by Jamie Oliver
Try this: Use gem lettuce or radicchio leaves or serve on dessert spoons on a plate of cracked ice.
quick marinated red mullet with crispy ginger, shallots & a citrus dressing
Red mullet is a great fish to cook in this way. For me, the reason this dish works is that you’ve got the silky softness of the fish contrasting with the almost biscuity crispness of the ginger and the sweetness of the shallots. Light tasty cooking.
SERVES 4
400g red mullet fillets, skin on, scaled, pin-boned
sunflower oil, for frying
1cm piece of ginger, peeled and finely sliced
5 shallots, peeled and finely sliced
2 punnets of cress, trimmed
2 tablespoons low-salt soy sauce
½ a bunch of fresh coriander, leaves picked
extra virgin olive oil
2 limes
Lightly season the fish on both sides with sea salt and black pepper and place in the fridge for 30 minutes to draw out any excess moisture. Put 3cm of sunflower oil into a small, deep pan and place on a high heat. Place one slice of ginger in the oil. When it floats to the top and is sizzling nicely, the oil will be at the right temperature — about 180°C. Once ready, add all the ginger to the pan and fry on a medium-high heat until golden and crisp. Remove with a slotted spoon to kitchen paper to drain. Do the same with the shallots, removing when golden — you may want to work in batches. Divide the cress between 4 plates. Remove the fish from the fridge and pat dry, then thinly slice it across the fillet and divide between the plates, draping it over the cress. Make sure it’s not all flat and boring-looking. Put the soy sauce, coriander leaves and 6 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil in a bowl. Finely grate in the lime zest, squeeze over the juice and mix well. Drizzle this over the fish, sprinkle over the ginger and shallots and tuck in.
Try this: If you want to make this look more delicate and cheffy, use a 15cm pastry cutter as a frame or guide when placing the cress and fish on the plates. It makes it all look a bit more professional.
Or this: You can actually use most fresh fish for this, so if you can’t get red mullet try red snapper or whatever you fancy.
pomegranate & gin cocktail
This cocktail is great served at the end of a meal. The first time I had it was in a bar called MG Garage in Sydney, where they brought out frozen glasses, frozen gin and a tray full of pomegranates at the end of our meal. Since then I’ve used it as a good trick after a meal to clean the palate and relaunch the conversation. Buy a quality bottle of gin — you normally get what you pay for. Pop it in the freezer for an hour, along with a shot glass for each of your guests.
Peel some pomegranates and remove the beautiful deep purple-red capsules. At the end of the meal, simply fill the shot glass with pomegranate seeds, pour in some iced gin and shoot the cocktail back. Don’t swallow until you’ve crunched the pomegranate seeds and got a real burst of fragrance and flavour in your mouth, then swallow the lot and continue the conversation … or have another one.
pomegranate & gin cocktail
‘after a couple of drinks anyone can be a barman’
POACHING
Poaching is a delicate and subtle way of cooking. You poach things below boiling point in just enough liquid to cover them, and that can be water, court bouillon (a flavoured stock made with wine, peppercorns and a wrap of herbs), stock or milk. Generally you use first-class cuts of meat and fish which need gentle cooking — you’ll be surprised at the results of poaching a fillet steak, for example. It will taste really tender and clean.
BOILING
Boiling is a great method of cooking. It involves cooking stuff in a liquid at its boiling point. You can use water, court bouillon, milk or plain stock. Boiling liquid is a direct source of heat, so vegetables can be very quickly cooked, but be careful not to over-boil like my nan does or you’ll end up with green water and grey greens! When boiling meat you’re generally using tougher cuts, which will need to have their tough sinews melted away. In return you will get tender meat and a tasty stock.
POACHING & BOILINGPLEASE SELECT A RECIPE
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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
barolo-poached fillet steak with celeriac purée
I didn’t try poached meat until a couple of years ago and to be honest the idea didn’t appeal to me. A lot of chefs implied that cooking meat in good red wine was a waste, but how wrong they were. As well as Barolo, this dish works with many other red wines — especially nice spicy ones like Rioja or Shiraz. What I’m trying to say is that if you use rubbish wine in cooking it will come back to haunt you in the tasting.
SERVES 4
2 celeriacs
550ml quality chicken stock
½ a bottle of Barolo or any other full-bodied red wine
6 cloves of garlic, peeled
½ a bunch of fresh thyme
6 whole peppercorns
4 × 200 fillet steaks, preferably well marbled
80g unsalted butter
First, peel the celeriac down to the white, smooth flesh, then cut into rough 2cm dice. Half-fill a large pan with salted water and bring to the boil. Take another pan which will snugly fit the 4 steaks later, and add the chicken stock, wine, garlic, bunch of thyme, peppercorns and a pinch of sea salt. Bring to the boil, then reduce to a gentle simmer. By this time the pan of boiling water should be ready, so add the celeriac, cover with a lid and boil fast for 15 to 20 minutes, or until tender.
