Angela Hartnett’s baccalà in tomato sauce
This is one of those glorious dishes that takes a few store cupboard staples and transforms them into something wonderful – and before you have a pop, salt cod, or baccalà, is a staple in many Italian households, as are olives, capers and dried chilli. Baccalà is also incredibly easy to make at home, which is just as well, since it often features on the Italian Christmas Eve table. Both the cod and the sauce can be prepared well ahead of time, leaving you with just a bit of cooking at the last minute. Serves six.
For the sauce
2 small onions, peeled and finely diced
2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
Olive oil
Dried red chilli flakes, to taste
2 400g tins tomatoes
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
50g capers
50g black olives
Flat-leaf parsley
For the baccalà
800g cod fillet or loin, in one piece, boned but skin on
80g rock salt (ie 10% of the weight of the fish)
In a saucepan, sweat the onions and garlic in a little oil until soft. Add a pinch of dried chilli to taste and the tomatoes, crush the tomatoes with the back of a wooden spoon to break them down, then season and leave to bubble gently for 20 minutes, until you have a nice, thick sauce.
Meanwhile, lay the cod in a non-reactive dish and sprinkle rock salt all over and under it. Leave to sit for 20 minutes – the salt will draw out the moisture from the fish at the same time as seasoning it – then wash off the salt very lightly (you want the fish to retain some saltiness; it’s called salt cod for a reason, after all), pat dry and cut into six portions.
Ten minutes before you want to serve, heat the oven to 200C/390F/gas mark 6. Five minutes later, put a dash of oil in a hot, nonstick, oven-proof frying pan, lay in the cod pieces skin side down and leave to colour for a minute or two. Flip the fish over, transfer to the oven and roast for four minutes, until just cooked.
To finish, add the capers, olives and parsley to the sauce, pour on to a large serving dish, lay the cod on top and serve. Angela Hartnett is chef/patron of Murano, Cafe Murano and Merchants Tavern in London, and Hartnett Holder & Co at Lime Wood in Lyndhurst, Hampshire.
Judy Joo’s prawn lollies
Like so much Korean food, these are fresh, vibrant and very quick to make – just blitz, mix, breadcrumb and fry. You can prepare them in advance, then cook five minutes before serving. You can also shape the mix into patties, in which case you won’t need skewers. Serves four.
700g raw prawns (check the provenance of your prawns)
200g panko breadcrumbs
2 spring onions, finely chopped
2 tbsp Dijon mustard
2 tsp lemon juice
4 tsp gochujang or sriracha chilli sauce, to taste
½ tsp salt, plus pepper to taste
2 large eggs, beaten
Vegetable oil
Put a third of the prawns in a food processor and whizz to a smooth paste. Finely chop the other prawns and add to the paste with a quarter of the breadcrumbs, onions, mustard, lemon juice, chilli and seasoning.
Roll into 16 small balls (or four patties), then dip in beaten egg and roll in the remaining breadcrumbs. Heat a large nonstick skillet on a medium heat. Add a dribble of oil and fry the prawn balls, turning regularly, until cooked through and golden brown – three to four minutes (six to seven for patties). Put a cooked prawn ball on each skewer, and serve with your favourite hot sauce or a spicy mayonnaise – I make mine by mixing three parts kewpie mayonnaise (a Japanese-style mayo) with two of gochujang or sriracha. Judy Joo is executive chef of Jinjuu, opening next month in London, and presents Korean Food Made Simple, which broadcasts on Food Network UK in January.
Jason Atherton’s white cabbage escabeche with quail (or pheasant) and chanterelles
Just the dish to serve a crowd: looks impressive, but a lot less work than it seems. Serves four to six.
For the escabeche
8 large white cabbage leaves
4 carrots, peeled and thinly sliced
4 shallots, peeled and broken down into petals
100ml white-wine vinegar
100ml olive oil
3 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp coriander seeds
For the birds
100g unsalted butter
50ml vegetable oil
Salt and pepper
8-12 quail, or four large pheasants
20 chanterelles (or any wild mushrooms in season)
Carrot tops, to garnish
Bring a large pan of salted water to a boil, add the cabbage, carrots and shallots, return to a boil and cook for two minutes. Drain and refresh in a bowl of iced water. Drain again, pat dry and put in a heatproof dish.
