Spicy Chinese noodles

Serves 2

The yearning for noodles has now officially reached breaking point... This recipe can honestly be adapted to whatever you can find in the fridge or freezer. You could add bacon, prawns and peas, or peppers and bean sprouts, but for a pure and authentic experience - buy your ingredients specifically for this, it will be worth those few extra minutes of effort.

125g fine Chinese egg noodles

2 knobs fresh ginger

1 clove garlic

6 spring onions

10 shiitake (or button) mushrooms, trimmed

½ cucumber1 lettuce, such as romaine, trimmed

1 tsp cornflour

2 tblsp good soy sauce

1 tblsp dry sherry or sake

2 tblsp sunflower oil

50g salted peanuts or cashews

¼ tsp dried chilli flakes

Cook the noodles according to the packet instructions — they normally take about 3 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare all the ingredients before you start cooking: finely slice the ginger into strips; finely chop the garlic; slice the spring onions; rip (or slice) the mushrooms; and peel, halve and slice the cucumber.

Trim and wash the lettuce and cut into 1cm-thick strips. Keep each ingredient separate.

To make the sauce, mix the cornflour with the soy sauce, honey, sake (or sherry) and 5 tblsp water.

Heat a wok or frying pan over a high heat. Add the sunflower oil and ginger. As soon as it begins to sizzle, add the peanuts and garlic. Briskly stir-fry while you slowly count to five, and then add the chilli flakes. Stir-fry for another count of five, then add the vinegar and stand back as the kitchen fills with chilli fumes. Next, add the spring onions and mushrooms.

Keep stirring: as soon as the mushrooms begin to look cooked, mix in the cucumber and lettuce. Stir-fry for a few more seconds until the lettuce begins to wilt, then mix in the noodles and the sauce. Allow the liquid to bubble up and thicken, then serve.

Double chocolate chip cookies

Makes 12

50g unsalted butter

450g dark chocolate, roughly chopped

2 eggs

170g soft light brown sugar or light muscovado sugar

¼ tsp vanilla extract

85g plain flour

½ tsp salt

½ tsp baking powder

2 baking trays, lined with greaseproof paper

Preheat the oven to 170°C/gas 3. Put the butter and half the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water (do not let the base of the bowl touch the water). Leave until melted and smooth.

Put the eggs, sugar and vanilla extract in a freestanding electric mixer with a paddle attachment (or use a handheld electric whisk) and beat until well mixed. Pour in the chocolate mixture, beating on slow speed until well combined.

Sift the flour, salt and baking powder into a separate bowl, then stir into the chocolate mixture in 3 additions, mixing well after each addition (scrape any unmixed ingredients from the side of the bowl with a rubber spatula). Finally, stir in the remaining chocolate until evenly dispersed.

Arrange 6 equal amounts of cookie dough on each prepared baking tray. Make sure that the cookies are spaced apart to allow for spreading while baking. Bake in the preheated oven for 10-15 minutes, checking regularly after 10 minutes. They are ready when the tops start to crack and look glossy. Leave the cookies to cool slightly on the trays before turning out onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely.

Red mullet with grilled peppers

Serves 4 as an appetiser, 2 as a main course

The shellfish, almost gamey like quality of red mullet is perfect with robust flavours like charred peppers and just cooked garlic. You could add prawns or even lobster if you feel like a special treat to really bring this dish up a notch, but the core flavours here are full on and intense already.

2 large red peppers
2 large yellow peppers
4 small red mullet, filleted
2 tblsp olive oil for cooking
2 cloves garlic
Half a glass of rosé wine
2 ripe tomatoes
Small handful fresh oregano or marjoram
Salt and extra virgin olive oil to taste

Char the peppers over a gas flame or under a very hot grill, until the skin is darkened on all sides. Allow them to cool, covered, so that they steam themselves a little. Then push the skins off with your thumb and forefinger. (Don’t be tempted to do this under running water, as you will lose those vital juices and flavours. A hint of charred flavour is ideal for this dish anyway)

Cut the peppers into fairly fine strips. Set them aside. Place the mullet fillets on a chopping board, skin side down. Run your finger gently along the flesh and pull out any small bones you find with tweezers or nail scissors.

