Jeremy Lee’s bread, courgette and ricotta salad
Serves 6
sourdough bread 6 slices
olive oil
best red wine vinegar
pink onions 4
small bright, firm courgettes 8
spring onions 6
tropea onions 4 (if at hand, or small leeks will do happily)
garlic 1 clove
pepper mill fully charged
coarse sea salt ground fine
best ricotta 250g
picked mint leaves 1 handful
Into a handsome bowl, tear the bread into coarse chunks and anoint with 6 tablespoons of olive oil and 3 tablespoons of red wine vinegar.
Peel the pink onions then slice into rounds about 5mm thick. Heat a griddle or a large frying pan. Lay on the rounds of onion and let them colour undisturbed. When the edges take on a dark hue, add 2 tablespoons of olive oil and cook for a further minute.
Turn off the heat beneath the pan. Leave undisturbed to cool.
Slice the courgettes thinly. Slice the spring onions thinly. Slice the tropea onions or leeks thinly. Peel and finely chop the garlic.
Lightly fry the courgettes in olive oil until lightly coloured and just cooked. Add in a tablespoon of red wine vinegar, and some salt and pepper. Toss lightly and turn the heat off these too.
When cooled somewhat, add the courgettes with the pink onions to the bread in the bowl.
Wipe the pan clean.
Toss the sliced spring and tropea onions (or leek) with the chopped garlic and 2 tablespoons each of olive oil and red wine vinegar. Add salt and pepper. Mix very well. Heat the pan ferociously. Carefully tip in the anointed onions. Let the smoke rise in a fury. Agitate the pan gently. Once they have vented their wrath and the steam rising is dispersed, after a few minutes, toss the onions a few times, cook for a further minute then tip onto the bread and courgettes. Let cool.
When ready to serve, add in clods of ricotta, and the mint leaves coarsely ripped. Add in a spoonful of red wine vinegar and toss altogether lightly. C’est tout.
Jeremy Lee is executive chef at Quo Vadis in London W1
Monika Linton’s salmorejo de tomate con almendras ‘zoco’ – almond and tomato salmorejo
Choose the ripest, tastiest tomatoes you can find. Traditionally, the soup is served with grapes or little cubes of piel de sapo melon.
Serves 4
tomatoes 420g
bread 60g, ideally a fluffy white bloomer, crusts cut off
good olive oil 4 tbsp
sherry vinegar 1½ tbsp
blanched almonds 100g, preferably marcona
garlic 1 clove
ground cumin ¼ tsp
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
green grapes a few, halved, or melon, preferably piel de sapo, cut in little cubes, to serve
Quarter the tomatoes and put in a bowl. Wet the bread, then squeeze out any excess water and add to the tomatoes with half the olive oil, 1 tablespoon of sherry vinegar and the rest of the ingredients except the grapes or melon. Sprinkle in half a teaspoon of salt.
Briefly knead to allow the juices of the tomato to meld with the other flavours, then cover the bowl with clingfilm and put in the fridge to marinate for at least 2 hours.
Blend, then slowly add 450ml of water, blending for at least 2 more minutes until the gazpacho has a completely smooth consistency.
Continue to blend as you add the remaining olive oil. Taste and add another pinch of salt as necessary, together with the rest of the sherry vinegar, briefly blending them in.
Pass through a fine sieve into a serving bowl, and put into the fridge for about 2 hours until well chilled.
Serve in bowls, accompanied by the grapes or cubes of melon, and a twist of black pepper.
From Brindisa by Monika Linton (Harper Collins, £29.95)
Angela Hartnett’s tomato, mozzarella and basil salad
While this classic Italian salad appears on menus everywhere, very few places make it well – often because they use cheap, rubbery mozzarella and watery, chilled tomatoes. The quality of the tomatoes in the UK is often pretty poor, so we roast the tomatoes in order to concentrate the flavour.
