1. Nobu's black cod
Serves 1
250g fillet black cod
4 tbsp Nobu-style Saikyo miso
1 stalk hajikami (pickled ginger stem)
Black cod is available at Japanese supermarkets. You can also use sea bass or a very thick fillet of cod. Marinate each fillet in miso. Preheat the grill to 200°C. Wipe away any excess miso (but do not rinse).
Grill the fillet until brown and the bake for a further 15 minutes. Garnish with hajikami (to be eaten after the fish).
2. Le Caprice's steak tartare
Serves 4
500g very fresh lean fillet, sirloin or topside steak, minced
3 shallots, peeled and finely chopped
2 tbs chopped capers
a few dashes of brandy
1 tbs tomato ketchup
2-3 tsp Worcestershire sauce
a few dashes Tabasco or more if you wish
1 tbs olive oil
salt and pepper
Ask your butcher to mince the meat through a clean mincer or, better still, do it yourself if you have a mincer attachment for your mixing machine.
Mix all the ingredients together and check the seasoning - you may wish to add a little more Tabasco, ketchup or Worcestershire sauce. Spoon the steak tartare onto a plate, or if you prefer, push it into a ramekin to mould, then turn it out onto a plate to serve. Serve with fine-cut chips, green salad or toast.
3. Home-style chicken curry
Chosen by Atul Kochhar
You can't go wrong cooking this unless you leave the pot on the stove and go on a long vacation. This recipe is best cooked with a free-range chicken on the bone; if it has to be boneless I prefer to cook with chicken thighs. Adding ginger toward the end is a unique step that enhances the flavour. I have cooked this recipe a thousand times - it just keeps getting better.
Serves 4
3 tsp vegetable oil
1 bay leaf
4 green cardamom, 2.5cm cinnamon stick, 10-12 black peppercorns, 1 tsp cumin seeds, 2 cloves all pounded together with a pestle and mortar
250g onions, finely sliced
½ tsp garlic, minced to a paste
½ tsp red chilli powder
1 tsp coriander powder
½ tsp turmeric powder
salt to taste
100g tomatoes, roughly chopped
1 tsp tomato paste
600g chicken, boned, cut into
2.5cm dice
½ tsp garam masala
2 tsp coriander leaves, finely chopped
1 tsp ginger, finely chopped
Heat the oil in a pan, add the bay leaf and pounded spices, and stir until the spices crackle and they change colour. Add the onions and sauté until golden brown, then add the garlic paste. Stir continuously and keep scraping the bottom of the pan to avoid the mix getting burnt. Add the powdered spices, but not the garam masala. Mix quickly without letting the spices get burnt at the bottom. Add salt, the tomatoes and the paste and cook on slow heat, stirring slowly. As the tomatoes melt to form a sauce, add the chicken and cook on a slow heat for 20-25 minutes until the chicken is almost cooked. Sprinkle on the garam masala and simmer to finish cooking. Add coriander and sprinkle on ginger.
4. Marcella Hazan's risotto with globe artichokes
Chosen by Rose Gray, River Cafe
Serves 4-6
2 tbs extra virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 tbs garlic, finely chopped
4 tbs parsley, chopped
4 globe artichokes or 8 small purple ones, cut into 2.5cm wedges then sliced very thinly
8 tbs water
salt
1.25l home-made meat broth, or 1 bouillon cube dissolved in 1.25l water
300g of Italian arborio rice
black pepper
60g butter
40g freshly grated parmesan
Choose a heavy-bottomed pan, large enough to accommodate the risotto later, put in the oil and the onion, and turn the heat to medium high. When the onion becomes translucent add the garlic. Cook until the garlic becomes a pale gold colour, then add half the parsley. Stir in the sliced artichokes.
Cook the artichokes for about 3 minutes, turning them frequently. Add the water and a pinch of salt. Turn the artichokes once, cover the pan, turn the heat down to low, and cook for 20 to 30 minutes, until they are cooked. Check the pan occasionally to make sure there is enough liquid for the artichokes to cook in without sticking. Add a little water from time to time if necessary.
