Smoked trout with griddled lemon, cucumber & sourdough croutons

A fresh, simple, clever recipe for two from one of the most charming of last year's cookery books, Rosie Birkett's A Lot on her Plate

Rosie writes: "This dish, Scandinavian in tone thanks to the pickles and smoked fish, takes ingredients that you may have lying around – lemon, cucumber and bread – and transforms them into something special, by charring them to add a smoky dimension and intensify their natural flavours. I get my smoked trout from Mike Scott, the chef at Hackney’s wonderful Raw Duck restaurant, who smokes it himself at home, but this would work with any good-quality smoked fish, be it trout, mackerel or hot-smoked salmon.

Serves 2

1 tablespoon caster (superfine) sugar

1 tablespoon cider vinegar (get the good unpasteurised stuff if you can)

2 radishes, finely sliced

sea salt

2 baby or Lebanese cucumbers, cut in half lengthwise and halved across the middle

1 lemon, cut in half

1 slice of sourdough bread

6 tablespoons olive oil, plus extra for grilling

2 tablespoons roughly chopped dill

2 smoked trout fillets, skin removed

borage flowers, to garnish (optional)

4 teaspoons plain natural yoghurt, to serve

Dissolve the sugar in the vinegar in a small bowl and quick-pickle the radish slices in the mixture.

Heat a griddle pan over a high heat until it’s stinking hot. Scatter with a pinch of sea salt. Brush the cucumber pieces, cut sides of the lemon and sourdough bread with olive oil and griddle for about 8 minutes, until there are black grill marks on them, turning the bread and cucumber over once.

When the ingredients are grilled, remove from the heat and squeeze the lemon juice into a bowl with the olive oil. Whisk with a fork, add the dill and a pinch of salt, and whisk some more, until well combined. Cut the sourdough into croutons.

Drain the radishes from their pickle liquor and place on kitchen paper to absorb the excess vinegar. Divide the cucumber between two plates and flake over the smoked trout. Top with the radish slices and drizzle over the dill and lemon oil.

Scatter over the sourdough croutons and borage flowers, if using, and finish eachserving with a couple of teaspoons of natural yoghurt.

What to drink: I think you want something equally fresh-tasting with this. A crisp dry white like a Picpoul or an Albarino would be good or try a (genuinely) dry young riesling

From A Lot on her Plate by Rosie Birkett (Hardie Grant, £25.00) Photography: Helen Cathcart. For more recipes see Rosie's website.

Pumpkin, coconut and lentil soup

If you're carving a pumpkin for Hallowe'en this weekend here's a gorgeous spicy soup from Jenny Chandler's excellent book Pulse to make with the discarded pulp.

Jenny writes: "Pumpkin gives this soup a wonderful velvety texture and when it comes to the flavour, the Thai balance of spicy, sweet, sour and salty is vital. The chilli provides the spicy heat, so just keep adding small amounts of fish sauce or soy, lime juice and sugar until you reach perfection."

Pumpkin, coconut and lentil soup

Serves 4

2 tbsp vegetable oil

small bunch of spring onions (scallions), finely sliced

2 garlic cloves, crushed

5-cm/2-in piece of fresh ginger, chopped

1–2 fiery chillies, finely chopped

2 stalks of lemongrass, outer leaves removed and remainder finely sliced

225 g/8 oz/generous 1 cup red lentils, rinsed

500 g/1 lb 2 oz pumpkin or butternut squash, peeled, deseeded and
cut into 2 cm/3⁄4 inch dice

1.2 litres/2 pints/5 cups vegetable or chicken stock

400 g/14 oz can of coconut milk

1 tbsp tamarind paste

2 tbsp finely chopped fresh coriander (cilantro)

Thai fish sauce or tamari soy sauce

juice of 1–2 limes

pinch of brown sugar or palm sugar (optional)

Heat the oil in a large saucepan and add most of the spring onions (setting aside
a tablespoon to garnish). Add the garlic, ginger, chilli and lemongrass and stir
for a minute or two, until you are engulfed in fabulous smells. You will be wheezing if you have been generous with the chilli!

Add the lentils, pumpkin or squash and the stock, and simmer until the lentils are soft and the pumpkin flesh has collapsed.

Stir in the coconut milk, tamarind and most of the coriander. Now taste and balance the soup with fish sauce or soy sauce, lime juice and sugar.

Serve hot, sprinkled with the remaining spring onions and coriander.

You could also:

... thin the soup with a little extra stock or water and add some sugarsnap peas for the last 2 minutes of cooking

... stir-fry some raw prawns with a little chilli and garlic and serve on top of the soup.

What to drink: I normally go for chardonnay with pumpkin but with these spicy Thai flavours I reckon a dry or off-dry Australian or New Zealand riesling would be a much better option.

Recipe from Pulse by Jenny Chandler, published by Pavilion at £26 . Photograph © Clare Winfield.