Moules A La Creme

"If it ain't, don't fix it" is a pretty good rule to follow in cookery, so it's tempting to stick with mussel, white wine, shallots and not much else - but adding cream makes a dish that is richer and more luxurious.

Ingredients (serves 6 as a starter, 3-4 as a main)

2.5kg mussels
70g butter
3 shallots
1 clove garlic, chopped
250ml white wine
1-2 bay leaves or 2-3 sprigs of thyme
200ml double cream
freshly ground pepper
2 tbsp flat-leaf parsley, chopped

Rinse the mussels in several changes of cold water, discard any that don't close when given a firm tap, scrape off any barnacles and pull off the beards.

Melt just over half of the butter in a large, heavy-based pan, add the shallots, garlic (if using), wine and bay leaves or thyme, bring to the boil and boil for 2-3 mins. Add the mussels. Cover and cook on a high heat for 2 minutes. Holding down the lid, shake the pan, then take off the lid and cook until the mussels have opened (about 3 minutes or more). Using a slotted spoon, scoop them into a warmed dish or bowl.

Strain the cooking liquid through a fine sieve into a pan, bring to the boil, then stir in the cream. Bring it back to the boil, then cook to reduce and thicken. While this is cooking, quickly remove the empty half-shells from the mussels and put the mussels in their shells back in the warmed disk or onto individual soup plates. Season the cream sauce with pepper and stir in the remaining butter. As soon as it has melted, pour the sauce over the mussels, sprinkle with parsley and serve immediately with plenty of bread.

Minestrone

It's important to cut the vegetables into small pieces, even dice. If you have the rind from a chunk of Parmesan, add it to the broth - it adds a real depth of flavour.

Ingredients (serves six)

3 tbsp olive oil
130g pancetta or streaky bacon, cut into cubes
2 carrots, diced
1 onion, diced
1 stick celery, diced
2-3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
200g potatoes, peeled and cubed
40g Savoy cabbage, finely shredded
1-2 tsp fresh thyme leaves, chopped
400g tinned chopped tomatoes
1.2 litres good chicken stock
400g tin cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
70g small pasta, such as macaroni or tubetti
3-4 tbsp chopped, flat-leaf parsley
Salt and ground black pepper

In a big pot, warm the oil over medium heat, then add the pancetta and sauté until just golden. Add the carrot, onion and celery, lower the heat and sauté, stirring, until soft, about seven minutes. Add the garlic, potatoes, cabbage and thyme, and cook until the cabbage wilts. Add the tomatoes, stock and a pinch of salt, and simmer, partially covered, for 40 minutes. Add the beans and pasta, and simmer for 20 minutes. Add more stock if it looks a bit thick. Taste, season and stir in the parsley. Serve with Parmesan (or hard goat's cheese) shavings.

Pot-roast chicken with potatoes, bacon, garlic and thyme

It’s simple, really. All you need is top-notch, seasonal ingredients and an effortless recipe

Ingredients (serves 4)

50g butter
2 tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper
1 fine-quality, free-range 1.5kg chicken (dressed weight) with giblets, if possible
130g pancetta or other bacon, cubed
12 cloves of garlic, peeled
2-3 generous splashes of vermouth
1kg potatoes, washed, peeled and cut into large chunks
5-6 sprigs of fresh thyme
300ml good chicken stock

Preheat the oven to 150C/330F/Gas Mark 2.

Using a deep cast-iron pot with a lid (an oval Le Creuset is ideal), melt the butter with the olive oil. Season the chicken all over and inside, then slowly brown its surfaces in the fat, turning the bird over and around for about 15 minutes. Remove to a plate. Add the pancetta and garlic to the pot and allow both to sizzle and gild slightly, then pour in the vermouth, which will froth and splutter. Introduce the potatoes now and turn with a spoon through the fatty residue until well coated. Stir in the thyme sprigs and stock and return the chicken to the pot, burying it deep among the potatoes. Bring the whole affair up to a bubbling simmer over a low heat, cover and transfer to the oven.

Cook for 1-1½ hours, until the potatoes are very tender indeed; the chicken will also be well cooked, but that is how it is meant to be in this instance.

Serve direct from the pot at the table, carefully lifting the chicken onto a hot serving dish for jointing. Spoon some of the potatoes – together with copious amounts of juice – around each serving.

The Perfect Pizza

I love pizza: with a good, thin, burnt-at-the-edges crust that seductively conspires to be both crisp and chewy at the same time. Spare me from those hefty, overloaded slabs favoured by so many fast food places. I've nothing against Chicago, but I'd rather trust Al Capone to do my taxes than tuck into a slice of the pizza that bears his city's name.

