Grilled Langoustines with pickled turmeric and lasooni butter

A great recipe from Will Bowlby of Kricket one of the most exciting new Indian restaurants in London. It comes from his book of the same name which is full of other tempting recipes.

Will writes: "Fresh turmeric is now readily available from all good grocery shops, and when pickled, it takes on a completely different flavour profile; sweet and almost candy-like. It pairs well with langoustines and the spicy acidic butter that is spooned over at the end. This dish works equally well with lobster or prawns (shrimps), but we like to keep things low cost and local so we’ve opted for Scottish langoustines, which deserve to be far more popular than they are now. They are beautifully delicate and I hope we will be seeing a lot more of them on menus across the country."

SERVES 4

16 fresh or frozen langoustines, defrosted

2 tablespoons vegetable oil, to coat the langoustines

2 teaspoons ground turmeric

a generous pinch of sea salt

FOR THE PICKLED TURMERIC

200 g (7 oz) fresh turmeric root, peeled

100 ml (3 ½ fl oz/scant ½ cup) Pickling Liquor (see below)

FOR THE LASOONI BUTTER

200 g (7 oz/scant 1 cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature

a bunch of fresh coriander (cilantro)

5 garlic cloves, peeled

4 green chillies

a couple of squeezes of lime juice

a pinch of salt

Peel the turmeric root into thin ribbons (I'm thinking it might be sensible to wear plastic gloves to do this FB) and place into a bowl. Steep in the pickling liquor for 1–2 hours at room temperature, then keep in the refrigerator until needed.

Prepare the langoustines by cutting lengthways down the centre of each, keeping the head intact, and removing the intestinal thread. Marinate in the oil, turmeric and salt, then cover and set aside in the refrigerator.

Make the lasooni butter by blitzing the butter in a food processor with the coriander, garlic, green chillies, a squeeze of lime juice and salt.

Grill (broil) the langoustines under a high heat for 2–3 minutes on each side until just cooked. Alternatively, you can also cook the langoustines in a heavy-based frying pan (skillet) over a medium to high heat. Ensure you do not overcook them.

Melt the lasooni butter gently in a small frying pan to retain its vibrant colour. Squeeze in little more lime juice, then spoon it over the cooked langoustines. Garnish with pickled turmeric and serve.

PICKLING LIQUOR

I use this to use with all kinds of vegetables but cucumber is a special favourite. It will keep in the refrigerator for several weeks – it keeps forever! If you want to makea smaller amount, the recipe is based on equal quantities of vinegar and sugar.

MAKES 1 LITRE ( 34 F L OZ/4 CUPS)

500 ml (17 fl oz/2 cups) white wine vinegar

500 g (1 lb 2 oz/2 cups) caster (superfine) sugar

2 star anise

1 cinnamon stick

4 cloves

2 fresh bay leaves

Put all the ingredients in a heavy-based saucepan over a low heat and stir occasionally until all the sugar dissolves. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool before decanting into a sterilised jar. Store in the fridge until required.

What to drink: Given the amount of butter I'd go for a viognier with this.

From KRICKET: An Indian-inspired Cookbook by Will Bowlby (Hardie Grant, £26.00) Photography: Hugh Johnson.

Simit with lemon and thyme-baked feta

If you've ever toyed with the idea of buying a wood-fired oven Genevieve Taylor's new book The Ultimate Wood Fired Oven Cookbook should persuade you. (And it didn't even cost a fortune. She built it herself!)

The recipes which go way beyond pizza are brilliant too* but I picked this intriguing Turkish bread which she serves with baked feta cheese which sounds ridiculously good*.

Gen writes: "Simit are delicious bagel-shaped bread rings from Turkey, liberally covered with golden sesame seeds and often served for breakfast with cheese and olive oil. Here I serve them with baked feta cheese as I love the soft, almost mousse-like texture it gets when it’s hot, perfect for spreading on the crusty bread. Eaten with a salad of ripe tomatoes and a few black olives, this makes a perfectly simple lunch."

220–230°C (425–450°F) MAKES 4

For the simit

400g (3 cups) strong white bread flour

1 tsp instant yeast

1 tsp fine salt

300ml (11⁄4 cups) hand-hot water 2 tbsp olive oil, plus more for shaping the dough

1 tbsp pomegranate molasses

2 tbsp sesame seeds

For the feta

1 x 200g (7oz) block of feta

2 tbsp olive oil

a few sprigs of fresh thyme, leaves, picked

zest from 1⁄2 a lemon

freshly ground black pepper

You need a fire that has reached a high, steady baking temperature of about 220–230°C (425–450°F), with no live flame, just glowing embers OR if you don't have a wood-fired oven Gen says you can bake the bread in a conventional oven at 220°C or 200°C in a fan oven.

Put the flour, yeast and salt into a mixing bowl and stir together until mixed. Pour in the water and oil and stir together until you have a ragged, loose ball of dough. Cover loosely with a clean tea towel and set aside for 10 minutes for the flour to hydrate.

Lightly oil the worktop and tip the dough on to it, scraping out all the loose bits from the bowl. Spread a little oil on the inside of the bowl and set aside. Use your oiled hands to very lightly knead the dough for 10 seconds, then put back into the bowl and leave to rest for 10 more minutes. Repeat this 10-second knead and 10-minute rest twice more. Cover the bowl and leave to prove on the worktop for an hour. You can also slide it into the fridge and prove it slowly for 4–6 hours if you prefer.

