Fillet Steak, Red Bordeaux and a 60th Birthday

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What a truly fantastic and relaxing week. May is my favourite month. Not only is it is filled with selfish Birthday treats but my favourite ingredients are coming into season! The days are light and longer, a natural prescription for the post February Vitamin D deficiencies we all seem to develop if my fellow London commuters are anything to go by! So, a May holiday break back to my favourite place in the world down at Lands End. I’ve been visiting this little village haven since I was seven where I ironically celebrated my own birthday. I will never forget the patio bbq and days spent thrashing around in the surf. Was it warmer in May 16 years ago or was I just better at embracing the cold!? However I am not the 60 year old this year that this post proudly boasts. This year, it only seemed natural that we’d return here to my pa’s mutual favourite home-away-from-home to celebrate his 60th Birthday. Smooth beer, fresh fish and chips, sea air by the lungful, feisty surf and the stickiest chocolate cake….what could we all want more!? Well….fillet steak and a flashy red bordeaux would go down nicely…?

RECOMMENDED ACCOMPANIMENT:  Mellow music, sunsets dog walks on the beach, lighthearted chatter, slurping, chewing, all topped off with a competitive and crude (at times) game of scrabble. Followed by coffee and chocolate cake! Seemed to work for us anyway!?

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Serves 4

Green vegetables and some hearty homemade potato wedges are a great accompaniment here! The sweet, slow cooked juicy onions act as a delicious sauce that doesn’t detract from the flavour of the steak. Fillet steak, with very little flavoursome fat, is not the most notorious for being full of flavour hence why classic blue cheese or peppercorn sauce are often used. But I wanted a sauce here that wasn’t too powerful!

  • 4 fillet steaks
  • 2 large white onions
  • 2 red onions
  • Thyme leaves
  • 1-2 garlic cloves, chopped finely
  • Salt and Pepper
  • Vegetables to serve
  • Hand cut potato wedges to serve
  1. If you can, remove the steaks from their packaging/wrapping in the morning and place on a wire rack or plate to ‘dry’ a little in the fridge.
  2. Start with the onions. Heat a frying pan to medium low heat. Slice the onions in half and then slice into think half moons. Heat 1-2 tbsp of light oil in the fry pan and very gently soften the onions for about 15 minutes. Keep the heat low and make sure they don’t begin to catch. You want to end up with lovely soft, sweet onions that are just begging to brown.
  3. Season with salt and plenty of black pepper. Add the chopped garlic and the thyme leaves and cook for a further 5 minutes or so. Once ready, cover and set aside but keep warm.
  4. Remove the steak from the fridge about 30 minutes before cooking. Season all over well with salt and pepper and drizzle over a little oil. If you like, slice a garlic clove in halve horizontally and use it to rub over the steak flesh. It just adds a subtle flavour. When ready to cook, heat a frying pan to a high heat. Fry the steaks on the below timings to your liking. As the last few seconds come around, spoon over about a 1tsp of butter per steak and baste.
  5. Its really important to rest the steak after! I cannot stress this enough especially with fillet steak! Don’t be tempted to just slap on the plate and eat. The meat needs to rest so the juices that are forced to the centre during cooking can settle out and diffuse out within the meat. This is where the flavour is! It also provides you with those all important juices for adding to your onions.
  6. Once cooked to your liking, place the steaks on a large piece of foil and wrap up tightly to rest and collect the juices. Rest for at least 10 minutes.
  7. Reheat the onions if needed and cook any vegetables you wish to serve with this
  8. After 10 minutes, open the foil and steaks. Pour and resting juices into the warm onions. Serve the steaks topped with a generous spoonful of juicy sweet onions to act as a sauce!

Cooking times:

I’m a medium rare steak lover so I always go for this timing so I’ll admit I’ve never tested the others accurately! But I presume they do the trick! All based on a 2cm thick steak. As a rough guide, add 1 minute for another cm.

Blue: 1 minute each side
Rare: 1½ minutes each side
Medium rare: 2 minutes each side
Medium: 2¼ minutes each side
Medium-well done: 2½ – 3 minutes each side.

