Make the dressing by whisking together the juice of the lemon, the mustard and 4 tablespoons of your oil. Season generously.
Trim the courgettes and spring onions. Finely slice the spring onions and place in a very large salad or mixing bowl. Using a potato peeler, slice the courgettes into long thin ribbons directly into the bowl. Wash and spin dry the rocket and watercress, and add to the bowl along with the podded peas and broad beans. Toss together gently.
Pick all the herb leaves and roughly chop together. Add most of them to the bowl, but reserve a couple of tablespoons and chop them finely. Add the ground seeds to the chopping board, with a generous pinch of salt, and mix with the herbs. Break the labneh into mouthful-size pieces (irregular is good! – they don’t have to be perfect) and gently roll them in the spiced herb mixture. Dress the green salad with the lemon mustard dressing, scatter over the coated labneh, and serve.
A Very Springtime Salad
GRIDDLED RADICCHIO WITH HAZELNUT AND ROSEMARY
I absolutely adore this recipe – the contrast between the bitter leaves and the sweet dressing is heavenly. And if you’ve never tried griddling radicchio, I urge you to give it a go. It mellows the bitterness ever so slightly, and adds a lovely charred flavour to the salad.
SERVES 4–6
2 garlic cloves
40g hazelnuts
2 sprigs of rosemary
2 large or 3 medium radicchio
extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons dried cranberries
2 tablespoons runny honey
75ml balsamic vinegar
a handful of rocket leaves
100g good stale bread (ciabatta or sourdough)
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Place your griddle pan on a high heat and give it a few minutes to get screaming hot. Peel and finely slice the garlic. Roughly chop the hazelnuts. Pick the rosemary leaves and chop also. Cut the radicchio into large wedges, and when the pan is searing hot, pop the pieces on to char. Give them a few minutes on all sides, until you have good griddle marks, then place in a large serving bowl.
Pop a medium-size frying pan on a medium-low heat, pour in a glug of olive oil and add the garlic, hazelnuts, cranberries and rosemary leaves. Fry gently until the garlic turns a light golden colour, then add the honey and give it a minute to completely warm through. Pour the balsamic into the pan, stir it all together and turn the heat up. As soon as it starts to bubble, remove from the heat and leave the dressing to cool a little.
Wash the rocket and spin dry. Place the slightly cooled grilled radicchio on a chopping board and roughly chop it. Pop it back into the serving bowl. Chop the stale bread into mouthful-size pieces and add to the bowl too. Pour over the dressing, once it has cooled for 5 minutes, and toss everything together well. Season to taste, and finish by scattering over the rocket.
Griddled Radicchio with Hazelnut and Rosemary
CHARRED BRASSICAS WITH TAHINI YOGHURT AND SUMAC
When roasted or barbecued, brassicas take on another dimension – meatier and more intense. Served here with a delicious rub and a tangy Greek yoghurt dressing – these are flavours that remind me of my summers in Cyprus. I could happily eat a whole bowl of this alone for my dinner.
SERVES 6, as a side
a pinch of saffron
½ teaspoon dried chilli flakes
1 heaped teaspoon dried oregano
½ tablespoon toasted sesame seeds (a mixture of black and white if you can get both)
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1kg brassicas (I like to mix it up and use a head of broccoli and a head of romanesco cauliflower, when I can find them)
olive oil
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
250g Greek yoghurt
2 tablespoons tahini
1 lemon
½ a garlic clove
¼ teaspoon sumac
Preheat your oven to 200°/gas 6.
Place the saffron in a small bowl or teacup and cover with 2 tablespoons of just-boiled water. Give it a stir, then leave to one side.
In a mortar and pestle bash together the chilli flakes, oregano, sesame seeds and 1 teaspoon of sea salt until you have a finer-textured salt.
Slice your veg up into a mixture of florets and slices, including the stalks, so that they are evenly sized, and spread them over a couple of roasting trays. Evenly drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle over all the flavoured salt. Toss everything together, then spread out into one layer. Pop into the oven for 25–30 minutes, and roast until the veg are just cooked through but lovely and charred at the edges.
