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+ Once the stock has come to the boil, add them to the pan along with the kaffir lime leaves and fish sauce and cover again with the lid. Turn the heat down a little and leave to simmer for 4–5 minutes.
+ Add the prawns and continue to simmer for another minute or so until the prawns turn pink.
+ Then finish with the coriander leaves, juice of the limes and sugar to taste.
+ Ladle into two serving bowls and serve.
Red pepper, tomato & basil gazpacho with salt & pepper croutons
Every summer I book myself and the family on Britain’s favourite orange airline and head south to Spain. Circling high above Barcelona’s La Rambla, which leads down to the sparkling sapphire blue surf, I know that very soon I will be among the bustling throng of beautiful bronzed bodies, sipping on a bubbling cava, dipping hunks of just-cooked bread in hot sizzling oil full of garlicky prawns and diving my spoon into a perfect bowl of that intensely flavoured, cooling Spanish soup.
Time from start to finish: 15 minutes
Chilling time: 30 minutes in the freezer (or 1 hour in the fridge)
Serves: 4–6
Equipment: Blender or food processor, large jug, baking tray
Gazpacho
1kg ripe vine-ripened tomatoes
2 red peppers
1 garlic clove
½ bag of fresh basil
6 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
4 tsp sherry vinegar
A few shakes of Tabasco sauce
Pinch of sugar
5cm piece of cucumber
Handful of ice cubes
Croutons
1 ciabatta roll (about 90g)
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
+ Preheat the oven to 200°C, (fan 180°C), 400°F, Gas Mark 6.
+ Roughly chop the tomatoes, halve and deseed the peppers, snapping them into a few pieces, and peel the garlic. Pick the leaves from the basil stalks, reserve a small handful for garnish and put the rest in a blender or food processor with the tomatoes, peppers and garlic. Then add the oil, sherry vinegar, Tabasco, sugar and some salt and pepper and blitz until as smooth as possible.
+ Taste, adding a little more Tabasco or seasoning if you think it needs it. Pour into a large jug, cover with cling film and put in the freezer for 30 minutes (or the fridge for 1 hour) to cool right down.
+ Cut the ciabatta up into bite-sized cubes, scatter them on a baking tray, drizzle with oil and season with salt and pepper. Bake in the oven for about 6 minutes.
+ Meanwhile, cut the cucumber into little cubes and set these aside.
+ Remove the croutons from the oven once they are crisp and golden and set aside until ready to serve.
+ When ready to serve, divide the soup between the serving bowls. Sprinkle the cucumber over, pop a few ice cubes in each one, scatter the croutons and reserved basil on top and drizzle with a little oil.
Broccoli & blue cheese soup with chive mascarpone & warm garlic bread
Roquefort is the cheese to go for if you like this super-strong, or you can keep it British with some good old Stilton. Either way, I really like the combination of a blue cheese with some broccoli – definitely one of my top 10 favourite flavour combos. A lovely filling winter soup.
Time from start to finish: 30 minutes
Serves: 6
Equipment: Large pan with lid, 2 small bowls, baking tray, blender
Soup
Vegetable oil
1 large leek
1 large potato
900ml good-quality chicken stock (fresh is best to use here)
1 whole head of broccoli
150g strong blue cheese, such as
Stilton or Roquefort
Accompaniments
3 garlic cloves
Small handful of fresh chives
50g softened butter
1 French baguette
6 tbsp mascarpone
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
+ Put a drizzle of oil into a large pan over a medium heat and while this heats up, top and tail the leek, discarding most of the dark green bit. Then slit it lengthways, discard the hard outer leaves and wash under the cold tap. Finely slice and add to the pan, then give them a stir and leave to cook for about 10 minutes.
+ Meanwhile, prepare the garlic butter. Peel and finely chop the garlic and finely chop the chives. Put all of the garlic and half of the chives into a small bowl with the softened butter and some salt and pepper. Mix and set aside.
+ Returning to the soup, peel and chop the potato into 1cm cubes and add to the softened leeks, along with the chicken stock. Turn up the heat and put the lid on to help bring it up to the boil quickly.
+ Once this is boiling remove the lid, reduce the heat a little and leave to simmer away for 10 minutes or so.
+ Preheat the oven to 180°C, (fan 160°C), 350°F, Gas Mark 4 for the garlic bread.
+ Roughly chop the broccoli (including the stalk) and add to the soup for the last 5 minutes or so.
+ Now, divide the baguette into three even-sized pieces and split each one in half as if you were making a sandwich. Pop the bread, cut side up, on a baking tray and put in the oven for 5 minutes. (I have to really keep an eye on it as I sometimes don’t remember that it is in there!)
+ Meanwhile, put the remaining chives in a small bowl with the mascarpone. Season with salt and pepper and stir together once (otherwise it might go grainy), then set aside.
+ Remove the toasted bread from the oven, slather the cut sides with the garlic butter and return it to the oven for a further 4–5 minutes.
+ Once the soup is ready, check the potatoes and broccoli are cooked through and remove from the heat. Carefully blend the soup until smooth. Crumble in the blue cheese, give the soup another quick blitz and then season to taste.
+ Divide the soup between six serving bowls. Add a dollop of the chive mascarpone to each. Remove the garlic bread from the oven and serve a piece with each one.