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Steak Choice:

Everyone seems to have their favourite steak cut and there are many that are simply not popularly seen especially in supermarkets. Each cut has a purpose and is great for different occasions, recipes or side dishes and sauces.  Below is a very brief guide to help with some of the more well known and eaten cuts. First, a few things to note when choosing.

FAT: The fat content is important for two reasons. It is where the flavour is! When it cooks, the fat melts into the meat. This not only adds flavour but helps keep the steak succulent!

LOCATION: The more tender the steak, the less work the muscle has done. Therefore, a relatively unused muscles such as the loin will be more tender, and therefore usually more expensive

Sirloin: melt-in-the-mouth and succulent with some fat marbling. Lots of flavour but lacks flavour compared to a rib eye for example.

Rump (and my favourite cut): A large steak with huge flavour. It needs a long time to hang and a good cooking time as it can be tough if rare.

Fillet/Loin: Buttery tender and soft. Little or no fat so therefore very little flavour. It also cannot be hung and aged for long. My advice on a day to day basis is to opt for any other steak for economical and flavour reasons as you’ll be much more satisfied!

Rib eye: Lots of fat marbling provides a rich flavour.

Minute steak: Thin, cheap, can be cooked quickly. It can be tough however but if often seen for use in sandwiches!

T bone: The cut is part sirloin, part fillet so the cooking time is hard to judge…and then there is the cumbersome bone…

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Charred Broccoli, Almond, Lentil Salad

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Using up leftovers is one of my favourite challenges! And hence where my suitability for Masterchef would come in….ahem. If anyone reading this is from the admissions team (fat chance) then PICK ME! Anyway, my yearly voyage to my most favourite place in England, Sennen Cove at Lands End, is fast approaching and with only two more sleeps and two more meals I was challenged to use up the innards of the fridge in a creative yet tasty way.

Charred purple sprouting broccoli and almonds tossed with earthy lentils and balsamic red onions. Healthily delicious.

Serves 2

  • 4 oz Puy lentils
  • 1 large red onion, sliced into slithers
  • 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
  • 1 garlic clove
  • Large handful flat leaf parsley
  • Handful flaked almonds
  • Purple sprouting broccoli for two
  1. Simmer  the lentils in boiling water for about 18 minutes until tender.
  2. Meanwhile, heat a frying pan to a medium-hot and toast the almonds gently for a few minutes until just turning golden. Remove from the pan and set aside when done
  3. Heat 1 tbsp of light oil in the pan and turn the heat down. Gently and slowly soften the onions for about 5-10 minutes until sweet and soft and just beginning to colour. Add the chopped garlic and fry for a few more minutes. Season.
  4. Turn the heat up and add the balsamic. Simmer until reduced for about 1 minute and the onions are coated in a sticky sweet glaze. Remove from the heat and set aside.
  5. Par-boil the broccoli for 1-2 minutes and drain well. Heat a griddle pan until hot and charr the broccoli on all sides for a few minutes on a high heat.
  6. Meanwhile, drain the cooked lentils and season well. Add the onions and parsley and stir. Finally add in the charred broccoli and finally some of the almonds, reserving the majority for the topping to keep them crispy and crunchy!
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Spanish Lamb Shanks

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adore slow cooked dishes especially as it usually involves a a budget friendly cut such as lamb shanks. My favourite way to cook meat, besides the barbeque obviously…But while the first May bank holiday weekend delivered us a beautifully sunny and fresh evening, the morning hadn’t been as promising for a barbie. My sodden raincoat and squelching trainers sat drying in the sun were evidence enough. With not much time in my working week to knock out a slow cooked creation, the bank holiday offered the perfect opportunity. So a slow cooked, tender, succulent lamb shank in a glossy, sticky sauce studded with manly chunks of chorizo and vege was a definite good alternative. Scattered with fresh mint served on some creamy silky parsnip mash we went to bed with happy stomaches. Oh and we might have finished the meal with some bank holiday brownies. Ahem….

