ArchiveJune 2025

MAD Food Symposium may just be the most exciting and inspiring avant-garde food event in the world – it’s certainly up there – often dubbed the DAVOS of food.

It brings together a global community, some of the most innovative minds in hospitality to discuss and shape the future of food, explore new ideas and gain new perspectives.

Held on Refshaleøen, an island just off Copenhagen. We jumped on a boat at 8am, arrived to a cheering welcome from the MAD team. Walked over the bridge and onto the island, two huge circus tents, one with long tables piled high with a breakfast feast – flaky breakfast pastries from Hart Bageri, an onion quiche smothered in grated cheese, crispy capers and thyme leaves. A Breakfast bun with slivers of Comté cheese, segments of pomelo and superb, batch brew coffee from Cafeología in Chiapas in Mexico.

And so the two day event began, launched by chef, founder René Redzepi, one inspirational speaker after another interspersed with coffee breaks, artisan beer and tea from Henrietta Lovell’s, The Rare Tea Company sourced from ethical tea gardens around the world. The rooibos tea, not usually my favourite, was a new experience.

Lunch was from Anajak and cooked by the MAD Noma team, dishes from the ever evolving restaurant of the same name in Los Angeles. Chef owner Justin Pichetrungsi gave us delicious tastes of his Thai and Mexican flavours.

The theme of MAD 2025 was ‘Build To Last’. Thomas Keller, chef of The French Laundry and Per Se in New York discussed what our legacy could be.

Roman Krznaric, the philosopher and author, asked, How can we be good ancestors?

Four young Icelandic young – wild salmon guides, spelled out the true cost of the farmed salmon industry on our health and the environment and pleaded with the seven-hundred strong audience not to buy or serve farmed salmon.

Asma Khan of Darjeeling Express in London, whom I wrote about in my column of May 24^th 2025 recounted her incredible story…

The second MAD Food Symposium breakfast was a Mexican array by Rosio Sanchéz, one of the most beloved chefs and restaurateurs in Copenhagen. Lunch was a feast celebrating ‘nose to tail’ eating from the iconic London restaurant St. John established by Fergus Henderson, Trevor Gulliver and Jon Spiteri in 1994. Roast marrow bones, parsley and caper salad and flaky sea salt, a wondrous chicken and ox tongue pie and the legendary Eccles cakes with an aged Lancashire cheese. Go online to see extracts from the speakers – www.madfeed.co

Apart from MAD, there are many other delicious reasons to visit Copenhagen apart from the many Michelin starred restaurants, there are neighbourhood restaurants, cool cafés, wine bars, smorgasbord places. Book ahead to bag a table at Restaurant Schønnemann (Est 1877) I failed to get in despite offering to lay tables and wash up…!

But I did return to Atelier September, a perennial favourite of mine. The bakery scene is amazing, don’t miss Lille Bakery, Alice, Juno and Louise Bannon’s Tír…

My best new find was Bar Vitrine, loved every bit of the small menu and was mesmerised by the selection of natural wines – I also returned to Ved Stranden 10, another timeless, consistent and delicious wine bar – many natural wines by the glass…

We packed all of that into just four days, plus a bit of shopping too in Nørrebro and don’t miss the best cheese shop in the ostehandler (cheesemongers) and the posh Torvehallerne Food Market.

Trine’s Prawns with Dill

My friend Trine Hahnemann shared this recipe for a simple smørrebrød.

‘When I have time, I like to peel the prawns myself. I love to buy several kilos of them, invite people over and have a long lunch, everyone peeling them for their own smørrebrød. Yes, it is a bit fussy, but it tastes so much better!’

Serves 4

40g homemade mayonnaise

½ tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

300g good-quality cooked peeled prawns

4 large slices of rye bread

1 fat spear of fresh green asparagus

freshly ground black pepper

a handful of fresh dill sprigs

1 lemon, sliced

Mix the mayonnaise and lemon juice together in a small bowl. Place the prawns on the bread, then spoon the lemon mayonnaise. Shave the asparagus into ribbons with a vegetable peeler.

Put a tangle of the asparagus strips on the mayonnaise. Sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper, add the dill sprigs and serve with lemon slices.

Bar Vitrine’s Fermented Chili Salsa with Corn Chips

Bar Vitrine located at Møntergade 5 was my most exciting new find.