Bring the broth to a gentle simmer in a saucepan over a low heat. Test the artichokes for tenderness by pricking them with a fork. When they are soft and the water is evaporated, add the rice, turn up the heat to medium high and keep the pan uncovered. Stir the rice thoroughly several times to coat the grains well with the contents of the pan.
Add a ladleful of broth and stir the rice constantly to wipe it away from the bottom and side of the pan. When all the broth in the pan has been absorbed, add another ladleful. Stir steadily to keep the rice from sticking, adding broth a ladleful at a time as required. Repeat the procedure until the rice is done. It should be firm but tender, without a chalky centre. If you run out of broth, add warm water instead.
Remove from the heat, add salt and generous grindings of pepper, butter, grated cheese and the remaining half of the parsley, and stir quickly and thoroughly to amalgamate all the ingredients. Serve at once.
• From Marcella's Kitchen by Marcella Hazan
5. The Ivy's salmon fishcakes with sorrel sauce
Serves 4
325g potato, mashed (without milk or butter)
325g salmon fillet, poached in salted water for 3-4 minutes
1 tbs tomato ketchup
1 tbs anchovy essence
1 tbs English mustard
salt and pepper
for the sauce:
250-300ml strong fish stock (a cube will do)
25g butter
1 tbs flour
25ml white wine
100ml double cream
fresh sorrel leaves (about 5), shredded
700-800g spinach, picked over, washed and dried
To make the fishcakes, mix together the potato, half the poached salmon, the ketchup, anchovy essence, mustard and seasoning until it is smooth. Flake the remaining salmon and fold it in gently. Mould the mixture into 8 round cakes and refrigerate them.
To make the sauce, bring the fish stock to the boil in a thick-bottomed pan. In another pan melt the butter and stir in the flour. Cook very slowly over a low heat for 30 seconds, then whisk the fish stock into the flour mixture. Pour in the white wine and simmer for 30 minutes until the sauce has thickened. Add the cream and reduce the sauce until it is of a thick pouring consistency, then stir in the sorrel and season.
Lightly flour the fishcakes and fry in vegetable oil until coloured on both sides, or brush them with oil and cook for 10-15 minutes in a moderately hot oven (200°C/gas 6).
Remove the stalks from the spinach leaves, wash the leaves and shake off as much water as possible. Heat a large saucepan over a medium flame, add
the spinach, lightly season with salt and pepper and cover tightly with a lid. Cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the leaves are tender. Drain in a colander to remove excess water.
Divide the spinach between 4 warmed plates, place 2 of the fishcakes on top and pour over the sauce. Serve immediately.
6. Roast potatoes
Chosen by Rowley Leigh
I have roasted potatoes in olive oil, sunflower oil, chicken fat, beef dripping, pork fat and goose fat, all with beneficial results. I tend to use the fat from whatever joint I happen to be cooking, augmented by sunflower oil. The most important tip is that the potatoes should not be "parboiled" but pretty well cooked before they are drained - this takes a certain nerve, as they can fall apart if overcooked. If they do, don't worry but carry on anyway - the result will still be good.
The flour-and-mustard trick helps to give a crisp coating.
Serves 4
2kg large floury potatoes
sea salt
4 tbs plain flour
1 tbs mustard powder
250ml oil or fat
Peel the potatoes and cut them into small pieces the size of a large walnut. Rinse well before placing in a large saucepan and covering in cold water. Add 1 tsp salt, bring to the boil and simmer gently until the potatoes are just on the point of being cooked.
Drain the potatoes in a colander and sprinkle over the flour and mustard powder, tossing the potatoes as you do so to ensure they are evenly coated. Heat an oven tray with the oil or fat and carefully slide in the potatoes, spreading them evenly over the surface. Do not attempt to turn them or roll them in the oil but simply leave them to roast for 20 minutes at 220°C. Once they have a rich golden crust on the bottom, the potatoes can be turned and allowed to brown for a further 20 minutes. Drain again in a colander and sprinkle with sea salt. Serve as soon as possible.
