Grilled Tequila-Lime Tilapia Salad with Roasted Corn and a Roasted Jalapeno and Garlic Dressing

Now that I have decided I won't be working for another few MONTHS, you can bet I'm going to step things up in the kitchen whenever we're not traveling.

Summer is already winding down here in the UK (as if it ever started), so we're kind of taking our last stabs at summery food while we still can. Vanessa got the thinking about corn and fish and that gave me a pretty good idea.

I hadn't cooked with tilapia in forever (if ever) and it is a nice, mild fish which can handle a bit of flavor thrown at it. The whole idea behind this dish was good, fresh Mexican flavors with just a hint of warmth. I wasn't going for spicy here at all.

I must say, this came out pretty yummy. The roasted qualities of the peppers, garlic and corn really shine through... nice acidic hit coming from the lime juice and zest.

TILAPIA
2 tilapia fillets, skinned, halved (yielding 4 pieces)
salt and black pepper
¼ cup corn oil
zest and juice of 2 limes
1 splash tequila
1 large pinch cumin
1 small handful cilantro

SALAD
1 bag mixed greens, preferably with some Swiss chard in it
1 ear corn, shucked

DRESSING
2 jalapeno, halved, deseeded
3 cloves garlic, smashed, peeled
4 tablespoons corn oil
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
salt and black pepper
zest and juice of 1 lime
3 tablespoons cilantro, finely chopped
1 small pinch cumin
1 small pinch chile de arbol powder
juice of 1 lime, to serve
2 sprigs cilantro, to garnish

TILAPIA

Put the salt and pepper, corn oil, zest and juice of lime, tequila, cumin and cilantro in a ziploc bag. Shake to combine. Add the tilapia, close the bag, and turn to coat. Leave to marinate for 30 minutes.

SALAD

Wash the leaves and dry them. Set aside.

DRESSING

Put the garlic, jalapeno halves and the corn onto some foil. Drizzle over some corn oil and salt and pepper and toss around to coat. Heat the broiler and roast for about 10 minutes, or until the peppers have become charred and the garlic smells roasty. Remove the garlic and peppers, but continue to cook the corn, turning to brown somewhat evenly until roasted. Remove and set aside.

In a small blender, combine the corn oil, jalapenos, garlic, cider vinegar, salt and pepper, zest and juice of lime, cilantro, cumin and chile de arbol powder. Whiz to combine. Set aside.

Using a knife, cut all of the kernels of corn off when the corn husk is cool enough to handle.

ASSEMBLY

Get a grill pan hot and spray it with some cooking spray. Remove the tilapia, shake off any excess marinade and put on the grill pan. Discard the marinade. Cook for about 1 minute on each side.

Meanwhile, set aside a 1/4 cup each of the corn and dressing. Put the rest of the corn in with the remaining dressing. Stir to combine, then add the the salad leaves, tossing with your hands to coat.

Lay a bed of dressed leaves down on a plate. Put 2 tilapia fillets on top of the salad. Top wth some cilantro and a squeeze of lime. Drizzle the remaining dressing and corn over the top and around. Serve.

Balaji's Balachender's South Indian Fish Sandwich (Vava Meen Roast)

Another huge winner from Atul Kochhar. Lots of deep, rich curry flavors here. I used some more of our leftover Spicy Tomato Chutney we had lying around.

PLAICE AND MARINADE
½ teaspoon red chilli powder
1 teaspoon ground coriander
½ teaspoon ground turmeric
2 tablespoons tamarind pulp
4 small plaice, filleted
sea salt
CRAB MIXTURE
5-6 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
2 green cardamom pods
1 bay leaf
1" piece cinnamon stick
3 cloves
5 black peppercorns
2 onions, chopped
25 g GINGER-GARLIC PASTE
3 tomatoes, chopped
¼ teaspoon ground turmeric
1 ½ teaspoons ground coriander
½ teaspoon red chilli powder
250 g fresh white crab meat
1 tablespoon cilantro, finely chopped

Mix together the chile powder, coriander, turmeric, tamarind and some salt and use to coat the plaice fillets. Set aside to marinate while you prepare the crab mixture.

Heat 4 tablespoons of the vegetable oil in a pan, add the whole spices and saute until they crackle. Add the onions, saute until light brown, then stir in the ginger-garlic paste and saute for 2-3 minutes. Add the tomatoes, turmeric, coriander and chili powder and saute for 8-10 minutes, until the tomatoes have turned into a thick sauce. Stir in the crab meat, season with salt if necessary, and then sprinkle with the chopped coriander.

Put the plaice fillets on a baking tray and place under a hot grill, flesh-side up. Cook for 1-2 minutes, until the flesh firms up a little. Sandwich the fillets together with the crab mixture, making sure the skin is on the outside. Return to the grill for 3-5 minutes, turning once, until the fish is completely cooked. Serve immediately.

Pot-Roasted Poussins Agro Dolce

This is originally written for poussin (baby chickens) but we couldn't get our hands on any. We used a chicken instead. Nice sweet and sour flavors here. Pancetta is a winner no matter what you put it on!

1 orange, quartered
2 sticks cinnamon, broken in half
6 sprigs fresh rosemary
4 poussins, preferably free-range or organic olive oil
2 knobs butter
2 red onions, peeled and finely sliced
4 stalks celery, trimmed and finely sliced
280g jar sun-dried tomatoes in oil, drained
3 wineglasses Chianti
6 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 handful sultanas
1 handful pinenuts
16 slices smoked pancetta, thinly sliced

Preheat your oven to 200°C/400°F/gas 6. Stuff a piece of orange, with a cinnamon stick and a rosemary sprig into the cavity of each bird. In a large ovenproof pan in which the poussins will fit snugly side by side, heat a glug of olive oil and a knob of butter. Add the little chickens and colour them gently on all sides for 10 minutes or until lightly golden all over, then remove them to a plate to rest.

Strip the rosemary leaves off the two remaining sprigs. Carefully discard the fat from pan and add some fresh olive oil and your remaining knob of butter. Over a medium heat, add your onion, celery and rosemary and fry for about 5 minutes until softened. While keeping an eye on the pan, throw the sun-dried tomatoes into a food processor with the wine and whiz them up - this will give you an intense, tangy liquor.

By this time the onion and celery should be soft and nicely coloured, so put your chickens back into the pan and turn up the heat. Add the vinegar and sultanas, shake the pan around a bit, and add the tomato liquor. Continue cooking until the liquid has reduced slightly, then put the pan in the preheated oven with a lid on and cook for 30 minutes, turning the birds in the juices a couple of times. Remove the pan from the oven, take the lid off and turn the poussins once more in all the juices.

Lay them breast side up and sprinkle the pinenuts over them, then lay your slices of pancetta or bacon over them and cook in the oven for a further 10 minutes until crisp and golden. Allow the poussins to rest in the pan for 10 minutes while you get your guests to the table.

