Roasted red pepper and anchovy salad on roasted garlic toasts

A great recipe for a simple tapa from José Pizarro's lovely book Spanish Flavours. José, as you may know if you're based in the UK, has a cracking tapas bar in Bermondsey called José and a slightly more formal restaurant in the same street called Pizarro.

Jose writes: "The red peppers in Spain are outstanding and there is almost nothing better than peppers roasted in a proper wood-fired oven, a service that during my childhood was provided by the village baker. I’ll always remember the aroma that filled the house when my mother returned from the baker’s bearing a large tray of these wonderful vegetables. The combination of sweet roasted red peppers and salty anchovies is always a winner. This can be served as a tapa, as the larger Basque-style pintxos or even as a light lunch with a dressed green salad and a poached egg.

If you’re in a hurry, instead of roasting the red peppers, use a jar/tin of Piquillo peppers, which are already roasted and skinned and have a great smoky flavour."

Serves 4

2 large heads of garlic, unpeeled, plus 1 fat clove, finely chopped

4 large thyme sprigs

1½ tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

4 large red peppers

2 tablespoons sherry vinegar

8 small slices of rustic white bread, about 1cm thick

16 good-quality anchovy fillets in olive oil, drained

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 200°C /gas mark 6. Remove the outer papery skin from each head of garlic and take a thin slice off the top of each one to expose the cloves. Tear off a large square of foil, place the heads of garlic in the centre, add 2 of the thyme sprigs, drizzle each head with 1 teaspoon of the olive oil and sprinkle with a little salt. Wrap securely in the foil, place in a small roasting tin along with the peppers and roast on the top shelf of the oven for 20–30 minutes, turning the peppers once or twice until the skins have blackened in places. Remove the peppers from the tin, drop them into a plastic bag and leave until cool enough to handle. Return the garlic parcels to the oven and roast for a further 35 minutes, or until the cloves feel very soft when pressed.

Meanwhile, slit open the peppers, working over a bowl so that you catch all the juices, and remove and discard the stalks, seeds and skin. Tear the flesh into 1cm-wide strips and add to the bowl of juices with the chopped garlic clove, vinegar, the remaining thyme leaves and the rest of the olive oil. Stir well together.

Remove the garlic from the oven and set the parcel aside. Toast the slices of bread. (I like to put mine on the bars of a preheated cast-iron ridged griddle long enough to give the bread a slightly smoky taste, then finish it off in the toaster.) Unwrap the roasted garlic, squeeze some of the purée from each clove and spread it onto the toast while both are still hot. Sprinkle with a few sea salt flakes and some black pepper.

Season the pepper strips with a little salt to taste and spoon onto the garlic toast. Garnish each slice with the anchovy fillets, drizzle over some of the pepper juices and serve while the toast is still crisp.

What to drink: I had a similar dish in Rioja with a rioja rosado and it went really well. It would also be great with a fino or manzanilla sherry or a crisp Rueda or Sauvignon Blanc.

This recipe comes from Spanish Flavours by José Pizarro published by Kyle Books. Image © Emma Lee.

Roast harissa butter chicken and cracked wheat

What do you do if it's a perfect summer day and you still want a Sunday roast? Make this fabulous recipe from Georgie Hayden's wonderful book Stirring Slowly, one of my favourite books of last year

Georgie writes: "This is a perfect Sunday dinner if you want something a little different but still really special. Once you’ve cooked your chicken this way I guarantee you’ll be converted, and any leftover buttery chicken is epic in a sandwich the next day.

