Monster Mash

Creating perfect, light and fluffy mash is easy. Put peeled potatoes (see Source It overleaf for good varieties) in a pan with enough cold water to cover them by about 4cm, throw in some salt, cover and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and cook, partially covered, at a good simmer until a knife pierces them without resistance. Drain, leave them to steam off in the colander for a couple of minutes, and return to the warm pan. Now mash them, or pass them through a mouli or potato ricer, if you have the equipment and the patience. (And, whatever you do, don't put them in a food processor, unless you're planning on a spot of light wallpapering after lunch.) Next, for a kilo of potatoes, beat in about 100g of butter and 200ml of hot milk (or 100ml each of cream and milk). Finally, season well with salt, pepper and perhaps a grind of nutmeg.

It's important that the milk is hot, and not just because you don't want to eat tepid mash. Cold milk reacts with the starch in potatoes and makes the mash gluey, and that's not what we're after at all. We want fluffy perfection. Proper mash. So good it could bring a tear to a robot's eye, and make him redesign his left forcep as a potato peeler.

11 things to add to mash

• Try a mixture of two-thirds potatoes and one-third swede, to go with any good roast - particularly venison and game - and a nice rich gravy.
• Cheddar, chopped chives and spring onion, to go with sausages or to layer on top of a shepherd's pie.
• Add a few unpeeled cloves of garlic to the potatoes' boiling water, then peel, crush and beat into the potatoes, to go with almost anything.
• A couple of tablespoons of freshly grated horseradish, and perhaps some cooked turnip, to go with roast beef.
• A handful of sliced and gently caramelised shallots and a large peeled, cored and cooked Bramley apple, to go with roast pork.Some well-cooked Jerusalem artichokes and a few grinds of nutmeg, to go with roast lamb.
• While warming the milk, infuse it with a bay leaf and the finely grated zest of a lemon before adding to the mashed potatoes, to go with fried or grilled lemon sole, flounder or plaice.
• Some finely chopped spring onion and soft goat's cheese, to go with roast chicken.
• Some finely chopped and gently sautéed leek and fennel, to go with lamb, chicken or a pot roast.
• A spoonful or two of wholegrain mustard and lots of chopped parsley, to go with gammon.
• Some grated Cheddar cheese and roasted, chopped poblano chillies, to go with steak.

Celeriac and apple mash

This earthy mash has a touch of sweetness from the Bramley apples, which makes it great with roast pheasant or duck.

Ingredients (serves six)

500g floury potatoes, peeled and halved or quartered, depending on size
600g celeriac, peeled and cut into largeish chunks
3 Bramley apples, peeled, cored and chopped
3 tbsp sour cream or mascarpone
Salt and ground black pepper

Put the potatoes in a pan of salted water and bring to a boil. Once boiling, add the celeriac. In a separate pan, cook the Bramleys with a splash of water, covered, over a medium heat until fluffy and broken down. When the potatoes and celeriac are tender, drain and mash, then beat in the sour cream or mascarpone, the apple purée and some ground black pepper. Add salt to taste and serve.

Parsnip, leek and potato mash

A hearty, flavoursome mash: the perfect thing to serve with beef stew or herby pork sausages.

Ingredients (serves six)

70g unsalted butter
750g leeks, white and pale green parts only, washed and sliced
500g floury potatoes, scrubbed and, if large, halved
1kg parsnips, peeled and cut into big chunks
4 cloves garlic, unpeeled
Salt and ground black pepper
2 tbsp wholegrain mustard

In a large, heavy-bottomed frying pan over a medium-low heat, melt all the butter bar a tablespoon. Add the leeks and cook until really soft and beginning to take on some colour, about 10 minutes. Remove from the heat.

While the leeks are cooking, put the spuds, parsnips and garlic into a large saucepan. Add enough cold water to cover by 4cm and a rounded teaspoon of salt. Cover, bring to a boil, reduce the heat so they're simmering nicely, partially cover and cook until tender, about 20-25 minutes. Drain and return to the pan. Leave to steam for a minute or two, then lift out the garlic cloves and slip from their skins. Mash the garlic with a little salt and the remaining butter, return to the pan with the leeks, mustard and a few grinds of pepper, and mash roughly. Taste, add more salt and pepper as necessary, then serve immediately.

Sweet potato mash

Serve this cheerful, orange mash with spicy merguez sausages or pork chops.

