Lamb and porcini kebabs with sage and parmesan

Maybe I've got a bit overexcited with all the sun this week but the barbecue season doesn't seem that far away so it was good to find Dan Vaux-Nobes' 101 BBQ and Grill recipes arriving through my letterbox.

Dan (who's a friend so maybe I'm just a teeny bit biased) has selected some great recipes and given each a practical and quite often hilarious introduction, typical of his blog Essex Eating. The intro below is comparatively restrained but he picked the recipe because it was one of his favourites from the book and could also be cooked on a ridged grill which is useful since it could well be snowing next week. You never know at this time of year.

This is what he says: (good tip about the porcini!)

"Beautiful Italian flavours of sage, porchini mushroom and parmesan are used here to compliment chunks of chargrilled lamb. The recipe calls for fresh porcini which unless you live in rural Italy isn't the easiest (or cheapest) thing to obtain so use the dried and reconstituted in water variety - just make sure you get a pack with dried pieces and not a bag of dried dust. Good luck with threading that on a skewer! Otherwise use chestnut mushrooms. Lovely stuff!"

serves 4

1 lb. (500g) tender lamb, from the leg or shoulder, cut into bite-sized chunks

2 tablespoons olive oil

freshly squeezed juice of 1–2 lemons

leaves from a bunch of fresh sage, finely chopped (reserve a few whole leaves)

2 garlic cloves, crushed

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

4–8 fresh medium-sized porcini/ceps cut into quarters or thickly sliced

To serve

truffle oil, to drizzle

Parmesan cheese shavings

grilled or toasted sourdough bread

* Put the lamb pieces in a bowl and toss in the oil and lemon juice. Add the sage and garlic and season with salt and pepper. Cover, refrigerate, and leave to marinate for about 2 hours.

* Thread the lamb onto skewers adding a quarter, or slice, of porcini every so often with a sage leaf. Brush with any of the marinade left in the bowl. Prepare a charcoal grill. Cook the kebabs for 3–4 minutes on each side.

* Serve immediately with a drizzle of truffle oil, Parmesan shavings, and toasted sourdough bread, if liked.

What to drink: Frankly any medium-bodied red would be pretty good with this but given the influence is Italian I'd probably go for a Chianti or other Tuscan red. That said, a pinot noir would be great too, especially with the truffle oil.

101 BBQ and Grill Recipes compiled by Dan Vaux-Nobes (CICO Books, £12.99)

Photos © Richard Jung

Rosemary and chilli panisse

I was thrilled to find this recipe in chef Claire Thomson's brilliant new book The Five o'clock Apron. It's an irresistible snack I always order in her restaurant Flinty Red.

The book records the suppers she makes for her three young children (hence the 5 o'clock reference) but it's the kind of food that any of us would fancy eating.

Panisse is a traditional Italian (and Provençal FB) street food. Crunchy, gnarled and gnobbled, these bite-size pieces of fried chickpea batter are a moreish snack. The unfried panisse will keep well in the fridge for a couple of days, but it might release a bit of water, so change the container every day, and fry when needed.

Makes enough for a couple of bowlfuls

- 150g chickpea (gram) flour

- 500ml water

- salt and freshly ground black pepper (optional)

- 1 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary leaves

- chilli flakes, to taste (about ½ tsp does the trick)

- sunflower or vegetable oil, for frying

1. Sift the chickpea flour into a pan and whisk in the cold water gradually to avoid lumps. Add ½ teaspoon of salt, the chopped rosemary and chilli flakes to taste.

2. Place over a moderately high heat, mixing continuously with a whisk until the mixture thickens and starts to bubble. Once it does, switch to a wooden spoon, turn the heat to low and cook, stirring continuously, for another 10 minutes.

3. Spread the mixture on a 28 x 20cm baking tray to a depth of about 1–2 cm, roughing up the surface as you go – this will give the broken pieces of panisse a good rubbly texture when fried. Leave to stand for 1 hour.

