the ultimate in stuffed loaves

I don't know why we don't make one of these more often. I guess if there was always one in the fridge, and they can easily last a few days, it would be the perfect go to snack at any time of the day. That said, this really is picknicking taken to another level, if it ever gets to leave the house that is. There are no rules, no ingredients off limits, and certainly no restrictions on combinations. If it works for you say in a salad, or in a regular sandwich, it will work being stuffed and allowed to settle overnight before tucking in.

The stuffed picnic loaf to take down all picnic loaves

Serves about 4

1 decent round sourdough loaf

About 50g pesto

4 soft boiled eggs, quartered

8 good slices prosciutto

16 pieces of sun-dried tomatoes

1 large handful of fresh basil leaves

200g mozzarella, sliced

2 large roast peppers, peeled

2 courgettes, sliced and grilled

1 aubergine, sliced and grilled

Lots of olive oil, salt and pepper

Slice the top off the loaf and reserve as the lid of the stuffed loaf. Hollow out the bottom without breaking the crust. Keep the centre for breadcrumbs.

Thoroughly coat the inside edges and bottom of the lid with pesto, and season liberally.

Add a layer of prosciutto, then a layer of sun-dried tomatoes. Top with basil leaves, then a layer of your mozzarella. The next layer should be the peppers followed by courgette and aubergine. Finish with the eggs and a bit more basil before topping off with a last layer of prosciutto.

You should have doused each layer with a glug of olive oil and a bit of salt and pepper as you've built it, pressing well as you go. Finish with a bit more of the same before closing with the lid.

Wrap tightly in aluminium foil and place in the fridge with a chopping board on top weighted down with anything hefty to hand. Because we’re using sourdough, this could easily take an eight pack of beer at least, a softer bread vehicle and you’ll need to downgrade to a couple of tins of soup for example.

Leave in the fridge to chill and press for at least a few hours, overnight will yield much better results.

Don’t try to cut in advance, bring the whole beast to your end destination, unwrap, slice, serve and accept admiring nods from the masses.

the sandwich that lit up the hinterland

All things considered, there's precious little that hasn't been thrown together in the shape of a sandwich that hasn't worked out well in the end.

A sweet little weekend break in the Hinterland has so much to offer, including pies, great markets and legendary sandwiches. There's so much more to add, but just for now the sandwich gets the credit it deserves though.

This beautiful monster should really have served two people and kept them going for a day, but with a cold beer or two it really only took care of lunch for one in the sunshine. A work of double handed genius in a symphony of pork, egg, fried bits and dough.

A proper work of art that simultaneously appetizes and satisfies.

Rock on the sandwich...
 

Förhandsgranska - Salmon with dill and lime

Stockholm these past couple of days has brought with it an alarming little display of food stuffs I have easily been forced to admit I have never tasted the like of before. From the subtle bleak caviar heaped onto crispy buttered toast, to the rightly acquired taste of surströmming. An extremely heavily fermented herring, quite a flavour I'm still working out how to describe. Next dish planned is the blodpudding, which quite clearly doesn't need an awful lot of translation, but the charm of it being traditionally eaten with lingonberry jam, potatoes and grated carrots has the better of me already.

At this time of year, and in particular back home, pâtés and terrines are particularly useful for what is going to prove to be a summer of many lunches, requiring no last-minute preparation beyond making a few rounds of that buttery toast. Strictly speaking, this dish isn't a terrine in the classic sense, but I serve it as such: the coarse, textured salmon in a china dish together with crisp Swedish inspired rye toast and paper-thin slices of pickled cucumber. It is the perfect light lunch with maybe some salad and cheese to follow. Or, in a more formal meal it would do as a refreshing first course before you move onto the beast that is fermented fish!


Salmon marinaded with dill and lime

500g wild salmon
4 tblsp mild olive oil
2 tblsp dill leaves
2 large ripe limes
1 tblsp capers

To serve - hot rye toast

Remove the skin from the salmon and, using a large, heavy knife, chop the flesh finely. You want it to be fine enough to stick together, but by no means a purée. Scoop it into a bowl. Mix in the olive oil, the chopped dill, the lime juice and the capers. Season carefully with salt and black pepper and pack the mixture into a terrine or china dish and leave overnight. Eat the next day with hot rye toast and pickled cucumber.

Pickled cucumber

Half a large cucumber
4 tblsp white wine vinegar
2 tblsp chopped coriander leaves
caster sugar

Peel the cucumber and slice it very thinly - you should be able to see through each slice. Put the slices in a colander and sprinkle with sea salt, then leave for a good half hour.