Place the steaks in the simmering liquid, making sure they’re covered well. Add a little water, if needed. It generally takes about 6 minutes to cook rare, 8 minutes for medium and 10 for medium to well done. Depending on the thickness of the steaks and how cold they were when you put them in, there’s always a bit of leeway on the timing, so it’s best to give them a little pinch to check how soft they are in the middle. Cover the pan with a cartouche (see page 174).
Once cooked to your liking, remove to a warm plate, cover and leave to rest while you drain the celeriac. Tip it back into the pan, adding half the butter. Mash to a smooth purée and season well to taste with sea salt and black pepper.
To make a light sauce, all you need is 2 wineglasses of the poaching liquor — freeze the rest. Bring to a fast boil, then remove the thyme and peppercorns and mash up the garlic, which will be soft and sweet. Allow to boil for 2 minutes, remove from the heat, season to taste and add the rest of the butter. Shake the pan lightly so the melted butter dissolves — this will make a shiny lightly thickened sauce. Do not reboil as it will split. Serve each steak with a bit of mash and a little sauce.
T
ry this: Any leftover cooking liquor can be sieved and kept in the freezer to use again or to make gravy from the goodness left in a roasting tray.
Or this: I prefer to serve this with celeriac mash because I think it’s more interesting, but you can make any mash you like — Jerusalem artichoke, purple potato, or any other flavour.
soft-boiled egg with asparagus on toast
This is a great brunch. Apart from being quite healthy — or that’s certainly how it makes you feel — you’ve got the great combination of silky soft asparagus with the soft egg and crunchy bruschetta and bacon. Anyone can make this.
SERVES 4
2 ripe plum tomatoes
olive oil
8 slices of pancetta or smoked streaky bacon
4 large eggs
400g asparagus
4 good slices of rustic bread
1 knob of unsalted butter
extra virgin olive oil
Get some water boiling and a griddle pan on the heat. Halve the tomatoes and place on a roasting tray, cut side up. Season with sea salt and black pepper, drizzle with a little olive oil and grill. When they start to colour, lay the pancetta next to them and continue grilling until it is crisp, then remove.
Carefully place the eggs and asparagus in the water and boil for just under 4 minutes. Depending on the thickness of the asparagus, you may want to fish it out a little earlier. Grill each piece of bread and put a slice on each of the 4 plates. Once cooked, remove the eggs and asparagus from the water. Toss the asparagus in the butter to coat. Peel the soft-boiled eggs. To make it really scrumptious, get one half of tomato and rub and squash it into the bread, then divide the asparagus on top. Lay the pancetta over that and then top each carefully with an egg. Once secure, cut open the egg and allow all the lovely yolk to drizzle down through the asparagus and on to the bread. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and tuck in.
Try this: Use different eggs, such as goose and duck eggs — they will need slightly different cooking times depending on their size.
spring minestrone
There’s a whole world of minestrones out there — most of which follow very strict, authentic recipes. Personally, I feel that a minestrone should always reflect the seasons: more cabbagy, frumpy ones in the winter and lighter, more colourful ones in the spring and summer. A minestrone can also be a whole meal if you want it to be, with pasta, stale bread or rice to bulk it out. To complement the spring vegetables, I’ve put a bit of a Genoese twist on it, with a spoon of fresh pesto added at the last minute, so the flavours explode in your mouth. Give it a bash.
SERVES 6
6 heaped tablespoons fresh pesto (see page 106)
1.5 litres quality chicken, ham or vegetable stock
1 bulb of fennel
100g fine asparagus
2 Romanesco cauliflowers or 1 large cauliflower
6 baby courgettes
6 ripe plum tomatoes
olive oil
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely sliced
1 bunch of spring onions, finely chopped
200g green and yellow beans, trimmed and finely sliced
100g peas, podded
100g broad beans, podded
100g spaghetti, broken-up
½ a bunch of fresh green or purple basil, leaves picked and chopped
1 small handful of fresh chives, finely chopped
extra virgin olive oil
First, if you’re going to make the pesto do it now. Bring a pot of stock to the boil, then you need to get all the vegetables prepared and put to one side. The fennel has to be halved, sliced and finely chopped; the asparagus needs to have the woody ends removed, the stalks finely sliced and the tips left whole; the cauliflowers need to be divided into small florets; the courgettes need to be quartered lengthways and finely chopped, and finally the tomatoes need to be blanched (see page 110), cut in half, seeds removed and finely sliced. Now you’re ready to rock and roll.