Kimchi Base

30g glutinous rice flour

400g water

100g red chilli

100g garlic

250g shallots

30g ginger

10g degi chilli powder (a distinctive Indian spice made from a blend of colourful red capsicums and Kashmiri red chillies)

10g kashmiri chilli

500g pear

100g sugar

37g salt

In a saucepan, combine the rice flour and water and cook into a thick paste. Blend all the remaining ingredients with the rice paste in a Thermomix until smooth. Seal into vacuum bags and ferment for 7-14 days.

Fermented Chili Salsa

20g loquats

20g white peach

20g blood orange

30g datterino tomatoes, peeled

30g kimchi base

Cut the loquats, white peach, blood orange and tomato into 8mm dice approx. In a bowl, combine all the ingredients with the kimchi to make the salsa. Top with crushed roasted corn and chiffonade of fresh coriander. 

Corn and Fenugreek Chips

So delicious to nibble.

150g cornmeal

50g cornstarch

7g salt

1000g water

15g fenugreek

Combine the cornmeal, cornstarch, salt and water and cook on medium until thick and cornmeal is completely cooked out. Add the dried fenugreek and spread onto parchment in a thin layer and dehydrate at 65°C overnight. Fry at 220°C until crispy and puffed. Crush a couple to sprinkle over the salad and pop into a serving bowl to serve on the side.

Serve the salsa in a bowl accompanied by the corn and fenugreek chips.

Charlotte’s Nordic Seed Crackers

A brilliant recipe for those seedy crackers we all love.

Delicious just with butter, cheese or smoked salmon.

Makes 2 trays

200g sunflower seeds

130g pumpkin seeds

70g flax seeds

70g sesame seeds

2 tablespoons psyllium husk

2 tablespoons almond flour

1 teaspoon salt

450ml water

poppy seeds and sea salt for sprinkling

Preheat the oven to 150°C fan (300°F/Gas Mark 2).

Line the two baking trays with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients together (should be the consistency of watery porridge).  Allow the mixture to sit and thicken for approximately 30 minutes.

Divide in half and spread as thinly as possible on parchment paper.

Sprinkle with sea salt and poppy seeds on top.

Bake in the preheated oven for 70 minutes approximately until dry.

Store in pieces in an air-tight tin.  Keep dry, pop into a hot oven for a few minutes before serving to crisp them up.

We had the best weekend a few weeks ago at the Ballymaloe Festival of Food. There was so much going on that it’s taken until now to fully process the talks, demonstrations, dinners, wine tastings, artisan producer stalls…

We were so grateful to the many sponsors including Kerrygold who proudly sponsored the event.

I’ve always been a butter fan. As you may know, I was dubbed ‘The Butter Queen of Ireland’ long before the Simply Delicious series, when the low fat mania was in full swing (hope you know you were duped!).  

I remember getting a letter from a ‘viewer’ during my Simply Delicious series accusing me of having no sense of responsibility – didn’t I know that butter and fat were detrimental to people’s health suggesting that I recommend marge and low fat instead, I don’t think so…Needless to say, I stuck to my guns, butter is a truly natural product, the fat of our land. Whereas olive oil is the fat of the Mediterranean, also a super healthy nourishing product.

But when I say butter, I mean real butter, that comes in a pound block, I don’t think much of the plethora of spreads.

If you want spreadable butter, leave it out of the fridge overnight in the time-honoured way!

One of the many fun events of the Ballymaloe Festival of Food was the Kerrygold Butter Fisco, we handed out little jars of cream to a bunch of eager butter makers. We shook the jars while we danced to the funky music played by the DJ. Within a few minutes the cream. had thickened, then a ball of butter separated from the buttermilk in the jars. Everyone was super excited and amazed – most folks know that butter comes from cream but have no idea how the transformation occurs – pure magic!

Chefs, food writers and activists came from all over these islands and from as far away as New Zealand. Many spoke on the ‘Change We Must’ stage. They came to cook and shared waxed lyrical about the lunches, dinners, chats, exchanging of ideas…

Richard Hart, legendary baker and Henrietta Lovell, the Rare Tea Lady did an afternoon tea with tea pairings in a marquee in the Walled Garden and the sun shone…

Other chefs shared their experience and recipes in the Grainstore Cookery Demonstrations.