7. Scott's razor clams with chorizo and broad beans
Serves 4
1kg live razor clams
½ glass of white wine
a few sprigs of thyme
3 cloves of garlic, peeled and
roughly chopped
1 tsp salt
stalks from the parsley
250g broad beans (shelled weight)
60ml olive oil
120g cooking chorizo, sliced
250g broad beans (shelled weight)
50g butter
1 tbs chopped parsley
Wash the razor clams in cold running water for 10 minutes. Put them into a pot with the white wine, thyme, garlic, salt and parsley stalks, cover with a lid and cook on a high heat for a few minutes, giving the occasional stir, until all the shells open. Drain in a colander and leave to cool.
Carefully remove the clams from the shells, keeping the shells intact. Cut away the dark-looking sack and discard. Cut each clam into 4 or 5 pieces, put back in the shell, lay the shells on a baking tray and keep warm in a low oven.
Meanwhile, cook the broad beans in boiling salted water for 2 minutes, then drain in a colander. If they are large they should be shelled again.
Heat the olive oil in a pan and cook the chorizo on a low heat for 1-2 minutes. Add the broad beans, butter and parsley, and season lightly with salt and pepper. Put the clams onto warmed serving plates and spoon the chorizo mixture over.
8. Claridge's Yorkshire pudding
Chosen by Adam Byatt
Makes 8-10 individual puddings
220g plain flour
pinch of salt
4 whole eggs
450ml full fat milk
Mix the flour, salt and eggs. Mix in the milk until the mixture is the consistency of double cream. Pre-heat the pudding tray in the oven with a little cooking oil in each mould. Heat the oven to 200°C. Fill the moulds half full of mix. Bake for 20 minutes until crispy and golden.
9. Grandma Jeanne's roast chicken
Chosen by Alain Ducasse
Serves 4
1 whole garlic
4 large red onions
1 free-range chicken from Les Landes (a region in south-west France)
3 tbs goose fat
salt
Heat the oven to 180°C. Separate the garlic cloves and peel away the skin, leaving the last layer. Peel the onions and cut into quarters. Salt the skin and interior of the chicken. Stuff the chicken with the garlic cloves. Grease the skin of the chicken with the goose fat.
Place the chicken on the dish, laying it on its side (not on the base, so the legs are top and bottom). Surround the chicken with the onions. Place the chicken in the oven and cook for 1 hour and 30 minutes.
The key to this dish is the position of the chicken during cooking. By placing the chicken in this way, it keeps the breast meat tender and mellow.
10. Caroline Conran's devilled kidney's
Chosen by Fergus Henderson
Serves 4
8 lambs' kidneys, skinned, cored and diced
1 tbs flour
salt and cayenne pepper
2 tbs dry mustard
50g butter
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
150ml good chicken stock
4 slices hot buttered toast
Dust the kidneys with flour, salt and plenty of cayenne pepper. Roll them in dry mustard. Melt the butter in a small frying pan and cook the kidneys over a gentle heat for 5 minutes, turning them over now and again. They should be just pink inside. When they are almost done to your liking, pour the Worcestershire sauce and the stock around them, simmer until the gravy is thick, and serve them on the hot buttered toast.
• From British Cooking by Caroline Conran
11. My grandmother's chocolate chip and walnut cookies
Chosen by Michael Caines
Serves 6-8
220g butter
255g caster sugar
115g soft brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla essence
2 eggs
315g plain flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
450g chocolate pieces
290g walnuts, chopped
Preheat the oven to 160°C/gas 3. Cream together the butter, caster sugar, brown sugar and vanilla essence. Gradually add the eggs and mix until fluffy.
In a separate bowl, sieve the flour, salt and baking powder together then fold gently into the mixture. Finally add the chocolate pieces and walnuts. Rest the mixture for an hour in the fridge, then roll into small balls and place on a baking tray with a 5cm gap between each ball. Bake for 12-15 minutes. When it is cooked, place on a cooling rack and then store.