Wine suggestion: New Zealand red - Pinot Noir

Pea and Ham Soup

We had some spare Joselito ham stock that I made a few months ago in the freezer, and the quest continues to use up stuff before we move. We were just some peas and pancetta away from throwing this one together.

I have reprinted this Heston Blumenthal recipe as it appears in the cookbook "Off Duty", I skipped the ham hock stock (because I already had ham stock), but I did miss out on the chunks of ham coming off the bone to be put into the soup, which probably would have rocked.

Anyhow, it came out a nice, smooth soup with some good bacon-y notes. I threw some of our fresh basil in, adding a nice cool herb note to it (mint would have worked well here, too).

Anyhow, not bad for something we needed to throw together in about 15 minutes. Yummy.

SOUP
50 g butter
200 g shallots, sliced
75 g pancetta, chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
500 g frozen peas, defrosted
salt and freshly ground black pepper

HAM HOCK STOCK
1 small onion, cut in half
1 large carrot, cut in half
1 stalk celery, cut In half
1 large leek (white part only), cut in half
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 bay leaf
4-6 sprigs thyme
4 black peppercorns
1 ham hock
2 liters water

GARNISH
2 smoked bacon rashers, cut into 1/2-inch dice
180 g frozen peas

Combine all the ingredients for the ham hock stock in a large, heavy-based pan and bring to the boil over a medium heat. Skim any scum from the surface, reduce the heat and simmer gently for 2 1/2 hours, until the ham hock is cooked. Remove from the heat and leave to cool, then strain through a fine sieve, reserving the ham hock. Set aside.

To make the soup, heat the butter in a large pan, add the shallots, pancetta and garlic and sweat for 10-15 minutes, until the shallots are tender. Add the ham stock, bring to the boil and skim any scum from the top. Add the peas and return to the boil, then puree in a liquidizer (blender). Pass through a fine sieve into a clean pan, bring to the boil and correct the seasoning.

Shortly before serving, fry the diced smoked bacon in a hot pan until crisp. Flake the meat from the reserved ham hock. Cook the peas in boiling salted water until tender, then drain. Divide the peas and ham between 6 soup bowls, pour the soup on top, then scatter over the bacon and drizzle over a little of the rendered bacon fat.

Thick Beef Curry in Sweet Peanut Sauce

For the next few months, followers of this blog will be able to witness the creative destruction of some of our staple pantry items as we whittle them down in preparation for our upcoming move. This dish used up: a bag of jasmine rice, the rest of my homemade Thai red curry paste, some more Thai chiles and kaffir lime leaves.

This is a pretty good curry. Some sweetness, not too much heat, nice and mellow. If I do it over again, I'll wait until the last minute to chuck the beef in there, as it cooks so quickly. The recipe has you basically stewing it down for awhile until the coconut broth part thickens and reduces substantially. Naturally, the beef would overcook if you did that, so I opted to not reduce the liquid down, keep the beef nicely cooked, and preserve the coconut-y sauce/broth. I like that sort of thing.

600 ml coconut milk
3 tablespoons Thai red curry paste
3 tablespoons Thai fish sauce
2 tablespoons palm sugar or light muscovado (brown) sugar
2 lemon grass stalks, bruised
450 g rump (round) steak, cut into thin strips
75 g roasted peanuts, ground
2 fresh red chillies. sliced
5 kaffir lime leaves, torn
salt and ground black pepper
2 salted eggs, cut in wedges, to garnish
10-15 Thai basil leaves, to garnish

Pour half the coconut milk into a large, heavy pan. Place over a medium heat and bring to the boil, stirring constantly until the milk separates.

Stir in the red curry paste and cook for 2-3 minutes until the mixture is fragrant and thoroughly blended. Add the fish sauce, sugar and bruised lemongrass stalks. Mix well.

Continue to cook until the color deepens. Gradually add the remaining coconut milk, stirring constantly. Bring back to the boil.

Add the beef and peanuts. Cook, stirring constantly, for 8-10 minutes, or until most of the liquid has evaporated. Add the chillies and lime leaves. Season to taste and serve, garnished with wedges of salted eggs and Thai basil leaves.

Roast Chicken Breast Wrapped in Pancetta with Leeks and Thyme

This a really simple one we come back to every once in a while. It's an excuse to drink white wine (as if you need an excuse) and a good way to use up leftover herbs.

2 chicken breast, skinned
2 large leeks, outer leaves removed, white and light green part sliced into rings
few sprigs thyme
glug olive oil
salt and black pepper
knob butter
splash white wine or vermouth
14 slices pancetta or good bacon

Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/gas 6. Put 1 chicken breast, skin removed this time, in a bowl. Trim and wash a large leek, remove the outer leaves, then slice it into 1/4" pieces. Add these to the bowl with the leaves of a few sprigs of fresh thyme, a good glug of olive oil, a small knob of butter, a pinch of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper and a small swig of white wine and toss together.

Place your leek and flavorings from the bowl into the tray, then wrap the chicken breast in 6 or 7 slices of pancetta. This will not only flavor the chicken but also protect it while it cooks. Try and bend the sides of the tray in towards the chicken so the leeks don't get burnt during cooking. Drizzle with olive oil, place a couple of whole thyme sprigs on top and cook in the middle of the oven for 25 to 35 minutes.

Spicy Pineapple-Glazed Sea Scallops with Soy-Miso Vinaigrette and Grilled Pineapple Relish

As friends of ours now know (thanks to our having made it abundantly clear in the last few weeks), Vanessa and I found out that we will be moving to Hawaii in about a year, for what will likely be my last tour in the Navy before moving onto something else.

Since finding this out, Vanessa has been busy perfecting her Mai Tai recipe while we set aout looking for a dish with which we could celebrate, and hopefully evoke the flavors of Hawaii. You'll be happy to know we found one.

The comes from Bobby Flay's Boy Meets Grill and it satisfied our requirements to a "T". This is great tropical mix of pan-Asian and tropical summer flavors. Not difficult to put together either. Truly delicious! We'll likely haul this one out again when we get there.

GLAZE
2 tablespoons olive oil
¼ cup red onion, coarsely chopped
2 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
1 serrano chile, coarsely chopped
3 cups sweetened pineapple juice

RELISH
1 large ripe pineapple, peeled, cored and sliced into 1 inch rings
vegetable oil, for brushing
4 scallion, finely sliced
1 red bell pepper, finely diced
2 tablespoons lime juice
1 jalapeno, finely diced
¼ cup cilantro, chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt and black pepper

VINAIGRETTE DRESSING
2 tablespoons white miso paste
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tablespoon ginger, peeled and finely chopped
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
½ cubes peanut oil
1 teaspoon honey
¼ teaspoon white pepper

SCALLOPS
40 scallops, trimmed
salt and black pepper

GLAZE
Heat the olive oil in a small saucepan over medium heat until almost smoking. Add the onion and garlic and cook until soft. Add the serrano pepper and pineapple juice, raise the heat to high, and bring the mixture to a boil. Cook until reduced to 1 cup. Place in a blender and blend until smooth. Let cool at room temperature. May be refrigerated, covered, for 1 day; serve at room temperature. Makes about 1 1/4 cups.