Drizzle 5 tablespoons of olive oil into a casserole pan and place on a medium heat. Add the garlic, spring onions and fennel, then gently fry for 15 minutes without colouring. Add the rest of the prepared vegetables, the pasta and the boiling stock. Bring to the boil, simmer for 10 minutes, season with sea salt and black pepper, and serve in big bowls with a dollop of fresh pesto in the middle, a sprinkling of chopped basil and chives, and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.
Try this: As you can see, the idea of this soup is to celebrate all the vegetables that are available at the time, so feel free to modify the soup and make it your own.
And this: A good way to break up your spaghetti is to wrap it in a tea towel, then run it over the edge of your work surface.
Did you know? The fact that everything is finely chopped means that the cooking time is very quick and the soup remains light and fresh.
roasted sweet garlic, bread & almond soup
I’m not quite sure where I got the inspiration for this recipe — I think it was actually when I was making bread one day and I incorporated some really sweet caramelized garlic and almonds into a focaccia. There’s a slight Spanish feel to the main ingredients — think of it as putting a bunch of old friends together and having a good party! My mother’s initial reaction was, ‘My God, that’s a lot of garlic, you’ll stink!’ but don’t let the amount put you off, as when garlic is roasted in its skin the pungent flavour is replaced by a jammy sweetness, which is divine.
SERVES 6
3 large bulbs of garlic, broken into cloves
1 medium onion, peeled and finely chopped
olive oil
250ml single cream
1 litre quality chicken or vegetable stock
1 large loaf of ciabatta bread
2 tablespoons sherry or white wine vinegar
150g whole blanched almonds, lightly toasted
3 oranges, peeled and segmented (see page 53)
1 bunch of fresh coriander, leaves picked
1 bunch of fresh mint, leaves picked
extra virgin olive oil
Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas 4. Roast the unpeeled garlic cloves in the oven for 30 minutes, or until soft. Meanwhile, slowly fry the onion in 4 tablespoons of olive oil for 10 minutes, or until really soft and translucent. Add the cream and the stock, bring back to the boil and simmer for 10 minutes, awaiting the garlic. Remove the garlic from the oven and allow to cool slightly before squeezing out all the sweet, golden paste. Whisk this into the soup, discarding the garlic skins.
Remove the crusts from the ciabatta, rip up the bread into small pieces and throw into the soup. Add the sherry vinegar, then allow the soup to simmer for 5 more minutes. Whiz it until smooth in a blender or food processor with the toasted almonds — you may need to work in batches. Season nicely to taste with sea salt and black pepper and serve sprinkled with some orange segments, torn coriander and mint, and drizzled with a good lug of extra virgin olive oil.
Try this: You can eat this cold in the summer — it’s obviously going to be thick, which I think is a nice thing, but you can thin it with a little milk or stock, if you want to.
And this: You may want to big up the sherry vinegar to give it that twang you get with a Spanish gazpacho soup.
Or this: There’s a similar recipe from Spain where sliced white grapes are added to the soup — this contrasts really well with the garlic, so give it a go. A handful will do. Nice when eaten both hot and cold.
minted pea soup with crispy pancetta, bread & soured cream
This is a really addictive, thick soup that takes no time to make. I made it just at the start of summer, when the peas were really small, sweet and burst in your mouth. If you can do that then great, but in a way I think making a soup out of fresh peas is a bit of a waste really because spring peas are best just cooked for a couple of minutes in boiling water and served quite simply. I’ve got to be honest, when I made this with a packet of frozen peas it was brilliant. With the nice hit of mint, you can serve this soup all year round and it will a
lways work a treat.
SERVES 4—6
½ a stale white loaf
olive oil
1 bunch of fresh mint, leaves picked
12 slices of pancetta or smoked streaky bacon
2 knobs of unsalted butter
1 bunch of spring onions, roughly chopped
500g frozen peas
1 litre quality chicken stock
100ml single cream
4 teaspoons soured cream
extra virgin olive oil
Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas 4. Remove the crusts from the bread and pinch off small irregular pieces. Place in a roasting tray and drizzle with a little olive oil, scatter over some of the mint leaves and season with sea salt and black pepper. Drape the pancetta over the top and cook for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the bread and pancetta are crunchy and golden. Meanwhile, place the butter in a large pan, add the onions and remaining mint, then cook for 3 minutes, or until soft. Turn the heat up, add the peas and chicken stock, bring to the boil, then reduce to a low heat. Add the cream and simmer gently for 15 minutes.
When the time’s up, whiz the soup in a blender or food processor until smooth — you may want to work in batches. Correct the seasoning very carefully to taste — really think about this bit and get it just right. Remember: add, taste, add, taste. By this time the bread and pancetta should be nice and crisp, so ladle the soup into bowls and sprinkle over the bread, mint and pancetta. Add a little soured cream and drizzle with some peppery extra virgin olive oil. Lovely.
