Dog cockles gin sour

Open 6 dog cockles (coques d'amandes, amandelschelpen) like oysters and clean them.

Whisk 15 ml gin, 30 ml lemon juice, 20 ml sugar syrup and 2 tbsp egg white into a foam

Pour over the cockles with some dill

(A Blendbrothers recipe)

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Tomato bread-and-butter pudding with ricotta and mustard

If daubing day-old focaccia with mustard butter on one side and thick clouds of ricotta on the other, before baking it with an egg custard with cherry tomatoes and sage sounds up your street, then this is the recipe for you. Serve it warm, not piping hot, so the flavours fuse and the various components settle and slump all together as one. 

Heat the oven to 165°C (145°C fan) and butter a 25cm baking dish. In a bowl, beat 1 tbsp Dyon mustard and 30g butter. Butter 4, day-old, focaccia or baguette slices on one side with the mustard butter, then spread the other side with a layer of ricotta. Arrange the bread buttered side up in overlapping rows to fill the baking dish.

In a bowl, whisk 175ml milk, 150ml double cream, 4 chopped sage leaves and 3 beaten eggs, and season with plenty of pepper and a good pinch or two of salt. Pour over the bread and leave to soak for 15 minutes.

Scatter 200g halved cherry tomatoes evenly on top, sprinkle over 100g grated cheese (cheddar, gruyere or comté) and bake for 40–45 minutes, until the custard is set, but still a bit wobbly in the centre, the top is golden brown and the sides are bubbling.

Leave to rest for 10–15 minutes and serve with extra dijon on the side, if you like.

A green salad, dressed with a light vinaigrette, or steamed vegetables (green beans would be nice) make a fine serving suggestion to compensate for all the dairy. 

(Click here for Claire Thomsons original recipe)

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Vietnamese beef carpaccio

Dissolve 1 tbsp palm sugar in 1 tbsp lime juice and 1 tbsp fishsauce. Add 1/2 tsp minced garlic and 1/2 tsp finely sliced red chili

Serve as shown, with finely sliced Asian basil and the vinaigrette on a thin slice of carpaccio.

Then finely sliced spring onion and mint, hacked roasted peanuts and a slice of lime 

(Here Quyen Truong Thi's original recipe) 

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Aubergine 'carpaccio', tahini, thyme and pine nuts

Blacken 2 big aubergines (on the hob or under the ovengrill), cool a bit and peel the burned skin off. Lightly dust with fine salt and put in the fridge for a while to dehydrate.

Pre heat the oven to 190C. Cut the underside from bulb of garlic, lightly oil a piece of alu foil, place the garlic upright on the oiled foil and close the packet and put in the oven for 40 mins.

For the techina use the stick blender to mix 50g raw tahini with 1 tbsp lemon juice and add cold water, bit by bit, till the thickness of mayo.

Add a bit of salt and squeeze 3 or 4 garlic cloves in to the mix.

Toast 1 tbsp pine nuts in a dry pan and reserve.

Slice the green part of 2 spring onions.

Remove the stalk and cut the aubergines lengthwise in 4 slices and arrange them on 2 plates. Then cover with cling film and press or beat them to cover most of the plates.

Season with sea salt 

Squeeze 1/2 tomato empty upon each plate and use a piping bag to create nice circles of the techina. Add 1/2 tbsp young, hacked thyme, the pine nuts and the onion.

Take a tsp date syrup and use the tip of a knife to flick splatters on a place, then repeat with the 2nd plate.

Finally sprinkle some pul biber (Turkish pepper) on top

(Vegan recipe by Jigal Krant)

Sea bass and pickled strawberry

Start by making a light pickle using one part sugar to two parts rice wine vinegar and two parts water, and boil with peeled ginger and deseeded chilli, then chill. 

Thinly slice strawberries and add to the pickle mix for 4-5 hours – it’s a quick pickle to keep the fruit’s acidity and colour.

Puree 2 strawberries and blend with 2 tbsp olive oil, 1 tsp grated ginger, 1 tbsp mirin, 1 tbsp rice vinegar, a pinch of salt, a squeeze of lime juice and 1/2 tsp yuzu kosho to make a dressing. 

Then, finely slice and score raw sea bass, top with the dressing followed by the strawberry pickle and serve.

