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)

Peppered chicken and pickled watermelon salad

This dish delivers on multiple fronts: salt and spice from the peppered chicken and sweet and sharp from the pickled watermelon. Store any excess pickle in a sterilised jar in the fridge for up to two weeks, and use to spoon on salads or grilled meat.

Put 800g diced watermelon, 1 sliced jalapeño and 170g caster sugar in a large, sterilised jar, give it a gentle shake to coat, then leave to macerate for 20 minutes. Add 125ml vinegar, 2 camomile tea bags, 2 tbsp mint leaves, a teaspoon of salt and 175ml water and cover with a piece of greaseproof paper. Seal the jar and refrigerate overnight.

Now for the chicken. Combine 2 tsp mixed ground peppercorns in a medium bowl, and set aside a quarter-teaspoon of the mix. Add 2 tbsp flour and a half-teaspoon of salt to the remaining ground peppercorns.

Put 1 tbsp oil in a medium frying pan on a high heat. Sandwich 3 boneless and skinless chicken thighs between two sheets of greaseproof paper and use a rolling pin to bash it out to ½cm thick. 

Coat the chicken in the pepper-flour mixture, then lay them one by one in the hot pan and fry for three minutes on each side. Transfer the chicken to a board, sprinkle an eighth of a teaspoon of salt over them all, and leave to rest.

Drain the pickle solids and set aside. Return the frying pan to a medium-high heat and add 200ml of the watermelon pickling liquid; Cook down the pickling liquid for five minutes, until it turns orange and syrupy and has reduced by four-fifths, then take off the heat.

Meanwhile, mix very thin rings of banana shallot, 45g watercress and the drained watermelon pickle, then transfer to a large plate with a lip. Cut each chicken thigh at an angle into three or four slices and arrange on top. 

Spoon over the reduced syrup, sprinkle on the reserved quarter-teaspoon of ground peppercorns and serve with lime halves for squeezing over

(Here Ottolenghi's original recipe and more)

Ezme salad, spicy yoghurt and aubergine dip

Cut 300g aubergines into 2,5cm cubes and heavily salt them, then leave them to sit for at least 20 minutes to draw out any excess moisture.

Heat 750ml vegetable oil in a heavy-based, cast-iron pan or saucepan (you can also do this in a deep fryer; just make sure the oil is clean). You want the oil to be about 180°C. Pat the aubergines dry, so they won’t spit at you when frying. Fry the aubergines, in batches if need be, for eight to 10 minutes, until brown on all sides, then leave to drain on a rack or on top of some kitchen paper. Although you’ve already used salt to draw out the moisture, you need to season them again now, while they’re still hot.

Fry 100g long green peppers in the same oil for five to seven minutes, until they’re soft and the skin is blistered, then drain. Again, season them while they’re hot.

Peel and slice 150g potatoes into 2,5cm cubes and put in a pan filled with heavily salted water, bring to a boil and cook until they’re just done – don’t overcook them, or they’ll break down when you mix everything together later, and make the mixture thick and floury. Leave everything to cool.

Now make a tomato sauce. In a wide frying pan, fry 2 cloves of garlic gently in 30ml olive oil (a wide pan just means it will cook more quickly); you don’t want it to take on any colour, so give it only a couple minutes. Add 1 tsp aci biber salçasi and 1/2 tsp pul biber, and fry for a couple of minutes more – you just want to bring the spices up to temperature and cook the rawness out them. Add 250g grated tomatoes, turn up the heat, bring to a boil, then simmer for about 15 minutes, until you’re left with a smooth sauce. Add the 1/2 tsp caster sugar and season with salt.

Leave the sauce to cool, then mix in all the vegetables, trying not to break up the potatoes. Tip into a bowl and leave to sit in the fridge overnight – the longer it chills, the better it gets; however, you have three days maximum to eat it.

<Then make the labneh, a strained yoghurt that’s served as a cold starter around Turkey and the Middle East. I find this works best with a clean pair of tights, but if you happen to have something more appropriate knocking about, such as cheesecloth or muslin, then go with that.

Spoon 325ml thick yoghurt into a bowl, add 1/2 tsp sea salt, 1,5 tsp caster sugar, 1 peeled and grated clove of garlic and the juice of 1/2 lemon, and give everything a good stir. Scrape the yoghurt mix into your fabric of choice, hang up and leave gravity to work its magic – I hang mine in the garden for at least two hours. The longer the yoghurt is left to hang, the stiffer it becomes; you want it to be a cream-cheese consistency.