Because of space constraints, I can only share three highlights with you but all the recipes are on www.grainstore.com

Try Jay Rayner’s Crispy Duck Salad, Romy Gill’s Butter Chicken (Murg Makhani) and Amber Guinness’s Pistachio Panna Cotta – enjoy!

Jay Rayner’s Crispy Duck Salad

From Nights Out At Home, recipes and stories from 25 years as a restaurant critic by Jay Rayner, published by Penguin Fig Tree.

A while after I’d come up with my version of this joyous salad, I found Hix’s original recipe online. It is what you’d expect of a diligent restaurant chef. Fresh duck legs have to be simmered with aromatics for 45 minutes, allowed to dry, cut up into pieces then deep fried. The sauce for the duck has five ingredients. My version, which has been given Hix’s amused approval, cuts out about two hours of work, including the cleaning of a deep fat fryer, by using duck confit, now readily available from many shops and online. It also uses a jar of shop-bought hoisin sauce. What makes it work is the pepperiness of the leaves, which need a sharp dressing, and the sweetness of the duck. It’s both adult and childlike at the same time. 

Serves 4, as a starter

Ingredients

2 confit duck legs.

4 tbsp hoisin sauce

For the salad

100g watercress or rocket, stalks trimmed. (You can also add fresh coriander if you fancy).

6 large radishes, sliced

4 spring onions, trimmed and sliced into batons

1 tbsp sesame seeds

For the salad dressing

2 tbsp olive oil

1 ½ tbsp sherry vinegar. White wine vinegar is a good alternative.

1 tsp sesame oil

sea salt

Method

Gently toast the sesame seeds in a dry cast iron frying pan, over a medium heat. Keep watch.  They burn easily. When most of them are lightly golden brown, remove to a bowl, add a pinch of table salt, and set aside. Wipe down the pan to remove any stray sesame seeds that are hanging about. They don’t taste at all nice when burnt.

Separate out the duck legs and place them skin side down in the frying pan over the lowest heat. Do not add any oil. They’ll produce more than enough fat of their own. Turn every five minutes or so, as they start to colour. After about ten or 15 minutes, take the pan off the heat. Using a fork and a sharp knife you should be able to pull the meat away from the bone. Break it up into smaller pieces, with the skin down. Put back onto the heat. Use a spatula to continue breaking up the meat into smaller pieces. Attend to any pieces of skin that come away from the meat. They may look a bit fatty but gently increase the heat and it will crisp up but do keep an eye on it all, so it doesn’t burn.

Once crisped, remove the leg bones and keep them as a chef’s perk. Stand by the stove, chewing off the last bits of meat while no one else is watching. You’ve earned it. When the duck is broken up and crisped, take the pan off the heat.

Put the ingredients for the salad dressing in the bottom of a bowl, including a good pinch of sea salt. Pile the leaves and sliced radishes on the top and then toss and turn to coat in the dressing using your hands or, if you’re a little uptight, salad servers. Portion out onto four plates or flat bowls.

Put the hoisin sauce in the bottom of a mixing bowl. Add the duck and mix to coast every piece completely.

Top each portion of the salad with a quarter of the duck. Sprinkle on the toasted sesame seeds and decorate with the batons of spring onion. 

Romy Gill’s Butter Chicken (Murg Makhani)

There are so many different recipes for butter chicken. This is my take. With its silky smooth, gently spiced tomato, cashew and cream gravy, it’s a comforting, warming dish that feels decadent. Emer Fitzgerald who superbly orchestrated the Grainstore Main stage said that this was the best version of Butter Chicken she ever tasted – high praise indeed.

Serves 4-5

750g skinless, boneless chicken (thighs and breasts), cut into bite-size pieces

For the marinade

10g ginger root, peeled and grated (shredded)

3 large garlic cloves, peeled and grated (shredded)

2 tsp tandoori masala

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp ground black pepper

1 tsp salt

2 tbsp yoghurt

juice of ½ lemon

30ml sunflower oil

For the sauce

500g tomatoes

50g butter

20g ginger root, peeled and grated (shredded)

6 large garlic cloves, peeled and grated (shredded)

1 tsp tomato purée (paste)

1 tsp tandoori masala

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp chilli powder

1 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

30g ground cashew nuts

30ml cream

6-8 green cardamom seeds, crushed

2 tsp dried fenugreek leaves

To serve

your choice of Indian flatbreads or rice

To make the marinade, mix all of the marinade ingredients together in a large bowl. Prick the chicken pieces with a fork to allow the marinade to penetrate the meat. Add the chicken to the bowl and stir well to coat thoroughly. Cover the bowl and set aside in the fridge to marinate for at least a couple of hours.

