Sesame and chilli oil noodles

Anna Jones has written so many great cookbooks you'd think she wouldn't have anything more to say but her new book, Easy Wins, which features 12 hero ingredients including the tahini in this recipe, may be her most inspiring yet. It's exactly the kind of easy, delicious food I want for a midweek meal.

Anna writes: Lucky and Joy is a Chinese-influenced restaurant local to me with brightly painted walls and food that slaps you in the face with flavour. For the last year or so I've been eating their sesame noodles most weeks. This is a quick version of cold sesame noodles I made when I was craving them but they were shut for a holiday. It uses tahini as opposed to Chinese sesame, which is not traditional in any way, but it is what I always have at home so...

SERVES 2 AS A MAIN, 4 AS A SIDE

150g medium dried egg noodles 
1 tablespoon peanut butter
2 tablespoons tahini
1 tablespoon soy sauce or tamari
1 clove of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
2-3 tablespoons chilli oil or chilli crisp
a bunch of spring onions (about 6), trimmed and finely sliced
4 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds (white, black or both)

Cook the noodles
Cook 150g medium dried egg noodles in boiling salted water for a minute less than the packet instructions, until al dente. Drain and rinse under cold water.

Make the tahini sauce
Whisk together 1 tablespoon peanut butter, 2 tablespoons tahini, 1 table spoon soy sauce and 1 finely chopped clove of garlic. Add 2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil and between 75ml and 125ml room-temperature water (depending on the thickness of the tahini) and whisk until you have a smooth, pourable sauce about the thickness of double cream.

Toss together and serve
Toss the cold noodles in the tahini sauce and scoop into bowls, then top each with 1-2 tablespoons of chilli crisp, adding a little at a time until it's the right kind of heat for you (you can always serve extra on the table). Scatter over a trimmed and finely sliced bunch of spring onions and finish each bowl with a tablespoon of toasted sesame seeds.

What to drink: Hard to beat a beer with this, most probably a lager. If you're serving it midweek you might want to make it alcohol-free. (I like Lucky Strike)

Extracted from EASY WINS: 12 flavour hits, 125 delicious recipes, 365 days of good eating by Anna Jones (Published by 4th Estate on 14th March 2024 at £28). Photography by Matt Russell.

 

 

Queen Elizabeth Cake

I remember making a cake like this way back when I started baking when it was known as Queen Mother's Cake which would obviously be consistent with it being called Queen Elizabeth cake. Anyway this version, which contains coconut comes from Rosie Sykes excellent new book Every Last Bite and sounds equally irresisitible.

Rosie writes: "This recipe comes from my great friend Lucy Goode, who is not only an excellent human being but also a tremendous baker. We became firm friends during lockdown and haven’t looked back since. We spend much time discussing food and giving each other little tubs of things to try. This cake is a great favourite of JM (Lucy’s excellent Canadian husband).

Lucy says of the cake: the most common theory is that it was created to celebrate the late Queen’s Coronation, and it is so delicious that even anti-monarchist French Canadians eat it. There’s also some disagreement over nuts: walnuts or pecans or none at all? Only on the top, or baked into the cake? Either way what all versions have in common is dates, and a coconutty caramelly top that you toast briefly under a hot grill (broiler) at the end.

It’s very versatile.

QUEEN ELIZABETH CAKE

For at least 8

For the cake

60g (1/4 cup) butter, softened, plus extra for greasing

250ml (1 cup) water

200g (1 1/2 cups) chopped dates

180g (1 1/2 cups) plain (all-purpose) flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)

pinch of salt

180g (1 cup minus 1 1/2 tbsp) soft brown sugar (you can use any, but this gives it a lovely toffee-ish flavour)

1 tsp vanilla extract or essence

1 egg

75g (3/4 cup) chopped walnuts (optional)

For the top

90g (1/2 cup) soft brown sugar

75ml (5 tbsp) double (heavy) cream

80g (generous 5 tbsp) unsalted butter

100g (1 1/3 cups) desiccated (dried shredded) coconut or 75g (1 cup) desiccated coconut and 75g (3/4 cup) chopped walnuts or pecans

To serve

cream or ice cream

You can cut the square into 8 very large slices for pudding, served warm with vanilla ice cream, cream or crème fraîche, or cut into 16 smaller squares to have with a cup of tea or coffee. It freezes very well. I made this in a 20cm (8in) square tin but you can also make it in a 20cm (8in) round springform cake tin.

Preheat the oven to 180°C fan/200°C/400°F/Gas mark 6 with a shelf in the middle. Butter and line the bottom and sides of a 20cm (8in) round or square tin.

Bring the water and dates to the boil in a saucepan, then simmer, stirring frequently, for 3 minutes. Set aside to cool slightly.

In a bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt together.