French onion & sage soup with big fat Gruyère & mustard croutons
I really do love a good bowl of French onion soup. Of course the best soups are made with the very best stock: a rich, thick beef stock that has been cooked for hours, so deep in flavour I could do a little dance. This is best made with a fresh stock from the butcher, but a supermarket one (not from concentrate) will do just fine too. I sometimes stick the cooked soup in a flask to have when I am on the go. A lovely luscious lunchtime treat.
Time from start to finish: 40 minutes
Serves: 4
Equipment: Large pan with lid, food processor fitted with the slicing blade attachment (optional), baking sheet, grater
Vegetable oil
Knob of butter
4 big onions
1 bay leaf
2 garlic cloves
Small handful of fresh sage leaves
1 tbsp plain flour
1 litre good-quality beef stock
Small handful of fresh flat leaf parsley
Croutons
1 demi-baguette
75g Gruyère cheese (or Parmesan works well too)
Big pinch of English mustard powder
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
+ Place a large pan on a medium heat with a drizzle of oil and the butter. Peel and very finely slice the onions. This is a bit of a task, but using a food processor fitted with the slicing blade attachment should make things a bit easier.
+ Add the onions to the pan with the bay leaf, pop the lid on and leave to cook for about 25 minutes until soft. Give them a good stir every now and then so they don’t burn. If they look like they are catching at any time, just add a little more oil.
+ Meanwhile, peel and finely chop the garlic, then finely chop the sage leaves and set both aside.
+ Preheat the oven to 150°C, (fan 130°C), 300°F, Gas Mark 2. Trim the baguette ends, cut it into eight thick slices (about 2.5cm thick) and lay them out on a baking sheet.
+ Next, roughly grate the Gruyère cheese (or Parmesan), sprinkle the mustard powder over, if using, and toss it all about to mix together. Then spread it evenly over the tops of the bread slices.
+ Check on the onions, giving them a good stir every now and then.
+ Once the onions are a few minutes off being ready, place the croutons into the oven to bake for about 4–5 minutes. You could also grill them for about 5 minutes if you prefer.
+ Once the onions are lovely and soft, add the garlic, sage and flour, giving them a good stir in. Pour in the beef stock, put the lid back on, increase the heat and bring the soup up to the boil. Then leave it to bubble away for 2–3 minutes before removing it from the heat. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
+ Remove the crisp, melted-cheese-topped croutons from the oven. Pick and roughly chop the parsley leaves.
+ Divide the soup between four wide serving bowls and serve with the croutons either sitting right on top of the soup or to the side of the bowl. Scatter the parsley over and serve.
Salads
‘I am easily satisfied with the very best.’
Winston Churchill
I remember when a salad used to be a not-so-pretty-looking piece of iceberg lettuce, a few slivers of cucumber with a plump, round tomato quartered and scattered on top. Oh, how things have moved on! There is an incredible array of salad leaves, veg and even fruit now available since those heady days of big Afros and flared trousers, and in order to counterbalance my penchant for all things sweet, I tend to whip up a fast and fresh salad several times a week.
Salads
Mango, feta & avocado salad with fresh lime juice
Wild Waldorf salad with toasted walnuts & Granny Smiths
Courgette ‘pappardelle’ with asparagus, avocado salad & rocket
Thai beef salad with roasted peanuts & chilli dressing
Prawn Caesar salad with olive oil croutons & pomegranates
Mackerel salad with horseradish crème fraîche
Nifty Niçoise salad with hot-smoked trout & sundried tomatoes
The Union cobb
Mango, feta & avocado salad with fresh lime juice
Mangoes are not the cheapest things to buy, and nor is their comrade the avocado pear. But once in a while, a tasty tropical treat for me is a necessity. In one of the many places that I love, Sri Lanka, the avocados grow in abundance. Early in the morning, I would wake up, grab my friend and stand ready under the avo tree. After a gentle shake, dozens of these emerald green fruits would come tumbling to the ground. Sitting in my kitchen back in London with the holiday blues, I devised this recipe as a way of transporting me back to the exotic, calming world that is Sri Lanka’s southern coast. I found the pea shoots in the supermarket near me – they are little baby leaves, very cute and tasty. If you can’t find them, wild rocket is fine to use instead.
Time from start to finish: 20 minutes
Serves: 4
Equipment: Large serving platter
2 × 250g packs of ready-prepared mango cubes (or 2 large ripe mangoes)
200g feta cheese
4 radishes
1 ripe avocado
Small handful of fresh basil
1 bag of pea shoots (or wild rocket)
A drizzle of a really good extra virgin olive oil
1 lime
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
+ Tip the mango onto a large serving platter. (I do love some prepared mango, at times!) Or if using whole mangoes, slice the two cheeks off either side of the stone. Cut them in half and then run the knife through the flesh close to the skin to peel it, as you would with a melon. Dice the flesh into bite-sized pieces and scatter onto the big serving platter. I like to go back and slice off the remaining skinny bits of mango and do the same thing with them so as not to waste any.
+ Crumble the feta cheese over. Top and tail the radishes and then slice them as fine as you can get them before scattering them over also.
+ Cut the avocado in half and discard the stone. I put the blade of a knife into it and then give it a twist – the stone usually comes out beautifully. Then carefully peel away the skin and slice or dice up the avocado and add to the salad.
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