Put the vinegar, oil, garlic, sugar and coriander seeds in a small pan, bring to a boil, pour over the vegetables and set aside to cool.
Heat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4. Heat the butter and oil in a large frying pan. Season the birds with salt, then brown all over. Transfer to an oven tray and roast for 20-25 minutes for quail, 30 for pheasant, until cooked through (the juices will run clear when you pierce the thickest part of the leg).
In the same frying pan, fry the chanterelles in a little butter for a minute, season, and keep warm.
Put the whole birds and the mushrooms on a large plate or wooden board. With a slotted spoon, arrange the pickled veg around the birds, drizzle over a little escabeche juice and garnish with carrot tops. This is best served warm, so there’s no rush. Jason Atherton is chef/patron of Pollen Street Social, Berners Tavern and four other restaurants in London.
Nuno Mendes’ spiced venison puffs
This is a merging of two ideas: sausage rolls and Chinese-style baked dim sum typically filled with sweet pork. The puff pastry is best made a day ahead. Of course, you could use ready-made puff, but that would be cheating – if you’re not going to put in an effort at Christmas, when will you? These are fun to make, and great to snack on. Makes 16 puffs.
For the pastry
600g very strong white flour (preferably 00), plus extra for dusting
50g unsmoked pork fat
Pinch of salt
Pinch of five-spice powder (in both parts of the recipe, lightly toast the five-spice first)
1 pinch ground white pepper
2 tbsp red-wine vinegar
400g chilled butter
For the filling
2 shallots, peeled and finely diced
10 caps fresh shiitake mushrooms, stems removed, finely diced
2 tbsp grapeseed oil
2 tsp ground white pepper
2 tsp ground five spice
5 spring onions, finely sliced
5 water chestnuts, finely chopped
1 bunch chives, finely diced
500g ground venison shoulder
100g smoked pork fat (lardo di colonnata)
4 tbsp low-sodium soy sauce
2 tbsp honey
2 tbsp sriracha hot sauce
2 tbsp hoisin sauce
2 pinches sea salt
To finish
2 eggs, beaten
Toasted white sesame seeds
To make the pastry, sift the flour into a large bowl. Melt the pork fat and mix with the salt, spices, pepper, vinegar and 230ml ice-cold water. Add to the flour, mix to a smooth dough, wrap in cling-film and refrigerate for an hour.
Cut the butter lengthways into 1cm-thick pieces and place evenly over a sheet of greaseproof paper. Cover with a second sheet of paper and roll out gently until you have a butter slab that’s 0.5cm thick. Roll out the pastry to a rectangle just over twice the size of the butter. Lay the butter in the centre of the pastry, then wrap the pastry over the top, like an envelope, totally encasing it. Roll out the pastry again, to the same size as before, then fold three times, much as you would a letter. Roll out once more, turn 90 degrees and fold three times again. Wrap and chill for an hour. Repeat the rolling and folding four more times, adding a light dusting of flour each time, and chill after each time. If you can, repeat at least five or six times: the more times you do so, the more layers of pastry you will have, which makes for a flakier dough. Leave to rest in the fridge overnight. While making the pastry, it’s vital the butter doesn’t melt: friction from rolling heats it up, which is why you need to cool the pastry in between each roll, otherwise the layers will not puff up as well. (This is a classic puff pastry technique that you can use for many other recipes at home, minus the spices and vinegar, and replacing the pork fat with butter.)
In a medium saucepan, sweat the shallots and shiitakes in grapeseed oil for two minutes, add the white pepper and five spice, and sweat for a couple of minutes, until the spices are fragrant and the shallots soft. Off the heat, stir in the spring onions, water chestnuts and chives.
In a large bowl, mix the ground venison, pork fat, soy sauce, honey, sriracha, hoisin and the sauteed vegetable mix, and season with salt – make sure everything is well combined (as with so much cooking, your hands are the best tool for this). To check it’s seasoned to your liking, take a small spoonful of the mix and cook in a frying pan, then adjust the spice and salt levels to taste. Cover and refrigerate until required.