When ready to cook, preheat the oven to 180°C/Gas Mark 4.

Spread the marinated chicken out on a baking tray and cook in the hot oven for 15 minutes.

While the chicken is cooking, make the sauce. If the chicken finishes cooking before you have finished making the sauce, switch the oven off after the 15 minutes and leave the meat to rest in the oven. Blanch the tomatoes in a bowl of boiling water for a few minutes, then remove their skins. Cut into quarters and remove the seeds, then roughly chop and place in a food processor. Blitz to a smooth purée.

Heat the butter in a saucepan over a medium heat. Once the butter has melted, add the ginger and garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add the puréed fresh tomatoes as well as the tomato purée and cook for 8-10 minutes until the tomatoes are cooked through, stirring regularly to avoid them sticking and burning. Add all the spices, chilli powder, salt and sugar, mix well and cook for a further 2 minutes until emulsified.

Lower the heat, then add the ground cashew nuts and cream, and stir well. Add 500-600ml water – the quantity you choose to add depends on how runny you want the sauce to be. Bring the mixture to a boil, and when it starts bubbling, add the chicken, lower the heat and cook for a further 8-10 minutes. Sprinkle over the cardamom seeds and dried fenugreek leaves. Stir and leave to rest for at least 10 minutes before serving with rice or any Indian flatbread.

Amber Guinness’s Pistachio Panna Cotta

Pistachio cream is a staple of the Sicilian kitchen and is used in many breakfast pastries. It is similar to chocolate spread but is (unsurprisingly) green and tastes gloriously of pistachios. You can find jars of crema di pistachio in most supermarkets in Italy, or it’s widely available online. Mixing pistachio cream with panna cotta is an indulgent twist on a classic, bringing a nutty sweetness to the cream as well as acting as a second setting agent, meaning you need less gelatine. I serve these in cocktail glasses and never turn them out, mainly because they look as attractive domed on a plate as it does sitting in a glass topped with chopped pistachios or a few fresh raspberries.

Serves 4

handful of unsalted pistachios, roughly chopped

handful of raspberries (optional)

Panna Cotta

2 x 2g gelatine leaves

400ml double cream

30g caster sugar

1 vanilla pod, split and seeds scraped

80g pistachio cream

To make the panna cotta, using scissors, cut the gelatine sheets into a small bowl and cover with cold water. Leave to soak for 15 minutes or as instructed on the packet.

Meanwhile, pour the cream into a medium saucepan and add the sugar, vanilla seeds and pod. Place over a medium heat and gently warm until it almost comes to the boil, then switch off immediately.

Squeeze any excess liquid out of the soaked gelatine and stir into the hot cream until it has completely dissolved. Remove the vanilla pod, then transfer to a large bowl and mix in the pistachio cream until smooth.

Divide the panna cotta evenly among four cocktail glasses, then chill in the fridge for at least 3 hours or, better still, overnight.

When you’re ready to serve, top each panna cotta with a teaspoon of roughly chopped pistachios and, if you like, a few raspberries. Serve directly from the glass.

We can’t believe our good luck, day after day of clear skies and sunshine. Many of our cookery school students who hail from sunnier climates can’t believe just how much of our conversation reverts back to the weather.

In some of their home countries, it’s the onset of the rains that’s celebrated with gusto, and I have to say I’m longing for a long night’s rain myself to give us a break from watering plants and to fatten up the rhubarb stalks.

We’ve just dug the first new potatoes, an organic blight resistant variety called Orla. The seed came from Fruit Hill Farm in Bantry, Co. Cork and they were planted in a tunnel in early February – such joy plus an opportunity to make a wish.

I give thanks to Mother Nature every year and the farmers and gardeners for the wonderful bounty of fresh produce that keeps coming week after week, we’ve just had the first cucumber too – the reward for planning seeds in spring.