Heat the oil in a wide-bottomed frying pan and, when it is almost smoking add the fillets, skin side down. Let them cook briskly for at least two minutes. As soon as you turn them, add the garlic and, a minute later, the pepper strips.

Now add the wine and turn the heat up until the juices go bubbly and glossy. Remove from the heat immediately and season to your liking. Scatter the herbs on top of everything and swirl a reasonably generous amount of extra virgin olive oil over the whole dish.

Serve with little slices of toast for mopping up the oily juices. Don’t give people lemon on the side or the harsh acidity will take over.

Falafel

Makes 20-25

These fluffy chickpea fritters are variations of a theme from all over the Middle East, but this version in particular was one of the highlights of a trip I've just had to Cairo, and to my mind, one of the finest street food of all. They are easy enough to make at home, either in the traditional manner, as deep-fried, slightly flattened balls, or as little flat patties cooked in shallow fat. Home-made falafel tends to be less fluffy than shop-bought versions. Adding one egg to the ground-up mixture gives a lighter texture, but it's not authentic and it makes the dough softer and a bit trickier to handle.

100g dried chickpeas (soaked in cold water with 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda)
200g split dried broad beans soaked overnight in cold water with 1tsp bicarbonate of soda (or use more chickpeas instead)
5 large garlic cloves, peeled
1 small onion, peeled and quartered
50g bunch of coriander, with most of the stalk discarded
1 tsp ground cumin
½ tsp Lebanese 7 spice mixture or ground allspice
A pinch of cayenne pepper
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda

150ml extra virgin olive oil
Vegetable oil for frying

Rinse the chick peas and beans and drain them well. Put them in a food processor with all the other ingredients (except the vegetable oil) and start the motor. You may need to stop the machine and scrape down the bowl a few times, but keep going until the mixture is a fine, sandy paste

Shape the mixture into walnut sized balls, rolling them in the palms of your hands. If they come out in a slightly pointed, spinning top shape, so much the better, since this is very authentic. (At this point the balls can be frozen for up to a month. Defrost them before frying.)

Heat the oil about 5cm deep in a saucepan. Drop a piece of bread in the oil to check if it is hot enough. The oil should bubble around it. Fry the falafel in batches, for 3-4 minutes, turning them occasionally, until deep golden brown all over. Lift out with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper.

Although tahini is one of the traditional lubricants for these crisp fritters, I much prefer yoghurt. Particularly when it has had a little cayenne pepper and some chopped mint stirred into it and is spooned over the falafel.

Serve them hot, stuffed into warm pitta bread. Traditionally, a cucumber and tomato salad would be in there too.

Cauliflower cheese with cherry tomatoes

Serves 2-4

Just looking for a little comfort today, something to curl up with, satisfying and enriching. I do adore the humble cauliflower, think it's a deep and rich vegetable which we often overlook in favour of trendier sprouting whatevers.

500g cauliflower florets
1 thick slice white bread
10g flat leaf parsley
25g butter
25g flour
1 tblsp smooth Dijon mustard
250ml milk
150g grated Gruyère or mature Cheddar cheese or a mixture
200g cherry tomatoes

Heat the oven to 200c/gas mark 6. Bring 10cm salted water to boil in a lidded pan. Add the cauliflower, return to boil, reduce the heat slightly, cover and boil for 6 min or until the cauliflower is just al dente, reserve 4 tblsp cooking water and drain.

Cut the crusts off the bread, tear into pieces and blitz to make crumbs. Add the parsley leaves and blitz again to chop and mix. Tip into a bowl and mix with 4 tblsp grated cheese. Melt the butter in the cauliflower pan, stir in the flour and, when dissolved into the butter, stir in the mustard and cauliflower cooking water.

Gradually beat in the milk with a wooden spoon, using a whisk if it turns lumpy. Adjust the heat so the sauce simmers. Season with salt and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 min.

