini glass with a salt rim and a split lime wedge.
Salmon with Herbs in Newspaper
A copy of The Times (London, New York, Chicago, or
LA, your choice)
4 large handfuls fresh mixed herbs (dill, basil,
rosemary, flat leaf parsley, and fennel tops)
1 (3 1/2 to 4 pound/ 1.5 kilogram) whole salmon,
scaled and gutted
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Olive oil
2 lemons, thinly sliced
6 spring onions, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons fennel seeds, cracked
Open out the paper to the middle page, and scatter half the herbs over it.
Place the salmon in the middle of the paper and season inside and out and rub with olive oil.
Scatter over the lemon slices, spring onions, fennel seeds and remaining herbs, tucking some inside the fish.
Drizzle with a little extra olive oil.
Wrap the paper around the salmon, securing it well with lots of string.
Dampen the paper well under the tap. Place parcel directly on the top shelf of a preheated 425 degrees F (220 degrees C) oven, for 35 minutes, or preferably, cook on the barbecue or on a rack over a camp fire for about 25 minutes on each side.
Yield: 6 servings
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 35 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