Rinse and pat dry with kitchen roll, put in a bowl with about 4 tablespoons of white wine vinegar, a couple of teaspoons of sugar and the chopped coriander leaves. Season with black pepper and toss gently. Set aside for a couple of hours, or overnight.

Vegetable tartlets with marinated anchovies

All the farmers markets now seem to be laden with pumpkins, apples and not much else really, and as our Summer sadly draws towards closure in the garden and the abundance of vegetables that once was now seems to be just the season stragglers. A few last hurrahs are needed before we finally turn over to our Autumnal harvest. This recipe is a fantastic use of a few late season vegetables if you still have them and easily serves 4 with a bit of hot bread and maybe a few bitter leaves tossed with lemon juice and olive oil on the side. Don't be afraid of swapping out ingredients to make use of what you have either in your garden or lurking at the back of your fridge, and the anchovies might not be for everybody, but they sure make a difference in the end result.

Pastry
100g flour
100g butter
100g parmesan cheese, grated
1 egg

Filling
2 tblsp olive oil
40g white onions, finely chopped
1 white leek, shredded
250g Swiss chard
250g baby spinach leaves
100g small broad beans
1 espelette pepper, finely chopped
2 tblsp fresh cream cheese
30 anchovy fillets
Juice of 1 lemon
Herbs to garnish

Heat the olive oil and gently fry the onions and leek. Add the Swiss chard, spinach, beans and herbs. Once the leaves are tender, strain the mixture and chop finely. Taste for seasoning. Mix with the cream cheese.

Marinate the anchovies in olive oil, the rest of the pepper and the lemon juice while you make the pastry.

Preheat oven to 170c/350f.

Beat together the flour and butter and stir in the Parmesan. Beat the egg in a separate bowl and stir into the flour mixture.

Form into four dough rounds and roll them out until about 3mm thick. Place into greased tart moulds on a baking tray and put in the oven. Cook for 20 mins and then allow to cool.

Fill the tarts with the vegetables, and pass back through the oven for a final 5 minutes then arrange the anchovies on top and decorate with a handful of ripped herbs.

Cauliflower a la grecque

So the past few days have gone something like this; Another visit to the ice cream shop which now has legendary status in my little world. Dolcezza in Georgetown cannot do wrong and this week threw up a combo of espresso and purple raspberry - sublime, sensual and thoroughly memorable in every sense. My new rule for this place is 'only when I have visitors' while my little voices are telling me 'who are you kidding, that will never last'

This took me back to reality with a little lunch party at the Embassy on Sunday which threw together a few lovely summer time rug on the grass kind of dishes, one of which was a neat little mushroom a la greque number. I felt it worked out pretty good assisted by the quite stunning weather and a number of other dishes in keeping with the moment. Something as simple as this was all that was needed to split the day up to recharge. Got me thinking though, and next opportunity it'll be cauliflower trated the same way. Perversely, here's a photo of Sundays' mushrooms, and  a sweet little recipe for the future of cauliflowers...

Serves 4-6

90ml tomato puree
90ml olive oil
90ml dry white wine
1 large onion, chopped finely
1 clove garlic, chopped finely
2 spoons coriander seeds, crushed
5ml grated fresh root ginger
450ml water
1 large cauliflower, broken into florets
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
15ml lemon juice
1 tsp shredded coriander leaves

Place the tomato puree, oil, wine, onion, garlic, coriander seeds, ginger, water, and salt and pepper in a large pan. Bring to the boil, and then simmer for 20 minutes.

Add the cauliflower and cook for 10-15 minutes, until just tender. Leave to cool.

To finish, stir in the lemon juice and check the seasoning. Transfer to a serving dish and leave to come to room temperature. Sprinkle with coriander to serve.

This took us through to Sunday evening where the only thing left to do was light the barbecue and take in the sunshine as the day drew to a close. Sundays are totally made for this treatment and I could not imagine for a second spending this latest one anywhere near indoors, or worse still, a restaurant to fill me up. A few little quails all crunchy and charred to the point of almost being a little bitter on the skin, some big fat beef sausages spiked with thyme and a bit of cayenne and some chicken skewers marinated in onion juice and yoghurt helped wash a few local micro brewed beers down just nicely thank you very much. I think there were a couple of salads bouncing around in there, and a definite trace of anchovy in the air, but quite frankly, it was all about the meat/beer finishing off a glorious weekend.