12. Nigel Slater's crabcakes with pea purée
Chosen by Nicola Jeal
I serve these with a dollop of fresh pea purée.
Serves 2-3
300g crabmeat
a large stick of lemon grass or 2 smaller ones
a thumb-sized piece of ginger
2 spring onions
a small hot chilli
zest and juice of a lime
a small handful of coriander leaves, chopped
8 tbs soft white breadcrumbs
black pepper
butter and oil for cooking
for the minted pea purée
400g shelled peas
4 sprigs of mint
3 tbs olive oil
Put the crabmeat into a mixing bowl. Discard the outer leaves of the lemon grass, then chop the inner leaves very finely and add the crab. Peel and finely grate the ginger, finely chop the spring onions and the chilli, and gently stir into the crabmeat with the lime juice and zest, making sure not to crush the crabmeat into a paste.
Fold in the coriander and the breadcrumbs together with a little black pepper. Take up scoops of the mixture and pat in small, thickish cakes about the diameter of a digestive biscuit. The mixture should make about 6 thick patties.
To make the pea purée, boil the peas and mint sprigs in lightly salted water till tender, drain and whizz the peas and mint in a food processor with the oil until smooth.
Warm a little butter and oil in a shallow pan. Lower in the crabcakes and cook until golden on each side. Serve with the pea purée.
13. Thai prawns with salt
Chosen by David Thompson
The only real secret to this is that the prawns must be fresh - truly and really. In Thailand they use live ones. That's how fresh I mean.
Serves 2
4 tbs fish sauce
10 Thai bird's eye chillies (scuds), finely sliced
8 medium-large prawns
75g sea salt
1 or 2 limes cut into wedges
Make the chilli sauce first. Combine the chillies with the fish sauce and leave in a bowl for at least 10 minutes. Longer is even better - it becomes richer and milder as it settles for a day.
Heat a pan over a high heat. Add the prawns and the salt, toss for a moment, then cover with a lid. Continue to cook for about 5 minutes, tossing and shaking the pan occasionally.
Leave covered to cool for a few minutes.
Take the prawns out of the salt and shake to remove any excess. Serve on a plate, peeling as you go, with a squeeze of lime and some of the chilli in fish sauce. Eat with plenty of steamed rice.
14. Smoked haddock chowder
Chosen by Richard Bertinet
My wife learnt this recipe from her mother, who in turn had taken it from the Midweek Cook Book. It has been modified a little each time, and I now teach it at our fish cookery classes, as it is so easy and foolproof.
Serves 4
1 onion
packet of streaky bacon
punnet of button mushrooms
4 potatoes
fillet of smoked haddock, skinned ¬ undyed if possible
butter
olive oil
handful of fresh parsley
small carton double cream - 220 ml
fish stock to cover, liquid or cube
Dice the onion. Use a pair of scissors to snip the bacon into strips and discard the rind. Halve or quarter the mushrooms. Peel and cube the potatoes. Cube the fish.
Melt a little butter in a large pan and add some olive oil. Add the onion and bacon and fry gently over a medium heat, stirring well. Cook until the bacon browns a little. Add the mushrooms, stir, then cook for a minute. Add the potatoes and stir again. When all the ingredients in the pan are well-coated in oil and butter, add the stock so that it just (but only just) covers the ingredients, stir and bring to the boil. Simmer for 8 minutes. Add the fish and cook for a further 5 minutes. Add the parsley and stir. Add the cream.
• From the Midweek Cook Book, edited by Elizabeth Gundrey
15. Joël Robuchon's mashed potato
Chosen by Andrew Turner
Serves 6
900g Ratte or other starchy potatoes
250g small diced unsalted butter
120-250ml whole milk, brought to boil and kept hot
coarse sea salt to taste
Starting with cold water, boil unpeeled potatoes until a fork meets barely any resistance (this may take 30 minutes or more). Peel the potatoes while still hot. Push the potatoes through a ricer into a pot and stir over a very low heat until steam no longer escapes (about 5 minutes). Add butter, vigorously stirring the potatoes until incorporated. Add 120ml of milk in a slow stream while vigorously whipping the potatoes, incorporating air into the mixture. Add salt and more milk as necessary.
