Five Spice Duck Salad

(Serves 2)

Ingredients

1 large duck breast
1 teaspoon Chinese five spice powder
1 pomegranate, halved
3 spring onions, trimmed and sliced
1 sprig fresh coriander, leaves picked
a few sprigs watercress
½ ripe mango, peeled and cut into chunks
juice of ½ lime
sesame oil, to drizzle
1 little gem lettuce

Method

Season the duck breast and dust with Chinese five spice powder. Put in a medium-hot frying pan and fry very gently for 5 minutes, turning halfway, until lots of fat has come out of the skin and the skin is golden brown. Take out of the pan and slice thinly – the duck will still be raw in the middle but don't worry! Discard the fat from the pan and put the sliced duck back in. Stir fry for a few minutes, until cooked through and crispy. Set aside.

Mix the pomegranate seeds, spring onions, coriander, watercress, mango and crispy duck together. Dress with the lime juice and a drizzle of sesame oil. Season to taste.

Separate the lettuce leaves and arrange on plates. Top with the dressed salad to serve.

Baked Jerusalem Artichokes, Breadcrumbs Thyme and Lemon

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

285ml / ½ pint double cream or créme fraiche
Juice of 1 lemon
2 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
1 good handful of fresh Thyme, leaves picked and chopped
3 handfuls of grated Parmesan cheese
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1kg/2lb 3oz Jerusalem artichokes, peeled and sliced as thick as a pencil
2 good handfuls of fresh breadcrumbs
Olive oil

How to make Baked Jerusalem Artichokes, Breadcrumbs Thyme and Lemon

Preheat your oven to 220°C/425°F/Gas7. In a bowl mix your cream, lemon juice , garlic half the thyme and most of the Parmesan, and season well to taste. Throw in the sliced Jerusalem artichokes. Mix well and place everything in an ovenproof baking dish. Mix the breadcrumbs with the rest of the thyme and Parmesan and some salt and pepper. Sprinkle all the flavoured breadcrumbs over the artichokes and drizzle with a little olive oil. Bake in the oven for around 30 minutes until the artichokes are tender and the breadcrumbs golden.

Southern Indian vegetable curry with curry leaves

(serves two)

Ingredients

1 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds

1 fresh green chilli, deseeded and chopped

a small bunch of curry leaves

1 onion, peeled and shredded

½ teaspoon ground coriander

a pinch of ground cumin seeds

½ teaspoon garam masala

¼ teaspoon turmeric

¼ teaspoon chilli powder

3 tomatoes, chopped

1 sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed

1 potatoes, peeled and cubed

small aubergine, cubed

50ml coconut milk

a small handful of French beans

a small handful of peas

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Heat the oil in a pan and fry the mustard seeds for 2 to 3 minutes or until they start to pop.
2. Add the chillies, curry leaves, onions, coriander, cumin seeds, garam masala, turmeric, and chilli powder. Stir and cook over a medium heat until the onion is soft. Stir in the chopped tomatoes.
3. Add your potatoes and aubergine to the sauce. Pour in the coconut milk and cook until the potato is soft and cooked through.
4. Throw in the beans and peas. Season and cook for a few more minutes until tender, then serve with some nice fluffy rice.

Jamie's roast squash, sage, chestnut and pancetta risotto

1 x basic risotto recipe
1 butternut squash
1 level tablespoon coriander seeds
2 small dried chillies
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
olive oil
12 slices of pancetta or dry-cured smoky bacon
100g chestnuts (vac-packed are fine)
a bunch of fresh sage, leaves picked
optional: 6 heaped tablespoons mascarpone cheese


If I could pick a load of ingredients that just shout out ‘Bonfire Night! Christmas! Cosy!’ it would have to be all the ones in this risotto. It’s so damn good — cook it whenever the ingredients are in season.

Preheat your oven to 190°C. Carefully cut your butternut squash in half and scoop out the seeds. Put these to one side. Cut the squash lengthways into 0.5cm slices. Bash up your coriander and chillies with a pinch of salt and pepper in a pestle and mortar (or use a metal bowl and the end of a rolling pin). Dust this over your squash with a tablespoon of olive oil. Toss around until completely coated. Line up snugly in a roasting tray and bake for around 30 minutes until the flesh and skin are soft to the touch. Now get all your ingredients ready and start making your basic risotto.

Remove the squash from the oven and lay your pancetta over it. Mix the squash seeds, chestnuts and sage leaves with a little olive oil, salt and pepper. Sprinkle over the squash and pancetta and place back in the oven for about 5 to 10 minutes until the pancetta is crisp.

Once the squash has cooled down a little, shake off the pancetta and chestnuts and finely chop the squash – it will be quite mushy but that’s fine. I go for half of it fine and half chunky. Add this to the risotto at the end of Stage 3. Carry on as normal through the basic recipe, season to taste and serve with the pancetta, chestnuts, sage leaves and squash seeds sprinkled over the top.

Lovely served with a big dollop of mascarpone cheese on the side.