Back to the day job, and the oppotunity to assemble some lighter lunch dishes is always great fun. Using the garden as inspiration, keeping the food light and in season while ensuring everything makes sense is just the direction I need to keep motivated, and this lobster dish ticks each and every box. So for lunch today we've got some steamed lobster claw meat, a few baby roasted artichokes, the tiny hearts of a couple of lettuces, paper thin shavings of a couple of different radishes and courgettes all brought together with the faintest splash of vinaigrette and a zesting of lemon. All good in DC right now...

Roast quail with parsley risotto

Serves 4

When planning today's lunch at the Embassy (last night with the late evening sun still giving off that warm glow you never want to go away) I was thinking light risotto, simply roasted quail, little bit of salad from the garden - you know the scene. But with storm clouds above earlier today, I basically took the below recipe and beefed it up a little.

I removed the legs and breasts of the birds and took the thigh bones out of the legs leaving them as little drumstick lollipops. These I slow roasted with some baby onions, garlic and thyme, finishing off with a splash of good sherry vinegar and a few leaves of spinach from the garden. The breasts were simply seared quickly, 2 minutes max, and left to rest while the risotto was finished with just a heap of roughly chopped parsley for a slightly earthier feeling. The juices in with the legs and the onions made enough sauce to finish the whole thing off nicely.

Either approach makes a substantial first course, before a lighter fish main course maybe, or a good lunch with salad leaves dependant on the weather I guess. The heart of the dish being the risotto, which is finished differently from the standard saffron job, and gives a fresher taste for me.

4 fresh quails

Salt, pepper and a little olive oil

For the risotto

1 tblsp olive oil

1 tblsp chopped shallot

150g risotto rice

75ml white wine
500ml chicken stock
50g grated parmesan

For the parsley puree
200g parsley, washed
200ml olive oil
1 little lemon zest
a small clove garlic, crushed

Preheat the oven to 200ºc/gas mark 6

Make the parsley puree by blending the parsley with the olive oil, lemon zest, black pepper and crushed garlic. It should be completely smooth and a dark, rich green colour.

For the risotto, heat the olive oil, and then sweat the shallot before adding the rice. Season. Gently cook this for a few minutes – you don’t want the rice to colour. Add the wine and reduce right down before pouring in a third of the stock.

Re-boil, cover and leave until the rice absorbs all the liquid. Pour in the remaining stock and bring to the boil. Simmer very gently for a further 10 minutes – the whole operation from raw will take around 35 minutes, until the rice grains are just cooked but still a little firm. If the stock dries out, add more water.

Take the pan from the heat and stir in the Parmesan followed by 2 tblsp parsley puree. The risotto will turn bright green, but this will soften to something more appetizing by contact with the heat for 1-2 minutes. It would turn muddy brown eventually, if left for an hour. You want it to taste fresh and herbal, so quite a strong colour is the aim so that you know the herb is still vibrant.

Season the quails and brush with a little olive oil. Heat a dry frying pan until it is quite hot and then colour the quails on each side. Transfer to a roasting tray and roast until done (for around 20 minutes). Rest the quails before carving into legs and breasts.

Lay each quail over a pile of risotto and pour on cooking juices.

Brussels sprout and goat’s cheese souffles

Serves 4

Sprouts aren't just for Christmas don't you know, and if you still have a few knocking around in the fridge, I strongly suggest a bash at this recipe. There may also be some reminders of vast clumps of cheese still hogging fridge space sinse the festive season, so for a bit of glam with leftovers, this is as good a place to be. This is for a twice-baked soufflé, which is a good starting point if you haven’t made many soufflés before. The sprout flavour is really nice and subtle and blends in beautifully with the goat’s cheese.
 

25g softened butter, plus extra for greasing
225ml milk
Half a small onion, chopped
1 bay leaf
1 star anise
4 cloves
25g plain flour
175g Brussels sprouts, trimmed
3 eggs, separated
100g soft goat’s cheese, cut into cubes
1 tblsp finely grated Parmesan
½ tblsp Worcestershire sauce
200ml double cream
50g Emmenthal or Gruyère cheese, finely grated

Preheat the oven to 170c/Gas 3. Brush the insides of four 150ml ramekins evenly with the extra softened butter, in upward strokes. Chill until ready to use. Pour 200ml milk into a pan and add the onion, bay leaf, star anise and cloves. Heat to scalding point, then remove from the heat and leave to infuse until cold. Strain into a clean pan and discard the aromatics.