In another bowl or using a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter, sugar and vanilla together until light and fluffy. Slowly add the egg and beat until smooth.

Bake for 35–40 minutes until a cocktail stick (toothpick) inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.

While the cake is baking, combine all the ingredients for the top in a saucepan and bring slowly to the boil, then simmer for 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Bear in mind it is going to be easier to work with when warm, so start this towards the end of the cake cooking time. Once the cake comes out of the oven, leave it to stand for 5 minutes, then gently prick the top with a fork and pour over the warm nutty caramel, spreading it as evenly as you can.

Preheat the grill (broiler), then grill the cake for 3–4 minutes, depending on your grill, but watch it carefully; you want the top to be uniformly brown and bubbling, not burnt. Leave the cake until it’s cool enough to handle, then lift it carefully out of the tin and slide it onto a wire rack to cool. Store in an airtight container for up to 5 days.

PS Dates are really good for baking. Softer, semi-dried dates are more readily available now and can be good value. They keep very well and are a delicious treat – some of the medjool dates are like eating a soft toffee! If you are trying to use less refined sugar in your baking, dates are an excellent stand in. A good rule of thumb is to use about half the amount of dates you would sugar. I make the dates into a purée using a scant amount of water and use this as my substitute.

What to drink: Honestly I don't think you can beat a cup of tea or mug of coffee with this but if you are having it as a pudding you could serve an Australian liqueur muscat. 

Extracted from Every Last Bite by Rosie Sykes (Quadrille, £18.99), Photography © Patricia Niven

Roasted Italian sausages with borlotti beans and ’nduja sauce

What nicer place is there to shop than an Italian deli and in Theo Randall's inspiring book The Italian Deli Cookbook you can find out what to do with all those tempting ingredients you find there.

Here is his recipe for roasted Italian sausages with borlotti beans and nduja, a spicy Calabrian sausage. Sausages with sausage sauce - what's not to like?!

Theo writes: "Dried borlotti beans from the protected area of Lamon, in the Veneto, are the finest dried borlottis available. You don’t have to use these specifically, of course, but if you are lucky enough to come across a packet, you are in for a treat. Combined with lovely, flavoursome sausage and the spiciness of ’nduja, they are heavenly."

Serves 2

250g (9oz) dried borlotti beans, soaked overnight in plenty of cold water

2 garlic cloves, 1 whole, 1 finely sliced

1 plum tomato

2–3 sage leaves

3 tbsp olive oil

4 Italian sausages

2 celery sticks, finely chopped

1 red onion, finely chopped

2 carrots, peeled and finely chopped

100ml (3½fl oz) red wine

400g (14oz) tomato passata

75g (2½oz) skinned ’nduja

2 tbsp mascarpone

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

200g (7oz) purple-sprouting, calabrese or longstem broccoli, cooked and seasoned with olive oil and sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to serve

Drain the soaked beans and rinse under cold, running water for a couple of minutes. Place the rinsed beans in a large saucepan and pour in cold water so that the water comes 10cm (4in) above the level of the beans.

Add the whole clove of garlic, along with the plum tomato and sage leaves. Place over a high heat and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook gently for 40 minutes, skimming off the foam from time to time, until the beans are soft enough to crush to a mash with your thumb. Drain the beans, reserving the cooking water. Remove the tomato, sage and garlic and place them in a bowl. Using a hand-held stick blender and a little of the bean cooking water, blend to a smooth paste. Add the paste back to the beans and check the seasoning. Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 160°C/140°C fan/315°F/Gas Mark 2–3.

Heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in an ovenproof frying pan on a medium heat. When hot, add the sausages and cook for 5 minutes, turning frequently, until brown all over. Remove them from the pan and set aside, leaving the sausage fat and olive oil in the pan.

Add the celery, sliced garlic, onion and carrots to the pan and cook gently for 5 minutes, until the onion has softened. Add the red wine and cook for a further 2 minutes until the liquid has reduced by half. Add the passata, cook gently for a couple of minutes, then add the ’nduja and stir well.

Place the sausages on top of the passata mixture and bake in the oven for 15 minutes, until the sausages are cooked through. Remove from the oven, dollop over the mascarpone and check the seasoning.

Warm the cooked borlotti beans and stir through the remaining olive oil.

Place on the table for each person to help themselves, with some steaming hot purple sprouting broccoli served alongside.

What to drink: Theo says "make sure you have a good bottle of Chianti,or other super-Tuscan red wine to drink alongside – it’s essential." Who am I to disagree although I wold argue that barbera would work with this hearty dish too.

Extracted from The Italian Deli Cookbook by Theo Randall (Quadrille, £26) Photography: Lizzie Mayson

Chicken with Morels & Vin Jaune

This is the kind of cooking that reminds me how wonderful French food still is. It comes from Alex Jackson's lovely book Frontières which has recipes from all the regions of France that border other countries or, in the case of the south, North Africa.