Stir in the remaining cheese until melted. Mix the cauliflower into the sauce and tip into a gratin-style dish, scraping out all the sauce with a rubber spatula. Level, then scatter, the breadcrumb mixture over the top. Add the tomatoes round the edge and bake for 20 min or until the top is crusty and the tomatoes soft

Passion fruit cheesecake

Serves 8

There is a little comprimise here in that this uncooked version of cheesecake might have the tradionalists muttering, but the ultimate in creamy cheesecakes has to be this 'refrigerator' rather than 'oven' version. Despite sounding like something from the back of a packet this is actually a gorgeous, deep and infinitely sexy recipe. Though the appearance of passion fruit is unusual, it is necessary, so that the sharp fruit prevents the cake from cloying.

For the crumb base

120g butter

400g ginger biscuits

For the filling

250g mascarpone

75g icing sugar

a vanilla pod
400ml crème fraîche

300ml double cream

4 ripe, wrinkled passion fruits

8 sprigs white currants

Melt the butter in a small pan. Crush the biscuits to fine crumbs and stir them into the melted butter. Tip them into a 22cm, loose-bottomed cake tin and smooth them flat. Refrigerate for an hour or so until firm. You can speed the process by putting them in the freezer if you wish.

Put the mascarpone and icing sugar in the bowl of a food mixer and beat smooth. Scrape out the seeds from the vanilla pod with the point of a knife and stir them into the mascarpone with crème fraîche.

Whip the cream until it will stand in soft folds, and then stir it gently into the mascarpone mixture.

Scrape the mixture into the cake tin and cover with kitchen film. Leave to chill for a good hour. To serve, remove the cake from the tin, cut the passion fruits in half and squeeze the seeds and juice over the cheesecake. Add a few sprigs of white currants, if you wish.

Trout tartare

Serves 4

This makes a stunning starter or light summer lunch, it has everything that says sunshine about it; however, it is imperative that you use super fresh fish. Do not be tempted to substitute any poor relation. If you can push the boat out, topped off with a generous spoonful of caviar makes the world of difference.

450g skinless fillets of fresh salmon trout
About 115 g sea salt
8 asparagus spears, trimmed
½ good deep green cucumber, halved lengthwise and deseeded
Freshly ground black pepper

For the marinade
500ml olive oil
Juice of 1 lime
Good handful of chopped mixed herbs, such as basil, tarragon, lemon balm
1 head of garlic, halved

For the anchovy mayonnaise
2 egg yolks
1 tblsp white wine vinegar
1 tsp grainy mustard
5 anchovy fillets in oil, drained and coarsely chopped
5 basil leaves, chopped
200 ml olive oil
1 tblsp hot water

To serve
4 large sprigs of chervil
Some good bread

The day before put the trout to marinate. Cover the trout completely on both sides with the sea salt. Chill for 1 1/2 hours. Rinse the salt from the trout, drain well, pat dry and place in a bowl. Mix together all the marinade ingredients in a separate jug or bowl and pour over the trout, leave in the fridge overnight.

Cook the asparagus in boiling salted water until just tender, refesh in cold water and drain. Then cut it into pieces the same size as the asparagus. Chop the cucumber into pieces the same size as the asparagus.

Put all the ingredients for the anchovy mayonnaise except the olive oil and hot water in a blender or food processor and whiz together. Add the olive oil, drop by drop, continuing to blend and gradually increasing the addition of the oil to a trickle, then add the hot water until you have a thick, smooth mayonnaise. Season with pepper to taste and reserve.

Just before serving assemble the tartare, remove the trout from the marinade, cut it into cubes of a similar size to the asparagus and cucumber, and combine all three together in a bowl. Add the anchovy mayonnaise and season with pepper, mix thoroughly.

To serve either pile the mixture into shallow bowls or plates or, for a neater presentation, place a medium sized pastry cutter in the centre of each bowl or plate. Pack each ring with the trout and asparagus mixture, pressing down as you do so. Neaten off the top, and then carefully slide off the pastry rings. Garnish each serving of tartare with a good sprig of chervil and serve with the bread.