Ingredients (serves four to six)

750g sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 3cm chunks
Salt and ground black pepper
3 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
2 tsp chopped, fresh sage
1 tsp honey
1 small handful walnuts, toasted and chopped (optional)

Put the sweet potatoes in a pan, add water to cover and a big pinch of salt, bring to a boil, and simmer until tender, about 15 minutes. Meanwhile, cream the butter and sage, and season. When the sweet potatoes are done, drain them, saving a glass of cooking liquid. Return to the pan, add the liquid and honey, mash, and beat in half the butter. Serve topped with the rest of the butter and walnuts.

Aubergine Croquettes

Ever since I lived in Amsterdam way back when, I've had a love-hate relationship with croquettes. I have fuzzy memories of a time when the most delicious things on earth were warm, crusty balls of cheese. This is a grown-up, sober version. Makes four starter portions.

Ingredients (Serves 4)

2 medium aubergines
3 tbsp olive oil
100g cooked floury potato, peeled
1 large free-range egg, beaten
60g grated Parmesan
60g grated Gruyère
1 garlic clove, crushed
4 tbsp white breadcrumbs, plus plenty to coat
Salt and pepper
Light olive oil, for frying
4 lemon wedges, to serve

For the salsa (optional)

4 small ripe tomatoes, diced
½ small red onion, peeled and diced
Small handful fresh oregano leaves
2 tsp red-wine vinegar
1½ tbsp olive oil
½ tsp sugar

Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/gas mark 6. Start with the salsa. Mix together all the ingredients and season. Set aside so the onion softens and the flavours develop. Before serving, give it a stir, drain off most of the liquids and transfer to a bowl.

Cut the aubergines into four long wedges and place them, skin side down, in an oven tray. Brush with olive oil and bake for 30 minutes, until cooked through and golden-brown.

Use a sharp knife to shave the aubergine flesh away from the skin. Discard the skin, chop the flesh finely and place in a bowl - you should have about 280g of aubergine flesh.

Roughly mash the potato with a fork and add to the aubergine, then add the egg, cheese, garlic, four tablespoons of breadcrumbs and some salt and pepper. The mix should be quite wet and sticky.

Before cooking the croquettes, scatter some breadcrumbs on a plate and heat the frying oil in a medium saucepan - it should be about 1.5cm deep and not too hot (if the oil is too hot, the croquettes will brown before they are cooked through).

Use a spoon to drop about a tablespoon's worth of croquette mix on the breadcrumb plate, then turn around to cover. Use your fingers to shape into barrels (or any shape you like). Fry for a minute a side, until golden brown all over. Transfer to kitchen towel. Serve warm, with the salsa or just a wedge of lemon on the side.

Perfect roast potatoes

A few tips to ensure your potatoes are cooked to perfection. First, don't use cheese for this recipe, or you will end up with something ridiculously cheesy and oily - even freshly grated parmesan is unnecessary. Second, you must heat the cream or you will have trouble cooking the potatoes. Third, if you have the oven too high, the cream will curdle - not a disaster, but the result won't look so good.

Ingredients (serves 4-6)

150ml milk
550ml crème fraîche
1-3 cloves of garlic (according to taste) finely chopped
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
Freshly ground nutmeg
1.2kg potatoes (preferably waxy rather than floury)

1. Use medium-sized floury potatoes (such as King Edwards) of as fegular a size as possible.
2. Place the potatoes in a saucepan, cover with boiling water, then boil in their skins for 10 minutes (the skins stop them from soaking up too much water, so they don't go soggy). Drain in a colander, run under the cold tap, then peel off the skins (spear the spud wih a fork, then use a sharp knife to slip them off). Cut into halves or quarters, depending on the size.
3. Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas mark 6. Put enough fat in a roasting pan to cover the base (this can be goose fat, dripping, sunflower oil or olive oil) and place in the oven for about 10 minutes to get very hot.
4. Meanwhile, scrape the parboiled potatoes with the tines of a fork to give them a ridged surface.
5. Tip the potatoes into the hot fat, toss until they are coated on all sides, sprinkle with salt, then return the pan to the oven. Cook for 1-1 1/2 hours., turning twice during cooking to make sure that they are nicely browned on all sides. This will give you a crispy outside and a fluffy, mash-like centre.

Quesadilla

This Mexican sandwich makes for a brilliant meat-free barbecue dish.