Serves 4

  • 4 lamb shanks
  • 300ml hot beef stock
  • 350ml red wine (Rioja is suggested)
  • 200ml balsamic vinegar
  • 4-6 garlic cloves
  • 2 bay leaves
  • Handful of fresh rosemary, leaves picked
  • 125g chorizo, sliced
  • 1 red onion, cut into wedges
  • 2 carrots, sliced into chunks horizontally
  • Fresh mint to serve
  • Olive oil
  • Freshly cracked black pepper and salt
  1. Preheat the oven to 150°C. Heat a large casserole dish on a medium high heat and add a good splash of olive oil. Season the lamb shanks well and brown on all sides in the pan until golden and crisp in places then remove to a plate.
  2. Using the same pan, heat the wine and vinegar and boil for about 5 minutes to simmer off the sharpness of the liquids.
  3. Add the bay leaves, rosemary, some seasoning and the hot stock. Peel the garlic cloves and crush lightly with the back of a knife. Finally add these and the lamb shanks submerged in the liquid.
  4. Place in the oven for 2 hours with the lid on.
  5. After 2 hours, remove from the oven and baste. Add the chopped onion, carrot and chorizo and turn the oven up to 180°C. Remove the lid and place in the oven for a further hour to brown and reduce the sauce.
  6. After this time the meat should be deliciously tender and falling off the bone. Remove the dish from the oven. Place the lamb shanks onto a warm plate and cover with foil while you deal with the sauce. Bring the liquid to a boil on the hob and simmer for about 5-10 minutes to reduce and thicken the sauce (Add 1 tbsp of cornflour mixed with 1 tbsp of cold water if needed and whisk this in to thicken further). Taste and adjust the seasoning.
  7. Place the lamb shanks back in the glossy sauce and pop in the oven to keep warm while you prepare the side dishes. I served mine with creamy parsnip mash and purple sprouting broccoli.

Serve one shank per person in a warm bowl a top some creamy mash with some vege and sauce. Scatter over some fresh mint and enjoy!image

WINE: Nothing seems more appropriate here than a native Spanish vino and something substantial to complement the lamb. Try a Rioja such as the La Rioja Alta, 2008 Viña Alberdi Reserva available at Armit Wines.

Jess - Rioja Alta

Coffee and Walnut Brownies

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Leftover Easter eggs. Still you cry! Yes, as a dark chocolate lover you don’t need much hence why I have a vat of the stuff still sitting patiently in the pantry. Brownies anyone?

Without doubt the best, most trusty brownie recipe and one I’ve always gone back to time after time. My only concern each time I make it is the sugar content. But we are talking about brownies here which come with a certain set of health flaws anyway. Courtesy of Green & Blacks but highly adapted here to reflect one of my favourite cakes, walnuts for crunch and coffee beans for surprise.

Makes about 20

  • 200g unsalted butter
  • 100g dark chocolate (70%) Green & Blacks
  • 350g dark brown soft sugar
  • 4 eggs, beaten
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 200g self raising flour
  • 1 tbsp instant coffee granules
  • Pinch salt
  • 100g chopped walnuts
  • 2 tbsp coffee beans, ground into chunks in a pestle and mortar
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  1. Preheat the oven to 180°C and line a 28cm x 18cm brownie tin with parchment (or a similar size)
  2. Melt the butter and chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water until melted and combined. Remove from the heat and leave to cool slightly.
  3. Stir in the sugar and instant coffee granules until combined.
  4. Whisk the eggs and vanilla well in a bowl and then whisk these continuously into the chocolate mixture until well combined and glossy.
  5. Gently fold in the flour and salt.
  6. Finely, stir in the chopped nuts and crushed coffee beans.
  7. Bake for 25-30 minutes until crispy on top but still soft inside. The edges may cook quicker leaving the middle pieces gooey and dense.
  8. Leave to cool completely (yes I know…amuse yourself here) until cold. Then cut into enormous pieces. Serve with some cool creamy ice cream.
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Saganaki Kefalotyri

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This evening I tried Saganaki. No its not a new yoga pose or a miso based cocktail but a Greek cheese. As a halloumi addict I felt a nagging pinch of betrayal to the Cypriots as I experimented with this new ingredient that has recently landed on our English shelves. Yet another speciality that we have been spoilt with access to!