Meanwhile, mix the butter and flour into a paste and chill for about 30 minutes. Cook the Brussels sprouts in a pan of boiling water for 3-4 minutes until tender, then drain and refresh in ice-cold water. Drain again, blend in a food processor with a splash of the remaining milk until smooth and set aside.

Place the pan of infused milk on the heat and gradually whisk in the butter paste, adding small pieces at a time, until you have a thick sauce. Season, then leave to cool for 3-4 minutes. Whisk in the egg yolks, goat’s cheese, Parmesan and Worcestershire sauce. Fold in the sprouts and check for seasoning. Transfer to a large mixing bowl and leave to cool.

Bring a kettle to the boil and have ready a deep roasting tray. Whisk the egg whites to medium-stiff peaks, whisk a third of them into the sprout mixture to loosen, then carefully fold in the remainder. Fill the prepared ramekins with the mixture and gently level the tops with a palette knife.

Immediately stand the ramekins in the roasting tin. Pour in enough boiling water to come halfway up their sides and bake the soufflés for 25-30 minutes. Remove the dishes from the water and leave to cool.

Just before you are ready to serve, heat the oven to 230c/Gas 8. Run a knife round the inside of each ramekin to loosen the soufflé. Turn them out upside-down on to individual ovenproof serving dishes and drizzle the cream around. Sprinkle the grated cheese on top and bake for about 8 minutes, until golden brown and bubbling. Serve immediately.

Hot and sour scallop soup

Serves 4

Don’t let the long list of ingredients discourage you from trying out this delicious hot, sweet and sour soup, to which I’ve added fresh scallops as an elegant treat. As with most Chinese cooking, you will need to spend a little more time preparing the ingredients, but the actual cooking time is quite short.

1 litre fish or chicken stock

3 tblsp rice vinegar

3 tblsp light soy sauce

1 tblsp sweet chilli sauce

2 tsp caster sugar

5 shiitake mushrooms, stems removed and thinly sliced

1 small carrot, peeled and cut into thin strips

2.5cm fresh ginger, peeled and cut into thin strips

1 garlic clove, peeled and chopped

300g pack firm tofu, cut into small cubes

4 scallops, halved diagonally

225g tin bamboo shoots, rinsed and drained

2 tblsp cornflour, dissolved in 3 tbsp water

1 large free range egg, beaten

2 spring onions, trimmed and thinly sliced on the diagonal

Place the stock, vinegar, soy sauce, sweet chilli sauce and sugar in a pan and bring to a boil over high heat. Add the mushrooms, carrot, ginger and garlic, and adjust the heat to a gentle simmer. Cook for 5 minutes, or until the mushrooms and carrots are just tender.

Add the tofu, scallops and bamboo shoots. Stir in the cornflour mixture. Simmer until the soup is lightly thickened and the scallops are just cooked through, about 2-3 minutes. Slowly pour the beaten egg into the soup, gently stirring in a circular motion to create small ribbons of egg.

Ladle the soup into bowls, sprinkle with the spring onions and serve at once.

Leg of lamb stuffed with garlic, feta and herbs

Serves 6-8

The Sunday roast... love it, can never tire of it, always has been a treat to look forward to in my house. The only thing to do now and again is to dress up this winning formula to keep it interesting. Lamb has so many natural flavour partners, and the contents of this stuffing also marry together wonderfully. The salty sourness of the feta blended with some peppery spinach and sweet tomatoes all complement the succulent fatty lamb. It is worth asking your butcher fully bone out your leg of lamb. By having it 'tunnel boned' the cavity naturally becomes the perfect shape to hold the stuffing.

2-2.5kg boned leg of lamb

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

200g feta cheese, chopped into cubes

Zest of 1 lemon

4 semi-dried tomatoes in oil, chopped

50g pitted Kalamata olives

Large handful of spinach leaves, coarsely chopped

3 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped

1 large handful flat-leaf parsley, chopped

1 large handful mint, chopped

4 slices of pancetta

Olive oil, to drizzle

Generous splash of red wine

Preheat the oven to 220c/gas mark 7. Place the lamb on a chopping board and lightly score the fat in a criss-cross pattern. Rub salt and pepper all over and inside the cavity.

Mix together the feta, lemon zest, tomatoes, olives, spinach, garlic and herbs. Spoon the mixture into the cavity of the lamb and press with the back of the spoon to pack in as much as possible.

Wrap both ends of the lamb with the pancetta to secure the filling, then tie with kitchen string at intervals. Place the lamb on a lightly oiled tray and drizzle over with some olive oil. Season the fat again with a little more salt and pepper.