All those bubbly stews, tagines and casseroles lose their appeal in this weather, none of us want to spend a moment more than necessary in a hot steamy kitchen but abundant salads piled high on plates get an enthusiastic response and bring a smile to everyone’s face.

The possibilities are endless, there’s still no definitive definition… could be just a pile of crunchy vegetables, maybe lots of fresh herbs, freshly roasted spices, a grilled salad, fruit alone, warm or at room temperature. We love lots of contrasts of texture and flavour, a meal in itself.

For a main course, a jammy hard boiled egg, adds protein as does cheese, could be just a sprinkle of freshly grated Parmesan or aged Coolea over a leafy green salad or some grilled halloumi or little balls of bocconcini. The combinations are only limited by your imagination.

Warm grilled chicken, a few slices of rare beef fillet or fish, if you’re lucky, a fresh mackerel or some crunchy squid rings on top and on and on…

However, it’s worth remembering the golden rule, always dress a leafy salad as close to serving as possible otherwise it will lose its freshness and become unappetisingly limp and soggy. Super tasty dressings add magic and there are lots of exciting options that I’m loving in Clem Haxby’s new cookbook ‘The Salad Project’ plus tantalising pictures. It’s easy to get stuck in a rut so this tome will ignite your imagination and tickle your tastebuds.

Here are a few of the many tempting salad recipes in Clem’s cookbook that appealed to me.

Recipes are from ‘The Salad Project’ by Clem Haxby, published by Ebury Press.

The SP Caesar with Chipotle Caesar Dressing

A recipe for Caesar Salad in a book all about salads is, frankly, completely unavoidable. We have the trusty Caesar to thank for keeping salads alive in the lowest moments of their history, and it’s no surprise. There are few meals more perfectly balanced, or more likely to cause a bout of food envy. Here we have our classic SP Caesar, loaded with spiced chicken, juicy tomatoes and Crispy Onions, but don’t stop there. Get creative and customise. Go wherever the wind takes you – just don’t use iceberg lettuce, please.

Serves 2

Ingredients

½ tsp ground cumin

½ tsp garlic granules

½ tsp paprika

½ tsp cayenne pepper

½ tsp fine cooking salt

1 ½ tsp extra virgin olive oil, plus extra for drizzling

425g mini chicken fillets

50g kale, destemmed, rinsed and dried

1 lemon (juice)

½ baby gem lettuce, leaves whole, rinsed and dried

100g cherry tomatoes

40g Parmesan

sea salt and black pepper

Ready to Rock:

6 tbsp Chipotle Caesar Dressing

4 tbsp crispy onions

Method

Measure the spices, salt and ½ teaspoon of olive oil into a medium mixing bowl and stir well to combine into a paste. Add the chicken fillets and use your hands to coat until the fillets are all well-dressed. Set aside at room temperature to marinate while you prepare the remaining ingredients.

Finely chop the kale and place into a large mixing bowl. Dress with the juice of half of the lemon, a pinch of sea salt and a grind of black pepper. Use your hands to massage the dressing into the leaves to help soften and enhance the flavour.

Tear the lettuce leaves from the core and add them whole to the kale, gently folding through to distribute them evenly. Add 2 tablespoons of Chipotle Caesar Dressing and use your hands to toss through.

Slice your tomatoes into halves and set aside.

Heat 1 teaspoon of olive oil in a frying pan over a high heat and add your marinated chicken fillets. Once sizzling, reduce the heat to medium-high to avoid the outsides burning. Cook for 7-8 minutes, flipping the fillets with tongs every couple of minutes, until nicely golden and cooked through. Remove from the heat and squeeze over the juice from the other half of the lemon, then finish with a sprinkle of sea salt and a drizzle of olive oil.

Load the dressed leaves onto a serving plate, then grate over half of the Parmesan using a microplane or fine grater. Pile on your tomatoes and half the Crispy Onions.

After they’ve had a couple of minutes to rest, slice the chicken fillets (or leave whole) and lay them onto the salad. Top with the remaining Chipotle Caesar Dressing, the remaining Crispy Onions and the grated Parmesan. Finish with a drizzle of olive oil and a hefty grind of black pepper.

