Chicken, cider and Cheddar crumble

There's been a decided nip in the air these last few evenings so I don't think it's too soon to make this comforting savoury crumble from James Rich's new book, Apple.

James writes: "This makes for a warming, wholesome supper and can be made ahead of time and chilled until needed. Just leave the final baking until about half an hour before you want to serve."

Serves 6

Prep 20 mins

Cook 40 mins

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 large onion, chopped

2 celery stalks, chopped

2 carrots, chopped

2 garlic cloves, crushed

100 g (3½ oz) mushrooms, sliced

350 g (12 oz) skinless boneless chicken thighs, cut into chunks

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 cooking apple, such as a Bramley, peeled and cored

1 tablespoon wholegrain mustard

200 ml (7 fl oz/scant 1 cup) dry cider

100 g (3½ oz/scant ½ cup) crème fraîche

salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the crumble

250 g (9 oz/2 cups) plain (all-purpose) flour

1 teaspoon mustard powder

salt and freshly ground black pepper

150 g (5 oz) butter, at room temperature, diced (though I'd use chilled butter FB)

150 g (5 oz) mature Cheddar, grated (shredded)

30 g (1 oz/¼ cup) hazelnuts, chopped

Preheat a fan oven to 200°C (400°F/gas 6).

Heat the oil in a large frying pan (skillet) over a medium heat and fry the onion, celery and carrots for 5 minutes until they begin to soften. Add the garlic and mushrooms and fry for a further 3 minutes.

Add the chicken and oregano to the pan and continue frying for another 10 minutes until the chicken begins to brown.

Cut the apple into 8 wedges, add to the pan and fry for a further 2 minutes.

Next, add the mustard and stir in well. Then pour in the cider and increase the heat. Cook on a high heat for 3–5 minutes until the alcohol has burnt off and liquid has reduced by about a quarter. Turn off the heat, stir in the crème fraîche and season to taste with salt and pepper. Then transfer to a large baking dish.

To make the crumble topping, put the flour, mustard powder and some salt and pepper in a bowl and mix together. Add the butter, then rub between your fingers and thumbs (or pulse in a food processor FB) until you have a breadcrumb-like mixture. Stir in the cheese and hazelnuts and mix well.

Top the apple, chicken and cider with the crumble and bake in the oven for 25 minutes or until the crumble is golden brown and crunchy. Serve with your favourite vegetables.

What to drink: Well, it really has to be cider in my view but you could go for a rich chenin blanc or a chardonnay.

Extracted from Apple: Recipes from the Orchard by James Rich, published by Hardie Grant at £20. Photograph © Jacqui Melville.

Seftali

We tend to think of barbecue as American but of course many cuisines involve dishes that are cooked over coals such as these delicious kebabs from Selin Kiazim's fabulous book Oklava.

Selin writes: "Åžeftali was probably one of the first things I planned to put on the menu at Oklava, first because it’s a Cypriot kebab, and second because it’s my favourite! You must eat it with an onion salad, lavash or Turkish bread to absorb the juices and lots of lemon. I have given specific measurements for the onion and parsley because for me it is very important to have the correct quantities, and every bunch of parsley or onion weighs a different amount."

MAKES 18

900g (2lb) minced beef

450g (1lb) onion, finely chopped

300g (10½oz) flat leaf parsley, finely chopped (a little stalk is good)

15g (½oz) fine salt

40g (1½oz) Turkish chilli flakes (pul biber)

200g (7oz) lamb suet, frozen and finely grated* (If you haven't got lamb suet I'd replay half the beef mince with lamb mince FB)

2–3kg (4lb 8oz–61b 8oz) lamb caul fat, soaked in cold water with the juice of 1 lemon for 1 hour* (obviously not the easiest thing to get hold of and you definitely don't need this amount. 500g should do it I'd have thought. Sausage casings might also work or just make them without FB)

Mix together the beef, onion, parsley, salt, chilli flakes and lamb suet. Knead for 5–10 minutes, or until well combined.

Divide the mixture into 85g (3oz) pieces and shape each one into a sausage about 7cm (2¾in) long.

To wrap the ÅŸeftali, stretch a large piece of caul fat over a chopping board. Place a sausage on one corner of the board and cut the caul fat around it, leaving a 1.5cm (¾in) margin on 3 sides and leaving it at least 10cm (4in) long on the fourth side,

Roll the caul fat around the sausage 1.5 times, tucking in the margins as you go. Repeat with the rest of the sausages.

Thread the sausages onto 2 large skewers, weaving them in and out to prevent them unravelling. Alternatively, if you have a metal grill for sandwiching fish on thebarbecue, you can line them up in that.

Cook over medium-hot coals, seasoning with a little fine salt during cooking, andturning them regularly.

What to drink: I'd suggest a bright fruity red with this such as Kalecik Karasi from Turkey or a mencia from Bierzo.