Serves 4
ripe plum tomatoes 8
olive oil 2 tbsp, plus extra for drizzling
salt and freshly ground black pepper
sugar 2 tbsp
ripe cherry tomatoes 8, halved
thyme leaves from 6 sprigs
garlic 1 clove, sliced
buffalo mozzarella 2 x 125g balls, sliced
fresh basil 1 bunch, ideally with small leaves
To prepare the plum tomatoes, make a little incision with a sharp knife in the top of each one. Bring a pan of salted water to the boil and blanch the tomatoes in it for 10 seconds. Drain and plunge immediately into a bowl of iced water – this will make the skins easier to remove. Peel and cut in half lengthways. Remove all the seeds with a teaspoon.
Preheat the oven to 120C/gas mark ½.
Prepare a roasting tin just big enough to hold all of the tomatoes: drizzle 1 tablespoon of olive oil inside it, then sprinkle in salt, pepper and half of the sugar. Place all the tomatoes in the tin, cut side up, in one layer. Drizzle with the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil and sprinkle with salt, pepper and the remaining sugar. Scatter the thyme leaves and garlic slices over and around the tomatoes.
Bake in the preheated oven for 1-2 hours until the tomatoes begin to shrivel up. Halfway through the cooking time, turn the plum tomatoes over and remove the cherry tomatoes.
Mix the cooked tomatoes in a bowl with the mozzarella and basil, and check the seasoning. Serve on individual plates with a drizzle of olive oil.
From Angela Hartnett’s Cucina by Angela Hartnett (Ebury Press, £30)
Simon Hopkinson’s lettuce salad with eggs, mustard cress and a creamed dressing
When little round lettuces are at their very best and fresh as a daisy, would one truly wish for anything else?
Serves 4 as a starter or side dish
eggs 4
round lettuces 4, ruthlessly trimmed of all dark-to-mid green outer leaves to reveal only a pale green/yellow heart (save the outer leaves for another meal)
mustard cress 4 punnets
chives 1 small bunch, snipped
extra virgin olive oil a little
Maldon salt
freshly ground black pepper
For the dressing
mayonnaise 4 tbsp
milk 2-3 tbsp
Worcestershire sauce several generous shakes
lemon juice of 1 small
freshly ground white pepper
whipping cream 2-3 tbsp
Whisk all the ingredients for the dressing together in a bowl until the consistency of pouring cream. Please use your own taste buds here, as to a flavour that suits you; I prefer the dressing sharp-ish, and also like the Worcestershire sauce to be notable. Keep cool in the fridge until needed.
Take the eggs, place in a small pan and just cover with cold water. Bring up to a boil, switch off the heat and put on a lid. Leave in the water for exactly 5 minutes, then place the pan in the sink and allow a steady stream of cold water to run through the eggs for at least 3 minutes. Lift out the eggs, carefully shell them and slice on a plate using an egg slicer – one of my favourite bits of kitchen kit. If you don’t have one, either slice with a knife or cut them into quarters.
Now, take the 4 lettuce hearts and separate into leaves. Arrange in a generously sized shallow dish so the leaves are as separate as possible; this will allow, all at once, for as much lateral distribution of the sliced eggs, a scattering of cress, the snipped chives and some dressing – the latter as a neat splatter – before mixing at table with the merest shine of oil and the faintest sprinkle of flaky salt and grind of pepper.
Simon Hopkinson is a food writer and chef
José Pizarro’s clams ‘a la plancha’ with olive oil
The best way to enjoy these is with a glass of cava. And don’t forget some bread for those juices.
Serves 4
large fresh clams 1kg, cleaned
flaky sea salt
extra virgin olive oil to drizzle
Heat a plancha or heavy-based pan until very hot. Add the clams in a single layer and cook, turning once, for 1-2 minutes until they are opened (discard any that stay shut). Spoon into a large bowl, season and drizzle with plenty of extra virgin olive oil.
Serve straight away with lots of bread to soak up the juices.
From Catalonia by José Pizarro (Hardie Grant, £25)