Tip

Make it your own by adding 10 tinned anchovies and 1 tin of sweetcorn.

Chipotle Caesar Dressing

As much as I hate to admit it, because it’s more fun to develop fresh flavour combinations than follow the guidelines of old classics, this is a firm favourite among Salad Project devotees – our second-most popular dressing, in fact.

Dresses 4-6 salads

Ingredients

35g Parmesan

1 garlic clove

130g mayonnaise

1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1 tsp white wine vinegar

½ lemon (juice)

3 black peppercorns

generous bunch of cayenne pepper, plus extra to taste (optional)

¼ tsp smoked paprika, plus extra to taste (optional)

1 tsp sea salt

25ml water

Method

Grate your Parmesan using a microplane or a fine grater and set aside.

Peel and crush your garlic using the side of a knife or a garlic crusher and a little sea salt to help turn it into a smooth paste.

Place all the ingredients, excluding the water, into a blender and blitz until silky smooth. Gradually add the water and mix with a fork or small whisk until you reach your desired consistency. Play with the spice level by adding more cayenne pepper for a hotter Caesar, or more paprika for something a little smokier. Store in an airtight jar or container in the fridge for up to 1 week.

Sesame Soy Steak with Furikake Croutons and Pickled Chillies with Sesa-Miso Dressing

We love the combination of textures in this salad. It’s piled with tons of great crunch but sometimes crunches that aren’t backed up with some more filling body can leave you feeling a little hungry. That’s why we’ve added some nutty brown rice, which soaks up the creamy sesame dressing so damn well. Pickled chillies bring some real zing, as does the steak’s salty marinade. Oof. Cooking this with two steaks makes it hearty enough to replace your usual steak night, but for a light dinner for two, just one steak should be enough.

Serves 2

Ingredients

1 garlic clove

1 tbsp oyster sauce

2 tbsp + 2 tsp toasted sesame oil

80ml tamari (for gluten-free) or light soy sauce

2 beef rump steaks

125g short grain brown rice

500ml water

½ tsp fine cooking salt

125g sourdough (stale or fresh) or bao buns

3 tsp furikake seasoning

100g green beans, ends trimmed

120g radishes

handful of pea shoots, watercress or rocket

handful of fresh coriander leaves

1 lime (juice)

sea salt

Ready to Rock:

6 tbsp Sesa-Miso Dressing

2 tbsp pickled chillies

Method

Preheat the oven to 220°C/Gas Mark 7.

Peel and crush your garlic, using the side of a knife or a garlic crusher to turn it into a smooth paste.

Place the crushed garlic, oyster sauce, 2 teaspoons of the sesame oil and the tamari or soy sauce into a shallow dish or plastic container and whisk to combine. Add your steaks and cover well on both sides. Set aside for 10-15 minutes to come to room temperature.

Weigh the rice into a saucepan and measure in the water. Stir through the fine cooking salt. Bring the water to a boil over a medium-high heat, then place a lid on the pot (ideally a clear one so you can see if you need to add more water at any point) and lower the temperature to medium. Allow this to simmer until the rice is cooked – roughly 25 minutes. (Simply add more water if it dries out and isn’t fully cooked.)

Slice your bread of choice into chunky croutons and place in a roasting tray. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of sesame oil, a generous pinch of sea salt and 2 teaspoons of the furikake seasoning. Mix well until your croutons are nicely coated. Pop into the oven for 5 minutes, give them a shake, then return to the oven for a further 5 minutes until nicely golden and crunchy (if using bao buns, toast for 3-4 minutes total).

Meanwhile, place your green beans in a sieve and pop it beneath the lid of your rice pot while the rice is still cooking to steam the beans for 2-3 minutes. Remove and run under cold water to stop the cooking, then set aside.

Top and tail the radishes and cut into halves or quarters, depending on their size. Place in a bowl of cold water to crisp up.

Now all your vegetables and croutons are ready, heat a dry frying pan over a high heat. Once really nice and hot, use tongs to place your steaks into the pan, pressing down for a second to help them caramelise. Leave the steaks to cook on one side for 3 minutes before flipping over for rare, or 5 minutes if you would like them medium. Spoon a couple of teaspoons of the leftover marinade over the steaks and cook for a further 3 minutes for a rare steak, 5 minutes for medium Remove from the pan and drape over an upside-down cereal bowl on a lipped plate (to allow the juices to run out without them going everywhere). Allow both steaks to rest for at least 10 minutes before slicing.