Although it includes hard-to-find vin jaune it does make the dish. I suspect you could use fino sherry but it wouldn't taste the same.

If you can't face making it yourself it's often on the menu at Noble Rot, Soho where Alex is head chef.

Alex writes: "A classic dish from the Jura, where the chicken would traditionally have been the most expensive part of the meal – the morels foraged for free in spring and the vin jaune (yellow wine) an affordable local wine.

Nowadays the opposite is true, unless you happen to have a patch of morels in your garden. Vin jaune is a rather special thing; a slightly oxidized wine made from the Savagnin grape, with a flavour not unlike dry sherry – well worth tracking down if you have a pretty penny to spare.

When this is served in the Jura the chicken comes swimming in a vat of cream sauce: c’est correct, as the French say. This will feel luxurious, although it is really a very simple dish: use the best ingredients you can get your hands on and it’s sure to be a winner.

A little trick to boost the vin jaune flavour in the sauce is to splash in a little extra wine at the end, along with some butter and perhaps a squeeze of lemon.

This is traditionally, and best, served with a simple rice pilaf. At the restaurant where I work we add a few crispy curry leaves to the top of the rice – most untraditional, of course, but something that pairs nicely with your glass of vin jaune on the side."

Chicken with Morels and Vin Jaune

Serves 4

For the stock:

500g/ 1lb 2oz chicken wings

An uncooked chicken carcass

½ shallot

½ celery stick

1 bay leaf

1 sprig of thyme

A few black peppercorns

1.5kg/ 3lb 5oz chicken, jointed (you can ask a butcher to do this for you)

Oil and a knob of unsalted butter, for frying

30g/1oz/ 2 tbsp unsalted butter, plus 15g/1oz/1 tbsp (cold, cubed) to finish the sauce

1/2 shallot, finely diced

At least 20 morels – fresh when in season, or dried ones soaked in cold water until soft

A small glass of vin jaune, plus an extra splash at the end to finish the sauce

1 litre/ 1¾ pints/ 4 cups good chicken stock (preferably homemade)

150ml/ 5fl oz/ ¾ cup double cream

Lemon juice (optional)

Salt

Preheat the oven to 200°C fan/220°C/425°F/gas mark 7.

First, make the stock. Put the chicken wings and the carcass in a large roasting tin. Put in the hot oven and roast until a light golden brown. Transfer the wings and carcass to a large stockpot (leave the chicken fat in the tin) with the remaining ingredients and cover with cold water. Bring to the boil, skim well, then reduce to a simmer for 1½ hours, skimming periodically.

Strain through a sieve, then reduce the liquid by half – you want 1 litre/1¾ pints/4 cups. Set aside while you prepare the chicken.

Season the chicken pieces with salt. Heat a little oil in a large saucepan and brown the pieces on both sides, adding a knob of butter towards the end. When the pieces are golden all over, remove to a plate and pour off the excess fat in the pan.

Melt 30g/1oz/2 tablespoons of butter, then add the diced shallot and a pinch of salt. Cook slowly until the shallot is very soft.

Halve the morels if they are large but leave any small or medium ones whole. Add the mushrooms to the pan and fry gently until they have softened and absorbed some of the butter – season them lightly with salt. Add the vin jaune and simmer until reduced to a syrupy consistency.

Reintroduce the chicken pieces, skin side up, and add the chicken stock – you might not need it all – to almost cover the chicken but leave the golden skin sitting above the liquid.

Half-cover with a lid and cook for 30 minutes at a simmer. The sauce should reduce until it tastes powerful and delicious but bear in mind that the aim is to have a lot of it, so don’t reduce too far (add a little more stock if you think it needs it). Now, pour in the cream and swirl the pot. Simmer slowly for a further 15 minutes or so, until the chicken is cooked and the sauce has thickened slightly.

Remove the chicken to a serving dish that will also hold the sauce. Taste the sauce for salt and finish by whisking in a good splash of vin jaune, the cold cubed butter and maybe a little squeeze of lemon juice. Pour the sauce over the chicken and serve, with a rice pilaf on the side.

What to drink: Alex suggests drinking vin jaune with the dish which would be the perfect match but an expensive option. (Majestic has one at the time of writing for £54.99 as part of a mix six deal which is about par for the course.) If. you need more than one bottle I'd supplement it with another savagnin or savagnin/chardonnay blend from the Jura region or an aged white burgundy.

Extracted from ‘Frontières: The Food of France’s Borderlands’ by Alex Jackson (Pavilion Books). Image credit Charlotte Bland. I've suggested using an extra chicken carcass for the stock rather than the carcass from the jointed chicken Alex suggests as it doesn't look as if the chicken pieces are taken off the bone.