I can only describe the taste as that which you get from the fried, crunchy, cheeky and gooey cheesy bits you get from the side of a cheese toasty which has managed to leak provocatively from the inside and burn and fry on the hot metal of the toasty machine. Saganaki in Greek is said to mean ‘frying pan’ so this was exactly how I cooked it. And this cheese pan fries amazingly, crispy on the outside but gooey in the centre. Fried with a little oil, floured first if you like, and some toasted sesame seeds. The only thing that would have made it better is a drizzle of runny sweet honey. This is often served as a dessert in this way too. However I served mine here with a simple fresh salad to counteract the fried cheese.

Serves 2

  • 1 x packet of Saganaki (see here for where to buy)
  • 1 tbsp sesame seeds
  • 1 tsp runny honey (optional)
  • 2 avocados
  • ½ red chilli, chopped finely
  • ½ small red onion, sliced finely in pinwheels
  • 2 spring onions, chopped
  • Handful rocket leaves
  • 2 gem lettuces
  • 1 large lemon
  • 1 large sweet potato, chopped into wedges
  • 1 tsp cumin seeds
  1. Preheat the oven to 200°C. Drizzle the sweet potatoes wedges with a little oil and season. Add the cumin seeds and toss to coat. Roast for about 35 minutes until crisp and tender.
  2. Meanwhile assemble the salad. Chop the avocado into slices and place in a large serving bowl. Add the chopped chilli, red onion slices, spring onions and season well. Squeeze over a good amount of lemon juice, about ½ the lemon, and set aside.
  3. Heat a frying pan to medium high heat and add 1 tbsp of a light oil. Cut the slices of cheese in half on the diagonal. When the oil if hot, fry the cheese for about 1 minute on each side until a golden crust forms. Just before removing from the pan, drizzle over the honey and sesame seeds and heat for a few more seconds before taking off the heat.
  4. Use a spatula to remove the cheese to a paper towel to drain some of the excess oil.
  5. When ready to serve add the salad leaves to the avocado mix and add a touch more lemon juice. Drizzle over a little extra virgin olive oil and toss the salad to combine. Check the seasoning,
  6. Place a heaped pile of salad in a serving bowl. Add a few potato wedges and top with the cheese, sliced again if you like.
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Spiced Spatchcocked Quail and Beetroot Barely Risotto

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Pearl barely has become my new favourite alternative to Aborio rice for use in a risotto. Ok its not ‘authentic’ Italian but it has a delicious nutty taste, a beautiful texture that goes deliciously with earthy beetroot and is packed full or nutrients. This dish is delicious served with lemony dressed rocket, some tender spice roasted poussin and a gooey quail egg. But remove the meat and its a vegetarians dream. Serve this to your meat hating buddies in place of the stereotyped mushroom risotto or quiche and you’ll be in their good books.

