by Jamie Oliver
To me the perfect cheese plate encapsulates as many sensations as possible — fresh, mild, strong, hard, soft, crumbly, smelly or fragrant, tangy, oozy, grainy ones rolled or rubbed in this, that or the other — and ones made from different milks — goat’s, cow’s, buffalo and sheep. My perfect cheese plate would be a mixture of all these things, depending on what I could get hold of at the time. Always eat the milder, fresher cheeses on the board first and then build up to the climax of the strongest blue and gorgonzolas. I’d be really excited if I was given a cheese plate like this at a dinner party or a restaurant.
With regards to what you eat with cheese, some lovely fresh bread or lightly grilled sourdough is my favourite. I’ve never been a fan of biscuits or crackers to be honest but if it makes you happy, go for it. Sometimes you can really complement a cheese by eating little dried fruits with it. It’s hard to say what’s right and wrong here. All I would suggest is that you try things, and if they don’t suit you then there’s your answer.
I was really interested to find out that grapes and celery are used between cheeses to clean the palate, so that you can taste the full potential of the next cheese. At home I serve bread, 6 or 7 cheeses ranging from a mild fresh goat’s cheese to a strong blue, some nice organic apples from the farmers’ market, grapes, celery and, even better, some peeled baby carrots, fresh peas and, around early summer, beautiful thin-skinned cherry tomatoes. I love the way you can leave the board in the middle of the table and as the conversation flows you can return to your favourite cheese after you’ve tasted them all.
‘it may only be a cheese plate, but it could be the highlight of the evening’
the perfect basic bread recipe
30g fresh yeast or 3 × 7g sachets of dried yeast
30g runny honey (or sugar)
1kg strong bread flour, plus extra for dusting
Stage 1: Dissolve the yeast and honey in 325ml of tepid water.
Stage 2: On a clean surface or in a large bowl, make a pile of the flour and add 1 level tablespoon of sea salt. Make a well in the middle and pour in all the yeast mixture. With 4 fingers of one hand, make circular movements from the centre moving outwards, slowly bringing in more and more of the flour until all the yeast mixture is soaked up. Pour another 300ml of tepid water into the middle and gradually incorporate all the flour to make a wet dough.
Stage 3: Kneading! This is the best bit, just rolling, pushing and folding the dough over and over for 5 minutes. This develops the gluten and the structure of the dough. If any of the dough sticks to your hands, just rub them together with a little extra flour.
Stage 4: Flour both hands well, and lightly flour the top of the dough. Make it into a roundish shape and place on a baking tray. Score it deeply with a knife, allowing it to relax and prove with ease until it’s doubled in size. Ideally you want a warm, draught-free place for the quickest prove, for example near a warm cooker or in the airing cupboard, and you could cover it with clingfilm if you want to speed things up. This proving process improves the flavour and texture of the dough and should take around 40 minutes, depending on the conditions.
Stage 5: When the dough has doubled in size, you need to knock the air out of it by bashing it around for 1 minute. Now you can shape it into whatever shape is required — round, flat, filled, trayed up, tinned up or whatever — and leave it to prove for a second time until it doubles in size again. Don’t rush through this, because the second prove will give you the lovely, delicate, soft texture that we all love in fresh bread.
Stage 6: Now it’s time to cook your loaf. You want to keep all the air inside, so gently place in the oven and don’t slam the door. Bake according to the time and temperature given in the recipes that follow. You can tell if the bread is cooked by tapping its bottom (if it’s in a tin you’ll have to take it out). If it sounds hollow it’s cooked, if it doesn’t then bake for a little longer. Put it on a wire rack to cool before slicing up and tucking in!
‘this recipe is fantastic for making your own bread at home. give it a go – it’s so easy and will give you some great results. the other breads in this chapter all use this recipe as the base’
‘3am – while everyone is sleeping, bakers like John are busy kneading and proving their delicious bread to bake and serve fresh later that day’
tomato focaccia
I’ve been a big fan of focaccia for a long time, and this is my favourite this year, using fantastic little cherry tomatoes — green, red and yellow — and of course their best mate, basil. It makes a fantastic picnic sandwich or main course bread which everyone seems to love.
MAKES 1 LARGE OR 2 SMALL FOCACCIAS
1 × perfect basic bread recipe (see page 312)
600g cherry tomatoes
olive oil
strong bread flour, for dusting
1 good handful of fresh basil, leaves picked
extra virgin olive oil
Make up the basic bread recipe and allow to prove for 40 minutes. Meanwhile, prick the tomatoes with a knife and drop them into boiling water for around 30 seconds (see page 110). Drain, cool them under cold water, and remove the skins, keeping them whole if possible as they’re nice and small. Put the tomatoes in a bowl, cover with 150ml of olive oil and put to one side.