RELISH
Preheat a gas or charcoal grill to medium high, Brush the pineapple rings with oil on both sides and grill until golden brown and almost cooked through, 3 to 4 minutes on each side. Remove from the grill and chop coarsely. Place the chopped pineapple in a large bowl. Add the green onions, bell pepper, lime juice, jalapeno, cilantro and oil, and season with salt and pepper. May be refrigerated for 1 day; serve at room temperature. Makes 3 cups.

VINAIGRETTE
Whisk all the ingredients together in a small bowl. May be refrigerated, covered, for 1 day; serve at room temperature. Makes about 3/4 cup.

SCALLOPS
Place the scallops in a large, shallow pan or baking dish, cover with the Pineapple Glaze, and refrigerate, covered, for 30 minutes, no longer. Preheat a gas or charcoal grill to medium high.

Remove the scallops from the marinade, shaking off any excess (discard the used marinade), season with salt and pepper, and grill until golden and cooked through, 2 to 3 minutes on each side.

Place the Grilled Pineapple Relish in the center of a large platter, arrange the scallops around the relish, and drizzle the scallops with the Soy-Miso Vinaigrette.

Spaghetti Bolognese

I have been wanting to do a proper Spaghetti Bolognese (or, SpagBol, as the Brits call it) for a long time. This recipe has been twisted and abused over time and what has come out the other end is typically a greasy mess, thrown together without care, and usually with the aid of some kind of sauce out of a jar. The stereotypical mass-produced spaghetti with meat sauce.

Heston Blumenthal has a cookbook, In Search of Perfection, in which he explores classic dishes and reinvents them using the best possible methods, techniques and ingredients, but doing them in such a way as to retain the essence of the original.

Let me just say about this spaghetti: Start Early. I began the prep at 7:45AM. We ate at 6PM. Most of that time in between (8 hours!) was sauce simmering joy. As I am typing this the following morning, the entire kitchen and upstairs smells of this sauce. How was it?

I can't find a reason NOT to say that it's the best bowl of pasta I have ever eaten. Mind you, I LOVE pasta. I make it frequently and it is never the same thing twice. This was so unlike anything I would have made. There are ingredients in here I never would have considered putting in pasta (star anise and Thai fish sauce, for example).

The result is so mind-blowingly good. The best part is that it tastes familiar. It's as though you have eaten this before, at home, with people you love. There is something so rounded and rich and savory about the whole thing. Every new bite of it brought some new nuance that you didn't taste before. But the perception is that you ate this bowl of pasta somewhere, a long time ago, maybe when you first discovered how great pasta could be.

So, pasta lovers, if you want to get down to business, you owe it to yourself to try this. In the name of eating good pasta, this is an absolute triumph. Also, the sauce makes a TON. You could freeze this and re-heat it, no problem. Also, we had leftover ox cheeks in the freezer and I ground those up and used them in place of the oxtail, which was amazing. Oxtail is GREAT in pasta sauces, too!

SAUCE BASE
125 milliliters extra-virgin olive oil
250 g oxtail, boned and minced
250 g pork shoulder, 1 cm cubes
375 g oaked chardonnay
1 star anise
450 g onion, finely sliced
2 large cloves garlic
450 g onion, finely diced
400 g carrot, finely diced
125 g celery, finely diced
250 milliliters whole milk

TOMATO COMPOTE
1.1 kg vine-ripened tomatoes
1 teaspoon kosher salt
200 milliliters extra-virgin olive oil
3 large cloves garlic
225 g onion, finely diced
1 teaspoon coriander seed
1 star anise
3 cloves
4-5 drops Tabasco
4-5 drops Thai fish sauce
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon ketchup
30 milliliters sherry vinegar
1 bouquet garni, (consisting of 7 sprigs fresh thyme and 1 fresh bay leaf)

FINISH
1 batch reserved tomato compote
100 g spaghetti, (per person)
sherry vinegar, to taste
Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
1 bouquet garni, (in a sheet of leek, wrap 6 tarragon leaves, 4 sprigs parsley and the leaves from a bunch of celery)
unsalted butter
extra-virgin olive oil
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

SAUCE BASE

Place a large, heavy bottomed frying pan over a medium heat for 5 minutes. Crush the star anise and bag it up in a square of muslin. Add this to the pan, along with 25ml of oil and the sliced onions. Cook for 20 minutes, or until the onions are soft and caramelized, stirring occasionally. Set aside.

Meanwhile, preheat another large, heavy-bottomed frying pan over a low heat for 5 minutes. Mince the garlic. Pour 50ml oil into the pan, then tip in the garlic, onions, carrots and celery and cook this soffritto over a medium-low heat for about 20 minutes, or until the raw onion smell has gone. Transfer the soffritto to a bowl and wipe clean the pan.

Place the pan over a high heat for 10 minutes. Pour in 50ml olive oil and wait until it starts smoking; it must be hot enough so the meat browns rather than stews. Add the cubed pork and minced oxtail. Stir until browned all over. (To brown properly, all the meat has to touch the surface of the pan. If it doesn't, do it in batches.) Tip in the browned meat into a sieve over a bowl (to allow the fat the drain off), then transfer the meat to a large pot or casserole. Deglaze the pan by adding a splash of wine, bringing it to the boil, and then scraping the base of the pan to collect all the tasty bits stuck to the bottom. Once the liquid has reduced by half, pour it into the large pot containing the meat.

Remove the bag of star anise from the caramelized onions and then tip the onions into the large pot containing the meat. Add the remaining wine and deglaze the frying pan (as in step 3). When the wine has reduced by half, pour it into the large pot. Add the soffritto to the pot as well.

Place the pot of Bolognese over a very low heat. Pour in the milk and enough water to cover entirely, and simmer very gently without a lid for 6 hours, stirring occasionally. At all times the ingredients should be covered by the liquid, so be prepared to add more water. (Don't worry if the milk becomes slightly granular; it won't affect the end result.)

TOMATO COMPOTE

Bring a large pan of water to the boil. Fill a large bowl with ice-cold water. Remove the cores from the tomatoes with a paring knife. Blanch the tomatoes by dropping them into the boiling water for 10 seconds and then carefully removing them to the bowl of ice-cold water. Take them out of the water immediately and peel off the spilt skins. (If the tomatoes are not ripe enough , make a cross with a sharp knife in the underside of each, to encourage the skins to come away. They can be left in the hot water for an extra 10 seconds or so, but it's important that they don't overheat and begin to cook.)

Cut the tomatoes in half vertically. Scoop out the seeds and the membrane with a teaspoon, over a chopping board. Roughly chop the seeds and membrane, then tip them into a sieve over a bowl. Sprinkle over the salt and leave for 20 minutes to extract their juice, after which you can discard the seeds and membrane, reserving only the juice.

Roughly chop the tomato flesh and set aside.