Try this: Place a grater and a block of Parmesan cheese in the middle of the table so that everyone can help themselves.

Jamie's Vegetable Jalfrezi

ingredients

1 medium onion
1 fresh red chilli
a thumb-sized piece of fresh root ginger
2 cloves of garlic
a small bunch of fresh coriander
2 red peppers
1 cauliflower
3 ripe tomatoes
1 small butternut squash
1 x 400g tin of chickpeas
groundnut or vegetable oil
a knob of butter
½ a 283g jar of Patak’s jalfrezi curry paste
1 x 400g tin of chopped tomatoes
4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 lemons
200g natural yoghurt

To prepare your curry
• Peel, halve and roughly chop your onion
• Finely slice the chilli
• Peel and finely slice the ginger and garlic
• Pick the coriander leaves and finely chop the stalks
• Halve, deseed and roughly chop the peppers
• Break the green leaves off the cauliflower and discard
• Break the cauliflower into florets and roughly chop the stem
• Quarter the tomatoes
• Carefully halve the butternut squash, then scoop out the seeds with a spoon and discard
• Slice the squash into inch-size wedges, leaving the peel on but removing any thick skin, then roughly chop into smaller pieces
• Drain the chickpeas

To cook your curry
• Put a large casserole-type pan on a medium to high heat and add a couple of lugs of oil and the butter
• Add the onions, chilli, ginger, garlic and coriander stalks and cook for 10 minutes, until softened and golden
• Add the peppers, butternut squash, drained chickpeas and jalfrezi curry paste
• Stir well to coat everything with the paste
• Add the cauliflower, the fresh and tinned tomatoes and the vinegar
• Fill the 2 empty tins with water, pour into the pan and stir again
• Bring to the boil, then turn the heat down and simmer for 45 minutes with the lid on
• Check the curry regularly to make sure it’s not drying
• When the veg are tender, taste and add salt and pepper – please season carefully – and a squeeze of lemon juice

To serve your curry
Delicious with poppadums or my fluffy rice recipe and with a few spoonfuls of natural yoghurt, a sprinkle of coriander leaves and a few lemon wedges for squeezing over.

grilled lamb kofta kebabs with pistachios and spicy salad wrap

(serves 4)

ingredients

500g trimmed shoulder or neck fillet of lamb, chopped into 2.5cm chunks
2 heaped tablespoons fresh thyme leaves
1 level tablespoon ground chilli
1 level tablespoon ground cumin
4 level tablespoons sumac, if you can find any, or finely grated zest of 1 lemon
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
a good handful of shelled pistachio nuts

a few handfuls of mixed salad leaves, such as romaine or cos, endive and rocket, washed, spun dry and shredded
a small bunch of fresh mint, leaves picked

1 red onion, peeled and very finely sliced
1 lemon
a bunch of fresh flat-leaf parsley, leaves picked
extra virgin olive oil

4 large flatbreads or tortilla wraps
4 heaped tablespoons natural yoghurt

Method

Authentic kebabs are delicious, full of nuts, spices, herbs and fruit, as anyone who’s tasted proper Middle Eastern cooking knows. In this recipe I’m using a spice called sumac – it has a lovely flavour – but if you can’t find it, try lemon zest instead.
Buy really good minced lamb, or else a cut of trimmed shoulder or neck fillet and mince it up at home in a food processor. If you buy slightly older lamb (hogget or mutton), it’s important to ask your butcher to remove the sinews, and that you cook the meat for a few minutes longer.

This dish is best cooked on a barbecue over hot coals, but if that’s not possible, put your grill on to its highest setting or heat up a griddle pan. Either way, get your cooking source preheated.
Place the lamb in a food processor with most of the thyme, chilli, cumin and sumac (reserving a little of each for sprinkling over later), a little salt and pepper and all the pistachios. Put the lid on and keep pulsing until the mixture looks like mince.

Divide the meat into four equal pieces and get yourself four skewers. With damp hands, push and shape the meat around and along each skewer. Press little indents in the meat with your fingers as you go – this will give it a better texture when cooked.

In one bowl, mix the salad leaves and mint. In another, combine the sliced onion with a good pinch of salt and pepper and a squeeze of lemon juice (the acidity will take the edge off and lightly pickle the raw onion). Scrunch this all together with your hands, then mix in the parsley leaves. Grill the kebabs until nicely golden on all sides. Dress your salad leaves and mint with a splash of extra virgin olive oil, a squeeze of lemon juice and some salt and pepper.

Meanwhile, warm your flatbreads for 30 seconds on your griddle pan or under the grill, then divide between plates and top each with some dressed salad leaves and onion. When your kebabs are cooked, slip them off their skewers on to the flatbreads – you can leave them whole or break them up as I’ve done here. Sprinkle with the rest of the sumac, cumin, chilli and fresh thyme, and a little salt and pepper. Now either toss the salads, grilled meat and juices together on top of the flatbreads and drizzle with some of the yoghurt before rolling up and serving; or let your friends toss theirs together at the table, then dress and roll up their own, drizzled with some extra virgin olive oil.