Ingredients (serves 4

For the black bean paste

230g cooked black beans (tinned are fine)
1 tsp ground coriander
½ tsp ground cumin
½ tsp cayenne
1 bunch coriander, chopped, stalks and all
Juice of 1 lime
½ tsp Maldon sea salt

For the salsa

½ small red onion, peeled and thinly sliced
½ tbsp white-wine vinegar
3 spring onions, trimmed and thinly sliced
5 medium sweet tomatoes, diced
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 mild red chilli, finely diced
1 bunch coriander, chopped, plus extra leaves to garnish
1½ tsp Maldon sea salt
Juice of ½ a lime
2 ripe medium avocadoes, diced

For the tortillas

8 small tortillas (corn look better, but flour are fine)
180ml soured cream
120g good mature cheddar, grated
6 tbsp jalapeño peppers in vinegar, drained and roughly chopped

Drain the beans of their water and place, along with the other paste ingredients, in a food processor bowl. Pulse to a rough paste.

To make the salsa, soak the onion in the vinegar in a large bowl for a few minutes. Add all the other ingredients and stir.

Have ready a hot barbecue or a ridged griddle pan. Take one of the tortillas and spread two tablespoons of bean paste in the centre, leaving a 2cm border around the edge. Spread a tablespoon of soured cream over the paste, then scatter over the cheddar, a tablespoon of salsa and some chopped jalapeños. Fold the tortilla over and carefully transfer to the barbecue or griddle. Cook for two to three minutes on each side, by which time the filling should be warm and the tortilla nicely charred. Transfer to a warm place, and repeat with the remaining tortillas.

To serve, cut each tortilla into two at an angle, place on a serving dish and spoon the remaining salsa alongside, garnished with coriander leaves.

Mushroom ragout with poached duck egg

Ideal solace for a gloomy winter night.

Ingedients (serves 4)

15g dried porcini
600g mixed mushrooms (wild and/or cultivated)
350g sourdough bread
100ml olive oil
2 garlic cloves, crushed
Salt and black pepper
1 medium onion, peeled and sliced
1 medium carrot, peeled and sliced
3 celery stalks, sliced
120ml white wine
3 sprigs fresh thyme
100g soured cream
4 tbsp chopped tarragon and parsley
4 duck eggs, freshly poached
Drizzle of truffle oil (or olive oil)

Soak the porcini in water for 30 minutes. Gently brush the fresh mushrooms, then cut the larger ones so you have a good selection of whole or large chunks. Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/gas mark 6.

Remove the crust from the sourdough, and cut the bread into roughly 2.5cm cubes. Put these in a bowl, add two tablespoons of oil, two cloves of crushed garlic and a pinch of salt, and toss. Spread the croutons on an oven tray and toast in the oven for 17 minutes, turning a few times, until they are nice and golden all over.

Heat a tablespoon of oil in a heavy saucepan. Add some of the mushrooms, leave undisturbed for a minute or two so they don't exude their juices, then, once lightly browned, turn them over for another minute. Remove from the pan and repeat in batches with the remaining mushrooms, adding a tablespoon of oil every time. Once all the mushrooms have been seared, add another tablespoon of oil to the pan and throw in the onion, carrot and celery. Sauté on medium heat for five minutes without browning. Add the wine and let it bubble away for a minute. Strain the porcini, squeeze out the liquid and tip the soaking liquids into the pan. Add enough water to bring up to 600ml.

Add the thyme and a little salt, and simmer slowly for 20 minutes, or until you are left with just under a cup of liquid. Strain, discard the vegetables and return the liquids to the pan.

When ready to serve, reheat the stock, add the mushrooms, soured cream and the herbs (reserve some to garnish), and season to taste.

As soon as the mushrooms are hot, place four croutons on each serving dish. Top with mushrooms, a warm poached egg, the remaining herbs, a drizzle of oil and some black pepper.

Coffee Ice Cream

Coffee ice cream happen to be one of the simplest to make: a milky infusion, a little wup of egg yolks and sugar, a stir and a coolant of cream. A machine to ice, smooth and thicken the cream is a luxury worth investing in. With an ice-cream-maker in the corner of the narrowest galley kitchen and a few ingredients from the most basic of shops, one of the finest desserts is always there at the flick of a switch.