Serves 4

4 garlic cloves, peeled

1 preserved lemon

1 teaspoon cumin seeds

1 teaspoon coriander seeds

1 teaspoon sweet smoked paprika

2 tablespoons harissa

a bunch of coriander

a bunch of parsley

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

80g butter, at room temperature

olive oil

1 x 1.6kg chicken

1 lemon

425ml fresh chicken stock

1 onion

2 tomatoes

350g bulgur wheat

Greek yoghurt, to serve

Preheat your oven to 190°C/gas 5. Peel the garlic. Halve the preserved lemon and remove the seeds. In a dry frying pan toast the cumin and coriander seeds until lightly toasted. Place in a food processor along with the paprika, preserved lemon, harissa, half the coriander and parsley (stalks and all) and the garlic. Season well and blitz to a paste. Add the butter and 2 tablespoons of olive oil and pulse until smooth.

Use your hands to carefully prise the chicken skin away from each breast, to create a pocket. Slash the skin on the thighs and rub the butter all over – under the skin mainly and all over the top. Halve the lemon and pop it into the chicken cavity, then place in a small snug-fitting roasting tray. Put it into the oven and roast for around 1¼ hours, or until golden and crisp but cooked through – check that the juices run clear around the thigh area.

Baste the chicken a couple of times during cooking with the buttery juices in the tray.

When the chicken has about 20 minutes left to cook, start the bulgur wheat. Heat your chicken stock in a medium pan. Meanwhile peel and finely chop the onion, and deseed and finely chop the tomatoes. Pour a glug of olive oil into a saucepan and put on a medium-low heat. Add the onion and sauté for 10 minutes, until soft. Add the tomatoes and cook for a further 5 minutes, then add the bulgur wheat. Stir for a minute, then add the hot chicken stock and season lightly. Bring to the boil, pop onthe lid, then reduce the heat to low. Simmer for 8 minutes, until the wheat is cooked through and fluffy, then remove from the heat. Cover the pan with a tea towel and put a lid on top to keep it warm. Chop the rest of the coriander and parsley leaves and stir through the bulgur wheat.

When the chicken is ready, leave to rest for 10 minutes, then squeeze over the lemon from the cavity and carve it up – you can carve traditionally or shred the meat into the buttery juices to keep the meat insanely moist.

Serve with the bulgur wheat and tangy thick Greek yoghurt.

What to drink: I'd personally go for a strong dry rosé with this - Spain does some good ones - but you could also drink a medium-bodied juicy Rhône or Languedoc red or even a crisp white like an assyrtiko.

Extracted from Stirring Slowly by Georgina Hayden, published by Square Peg in hardback at £20

Bayonne ham tart with garlic (Tarte au Jambon et à l’Ail)

A great recipe to make for any Bastille Day celebrations you might be having from Pierre Koffmann's fabulous Memories of Gascony, one of my all-time favourite cookbooks.

Tarte au Jambon et à l’Ail

serves 4-6

3 heads of garlic

50 g/2 oz duck fat

75 g/3 oz bayonne ham, thinly sliced

1 tablespoon chopped parsley

200 ml/7 fl oz milk

2 egg yolks

2 slices of white bread, crumbled

freshly ground pepper

250 g/9 oz pâte à tarte (or shortcrust pastry)

Preheat the oven to 200ºC/400ºF/gas 6. Cut three 10 cm/4 in squares of foil.

Place a head of garlic and one-quarter of the fat in the middle of each square and wrap tightly in the foil. Place in a roasting pan and bake in the preheated oven for 20–25 minutes, until soft.

Heat the rest of the fat in a frying pan and quickly fry the ham for about 10 seconds on each side, adding the parsley at the last moment.

To make the custard mixture, mix together the milk, egg yolks and breadcrumbs and season with a little pepper. Place in the fridge until needed.

Roll out the pastry into a circle to fit a 20 cm/8 in flan dish and line the dish with the pastry. Bake blind in the preheated oven for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, unwrap and peel the garlic. Place it in the part-baked flan case together with the ham. Pour in the custard mixture and bake in the hot oven for 25 minutes.

Pierre suggests serving this hot but I think it would be pretty good at room temperature if you wanted to make it ahead.

