Steamed asparagus with jamón and crispy fried egg

Trim the woody ends of 16 green and 4 purple asparagus, then steam the green spears for three to four minutes, until tender to the tip of a knife and the purple for just 1 min.

Meanwhile, put 75 ml olive oil in a nonstick pan on a medium-high heat, until it starts to shimmer. Add 2 free range eggs and fry until the whites are bubbly and crisp at the edges but the yolks are still runny. Remove with a spatula and pat their bottoms dry on a sheet of kitchen roll.

Arrange the asparagus on two warmed plates, top each portion with an egg and 3 slices of Serano jamón, then drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil and scatter with flaky sea salt and black pepper. 

Brush thick slices of Turkish bread with olive oil and panfry in a hot griddle pan.

Sprinkle over some chives , decorate with the purple petals of a chives flower and serve as a lovely starter or light lunch.

(Here José Pizarro's original recipe)

PS In the end I decided to panfry some more Serano slices and the crispness added extra flavour (not on the photo)

'Nduja spiced prawns, ricotta and fennel piadina

Combine 100g ricotta, 1/2 lemon zest, 1 tbsp basil leaves, 1 tbsp chopped chives and 1 tbsp chopped mint with a pinch of salt and black pepper.

Heat a frying pan over medium heat and add a dash of oil, followed by 50g ‘nduja. Let it melt away, then add 12 king prawns for a couple of minutes, or until completely pink. Finish with a small squeeze of lemon juice, then remove from the heat

Slice 1/2  fennel head very thinly.
 

Heat a clean, dry frying pan over a medium heat and add a piadina to the pan. Cook for 1 minute, then flip and cook for a minute more. Repeat with a second piadina. In my electric table grill it was just 30sec per piadina.

Spread each piadina with some of the herbed ricotta, top with the fennel and some prawns and spoon over the ‘nduja from the pan. Top each with a few basil leaves and little more lemon zest and fold

(Here the original GBK recipe)

Radicchio, Gorgonzola, roasted fig and hot honey piadina

Preheat the oven to 200°C/gas mark 6

Place 4 quartered figs in a baking tray and dot with butter. Mix 1 tbsp runny honey and 1 tablespoon lemon juice together and pour it over the figs, then transfer to the oven and roast for 15 minutes

Tear washed and dried radicchio leaves into smaller pieces if large, then toss with a tablespoon of lemon juice and a dash of olive oil. 

Season with salt and pepper

Heat a frying pan over a medium heat and add a piadina to the dry pan. Cook for 1 minute, then flip and cook for a minute more. Repeat with the second piadina

Lay each piadina flat and top with some radicchio, then top with roasted figs and 70g crumbled Gorgonzola. 

Warm 1 tbsp honey and a pinch of chilli flakes in a small saucepan until runny, then drizzle on top

(Here the original GBCK recipe)

Egg-in-a-Hole With Asparagus

Heat oven to 220°C. Grease a rimmed sheet pan with 1 tablespoon melted butter.

In a large, shallow dish, whisk together 1 egg, 120 ml milk, 60 ml grated Parmesan, a large pinch of salt and pepper, and a tablespoon melted butter. 

Add 2 wide slices of sourdough bread and let soak for about 2 minutes per side. The bread should be soft and soaked through, but not falling apart.

Arrange soaked bread on one side of the prepared sheet pan. Pour any remaining soaking mixture from bowl onto the bread slices. Using a cookie cutter or a knife, carefully cut a 5 cm hole in each of the slices of soaked bread. Place the cut-out rounds alongside the bread slices on the pan.

On the other side of the sheet pan, add 225g green asparagus, 1,5 thinly sliced spring onions, 3 fresh thyme sprigs and a large pinch of salt and pepper. Drizzle asparagus with olive oil, tossing well, and spread into an even single layer.

Bake until bread is golden on top, 10 minutes. If the asparagus is tender and browned after 10 minutes, use tongs to transfer the stalks to a plate and tent with foil to keep warm. Thick asparagus may need more time, in which case leave it in the pan for the next step.

Using a spatula, flip the bread slices and cut-outs. Crack 2 eggs into the holes (the eggs may overflow a bit, and that is OK). Season eggs lightly with salt and pepper. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan on top of eggs and bread.

Return pan to the oven and bake until eggs are barely set, about 5 to 7 minutes. The yolks and even some of the whites should jiggle slightly.

(Note that the eggs will continue to cook on the sheet pan once out of the oven, so if you like runny yolks, err on the side of early removal.) However, if the egg whites are still translucent, bake for another minute or two.