Ingredients (serves 4-5)

600ml full-cream milk
75g coarsely ground coffee
5 egg yolks
125g golden caster sugar
400ml double cream
1-2 tbsp tia maria (optional)

Pour the milk into a pan, place on a low heat and tip in the coffee. Stir well and bring to the boil. Remove from the heat, give it a brief whisk and cover. Leave to infuse for at least 30 minutes. Strain through muslin into a bowl.

Beat together the egg yolks and sugar until thick and pale yellow, then add the coffee milk. Gently whisk together and pour back into the rinsed-out milk pan. Make custard with this mixture: be careful not to let it boil, but its does need to thicken slightly.

Pour into a chilled bowl and whisk in the cream and Tia Maria, if using. Leave to cool completely and remove any surface froth with a spoon. Churn in an ice cream machine.

Perfect Boiled Rice

Plain boiled rice, especially long-grained basmati rice from India, has a magical quality that is difficult to beat. When cooked correctly, it is a delight -- long, snowy-white grains, with an incredible lightness, fluffiness and the distinct aroma that only basmati rice develops when ready to eat.

Simple, boiled basmati rice is like a pristine white canvas waiting for colour. It can quickly and easily be transformed into a variety of vibrant dishes by adding different flavours, colours and textures.

Each of these recipes serves four.

Ingredients (serves 4)

1 tbsp salt
300 raw basmati rice, washed and soaked for 30 mins
1 tbsp vegetable or corn oil

Pour 1.2 litres of water into a saucepan and bring to the boil, then add the salt and the rice.

Keep stirring every couple of minutes to make sure the rice cooks evenly and the grains separate. An average, good-quality and properly aged basmati rice c ooks in 9-12 minutes, but follow timings as advised on the packet. Strain in a colander to drain off any water and spread on a flat tray to cool the rice the rice quickly. This is necessary to prevent the rice from overcooking.

Lemon Rice with King Prawns

Ingredients (serves 4)

2 tbsp oil
2 tsp mustard seeds
1 tbsp chana dal (split yellow lentils)
10 curry leaves or 4 live leaves (or 1 tbsp fresh coriander, finely chopped)
1 tsp ground turmeric
200g large king prawns, peeled and deveined
100ml clear fish stock or water
1 quantity of boiled rice (see above)
2 tsp salt
Juice of 3 lemons

Heat the oil in a pan, then add the mustard seeds and chana dal and let them crackle. When they start to change colour, turning almost golden, add the curry leaves and turmeric (if the turmeric starts to burn, sprinkle some water into the pan). Next, add the king prawns and stir fry over a high heat for about a minute, until the prawns have turned pink and are sealed. Reduce the heat and cover the prawns with the fish stock or water.

Simmer for 3-4 minutes or until the prawns are cooked and most of the moisture is evaporated. Add the rice, salt and lemon juice and carefully toss to combine, without breaking the rice grains.

Quick Chicken Biryani

Ingredients (serves 4)

10 chicken thighs, boned and cut in half
3 tbsp natural yoghurt
2 cloves garlic, mashed with a little salt into a paste
5 green chillies
21/2 cms fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
11/2tsp red chilli powder
2tsp ground salt
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp ghee or oil
2 tbsp single cream (optional)
6-7 curry leaves (optional, but they make a huge difference, so try to search some out)
1 tsp ground cumin
Seas from 5 cardamom pods
10 tomatoes, cords and split in two widthways
Salt
75g creamed coconut dissolved in 5-6 tbsp boiling water
Squeeze of lime juice, to taste
Freshly ground black pepper
Fresh coriander, chopped, to garnish

Melt the butter in a heavy-bottomed shallow pot or frying pan. Add the garlic, ginger, chilli, curry leaves (if you have them), cumin and cardamom. Allow the spices to stew gently before laying the tomatoes on top, shin side down. Lightly salt their surfaces and spoon over the coconut cream.

Loosely cover and set over an extremely love heat. Much of the juice from the tomatoes will form a sauces, helped along by the creamed coconut. When this is coming along nicely, baste the the tomatoes with the sauce to amalgamate the coconut cream.

When the dish is ready - after about 30 minutes - the tomatoes should still have their shape and the sauce will be slightly separated but creamy in parts (if it seems too dry, add a little water). Squeeze over the lime juice, grind on the pepper and sprinkle with coriander.
Its best served at room temp. as a first course, or with devilled chicken, perhaps.

