Simple baked salmon with dill yoghurt

DELICIOUS SERVED WITH MY ITALIAN FARRO SALAD

This simple veggie salad really brings out the lovely nutty flavour of the farro – delicious!

Ingredients

• 3 kg whole salmon , from sustainable sources, ask your fishmonger, scaled, filleted and pin-boned, or use 2x1.2kg sides of salmon fillet
• 8 sprigs fresh rosemary
• extra virgin olive oil
• FOR THE DILL YOGHURT
• 500 g fat free natural yoghurt
• 1 bunch fresh dill , chopped
• 1 lemon , juice and zest of

  Method

  This is an easy way of cooking whole salmon fillets. It’s simple to serve and just as good cold as it is hot. If you’re not sure how to prepare the fish, get your fishmonger to do it for you.
  
  I’ve cooked it on a wooden plank in my outdoor wood-fired oven, but you can cook it in a large roasting tray in the oven.
  
  Preheat the oven to 200ºC/400ºF/gas 6. Place the salmon fillets skin-side down in a large clean roasting tray – cut each in half if they don’t fit. Lay the rosemary on top and drizzle with olive oil. Gently rub the oil and rosemary all over the fish, and season. Bake for 20 minutes or until just cooked. (Alternatively, place on a clean smooth wooden plank and cook in an outdoor wood-fired oven for 20 minutes.) 
  
  Meanwhile, mix the yoghurt and dill with the grated zest of the lemon, a few drops of juice and season. Cut portions of salmon off the skin and serve with the Italian farro salad.

Coconut bread

There’s nothing like freshly baked bread, especially when you add the sweet twist of coconut. If you’re feeling bleary eyed, make this in a stand mixer with a dough hook, and let it do the work. You’ll get two loaves so you can freeze one, after baking, to eat another time.

Ingredients

• 1 x 7 g sachet dried yeast
• 2 tablespoons runny honey
• 1 ripe banana
• 1 large free-range egg
• 800 g strong flour , plus extra for dusting
• 400 ml coconut milk
• 200 g desiccated coconut
• unsalted butter , for greasing

  Method

  Stir the yeast and honey into 200ml tepid water, then leave for a couple of minutes to bubble up a bit.
  
  Peel and mash the banana. Crack the egg into a bowl and beat together.
  
  It’s best to use a stand mixer for this. Put the flour, mashed banana, beaten egg, coconut milk, coconut and a small pinch of sea salt in the bowl and combine using the dough hook. Add the yeast mixture and let the mixer run for 15 minutes. Cover the bowl with a damp tea towel and let prove for 1 hour.
  
  If working by hand, combine the wet ingredients in a bowl. Mix the coconut, flour and salt in a separate bowl, make a well in the centre, then tip in the wet ingredients and yeast and pull together, using your fingers then hands, till well combined. 
  
  Turn out onto a clean surface dusted with flour. Add a little extra flour, so it’s more manageable, then knead for at least 10 minutes, or until it’s elastic. Cover the bowl with a damp tea towel and let prove for 1 hour.
  
  Tip the dough onto a clean, floured surface. Knead for a few minutes and bring into a ball. 
  
  Divide the dough into 2 pieces and push into 2 greased 13cm x 18cm loaf tins. Cover the tins with a damp tea towel and prove in a warm place for 1 hour, or till doubled in size.
  
  Preheat the oven to 200ºC/gas 6. 
  
  Cook the loaves for 30 to 35 minutes, or till the crusts are golden-brown, and sound hollow when tapped. 
  
  Transfer to a wire rack to cool a little. Delicious served warm with chopped mango, fresh mint and yoghurt hit with lime zest and juice, and honey.

Mexican refried beans

Ingredients

• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 fresh red chilli
• 1 bunch of fresh coriander
• 1 small jar of roasted peppers
• olive oil
• 3 x 400 g tins of beans , such as cannellini, kidney
• 4 large free-range eggs
• 1 lime

  Method

  Peel and finely slice the garlic, deseed and finely slice the chilli and pick the coriander leaves and finely slice the stalks. Drain and finely chop the peppers.
  
  In a large frying pan, heat a splash of oil and fry the garlic, chilli and coriander stalks for 1 to 2 minutes, or until golden. 
  
  Drain the beans, then add along with the peppers, then season to taste. Fry for 15 to 20 minutes on a low heat, stirring occasionally, until crispy. 
  
