Spring vegetable tart with mustard cream and watercress

If you're looking for an impressive vegetarian centrepiece to a spring meal this lovely light recipe from Signe Johansen's and Peter's Yard's book Smörgåsbord, is perfect though if you serve it on its own I think it would probably only feed 4-6! (Only 4 in my family!)

Signe writes: "Wonderful as a vegetarian centrepiece for a springtime smörgåsbord, or as an accompaniment to fish and meat dishes, this puff pastry tart using seasonal baby veg tastes as delicious as it looks.

serves 6-8

1 x 320g (11oz) pack ready-rolled puff pastry

4 eggs, 3 whole and 1 yolk

100g (3½oz) asparagus tips, cut into 2cm (¾ inch) batons

6 baby courgettes, halved lengthways

3 baby aubergines, quartered lengthways

3 baby leeks, sliced into rounds about 2cm (¾ inch) thick

2 tbsp olive oil

100g (3½oz) crème fraîche

150g (5½oz) soft goat’s cheese, crumbled

1 tbsp wholegrain mustard

small bunch of dill, finely chopped

2 tarragon sprigs, leaves stripped and finely chopped

2 large handfuls of watercress, to serve

for the dressing:

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 tsp wholegrain mustard

1 tsp white wine vinegar

Preheat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan (400°F), Gas Mark 6.

Unroll the pastry onto a large baking tray lined with baking parchment and lightly score a 1cm (½ inch) border all the way around. Beat the egg yolk and brush it over the border to glaze. Toss the prepared vegetables with the oil and spread out on a second tray. Place both in the oven, with the vegetables on the top shelf, for 20 minutes, until the pastry has puffed up and the veg is just tender. Press down the centre of the pastry with the back of a spoon.

In a bowl, mix the 3 eggs with the crème fraîche, goat’s cheese, mustard, the herbs and some salt and pepper. Spread over the tart base, avoiding the border. Arrange the veg on top then return to the oven for about 20 minutes until the filing has set.

Make a dressing by whisking together the oil, mustard, vinegar and a little salt and pepper. Remove the tart from the oven and cool a little before scattering over the watercress and drizzling with the dressing.

What to drink: I always associate mustart with Chablis so would probably go for that but any crisp dry unoaked white like a Gavi or even a good pinot grigio would be delicious

Smörgåsbord: Deliciously simple modern Scandinavian recipes by Peter's Yard with Signe Johansen is published by Kyle Books, £18.99, www.octopusbooks.co.uk Photography: Ali Allen

Roasted cod with a coriander crust

The cookbook I've probably cooked most from in the last couple of years is Sami Tamimi and Tara Wigley's fabulous Falastin which is all about the food of Sami's Palestinian childhood together with some more contemporary recipes of which this is one.

"The combination of fish and tahini is one we find hard to resist, but this works just as well without the tahini sauce if you’re looking for a shortcut or want to keep the focus on the lemon. Either way, this is as close to fast food as you can get. It’s a 15-minute meal to make, beginning to end. Possibly even less time to eat.

If you are using the tahini sauce, make the whole quantity below. . It keeps in the fridge for about 4 days and is lovely to have around to drizzle over all sorts of roasted vegetables, meat, fish and salads."

Playing around: Any other meaty white fish works just as well here: sea bass and halibut, for example. Salmon also works well.

Roasted cod with a coriander crust
Samak mashew bil cozbara w al limon

Serves 4

60ml olive oil

4 garlic cloves, crushed

50g coriander, finely chopped

2 1/2 tsp fish spice mix (see below)

1/2 tsp chilli flakes

4 large cod loin (or another sustainably sourced white fish), skin on (about 700g)

4 large fresh bay leaves (optional)

2 lemons: cut one into 8 very thin slices, and quarter the other lengthways, into wedges, to serve

About 4 tbsp/65g tahini sauce (optional) (see below), to serve

Salt and black pepper

Preheat the oven to 250°C fan

Put 2 tablespoons of oil into a small saucepan and place on a medium-low heat. Add the crushed garlic and cook for 10 seconds, then add the coriander, fish spice mix, chilli flakes, 1/4 teaspoon of salt and a grind of black pepper.

Cook for 4–5 minutes, stirring frequently, for the garlic to really soften, then remove from the heat.

Place the cod in a parchment-lined roasting dish, skin side down, and brush with the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil. Season lightly with salt and pepper then spoon the coriander mix on top of each fillet. Spread it out so that the whole top is covered, then top each one with a bay leaf, if using, along with 2 slices of lemon. Roast for 7–8 minutes, or until the fish is cooked through.

Serve at once, with about a tablespoon of tahini sauce drizzled over, if using, and a wedge of lemon alongside.