Meanwhile, place a large, heavy-bottomed pan over a low heat. Add 100ml of the olive oil. Mince the garlic, then put it into the pan along with the onion. Cook for 10-15 minutes, until soft but not colored.

Crush the coriander and put it in a muslin bag, along with the star anise and the cloves. Add it to the softened onions and garlic.

Take the juice drawn from the tomato seeds and membrane and add it to the onions and garlic along with the tomato flesh. Add the Tabasco, fish sauce, Worcestershire sauce, tomato ketchup and sherry vinegar. Drop in the bouquet garni and cook over a low heat for 2 hours.

To add a roasted note to the compote, add the remaining oil and turn up the heat to high. Fry the compote for 15-20 minutes, stirring regularly to make sure it doesn't catch, then pour off any olive oil not absorbed by the compote. Set aside a little to coat the cooked pasta. (The rest can be stored in a jar and makes a great base for a salad dressing. The compote itself will keep in the fridge for a week.)

COOKING THE BOLOGNESE

Stir the tomato compote (including the bag of spices) into the Bolognese sauce and cook over a very low heat for a final 2 hours, stirring occasionally.

Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil. For every 100g of pasta, you'll need 1 liter of water and 10 g salt. (If you don't have a large enough pan it's essential to use two pans rather than overcrowd one.)

Put the spaghetti Into the pan, give it a stir, then bring back to the boil and cook until the pasta is just tender but with a bite. Check the cooking time on the packet and use that as a guideline. but taste it every few minutes as this is the only way to judge when the pasta is ready.

Before taking the Bolognese sauce off the heat, check the seasoning and then add some sherry vinegar (tasting as you go) to balance the richness of the sauce. Add a generous grating of Parmesan (but not too much, as it can make the sauce overly salty) and remove the sauce from the heat. Take out the original thyme and bay bouquet garni and the bag of spices. Replace these with the parsley and tarragon bouquet garni, stir in 100g unsalted butter and let the sauce stand for 5 minutes.

Once the pasta is cooked, drain and rinse it thoroughly. Return to the pot to warm through. (Since the ragu Is not going to be mixed with the pasta, it needs to be rinsed to prevent it from becoming starchy and sticking together.) Add a generous knob of butter (about 50g per 400g of pasta) and coat with olive oil and the reserved oil from the final frying of the compote. To serve, wind portions of pasta around a carving fork and lay them horizontally in wide, shallow bowls. Top with the Bolognese sauce and finish with a grating of Parmesan.

Prawn and Green Mango Curry (Chemeen Manga Charu)

This is a totally deep and rich curry, which couples fruit and seafood. I tell ya, we just had the leftovers (from a few days ago), and it's even better the second time around. If you are able to source some coconut oil, do it. It really adds another dimension to the dish.

16 large raw prawns
4 tablespoons coconut oil
70 g fresh coconut, grated
½ onion, finely chopped
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
1 onion, finely sliced
2 green chiles, chopped
1.5 teaspoon garlic-ginger paste
1.5 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon chili powder
½ teaspoon ground turmeric
100 g green mango, sliced into thin strips, plus extra to garnish
½ teaspoon salt, or to taste
200 milliliters coconut milk
1 teaspoon fenugreek seeds
1 teaspoon black mustard seeds
25 curry leaves

Peel and de-vein the prawns, leaving the tail attached. Rinse and pat dry.

Heat 1 tbsp coconut oil in a pan, add the coconut, chopped onion and fennel seeds, and saute over a medium heat until the coconut is golden brown. Remove and grind to a smooth paste, using a blender.

Heat 2 tbsp coconut oil in the pan. Add the sliced onion and fry until translucent. Add the green chillies with the ginger-garlic paste, and saute for 2-3 minutes. Stir in the ground spices and half the mango strips.

Add the prawns to the pan with the salt and cook, stirring, until they are opaque and almost cooked. Stir in the coconut paste, coconut milk and the rest of the mango. Simmer gently until the prawns are just cooked.

Meanwhile, heat the remaining 1 tbsp coconut oil in a separate pan and saute the fenugreek seeds, mustard seeds and curry leaves until aromatic. Serve the prawn curry topped with the aromatic spice mixture and green mango strips. Accompany with rice or Indian bread.

Five-Spiced Duck with a Bourbon-Peach Sauce and Pumpkin Puree

This is an original of mine, taking the flavor combination here of duck, bourbon, peach and pumpkin. The sauce was great, but could have used more peach in it to bring out a fruitier note. Nice spice on the sauce and duck, too, and the pumpkin puree was nice and smooth. I consider this a work-in-progress, but a good first attempt anyways.

FIVE-SPICED DUCK
4x200 g duck breasts, skin on
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon cayenne
1 tablespoon five-spice
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground allspice

BOURBON-PEAR SAUCE
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 red onion
2 cups bourbon
2 dried ancho chiles, blistered, soaked, seeded, chopped
1 dried habenero chile, blistered, soaked, seeded
5 cups chicken stock
1 cup peach puree
2 star anise
1 stick cinnamon
10 Sichuan peppercorns
1/3 cup brown sugar

PUMPKIN PUREE
600g pumpkin, peeled, chopped
½ cup double cream
1/4 cup milk
1 knob butter
salt and pepper
cilantro, to garnish

DUCK
Score the duck skins and trim off any sinew. Combine the brown sugar, cayenne, five-spice, salt and allspice in a small bowl. Rub the mixture all over the duck and set aside. Heat the oven to 200C.

SAUCE
Heat the olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the red onion and saute until softened (but not colored), about 5-7 minutes. Add the bourbon and bring to a boil. Reduce the bourbon down to a few tablespoons. Add the stock, peach puree, star anise, cinnamon, Sichuan peppercorns and brown sugar. Stir to combine and bring to a boil. Let this reduce down halfway, stirring, about 15-20 minutes. Strain the mixture and put back into a clean saucepan. Reduce down to a sauce consistency, about 15 minutes. Add a splash of bourbon in the last few minutes. Season with salt and pepper and keep warm.

PUMPKIN
Bring a pot of salted water to the boil. Add the pumpkin and cook until pierced easily with the tip of a sharp knife, about 25 minutes. Meanwhile, heat the cream and butter until the butter is melted and the mixture is warm.

Puree the pumpkin in a blender with some of the cream mixture, adding more until you reach the desired consistency. Pass the puree through a fine-sieve. If it is too liquidy, reduce in a saucepan until it reaches desired consistency. Season with salt and pepper.

FINISH
Put the duck, skin-side down in a cold cast-iron pan set over medium-high heat. When the duck starts to render it's fat out, cook for 5 minutes or until the skin is nice and golden brown, but not burnt. Drain the fat out and flip the duck over and briefly cook the meat side just long enough to put some color on it, 15-25 seconds.

Drain the fat again, put the duck back in the pan (skin-side down) and put the duck in the oven for another 5-6 minutes. When the duck is cooked medium rare (internal temperature of 145F), pull them out of the oven and the pan and rest skin side up for 5 minutes.