While the brassicas are in the oven, make the yoghurt dressing. Spoon the yoghurt and tahini into a mixing bowl and squeeze in the lemon juice; mix until smooth. Peel and finely grate in the garlic and season well. The saffron water should now be cool, and a vibrant gold colour. Pour the liquid – saffron threads and all – into the yoghurt, and stir it through.
Spread the yoghurt on your serving platter, and when the veg are ready arrange them on top. Finish by sprinkling over the sumac, and serve. Delicious served at room temperature too, making it a great get-ahead side dish.
Charred Brassicas with Tahini Yoghurt and Sumac
KHICHDI
I adore this recipe. It’s a traditional Indian dish which is nourishing both to make and to eat – it’s filled with goodness and follows a lot of the Ayurvedic principles. I think it is perfect as a side for a Indian meal or just on its own, in a bowl, with a spoon. Make a batch on a Sunday and it’ll keep you going for a few days.
SERVES 6
150g split mung beans
3 garlic cloves
2 onions
1 green chilli
a 2cm piece of ginger
3 tablespoons ghee
½ tablespoon cumin seeds
250g basmati rice (I like to use white and brown)
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
15 curry leaves
1 teaspoon black mustard seeds
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 small cinnamon stick
200g kale or spinach
Wash the mung beans in a sieve under running water. Peel and finely slice the garlic, and peel and finely chop the onions. Halve, deseed and finely slice the chilli. Peel the ginger and keep to one side.
Heat a little of the ghee in a large saucepan over a medium heat and add the cumin seeds. Once they start to turn golden and smell wonderful, add the rice and mung beans to the pan. Season well with salt and pepper and add 1.75 litres of water. Bring to the boil, then reduce to a simmer and cover with a lid. Leave to cook on a low heat for 40 minutes, adding more water if it gets a little dry.
While the rice and mung beans are cooking, you can temper the rest of the spices. To do this, heat the rest of the ghee in a frying pan over a medium heat and add the garlic. Fry for a minute and once the garlic has turned lightly golden, add the onions, chilli and curry leaves, and finely grate in the ginger. Turn the heat down a little and sauté for 5–10 minutes, until the onions have softened but not coloured. Turn the heat up a little and add the mustard seeds, turmeric and cinnamon stick. Fry for 2 more minutes.
Wash the greens thoroughly and remove any tough stalks, then roughly chop and add to the pan along with the sautéed spiced onions and a splash of water, if needed. You want a creamy texture, so add up to 200ml of water if it feels too thick. Cook for a further 15–20 minutes, then season to taste. Perfect with warm chapatis and a feast of other Indian dishes.
Khichdi
INDULGENT POLENTA WITH ROASTED GARLIC BUTTER
Done well, polenta has to be one of the most comforting foods of all time; done badly, it’s a stodgy mess. Don’t let this put you off, though! It isn’t hard to do at all, you just need a little time, patience and the ability to turn a blind eye to the butter and salt content. This would be perfect with the cinnamon-braised lamb shanks here, or by itself in a bowl with a pile of greens for good meas
ure.
NB This recipe makes more garlic butter than you need for the polenta, as it’s easier to roast a whole bulb of garlic at a time. There are different ways to roast a bulb of garlic, but I just pop a bulb in the oven when something else is already cooking, and leave it to caramelise. Just store the rest in the fridge and use it another day, with potatoes, chicken, veg – it’s delicious!
SERVES 4
a whole bulb of garlic
extra virgin olive oil
a bunch of basil
150g butter
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
250ml milk
150g coarse polenta (not the quick-cook stuff)
50g pecorino
Preheat your oven to 180°C/gas 4. Peel away some of the papery layers from the garlic bulb and drizzle with oil. Place the bulb in a small ovenproof dish and pop into the oven for 1hr 15 minutes, until it is soft, golden and starting to look sticky. Leave to one side to cool a little before making the butter.