Serves 2

  • 1 x spatchcocked poussin or 2 small quail. Alternatively use chicken legs or breast
  • 1 tsp ground cumin
  • 1 tsp ground coriander
  • 1 tsp spice mix (see here)
  • 120g pearl barely
  • 1 pint hot chicken stock
  • 125ml red wine
  • 1 small red onion, chopped finely
  • 1 garlic clove, chopped finely
  • 1 sprig thyme, leaves picked
  • 200g cooked beetroot, pureed in a food processor (save a piece and cut into cubes for texture if you like)
  • Handful finely grated parmesan
  • 1 knob butter
  • ½ lemon
  • Rocket leaves to serve
  • 2-4 quail eggs
  1. Preheat the oven to 190°C. Season the bird. Coat in the dry spices and 1 tbsp olive oil and use your hands to rub the mixture into the meat.
  2. Place on a lined baking tray and roast at a high heat for about 40 minutes for a spatchcocked poussin/quail. Baste with the juice twice during cooking. Once ready, remove from the oven and let it rest for a few minutes before carving to serve.
  3. Meanwhile while the meat is cooking, make the risotto. Heat half a knob of butter with a small splash of oil in a saucepan. Very gently sweat the red onion in the butter for about 10 minutes until soft and translucent. Add the garlic and thyme and cook for a few more minutes. Season
  4. Turn the heat up to medium high and add the pearl barely. Toast in the pan with the onion stirring all the time. Next add the wine and simmer off until reduced.
  5. Turn the heat down to a gentle simmer and add the hot stock, ladle by ladle, adding more only after each addition has been absorbed. Continue for about 25minutes or so until the pearl barley is tender. Keep adding stock until the barley is cooked but don’t drown the mixture especially towards the end of the cooking time or it will be too runny.
  6. When the barley is cooked, stir through the beetroot puree and cubed beetroot and taste and season again. Bring back up to the heat to warm through.
  7. Add the grated cheese, another knob of butter and a generous squeeze of lemon juice and remove form the heat. Place the lid on top and leave it sit and rest while you see to the quail eggs.
  8. To cook the quails eggs to a soft boil, simmer them in a briskly boiling pan of water for 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and then plunge into cold water. When cool enough to handle, remove the shells.
  9. To serve, spoon a generous spoonful of risotto into a warmed bowl. Top with a handful of rocket dressed with plenty of lemon juice and seasoning.
  10. Carve the bird as required removing the legs and the breast meat. Place on top of the rocket. Slice your eggs in half at the last moment and finish the dish with their runny yolk centres and a good grinding of fresh black pepper.
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Gingerbread Latte Ice Cream, Salted Pistachio Brittle

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Its Easter, a foodie occasion so I cannot forgo a dessert menu without this icey sweet delight. Coffee is such a crowd pleasing and moresih dessert flavour (if you’re a caffeine lover) as it naturally tops off a dinner and satisfies those bitter fans and the sweet toothed. From tiramisu to coffee cake I love it. But in ice cream….well need I say more. With the subtleyly of the ginger and cinnamon it makes for a ironically warming flavour in this cooling ice cream. Acoompanied with a warm lava centred chocolate fondant it was the perfect finale to Easter lunch.

Ice Cream (Serves 6 modestly)

  • 300ml single cream
  • 1 can condensed milk
  • 2 tbsp coffee granules
  • 1 tbsp ground ginger
  • 1 heaped tsp ground cinnamon
  1. Heat the cream until just coming up to the boil. Add the coffee and spices and whisk until all combined off the heat.
  2. Leave to cool.
  3. Whisk in the condensed milk until thoroughly combined and transfer to a container or tupperware to store int he freezer.
  4. Freeze until set! You can remove it from the freezer about 5 minutes before serving to make it easier to serve.
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Salted Pistachio Brittle

Very general measurements and method here! If in doubt use a sugar thermometer.

  • 200g caster sugar
  • 160g roughly of golden syrup
  • 3 tbsp water
  • 60g pisatchios, crushed
  • 1 tsp malden salt
  • 1 tbsp unsalted butter
  1. Line a baking tray with non stick parchment (grease with oil if you want)
  2. Crush the nuts and mix with the salt and set aside.
  3. Mix the sugar, syrup and water in a pan. Heat on a medium high heat but do not be tempted to stir. Allow it to melt and begin to caramelise and bubble. Leave for 5-10 minutes or so bubbling away until the syrup beings to turn golden. Watch very closely here as you don’t want it to catch and burn or turn too dark. When a golden brown colour add the butter and remove from the heat and quickly pour onto the baking tray.
  4. Immediately scatter over the salty nuts evenly and leave to set. It will harden quickly, within 10 minutes! Once poured out and still soft though you can move the tray around to make it thinner if required by tilting.
  5. Once set, peel from the parchment and break carefully into shards for each guest
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Indian Fish

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You can use any fish here. I made this with a generous plumpy salmon on Mother’s Day, a clean mango ribbon salad, coriander lime chickpeas and Peshwari naan. However, sea bass this evening served with pistachio, coriander and cinnamon raisin rice and greens was equally as delicious and adoring. Both with this creamy, cooling cardamon laden, lime spiked yoghurt splashed slap-handedly over the spicy garam marsala crust is enough to satisfy even the most adoring Indian take-out stalker.