Tomatoes with Herbs

Ingredients (servers 4 as a starter)

4 medium tomatoes, ripe but firm
Salt and ground black pepper
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
4 salted anchovy fillets, chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
30g panko breadcrumbs
2 tbsp chopped oregano
3 tbsp chopped parsley
1 tbsp chopped mint
1½ tbsp chopped capers

Trim 1cm off the top of each tomato and discard. Use a teaspoon to remove the seeds and most of the flesh, leaving a clean shell. Lightly salt the insides and put in a colander, facing down, to get rid of some moisture.

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4. In a medium pan, sauté the onion, garlic and anchovy in a tablespoon of oil. Cook on a low heat for two to three minutes, just to soften the onion. Remove from the heat, stir in the breadcrumbs, herbs, capers and pepper, taste and add salt if needed.

Fill the tomato shells with the herb stuffing, pressing down very gently as you go - you want a nice dome of stuffing on top. Place in a greased, ovenproof dish, drizzle over the remaining oil and bake for about 20 minutes. Serve lukewarm.

Restaurant Review :: Quo Vadis

Quo Vadis (score 9.25/10)
Telephone 020-7437 9585
Address 26-29 Dean Street, London W1
Open Monday-Saturday, lunch 12-2.45pm, dinner 5-10.45pm

Anyone looking to this column for help in resolving the age-old struggle for supremacy between nurture and nature (and it's hardly for me to second-guess the readers' motivation) is in for a brutal disappointment.

Today's restaurant is Quo Vadis, which stands in the heart of London's dismally sanitised Soho, as it has done for some 80 years. Previously the upstairs bit was Karl Marx's workplace, and these rooms' present incarnation as a private members' club for moneyed media types, vaguely on the lines of the one a few doors up opened by Karl's cousin Groucho, is an irony that needn't detain us today.

What need detain us is that in the 1990s Quo Vadis was taken over by a syndicate including my old schoolmate Matthew Freud. Matthew, as you know, is frequently cited by those on the nurture side of the debate as the single most compelling argument against the power of heredity. Times beyond counting I've challenged Steve Jones, Richard Dawkins and other top-ranked geneticists to explain the progression, in just three generations, from Sigmund to Matthew via Clement, and never have they dared take up the gauntlet.

One up to upbringing over environment there, then. The equaliser, however, comes from the latest owners of Quo Vadis, Sam and Eddie Hart. These brothers are the sons of gifted restaurateurs themselves, their parents owning Hambleton Hall, a country house hotel and restaurant in Rutland about which people have long raved.

Now this might tempt some to chalk up another to nurture, on the obvious grounds that growing up in that world inevitably imbued the boys with their parents' abilities. I won't have it. The outstanding restaurateur is too rare a creature to be explained by environmental influences. The gift is as much bred in the bone as one for football, and these Harts are the Charlton brothers of the food world. It's true that they have yet to fall out for opaque reasons connected with their mother Cissie, but in any British squad for the Restaurateur World Cup a place would have to be found for both because they bring to their work flair, passion, perfectionism and the surest of touches.

At Quo Vadis, their first major non-Hispanic venture after opening the admired Spanish restaurant Fino and the even more vaunted tapas joint Barrafina, both stalked the room, eyes slaking from side to side in the quest for problems in the manner of the masters of the trade Chris Corbin and Jeremy King (The Wolseley). Eventually they settled down for a late afternoon digestif with my so-called rival Giles Coren, who was taking a well-merited break from composing his much-loved lyrical odes to the subeditors of the Times, but if they'd hunted down and resolved any failings during their travels around the parquet floor, they certainly weren't at our table. In fact the entire experience, from the warm and jolly greeting onwards, was pretty much perfect.

Whether through good sense or parsimony, they have left this spacious Edwardian room - antique frosted-glass mirrors, low ceilings providing unusually good acoustic - largely untouched, save for some squishy, tan-coloured banquettes and the abstracts on the walls. They have also gone for the sort of unponcey, emulsion-free, old-fashioned British menu that not only goes with the room but makes the heart sing at the sight of at least a dozen dishes you want to eat.

My friend kicked off with whitebait, and a finer, more accurately fried serving of that delectable little fish (served with impeccable tartare sauce) he could not remember. I went for the razor clams, those underrated princelings of the seafood world, and these were also superb, arriving enticingly browned in their shells and laced with garlic and parsley.