Khanh Tran-Thanh, chef at Angelina London

Janneke's quiche Lorraine

Heat the oven to 185°C

Put 450g (store bought, butter based) puff pastry onto a lightly floured surface, gather into a smooth ball, then roll out as thinly as you can.

Butter a 28 x 2,5cm pastry case, then line with the puff pastry and put in the fridge for 1 hour.

After that cover with baking paper, fill with dry beans or coins and bake for 12 mins.

Remove the filling and the paper and bake the pastry for 7-8 mins more until pale golden. 

While the pastry cooks, prepare the filling. Heat a small frying pan, tip in 240g lardons and fry for a couple of mins. Drain off any liquid that comes out, then continue cooking until the lardons just start to colour, but aren’t crisp. Remove and drain on paper towels.

Slice a 5 shallots and use the same pan to sweat them.

Stir 200ml crème fraîche to slacken it, then add 4 eggs and season (you shouldn’t need much salt) and add a pinch of ground nutmeg

Start filling the pre-baked base with the shallots, then scatter over the bacon.

Continue with thick slices of a 225g Camembert and crumble some blue cheese in-between. Finally pour in the egg mix and bake for 30 mins. 

Let the quiche settle for 4-5 mins,then remove from the tin. 

Serve freshly baked, with a nice salad although it’s also good cold.

You can easily freeze the rest.

(A Janneke Muileboom recipe)

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Seabream, fig leaves, macadamia, capers

Mix 5 young, green fig leaves (I have a fig tree in the garden), 30g spinach leaves and 200 ml grape seed oil and blitz with the stick blender during 3 mins.

Then put in a 90°C oven during 2 hrs. Drain through a muslin cloth, put in a jam jar and refrigerate.

Mix 1 tbsp capers, 4 tbsp fig leaf oil, 1 tbsp salmon roe, 3 tbsp hacked macadamia nuts and 1 tbsp hacked anchovy and warm on a low heat.

Then panfry 2 dorade filets  skin side down for 3 mins, then turn and fry for 2 more mins.

Season with salt and pepper.

Serve as shown, decorate with fennel flowers, rucola flowers and small basil leaves.

(Recipe by Blendbrothers)

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Flash fried baby squid, tomato-oil, garlic

Pre-heat the oven on 180°C

Put 10 cherry tomatoes in boiling water for 10 sec, then quickly cool in icewater and peel

Mix them with 150 ml mild olive oil, 8g basil, 10g crushed garlic, 2g rosemary, 3g thyme and 2g sea salt and put in a covered oven dish in the hot oven for 40 mins to create tomato oil.

Clean and peel 200g baby squid, slice into rings, rinse again and dab dry.

Flash fry them in a tbsp oil and season with pepper, salt, a few drops of lemon juice and lemon zest 

Serve with the cherry tomatoes, a few tablespoons tomato oil and parsley

(Recipe by Blendbrothers)

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Gin Cured Salmon with Cucumber Ketchup

Place 70g salt and 40g caster sugar into a bowl and mix. Line a  baking tray with several layers of cling film. Pour half of the sugar and salt mixture into the tray, making sure it is spread evenly over the tray.

Place 300g salmon on top then cover it with the remaining mixture and sprinkle over 10 ml Hendricks gin.

Wrap tightly in cling film and leave in the fridge for 24 hours. Remove the cling film and rinse under cold running water to wash away the sugar and salt; pat the salmon dry with a tea-towel.

For the ketchup, put 1/2 cucumber, 25ml rice vinegar, 1/2 tsp sugar and 1/2 tsp salt into a food processor, blitz then add 1 tsp xanthum gum until thickened.

For the pickle, warm 10g sugar and 20ml rice wine vinegar in a pan, add slices of 2 small snack cucumbers and dill, then leave to infuse.

To serve, slice the salmon thinly and place around a pile of the pickled cucumbers and a spoonful or two of ketchup. Decorate with borage flowers and dill.

(Here James Martins original recipe)

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Sushi behind the dikes

Boil 200g sushi rice.

Finely slice a small (snack) cucumber and a big radish.

Bring 75ml rice vinegar to the boil with 1tbsp caster sugar and tsp salt, cool and reserve

Once the rice is cool, mix with 4 tbsp of the vinegar and 1 tsp black sesame seeds.

Put the rest of the vinegar in 2 small bowls and add cucumber in one and the radish slices in the other. Keep in the fridge for an hour.