Lay down some pumpkin puree on a plate. Slice the duck and arrange on top. Spoon over sauce. Garnish with cilantro.

Farm-Raised Chicken with Curry Leaves, Plantain Mousseline and Butternut Squash and Curry Emulsion

I am sort of on the fence about this one. I gave it 3/5 stars. Maybe because, in the end, it tasted sort of autumn-y and given the warm weather around here, it wasn't what I wanted to eat. Also, I slightly overcooked the chicken.

I mean, the flavors were good. I think it could have benefited from a little more spice or something, because it came out tasting sort of sweet. This wasn't at all unpleasant, just kind of one-dimensional. I might have to toy around with this one next time.

CHICKEN
6 garlic cloves, unpeeled
200 ml skim milk
4 large, corn-fed chicken breasts (breast halves), skin on
½ teaspoon GARAM MASALA
12 small fresh curry leaves
a pinch of ground ginger
2 tablespoons olive oil
salt and freshly ground white pepper

BUTTERNUT SQUASH AND CURRY EMULSION
2 tablespoons olive oil
150 g butternut squash, peeled, deseeded and diced •
25 g onion, chopped
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh ginger
½ tablespoon Madras curry powder
½ teaspoon ground turmeric
1.5 liters chicken stock
100 g butter, cut into small cubes

PLANTAIN MOUSSELINE
400 g half-ripe plantains, peeled
150 g ripe plantains, peeled
200 g potatoes, peeled
200 ml full-cream milk
90 g butter, cut into small cubes and kept ice cold

VEGETABLES
300 g runner beans, trimmed
20 g butter
200 g butternut squash, peeled and cut Into very small dice
3 ½ tablespoons chicken stock

Blanch the garlic cloves 3 times in boiling water, changing the water each time. Put them in a saucepan, cover with the skimmed milk and cook for about 20-30 minutes, until the garlic is mellow and tender. Leave to cool, then peel the garlic and puree in a blender. Pass through a fine sieve.

CHICKEN
Lift the skin away from the chicken breasts, rub the garlic puree and garam masala over the flesh and insert 3 small curry leaves under the skin of each breast. Make sure you do not rip the skin. Sprinkle the chicken on all sides with the ground ginger and some salt and pepper. Pack the breasts 2 at a time in zip-lock bags, or wrap them in cling film (plastic wrap). Remove as much air from the bags as possible, then seal. Heat a large saucepan or deep roasting tin (pan) of water to 80°C/178°F, place the sealed chicken breasts in the pan and leave for 15-18 minutes, using a thermometer to check that the temperature of the water remains constant. (Poaching the wrapped-up chicken like this captures all the flavours and keeps the flesh fantastically moist.) Cool the chicken breasts down rapidly in a large bowl filled with ice cubes and water. Place this in the refrigerator for 1 hour.

EMULSION
For the emulsion, heat the olive oil in a saucepan, add the squash, onion and ginger and cook for 7-8 minutes, until lightly caramelized. Add the curry powder and turmeric and sweat for 2 minutes. Add the chicken stock, bring to the boil and simmer for 15-20 minutes. Mix with a handheld blender until smooth. Add the butter and mix vigorously, then check the seasoning and pass through a fine sieve. Keep warm.

MOUSSELINE
To make the plantain mousseline, put the plantains and potatoes in a pan and cover with cold salted water. Bring to the boil, cook over a medium heat for about 25 minutes, until tender, then drain. In a separate pan, heat the milk to boiling point, then remove from the heat. Pass the potatoes and plantains through a vegetable mill or a sieve into a heavy-based saucepan. Put the pan on a low heat to steam the vegetables dry, then gradually incorporate three-quarters of the milk, mixing vigorously. Now mix in the butter in small amounts to give a smooth mixture. Season with salt to taste. Only add the remaining milk if the mousseline is too dry. Keep warm and covered till needed.

VEGETABLES
For the vegetables, blanch the runner beans in a large pan of boiling salted water, then drain and cool down rapidly in iced water. Melt the butter in a small saucepan, add the diced butternut squash and cook for 3-4 minutes, until very lightly caramelized. Add the blanched beans and the chicken stock and leave to simmer until nicely glazed. Keep warm.

FINISH
Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy-based non-stick frying pan (skillet) over a medium heat. Unwrap the chicken breasts, put them in the pan skin-side down and cook over a low heat for 8-10 minutes, until the skin is golden brown and crisp, basting it every minute with the olive oil to prevent it drying out. Drain on kitchen paper towels and cut each breast into 5 slices. Arrange a 'nest' of the runner beans in the centre of 4 serving plates and fill up with the plantain mousseline. Sprinkle the butternut squash dice on top of the beans. Mix the emulsion with the handheld blender until frothy and spoon it around the runner beans. Place the crispy chicken on top and serve.

Brown Trout with Wild Garlic Quinoa and Roasted Garlic Cream

This was a huge knockout from the folks at Le Champignon Sauvage. I had to substitute rocket (arugula) for the wild garlic and I couldn't get my hands on quinoa, so I used pearl barley. I have reprinted the original version of the recipe.

What can I say? It was buttery, garlicy, nutty and rich. Looked good on the plate. We're still basking in the glow of this one a bit, so I apologize if I am at a bit of a loss for words. The fish we got was super-fresh. We used some rich homemade shellfish stock that we had in the freezer. I can't knock a thing about it.

BROWN TROUT
2x450 g brown trout fillets
50 milliliters olive oil
25 g unsalted butter

GARLIC CREAM
2 heads garlic
20 milliliters olive oil
500 milliliters FISH STOCK
50 milliliters milk
200 milliliters double cream

QUINOA
50 milliliters olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
½ onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
100 g quinoa
300 milliliters FISH STOCK
120 g wild garlic leaves

TROUT
Make sure there aren't any bones left in the trout. Cut each fillet into 3 pieces and place in the fridge until needed.

ROASTED GARLIC CREAM
Remove the papery outer layers from the garlic. Moisten the heads with the olive oil and place on a baking tray. Roast in an oven preheated to 180C for 20-30 minutes, until tender and golden. Pop the garlic cloves out of their skins and place in a saucepan with the fish stock. Bring to the boil and simmer until reduced by half. Add the milk and double cream, bring back to the boil and simmer for 2-3 minutes. Transfer to a blender and blend until smooth. Push through a fine sieve and season to taste.

WILD GARLIC QUINOA
Heat the olive oil in an ovenproof frying pan and add the onion, garlic and quinoa. Cook without colouring until you can smell the slight nuttiness of the quinoa. Immediately pour in the fish stock. Bring to the boil, stirring all the time, then reduce to a light simmer and cook until tender. When it is ready, the quinoa should have a white ring surrounding the centre of the grain. Taste; it should be tender with a little bite. Set aside 6-8 wild garlic leaves and blanch the remainder in a large pan of salted water for 30 seconds. Refresh the blanched wild garlic quickly in a bowl of iced water to set the color. When it is cold, squeeze out excess water and place the garlic leaves in a food processor. Process to a puree, adding a little water if needed.