Tip out the dough on to a lightly floured worktop and divide it into eight even pieces. Take two pieces and roll them into long snakes, about 1–1 1⁄2cm (1⁄2–5⁄8in) thick. If the dough snakes are springing back and won’t stay in shape, leave them for a few minutes to relax, then try again.

Twist the two pieces together like a rope, then coil into a circle and pinch the two ends together to join so they look like twisted bagels. Set on a large oiled baking sheet and repeat with the remaining dough so you end up with 4 well-spaced simit. Brush the tops lightly with the pomegranate molasses and sprinkle liberally with the sesame seeds. Set aside to prove again for another 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, get the block of feta ready for baking by sliding it into a small baking dish. Drizzle over the olive oil, and sprinkle on the thyme and lemon zest. Season with a good grind of black pepper.

Once the dough has finished its second prove, slide the tray into the hot oven. Cook for 15 minutes, then check them, turning the tray around if necessary, so they cook evenly. At the same time, slide in the dish of feta alongside. Leave both to bake for a further 10–15 minutes.

Serve immediately, while the feta is hot and melting.

*the Mexican sweetcorn salad (Esquites) we had at the launch is also ridiculously good

What to drink: If you served this as Gen suggests with a salad of ripe tomatoes and some olives a glass of dry rosé would go down well or, if you can find one, the crisp Turkish white, Narince.

Recipe extract from The Ultimate Wood Fired Oven Cookbook by Genevieve Taylor published by Quadrille at £15. Photography © Jason Ingram.

Tomato Tonnato

Few recipes are truly original but this twist on the classic vitello tonnato from Ed Smith of Rocket and Squash, using tomatoes as the base instead of roast veal is just inspired.

It comes from his brilliant book On the Side which, as the title suggests, is all about side dishes.

Ed writes: This might seem a surprising combination, but a fishy, umami-rich tonnato balances tomato’s natural acidity beautifully, punctuated by a sprinkling of salty and sour capers. I’ve enjoyed this with veal chops, pork belly, monkfish and cod, and I’m sure there are many other fine matches.

You’re likely to have some tonnato sauce left over, but it’s not efficient to make it in a smaller quantity. Happily, it keeps well for 2–3 days if covered and refrigerated. Use it to lubricate cold meats or roast lamb or as a flavoured mayonnaise in sandwiches. The tomatoes must be at room temperature and sliced thinly so that there’s plenty of cut surface area for the sauce to cling to.

Time needed: 30 minutes to an hour

Serves 6

6 medium (about 500g) tomatoes

2 tablespoons capers

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Tonnato sauce

50g tinned anchovies in oil

160g tinned tuna, drained (120g drained weight)

2 teaspoons fish sauce

1 garlic clove, chopped

2 teaspoons red wine vinegar

3 egg yolks

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

100g light olive oil

First, make the tonnato sauce. Put the anchovies with their oil, along with all the other sauce ingredients except the olive oil, in a blender or small food processor. Pulse, then blitz for about 1 minute, or until smooth. Add the olive oil in a steady drizzle until the mixture has completely emulsified and is smooth and glossy. Transfer it to a bowl and leave it in the fridge for 30 minutes to an hour. It will firm up a little in that time – not essential, but nice.

Spoon 4–5 tablespoons of the tonnato sauce over a large serving plate. Slice the tomatoes thinly and layer them on top of the sauce. Add a good grind or three of black pepper, and just a little salt (the sauce and capers are themselves quite salty). Sprinkle the capers over the top and serve.

What to drink

I drank an albarino with this on one occasion and a dry rosé on another. Both worked really well, as would most unoaked Italian white wines.

Extract taken from On the Side: A Sourcebook of Inspiring Side Dishes by Ed Smith (Bloomsbury, £20)

Photography © Joe Woodhouse

Raw cauliflower, mushroom and feta salad

This delicious salad is inspired by one I ate in a brilliant fast food restaurant called Food Chain in Montreal last year. They shred the vegetables to order then serve them in bowls with an accompanying dressing and topping (mixed seeds in this case).

You pour over the dressing when you’re ready to eat which keeps the salad crunchy and fresh.

I thought it would be easy to recreate at home and it is. You just need to slice your vegetables really thinly. For two I’d suggest using a mandolin - for larger numbers a food processor with a slicing attachment. Needless to say your ingredients need to be super-fresh. This is not a salad to make with the fridge leftovers!

Serves 2 as a main meal, 4 as a side

1 small or half a medium red or sweet onion* (about 50g)
Half a medium-sized cauliflower (about 250g)
A good big handful of flat leaf parsley
125g button mushrooms
100g feta cheese, crumbled
Mixed seeds (optional)

For the dressing

2 tbsp lemon juice
Grated rind half a lemon (about 1 tsp)
5 tbsp olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

First make the dressing. Put the lemon juice and rind into a bowl with a little salt and plenty of black pepper and whisk in the olive oil. (Or shake all the ingredients together in a screw top jar

Peel the onion and slice finely on a mandolin. Discard any chunkier pieces. Soak the onion slices in cold water for 10 minutes then drain and pat dry.

Break the cauliflower into large florets removing the thicker parts of the stalk and mandolin them too

Chop the parsley coarsely removing any tougher stems

Wipe and finely slice the mushrooms

Put all the ingredients in a large bowl together with the crumbled feta. Whisk the dressing again and pour it over then toss all the ingredients together. Sprinkle with seeds, if using. Eat immediately.

What to drink: I see this as a healthy post-weekend option so I personally would drink sparkling water with it but you could serve a glass of crisp dry white wine like a Picpoul de Pinet or an albarino.