Salmon burgers with goats cheese and sundried tomatoes

Burgers don't have to be beefy as these delicious salmon burgers from my book An Appetite for Ale prove, inspired by browsing the aisles of the Wholefoods market in Denver during the Great American Beer Festival a few years back!

Serves 3-6, depending how hungry you are

450g skinless filleted salmon, cut into chunks
80g young, unrinded goats cheese
4 spring onions, trimmed and finely chopped
80g Sunblush* or other roasted dried tomatoes in oil, finely chopped
A handful of fresh basil leaves
40g natural dried breadcrumbs
Salt, freshly ground black pepper and a pinch of paprika
Oil for frying or coating the burgers

Chop the salmon finely or pulse 4 or 5 times in a food processor. Break up the goats cheese with a fork and add it to the salmon along with the chopped spring onions and Sunblush tomatoes. Mix well or pulse again (keeping some texture - you don’t want to reduce the mixture to a paste)

Finely chop the basil and add along with the breadcrumbs. Season with salt, pepper and a pinch of paprika, mix again and set the mixture aside for half an hour for the breadcrumbs to soften and absorb the moisture.

Divide and pat out into six burgers. Fry in a little oil or rub both sides with oil and barbecue over an indirect heat for about 6-7 minutes turning once or twice during the cooking process. Or grill or fry them - that's fine too. I quite like them on their own with salad and a salsa but you could put them in a bap or bun with lime-flavoured mayo, sliced cucumber and shredded lettuce.

What to drink: A Blonde or golden ale or lager pairs well with these burgers or you could drink a Chardonnay.

Photograph © Vanessa Courtier

Hiyajiru (chilled miso soup) with cucumber ice cubes

The perfect hot weather dish from chef Tim Anderson's Nanban - even if you only make the cucumber ice cubes

Tim writes: One of my all-time favorite dishes on a hot day. Some may find the idea of a cold miso and fish soup strange, but keep in mind all the cold miso and fish dishes found throughout Japan – this just takes those flavours and translates them into a refreshing liquid format. Usually this is served with a side of hot rice so diners can enjoy the contrasting temperatures. I use room temperature rice so everything stays nice and cold, but do whatever you prefer.

In Miyazaki this is dished up with a few ice cubes in it to keep it cold. I don’t really like this because as they melt, all they do is dilute the soup. To add flavour where it would otherwise be lost, I use cucumber-chilli ice cubes, which make the dish both lighter and more exciting as you get to the bottom of the bowl. This will make more ice cubes than you need, but they are fantastic in a Bloody Mary, or G&T.

Hiyajiru
冷や汁
Chilled miso soup

Yield: 4-6 servings

For the miso soup:

2 mackerel fillets or 4 sardine fillets (about 150g total), skinned and boned
30g miso
15g toasted sesame seeds
40ml rice vinegar
40ml mirin
300ml dashi
340g firm silken tofu, pressed to extract moisture
300g rice
1/2 cucumber
20g beni shoga (red ginger), minced
4 leaves shiso or 8 leaves basil, cut into a chiffonade
salt
sesame oil

For the cucumber-chilli ice cubes

1/2 cucumber
juice of 1/2 lime
2 Thai green chillies
30ml rice vinegar
50ml water
pinch of salt

To make the ice cubes, simply puree all the ingredients in a blender. Pass the purée through a fine sieve and transfer to an ice cube tray. Freeze until set.

For the miso soup: Season the fish with a little salt and grill until done – it should actually be a little overcooked so it’s quite dry. Purée this in a blender along with the miso, sesame seeds, vinegar, mirin, dashi, and 100g of the tofu until completely smooth. Pass through a fine sieve and refrigerate for at least an hour to get it really nice and cold. (The mixture will separate as it chills. Not to worry – store it in a jar and give it a good shake to bring it back together before serving).

To serve: Cook the rice. Cut the remaining half of cucumber lengthwise, then shave it thinly – use a mandolin, if you have one. Salt the cucumber slices liberally and leave them to sit for 10 minutes, then squeeze out the liquid and give them a quick rinse under cold water. Cut the remaining tofu into small cubes.

Place a mound of tofu and cucumber slices in each bowl. Add a small spoonful of beni shoga on top, and then a pile of shiso chiffonade. Pour in the soup, stopping just before it reaches the top of the tofu and cucumbers. Add a few drops of sesame oil and the ice cubes. Serve rice on the side.

What to drink: Like many soups I'm not sure this needs any liquid accompaniment but a glass of chilled sake would work or a very dry white such as a muscadet.

© Nanban: Japanese Soul Food by Tim Anderson (Square Peg), photography by Paul Winch-Furness.

Monkfish, chorizo, saffron and chickpea stew

One of the things I’ve been trying to do in the current crisis is to support local producers and importers who are obviously affected by the closing down of restaurants and pubs.

So I ordered a box of goodies from Bristol-based Mevalco which imports gorgeous produce from Spain it’s up to now being supplying to Spanish restaurants and tapas bars.

One of the ingredients was a kilo of monkfish and this is what I built around it using two other ingredients in the box - cooking chorizo and tomate frito - a really natural tasting jar of tomato purée.

It basically makes enough for 8 which you can either eat at home if you’ve family staying with you, stash away in the freezer or share with neighbours, which is what I’m increasingly doing - particularly those that work for the NHS.

Don’t feel bound to follow the recipe religiously - it’s always possible to vary a recipe depending on what you’ve got.

Serves 8

250g cooking chorizo (or you could use cubed pancetta or bacon and add pimenton to the stew)

4 tbsp olive oil

1 kg monkfish (or cod though it will break up more) cut into generously sized pieces

150ml glass of dry white wine

A good pinch of saffron

1 large or 2 medium onions

2 large cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped or crushed

Half a large jar of tomato frito or passata or a tin and a half of chopped tomatoes

1 jar or 2 tins of cooked chickpeas or an equivalent amount of freshly cooked chickpeas

A dash of nam pla (Thai fish sauce) if you have some

Chopped parsley or coriander (see method)

Salt and pepper

Cut the chorizo into chunks unless it’s already cubed. Heat two tablespoons of oil in a large casserole and fry the chorizo until it starts to brown. Remove from the casserole with a slotted spoon and set aside. Brown the monkfish pieces in batches in the fat that remains in the pan, removing them as they cook. Deglaze the pan with the white wine, working off any stuck on bits of fish or chorizo. Pour into a bowl, add the saffron and leave to infuse. Heat the remaining oil in the pan and cook the onion over a low heat until soft. Add the chopped or crushed garlic and cook for another minute then tip in the tomato frito or passata and simmer for a couple of minutes*. (If you use whole or chopped tomatoes break them up a bit). Add back the chorizo, monkfish, saffron infusion and the drained, rinsed chickpeas and bring back up to simmering point. Season with salt, pepper and a dash of nam pla which accentuates the fishiness of any fish dish then cook gently until the monkfish is tender (about half an hour. If you’re using cod only about 10 minutes). If you’re serving it straight away check the seasoning then stir in a good handful of chopped parsley or coriander, otherwise portion up and freeze and add the parsley at the last minute.

* I also added half a glass of water so as not to make it too intensely tomatoey

What to drink: Well there’s dry white wine in it so makes sense to drink a similar wine with it. Albarino, picpoul, muscadet, most dry Italian whites. A dry rosé would work too or even an inexpensive basic rioja

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.