4. When ready to fry the panisse, roughly break it into thumbsize nuggets.

5. Heat some oil in a large, deep pan (the oil should be at least 5cm deep) over a moderately high heat until approximately 180°C. If you don't have a thermometer, drop a cube of bread into the hot oil and it should fry golden brown in 60 seconds. Fry the panisse in small batches until golden all over – about 1–1½ minutes.

6. Drain on kitchen paper. Sprinkle with extra salt as you wish, extra chilli flakes and/or black pepper.

What to drink: this is designed to accompany an aperitif so would suit almost any crisp white wine or rosé, dry sparkling wine or a glass of chilled manzanilla

The Five O’ Clock Apron by Claire Thomson is published by Ebury Press, £20. Photography by Mike Lusmore. You can find more of Claire's recipes in the Guardian.

Lemon and yuzu meringue tart

A show-stopping lemon meringue pie with a fashionable twist from Will Torrent's Patisserie at Home - a great book if you aspire to cook like a pastry chef (but don't be daunted. The instructions are particularly clear.)

Will writes: I wanted to update the classic tarte au citron with an unusual flavour and an old-fashioned technique. Yuzu is a Japanese citrus fruit, like a hybrid of lemon and lime with a hint of mandarin. I like to top my lemon tart with meringue, piped high and flambéed at the dinner table with a blowtorch!

1 x quantity Pâte Sablée (see below)

25 g white chocolate

Lemon and yuzu curd

2 tablespoons yuzu juice (available online or in good Japanese supermarkets)

juice and grated zest of 2 lemons

3 egg yolks

100 g raw cane sugar

2 tablespoons butter, chilled and diced

Meringue topping

100 g sugar

2 tablespoons water

3 egg whites

You will also need:

a 20-cm fluted tart pan, greased and lightly dusted with flour

baking beans

sugar thermometer

piping bag fitted with a plain nozzle

kitchen blowtorch (optional)

Serves 6–8

Preheat the oven to 180ËšC (350ËšF) Gas 4.

Take the Pâte Sablée out of the fridge and put on a lightly floured surface. Using a rolling pin, roll it out to a rough circle at about 25 cm in diameter.

Loosely wrap the dough around the rolling pin and transfer it to the prepared tart pan. Unravel the dough into the pan. Gently coax the dough neatly into the curves and angles of the pan, press lightly into the sides and cut off any excess with a small, sharp knife.

Lay a sheet of greaseproof paper over the pan and fill it with baking beans. Put the pan on a baking sheet and bake in the preheated oven for about 10–15 minutes.

Lower the oven temperature to 160ËšC (325ËšF) Gas 3. Remove the paper and beans from the tart pan and return the tart case to the oven for 5–10 minutes. Remove the tart case from the oven and allow to cool completely, then remove from the pan.

Meanwhile, melt the chocolate on low power in a microwave or in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water (not letting the base of the bowl touch the water). Brush the melted chocolate inside the cooled tart case.

For the lemon and yuzu curd

Put the yuzu juice, juice of 1 lemon and all the lemon zest in a saucepan and bring to the boil over low heat.

Put the egg yolks and sugar in a mixing bowl and whisk with a balloon whisk until it looks like the sugar has dissolved. Very slowly pour the boiled citrus juice into the mixing bowl, whisking constantly. Pour the mixture back into the pan, set over medium heat and stir. It will start to thicken and resemble thick, glossy curd.

Now remove it from the heat and whisk in the butter, one piece at a time. Mix until all the butter has melted. Finally, pour the curd into the tart case and allow to cool completely.

For the meringue

Put the sugar and water in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Simmer over low heat until the syrup reaches 121ËšC (250ËšF) on a sugar thermometer.

Meanwhile, put the egg whites and remaining lemon juice in a stand mixer and begin whisking until stiff peaks form. Once the syrup has reached the right temperature, slowly pour it in a steady stream into the meringue bowl with the beaters still running. Avoid letting the syrup touch the beaters. Keep whisking until you have used up all the syrup and the meringue is glossy, thick and has cooled substantially – this may take several minutes of whisking. The bowl itself must have cooled too.