Take the proved dough and bash the air out, then put it on a clean floured surface and roll it out so it’s 2.5cm thick. Transfer it to a floured baking tray and push the dough out to fill the tray. Pour over the olive oil and tomatoes, then sprinkle over the basil. Use your fingers to gently push down and, importantly, create lots of dips and wells in the dough. Leave to prove until it has doubled in size again. Preheat the oven to 220°C/425°F/gas 7. Sprinkle the dough with sea salt and black pepper, then carefully place in the oven. Bake for 20 minutes, or until crisp and golden on top and soft in the middle. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil when you take it out of the oven.
rosemary & raisin bread
This is such a fantastic combination — and really works well as a table bread served with anything. It’s especially good with a little ploughman’s lunch and even better in a Cheddar cheese sandwich with pickle. The sweetness of the raisins makes it absolutely fantastic, so give it a go.
MAKES 2 MEDIUM LOAVES
1 × perfect basic bread recipe (see page 312)
1 big bunch of fresh rosemary, leaves picked
500g raisins, chopped
strong bread flour, for dusting
Start making the basic bread dough, adding the rosemary and raisins at the start of Stage 3. You may want to add a little more flour if the dough is too sticky. Continue with the basic recipe until the dough is nice and elastic, then allow it to prove for 30 to 60 minutes. Divide the dough in half and knead it with a little extra flour — you can shape it any way you like, but I like to make 2 long sausage-shaped loaves. Place on a tray, dust with flour, and leave to prove again until doubled in size. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas 4. Score down the length of the bread with a really sharp knife (sometimes I poke a stick of rosemary into each loaf) and bake in the oven for 25 minutes, or until golden and crisp. Leave to cool before eating.
little sweet grape & rosemary calzones
Calzones are little stuffed folded breads. I’ve made them really small and I’ve made them really large, and I’ve served them on the menu at Monte’s as a dessert with some nice vanilla and rosemary ice cream. These small ones would be just as at home with a nice cheese plate (see page 310).
MAKES 10—14 SMALL CALZONES
1 × perfect basic bread recipe (see page 312)
500g seedless green or red grapes, halved
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 sprigs of fresh rosemary, leaves picked
1 small wineglass of Vin Santo or sweet white wine
100g caster sugar
1 handful of pine nuts, lightly toasted
strong bread flour, for dusting
olive oil
Start making the basic bread dough and work through
the recipe until the first prove. While the dough is proving, mix the grapes, cinnamon, rosemary, Vin Santo, sugar and pine nuts in a bowl (the sugar will draw all the lovely syrupy juice out of the grapes). Allow the grapes to marinate until the dough has doubled in size.
Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas 4. Divide the dough into 2 pieces, roll each of these out 1cm thick, and dust with flour to stop it sticking. Using a 15cm pastry cutter or a saucer as a template, cut out circles. Of course you can do any size you like, but small ones are quite cute for desserts. Put a heaped tablespoon of filling in the middle of each circle, fold in half, then crimp the edges together (see the pictures here). You don’t want any cracks, so just pinch them together if you see any appearing. Drizzle the calzones with a little oil and spike them with some extra rosemary leaves, if you like. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes, or until golden.
Try this: Add 100g of crumbly ricotta to the grapes. This is nice and makes it a bit more cakey.
sweet roasted red onion & garlic bread
This is a genius little bread and, to be honest, served warm it’s almost like a meal in itself. Great in lunch boxes or for picnics or barbecues.
MAKES 1 LARGE LOAF
1 × perfect basic bread recipe (see page 312)
4 red onions, peeled and sliced
2 bulbs of garlic, peeled and finely sliced
10 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
½ a bunch of fresh thyme, leaves picked and bashed
olive oil
strong white bread flour, for dusting
Make the basic bread recipe. While it’s proving, preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F/gas 5. Put all the other ingredients apart from the flour in a small roasting tray with 4 tablespoons of oil and bake in the oven for 30 minutes. Allow to cool, then finely chop. Turn the oven up to 220°C/425°F/gas 7. Bash the air out of the proved dough and roll out in a roundish shape about 1cm thick on a floured surface. Spread the sweet onion and garlic mixture over the bread, then roll the bread up, folding in the sides and pushing it roughly into the shape that you want. Place it on an oiled baking tray, dust with flour, and score with a sharp knife. Leave to prove until doubled in size, then bake in the oven for 35 minutes, or until the bread is crisp and golden and sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom.
slow-roasted tomato bread
This is a lovely intense sweet bread. It’s brilliant for lunch, toasted with some mozzarella cheese and a little basil, or served simply with dinner. You can make a large loaf or smaller ones as I have here, using some old tomato tins which I have washed out and lined with greaseproof paper.
MAKES 8 ‘TIN’ BREADS
1kg ripe cherry tomatoes (or plum tomatoes), on the vine
1 bulb of garlic, halved across the middle
1 bunch of fresh basil, leaves picked
optional: 1—2 dried red chillies
olive oil
1 × perfect basic bread recipe (see page 312)
strong white bread flour, for dusting
Preheat the oven to 150°C/300°F/gas 2. Prick the tomatoes with a knife — you can leave them on the vine. Toss into a roasting tray with the garlic — you want the tomatoes to fit nice and snugly so you only have one layer. Rip in the basil, season well with sea salt and black pepper and even a little dried chilli crumbled over, if you like. Add 2 or 3 lugs of oil, then roast in the oven for 1 hour.
