Buttermilk chicken in pine salt

This recipe shows off the citrus aroma of pine. You will need to use fresh pine needles – we get ours from various parks in east London.

Serves 4

pine needles 40g, plus more for decoration
fine salt 5g
instant polenta 400g
tapioca starch 150g
rice flour 50g
free-range chicken thighs 6
buttermilk a 300g tub
fine salt
garlic 1 clove, crushed
sunflower oil 3 litres

Make the pine salt five days before making the dish. Grind the pine needles in a spice grinder. When reduced to small fibres, add 5g salt and pulse to combine. Store in tupperware in fridge.

To make the polenta crust, mix the polenta, tapioca starch and rice flour in a bowl. Whisk to combine.

To make the buttermilk chicken, remove the skin and debone the thighs, removing any gristle. Cut into bite-sized pieces, about 8 to 10 per thigh. Weigh the chicken – for every 100g of chicken, weigh 50g of buttermilk and 1g of salt into a bowl. Add garlic, whisk to combine then put chicken into marinade. Leave for 24 hours in the fridge, then bring to room temperature for 1 hour before frying.

Heat oil to 170C, dredge chicken in the flour mix, shake off excess then fry, 10 at a time, for 2 minutes. Drain on kitchen paper and season liberally with the pine salt, shaking so it sticks to the chicken. Serve in a bowl on a branch of pine needles.

Grilled leek and dried scallop sauce

This dish came from Isaac's love of a restaurant called Golden Century in Sydney, and their famous clams in XO sauce. We wanted to make a "Scottish XO" without the ginger and soy, as an interesting way to use scallop as a flavouring rather than main ingredient.

Serves 4

leeks, slender, with long white section 5
dried scallops 50g (from most Chinese supermarkets, where they're called conpoy)
onion 1
garlic 1 clove
dry cure bacon or pancetta 40g, finely diced
nori seaweed (or fresh laverbread) 1 sheet
black pepper 3 turns
dry white wine a splash
butter 50g

Cut the leeks in half lengthways and cook in salted boiling water for 5 minutes. Refresh in iced water, then drain and leave on a kitchen cloth to dry.

To make your own dried scallops, buy two scallops, thickly slice the white part then pour boiling water over the top. Leave for 1 minute, drain and dry overnight in a low oven at 80C.

To make sauce, soak dried scallop in 300ml hot water for 20 minutes, then drain, keeping the water. Shred scallop. Finely chop onion and sweat down without colouring. When soft, add garlic, shredded scallop and bacon. Soak the nori in the scallop water until rehydrated and soft, about 20 minutes. Add soaked nori, black pepper and water to onion and scallop mix. Bring to the boil then blend.

Lightly oil and season the cut-side of the leeks with salt and grill on an oven rack over a gas burner to char slightly. Warm the white wine and butter with a pinch of salt in a frying pan for about a minute. Place leeks in wine-butter mix to coat, then add to the plate with a spoonful of sauce. Serve with bread.

Mallard, red cabbage, white onion and pickled elderberries

The idea for this came from two things. One was wanting to serve red cabbage in a lighter way, with less alcohol and sugar, and the other is a version of our favourite Turkish ocakbasi dish from the Kingsland Road in London – grilled onions with pomegranate molasses, but replacing the pomegranate with pickled elderberries.

Serves 4

mallard, oven-ready 2

For the red cabbage:
red cabbage ½
salt 50g
sugar 50g
red wine 250ml
red wine vinegar 40ml
apple juice 250ml
xanthan gum 2 pinches (available in supermarket gluten-free baking section)

For the pickled elderberries:
elderberries (in season in July/August) 300g (or use chopped pickled walnuts)
cider vinegar 300ml
sugar 150g
white skinned onions (these are sweeter) 2
brown chicken stock 125ml

You will also need:
Digital probe and oven thermometers

To cook the cabbage, mix 1 litre water with 50g salt and 50g sugar. Tear cabbage leaves into business card-sized pieces, discarding thick stems. Soak in the salt water for 2 hours. Mix together wine, vinegar and apple juice. Blanch cabbage for 3 minutes and refresh in wine and apple juice mix. Once cool, warm some of juice and thicken with xanthan, so it lightly coats the cabbage.

To make the pickled elderberries, pick elderberries when the branches are bright red and are full with fruit. Pick berries from the stem. Bring berries, cider vinegar and sugar to the boil and simmer for 40 minutes. Pour liquid and berries into a sterilised jar and seal. They will keep in a cupboard for a year – once opened, refrigerate.

To prepare onions, preheat oven to 170C/gas mark 3. Cut onions in four through the root, then fry hard on the cut sides until almost burnt. Put on a tray and cook in oven for 10 minutes. Separate petals and season with salt.

To cook mallards, fry on all sides to colour, then cook in oven at 80C/lowest gas mark, until the internal temperature reaches 53C – use digital probe thermometer. Rest for 15 minutes.

To serve, warm cabbage in thickened juice. Warm onion petals through oven. Warm mallard roasting juices with a bit of stock and 2 tbsp of the pickled elderberries. Take mallard breasts off bone, cut in half lengthways. Put on to plates first and build onion petals and cabbage on top and around. Spoon juices with elderberries over to finish. Serve the legs the next day as a snack.

Chestnut mousse, poached pear and honey granita

Chestnuts are at their best at this time of year and there is a stunning French pear called Passe Crassane available now.

Serves 4

For the mousse:
butter 100g
confit chestnuts 200g, roughly chopped
sugar 100g
water 600ml
whipping cream 250ml, whipped

For the pears:
ripe pears 3
sugar 400g
water 2 litre
bay leaf 1
fresh rosemary a sprig, leaves taken off

For the granita:
honey 200g
pear poaching liquid 1500ml
verjuice 300ml or juice of 2 or more lemons

For the oat crumble:
butter 100g
oats 100g
sugar 100g
plain flour 50g
fresh chestnuts 30, peeled
oil for frying
icing sugar

Make the mousse. Cook butter in a pan until browning, then add chestnuts. Add a tiny pinch of salt and cook for a few minutes. Add sugar and let caramelise lightly then stop it caramelising further with the water. Bring to boil then simmer 15 minutes. Blend until smooth, adding more water if necessary. Cover and cook. Cool completely, then fold in whipped cream and place in fridge.

To cook pears, bring all ingredients except pears to the boil. Peel pears, cut in half, scoop out seeds and poach on low heat for 20 minutes, or till tender.

To make granita, lightly caramelise honey over a medium heat, then add pear poaching juice. Add verjuice to adjust acidity. Pour into containers and freeze until solid. Store until ready to use. (This makes more than you need.)

To make oat crumble, dice the butter small and rub all ingredients together. When mixed, spread on a tray and bake at 170C/gas mark 3 until golden brown.

Slice chestnuts thinly on a mandoline. Keep half to serve raw, the rest deep fry at 160C until golden. Drain on paper towels, dust with icing sugar while hot.

To serve, spread some mousse on a plate, followed by pear. Sprinkle with crumble, raw and shaved chestnuts. Scrape granita and scatter over dish.