To serve, place egg toasts on plates, top each toast with half the asparagus (discarding the thyme sprigs) and garnish with sliced spring onion .

(Here Melissa Clarks original recipe)

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Panfried asparagus, scrambled eggs, toasted brioche

Pre heat the oven at 180° C

Peel 6 white asparagus, remove the ends and boil during 6 mins in salted water. 

Whisk 4 eggs with some cream. Season with salt, pepper and parsley

Brush 2 thick slices of brioche with olive oil and toast them in the hot oven for about 10 mins.

Slice each asparagus in 3 parts, pan fry a few mins in butter, then add the eggs and scramble them.

Serve as shown with cress

(Here the video of Jeroen Meeus with his recipe, in Flemish)

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Stacked omelet, smoked salmon, apple, crab and brown shrimps

Make a cocktail sauce from 2 tbsp mayo, 1 tbsp ketchup, a few drops of whisky, a bit of cayenne pepper and 1 tsp worcester sauce.

Mix 80g brown shrimps with 1 tbsp cocktail sauce.

Do the same with 100g crab meat. Taste and add some lime juice.

Use 4 cm service rings and start at the bottom with cold omelet, followed by smoked salmon, then a slice of apple, then the crabmeat.

Then do it all again: with omelet, smoked salmon, apple and finally the shrimps.

Finish with frisée and crispy croutons. Add a tbsp yogurt to the rest of the cocktail sauce and spoon it around this tower of luxury.

(Click here for Jereoen Meus original recipe in Flemish)

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Crispy noodle omelet

Cover 75g rice noodles with boiling water and leave for 5 mins. Then drain and reserve.

Mix 1 tbsp grated ginger with 1 tbsp grape seed oil and 1 pressed clove of garlic and fry for 1 min then add the noodles and 3 lengthwise sliced bimi's and wok for another 5 mins.

Whisk 3 eggs before adding to the pan and make sure all the noodles are well covered

Fry for about 4 mins, then add 50g bean sprouts, 2 sliced spring onions and 3 g coriander leaves

Fold and halve before serving with chili sauce and ketjap manis

(A recipe from Donna Hay)

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Egg Benedict

Ham, baby spinach, poached egg and sauce Hollandaise (click on 'sauce' label)

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Portobello, poached egg on brioche

Cut 2 portobellos in 1 cm thick slices and mix them with 1 clove of garlic, 3 tbsp olive oil, 1/4 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp sea salt and pepper from the mill.

Preheat the oven at 220C

Mix 2 tbsp olive oil with another 1/4 tsp cinnamon, 1 garlic clove, 1/8 tsp chili flakes and 1/4 tsp sea salt. Cut 2 thick slices of brioche and cover them with this mix.

Bake the mushrooms in the oven for about 13 minutes, after 7 minutes put the bread in to toast.

Poach the eggs and serve with basil leaves and a spoonful of sour cream.

(recipe by Ottolenghi)

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Piadina chicken

Start with making tomato/ginger chutney (thank you, Martha Stewart): In a medium saucepan, heat oil over medium. Add 1 chopped onion, 2 minced garlic cloves, and 1 tbsp grated ginger. Cook, stirring, until onion is softened, 5 to 7 minutes. Add a tin of diced tomatoes, 50 ml red wine vinegar, 50 gr brown sugar, and 35 gr raisins. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until thick and jamlike, 35 to 45 minutes. Cool completely.

Grill 2 chicken thighs. Finely cut a shallot into rings, grate 50 grs cheese. Wash rucola.

Spread 2 tbsp tomato/ginger chutney over a panini. Then put some chicken meat on one half, plus shallot rings, a handful of rucula and some grated cheese .

Fold the flatbread and bake in an electric grill for a couple of mins.

If your supermarket does not stock these Italian flatbreads it's easy to make your own with 250 gr flour, 1 g soda bicarbonate, 50 to 75 g lard (you can substitute this with some extra virgin olive oil)
1/2 tsp salt, Water and white wine in equal quantity, enough to make a smooth dough

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Smoked mackerel, beetroot, avocado, prawns.

A few bits of smoked mackerel, some fried prawns. Half a beetroot thinly sliced, the other half pureed with 120 ml chicken stock
Half an avocado diced, the other half pureed with 120 ml vegetable stock, then I added 1 leaf of gelatine.
Some thinly sliced red onion, a few dollops of mayo/horseradish... that's all folks.