16. My nana's onion gravy
Chosen by John Torode
When I cook a roast at home, I try to drain the fat and keep it for later use, just like my nana did with her dripping tin. This for me will deliver the very best in flavour; however, that's just me being a dreamer - you can always use vegetable oil.
Serves 4
20ml vegetable oil or dripping
2kg large white onions
salt and pepper
1 tbs malt vinegar
50g butter
50g flour
300ml beef stock
Place a good-sized saucepan on a high heat and add the oil or dripping. Slice the onions and add to the pan, season with the salt and the pepper, and stir well, until wilted. Add the vinegar and continue to stir
and cook for a good 10 minutes until the onions have some colour. Add the butter and stir in well until all melted. Add the flour and continue to cook and stir for 5 minutes. Add the stock and stir well, scraping the bottom of the pot to take off all the crust that has built up from the flour (this is full of flavour and will thicken the sauce). Bring to the boil and cook for 6-7 minutes, stirring continuously.
17. Jean-Georges Vongerichten's ribbons of tuna, avocado, spicy radish and ginger marinade
Served at Jean Georges, New York
Serves 4
for the kaffir syrup:
60ml lime juice
50g sugar
6 kaffir lime leaves, roughly chopped
for the tuna:
340g tuna
1 shallot, minced
1 Thai chilli, minced
4 tbs olive oil
for the ginger marinade:
50g ginger
2 tbs olive oil
120ml champagne vinegar
120ml soy
60ml kaffir syrup
to serve:
2 ripe avocados, diced
salt
juice of a lime
4 tbs olive oil
6 red radish
chilli oil
To make the kaffir syrup, combine everything in a pan and bring to the boil. Remove from the heat and cool at room temperature. Strain.
For the tuna, cut perfect spaghetti pieces from the tuna. Gently season with salt, shallot, Thai chilli, and olive oil to taste.
For the ginger marinade, peel the ginger and roughly chop. Purée in blender with just enough olive oil to spin, until totally smooth to make ginger purée. Mix with remaining ingredients.
Mix the avocado with salt, lime juice and olive oil. Slice the radishes 1.5cm thick and keep in cold water, then drain well, season with salt and toss with the chilli oil. In the bottom of a small bowl arrange a generous spoonful of the avocado. Top with about 6 slices of the radish and arrange half the fish in a bundle on top. Add more radishes and the remaining fish, then top with radish. Spoon the marinade around and drizzle with the chilli oil.
18. My grandmother's macaroni cheese
Chosen by Tom Aikens
Serves 8
for the white sauce:
100g butter
125g flour
1.5l milk
sea salt to taste
1g black pepper
60g Dijon mustard
140g gruyère, grated
50g parmesan, grated
2 cloves
2 bay leaves
3 sprigs thyme
¼ grated nutmeg
500g blanched De Cecco pasta (preferably Chifferi Rigati no33)
Melt the butter in a pan on a low heat, add the flour, cook for 5 minutes, stirring regularly. While this is cooking, place the milk into a pan, add the cloves, the bay leaves and the thyme and bring to the boil. Pour the milk little by little into the flour and butter mix, stirring all the time. Keep the heat on low - too hot and it will burn on the bottom of the pan. Add the salt and pepper, then add the mustard and cheese.
Turn the heat off and pass the mix through a fine sieve to remove any lumps. Add the blanched pasta to the hot sauce and heat together on the stove. Place in a dish and sprinkle with more gruyère and nutmeg on top. Bake in the oven till hot and finish under the grill to gratinate.
19. Fergus Henderson's roast bone marrow and parsley salad
Served at St John
This is one dish that does not change on the menu at St John. The marrowbone comes from a calf's leg - ask your butcher to keep some for you. You will need teaspoons or long, thin implements to scrape your marrow out of the bone.