Finely chop the raw wild garlic leaves. Whilst the quinoa is still warm, fold them through it and then fold in the wild garlic puree. Season and drizzle with a little olive oil. Keep warm.

COOKING THE TROUT
Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy-based frying pan over a high heat. Season the trout fillets and add them to the pan, skin-side down. Add the butter and reduce the heat to medium. Cook for 3-4 minutes, until you see the trout change around the edges from translucent pink to a paler shade of pink. Turn the fish over, count to 10 and turn off the heat. Move the pan to a cooler part of the stove so the fish finishes cooking in the warmth of the pan. Drain and re-season the trout.

SERVING
Place a small mound of the quinoa in the middle of each serving plate and arrange the trout on top. Froth the sauce with a stick blender and pour it around the fish.

Eggplant Caponata (Caponata di Melanzane)

This has been one of our favorites here since we ate it at Carluccio's in London. We've tried three different recipes of this, and I would put this one up there with any we have tried. Vanessa found it a bit too tart, but I loved the zip of the vinegar with some of the heat in the back of the throat from the pepper flakes. This is a traditional Sicilian 'relish' which would be good on toasted bread, an it's own or mixed up in some pasta.

½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 large Spanish onion, cut into 1/2-inch dice
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
3 tablespoons pine nuts
3 tablespoons dried currants
1 tablespoon hot red pepper flakes
2 medium eggplant, cut into 1/2-inch cubes (about 4 cups)
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves or 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
¾ cup basic Italian-style tomato sauce
½ cup balsamic vinegar
salt and black pepper
1 baguette, 3/4" rounds

In a 10- to 12-inch saute pan, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat until almost smoking. Add the onion, garlic, pine nuts, currants and red pepper flakes and cook until the onion is softened, 4 to 5 minutes. Add the eggplant, sugar, cinnamon, and cocoa and cook for 5 minutes.

Add the thyme, tomato sauce, and vinegar and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool to room temperature. (The caponata can be covered and refrigerated for up to 2 days. Bring to room temperature before serving.)

To serve, spoon the caponata onto the crostini and arrange on a platter, or put it into a bowl with the crostini on the side so your guests can help themselves.

Tortilla Espanola

I did a space-age version of this awhile back. Since the weather here has been more agreeable lately than in the last two years combine, we have been feeling it for 'warm-weather-food'. Spain sounded good to me and we were just a few potatoes away from heaven.

You can find this dish in just about every cafe in Spain. It's a classic. It's simple. It's delicious. The recipe comes out of Food & Wine magazine and is from Mario Batali.

I served mine with some of the 'Red Sauce' from the Gaudi dish a few weeks ago.

¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus 2 T
1 ¼ lbs. red bliss potatoes, peeled and sliced 1/8" thick
1 onion, halved and thinly sliced
kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
8 large eggs

Preheat the broiler. Heat 1/4 cup of the olive oil in a large cast-iron skillet. Add the potato and onion slices, season with salt and pepper and cook over moderate heat, stirring frequently, until the potatoes and onion are tender but not browned, about 15 minutes.

In a large bowl, lightly beat the eggs and season with salt and pepper. Scrape the potato mixture into the bowl, being sure not to leave any in the skillet.

Return the skillet to the heat and add the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil. Add the egg mixture, spreading it out in an even layer. Cover and cook over low heat until the tortilla is set on the bottom and the edges, about 10 minutes. Transfer the skillet to the oven and broil 8 inches from the heat just until the top is set, about 1 minute longer. Set a large plate over the skillet and carefully invert the tortilla onto the plate.

Let stand for 5 minutes. Cut into wedges and serve warm or at room temperature.

Crunchy Gooseberry Crumble

Gooseberries have been on our ever-expanding list of 'must-try' items. We had heard about them (like so many other things here in the UK) but had just never gotten around to eating them. They are quite tart, and require a good shot of sweetness to balance that tartness.

I liked the flavors at work in this dish though, given the proportions in the recipe, there wasn't enough 'stuff' on top (butter and sugar) to really bind the oats together into something resembling a crust. So when I scooped it out, the granola stuff just kind of slid off in bits rather than sticking to itself (and the filling).

Next time, I think I'll put some more butter and sugar in the topping mixture and see if it binds it up a little more.

GOOSEBERRY FILLING
450 g gooseberries
75 g caster (superfine) sugar, to taste

TOPPING
175 g crunchy oat cereal or granola
1 tablespoon demerara sugar
25 g butter, cut into small dice

Heat the oven to 200C and place a baking sheet inside to heat up. Wash the gooseberries, remove the husks and pat dry with a clean tea towel.

Tip the gooseberries into a pan, add the sugar and place over a high heat until they begin to release their juices, shaking the pan frequently. Divide the gooseberries among four individual ovenproof dishes.

For the topping, mix the crunchy cereal and demerara sugar together.

Sprinkle evenly over the gooseberries to cover them and dot with the butter. Bake for about 10-15 minutes until the topping is golden brown and the gooseberries are bubbling up around the sides. Leave to stand for 5-10 minutes to cool down slightly before serving.

Hot and Sour Soup with Shrimps (Tom Yum Kung)

This is one of our favorite soups, and great for clearing out the ol' sinuses. I made a few modifications to the recipe, but the core of it remains in tact. I added some chopped up scallions and some rice noodles to make a more substantial soup. This is really good and simple to make.

SOUP
9 shrimps
7 ounces straw mushrooms, halved
9 Thai chiles, lightly crushed
1 stalk lemongrass
5 kaffir lime leaves
1 tablespoon ROASTED CHILE PASTE
2 tablespoons fish sauce
3 tablespoons lime juice
4 cups chicken stock

GARNISH
kaffir lime leaves
lemongrass slices
Thai chiles

Remove the outer layer of the lemongrass stems and wash thoroughly. Cut off stems 2 1/2" from base and slice diagonally into 1/4" pieces.

Boil chicken stock, add lemongrass and continue boiling until fragrant. Then add straw mushrooms and shrimps and boil until cooked.

Add fish sauce, lime juice, chile paste, kaffir lime leaves and chilies. Boil once more.

Pour Tom Yum Kung into a serving bowl, garnish with kaffir lime leaves, slices of lemongrass and chilies. Serve hot with fragrant cooked jasmine rice.

Angry Chicken

Fans of the show Iron Chef know Masaharu Morimoto. Apart from being a ninja in the kitchen, he also owns a chain of fine dining establishments around the world. While in Australia recently, I picked up his cookbook which looked to be full of delicious recipes. This is our first attempt from his book.

Now, I like spicy food. Reading the recipe over, I was wondering if I was going to bite of more than I could chew with this one. I did try to eat some of the roasted pepper a quickly decided to just stick with the chicken.

In spite of reading like a very spicy dish, the spicing is actually just right. You can taste everything and the marinade makes the meat extremely juicy, provided you cook it to 160F (72C) and no higher. The lime juice is a nice, acidic cooling contrast to the spices. We marinated our chicken for about 36 hours. Delicious.