Chop the basil, stalks and all. Cut 125g of butter into chunks and pop into a food processor with the basil and a good pinch of seasoning. Squeeze the garlic cloves out of their skins and into the blender. Blitz until you have a vibrant green butter. Spoon on to a sheet of greaseproof paper, roll into a log and store in the fridge until needed.
To make the polenta, pour the milk into a large heavy-based pan along with 750ml of water and just under a teaspoon of sea salt. Gently bring to the boil, then slowly and steadily pour the polenta into the pan in a thin stream, whisking all the time so it thickens as you go. Keep whisking for a couple of minutes over a high heat. Turn the heat down to the lowest setting and cook the polenta for around 40 minutes, until it starts to come away from the pan, stirring every 5 minutes to stop it sticking.
When it’s ready, finely grate in the pecorino, stir in the remaining 25g of butter, season to taste and stir well.
Indulgent Polenta with Roasted Garlic Butter
WHOLE ROASTED MISO AUBERGINE
I’ve met quite a few people who don’t love aubergine, and I can honestly say most of the time it’s because of the way it’s cooked. That rubbery, dry, slightly squeaky texture is pretty off-putting, but that’s purely because it hasn’t been cooked for long enough. Aubergines are a beautiful thing, and when given the right care they are stunning. Take this recipe, for example – I treat the aubergines like a piece of meat, slashing them, marinating them and slow-roasting them whole. The result is a deliciously creamy and fragrant dish that takes little effort to make. The other bonus is that you don’t use much oil, as you cook the aubergines whole, so it’s light too.
SERVES 4
a 3cm piece of ginger
4 garlic cloves
2 small green chillies
2 aubergines
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
groundnut oil
200g vine cherry tomatoes
4 spring onions
½ a bunch of coriander
1 lime
1 tablespoon tamarind paste
½ tablespoon honey
3 tablespoons white sweet miso
Preheat your oven to 180°C/gas 4.
Peel the ginger and garlic, and finely slice the chillies. Pierce the aubergines all over with a paring knife, as if you were making incisions into a piece of meat. Grate the ginger into a large mortar and pestle, and bash together with the garlic, chillies and a good pinch of salt until you have a thick paste. Mix in just enough oil to make it spoonable, place the aubergines in a large roasting tray, then spoon the mixture over the aubergines and massage it into the incisions, really getting the flavours inside. Dot the cherry tomatoes around, and pop into the oven for 40 minutes, turning the aubergines a couple of times.
While the aubergines are cooking, trim and finely slice the spring onions and roughly chop the coriander, stalks and all. Put into a bowl, squeeze over the lime juice to coat and mix all together. Leave to one side.
Mix together the tamarind, honey and miso and add enough water to make a thick glaze. Remove the roasting tray from the oven after 40 minutes, turn the oven up to 200°C/gas 6, and drizzle the miso glaze over the aubergines. Pop back into the oven for a further 20 minutes, to caramelise, then remove and leave to cool a little.
Working carefully, remove the stalks from the aubergines and discard them, then roughly chop the flesh in the tray into coarse chunks. Stir in the dressed spring onions and coriander and serve right away.
Whole Roasted Miso Aubergine
TOMATO, BREAD AND ROASTED RICOTTA SALAD
During the summer months I will frequently make this for myself for lunch. It is loosely based on the famous Italian ‘panzanella’, which is summer in a bowl – sweet, light and fresh. However, I don’t rely on stale bread, as bread doesn’t seem to last long enough in our house to go stale. Instead I roast it, and I also like to introduce a little creaminess into the salad for which ricotta is perfect. You don’t have to roast it, straight up works well too – roasting just gives the cheese an interesting and robust texture.
SERVES 4 as a main, or 6–8 as a side
200g good-quality ricotta
extra virgin olive oil
½ teaspoon dried oregano
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
a loaf of ciabatta (about 275g)
1 bunch of basil
1 small garlic clove
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1kg ripe vine tomatoes, a mix of colour and sizes if possible
1 green chilli
Preheat your oven to 180°/gas 4.
