Stuffed baby squid

Begin by making the tomato sauce. Put 150g very finely sliced onion into a saucepan with 1 tbsp olive oil and let it sweat slowly over a low-medium heat for around 15 minutes until it's soft (do not allow it to colour). If it looks as though it might catch, add a splash of water to the pan

Add 500g large, ripe tomatoes, 1tbsp tomato paste and season with salt. Leave to simmer over a low heat for about 45 minutes, until the tomatoes are thick and rich, adding a little water if the level of the liquid gets too low. Remove from the heat

Put 1/2 tbsp oil oil in another pan with 1 chopped clove of garlic and cook over a low-medium heat. When it's almost golden brown, add 10g basil leaves and stir. Pass the oil through a sieve into the cooked tomato sauce

Whisk the sauce to break up the tomatoes. If it's too thick, thin it with a little water, ideally some pasta cooking water. Pass the sauce through a wide-holed sieve resting over a bowl, and use the back of a ladle to extract the smooth mixture. I added 1tbsp homemade red pesto.

Check the seasoning and add more salt if necessary

Preheat the oven to 200°C/gas mark 6

Blanch 60g frozen peas in boiling water for 30 seconds, then drain well

Put 2 baby squid (keep the tentacles) and 1 (boiled) egg white into a food processor and pulse until they are roughly chopped. Add 100g diced romano peppers, the blanched peas and 5g chives and continue to pulse until you have a coarse mixture

Use this mixture to stuff 4 baby squid, keeping some space free at the top. Place a piece of the tentacles at the end of the filling and close the calamari with a rosemary sprig or a toothpick

Trim the other end of each calamari to create a tiny hole and keep the filling from bursting out when cooking

Heat a large heatproof baking dish over a medium heat and fry a garlic clove in 1 tbsp of olive oil. Add the calamari and fry for a couple of minutes until browned, then pour in 50ml white wine and let it evaporate over a medium-high heat

Add 200ml of the tomato sauce and 100ml fish stock, then transfer to the oven for 20 minutes. You can check the filling is cooked through by sticking a toothpick in the centre of the filling; it should feel hot when you touch your lips. Serve immediately

(Here Francesco Mazzei's original recipe)

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Beetroot röstis with hot smoked salmon and creamed horseradish

Preheat the oven to 200°C, gas mark 6. Coarsely grate 125g waxy potatoes and 125g yellow beetroot. Place in a clean tea towel or piece of muslin and squeeze out any excess liquid, then place in a bowl. Season lightly with salt and black pepper

Line a baking sheet with baking parchment and brush with a little of olive oil. Place two 8.5cm metal rings or cutters on the sheet and fill them the rösti mixture to form a thin cake. 

Drizzle the rösti with a bit more olive oil and bake for 15 minutes until crisp and golden. Remove from the oven and cover with foil to keep warm

Meanwhile, stir 1/3tbsp creamed horseradish into 1 tbsp crème fraîche and season with lime zest, dilll, salt and black pepper. 

To serve, place a rösti on each plate and top with flakes of hot smoked salmon and a teaspoon of the dill&horseradish cream. 

Garnish with a little black pepper and a sprinkling of chopped dill, and serve with a few watercress leaves.

Cook's tips

Make and cook the rösti several hours in advance. Reheat in a hot oven for 5 minutes before serving.

(A Country Living recipe)

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Hot smoked salmon amuse

< Dill

< Wasabi sesame 

< Mustard sauce

< Hot smoked salmon

< Wakamé/cucumber

Mix 1tbsp whole grain mustard, 1 tbsp sugar, 1/2 dl sour cream and 1/2tbsp white wine vinegar in the blender blender. Whisk in 1/2dl sunflower oil, bit by bit, to create a nice emulsion. Taste and season.

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Julia Moskin's Best Chicken Salad

    What lifts chicken salad up is the pure, clean texture of breast meat – one of the  very few really good uses for this almost entirely flavorless cut. Poaching it is the only way to get the right texture. But if the water boils, the meat contracts and stiffens and is ruined.

To counter this, some years ago Julia Moskin adopted a Chinese method for poaching that is foolproof, low maintenance and ideal for summer cooking. All it requires is a heavy pot – enameled or plain cast-iron is ideal – and a bit of nerve.

This is because you do not cook the chicken. Instead, you slip it into boiling water, turn off the heat and then walk away for at least two hours. 

Over time, the gentle but steady residual heat cooks the chicken through, giving it a texture the California chef and interpreter of Chinese cuisine Barbara Tropp called “plush” – perfect for chicken salad. (It turns out that the Southern-cooking doyenne Edna Lewis poached her chicken in much the same way.)

Choose a heavy pot or Dutch oven with a tightfitting lid. It should be large enough to hold the chicken snugly, but not much bigger. Fill pot about 2/3 full with cold water, but don’t put the chicken in yet. Boil some extra water in a teakettle.

Add 2 scallions and 6 peppercorns to the water, cover and bring to a rolling boil. Turn off heat and slip 2 bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts into the hot water. If needed, add boiling water from the kettle to cover chicken with water by 4 cm. Replace the lid and let chicken rest in the hot water for about 2 hours. Do not turn the flame back on: The pot will retain enough heat to cook chicken thoroughly and safely. (To test, cut into 1 piece of chicken and check the meat near the bone. If it is still pink, return the pot to low heat, bring the water to a simmer and simmer 10 minutes more.)

Lift chicken out of the pot. Remove and discard bones, skin and fat. Pat the meat dry with paper towels, then cut or shred into small bite-size pieces and transfer to a bowl. (Meanwhile, simmer cooking liquid until tasty, strain and refrigerate or freeze to use as chicken stock.)

In a bowl, whisk together juice of 1/4 lemon, 70g mayonnaise and 40g creme fraiche. If using, whisk in 1/2 tsp Dyon mustard. Taste and adjust the seasonings and thickness to your liking. Pour over chicken, scraping the bowl clean with a rubber spatula.

Add 1 sliced stick of celery, 1/2 sliced red onion, 1,5 tbsp chopped fresh tarragon leaves and salt and pepper. Toss gently but thoroughly. Refrigerate, covered, at least 4 hours. Taste and add salt and pepper as needed. 

Serve as shown above, with walnuts and apple julienne, as a small appetizer.

Or, as a lunch, with salad, crackers, grapes and cherry tomatoes

(Recipe Julia Moskin, New York Times)

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