When you’re ready to build the puffs, heat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4. Roll out the pastry to a roughly 0.25cm-thick 41cm x 26cm rectangle (so quite thin). Cut in half lengthways, so you have two long strips, then cut each strip into four even squares of around 10cm x 13cm. Cut each square diagonally in half. Each of the resulting triangles will be used to make one puff.
Put a tablespoon and a half of the filling on one side of each triangle. Brush beaten egg along the edges of each triangle, then fold over into a smaller triangle and pinch together the edges to seal. Brush the tops liberally with egg wash and sprinkle on a generous amount of toasted sesame seeds. (If there is any filling left over, freeze for a later date, or roll into sausage-size cylinders, dip in flour, egg wash and breadcrumbs, and fry to make croquettes.)
Transfer the puffs to a baking sheet and bake for 20-25 minutes, until puffed and golden brown. Leave to cool for 15 minutes before serving. Nuno Mendes is executive chef at Chiltern Firehouse, London W1.
Olia Hercules’ beetroot and spinach pkhali
Pkhali, or mkhali, is a Georgian dish in which cooked and raw vegetables meet. It’s just the type of thing I crave in midwinter – filling but light and fresh. This is perfect for grazing, because it’s served at room temperature; it can be made the night before and happily sit in the fridge overnight. I love this spread on sourdough toast. Feta is not at all traditional, but it gives the pkhali a certain edge, while pomegranate seeds add a burst of freshness. Come spring, use lemony sorrel instead of spinach. Makes 10.
200g cooked beetroot, grated (roast 300g raw, whole unpeeled beets in foil for an hour, leave to cool, then peel)
150g spinach
½ tsp coriander seeds, toasted
2 garlic cloves, peeled and roughly chopped
Sea salt flakes
80g shelled walnuts, toasted
¼ tsp cayenne pepper
1 pinch cinnamon
50g spring onions, finely chopped
10g coriander, chopped
½ tbsp pomegranate molasses
100g feta
½ pomegranate, seeds
Squeeze the grated beetroot with your hands so it’s as dry as possible, and put in a bowl. Wash the spinach really well and throw it into a frying pan, cover and sweat for two to five minutes, until it just starts to wilt. Squeeze out as much liquid as possible, then give it a rough chop and add to the beetroot.
Bash the coriander seeds, garlic and salt into a paste. Add the walnuts and the remaining spices, and bash again until the nuts are fine but still have a little texture. Add this to the beetroot bowl.
Add the chopped coriander, spring onions and pomegranate molasses to the bowl and mix with your hands. Taste, and add salt if needed.
Again using your hands, divide the mixture into 10 equal parts, and roll each into a ball, pushing a 10g piece of feta inside each one as you do so. With your thumb, make a little dent on top of each ball and fill with a few pomegranate seeds. Refrigerate, or serve straight away with warm bread and other bits and pieces. Olia Hercules’ book, Mamushka, is published by Mitchell Beazley in 2015.
Meera Sodha’s pea kachori
These delicious balls of pea-green joy are an old Gujarati delicacy that are easy to wolf down. Serve on a bed of sharp, lime-pickled onions with a mint and yoghurt chutney alongside. They can be made almost entirely from items you may well already have in the freezer and store cupboard. If you don’t have a food processor, use a pestle and mortar and a potato masher. Makes 25 kachori, to serve as a snack.
Rapeseed oil
4cm piece fresh ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
2 fresh green chillies, roughly chopped (deseeded if you like less heat)
600g frozen petit pois or garden peas, defrosted
1 tsp mustard seeds
1¼ tsp ground cinnamon
1¼ tsp garam masala
½ tsp ground turmeric
1¾ tsp salt (or to taste)
½ tsp chilli powder
For the pastry
300g plain white flour, plus extra for dusting
½ tsp salt
1½ tbsp rapeseed oil
175ml hot water
Heat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4 and lightly grease an oven tray with oil. Blitz the ginger and chillies to a paste in a food processor, remove and set aside, then blitz the peas.
Put three tablespoons of oil in a frying pan on medium heat and, when hot, add the mustard seeds. When they start to crackle, add the ginger and chilli paste, stir-fry for two minutes, then add the peas and cook for five minutes. Add the cinnamon, garam masala, turmeric, salt and chilli powder, cook for two minutes, until there is little or no moisture left in the pan but the peas are still bright green, then transfer to a bowl.