Start the sushis with rice, the cucumber and 1/2 salted raw herring.

Cover with rice.

Continue with radish slices  and another 1/2 herring

Finish with wakamé, wasabi mayo, green wasabi sesame seeds and a crispy triangle of toasted nori.

(My version of a recipe by Karin Luiten)

Grilled mackerel with herbed pearl barley salad

First make cucumber ketchup. Put 1 cucumber, 1/2 small onion, a tiny piece of peeled ginger, 1 peeled clove of garlic, 1/2 tsp Dyon musterd, 40ml sherry vinegar and 1 tbsp sugar in a blender, puree until smooth, then pour into a large saucepan and bring to a simmer. When the mix starts to bubble, turn down the heat to medium-low and cook, stirring occasionally, for 35-40 minutes, until reduced by a third.

Meanwhile, bring a pan of salted water to a boil, then simmer 60g pearl barley according to the packet instructions (up to 50 minutes), until tender. While the barley is cooking, toast 15g sunflower seeds in a dry pan until lightly browned, then tip into a small bowl.

Boil 40g samphire for 3 mins and a handful of mini asparagus for 1 min.

Once the pearl barley is cooked, drain and empty into a separate bowl, dress with the olive oil and lemon juice, and season.

Heat the grill to its highest setting. Season 2 mackerel fillets and rub all over with a little oil. Grill for three to four minutes on one side, then turn over and grill for a few minutes more on the other side, until a skewer slides easily into the thickest part of the fish with no resistance.

Toss the barley with 35g rucola, the samphire, the mini asparagus, 1 quartered, cored and sliced apple and a 10g mix of mint, chervil, parsley and dill, setting aside some of the herb mix to garnish, and pile on to plates.

Serve as shown, with the cucumber ketchup on the side. Scatter with the sunflower seeds.

(Here Thomasina Miers' original recipe) 

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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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Asparagus carbonara

Peel 4 asparagus. Halve lengthwise, then cut each in 3 parts. 

Fry in 1 tbsp olive oil with 1/2 minced clove of garlic, for 5 mins.

Season with salt and pepper when nicely browned, deglaze with 35ml white wine and reduce the wine till 20% is left.

Add 100ml double cream, put the lid on the pan and softly boil for another 5 mins.

Get from the heat and cool down a bit, before stirring in an egg yolk

Serve as shown with grated Parmesan and black pepper

(A Blend Brother recipe)

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Harolds tomato party

Place cheese cloth in a sieve on a bowl and pour in 300ml goat's yogurt. Place it in the fridge and let it drain overnight. You will see that the whey has leaked out of the yogurt.

Spoon the result into a bowl, mix in 1tsp vanilla extract and 1tsp piment d'espelette. Season with salt and pepper. Place in the refrigerator until use.

Preheat the oven to 80°C (or 95°C if you don't have much time).

Skin 300g honey tomatoes: bring a pan of water to the boil and have a bowl of cold water (ice cold!) ready.
Cut a very shallow cross at the bottom of the tomatoes; you cut through the skin but not through the tomato.
Submerge the tomatoes in the boiling water for about 10 seconds, then place them in the ice water.
Carefully remove the skins from the tomatoes and keep 12 nice skins aside. Set the tomatoes aside under cling film until use.

Pat the skins dry and place them on a baking paper. Fold the paper in half so that the tomato skins are in between and place an oven dish on it.
Leave this in the oven for 3 hours (at 80°C, an hour at 95°C also works but is slightly less crispy).
Set aside until use.

Set aside 14 tomatoes and grind the rest in a blender (or run through the juicer).
Place a (double) paper towel in a sieve and pour in the pureed tomatoes so that clear juice flows into the container below.
Set aside until use.

Remove a nice slice of sushi ginger from the jar (or a few smaller ones) and cut into nice, even strips. You need 14.

Cut 5 Amsterdam onions into thin rings. Remove the thin skins and push the rings loose. You need 14 of these, it's nice if you vary in size.

Start plating with the goat's curd 

Drizzle some clear tomato juice over it.

Put 7 cherry tomatoes on top.

A strip of sushi ginger on each tomato, followed by a yellow onion ring

Place the crispy tomato skins between the tomatoes.

Finish with some coarse sea salt, cress and edible flowers

(Here Harolds original recipe)

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Sea bass tartare, cottage cheese, basil oil

Blitz 40g basil leaves, 20g spinach and 150g grapeseed oil during 2 mins.