What to drink: It would be rude not to drink a Gascogne wine with this wouldn't it? A fruity white Côtes de Gascogne I suggest, or a Gascogne rosé. Or , if you fancy a red, you could go for a Gaillac

From Memories of Gascony by Pierre Koffmann, published by Mitchell Beazley, £30 (www.octopusbooks.co.uk)

Warm lamb salad with a pea, mint & feta cheese dressing

A fabulously summery recipe from the very appealing Great British Farmhouse Cookbook - perfect for this time of year.

Unusually it's sponsored by a company - the enterprising Yeo Valley dairy in Somerset - but you don't find their branding all over the recipes which have been put together by Sarah Mayor, the Cordon-Bleu trained daughter of the company's founders Roger and Mary Mead and a farmer's wife herself.

Sarah writes: "We’re not normally huge fans of frozen veg, but with peas we make an exception. They’re normally frozen within minutes of being picked, so they’re actually far tastier than fresh peas that have been hanging around in the fridge for a while."

SERVES 6

1 x 2.5kg leg of lamb, butterflied

2 little gem lettuces, broken into leaves, washed and dried

1/4 cucumber, halved and thinly sliced

salt and freshly ground black pepper

FOR THE MARINADE:

6 tbsp olive oil

the leaves from 2 rosemary sprigs, finely chopped

the leaves from 2 large thyme sprigs, roughly chopped

3 garlic cloves, crushed

finely grated zest and juice of 1 small lemon

FOR THE PEA, MINT AND FETA CHEESE DRESSING:

3 small shallots, very thinly sliced

2 tbsp red wine vinegar

1/4 tsp caster sugar

250g frozen peas

8 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

the leaves from a 20g bunch fresh mint, chopped, plus extra

whole leaves for garnish

200g feta cheese, crumbled

FOR THE GARLIC AND MINT YOGURT:

250g wholemilk natural yogurt

1 garlic clove, crushed

2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

2 tbsp finely chopped fresh mint

1. Mix the marinade ingredients together in a large shallow dish with 1 teaspoon each of salt and freshly ground black pepper. Add the lamb and turn it over in the mixture a few times until it is well covered. Cover and leave to marinate for at least 4–6 hours, ideally overnight.

2. To make the dressing, put the sliced shallots into a mixing bowl and stir in the vinegar and sugar. Set aside for at least 30 minutes so that the shallots can soften. Cover the peas with warm water and leave them to thaw, then drain well and set to one side. Preheat the oven to 200°C/Gas 6.

3. Pop a ridged cast iron griddle over a high heat until smoking hot, then lower the heat to medium-low. Lift the lamb out of the marinade, shaking off the excess, then place it on the griddle and cook for 5-7 minutes on each side until well coloured*. Transfer to a roasting tin, spoon over any remaining marinade and roast for 20-25 minutes. Transfer the meat to a carving board, cover with foil and leave to rest for 5-10 minutes.

4. Meanwhile, tear the lettuce leaves into smaller pieces and scatter them over the base of a large serving platter along with the sliced cucumber. Mix the yogurt ingredients together and season to taste.

5. Add the oil to the shallots and swirl together. Stir in the peas and mint and season to taste.

6. Carve the lamb across into thin slices and pop it on top of the lettuce. Spoon over the pea and mint dressing, scatter over the feta and sprinkle with a few more small mint leaves. Eat straight away with the garlic and mint yogurt.

* the recipe doesn't state this but you could cook the lamb on a barbecue if you had a kettle-style barbecue

Suggested wine match: You could go several ways with this - a light red, a crisp white or a strong dry rosé. Red-wise that could be a Saumur Champigny or another Loire Cabernet Franc, a pinot noir or a juicy red like Mencia from the Bierzo region of northern Spain. Because of the yoghurt and spring vegetables a crisp white such as Sauvignon Blanc would work for those who prefer a white or a crisp dry rosé like Bandol from the South of France would also be delicious.

Extracted from Yeo Valley: The Great British Farmhouse Cookbook by Sarah Mayor (Quadrille £20). Photograph: Andrew Montgomery.