Melt 30g unsalted butter in a saucepan on a medium heat and, just as the kitchen starts to fill with butterscotch smells and the butter has a slight golden colour, go in with 1 tsp pul biber. It’s important to catch the butter just at the beginning of the browning process; if it’s too hot, it will fry off the deep flavours from the pul biber. Give the pan a little swirl, take it off the heat and leave the pul biber to infuse and bleed out its colour and flavour.

When the yoghurt is ready to serve, whack it on to a plate, create a little well in the middle that the hot butter can sit in and serve immediately.

<Ezme is another kebab-shop classic. 

Finely chop a sweet pointed red pepper, 1/2 cucumber, a peeled medium tomato and 2 spring onions individually, then run the knife over them again until they are super fine and put in a bowl. Add 2g sea salt, 1/2 tsp sumac and 1/4 tsp smoked sweet paprika. Chop 10g parsley leaves and 2,5g mint leaves herbs as finely as you can, then add them, too, before stirring in 25ml good olive oil, 5ml balsamic vinegar and 10ml pomegranate molasses. 

Serve with flat bread

(Here Big Has' original recipe)

 

Butternut, spelt, pomegranate and feta

Preheat the oven at 200°C

Mix 30 ml olive oil, 1 tbsp pomegranate molasses, 1/2 tbsp pimentos,  1/2 tsp chili flakes in a bowl, add 600g butternut squash slices and 2 red onions cut into wedges. Season with salt and pepper and stir well.

Put in a single layer on a paper covered baking tray and in the hot oven for 30 mins.

Boil 100g spelt for 10 mins, drain and cool.

Make a dressing from 30g olive oil, 1 tbsp pomegranate molasses, 1 minced clove of garlic and salt and pepper.

Put the spelt, a handful of mint leaves, 1/2 handful of parsley leaves and 50g pomegranate seeds in a bowl, add the dressing and mix well before dividing over 2 plates.

Add the hot butternut and onions.

Finish with 100g feta and 50g pomegranate seeds.

(A Donna Hay recipe)

Crispy Tofu With Cashews and Blistered Sugarsnaps

Clean and trim 200g sugar snaps. Mince 2 spring onions and 10g minced mint leaves. In your favourite large sauté pan, add 1 tablespoon olive oil and heat to high. Add the sugar snaps and sauté, stirring occasionally, until blistered and just tender, about 3 minutes. Season with salt and move to a bowl. Toss the peas with 1 tbsp rice vinegar, spring onions, mint and 1/24 tsp chili flakes. Set aside.

Slice a 200g block of  tofu in half horizontally, and place on paper towels to dry any excess liquid. Pat the top with paper towels as well. You'll want the tofu to be a dry as possible. Season with salt and pepper.

Returning to the same sauté pan, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil to hot. Cut the drained tofu into 1 cm pieces and sear until tofu is browned and golden on all sides, about 8 minutes. Move the tofu to a plate.

Next, heat the remaining 1 tablespoon oil and add 1 tbsp grated ginger and 1 minced clove of garlic. Cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Pour in 200g coconut milk, 2 tbsp soy sauce and 1 tbsp brown sugar. Simmer, stirring frequently until the sauce reduces and its color deepens to a dark brown, about 6 to 8 minutes. 

Serve as shown with the sauce at the bottom and 30g toasted cashews on top.

Recipe by Yewande Komolafe

Blue cheese on pear

Bring 50 ml water to the boil with 50ml vinegar and 50g caster sugar. Sofly boil till all the sugar has been dissolved. Cool and reserve.

Finely slice 2,5 cm ginger, 10g chives and 1/2 green chili (seeds removed).

Add to the vinaigrette.

Halve a Conference pear and lengthwise cut into  4 mm slices. Use a 3cm cutter to remove the seedy part. 

Fill it with with crumbled blue cheese (Roquefort type)

Finish with the sweet&sour dressing.

(Here Bart Desmidt's original recipe in Flemish)

Puff pastry, blue cheese, honey and walnut

Pre-heat the oven at 180°C

Use a serving ring to cut 9 cm discs from puff pastry. 

