Levantine Chopped Salad with Sumac & Wild Garlic Dressing
Levantine chopped salad, sumac & wild garlic dressing Prep Time: 10/15 Minutes Serves: 4 This is the simplest version of
Green Minestrone Soup au Pistou
Green Minestrone Soup au pistou Prep Time: 15 Minutes Cook Time: 20 Minutes Pistou is the French version of pesto
Khobz – Moroccan Flatbread
Khobz – Moroccan Flat Bread Prep Time: 10 Minutes Cook Time: 25 Minutes This is one of the easiest breads
Hedgerow Jelly
Hedgerow Jelly Prep Time: 10 Minutes Total Time: 1 Hour Cook Time: 30 Minutes To make a purple coloured one, use a
Poulet au Pot
Poulet au Pot Prep Time: 20 Minutes Total Time: 3 Hours Cook Time: 2 Hours Meeting “My Learned friend” Neil at Gatwick
Panna Cotta
Panna Cotta Prep Time: 1 Minute Total Time: 3 Hours Cook Time: 10 Minutes This is a quick and easy, classic
Cassoulet
Cassoulet Prep Time: 5 Minutes Cook Time: 2 Hours It is said that this dish comes from Languedoc, taking its
Green Beans
Green Beans Prep Time: 5 Minutes Cook Time: 10 Minutes I got this recipe whilst working in Hammersmith as ‘Acting Head Chef’,
Tzatziki
Tzatziki Prep Time: 20 Minutes Cooking Time: N/A Nothing beats the home-made version. I strain Greek yogurt in a cheese
Salads
I use paprika, but for a more traditional version you can use Turkish sweet red pepper paste. Either way, it tastes great. Adjust the amount of fresh chilli to suit your guests’ palates. You can substitute the sumac with the juice and zest of half a lemon. Pomegranate molasses gives the sauce real depth of flavour.
I developed this one summer during Covid while doing takeaways at The Hut, Elements, with my good friend Jamie Stevenson. The beetroot adds a vibrant colour to the dish and provides vitamin B9 and potassium.
This is the simplest version of the salad; you can jazz it up with radishes and/or spring onions. Sumac gives the dressing a lemony flavour. I bring the ingredients out of the fridge an hour beforehand because I don’t like eating cold salads. I make my own vinegars; choose one that is unpasteurised.
Soups
Pistou is the French version of pesto and is normally made with basil. Unlike the Italian version, it does not contain Parmesan.
If you can’t find fresh peas or broad beans, use frozen. You can substitute the cannellini beans with pre-cooked new potatoes. I made this in winter, so I used broccoli and kale instead of spring greens and green beans.
Breads
This is one of the easiest breads to bake and needs only one rise. In Morocco, it is baked as required and served warm for breakfast, lunch and dinner. You may need to adjust the water or add a little flour, depending on the humidity.
Dairy
Whilst living in Dubai, I became good friends with a lady called Orit, a coffee supplier from Ethiopia. She and her family were incredibly kind-hearted and invited me, along with one of my employees, to Addis for a long weekend. We stayed in the Hilton Hotel, with all its striking architecture, including influences from the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.
We went trekking in the mountains—simply amazing. My employee got into the local khat, an African amphetamine in its raw form. I didn’t partake, as I was a Dubai resident at the time.
These three yogurts came from the red, gold, and green colours representing both the Rastafarian movement and the Ethiopian flag. Either make your own yogurt or buy a Greek-style one. I use raw milk from Proper Cornish Milk.
Preserves
For a purple jelly, use damsons, bullaces, blackberries and sloes, either combined or individually. For a pink jelly, use hawthorn berries and/or rosehips. You don’t need to peel the apples; simply remove the stalks. Crab apples or cooking apples work well because they are high in pectin.
Poultry
I met my learned friend Neil at Gatwick Airport before flying to Lyon for a Sideways-style wine tour of Burgundy and the southern Rhône. We went during Semaine du Goût, the annual week-long festival that promotes culinary appreciation and education.
That year, the dish commemorated Henry IV’s wish that every French person should be able to eat chicken on a Sunday. We drove to Bresse, home of the black-feathered chicken, and bought probably the most expensive chicken I have ever purchased.
You can enrich the dish with cooked mushrooms. Stir a tablespoon of flour into a small tub of crème fraîche, then whisk it into the cooking liquor.
Desserts
This is a quick, easy and light classic Italian dessert. Serve it with seasonal fruit; in summer, I use local strawberries.
Pork
This dish is said to come from Languedoc and to take its name from the glazed earthenware pot known as a cassole: narrow at the bottom and wide-mouthed at the top. It became special to me when I walked across the Pyrenees from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic. After a hard day’s trekking, finding a refuge serving cassoulet with a glass of wine was the perfect end to the day. This is my version.
Vegetables
I picked up this recipe while working in Hammersmith as acting head chef at Chez Kristof, alongside a very moody sous chef. Later, in Dubai, local meat suppliers would bring us whole grade 4 or 5 Wagyu beef sirloins as samples. I served them with gratin dauphinois and these green beans. My business partner, Paul Gidley, wanted the recipe — so here you go, ‘The Paul’, ahead of the book that may follow.