The main courses were better still, thanks to the obvious-sounding but highly unusual synthesis of beautiful meat and accurate cooking. "I must tell you, this is the lightest, tenderest lamb I've ever eaten," enthused my friend of his beautifully pink and milky roast saddle, served in one gratifyingly vast circular slab. I felt the same about a veal cutlet of a meltiness and richness of flavour I couldn't recall. Vegetables were also flawless, the spinach drawing an almost mystified, "But everything is brilliant here" from my friend's roseate lips (the pinot grigio turned out to be pink, and delicious with it).

Raspberry trifle was slightly too sweet for my embittered palate, but he loved it, and it was worth the money just for the aesthetics. Even the cover charge I alighted on in the quest for a quibble turned out to cover terrific bread and olives and filtered water, which seemed a fair deal for two quid.

No, there's nothing for it but to accept this is one of those ultra-rare, spirit-lifting restaurants that has you proselytising its splendours to anyone polite enough to listen. But then these Hart boys do have their forebears' talent stamped throughout their DNA. If only the same could be said for Matthew Freud and that Pedigree Chum-peddling sire of his.

The bill

Whitebait £6.20
Razor clams £11
Veal cutlet £18
Saddle of lamb £17.50
Mashed potatoes £4.50
Fresh peas £3.50
Spinach £4
Trifle £6.20
Pink pinot grigio £39
Calvados £9
Espresso £1.75
Americano £2.25
Two covers £4
Subtotal £126.90
Service @ 12.5% £15.86
Total: £142.76

Grilled courgettes with tahini dressing & home-made flatbreads

This dish is great as it is, or served as an easy side dish with barbecued lamb chops, say, or, best of all, wrapped in the flatbread recipe that follows.

Ingredients

(serves four)
55ml tahini
55ml water
Juice of ½ lemon
1 clove garlic, grated
Sea salt
450g courgettes, sliced 1cm thick lengthwise
3 tbsp olive or rapeseed oil, plus more for drizzling
Freshly ground black pepper
3 tbsp fresh mint leaves, shredded

For the flatbreads

250g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
250g strong white bread flour
5g easy-blend yeast
10g salt
1 tbsp good-quality olive oil (plus extra for glazing; optional)
325ml hot water, or an equal mixture of hot water and natural yogurt
For the glaze (optional)
½ tsp cumin seeds
½ tsp coriander seeds
20g unsalted butter
2 tbsp olive oil
A good pinch of smoked paprika

the courgettes

First make the dressing, which is a cinch - just whisk together the tahini, water, lemon juice, garlic and a pinch of salt, then set aside.

Brush the courgettes with oil, sprinkle with a little salt and grill over medium coals until lightly charred and tender - about four minutes on each side.

Arrange the courgettes on a plate, drizzle over some of the tahini dressing and a splash or two of oil, a few grinds of pepper, some salt flakes and a sprinkling of mint. Serve immediately.

the flatbreads

These breads, which were devised by Dan Stevens, one of the chefs at River Cottage, are perfect with grilled food, with or without the spicy glaze.

If you want to make a glaze for your flatbreads, start with that; otherwise, skip this and go straight to the next paragraph. Heat a small frying pan over a medium heat, and when hot toast the cumin and coriander seeds for a minute or so until they release their fragrance. Grind with a pestle and mortar. Melt the butter, whisk in the olive oil, the ground cumin and coriander, and the paprika. Brush the glaze over the breads just before putting them on the grill, or do so just after they come off the grill - both approaches work well.

To make the flatbreads, mix all of the dry ingredients in a bowl and make a well in the centre. Tip the water (or the yogurt/water mix) into this well, pour in the olive oil, and mix together. Knead the dough until smooth, silky and elastic, then brush it with oil, cover and leave to rise until doubled in size. Deflate the dough, then leave to rise a second time, again until almost doubled in size.

Tear off pieces of dough the size of small lemons. Using plenty of flour on both your hands and the worksurface, shape them into rounds and roll out to 3-4mm thick. Leave each one to rest for five minutes or so.

Brush the flatbreads with the seasoned butter glaze or olive oil (both optional), then cook over a hot barbecue for four to five minutes, turning once, until puffed up and just beginning to char. Serve at once.


Original post

Nigel Slater's classic spaghetti alla puttanesca

This quick supper dish should be salty, piquant and hot. The saltiness comes from anchovies and olives; the piquancy from the tomatoes and the effect of the capers; the heat from dried chilli flakes. Spaghetti puttanesca is not a genteel dish – it should in fact be a little coarse and the flavours should explode in the mouth. It is the best of all standby dishes, ready in minutes and made from ingredients you probably have.

