Spicy sesame ramen salad

I love the recipes in Tim Anderson's new book Your Home Izakaya which is subtitled 'fun and simple recipes inspired by the drinking-and-dining dens of Japan' but this ramen salad really stood out for me and I can't wait to make it.

Tim writes: "The Japanese version of Sichuanese dandan noodles is tantanmen: ramen with spiced minced (ground) pork in a luxurious yet aggressive broth made from copious amounts of ground sesame and chilli oil. A variant sees these flavours translated into a massively flavourful noodle salad for all seasons, served cold but with plenty of carbs and fat to fill you up and plenty of chilli heat to keep you warm. If you have the chilli oil and sesame dressing ready to go (store-bought is fine), it’s really quick to put together, too.

SPICY SESAME RAMEN SALAD
冷やし坦々麺サラダ HIYASHI TANTANMEN SARADA

Serves 2 or up to 4 as part of a larger meal

2 tbsp chilli oil, or more, to taste
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 cm (½ in) piece of ginger root, peeled and finely chopped
150 g (5 oz) minced (ground) pork
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp mirin
100 g (3½ oz) beansprouts
2 portions ramen noodles
90–100 ml (3–3½ fl oz/scant ½–â…“ cup) sesame dressing (below)
1 cucumber, julienned
2 spring onions (scallions), very finely sliced at an angle
1 punnet salad cress
1 tbsp sesame seeds, crushed to the consistency of coarse sand
a few pinches of shichimi and sanshō (optional)
1 egg yolk

METHOD

Open a window or put your extractor fan on. Heat the chilli oil on a medium-high heat in a frying pan (skillet) and add the garlic, ginger and pork and stir-fry for about 5 minutes, breaking the pork up as you go. Add the soy sauce and mirin and continue to cook for another 5 minutes or so until the liquid has reduced completely. Set aside and leave to cool while you prepare the rest of the dish.

Bring a saucepan of water to the boil and blanch the beansprouts for 30–60 seconds until just cooked, then remove with a sieve or slotted spoon and run under cold water to stop the cooking. Allow the water in the pan to come back to the boil, then cook the noodles until a bit softer than al dente – they will firm up when you chill them, so they should seem a bit soft. Drain the noodles and rinse them under cold water, using your hands to toss them to make sure you remove as much residual starch as possible.

Combine half of the beansprouts with all of the noodles and toss together with half of the dressing. Transfer to a serving dish, then layer the remaining beansprouts on top of the noodles, along with the cucumber and spring onions. Drizzle over the remaining sauce and extra chilli oil, if you like, then garnish with the cress, sesame seeds and spices. Place the egg yolk in the centre and mix everything well before eating.

This would be good with edamame or a couple skewers of yakitori, recipes for which are both given in the book

Tim suggests pairing this with a a very cold beer or barley tea.

Sesame dressing

This recipe calls for Chinese or Japanese-style sesame paste which is made from toasted sesame seeds but tahini is OK too - it will provide a lighter flavour

Makes about 400ml (13 fl oz/generous 1 1/2 cups)

4 tbsp sesame seeds
180g (6 1/2 oz) sesame paste or tahini
150ml (5 fl oz/scant 2/3 cup) unsweetened soya milk
2 tbsp sesame oil
3 tbsp vinegar (I'm guessing rice vinegar here FB)
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp soy sauce
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp dashi powder

Tip the sesame seeds into a frying pan (skillet) and set over a medium-high heat. Cook the sesame seeds stirring constantly for about 10 minutes until they are noticeably more aromatic and darker in colour. Remove from the pan and leave to cool. Coarsely grind the sesame seeds in a mortar, food processor or spice mill, then add the remaining ingredients and stir until the sugar dissolves. Keep in the fridge for up to a week.

Extracted from Your Home Izakaya by Tim Anderson, published by Hardie Grant at £25. Photography by Laura Edwards.

Red wine spaghetti with olives and anchovies

I stumbled across a recipe for cooking spaghetti in red wine when I was researching my latest book Wine lover's kitchen. It sounded so bizarre I had to give it a try and can vouch for the fact that it’s delicious! It would be a bit expensive to make for a crowd so this quantity is designed to feed 2–3. And my version is dairy-free.