Cover the middle 6cm with slices of blue cheese. Brush the rest of the pastry with beaten egg yolk.

Sprinkle with hacked walnuts and thyme. 

Finish with a few teaspoons of runny honey and bake in the hot oven for 15 mins

(Here Stephanie Bex' original recipe in Flemish)

Melon and tomato shot

Cut 200g melon and 200g tomato and liquidise with a stick blender. 

Sieve and add the juice of 1/2 lime. Season with pepper and salt.

Finely slice 1/2 shallot and 10 basil leaves

Whip 30g soft goat's cheese with 10g double cream.

Serve in small glasses, topped with the cheese cream, black pepper and a basil leaf.

(Here the original Njam recipe in Flemish)

Salad of red mullet with lime and ginger

Check 4 red mullet fillets for bones or stray scales. Pour 25 ml white wine vinegar and the juice of 1 lime into a stainless steel saucepan. Add 2 lime leaves, scrunching them slightly to release their fragrance as you go. 

Scrub 1/2 small carrot and slice it as finely as paper – you should almost be able to see through it – then peel 1/2 onion and slice that similarly. Drop them into the pan together with a small clove of garlic, peeled and squashed flat (you just want the merest whiff), 1/2 red chilli, a teaspoon of palm sugar (though you may need to add some more later) and a star anise, 1/2 tsp coriander seeds and 4 white peppercorns.

Bring the lot to the boil, add a good pinch of salt, 4 whole black peppercorns then pour in 40 ml olive oil and let the mixture simmer for a minute or two. You want the onion to have softened slightly. heat off, lid on, and leave to settle.

Warm a little olive oil in a non-stick pan. season the red mullet fillets with salt and black pepper and lay them in the hot olive oil. Let them colour on the skin side, then carefully turn them over and allow to colour on the other side. lift the fillets from the pan with a fish slice or palette knife and place on a shallow dish.

Grate 1 cm ginger into the marinade and stir in some chopped parsley (which I forgot). Taste it, adding a little more palm sugar if you think it needs it. The juices should have a little kick to them. Spoon over the fish and leave to cool.

Lift the red mullet on to plates and spoon over the vegetables.

(Here Nigel Slater's original recipe)

Lamb with flatbreads and cucumber yoghurt

First make the dough. In a large bowl, whisk 125g flour with 1 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp salt and 1 tsp nigella seeds, then add 95g yoghurt. Pull together into a ball, tip on to a floured surface and knead for two minutes. Now rest in a lightly oiled bowl covered with a damp tea towel.

Season 200g lamb mince with salt and black pepper. Finely chop 1/2 onion and warm a large pan over a medium-high heat. Add 1,5 tbsp oil followed by the mince, onion, 1 tsp cumin, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp Turkish pul biber and saute for six to eight minutes. 

Add a finely chopped garlic clove, cook for a further two to three minutes, then add 2 tbsp pomegranate molasses and 100ml water, and cook for 10 minutes, until the lamb looks sticky and glossy. 

Adjust the seasoning to taste.

Mix 100g yoghurt with a tbsp olive oil, 1/2 crushed garlic clove and 1/4 cucumber, cut into small cubes, then season, chop 8 leaves of mint and stir it in.

To cook the flatbreads, warm clarified butter in a large pan over a high heat. Divide the dough into 2 balls and roll each out on a floured surface to 15-20cm – the thinner, the better. Once the pan is hot, cook each flatbread for a few minutes on each side until puffed up and blistered.

Serve immediately with the spiced lamb, a generous spoonful of cucumber yoghurt, 10 quartered radishes and some whole mint leaves; a drizzle of tahini (loosened with cold water) is also delicious.

(Here Thomasina Miers' original recipe)

Crispy Kurdish sardines and herby potato pitta

This is a nod to Istanbul street food. Traditionally, sardines from the Bosphorus are fried or grilled, and served in a pita bread with an onion salad. In Kurdish chef Melek Erdal's  version, he fills grilled pitta with pan-fried sardines and a herby onion potato salad.

Put 400g halved red skin potatoes in a deep pan and cover with water by 1cm. Add a teaspoon of salt and bring to a boil. Cook until cooked through but still firm. Drain and set aside. Peel once cool – the skins should slip off easily.