Fish spice mix

2 tsp ground cardamom

2 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp paprika

2 tsp ground turmeric

Place all the spices in a bowl and mix well to combine. If making more than you need transfer to a sealed container where it will keep for a month

Tahini sauce

150g tahini

2 tbsp lemon juice

1 garlic clove, crushed

Salt

Mix together all the ingredients along with 120ml of water and 1/4 tsp salt. If it is too runny add a bit more tahini. If it is too thick, add a bit more lemon juice or water. You want the consistency to be like that of a smooth, runny nut butter. It will thicken up when left to sit around so just give it a stir and some more lemon juice or water every time you use it. It keeps in the fridge for 3-4 days.

What to drink: Any crisp dry white such as Picpoul de Pinet or an albarino will work

Extracted from FALASTIN: A COOKBOOK by Sami Tamimi and Tara Wigley (Ebury Press, £27) Photography by Jenny Zarins.

I paired one of Sami and Tara's other recipes - lamb koftas with tahini - in my Match of the Week slot

Scallop Ceviche

If you're looking for an impressive dish for Valentine's Day try this delicious scallop ceviche from Rick and Katie Toogood's Prawn on the Lawn: Fish and Seafood to Share. (It feeds 4 but I'm sure you can manage it between you!)

Prawn on the Lawn started in London as a seafood bar and fishmonger and now has an outpost in Padstow, Cornwall.

Rick writes: "Martin Morales, owner of the amazing Ceviche restaurants, really opened my eyes to the process of ‘cooking’ fish by using citrus. It was just before we opened the Islington branch of POTL that Katie and I at at his awesome restaurant on Frith Street, London. For us, not having any cooking facilities in the original POTL, this was the perfect way to enhance the flavours of our fresh fish and shellfish without using any heat.

‘Tiger’s milk’ is the Peruvian term for the citrus-based marinade that cures the seafood in a ceviche. In Peru, this invigorating potion is often served in a small glass alongside the ceviche and is believed to be a hangover cure as well as an aphrodisiac."

Serves 4

For the tiger’s milk:

1 stick of celery, roughly chopped

1 garlic clove

1 fresh green chilli

juice of 3 small limes

½ a thumb-sized piece of fresh ginger, peeled

9 sustainably sourced scallops, roes removed, thinly sliced into discs

seeds of 1 passion fruit

1 fresh red chilli, deseeded and finely diced

a handful of coriander (cilantro) leaves (use micro-coriander, if you can find it)

Using a food processor or blender, blitz all the ingredients for the tiger’s milk thoroughly. Pass through a sieve, to remove the pulp, and set the liquid to one side.

Lay the scallop slices out on a serving plate and pour the tiger’s milk evenly over the top, making sure each slice is covered. Drizzle the passion fruit seeds over (try to get roughly 1–2 passion fruit seeds on each scallop), sprinkle with the red chilli and garnish with the coriander leaves. Serve immediately.

What to drink: Peruvian wines are few and far between so I'd go for an aromatic Argentinian Torrontes with this dish. Rick and Katie suggest champagne or sparkling albarino.

Extract from Prawn on the Lawn: Fish and seafood to share by Katie & Rick Toogood, published by Pavilion Books. Image credit: Steven Joyce.

Smoky fish with spinach, gnocchi, cream and mustard

A super-easy, delicious, midweek supper from Gill Meller's latest book Outside which you could, as he says, cook indoors or outdoors.

"Most of the things we cook inside on the hob can be cooked outside over a hot fire. That’s the case with this recipe, anyway. I’m not barbecuing any of the ingredients as such – I’m simply setting a pan down over the hot embers and cooking in a rather conventional way – although in this instance, I’ve replaced the ceiling with the sky and the walls with a view.

What’s particularly nice about this recipe is that it all comes together in the one pan. It’s rich, creamy and autumnal, and one of the tastiest things I’ve eaten in ages."

SERVES 2

100ml (3½fl oz) double (heavy) cream

a small colander of tender spinach leaves, roughly chopped

200g (7oz) skinless smoked fish fillet, cut into bitesize chunks

200g (7oz) gnocchi

1 teaspoon wholegrain mustard

25g (1oz) mature cheddar, grated

freshly ground black pepper

a handful of flat-leaf parsley, leaves picked and chopped, to serve

Set a large, deep frying pan over a medium–hot fire. Pour in the cream along with a few tablespoons of water.

Add the spinach and fish to the simmering cream and cook for a minute or so. Add the gnocchi, mustard and cheese and give everything a gentle stir. If the sauce seems a bit thick, add a dash more water.

After a minute or so, the gnocchi will be ready, so you can take the pan off the fire. Add a good twist of black pepper, and sprinkle in the chopped parsley before serving.

Extracted from OUTSIDE by Gill Meller £30 Quadrille. Photography: Andrew Montgomery

What to drink: I'd go for a smooth dry Italian white wine like a Soave or Gavi di Gavi with this but a subtly oaked chardonnay or chenin blanc would work well too. Or a dry cider or perry