500 ml/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons full-bodied fruity red wine

250g/9oz. wholewheat spaghetti

50g/2oz. can of anchovies

1–2 tbsp olive oil

3 garlic cloves, finely sliced

70g/2/3 cup pitted olives with herbs

1/2 tsp Turkish dried chilli flakes/red pepper flakes

3 tbsp passata or 1 tbsp concentrated tomato purée/paste

25g/1 cup freshly chopped flat leaf parsley

sea salt

Serves 2–3

Measure 400 ml/1 3/4 cups of the red wine into a saucepan and add 500ml/2 cups plus 2 tbsp water. Bring to the boil, add a teaspoon of salt and partially cook the spaghetti for about 7–8 minutes. Drain, reserving half a cup of the cooking liquid. Meanwhile drain the can of anchovies, reserving the oil. Add the oil from the anchovies plus enough additional olive oil to make 3 tablespoons in total, pour into a frying pan/skillet and fry the garlic slices over a very low heat.

Chop the anchovies and halve the olives. Add the chilli/red pepper flakes to the garlic, stir in the passata or tomato purée/paste and tip in the reserved pasta cooking water and the rest of the wine. Bring to the boil, add the anchovies and olives and simmer for a few minutes. Tip the partially cooked spaghetti into the sauce and leave over a low to medium heat until most of the liquid is absorbed. Add about three-quarters of the chopped parsley to the pasta and toss well. Serve in warm bowls with the remaining parsley sprinkled on top.

What to drink

The same wine you use to make the dish or a hearty Sicilian red like a Nero d’Avola.

Roast crown prince squash, ricotta and caramelised chilli sage butter

One of the most evocative cookbooks to have been published recently is Lori de Mori and Laura Jackson's Towpath, a series of recipes and reminiscences from the charmingly quirky Towpath Café. It's divided up month by month and this is in fact a September recipe but as squash is still in season and wonderful warming at this time of year it works equally well now.

Lori writes: This dish to me epitomises this time of year. The combination of the sweetness and earthiness of the squash with the crispy warmness of the sage work wonderfully as a pair. Add in a blob of rich, creamy and savoury ricotta and some caramelised sage and chilli butter and it warms the soul."

Serves 4

1 large or 2 medium crown prince squash, weighing around 2kg/41/2lb

2 tablespoons olive oil

Caramelised Sage and Chilli Butter (see below)

150g/51/2oz ricotta

salt and pepper

Notes

Any type of pumpkin or squash could be used here. You will just need a robust variety that is happy to be roasted and doesn’t have a high water content like spaghetti squash.

Preheat the oven to 210°C fan/450°F/gas mark 8.

Cut the squash into four. If you have one big squash, be very careful as the skin is super tough – I put a tea towel between my hand and the tip of the knife to prevent my hand going through the top of the blade. Remove the seeds and discard. Remove the skin. I find using a serrated knife the best option and if you get slightly further under the skin, it’s much easier to remove – you want to remove the green colour under the skin.

Cut into big wedges – I normally cut each quarter into three or four wedges lengthways.

Toss in the olive oil. Season and place on a large baking tray with the wedges standing up. Cook for about 25–35 minutes until the squash has browned and is fully cooked. This stage can be done in advance and kept in the fridge for 2–3 days and you can reheat without affecting the squash.

Make the Caramelised Sage and Chilli Butter (see below).

Plate up using one large platter or four individual plates. Place a bit of ricotta on the bottom so that it can secure the squash wedges, then layer up a few of the squash wedges and scatter some blobs of ricotta around. Layer up the rest of the squash and blob more ricotta over and around.

To finish, generously drizzle over the caramelised sage and chilli butter with lots of sage and lots of the butter. Season.

For the sage and chilli butter

bunch of sage

150g/ 5 ½ oz butter, cut into pieces

½ lemon, juiced

2 cloves garlic, minced

½ –1 teaspoon chilli flakes

salt and pepper

Pick the sage, saving the stalks for a stock. In a medium-sized frying pan, place the butter in the pan with the sage leaves. Melt over a medium-low heat. Continue cooking until the sage leaves start crisping. Turn the heat to low to prevent the butter and sage from burning. Once the leaves are crispy, turn off the heat. Add the lemon juice to prevent the sage and butter from cooking further. It will sizzle loudly! Add the garlic and chilli flakes. Stir well and season to taste. Pour into an appropriate container and leave in a warm place until needed.