Now for the onions. Put 2,5 tbsp oil in a frying pan on a medium-high heat, add 2 peeled, halved and thinly sliced onions, a pinch of salt and a good grind of pepper, and cook, stirring, for 10 minutes, until they begin to brown and reduce by half. Add 1/4 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp cumin and 15g currants, caramelise for a further 10 minutes, then leave to cool.

In a large bowl, mix 3 spring onions, 20g finely chopped parsley, 10g finely chopped dill, 15g capers, 1 tbsp olive oil, a teaspoon of salt and a good grind of black pepper, then stir in the skinned potatoes.

For the green sauce, roughly pulse-blend 15g basil, 10g mint leaves, 1/2 green birds-eye chilli, deseeded. Juice and zest of 1/2 lemon, 2 tbsp olive oil. A pinch of salt and 1 tsp pepper until coarse and not too smooth. 

Stir half the sauce into the potato bowl. 

Mix the rest with a drizzle of pomegranate molasses, then sprinkle with  1/4 tsp sumac and some dill, and set aside. 

Clean 4 sardines – you can ask your fishmonger to do this, or cut down the middle lengthways and push the insides out with your thumb. Wash in a bowl of water, then cut off their heads. Butterfly the sardines by running your thumbs down the inside spine and opening up slightly.

Mix 40g semolina and 1/3 teaspoon of salt on a plate and gently pat the fish in the mix on both sides, dusting off the excess. Place the sardines flat on a plate and leave to rest in the fridge while you prep the salad.

Heat 2 tbsp sunflower oil in a frying pan over a high heat and add the fish, fanning them out like a flower. Cook on a medium-high heat for six minutes on one side and two minutes on the other.

Serve the sardines and potato salad on a platter or stuff them all into grilled  pitta breads with an extra drizzle of green sauce and molasse

(Here Melek's original recipe and more)

Charred pumpkin, spicy passionfruit

Bring (softly) 100g sweet chilisauce to the boil, add 1 tsp chili flakes and the seeds and juice of 4 ripe passion fruits and simmer for 5 mins.

Keep in de fridge.

Pre heat the oven at 180°C

Slice 1/2 small pumpkin, peel and remove the seeds.

Briefly sautés them in a tbsp arachide oil, take out and use a gas burner to scorch them.

Brush with olive oil and season with salt, pepper then bake in the hot oven for 45 mins.

Serve with the chili and passion fruit sauce, the zest of a lime, toasted pumpkin seeds and the leaves of a sun flower.

(A Blend Brother recipe)

Persian Fesenjoon chicken kabobs

First, marinate 350g skinless and boneless chicken thighs. Put 1/4 tsp ground cardamom, 1/2 tsp ground coriander, 1/2 tbsp ground cinnamon, 3/4 tbsp ground cumin, 1,5 tbsp rose petals, finely ground in a mortar, 1/4 tsp caster sugar in a small frying pan and toast on medium-high heat for one to two minutes, until fragrant. Tip into a medium bowl, add the chicken and 1/2 teaspoon of salt, toss to coat and leave to marinate for at least 30 minutes (or overnight in the fridge).

For the fesenjoon, put a tablespoon of oil, 80g onions, halved and thinly sliced and 80g grated carrots in a medium saucepan on a medium-high heat and cook, stirring frequently, for 20 minutes, until softened and starting to caramelise. Add 10 ml oil and 30g toasted and blitzed walnuts, and cook for another two minutes, stirring so the mix doesn’t catch. Pour in 125 ml chicken stock, 19 ml pomegranate molasses, 1/8 tsp caster sugar and 1/8 teaspoon of salt, bring to a boil, then turn down the heat to medium and simmer for 30-35 minutes, until thickened. Take off the heat and set aside.

Divide the chicken equally between 4 skewers (presoaked if using wooden ones) and brush all over with ghee or clarified butter. Put a large griddle pan on a medium-high heat and, once hot, turn the heat to medium and grill the chicken for three minutes on each side, brushing with more ghee when turning them over. Remove from the pan and set aside for five minutes.

For the shirazi salad mix 1/4 cucumber (halved, deseeded and cut into ½cm cubes), 1/4 red onion (peeled and finely chopped), 100g quartered cherry tomatoes, 30g pomegranate seeds, 1/2 tbsp lemon juice and 1 tbsp roughly chopped mint leaves in a medium bowl with a pinc of salt, and divide between 2 plates. 