While they rest, cover your serving platter or plates with pea shoots, watercress or rocket, and gently spoon over your rice. Sprinkle over the green beans, radishes and half of the croutons. Dress with 3 tablespoons of Sesa-Miso Dressing.

Slice your steaks into 2cm thick slices, going against the grain of the meat. Sprinkle the slices with the remaining 1 teaspoon of furikake seasoning. Lie your steak slices over your salad and top with the remaining croutons and the pickled chillies. Finish with some coriander leaves, the lime juice and another 3 tablespoons of your Sesa-Miso Dressing.

Sesa-Miso Dressing

It’s a non-negotiable for us to have some of this kicking about as a silky drizzle for salmon, a dressing for mushrooms or a sauce for some soba noodles. These are all ten-minute dinners that really fuelled us through the early (long) days of The Salad Project, which ultimately inspired this book!

Dresses 4-6 salads

Ingredients

20 sesame seeds (black add lovely colour, but white are great too)

10g fresh ginger

80g tahini

30g white miso paste

40ml rice wine vinegar

40ml tamari or light soy sauce

80ml water plus extra if needed

Method

Place your sesame seeds into a dry pan and place over a medium heat, swirling the pan constantly, until they are nice and toasted – about 3-4 minutes. Set aside.

Peel your ginger using the edge of a teaspoon and grate into a blender. Add the remaining ingredients, excluding your toasted sesame seeds, and blitz until smooth. You can also just pop all your ingredients into a jar and give it a good shake if you don’t mind a bit of texture from the ginger.

Finish by stirring through your toasted sesame seeds and adjusting the texture with a little extra water, if needed but I’d recommend keeping this dressing on the thicker side, in case you want to use it as a noodle sauce. Store in an airtight jar or container in the fridge for up to 1 week.

Pickled Chillies

Ingredients

150g mixed chillies

2 tsp caster sugar

1 tsp fine cooking salt

100ml white wine vinegar

Method

Slice your chillies into 2mm rings using a knife or a mandolin. Place the chilli slices and their seeds into a jar or airtight container.

Add the sugar, salt and vinegar and stir well. Finally, add boiling water until the chillies are just covered. Put the lid on and shake well to dissolve the sugar and salt, then label and leave to pickle for a minimum of 30 minutes. The longer you leave these, the more they will mellow and build tang. Keep in the pickling liquid in the fridge for up to 3 weeks.

Hot Honey Halloumi + Dill Fattoush with Pomegranate and Lime Vinaigrette

This delicious fattoush (a traditional Lebanese salad made with fried pitta bread) is piled high with fresh herbs and has a bright acidity that meets its match in the oozingly sweet and salty halloumi. We like chopping the vegetables nice and fine and spooning this from a bowl, using the halloumi like little sticky boats – but this also makes for a gorgeous display salad if you’re cooking for a crowd. Just promise you’ll cook the halloumi at the last minute; then serve it up straight away.

Serves 2

Ingredients

2 pitta breads

1 tbsp toasted sesame oil

½ tsp fennel seeds

½ tsp cumin seeds

½ tsp coriander seeds

120g radishes

1 cucumber

150g cherry tomatoes

15g flat leaf parsley

5g dill

5g mint

225g block of halloumi

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

sea salt

Ready to Rock:

6-7 tbsp pomegranate and lime vinaigrette

1 tbsp hot honey

2 tbsp quick pickled onions

Method

Preheat your oven to 220°C/Gas Mark 7.

Slice your pittas along the seams to give you 4 ovals, then slice 4 times across the width and 3 times down the length to give you rectangles. Place your pitta chips into a bowl and add the sesame oil, the fennel, cumin and coriander seeds and a pinch of sea salt. Use your hands to mix well and coat your pitta. Place into a roasting dish lined with parchment paper, making sure you use a plastic spatula to scrape all the oil and seeds that haven’t stuck to the pitta into the roasting tray too. Roast for 8 minutes, or until golden and crispy. Leave on the tray to cool.

Top and tail the radishes and then cut into quarters. Place into some iced water to crisp up.