What to drink: Given the spicy butter I'd go for a viognier with this but you could also drink a good Soave.

The best wines to pair with squash and pumpkin

Extracted from Towpath Recipes and Stories by Lori de Mori & Laura Jackson published by Chelsea Green at £27. Photograph © Joe Woodhouse

Plum and Frangipane Tart

If you feel like baking this weekend here's a recipe from Christine McFadden's massively useful book Flour, a guide to how to use all the many new flours on the market.

I particularly like the fact that it's billed as an ingredient book rather than a gluten-free book which emphasises the fact it's about taste and texture rather than any particularly dietary regime.

This recipe is made from pea flour. Christine writes:

"Yellow pea flour makes the most beautiful melt-in-the-mouth pastry. It’s gluten-free and wonderful to work with. Crimson plums set off the rich yellow colour. The idea for the filling came from my food writer friend Lesley Mackley, who does a lovely version with pears instead of plums.

Serves 6–8

vegetable oil for greasing

6 ripe red plums

caster sugar for sprinkling

4 tablespoons melted quince, redcurrant or apricot jelly, to glaze

for the pastry

160g (5¾oz) yellow pea flour

2 tablespoons icing sugar

100g (3½oz) cold unsalted butter, roughly chopped

1½ tablespoons thick plain yogurt

1½ tablespoons beaten egg

for the frangipane

75g (2¾oz) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly

125g (4½oz) caster sugar

1 large egg, organic or free range

1 large egg yolk, organic or free-range

1 tablespoon brandy or amaretto liqueur (optional)

125g (4½oz) ground almonds

First make the pastry. Sift the pea flour and icing sugar then tip into the bowl of a food processor. Add the butter and pulse briefly until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs. Add the yogurt and egg, then pulse in short bursts until the mixture begins to clump. Be careful not to overwork the dough.

Tip the dough on to a well-floured surface. Roll into a ball, then flatten into a 12cm (4½in) disc, ready for rolling out. Wrap in greaseproof paper and chill for 30 minutes.

For the frangipane, beat the butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric whisk for a few minutes until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in the whole egg, followed by the yolk.

Finally add the brandy, if you’re using it, and the ground almonds. Mix well to combine, then set aside.

Preheat the oven to 180°C/Gas Mark 4. Put a baking tray in to heat. Grease the base and sides of a 24.5x2.5cm (9¾x1in) fluted metal tart tin, making sure the sides are well lubricated. Line the base with a circle of baking parchment and grease the paper too.

Once the dough is chilled, remove from the fridge. Dust your work surface and rolling pin with flour. Roll out the pastry to a thin 30cm (12in) circle. Carefully drape it over your rolling pin and lower it into the tin. Press the side of your index finger into the edge to even out the thickness. Trim the top with a small sharp knife. Spoon the frangipane into the pastry case, smoothing the surface with a spatula.

Slice the plums in half lengthways and remove the stone. Slice each half lengthways into four segments. Starting from the outer edge of the tart, arrange a double row of overlapping segments in four north-south-east-west ‘spokes’, leaving a quadrant of uncovered frangipane between each spoke. Make an attractive rosette of slices where the spokes meet. Sprinkle the plums with caster sugar.

Bake for 35–40 minutes, rotating the tin halfway through. Cover the edges with foil if they brown too much. Remove from the oven and leave to settle in the tin for 20 minutes.

Carefully ease the tart out of the tin and slide on to a serving plate. Brush with the melted jelly and serve warm or at room temperature.

What to drink: a simple fruit tart like this is a good foil for a wide variety of dessert wines. I'd go for a sweet Bordeaux like Sauternes or a similar one from one of the neighbouring appellations - Monbazillac is particularly good value.

Extract taken from Flour by Christine McFadden (Absolute Press, £26) out now

Photography © Mike Cooper