  Poach the eggs. Finely chop the reserved coriander leaves, and cut the lime into wedges.
  
  Serve a spoonful of beans topped with a poached egg, chopped coriander leaves and a wedge of lime for squeezing over.

Asparagus frittata

Use wild or thin asparagus such as sprue – the spears from the first picking.

Ingredients

• 6 large free-range eggs
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1 knob of unsalted butter
• 1 bunch of small asparagus

  Method

  Preheat the oven to 180ºC/gas 4. 
  
  Beat the eggs with a little sea salt and black pepper. 
  
  Heat the oil and butter in a 19cm ovenproof frying pan or cast-iron dish over a medium heat. Trim and add the asparagus for 5 minutes. 
  
  Add the eggs, cook for 3 minutes then bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until golden and fluffy. 
  
  Serve hot or cold, with a drizzle of hot sauce, such as harissa, if you like.

Breakfast couscous

Couscous lends itself perfectly to being eaten for breakfast. It can be steamed in a couscoussière or simply left to soak in boiling water for 10 minutes, then fluffed up with a fork

Ingredients

• 200 g couscous
• 30 g raisins
• 30 g flaked almonds
• 30 g pine nuts
• 30 g shelled unsalted pistachios
• 2-3 pinches of ground cinnamon , (more or less to taste)
• 2-4 tablespoons icing sugar , (more or less to taste)
• 1 teaspoon rose water , optional
• 1 orange , optional
• 200 ml skimmed milk

  Method

  Prepare the couscous by placing it in a bowl and covering it with 500ml boiling water. Let it stand for 10 minutes until the water is absorbed, then fluff up with a fork.
  
  Soak the raisins in lukewarm water for 15 minutes until softened, then drain. 
  
  Toast the almonds and pine nuts by placing them in a dry frying pan over a medium heat and stirring for 2 to 3 minutes, until golden brown. 
  
  Roughly chop the pistachios and add to the couscous. Add the raisins, almonds, pine nuts, cinnamon, sugar and rosewater (if using) and gently toss together.
  
  Serve warm or at room temperature with a few gratings of orange zest (if using) to garnish. Warm and serve the milk on the side for pouring over.

Omelette aux fines herbes

The original, and best, simple Sunday supper for one. 

Ingredients

• 2 large free-range eggs , at room temperature
• a few sprigs of mixed herbs, such as chives, tarragon, chervil and parsley
• 1 large knob of butter

Method

Break the eggs into a bowl and whisk lightly with a fork. Chop and add the herbs and season with sea salt and black pepper.

Heat the butter in a 23cm non-stick or cast-iron pan over a medium-high heat until foaming. 

Once the foam dies down, pour in the egg mixture and gently shake the pan to distribute. Cook for 20 seconds or so, until it begins to bubble, then draw it into the centre with a wooden spoon and shake the pan again to redistribute the uncooked egg.

Cook the omelette until the base is set, but it is still slightly runny in the middle (unless you don’t like that). 

Remove the pan from the heat and fold 2 sides into the middle. Shake the pan so the edges roll together then turn the omelette onto a plate, folding it over in the process. Serve with crusty bread.

Black pudding, poached egg and soldiers

One of my all-time favourites. When black pudding goes all crispy it’s so delicious – this makes my morning. It’s a bit childish but I like my toast in soldiers, like my mum used to make for me (nostalgia is a beautiful thing – embrace it). Lightly buttered toast scraped with Marmite or Vegemite is wicked with an oozy egg.

Ingredients

• white wine vinegar
• olive oil
• 200 g quality black pudding
• 2 x 5cm-thick slives of bloomer loaf
• 2 large free-range ggs
• unsalted butter
• Marmite or Vegemite

Method

Put a pan of water on to boil and add a pinch of sea salt and a splash of vinegar. 

Heat a medium frying pan to high and add a little oil. Pull the skin off your black pudding, then crumble it into the pan. When it starts to crisp, pop your bread in the toaster. 

When the pudding looks and tastes done spoon it onto kitchen paper to drain while you poach your eggs.

Stir the boiling water to create a motion that will help the egg white wrap around neatly. Don’t make a fuss, just crack in the eggs (you might want to do 3 in case you break one, as I often do). They will cook in a few minutes, depending on how you like them.

Butter your toast then smear it with a thin layer of Marmite or Vegemite. Cut each slice into soldiers. 

Serve a poached egg next to the toast, sprinkle over the black pudding and dig in.