Roast in the oven for 20 minutes, then reduce the heat to 190c/gas mark 5 and roast for 20 minutes per 500g for medium-cooked meat. Half an hour before the lamb is done, pour a generous splash of wine into the pan and continue roasting. Check the lamb 15 minutes before it is ready by piercing the centre with a metal skewer. It should feel warm against your hand.

Remove the lamb from the oven and rest for 15 minutes before carving. Serve with the pan juices.

Baked tomatoes with mozzarella, anchovies and breadcrumbs

Serves 4

A great dish as part of a variety of mezzah, the fancy bit of a picnic, or just with salad for a tasty lunch all on its own. Plum tomatoes tend to hold their shape better than the round varieties, but don't let that stop you if round ones are what you have, and if you should have the time and patience, doing this with cherry tomatoes makes a gorgeous little canape moment.

12 plum tomatoes

175g fresh breadcrumbs

8 anchovy fillets

2 large cloves garlic

a good handful of basil leaves

a ball of mozzarella

6 tblsp olive oil

Chop the anchovies, peel and finely chop the garlic and cut the mozzarella into small dice.

Preheat the oven to 220°c/ gas mark 7. Slice the tomatoes in half lengthways and scoop the seeds into a sieve over a bowl to drain off most of the water. Place the tomatoes skin-side down in a roasting tin so that they nudge up against one another nice and snug.

Mix the tomato scoopings with the breadcrumbs, anchovies, garlic, basil, mozzarella and two tablespoons of the olive oil.

Season the stuffing lightly with salt and plenty black pepper, and pile the filling into the tomato halves. Pour over the remaining olive oil and bake for 25 minutes until the filling is golden.

Smoked salmon and bacon salad

Serves 2

The one responsible, at the time, of pairing up mushy peas with deep fried fish must have had a screw loose and recieved a torrent of abuse until people actually realised a classic flavour combination had been unearthed. This here is a marriage of flavours that I think you're just going to take my word for and give it a go yourself to discover how good it really is. When I do this at home, I serve this either on hot toast or by doubling up on the lettuce leaves as a big bowl salad.

4 fat rashers of streaky bacon

40g small broad beans, podded
2 slices thick sourdough bread

A couple of good sprigs of parsley
2 little gem lettuces
4 slices smoked salmon

Dressing
2 tblsp olive oil
2 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp grain mustard

Make the dressing by whisking together all the ingredients (or shaking them in a tightly lidded jam jar)

Grill the bacon till crisp, and cook the beans in salted water till tender - no more than 1 or 2 minutes - then pop them from their skins and while still hot throw them into a bowl with a couple of tablespoons of the dressing.

Meanwhile remove the parsley leaves from their stalks, and give them a rough chop, wash and drain the lettuce.

Lightly toast the bread. Toss the lettuce and parsley in with the broad beans and the dressing.

Pile all the ingredients on the toast and drizzle with any leftover dressing. Eat while the bacon is hot.

Pea and pesto soup

Serves 2

Soup making is like bread making in a sense - cleansing, pure and theraputic. There is nothing simpler, and no secret in using the fridge's darkest secrets to boil and blend together to produce a warming bowl of something, but making a soup on purpose with intended ingredients is one of the kitchen's best quick fix moments. I do believe that any soup will taste better made in a blender rather than a food processor, and it’s best to use a blender which has a central plug in the lid that you can remove to stop pressure building up. The only fat I've added is a little butter at the end just to smoothen off the soup, you could do a splash of cream too, but it really isn't crucial to this.

750ml water
375g frozen peas
2 spring onions, trimmed but left whole
1 tsp Maldon salt or ½ tsp table salt
½ tsp lime juice
4 tblsp fresh pesto (if not fresh, then from a tub, but not a jar)

75g soft butter

Bring the water to a rolling boil, add the frozen peas, spring onions, salt and lime juice to the pan and let everything bubble together for 7 minutes.

Discard the spring onions and blitz the peas and their liquid with the pesto in a blender.

If you're feeling swanky, force the soup through a fine sieve. Whisk in the butter and serve without delay.

Berry lime mousse

Serves 8 to 10

This is a great way to use up those half punnets of berries in the fridge, and any cherries rattling round in the bottom of the fruit bowl would make a welcome addition too. If you want to lighten the mousse further, you can fold in whisked egg whites at the end, but this really isn't crucial to the success of this recipe.