Slice your cucumber in half lengthways, then use a teaspoon to scrape out the seeds. Slice each half lengthways into thirds, then chop across the strands at 1cm intervals to give you small dice. Place in a serving bowl.

Quarter your cherry tomatoes and add them to the bowl.

Remove and discard the bottom 5cm of the parsley and dill stems and pick the mint leaves from the stalks. Set aside a couple of sprigs of dill for garnish, then pile the herbs together and roughly chop before adding to the mixed vegetables. Dress the herby vegetables with 3 tablespoons of pomegranate + lime vinaigrette, then mix in the pitta chips.

Slice the halloumi into 1-2cm thick slices. Heat the olive oil in a frying pan over a medium-high heat. When sizzling hot, add your halloumi in a single layer using metal tongs. After 2 minutes, drizzle 1 tablespoon of hot honey over the halloumi, then turn to cook on the other side. Leave for 3 minutes, or until the bottom takes on a dark golden colour. Once it is well coloured, turn over once more to finish colouring the first side. Use tongs to place your warm halloumi over the chopped salad.

Top your salad with the radishes and quick pickled onions. Add 3-4 more tablespoons of pomegranate and lime vinaigrette and finish with a generous pinch of sea salt and a couple of sprigs of dill. Serve immediately for the best halloumi texture!

Pomegranate and Lime Vinaigrette

Tangy and sweet with subtle twangs of spice, this is the chic big sister to a balsamic vinaigrette. Made from concentrated pomegranate juices, the fruit’s molasses is highly nutritious, amping up the benefits of pomegranate itself into a beautiful sweet-and-sour elixir. Pomegranate has been traditionally used to treat chronic diseases and digestive issues, thanks

to its density of vitamins and minerals. Fortunately for all of us, it’s easier than ever to pick up a bottle of pomegranate molasses – supermarkets and speciality food shops increasingly stock it. An excellent light dressing that can be used to brighten up so many salads. Don’t stop at the recipes here!

Dresses 4-6 Salads

Ingredients

½ tsp cumin seeds

½ tsp coriander seeds

2 tbsp pomegranate molasses

40ml red wine vinegar

1 lime (zest and juice)

1 tsp soft light brown sugar

1 tsp Dijon mustard

100ml extra virgin olive oil

2 tsp sea salt

Method

Place your cumin and coriander seeds into a small dry frying pan over a medium heat. Swirl gently and allow to toast (careful they don’t burn) for 2-3 minutes. You should be able to clearly smell the toasted spices. Allow to cool.

Meanwhile, add all the remaining ingredients to a blender. Once cooled, add your toasted seeds. Use the pulse setting to blitz the dressing – you want the liquid to emulsify, but you don’t want to over-grind the spices.

Rather, aim to crack them so they release their best flavours and give a nice crunch to the dressing. Store in an airtight jar or container in the fridge for up to 1 week.

Hot Honey

This is a delicious store-cupboard staple that you can lean on when you’re in need of a little zhuzh.

Serves 2

Ingredients

150g runny honey

1 tsp cayenne pepper

1 ½ tsp chilli flakes

1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

1 tsp sea salt

Method

Measure the ingredients straight into a glass jar and use a spoon to mix well, then put the lid on. Store in a cool, dry place and stir before use – the spice will integrate more with time, so this is best used after it has had a couple of hours to sit. It will keep for up to 3 weeks.

Quick Pickled Onions

Serves 2

Ingredients

1 red onion

1 tsp fine cooking salt

2 tsp caster sugar

150ml white wine vinegar

240ml boiling water

Method

Cut the onion in half through the root and peel the papery skin. Place cut side down on a chopping board with the root facing towards the hand you’re keeping it steaky with. Slice the onion as thinly as your knife skills allow or use a mandolin to slice your onion into whole circle or half-moon slices, then repeat with the other half. Push down into a jar or airtight container.

Add the salt, sugar and vinegar and stir well. Finally, add the boiling water and use a spoon to push the onion slices under the surface of the liquid. Put the lid on and give your jar or container a good shake to help dissolve the sugar and salt. Label and keep in your fridge for up to 2 weeks.

Note: the onions will turn bright pink within an hour or so – after a week, the colour will fade to a purple, but they are still fine to eat.