Serves 2

  • 2 x salmon or seabass fillets
  • 1 tbsp garam masala
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 150g natural yoghurt
  • Juice and zest 1 lime
  • 1 tsp ground cardamon
  1. Mix together the garam masala and oil in a bowl and coat the fish fillets with your hands. Set aside in the fridge to marinade for 2 hours or so
  2. Meanwhile, mix together the yoghurt, lime zest and juice and the cardamon. Season and taste.
  3. If using salmon, preheat the oven to 200°C. When ready to cook, bring a frying pan up to a high heat. Add 1tbsp of olive oil.
  4. When hot, add the fish skin side down and hold down to prevent the skin curling up.
  5. Fry for 2 minutes until eh skin is lovely and crisp. If using sea bass, fry until just cooked and turn onto the flesh side to finish cooking for the final minute (about 3 minutes cooking in total). If using salmon, fry until the skin is crisp and then place in the hot oven for about 7 minutes depending on their size. If they are thick fillets (2inch or so) allow this time. If thinner (1cm or so) allow about 5 minutes, Do not overcook!
  6. Serve the spicy, warm and soft fish fillets with a spoonful of creamy yoghurt and scattering of fresh coriander leaf.

Amaretto Pannacotta, Rose Rhubarb, Pistachio Shortbread

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A beautiful, delicious, creamy, soothing, sweet and flavoursome dessert to top off a wonderful Mother’s Day supper. My mother personified in a pleasing dessert. Elegant, beautiful and who doesn’t love a creamy vanilla speckled pannacotta? Obviously with a splash of booze as it was only fitting and with the simplest quirky touch of rose for added originality. And as one of my mums favourite puddings it was always on the menu. With shortbread of course. I think I’d have been hung and gutted if I hadn’t made any if I’m honest. Even if we were having pancakes! You can totally adapt this recipe too adding different liquors and roasting different fruits. Adding different nuts and flavours to your biscuits too. Try frangelico pannacotta, hazelnut shortbread and cinnamon honey roasted figs.

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Serves 6

Amaretto Pannacotta

  • 500ml double cream
  • 125ml milk
  • 40g caster sugar
  • 1 cinnamon stick
  • 1 vanilla pod
  • 2 tbsp amaretto liqueur (or another if preferred, e.g. Frangelico?)
  • 3 leaves/sheets gelatine
  1. Find yourself either 6 pannacotta moulds (This is if you want to turn these out onto a plate to eat. It is up to you. I prefer the less hassle and neater presentation approach to serving these in glasses) or 6 glasses of choice to serve you pannacotta in and place on tray.
  2. Heat the double cream, milk, sugar and cinnamon stick in a saucepan over a medium heat to dissolve the sugar and infuse the cinnamon.
  3. Scrape the vanilla seeds from the pod and whisk into the heating cream. Add the pod too and bring to just under a simmer.
  4. Remove from the what and leave to infuse for 20 minutes or so.
  5. Soak the gelatine leaves in a bowl of cold water meanwhile.
  6. Sieve or pick out the cinnamon stick and the vanilla pod and discard. Bring the pan back onto the heat and warm through.
  7. Squeeze out the gelatine leaves and then whisk into the warm cream.
  8. Transfer the mixture to a good reliable pouring jug and divide the mixture between the glasses. (TIP: Measure the mixture first and then divide this by 6 so that you end up with 6 even glasses. It is also worth whisking the mixture between pouring so you don’t end up with all the tasty black and precious vanilla seeds at the bottom of the jug!)
  9. Carefully place the tray in the fridge and leave to set. Ideally make these in the morning for use for dinner.
  10. Bring to room temperature for about 5 minutes before serving. Turn out any that are in pannacotta moulds. Serve with the warm rhubarb compote on top.