(Inspired by Belgian masterchef Mario Aerts)

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Chicken fajita for posh people

The best way to eat fajita is with your hands but if you crave decorum and want to use fork and knife, here you go. From top to bottom:

Basil Leaves

Creme fraiche

Red fajita sauce from a jar

Red onions

Avocado

Basil leaves

Grilled paprika

Grilled chicken

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 'Breakfast in Gascony" on Amazon

Herring, beetroot salad

In a sense this could be a Thai recipe, combining salt (herring) with sweet (mayo, beetroot) and sour (gurkins, vinegar, capers, Granny Smith)). 

Basic ingredients are equal parts of boiled potatoes and beetroot, in 5x5 mm dices. The dressing is made from mayonaise and horse radish, but I added a little apple vinegar. 

A quarter Granny Smith, finely diced, slices of a shallot, spoonful of capers and finely cut gurkin or cornichons. Spoonfull of dill. 

Mix and taste, leave in the fridge for at least a couple of hours. Taste again, now you can always add more of one of the ingredients. Or if sour is not your favourite use a sweet apple and leave out the vinegar.

Mine was served with samphire. I like the raw, salted herring on top, but others mix the herring with the salad.

Bruschetta, broad beans, goat's cheese

Delicious bite on a hot summer night.

Use a garlic press and squeeze 1 clove of garlic into some olive oil. Soften on a low heat.

Brush the oil over the bread.

Fry the bread in a dry pan. 

Boil the fresh peas and (double podded) beans 3 mins in unsalted water, then mix with olive oil, lemon juice, lemon zest and chopped mint.

Crumble the goat's cheese.

Serve as shown

Fresh lobster

Buy or catch a lobster. 

Fill pan with 4 liter water, half a bottle of white wine and 1 liter chicken stock, add 2 onions (halved), thyme, rosemary, 1 diced leek, 2 laurel leaves, 2 crushed garlic cloves. salt and pepper. Bring to the boil.

Put in the lobster, head first. Boiling time: 1 min per 100 grams.

Cut in half. Serve with mayo...

Don't forget to use the leftovers to make a delicious lobster stock!

Leeks, chicken liver, Camembert

Whenever we are in a French supermarket we buy a package of chicken liver confit. They have already been slow-cooked in duck fat, so at home all we have to do is to give them a nice tan in a dry, hot pan.

But you can use normal chicken livers of course. 

At the same time we soften, in butter,  the white of 4 big leeks and 1 onion, cut into rings. A round baking tin is covered with store-bought puff pastry. Then the pastry is covered with baking paper and held down with coins or beans and pre-baked for 10 mins in a 200° C oven. 

After removing the weights and the sulpherised paper the tin goes back in the oven for another 10 mins. Then lower the temperature to 185°.

Then the baked pastry is filled with the softened leeks and onion, chicken livers are put on top and last but not least slices of good Camembert are covering it. 

Finally beat 3 eggs with 250 cl crême fraiche and some black pepper. 

Pour the mixture in the quiche. Bake for another 30-35 mins till golden brown:

Smoked duckbreast and goat's cheese salad

Start with the dressing. 

Mix walnut oil, - vinager, mustard, cherry jam, salt and pepper, then add olive oil. 

Roast some pine nuts in a dry pan. 

Mix salad leaves, green beans, black tomatoes. Add slices of smoked duck breast , soft goat's cheese and the warm pine nuts

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Ham, salsify, honey/mustard dressing

Boil the salsify (schorseneren) for about 20 mins. Drain and fry a minute or two in a hot grillpan. 

For the dressing mix 2 tbsp mustard, 1 tbsp honey and 1 tbsp lemon juice. Then add wall- or hazelnut-oil and whisk. 

I wanted to add some chives...but didnot have any. 

Serve with a soft boiled egg, ham and some caviar.

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Salmon, eggwhite, beetroot and horseradish 'snow'.

Place 400g salmon fillet flesh up on a double sheet of foil. Sprinkle 2 tbsp salt, 1 tbsp sugar, 1/2 tsp toasted fennel seeds and 1/2 tsp lemon zest over. Pour on 2 tbsp  Pernod (if using) and close the foil. Place in the fridge for at least 24 hours.

Rinse off the marinade under cold water then pat dry the salmon. Cut 2 beetroots into 5mm dice. Peel a boiled egg. Separate the white from the yolk, then chop the whites.

Slice the salmon very finely across the fillet, line the slices up nicely on plates and arrange the beetroot on top. Sprinkle on the chopped egg whites then arrange some picked dill all over. Finish with a drizzle of olive oil and a little grated, frozen horseradish "snow".

(Here the original Bruno Loubet recipe)

Melon, strawberries, raspberries, grape, mint