When the tomatoes are done, remove and allow to cool. Squeeze the sweet garlic out of its skin and throw the skins away. Choose 8 really nice tomatoes and put them aside to use on top of the bread. Remove all the stalks from the remaining tomatoes, then mash with the garlic, scraping up all the lovely, sticky goodness from the bottom of the tray. Start making the basic bread dough, and when it comes to adding the water, at Stage 2, pour the mushed tomatoes into a measuring jug and just top up with water to give you the same amount of liquid as in the basic recipe. Carry on with the rest of the recipe, adjusting the amount of flour so you end up with a non-sticky, elastic, shiny bread dough. Allow it to prove for 30 minutes.
Shape the dough into a large loaf or smaller rolls. If you’re using tins, like I have, oil them well and divide the dough between them, then push the remaining tomatoes into each one. Leave to prove again until doubled in size (about 15 minutes). Meanwhile, turn the oven up to 180°C/350°F/gas 4. Bake for 20 minutes, or until golden and crisp. A larger loaf will need an extra 10 to 15 minutes. To check if the bread is ready, tap the bottom of it. A dull thud means it’s done.
Try this: As a quick alternative, you could work through the basic bread recipe and simply add sun-dried tomatoes. Just tear them up and squeeze them into the dough at Stage 5.
And this: Push some pieces of mozzarella into the bread with the tomatoes before baking.
full recipe list
CRACKING SALADS
purple potato salad
my new best salad
broad bean & crispy pancetta salad with a pea, pecorino & mint dressing
moorish crunch salad
GRATING & PEELING
ribbon celeriac salad
lamb’s lettuce & lychee salad with lucky squid & chilli jam
stir-fried warm salad of prawns & baby courgettes
warm salad of roasted squash, prosciutto & pecorino
the proper french side salad
fresh asian noodle salad
COOKING WITHOUT HEAT
fresh mackerel cooked in pomegranate, lime juice & tequila with a crunchy fennel salad
SEGMENTING CITRUS FRUIT
quick-cooked white fish with blood orange, lemongrass & sesame seeds
citrus-seared tuna with crispy noodles, herbs & chilli
ceviche of raw crayfish with kaffir lime leaves, chilli & ginger
scallop spoons
quick marinated red mullet with crispy ginger, shallots & a citrus dressing
pomegranate & gin cocktail
POACHING & BOILING
barolo-poached fillet steak with celeriac purée
soft-boiled egg with asparagus on toast
spring minestrone
roasted sweet garlic, bread & almond soup
minted pea soup with crispy pancetta, bread & soured cream
potato, celeriac & truffle oil soup
handy pasta recipe
TURNING PASTA DOUGH INTO A SHEET
ravioli of roasted red onions, thyme, pine nuts & maris piper potato
SHAPING INTO RAVIOLI
SHAPING INTO CARAMELLA
caramella of mint & ricotta
SHAPING INTO CULURZONES
sardinian culurzones with butternut squash & baked goat’s cheese
SHAPING LASAGNETTI, PAPPARDELLE, TAGLIATELLE & TAGLIERINI
pappardelle with amazing slow-cooked meat
tagliatelle genovese
pesto
taglierini with a simple sweet tomato sauce & shrimps
BLANCHING TOMATOES
lasagnetti with chickpeas, parma ham, sage, cream & butter
SLICING HERBS & LEAVES
the easiest, lightest & most flexible gnocchi
gnocchi with fresh tomato & morel sauce
risotto
easy chicken stock
roast squash, sage, chestnut & pancetta risotto
yellow bean, vodka & smoked haddock risotto
STEAMING & COOKING IN THE BAG
steamed sea bass & green beans with a white wine, vanilla, cream & garlic sauce
steamed scallops with spiced carrots, crumbled crispy black pudding & coriander
chinese chicken parcels
steamed prawn wontons with red chilli & spring onion
chinese-style steamed pork buns
haddock baked in the bag with mussels, saffron, white wine & butter
steamed squid
CHOPPING & SLICING
steamed aubergine
skate baked in the bag with artichokes, purple potatoes, capers & crème fraîche
STEWING & BRAISING
special chicken stew
ligurian braised rabbit & rosemary with olives & tomatoes
moroccan lamb stew
cod, potato & spring onion stew
BONING A CHICKEN
lebanese lemon chicken
dark, sticky stew
quick-time sausage cassoulet
bouillabaisse
MAKING A CARTOUCHE
tender braised leeks with wine & thyme
FRYING
pan-seared venison loin with blueberries, shallots & red wine
pan-fried lamb chops with puy lentils, loadsa herbs, balsamic vinegar & crème fraîche
pan-seared scallops wrapped in pancetta with creamed celeriac
pan-seared sole fillets with loadsa herbs, capers, butter & polenta
FILLETING A FLAT FISH
TRANCHING A FLAT FISH
the best tempura lobster with dipping sauce
deep-fried oysters with fried rocket & tomato dressing