Arrange two chicken skewers on each plate and serve with the warm fesenjoon sauce spooned on top. 

(Here Ottolenghi's original recipe and more)

Fried king prawns on watermelon

In a shallow bowl, mix together 3 tbsp of Thai or Vietnamese fish sauce, 2 level tsp of dried chilli flakes, a grinding of black pepper and a couple of good pinches of sugar. Put a couple of large peeled prawns into the marinade and set aside for 30 minutes.

Peel a large and thoroughly chilled wedge of watermelon and slice into bite size pieces roughly 1 cm in thickness, picking out the seeds with a point of a knife as you go.  

Mix together the juice of a lime, some finely chopped mint leaves and, if you wish, coriander leaves then toss the melon in it. Put the pieces of melon on small serving plates.

Sprinkle a tbsp of rice flour over the prawns and toss them around. They will be coated in a very light batter. It is fine if it goes a little lumpy – like tempura.

Heat 200ml of groundnut oil in a shallow pan or wok, add the prawns and let them fry for 2 or 3 minutes till golden, turn and repeat for a further minute till golden and lightly crisp.

Remove the prawns from the heat and place on the chilled watermelon and serve. 

The joy of this is the contrast between each mouthful of hot, umami-rich prawns and ice-cold watermelon.

(Here Nigel Slaters original recipe as a starter)

Perfect chicken shawarma

First make the dough. In a large bowl, whisk 125g flour with 1 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp salt and 1 tsp nigella seeds, then add 95g yoghurt. Pull together into a ball, tip on to a floured surface and knead for two minutes. Now rest in a lightly oiled bowl covered with a damp tea towel.

Bash out 4 boneless chicken thighs until it’s all of a fairly even thickness.

Put a small pan on a medium heat, then add 1 tsp ground cumin, ½ tsp turmeric, ½ tsp smoked paprika, ½ tsp black pepper, ¼ tsp ground coriander, 2 cardamom pods, seeds removed and ground, ¼ tsp cinnamon powder,¼ tsp ground ginger, ¼ tsp ground nutmeg and toast until fragrant.

Whisk into ½ tsp salt, 2 tbsp lemon juice, 2 tbsp olive oil and 2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed, … then rub the mix all over the chicken and put in a sealed container in the fridge for between three and eight hours.

Cut the chicken into thin strips, then thread one end of each strip on to a metal skewer. Put a second skewer through the other end of each strip, and push the strips down to the far end of the skewers, so they’re tightly packed

Heat the grill to medium and find a tray over which you can balance the skewers so they’re suspended rather than touching the base.

Time to make Zhoug sauce.

Roughly chop 14g coriander and 12g parsley. Add to a food processor with 2 crushed cloves of garlic and a de-seeded and roughly chopped jalapeno and pulse several times. Add 1/2 tsp ground cumin, 1/4 tsp ground cardamom, 1/4 tsp salt, a pinch of sugar, 2 tbsp water and 3 tbsp olive oil. Run until a rough sauce is made, stopping to scrape down as needed. The sauce should have texture and liquid.

Then make a lemon garlic tahini sauce : using a food processor, mix 1 tbsp lemon juice, the zest of 1/2 lemon, 60g tahini, 2 tbsp hacked coriander, a pinch of salt, 1 crushed cloves of garlic, a few tbsp dill and a tsp za'atar together. While the food processor is running, add  40 ml water and process until mixture is the consistency of honey. Stop to scrape down as needed. Garnish with a few more herbs. Store in a tightly covered jar, upside down. Mixture will separate. Stir back together if needed.

Finally prepare a cucumber and red onion salsa : mix 1/2 red onion, finely diced, 1/2 grated cucumber, 1 tbsp hacked dill, 1 minced clove of garlic, 1,2 tbsp sumac, 1,2 tbsp white wine vinegar, 1 tbsp olive oil and 1/4 tsp salt. In the end I added some cherry tomatoes.

To cook the flatbreads, warm clarified butter in a large pan over a high heat. Divide the dough into 2 balls and roll each out on a floured surface to 15-20cm – the thinner, the better. Once the pan is hot, cook each flatbread for a few minutes on each side until puffed up and blistered.

Then its time to grill the chicken for five minutes, then turn over and grill for another five minutes – the chicken should be charred and cooked through.

(Here Felicity Cloake's original recipe)