250g strawberries, hulled
250g raspberries
250g cherries, halved and stoned
100g redcurrants, stripped from their stems
145g golden caster sugar
500ml whipping cream
500ml Greek yoghurt
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 limes
2 egg whites (optional)
Shortbread biscuits, to serve

Quarter or halve the strawberries, depending on size, then place them in a large mixing bowl with the raspberries, cherries and redcurrants. Sprinkle over 3 tablespoons of the caster sugar and toss through gently. Set aside to allow the fruits to soften and release their juices for about 15 minutes at room temperature.

Meanwhile, prepare the mousse mixture. Pour the whipping cream into a large mixing bowl and whisk to soft peaks with an electric whisk. In a separate bowl, soften the yoghurt if stiff with a wooden spoon, then beat in the rest of the sugar with the vanilla extract. Carefully fold in the whipped cream, followed by the grated zest of 2 limes and the juice of half a lime. If using egg whites, whisk to medium peaks and fold into the mousse mixture.

Pour about one third of the berries and cherries and their juices into a large trifle dish. Spoon the mousse mixture on top, then finish with a layer of the remaining fruit. (Alternatively, divide the fruit and mousse between individual glasses.) Chill until ready to serve. Finish with a grating of lime zest, then spoon into bowls and serve with shortbread fingers on the side

Seared beef with mint and mustard dressing

Serves 4

Beef carpaccio is a one of those classic summer dishes that we tend to trust restaurants to take care of rather than risk at home ourselves. I quite like the idea of very rare beef that has just had its edges singed in the oven, a safe half way house between carpaccio and a full on roast; that way you get a good portion of rare flesh with the bonus of a crusty roasted edge. There are a couple of possibilities here; either serve it with a salsa verde of basil, garlic and parsley or make the mint dressing below, which is kind of like a Caesar salad dressing tarted up with the freshness of mint. Whatever you choose to dress it up with, you've got to have chips, big fat hot chips on the side are a must...

500g beef fillet (thick end)

½ tblsp Malden sea salt

1 tblsp black peppercorns

a little olive oil

For the dressing
1 heaped tblsp grain mustard

Juice of half a lemon

Small handful of mint leaves

4-5 tblsp olive oil
Lemon - to serve

Chips - hot and fat

Set the oven at 220c/gas mark 8. Crush the peppercorns roughly with a pestle and mortar and mix them with the salt. Rub the beef with a little olive oil then roll it in the seasoning, pressing down so that most of the salt and pepper sticks to the meat.

Warm 2 tblsp of olive oil in a roasting tin then put over the heat until the oil starts to sizzle. Brown the meat quickly on all sides then roast for 10 minutes only. Remove from the oven and leave to cool.

To make the dressing, put the mustard, lemon juice, mint leaves and egg yolks in a blender and whizz for a few seconds. Pour in the oil, slowly, stopping when you have a dressing the consistency of double cream.

Slice the beef very thinly, and then spoon the dressing over at the table. Serve with lemon wedges, and those chips.

Herb and lemon scotch eggs

Makes 8

Scotch eggs are picnics for me. Made in the morning, wrapped in foil and eaten while they still retain a bit of their heat replaces anything else I can imagine I'd be happier to lay out my tartan rug for. These can easily be made a couple of days ahead and then stored in the fridge, although they are clearly at their best fresh, not long cooked and eaten while they still have their crunch. Should they be cooked in advance, bring them back to room temperature an hour before serving, and eat with brown sauce or chutney preferably outdoors - on rug of your choice of course, doen't have to be tartan, although can't imagine a picnic without.

8 large eggs
450g sausagemeat or 8-10 good-quality sausages, split from their skins
Large handful of parsley, finely chopped
4 sage leaves, finely chopped
1 tsp English mustard powder
Grated zest of 1 lemon
Fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
50g plain flour
2 eggs, lightly beaten
150g fine breadcrumbs
Oil, for frying

Begin by boiling the eggs in a pan of simmering water for 8 minutes. Remove the eggs from the water and cool straight away under a cold tap. The trick here is to have an egg that hasn't totally cooked through to give a rock hard yolk - you need some give. Peel away the shells, then set aside.

Put the sausagemeat in a bowl, then add the parsley, sage, mustard powder, lemon zest, some seasoning and mix thoroughly together. Wet your hands, then envelope each egg with a layer of sausagemeat, about 5mm thick.

Now roll each egg in the flour then dip into the beaten egg, followed by the breadcrumbs. Dip them into the egg then the breadcrumbs once again to coat fully.