Image credit: Chris Terry

Book credit: Oklava by Selin Kiazim is published by Mitchell Beazley, £25 (www.octopusbooks.co.uk)

Kimchi fried rice

If you're a bit of a kimchi addict you'll love this recipe for kimchi fried rice which comes from chef Judy Joo's book Korean Food Made Simple. I think would be brilliant for a weekend brunch.

KIMCHI FRIED RICE

KIMCHI BOKKEUM BAP

SERVES 4

Judy writes: My sister used to make this for me when we lived together in New York, and I loved it! Fried rice is the perfect way to use up leftovers, so feel free to improvise. Any kind of veggies or meat you have in the fridge – just toss them in. This is a great lunch or side dish. A variation, called omurice, is to make omelettes with the eggs and wrap them around the fried rice like a burrito. At Jinjuu, we like to fancy up our kimchi fried rice with a garnish of julienned roasted seaweed (kim) and lotus root chips.

2 tbsp vegetable oil

2 slices thick-cut bacon, diced

2 carrots, diced

1 clove garlic, grated or finely chopped

9 button mushrooms, destemmed and diced

1⁄2 courgette, diced

3 spring onions, thinly sliced on an angle

225 g (8 oz) drained Cabbage Kimchi (there's a great recipe in the book but you can obviously use ready prepared kimchi), chopped

700 g (11⁄2 lb) steamed short or medium grain Korean rice, at room temperature

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

4 soft sunny-side-up fried eggs

In a large pan heat the oil over a medium- high heat. Add the bacon and cook, stirring occasionally, until crispy, about 2 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the bacon to a kitchen paper-lined plate to drain.

Reduce the heat to medium, add the carrots and garlic and cook for 2–3 minutes, stirring constant- ly, until the carrots are just softened. Add the mushrooms, courgette, two-thirds of the spring onions and the kimchi and cook for 4–5 minutes until the vegetables are tender. Add the rice and drained bacon, breaking up the rice with a wooden spoon and combining it with the other ingredients. Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the rice is hot. Season and spoon the fried rice into four bowls and top each with a fried egg and the remaining spring onions.

TIP: Kimchi can stain your chopping board and the smell has a habit of lingering, too. To avoid this, put the kimchi in a bowl and use kitchen shears to cut it into smaller pieces.

What to drink: When I tried this dish in Judy's restaurant JinJuu (with which she is no longer associated) we drank cocktails (Jumi - Earl Grey infused soju with yujacha (citron tea) and HIte Korean lager with the meal which worked really well. Maybe just the yujacha (for which you can find a recipe here) if you have it for brunch!

From Korean Food made Simple by Judy Joo, published by Jacqui Small

Watermelon, halloumi, lime-pickled red onions

There have been a lot of great veggie cookbooks this summer but one of the most useful is Genevieve Taylor's Charred which finally empowers vegetarians to enjoy barbecues as much as meat eaters. That said this isn't the recipe in the book that makes the most extensive use of the grill but it's such a sublime combination of ingredients it's really summer on a plate.

Gen writes: OK, I’ll admit that no actual vegetables were grilled in the making of this salad but I hope you agree it is worthy of inclusion. And, after all, grilled halloumi with almost anything is very much worth eating. You cangrill watermelon (useful to know if your melon is a little underripe), but I do prefer its texture when eaten raw.

Serves 6–8

1 small red onion, very thinly sliced

zest and juice of 2 limes

2 tsp caster sugar

1kg (2lb 3oz) watermelon, about ½ medium-sized one

4 tbsp olive oil

3 x 250g (9oz) blocks of halloumi, cut into 1cm (½ inch) thick slices

a small bunch of coriander (cilantro), leaves roughly chopped

a small bunch of mint, leaves roughly chopped

50g (½ cup) pistachios, toasted and roughly chopped

Put the onion into a small bowl with the lime zest and juice and the sugar, stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Set aside for about 30 minutes while you prepare the rest of the salad.

Cut the watermelon into 1cm (½ inch) thick wedges, trimming off the rind as you go. Spread over a large platter.

Fire up your barbecue ready for direct grilling, or heat up a griddle pan on the hob.

Drizzle a little of the oil over the halloumi (save the rest for the salad), then place directly over the heat on the grill bars. Cook for 2–3 minutes, until seared, then turn over with a fish slice and cook the other side. Once the halloumi is cooked, cut each slice in half on the diagonal and scatter over the watermelon.

Sprinkle over the coriander, mint and pickled onion slices, drizzling over the lime juice from the bowl too. Scatter thechopped pistachios over the salad Finish with a generous drizzle of olive oil and a grind of salt and pepper and serve immediately,while the halloumi is still warm.

What to drink: Any crisp fresh white would be great with this from an albarino to a sauvignon blanc.

Extracted from Charred by Genevieve Taylor, published by Quadrille at £16.99. Photograph © Jason Ingram.