CHICKEN
2x2 kg chickens, quartered

SPICY YOGURT MARINADE (makes 3 1/2 cups)
½ teaspoon black peppercorns
½ teaspoon cumin seed
¼ teaspoon coriander seed
¼ teaspoon cardamom seeds
1 teaspoon chile powder
½ teaspoon garam masala
½ teaspoon salt
1 ½ cups Frank's hot sauce
1 ⅓ cups yogurt
½ cup heavy cream
⅓ cup soy sauce

DISH
24 long green and red hot chiles
2 tablespoons grapeseed oil, or other vegetable oil
fried rice noodles
lime wedges, for serving

CHICKEN
Trim any excess fat from the chicken, Rinse and pat dry, Place the chicken quarters in a large bowl. Measure out 1 cup of the Spicy Yogurt Marinade and reserve for the sauce: refrigerate in a small covered container.

Pour the rest of the marinade over the chicken. Turn the pieces to make sure they are all well-coated. Cover and refrigerate for at least 8 and up to 24 hours.

About 1 hour before you plan to serve the chicken, preheat the oven to 450F (230C). Remove the chicken from the marinade and arrange the pieces on 1 or 2 half-sheet pans or large baking sheets. Discard the chicken marinade.

Roast for 40 minutes, until the chicken is tender and lightly browned and the juices run clear when the thighs are pricked with the tip of a small knife. Transfer the pieces to a platter and tent with foil to keep warm.

While the chicken is roasting, make the sauce. Boil the chicken stock in a medium saucepan over high heat until it is reduced to 1 cup. Whisk in the reserved 1 cup Spicy Yogurt Marinade and cook just until heated through; do not boil, or the yogurt will separate. Keep the sauce warm.

As soon as the chickens are done, preheat the broiler. Toss the chiles with the oil to coal lightly and spread them out on a broiler rack or small baking sheet. Broil the chiles about 4 inches from the heat, turning them a couple of times until they are blistered and lightly browned, about 5 minutes.

To serve, layer the chicken and chiles on a large platter. Pour the sauce around the chicken, Top with the Fried Rice Noodles. Serve with lime wedges to squeeze over the chicken.

SPICY YOGURT MARINADE
To make the marinade, grind the peppercorns, cumin, coriander seeds, and cardamom in a spice grinder or use a mortar and pestle. Transfer to a medium bowl. Add the chile powder, garam masala and salt. Add the hot sauce, yogurt, cream, and soy sauce and whisk until smooth and well blended.

FRIED RICE NOODLES
Add vegetable oil to reach about 2 inches up the sides of a large saucepan or a wok. Heat the oil over high heat to 340F (170C). Separate 1 bundle of thin rice noodles (mai fun) into 2 portions. Working with one portion at a time, add the noodles to the oil. They will puff up almost immediately. Using a large wire skimmer, transfer to paper towels to drain.

Proper Southeast Asian BBQ

I recently extolled the virtues of feather steak awhile back (when we had fajitas) and I brought it back this weekend for a BBQ we went to with some of our good friends. This steak worked a treat and the sauce is a yummy, sweet-spicy sauce that is just wonderful. The sauce recipe here works for any meat, really, and probably would work on a stronger-tasting fish as well.

The other is more or less a Thai-style BBQ shrimp with a peanut dipping sauce. Classic Thai flavors there and super easy to prepare. We were in such a hurry to eat everything, I neglected to take a good photo. Hopefully, you get the idea.

Indonesian Five-Spice Barbecue Sauce
3 garlic cloves
1-inch chunk of peeled fresh ginger, coarsely chopped
½ teaspoon sambal oelek (Indonesian chile paste), or 1 small fresh serrano or jalapeno chile, stemmed and seeded
½ cup packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons Chinese five-spice powder
2 tablespoons tamarind concentrate or paste
1 tablespoon tomato paste
½ cup soy sauce (preferably Tamari)
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 tablespoons peanut or canola oil

Place the garlic and ginger in a blender or the workbowl of a food processor and process to finely chop. Add the chili paste and process again to chop. Add the brown sugar, five-spice powder, tamarind concentrate, tomato paste, soy sauce, lime juice, and oil and process until smooth. The sauce will keep in the refrigerator, covered, up to 1 week.

Spicy Shrimp with Asian Peanut Dipping Sauce

DIPPING SAUCE
¼ cup peanut butter
1 tablespoon ginger, peeled and coarsely chopped
2 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons lime juice
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
¼ cubes shrimp stock or clam juice
1 teaspoon honey
salt and black pepper
¼ cup cilantro, chopped
¼ cup scallion, finely sliced

SHRIMP
½ cup olive oil
2 tablespoons lime juice
2 chile de arbol, or hot Asian chiles, coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons ginger, peeled and coarsely chopped
6 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons cilantro, coarsely chopped
48 large shrimp, shelled and deveined
salt and black pepper

DIPPING SAUCE
Combine the peanut butter, gingerroot, garlic, soy sauce, lime juice, vinegar, stock, and honey in a food processor and process until smooth. Season with salt and pepper. Spoon into a medium bowl, fold in the chopped cilantro, and sprinkle the green onion on top. May be refrigerated, covered, for 1 day; serve at room temperature. Makes 2 cups.

SHRIMP
Combine the oil, lime juice, chiles, gingerroot, garlic, and cilantro in a large shallow pan or baking dish. Add the shrimp and toss to coat. Refrigerate, covered, for 2 hours, no longer.

Preheat a gas or charcoal grill to high. Remove the shrimp from the marinade, shaking off the excess (discard the used marinade). Grill until just cooked through, 2 to 3 minutes on each side. To serve, arrange the shrimp on a large serving platter and accompany with a bowl of the Peanut Dipping Sauce.

Braised Ox Cheek with Carrot Puree and Spring Vegetables

For my money, there are two kinds of people in this world:

A: People willing to try things
B: People not willing to try things

Type B people annoy me when it comes to food. Fortunately, Vanessa and I and a vast majority of our friends are Type A folks, so that's been working out well. I even have a few converts in the works, which is fun. Why do I mention this?

Ox cheeks. Was your initial reaction disgust? (Type B response) Or was your initial reaction "Hmmm... I wonder what that tastes like," or "I remember the last time I had it and it was the most tender, succulent and awesome piece of meat I've ever had." (Type A response)

After all, it's just protein. A collection of muscle fibers. No different sitting raw on your cutting board than any fillet steak, or leg meat, or rib, or shin, or chop. All there is is protein. And depending on which part of the animal the cut came from, will determine how much sinew and fat content the cut has (depending on what kind/how much work the muscle did) and thus, how it should best be cooked.

Ox cheeks appear on many of the best fine dining restaurant menus in the Europe. This is not intended to confuse or disgust their diners. It's not some kind of trick... I mean, the chefs aren't sitting back in the kitchen, peering through the window in the door to see if a diner ACTUALLY puts it in his/her mouth, so they can all snicker to one another and call it 'gross'.