Warm the basil oil till it starts to separate, sieve through a muslin cloth. Store in a jam jar in the fridge.

Slice 2 100g filets of sea bass into small cubes, mix with 2 tsp lemon juice, 2tsp lemon zest, pepper, salt and olive oil.

Mix 70g cottage cheese with 4g dashi vinegar (or rice vinegar), a glug of tomato ketchup, 60g tomato juice. Taste and season with salt and pepper.

Then stir in 8 tbsp of the basil oil, to make a nice shift sauce.

Serve as shown, with basil leaves and rape seed flowers

(Recipe by the BlendBrothers)

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Lobster tail, carrot foam, furikake

Bring 500ml water to the boil with 8g kombu and 1 tbsp katsuobushi flakes to make a dashi.

Rougly cut 200g carrot and boil in the dashi for 20 mins.

Put the carrot in the blender with a cup of the dashi, put through a sieve.

Mix 2 tbsp furikake (a sesame seeds and seaweed mix, from a jar) with 1/2 tbsp popped (puffed) quinoa.

Stick teaspoons in 2 lobster tails to keep them straight and boil them in the dashi, 1 min per 30g of weight.

Then rinse under cold water to stop the boiling process.

Warm the carrot, season with salt and pepper, cut 50g ice-cold butter into cubes and whip them into the carrot/dashi to create a beurre blanc.

Get the lobster meat from the shells and serve as shown, finish with sumak and edible flower(s)

(Here the original recipe from Culinaire Ambiance in Flemish)

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Caramelized Shrimps and Greek Yogurt

Mix 1 tbsp sesame oil, 1,5 tbsp soy sauce, 1/2 tbsp honey and 1/2 tbsp grated ginger and soak 250g cooked and shelled shrimps for 3 mins.

Brown them in hot oil, caramelize one side then the other and set aside.

Whisk 100g Greek yogurt with the juice of 1/2 lime, 2 tbsp chopped chives and a pinch of salt and pepper.

Hack a hardboiled egg and add to the yoghurt.

Serve the caramelised shrimps on top of a generous spoonful of yoghurt, finish with rucola and Thai basil leaves and drizzle with balsamic cream.

Adjust the portion to make an amuse:

(Here the original recipe in The Good Gourmet magazine) 

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Smoked eel, celeriac, lime

Clean but do not peel a celeriac. Season with salt and pepper and put a knob of butter on top, then tightly pack in 3 layers of alufoil. Put in a 160°C oven for 3 hours.

Mix 37g lime juice with 5g ginger syrup, 20g water, 20g sugar and 2g agar agar. Boil for 2 mins, then pour in a glass container and cool in the fridge for at least 30 mins to create a jelly.

Hack 20g chives, warm in 45g sunflower oil at 50°C the put in the blender for 5 mins. Mix 20g cream with 15g sour cream and season with salt and pepper.

Slice a smoked eel in nice rectangles, put the left overs with mayonaise in the blender to create a smoked eel mayo.

Start plating with the chives oil, mix in some cream to create a shift sauce.

Cut the celeriac in nice blocks with the smoked eel on top.

Finish with dots of eel mayo and tiny blocks of lime jelly 

(Here Haroldkookt's original recipe in Dutch)

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Veal tartare with oyster

Slice 50g veal in thin strips, then in small cubes. Hack 2 oysters. Mix with 2 tsp Ponzu and 1/2 tbsp chives. Taste and season with salt and pepper.

Slice cucumber very thinly and create 4 smell rolls.

First fill the oyster shell with 1 tbsp wakamé, finish with dots of sour cream and mustard cress.

The samphire was just a bottom to balance the shell.

(Here the original recipe from Culinaire Ambiance in Flemish)

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Jumbo Shrimps with Chopped Guacamole

Clean 4 Jumbo shrimps and panfry them

To make the salsa, remove the skin from 1/8 cucumber, remove the seeds and cut the rest into small 5 mm cubes. 

Do the same for 1/2 Roma tomato; then reduce 1/2 avocado into cubes of the same size.

Mix the diced cucumber, tomato, and avocado with a tbsp olive oil, 1,5 tbsp jalapeno’s relish, some tabasco and salt and pepper.

Serve as shown , with broccoli cress and chives

(Here the original recipe in The Good Gourmet magazine) 

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