Put the flour in a bowl, make a well in the middle and add the salt and oil. Rub through with your fingers until it resembles fine breadcrumbs, then mix in 120ml of the hot water. Add the remaining water bit by bit, kneading it into the dough, until it feels nice and firm, Pour a teaspoon of oil into your hands and pat the dough to keep it moist.
Pinch off a blob of dough roughly the size of a marshmallow and dust with flour. On a floured work surface roll out each blob to a roughly 10cm-diameter circle. (To speed things up, divide all the dough into balls before rolling them.)
Pop a heaped teaspoon of the pea mixture into the centre of each dough circle, and bring the sides of the dough up tightly around the filling. Pinch it closed at the top, to seal, then pinch off any excess pastry to neaten. Roll into a ball and put on a plate. Repeat with the remaining dough and filling.
Roll the balls around on the greased tray, to coat them in oil, then bake for 20-30 minutes, until golden brown. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Lime-pickled onions
Something incredible happens when you add lime to onions. The acidity in the lime cuts through the onions to pickle and tame them; if you leave them for long enough, they’ll turn pink, too, brightening up any mealtime. Serves four.
2 medium red onions, peeled, cut in half and then into very fine half-moons
6 tbsp lime juice (from about 3 limes)
1 tsp salt
Layer the onions in a plastic tub, add the lime and salt, mix well and leave in the fridge for at least an hour. To serve, remove some onions and strain; leftovers will keep in the fridge for two or three days.
Mint and yoghurt chutney
If you’re out of fresh mint, you could use a tablespoon of mint jelly instead and drop the sugar. Makes enough to fill a small jar.
5 tbsp Greek yoghurt
20g fresh mint leaves
1 fresh green chilli, deseeded and finely sliced
1 tsp sugar
Juice of ½ lemon
A pinch of salt
Put all the ingredients in a blender and whizz. Adjust the seasoning to taste, and adjust the consistency with water, if need be. Eat straight away, or store in the fridge in a clean plastic or glass containter, where it will keep for one or two days.
Meera Sodha is a cook and food writer. Her book, Made In India, is published by Penguin at £20. To order a copy for £17, including free UK mainland p&p, go to bookshop.theguardian.com.
Dan Doherty’s barbecue seasoning and endive marmalade
Those lazy afternoons spent slouched between games of charades and Christmas telly are one of the best parts of the festive season. On the eating front, it’s one of life’s great grazing moments. Here are two easy recipes to add zip to your Christmas snacking: a BBQ spice mix to liven up popcorn and crisps (at Duck & Waffle, we use it on crisp pigs’ ears, one of our most popular bar snacks), and a sweet-sour endive marmalade that goes as well with cheese as with leftover roast pork and crackling; it’s also fab by itself on toast.
Barbecue seasoning
This is so easy, and can be sprinkled on just about anything, from crisps to popcorn.
30g smoked paprika
10g onion powder
10g garlic powder
20g table salt
30g light brown sugar
Mix everything together, keep in a jar, and sprinkle on whatever you want to season. That’s it.
Endive marmalade
Make this well in advance and it’ll last you right through the festive binge-fest. I love it with cubes of crisp pork belly and crackling, either hot or cold, leftovers or made from scratch. I usually make it with confit garlic, which is less harsh than raw garlic: just peel whole cloves of garlic, and cook gently in olive oil until very soft but still holding their shape – it’s well worth making a big batch and storing in a sterilised jar.
2 tbsp vegetable oil
4 heads red endive, leaves separated and cut into matchstick-size pieces
1 onion, finely sliced
2 cloves chopped garlic
(or confit garlic – see above)
1 glass red wine
1 glass port
Grated zest of 3 oranges
Juice from 6 oranges
2 tbsp caster sugar
1 sprig each fresh thyme and rosemary
1 star anise
Sea salt and black pepper
70ml walnut oil
Heat the vegetable oil in a large saucepan. Add the endive, onion and garlic, and cook gently until soft and lightly coloured. In another saucepan, bring the red wine, port, orange zest, three oranges-worth of juice, sugar, thyme, rosemary and star anise to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 15 minutes, to infuse. Strain, then pour into the endive pan and turn the heat to medium. Season and cook slowly for 45 minutes, or until it’s reduced to a jam consistency.