Ingredients (Serves 4)

2 cloves garlic
½ tsp dried chilli flakes
8 anchovy fillets
4 tbsp olive oil
800g chopped tomatoes
500g dried pasta
100g black olives
1 tbsp capers

Warm 2 thinly sliced cloves of garlic, half a tsp of dried chilli flakes and 8 chopped anchovy fillets in a frying pan with 4 tbsp of olive oil. Stir as it cooks for a couple of minutes until the anchovies start to disintegrate. Turn up the heat and add 800g chopped tomatoes. Leave to cook for 20 minutes or so. Cook 500g of pasta in deep, furiously boiling, generously salted water for about 9 minutes (check the packet). When the sauce is ready, stir in 100g of black olives and 1 tbsp of capers, then toss with the lightly drained pasta.

The Trick

Don't be timid: this is a big, gutsy sauce and demands boldness in the cook. Yes, it's a little sharp and hot and salty, and that is exactly how it should be. The best anchovies to use are the salt-packed variety, rinsed and patted dry. The bottled version is a little too mild, though it will, of course, do. You can use canned tomatoes – most Italians do. Go for Napolina. No Parmesan is necessary. It would be an overdose of salty notes.

The Twist

The best versions stick to this recipe, but there is a twist that involves including pieces of tuna dropped into the pan after the anchovies have started to break up.

Hazelnut and Raspberry Cake

A wonderful light yet sumptuous cake from Nicola Humble's book. As she says: "I have made this cake for many years, and it never fails to please. A German-style cake which substitutes ground nuts for flour, this is delightfully squidgy and satisfying without being cloying. It works very well as a dessert for a party."

Ingredients (Serves 8)

220g whole hazelnuts
6 large eggs
180g caster sugar
250ml double cream, whipped
150-200g raspberries
Grease and flour a 24cm springform tin. Line the base with a circle of baking parchment. Set the oven at 170C/gas mark 4.

Place the nuts in a dry frying pan (preferably cast iron) and toast carefully over a low heat, shaking the pan to rotate them. This can also be done in a moderate oven, but the nuts must be checked frequently, as they burn very easily. When they are golden in patches, allow to cool. Grind the cooled nuts in a food processor. The aim is to reduce most of the nuts to a coarse flour, but to retain some larger chunks for texture. Be careful not to process too far or they will release their oils and turn to nut-butter.

Separate the eggs carefully. Whisk the yolks and sugar until pale, creamy and very thick. Stir in the nuts. Whisk the egg whites to firm peaks then gently fold them into the yolk mixture with a large spoon. Turn into the tin and bake until the cake begins to shrink away from the sides of the tin – approximately 45 minutes. Leave in the tin to cool for 10 minutes, then release the clip and turn out on to a rack. When completely cold, carefully cut the cake in half horizontally, then fill with whipped cream and raspberries.

If preferred, the mixture can be baked in two layers in shallower cake tins, in which case the layers will take about 25-30 minutes to bake.

A Cake for Midsummer

Blueberries and peaches are rippled through the soft, almond-rich crumb of this pretty cake – the very essence of summer. I sometimes add a few rose petals and an extra handful of raspberries at the last moment, or perhaps a light scattering of caster sugar.

Ingredients (serves 8-10)

175g butter
175g golden caster sugar
200g ripe peaches
2 large eggs
175g self-raising flour
100g ground almonds
1 tsp grated orange zest
a few drops of vanilla extract
150g blueberries

Line the base of a 20cm, loose-bottomed cake tin with baking paper. Set the oven at 170C/gas mark 4.

Cream the butter and sugar together in a food mixer until pale and fluffy. Halve, stone and roughly chop the peaches. Beat the eggs lightly then add, a little at a time, to the creamed butter and sugar, pushing the mixture down the sides of the bowl from time to time with a rubber spatula. If there is any sign of curdling, stir in a tablespoon of the flour.

Mix the flour and almonds together and fold in, with the mixture at a slow speed, in two or three separate lots. Add the orange zest and vanilla, and once they are incorporated add the chopped peaches and blueberries.

Scrape the mixture into the cake tin and bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes. Test with a skewer – if it comes out relatively clean, then the cake is done. Leave the cake to cool for 10 minutes or so in the tin, run a palette knife around the edge, then slide out on to a plate, decorating as the fancy takes you.