Serves 4 (usually 3 on a plate)
12 x 7-8cm pieces of middle veal marrowbone
1 healthy bunch parsley, picked from its stems
2 shallots, peeled and thinly sliced
1 modest handful capers, extra-fine if possible
for the dressing:
juice of 1 lemon
extra-virgin olive oil
pinch of sea salt and pepper
good supply of toast
coarse sea salt
Put the marrowbone in an ovenproof frying pan and place in a hot oven. The roasting process should take about 20 minutes, depending on the thickness of the bone. You are looking for the marrow to be loose and giving, but not melted away, which it will do if left too long (traditionally the ends would be covered to prevent any seepage, but I like the colouring and crispiness at the end).
Meanwhile, lightly chop your parsley, just enough to discipline it, mix it with the shallots and capers, and at the last moment, dress.
Here is a dish that should not be completely seasoned before leaving the kitchen, rendering a last-minute seasoning unnecessary by the actual eater - this, especially in the case of coarse sea salt, gives texture and uplift at the moment of eating. My approach is to scrape the marrow from the bone onto the toast and season with coarse sea salt. Then a pinch of parsley salad on top of this and eat.
20. Nigel Slater's roast chicken wings with lemon, maple syrup and cracked pepper
Chosen by Caroline Boucher
This is finger food at its very best. You can double the recipe easily enough for larger numbers. The trick is to roast them until they are almost stuck to the roasting tin. Don't even think of using a knife and fork here.
Serves 2
12 (about 725g) large free-range chicken wings
a large, juicy lemon
5 bay leaves
2 tbs maple syrup
1 heaped tbs black peppercorns
2 tbs olive oil
2 tsp sea salt flakes
Check the chicken wings for stray feathers - they seem to be more prevalent on the wings than any other part of the bird. Put the wings into a roasting dish, halve the lemon and squeeze it over them, then cut up the lemon shells and tuck them, together with the bay leaves, between the chicken pieces. Drizzle over the maple syrup.
Put the peppercorns in a mortar and bash them so that they crack into small pieces. They should still be nubbly, like small pieces of grit, rather than finely ground.
Mix the peppercorns with the olive oil then toss with the chicken and lemon. Scatter the salt flakes, without crushing them, over the chicken. Roast for 40-45 minutes, turning once. The chicken should be golden and sticky, the edges blackened here and there.
21. Constance Spry's boiled ginger cake
Chosen by Sam and Sam Clark
Serves 6
120g butter
120g soft brown sugar
120g sultanas
2 tbs water
300g black treacle
1½ tsp ground ginger
2 eggs
180g plain flour
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
60g ground almonds
Preheat the oven to 150°C/gas 2. Put the butter, sugar, sultanas, water and treacle into a saucepan and bring to the boil. Boil for five minutes then set aside to cool. Beat in the ginger, then the eggs, one at a time. Sift in the flour with the bicarbonate of soda and almonds and fold in well.
Turn the mixture into a greased 20cm-square cake tin and bake for an hour.
Cool on a wire rack. Make this cake at least one day in advance - it improves the wonderfulness of it.
• From The Constance Spry Cookery Book by Constance Spry and Rosemary Hume
From the OFM cover: Welsh rarebit
Chosen by Thomasina Miers
Serves 1
100g mature cheddar (or preferably Lincolnshire Poacher)
30g butter
1 tsp flour
70ml dark ale
Maldon salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 piece of toast
a pinch of cayenne or a splash of Worcestershire sauce
Thinly slice or grate the cheese. Put the butter and flour in a small saucepan and cook for a few minutes. Add the ale, seasoning and cheese. Cook over a low heat until the cheese has melted. Do not allow to get too hot. Pour over the toast and put under the grill for a minute. Dust with cayenne or sprinkle with Worcestershire sauce and eat at once.
• Not finding these challenging enough? Test your culinary expertise with recipes 22-41, for medium-skilled cooks