In a small saucepan, bring the remaining orange juice to a boil, then turn the heat right down and simmer until reduced by about three-quarters and is almost a caramel. Gradually whisk in the walnut oil until it emulsifies, then stir into the jam mix, decant into sterilised jars, and seal. Once you’ve opened a jar, store in the fridge.
Dan Doherty is head chef at Duck & Waffle, London EC2. His book, Duck & Waffle: Recipes And Stories, is published by Mitchell Beazley at £25. To order a copy for £21.75, go to bookshop.theguardian.com.
Karam Sethi’s masala peanut and lotus root chat
Lotus root is really popular in India, especially in street food-style snacks such as this. It has a glorious fresh crunch and a taste that’s a little reminiscent of coconut. You need to cut it into wafer-thin slices, so use a mandolin, if possible. Serves four.
200g red-skin peanuts
1 lotus root, sliced very thinly, soaked in water with 1 tsp rice vinegar, rinsed and dried
2 tbsp chat masala
1 tbsp Kashmiri (or other mild) chilli powder
¼ tbsp kasoori methi powder
¼ tbsp black salt
¼ tsp ground coriander
1 red onion, peeled and finely diced
1 tomato, finely diced
2 tbsp picked coriander, finely chopped
1 green chilli, finely chopped
1 tbsp mustard oil
Lemon wedges, to serve
Deep-fry the peanuts just until their skins are crisp, then drain on kitchen towel. Deep-fry the lotus root slices at 170C until crisp and golden (you may have to double-fry them to get the desired effect), then drain on kitchen paper. Put the nuts and lotus root in a bowl, add the chat masala, chilli powder, kasoori methi powder, salt and coriander, toss and tip into a flat tray. Set aside – the mix will crisp up further.
To serve, toss onion, tomato, coriander, chilli and mustard oil into the chat, and serve with lemon. Karam Sethi is chef/patron of Gymkhana and Trishna, both in London.
Anissa Helou’s aubergine pide
If anything, the Turks have a wider range of toppings for pide, their version of pizza, than the Italians do – everything from wild and cultivated greens to eggs, cheese, spicy sausage and ground lamb; this one, which they call patlicanli pide, features spicy aubergine. Pides are also gratifyingly versatile and the dough is ridiculously easy – make large ones to serve as part of a meal, or smaller ones to serve with drinks. Serves four.
For the dough
¾ tsp fast-acting yeast
270g unbleached all-purpose flour, plus extra for kneading and shaping
1 tsp fine sea salt
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
For the topping
2-3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra to drizzle over the breads
1 medium aubergine (about 250g), cut into small cubes
½ red pepper, finely chopped
Sea salt and black pepper
1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed
200g chopped tomatoes
⅛ tsp Turkish red pepper flakes (or to taste)
2-3 few sprigs flat-leaf parsley, picked and finely chopped
2-3 sprigs coriander, picked and finely chopped
A few basil leaves, to garnish
Mix the yeast, flour and salt in a large bowl and make a well in the centre. Pour in the oil and, using the tips of your fingers, rub into the flour until well incorporated. Slowly add 125ml of lukewarm water and mix to a rough ball of dough.
Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface and knead for two or three minutes. Invert the bowl over the dough, to cover it, and leave to rest for 15 minutes. Knead again for a few more minutes, until smooth and elastic, then cover with a wet, but not dripping, kitchen towel. Leave to rise in a warm, draught-free place for 30 minutes.
For the topping, put the oil, aubergine and pepper in a saucepan and put on a low heat. Season to taste, cover and cook, stirring often, for 15 minutes. Add the garlic, tomatoes and pepper flakes, cover and cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the sauce is very thick. Stir in the parsley and coriander, cook uncovered for a minute or so, then take off the heat and set aside to cool.
Heat the oven to 200C/390F/gas mark 6. Divide the dough into four pieces (or smaller ones if you intend to serve with drinks). Roll each into a ball, cover with a damp towel and leave to prove for 15 minutes. With your hands, flatten each ball to a 12-13cm circle, then stretch out into ovals, flattening them further in the process. Transfer the pide to a large, nonstick baking sheet (or one lined with parchment paper; or a silicone pastry mat).