Heat a 5cm depth of oil in a saucepan until hot – to test it is ready for frying, a piece of bread should sizzle vigorously when dropped into the oil and turn golden and crisp in just less than 20 seconds.

Drop 2 scotch eggs into the oil at a time and fry for 6-8 minutes, turning them throughout to ensure they brown evenly. Remove them with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper. Leave to cool while you fry the rest.

Brunch BLT

Serves 4

Not a day passes me by when I don't think of a sandwich as part of my routine. Anything stuffed into a crusty roll or wedged between two slices of doughy bread constitutes a culinary journey I'm not even close to getting tired of. There can't be many better examples of a food group without limitations as the sandwich, and I love each and every one so far. You can vary the ingredients of this sandwich to taste. For example, you could add sliced buffalo mozzarella or roasted and peeled red pepper quarters, depending on your mood.

2 medium red onions

3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 ripe avocado

A few drops of lemon or lime juice

Tabasco to taste (optional)

16 slices smoked back bacon

4 mini baguettes

Butter or mayonnaise

6 flavoursome tomatoes, sliced

2-3 handfuls of rocket

Set the oven to 180c/gas mark 4. Slice the onions and place on a small nonstick roasting tray. Mix in 1 tbsp olive oil and season with salt and pepper, then slip them into the oven (which won’t have reached the correct temperature yet). Roast for about 25 minutes or until they are soft and lightly caramelised.

Meanwhile, halve, stone and peel the avocado, then slice and place in a small bowl. Season with lemon juice, salt, pepper and Tabasco. Set aside.

Preheat a nonstick frying pan over a medium-high heat. Trim the bacon of excess fat. Once the pan is hot, add 1 tbsp oil, followed by as much bacon as you can fit in the pan. Fry briskly for about 2 minutes on each side or until lightly coloured and beginning to turn crispy. The cooking time will vary according to the thickness of the bacon. Remove from the pan and keep warm in the oven while you continue to cook the remaining bacon with a further tablespoon of oil.

About 5 minutes before the onions are ready, place the baguettes in the oven to warm up. As soon as the bread is hot, remove and slice each baguette in half lengthways. Lightly spread the bottom half of each roll with butter or mayonnaise and cover with 4 slices of bacon, followed by a quarter of the onion, tomato and rocket. Place a quarter of the sliced avocado on the cut side of each baguette lid, then firmly squash down.

Cut each of the baguettes in half and serve immediately, with plenty of paper napkins.

Artichoke and prosciutto salad with rocket

Serves 4

This salad is perfectly light and fresh; the dressing is quite lemony and goes well with the saltiness of the prosciutto and Parmesan, and the acidity of the dressing stops the raw artichoke hearts from discolouring.

Try and get some young purple tinged artichokes if you can, trimmed and kept in acidulated water, then shave them on a mandolin straight into the dressing at the last minute: this isn't a salad that sits around for anyone. The true texture and flavour of raw artichokes is something I discovered while working in Mougins in the South of France a few years ago, and still to this day it's the sort of light first course I'm always looking for in restaurants.

3 tblsp extra virgin olive oil
Juice of 2 lemons
4 large globe artichokes
100g thinly sliced prosciutto (air dried ham such as Parma)
25g wild rocket leaves
50g piece Parmesan cheese
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

First make the dressing so it is ready for the artichokes as soon as they are prepared. Put 2 tablespoons of the lemon juice and plenty of seasoning into a large bowl,whisk together well, then add the olive oil and whisk once more to bring together, then set aside.

To prepare the artichokes, cut off the top and the stalk, then trim away at the dark green outer leaves, until you've exposed the almost white flesh of the heart itself. Scoop out the bristles from the centre with a spoon and drop the artichoke hearts into a pan of acidulated water (water and the remaining lemon juice) to prevent them going brown.

Just before serving, arrange the slices of prosciutto over the base of 4 plates. Very thinly slice the artichoke hearts across, ideally using a mandolin, straight into the dressing and immediately toss them together to avoid any discolouration.

Scatter the dressed artichokes on top of the prosciutto and then loosely scatter over the rocket leaves. Thinly shave the Parmesan cheese over the top and serve straight away.

Bacon and asparagus tart

Serves 4

Asparagus just about qualifies as a late spring vegetable. At home, the first spears are ready now, and they are arguably the best in the world. This is the time to knock out a cute lunchtime tart like this one. This is a shallow flan really with a shortcrust pastry base. I recommend using a shallow 26cm diameter non-stick pizza pan, 1cm deep with a 1cm lip. Blanch the asparagus in boiling water for barely a minute then cool in cold water.