Fill the piping bag with meringue and pipe bulbs of different sizes onto the curd in the tart case (see picture - love this effect FB)

To serve, blast the meringue with a kitchen blowtorch or under a very hot grill.

Pâte sable

This is one of my favourite types of pastry. It’s a rich, sweet shortcrust but made with icing sugar to achieve a really lovely crisp, crumbly texture (‘sablée’ means sandy) that works perfectly with rich cream and fresh fruit. It’s so versatile that you can use it for tarts and biscuits but also as the base for gâteaux.

200 g butter, softened

100 g icing sugar

a pinch of salt

1 vanilla bean

finely grated zest of 1 lemon

2 eggs, lightly beaten

250 g plain flour

Makes enough to line a 20-cm tart pan

Beat the butter, sugar and salt together in a stand mixer or in a bowl with an electric whisk until pale – about 5 minutes.

Split the vanilla bean lengthwise using a small, sharp knife and scrape the seeds out into the creamed butter mixture. Add the lemon zest and beat again to incorporate.

With the whisk running, gradually add the eggs, mixing until fully incorporated.

Gently mix in the flour but do not over-work the dough otherwise the gluten will develop and you will end up with pastry that is tough rather than crisp and light.

Bring the dough together into a ball with your hands, wrap in clingfilm and refrigerate until needed – at least 2 hours, but overnight if possible.

What to drink:

Lemon is quite a tricky ingredient to pair with wine - it needs something with a similar acidity. I'd go for a beerenauslese Riesling myself or a late harvest Sauvignon Blanc. Alternatively you could go for something a little lighter like a well-chilled Moscato d'Asti.

Recipe from Patisserie at Home by Will Torrent, photography Jonathan Gregson published by Ryland Peters & Small £19.99.

Maria Elia's carrot keftedes

If you're giving up meat for Lent try these delicious carrot keftedes from Maria Elia's excellent book Smashing Plates, one of the cookbooks that impressed me most last year.

Maria writes: Normally keftedes are made with minced meat (they're basically meatballs). These vegetarian alternatives are packed with flavour. Pre-roasting the carrots brings out their natural sweetness which is balanced by the salt-sour feta and Kefalotyri. Mint and parsley add freshness with a hint of cinnamon for spice. Serve with pomegranate skordalia and carrot tabbouleh. These keftedes are just as delicious served cold.

Serves 4 (makes 16)

350g carrots

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 small onion, grated

150g feta, crumbled

50g fresh breadcrumbs

1 teaspoon cinnamon

2 teaspoons dried mint

50g Parmesan, grated

10g flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped

1 free-range egg, beaten

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

plain flour, to dust

olive or vegetable oil, for shallow frying

Preheat the oven to 200°C/Gas 6.

Peel and top and tail the carrots and leave whole. Drizzle with the olive oil and place in a roasting tin and cook for 30–40 minutes (depending on the size of carrots) until al dente, turning them halfway through. Leave to cool.

Grate the carrots into a bowl and mix with the rest of the ingredients, except the flour and oil. Season with sea salt and freshly ground pepper and refrigerate for an hour. (The mixture can be made the day before and refrigerated until required).

Shape into 16 walnut-size balls and dust in flour. You can either shallow fry them in olive oil or deep-fry them in vegetable oil. If using olive oil, heat in a frying pan over a medium heat, add half the keftedes and fry until golden on either side – about 3 minutes.

Repeat with the remaining balls. If using vegetable oil, deep-fry the keftedes for about 3 minutes at 180°C/350ºF until golden. Drain on kitchen paper and serve warm.

What to drink: I'd go for a crisp white wine with this. Greek assyrtiko would be perfect or a citrussy Sauvignon Blanc.

From Smashing Plates by Maria Elia, published by Kyle Books at £15.99.