Such heavy concoctions are a million miles away from pizza's humble origins as the simple flatbread favoured by the Greeks. Over the centuries, it acquired more adornment until, in 1889, Queen Margherita's visit to Naples produced possibly the first "modern" pizza. A local chef dressed his dough in red, white and green (in the form of tomato, mozzarella and basil) in a tasty nod to the Italian flag, and the pizza margherita was born.

That clever Neopolitan was on to something. I like pizza with only a few simple toppings (three or four at most), so the dough can shine. When it comes to getting the dough right, I've been encouraged by Daniel Stevens, the River Cottage baker (the recipe is his, from River Cottage Handbook No.3: Bread). And I won't lie – it can be tricky getting that crisp, slightly blistered crust in a domestic oven. The key is to whack the thing up as high as it will go and give it time to get to temperature. If you have one, put in a pizza stone to heat up too. If you haven't, a large, unglazed quarry tile is a good substitute, or at a pinch use a heavy baking sheet, preheated as hot as it will get. While that's heating up, assemble your toppings. If you're cooking for a crowd, set up a selection in bowls – tomato sauce, meats, fish, cheeses, vegetables – so everyone can, well, get a pizza the action. Torn basil or a few rocket leaves are good to sprinkle on top when the pizzas come out of the oven, along with a trickle of good olive or chilli oil if you like a little fire in your belly. Oh, and one final thing: no pineapple. Ever.

Perfect pizza dough

Dan's recipe is foolproof and the dough keeps well, sealed in the fridge, for a couple of weeks. Whenever you feel that pizza craving coming on, simply break off a lime-sized piece of dough and get rolling. Makes eight small pizzas.

Ingredients(Makes eight small pizzas)

250g strong white bread flour
250g plain white flour
5g powdered dried yeast
10g salt
325ml warm water
About 1 tbsp olive oil
1 handful coarse flour (rye, semolina or polenta), for dusting

In a bowl, mix the flours, yeast, salt and water to form a sticky dough. Mix in the oil, then turn out on to a clean work surface and knead until smooth and silky. (Alternatively, if you have a mixer with a dough hook, mix the flours, yeast, salt and water on a low speed, add the oil and knead for 10 minutes). Shape into a round, and leave to rise in a clean bowl, covered with a plastic bag, until doubled in size.

Preheat the oven (and pizza stone or substitute) as high as it will go. Take a lime-sized piece of dough and roll it into a 5mm thick round. Dust a rimless baking sheet with coarse flour, lay the dough on it, add your toppings and slip the pizza from the sheet on to the hot stone. Bake until any cheese is bubbling and the base is taking on some colour, seven to nine minutes. Scatter over any leaves or raw toppings, and tuck in.

Roast tomato sauce

Roasting gives the sauce great depth of flavour. This freezes well, too.

Ingredients

500g tomatoes, halved
2 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced
2 tbsp olive oil
Salt and black pepper

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4. Lay the tomatoes cut side up in a roasting tin, place a slice of garlic on each, pour over the oil, season well and roast for 30-45 minutes, until soft and slightly charred. Rub through a sieve into a bowl.

Garlic oil

Adds a great punch of flavour. It does not keep, so make only as much as you need for a pizza-making session.

Ingredients

6 garlic cloves, peeled and grated
6 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

Simply combine the garlic and oil.

Chilli oil

This keeps sealed in the fridge for a few weeks. It's good in marinades and salad dressings, too. Makes 250ml.

Ingredients

6 mildish chillies, such as poblano
250ml olive oil
1 tsp thyme leaves
1 garlic clove, unpeeled

Cut open the chillies from tip to tail, remove the seeds and discard. Cut into strips and put in a pan with the oil, thyme and garlic. Heat slowly till the oil is simmering very gently, then cook the chillies until soft, about 20 minutes. Set aside to cool.
My favourite toppings

Pizza bianca: brush the dough with olive oil, sprinkle on some chopped rosemary and sea salt, and bake.
Brush with olive oil and scatter on some slices of finely sliced mackerel fillet. Dot with crème fraîche and sprinkle on finely sliced red onion. Once cooked, scatter over some dill.
Spread with a thin layer of roasted tomato sauce, arrange goat's cheese on top and bake. Before serving, scatter on a handful of basil, chervil, thyme and oregano, and trickle on some olive or seasoned oil.
Break some cooking chorizo into biggish chunks and cook in a frying pan until they give off their tasty red fat. Brush the base with the red oil, smear on some roasted tomato sauce, scatter over the chorizo, some black olives and a bit of grated hard goat's cheese and bake.
Halve and slice thin a couple of onions. Fry in olive oil until they caramelise, then tip on to a pizza base. Crumble over some blue cheese (or some anchovies), sprinkle on some thyme leaves and bake.
Cut an aubergine into thick rounds, brush with oil and roast or fry until golden. Brush tomato sauce on a base, lay the aubergine and a few dollops of ricotta on top, and bake. Scatter basil or rocket on top, trickle over garlic or chilli oil and serve.