Pastry
120g plain flour
60g butter
25g grated cheddar
A pinch of salt and grated nutmeg
2 large egg yolks half the white from 1 large egg

Filling
12 medium stalks of asparagus
120g mature cheddar
100g crème fraîche
2 egg yolks and 1 egg white
80g streaky bacon, cut into small pieces
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

First sift the flour onto your work surface. Then cut the butter into small cubes and place them on top of the flour together with the cheese, salt and nutmeg. Rub the ingredients together with the tips of your fingers until all the lumps of butter and cheese have melted into the mix. Make a well in the centre and add the 2 yolks and egg white.

Work the egg in with your fingers. This is messy but enjoyable; you can use a plastic scraper to remove the pastry from your hands. Gather the pastry into a ball and work it with the heel of your hand for 30 seconds. Work the pastry again for a minute, and then shape it into a ball, wrap in cling film and store in the fridge until needed.

Preheat the oven to 200c/gas mark 6. In the meantime, roll out the pastry to the approximate size of the pizza pan. Lay the pastry over the pan and press it down. You can trim the sides if you like, but we don’t bother. It just looks better that way. Mix the grated cheddar with the crème fraîche and egg and add a little salt. Spread the cheese mix on top of the pastry, and arrange the asparagus spears, finally distribute the bacon pieces and grind some pepper on top. Bake for 15 minutes until nicely browned.

Radish, mint and feta salad

Serves 4

Most salads' impact comes from the dressing that adornes them, this salad on the otherhand has little more than a splash each of oil and vinegar almost purely for lubrication. The resulting combination has crunch, bite, salt and acid - all individually identifiable rather than tossed up together.

1 medium to large cucumber
1 large bunch bright red radishes
6 spring onions
350g feta cheese
1 small bunch mint
1 small bunch flat leaf parsley
olive oil
red wine vinegar

Peel the cucumber lightly, so as to remove the coarse skin but leaving behind as much of the bright green that lies directly under the skin as possible. Otherwise the salad will appear insipid.

Cut the cucumber in half lengthways, then scrape out the seeds with a teaspoon and discard them. Slice each long half again, lengthways, then cut each piece into short, fat chunks and tip into a large mixing bowl.

Wash the radishes, then top and tail them. Cut them into bite size quarters, according to their size then add them to the cucumber. Trim the spring onions and slice them into thin rings.

Crumble the cheese and tear the mint and parsley leaves into large pieces - then toss them all together with the cucumber, onions and radishes. Drizzle over a little olive oil and vinegar and then grind over a little black pepper. No salt should be necessary due to the feta, but it's always worth a taste test before it goes to the table.

Caramelised onion, rocket and goat’s cheese tartlets

Serves 4

Onions are one of the few things that improve in flavour the more you cook them. When caramelising, use very low heat and stir frequently to draw out their natural sugars. If cooked properly, you won’t need to add any sugar to help with the process

300g shortcrust pastry
Flour, for dusting
25g unsalted butter
6 large onions, peeled and thinly sliced
1 tblsp sherry vinegar
150g goat’s cheese, preferably a thin log
100g rocket
Squeeze of lemon juice
Drizzle of olive oil
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Cut the pastry into four even pieces and roll each one out on a lightly floured board as thinly as possible, without tearing. Use to line four 10cm tartlet tins and leave the excess pastry overhanging the sides. Place the tartlets on a baking sheet and line them with foil and baking beans. Chill for at least 20 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 200C/Gas 6. Bake the pastry cases for 15 minutes, then remove the baking beans and foil and return to the oven for another 5 minutes until the pastry is crisp. While still hot, trim the pastry to the rim of the tins with a sharp knife. Cool on a wire rack.

Meanwhile, heat the butter in a pan and add the sliced onions. Cook over a very low heat for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onions are very soft and caramelised. Drain off any excess liquid from the onions and add the sherry vinegar. Put the pan back on the heat for 10 more minutes until the vinegar has cooked off. Season well and leave to cool.

Heat the oven to 200C/Gas 6. Place the tartlet cases on a baking sheet and spoon in the caramelised onions. Cut the goat’s cheese into 8 thick slices and place two on each tartlet. Bake for 5-10 minutes until the cheese is golden and the tart has warmed through.

Dress the rocket with lemon juice, olive oil, salt and black pepper and serve with the warm tartlets.