It might just be because it is awesome. And if you never try it, you'll never know. I am here to tell you that for slow-cooking, low-heat applications, nothing beats the cheek for softness, tenderness and flavor. It is amazing. Also, it is by weight, one of the cheapest cuts you can buy. This is because of a few things:

1) Demand is not high because
a) people think it's gross (without having tried it)
b) people don't know how to prepare it

Now onto the recipe.

Word of warning: While I admire Tetsuya Wakuda, widely considered the best chef in Australia, his cookbook is lacking in the area of the descriptiveness of his recipes. The recipes assume a pretty high baseline of knowledge. Fortunately, I have enough knowledge to be dangerous. The recipe below it reprinted as it appeared in his cookbook. Items in parenthesis are mine, slipped in to clairfy some key points, such as: how long to cook this for and at what heat.

All that aside, the dish was amazing. The cheeks were wonderful and succulent, with semi-gelatinous strip running through the middle which broke down during cooking and created the most wonderful mouthfeel. The veggies were not a mere afterthought, but really cut through the richness of the meat. We're about to go cheek-crazy here soon. Look for more animal's cheeks in the coming weeks.

And rhymes.

2 ox cheeks, approximately 400 g each
plain flour for dusting
1 tablespoon grapeseed oil
1 liters chicken stock
100 ml soy sauce
1 leek, halved
2 stalks celery, left whole
200 ml sake
2 medium-sized carrots, whole
sea salt and white pepper
4-6 asparagus, halved
6 snowpeas
12 butter beans, halved
3- 4 baby carrots
1 large handful spinach

Clean the ox cheeks and cut into 4 pieces. Lightly dust with some plain flour and brown in the grapeseed oil in a frying pan. Transfer the browned pieces to a stockpot and cover with the chicken stock, soy sauce, leek, celery and sake. Add the medium-sized carrots. (Bring the liquid to a simmer. Cook the cheeks for 3 hours - until tender and soft) Once the carrots are soft (after an hour or so) remove from the pot and puree in a food processor. Adjust the puree to your desired consistency with more stock. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Keep cooking the ox cheeks over a low flame until tender, taking care not to overcook. Remove the cheeks from the pot and place on a plate. Cover with another plate and weigh down the ox cheeks. (Rest the ox cheeks like this for at least 20 minutes - you can finish the veggies and reduce the sauce during this resting time.)

Blanch the asparagus, snowpeas, beans, baby carrots and spinach separately.

(Reduce the cooking liquid at a rapid boil until it reaches desired consistency, or you can't take waiting anymore.)

To serve, place a little spinach at the base of each plate. Top with the ox cheek and spoon over some carrot puree. Place the asparagus, snowpeas, beans and baby carrots on top, and spoon over some sauce.

Lemon Meringue with Marinated Strawberries

This one is from Gordon Ramsay's high-roller cookbook entitles 3-Star Chef, which has his recipes from his flagship restaurant. I am proud to say that we ate there last month for our anniversary and it was wonderful.

This was a great summer dessert. It is also my first foray into making tuile biscuits and they aren't such a big fuss after all! This serves four people who will be suitably impressed.

LEMON MERINGUE:

50 g egg whites (2-3 large eggs)

37 ½ g caster sugar

finely grated zest of 2 lemons

icing sugar, to dust

STRAWBERRY SORBET:

250 g ripe strawberries, hulled

juice of 1 large lemon

100 g caster sugar

100 milliliters water

2 ¼ teaspoons liquid glucose

BLACK PEPPER AND SESAME TUlLES:

37 ½ g icing sugar

10 milliliters cold water

12 ½ g plain flour

25 g lightly salted butter, melted

15 g white sesame seeds

cracked black pepper, to sprinkle

VANILLA OIL

seeds from 1/2 vanilla pod

2 tablespoons olive oil

TO SERVE:

125 g strawberries (ideally including some fraises des bois), hulled and larger ones halved

good-quality aged balsamic vinegar, to drizzle

handful of small basil leaves

First, make the sorbet. Put the strawberries and lemon juice into a food processor and whz to a smooth puree. Tip into a saucepan, bring to the boil and let bubble until reduced by half. Allow to cool slightly, then rub the puree through a fine sieve to remove the seeds. Leave the puree to cool completely.

Put the sugar and water in a heavy-based saucepan. Add the liquid glucose and heat gently until the sugar has dissolved. Increase the heat and boil the syrup for 5 minutes until slightly thickened. Cool completely, then mix with the strawberry puree. Pour the mixture into an ice cream machine and churn until almost firm. Transfer to a suitable container and freeze until firm.

To make the tuiles, preheat the oven to 180C and line a flat baking sheet with a silicone liner (such as silpat or bake-o-glide). Sift the icing sugar into a bowl, add the water and stir until well blended. Mix in the flour, then stir in the melted butter. Finally, stir in the sesame seeds.

Spread 1-2 tsp of the batter on the prepared baking sheet. Place a large piece of baking parchment on top and roll out the batter thinly using a rolling pin. Carefully peel off the parchment and sprinkle over the black pepper. Bake for 6-8 minutes until golden brown. Leave to cool for 1 minute only.

While the tuile is still warm and pliable, cut it into long strips, about 1.5cm wide and 9cm long. If it becomes too brittle to cut, return to the oven for a minute to soften slightly. The tuiles will crisp up once cooled. Repeat, using the rest of the batter, to make more tuiles. Store in an airtight container, separating the layers with baking parchment, until ready to serve.

For the lemon meringue, preheat the oven to 200C. Line a nonmetal tray (suitable to go in a microwave) with baking parchment. Put the egg whites into a large clean bowl (or the bowl of an electric mixer). Beat slowly to begin with, then increase the speed to high and beat continuously until the egg whites form soft peaks. Gradually whisk in the sugar, a tablespoonful at a time, until fully incorporated and the meringue is smooth and glossy. Do not over-whisk; stop if the meringue begins to look grainy around the edges. Finally, carefully fold in the grated lemon zest.

Pipe the meringue in batches. Spoon into a disposable piping bag and cut off the tip to create an opening about 3.5cm in diameter. Pipe thick straight lines, about 9-10cm in length onto the lined tray. Gently pat down the peaked ends of each meringue with a wet finger. Microwave on the highest setting for 20 seconds. Remove and slide the baking parchment onto a baking sheet.

Dust the meringues heavily with icing sugar, then bake in the oven for about 3 minutes until lightly golden. The meringues should feel a little crisp on the outside where the sugar has caramelized, with a soft, slightly mallowy center.

For the vanilla oil, mix the vanilla seeds with the olive oil.

When ready to serve, trim the ends of the meringues diagonally, then use a palette knife to carefully lift them onto individual serving plates. Arrange the strawberries on both sides and drizzle with a little balsamic vinegar. Scatter the basil leaves around the berries and drizzle a little vanilla oil around each plate. Add a scoop of strawberry sorbet and a tulle to each plate and serve immediately, with the rest of the tuiles handed around separately.