Put the ricotta into a small roasting tray or dish, drizzle with a good glug of olive oil, and sprinkle over the oregano. Season well, then pop into the oven for 30 minutes, until golden on the outside. When there are 10 minutes left to go, tear the ciabatta into mouthful-size pieces and scatter into a roasting tray. Drizzle with oil, season well and pop into the oven to crisp up for 10 minutes. When the ricotta and bread are both ready, remove from the oven and leave to one side to cool.
Meanwhile make the dressing. Roughly chop the basil and peel the garlic, then place both in a blender along with the red wine vinegar. Season, and pour in around 4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil. Blitz until you have a smooth green dressing, adding a little more oil if it is too thick.
Slice and erratically chop the tomatoes and place in a large bowl – I like to have a mixture of shapes and sizes. Add the toasted ciabatta and the basil dressing, mix everything together, and leave for 10 minutes to soften. When the salad is ready, transfer it to a serving platter and crumble over the roasted ricotta. Halve and deseed the chilli, slice as finely as you can, scatter over the top, along with any leftover basil leaves, and serve.
Tomato, Bread and Roasted Ricotta Salad
HONEYMOON CORN ON THE COB
We became addicted to spiced corn on the cob while on our honeymoon in Indonesia. You’ll find a flurry of corn sellers pushing their carts up and down the beaches in the late afternoon, just in time for sundowners and snacks, each with their own spiced butter to finish. Here I have tried to recreate my favourite; the combination of salty, sweet and spicy is heavenly. Perfect for a party, barbecue, or even just an afternoon snack. Any unused butter can be stored in the fridge for another day.
SERVES 8
a 2cm piece of ginger
2 garlic cloves
2 limes
sea salt
1 red chilli
1 stick of lemongrass
1 heaped tablespoon light soft brown sugar
150g unsalted butter
8 corn on the cob, in their husks if possible
Peel and roughly chop the ginger and garlic and put into a mortar and pestle. Finely grate in the lime zest, add a generous pinch of sea salt and bash until you have a smooth paste. Halve the chilli, remove the seeds and chop; add to the mortar and bash it a bit more to work it in. Trim the lemongrass and remove the outer layers, then add to the paste. Crush it so it brea
ks up a little, then mix in the brown sugar and a little more salt.
Cut the butter into chunks and pop into a small saucepan. Spoon in the spice paste and place the pan on a low heat. Very gently melt the butter, stirring occasionally. Once it has completely melted, keep it on a low heat for a further 5 minutes, to make sure all the flavours infuse as much as possible. Remove the pan from the heat and leave to one side to cool completely. Once cool, pour it into a small bowl and pop it into the fridge until needed. You can make this hours, even days, in advance.
If you are using corn cobs in their husks, be sure to soak them in plenty of water for at least an hour before you want to grill them, otherwise the husks will burn. Put your griddle on to a high heat. If you are grilling the corn cobs in their husks, you’ll need to cook them for around 20 minutes; peeled, they’ll only need around 15 minutes. Turn the cobs occasionally, and when they are ready peel back the husks (or not, if already peeled) and brush on the butter. Griddle for a further few minutes on each side, brushing as you go to build up a good coat of flavour. Place on a board or platter, brushing with one final layer of butter. Cut the limes into wedges, and serve alongside.
Honeymoon Corn on the Cob
APPLE, PEAR AND TARRAGON SLAW
This shredded salad is crisp and refreshing, making it the perfect accompaniment to heartier meals (I love it on the side of the leftover mac ’n’ cheese here).
SERVES 6
2 English apples, such as Cox’s or Braeburn
2 small or 1 large firm pear
½ a lemon
1 small onion
a bunch of tarragon
3 tablespoons cider vinegar
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
extra virgin olive oil
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Stirring Slowly Page 12