Rose Roasted Rhubarb

  • 500g pink forced Spring Rhubarb
  • 1 tbsp runny honey
  • ¾ tsp rosewater
  • 1 tbsp rose petals
  • Handful pistachio nuts, crushed
  1. Preheat the oven to about 160°C.
  2. Cut your rhubarb into 2inch chunks on the diagonal.
  3. Place in a baking dish and drizzle with the honey. Add the rosewater and mix.
  4. Cover with foil and roast for about 30 minutes until its soft. remove the foil and return to the oven for about 10 more minutes or so.
  5. Serve warm on top of the chilled pannacotta, scattered with a few rose petals and some crushed pistachio nuts.
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Pistachio Shortbread

  • 125g cold, cubed butter
  • 175g plain flour
  • 60g caster sugar
  • 40g pistachios
  1. Preheat the oven to 180 and line a baking tray with parchment
  2. In a food processor, combine the butter, flour and 50g of sugar and blend until it begins to clump and form a dough
  3. Next in a pestle and mortar pound the nuts coarsely until you form small pieces.
  4. Add half to the dough and pulse again briefly in the processor to diffuse.
  5. Tip the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and use your hands to bring to a ball of dough.
  6. Halve the dough to make it easier to work with as you can now deal with it in two batches. Roll to the thickness of a pound coin and then use a cutter of choice to make your shortbread before placing on the baking tray.
  7. Combine the remaining pounded nuts with the 10g of sugar and scatter liberally over the biscuits.
  8. Bake for 15-20 minutes until just beginning to turn a light golden brown.
  9. Leave to cool before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

To serve: Serve the pannacotta slightly chilled (remove from the fridge for about 5 minute before serving) topped with the warm rhubarb and a side order of buttery shortbread

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Harissa Salmon

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This is a beautiful salmon recipe. Not just aesthetically but a taste bud teaser too. And not just for salmon….the first time I made this I used a lovely white sea bream fillet which also stands up to the harissa flavour well. Harissa is a lovely firey Tunisian paste made form red peppers, hot chillis and spices and has a natural affinity with rose from its neighbouring Moroccan friend. Salmon filliets rubbed in this spicy paste and cooled with a vibrant lime and turmeric yoghurt were a match made in North African Tunisian heaven.

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Serves 2

  • 2 salmon (or sea bream) fillets
  • 1 heaped tsp harissa paste
  • ½ tsp ground cumin
  • 150g natural yoghurt
  • 1 lime, juice and zest
  • Small knob of fresh turmeric
  • ½ tsp ground turmeric
  • Coriander to garnish
  • Rose petal to garish (optional)
  • Brown rice/couscous to serve
  1. Begin by marinading the salmon fillets. Mix together the cumin and harissa in a bowl and rub the salmon fillets in this paste all over. Season and set aside for a few hours in the fridge to infuse
  2. Meanwhile, make the yoghurt. Mix together the yoghurt, zest and ½ the juice of the lime and season. Grated in the turmeric root (careful it will stain your hands!) and finally stir in the ground turmeric.
  3. Season well and taste. Add more lime juice if you think it needs more zesty taste. Set aside
  4. When ready to cook your salmon, heat to over to 190°C.
  5. Heat a frying pan over a medium high heat and add 1tbsp oil.
  6. Fry the salmon, skin side down to crisp the skin for about 1-2 minutes. The harissa may catch and look burnt but this is ok. Turn to sear on the flesh side for a further minute to create a golden crust.
  7. Immediately transfer to the oven on a foil lined baking tray and cook for about 5 minutes depending on how thick your salmon is. Don’t be tempted to over cook this! Salmon will take no time at all in a hot oven and will carry on cooking when removed anyway.
  8. Serve the salmon on a generous spoonful of your creamy yoghurt. Top with a scattering of rose petals and chopped coriander alongside some rice or couscous.