proper ragu

This ragu is a family favourite, it’s fairly dry and concentrated and goes quite a long way. Serve with tagliatelle and parmigiano. I make large batches and freeze it, double the quantities below is the maximum that I can do at one time with my stock pot. 

In Italy, they use quite coarsely ground mince for this, so If you can, get your butcher to mince the meat with an 8mm disk or mince it yourself, it does make a difference.

Tamago Dofu

A refreshing, cold egg flan perfect for a Japanese summer menu. Similar to chawan mushi, with a higher egg to dashi ratio and firmer texture. Serves 6 as course in a meal or 10 as a small starter or as part of a kaiseki menu. Adding kabocha pumpkin creates a heartier, beautifully yellow version.

sesame noodles

This is a spin-off from the dressing for Sichuan smacked cucumbers. A base recipe to be adapted with your favourite vegetables and toppings. Sami says she could eat this every day.

Sichuan smacked cucumbers

1 long cucumber
2 cloves garlic
2 tbsp rice vinegar or black vinegar
1 tbsp tahini
2 tsp tamari soy
a pinch of sugar
chili oil

Quarter and core the cucumber. Smack and bruise with a rolling pin and cut diagonally into 1 cm pieces. Combine the rest of the ingredients and toss.

Serve with chilli oil. Tastes fantastic without it, too.

Source: Felicity Cloake / The Guardian

chikori itame

One of the most delicious ways to prepare endives is to roast them in a cast iron pan with olive oil, garlic and salt. I was looking for a way to turn this into a Japanese dish (even though endives are not commonly used in Japan) and found this. It works beautifully.

250 grs Belgian endives
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp fine katsuobushi flakes
1 tsp roasted sesame oil (Kadoya)

Cut off the base of the endives and then prepare them so that the pieces can be easily handled with chopsticks: Either separate the leaves, cut lengthwise into quarters or eights or across into thick disks. Fry with vegetable oil in a hot pan until slightly caramelised and softened. If the endives are very bitter you could add a bit of sugar at the very end. Turn off the heat, add soy sauce together with the katsuobushi so that it hydrates, turn over and add sesame oil. Serve with rice, garnish with more katsuobushi on top.

Korean noodle soup

Courtesy of Emil.

4 cups / 1 litre chicken stock/broth
2/3 cup kimchi
2 tbsp kimchi juice , from kimchi tub
3 tbsp gochujang
2 tbsp light soy sauce
2 tsp fish sauce
1 tbsp Chinese cooking wine Shaoxing wine or mirin
2 slices ginger, sliced 0.7cm thick (skin on)
1 large garlic clove, smashed

200g thin fresh egg noodles (or 100g/3.5oz dried)
4 stems choi sum or other Asian greens, cut into 7cm lengths, stems separated from leafy part
1 small carrot, peeled, cut into thin matchsticks
2 1/2 tsp sesame oil, toasted
1/4 cup finely sliced spring onion (1 stem)

Place all broth ingredients in a saucepan, simmer 10 minutes uncovered. Pick out ginger and garlic before serving.

Add stems and carrots to broth, simmer for 2 minutes. Add choi sum leaves and simmer for another minute. Stir in sesame oil just before serving.

Meanwhile, cook the noodles and rinse in a colander under the tap.

Divide noodles between bowls, top with the vegetables, pour broth over, garnish with spring onion. Quantities are for 2 big servings.

Things to try: small cubes of tofu, cooked shredded chicken etc.

Japanese mushroom broth

A delicious broth with intense mushroom flavour.

10 dried shiitake mushrooms
1 handful dried porcini mushrooms
1 piece of kombu (giant kelp, ca. 5×20 cm)
2 tablespoons dried wakame pieces
vegetable and sesame oil

1 small onion, very finely chopped
1 carrot, very finely chopped
1 stalk of celery root, very finely chopped
1 large garlic clove, crushed

1 tsp finely grated ginger and juice

a few handfuls of fresh mushrooms like shiitake, oyster, enoki, shimeji, porcini…

4 tbsp mirin
3 tbsp tamari or darks soya sauce

optionally: soba noodles, silken tofu

Fennel-roasted potato salad with feta & tomato

This recipe, a meal in itself, was from our food delivery service. Steeping the tomatoes in garlic and oil beforehand gives considerable flavour.

800g new potatoes, cut into thinnish rounds
1 fennel bulb, thinly sliced
1 pack cherry tomatoes, cut in half
1 garlic clove, minced
200g feta cheese, cut in 1cm cubes
splash of extra virgin olive oil
2 tsp red wine vinegar
100g roasted red peppers, ground into a paste like pesto with oil & seasoning
handful of pine nuts or walnuts, toasted
1 bunch fresh basil, torn
125g sour cream
100g mixed salad leaves

Toss potato and fennel in some olive oil and season. Bake spread out on trays @ 200’C fanbake for 25 minutes. Check to ensure even cooking.

Combine tomatoes, garlic, oil, vinegar in a bowl to steep. Season.

To serve mix all ingredients except the last 4 together gently with your hands in a large bowl. Scatter pine nuts and basil on top. Mix ‘pesto’ and sour cream together and serve in a small bowl with a spoon for people to help themselves.

daikon tsukemono

500 grs daikon or small red table radishes
15 grs salt (3% of the daikon)
1-2 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp Sichuan pepper
1 pod dried chili
2,5 tbsp good quality soy sauce

Cut the unpeeled daikon into 4mm thick rectangles or half the table radishes. Sprinkle with salt, mix well, weigh down and let marinated for 2-3 hours. Briefly rinse off salt, and drain well.

In a small saucepan, heat sesame oil and peppercorns on low heat to extract the flavour, take care not to burn the pepper, add chilli and soy sauce, briefly bring to a boil. Put daikon in a lidded jar, pour over the daikon, shake well to mix.

from: Tsukemono by Ikuko Hitsamatsu

walnut miso

Discovered this at the wonderful Koya in London. Fantastic with all green vegetables such as green beans, asparagus, broccoli, kale and the like.

100 grs walnuts, shelled
2 tbsp high quality white miso
2 tbsp mirin
1 tsp sugar

Slightly crush the nuts in a mortar or suribachi so that they are still quite rough, mix with miso and mirin, add just enough sugar to balance the saltiness. A high quality, mild miso that’s not too salty and leaning towards the sweet is good for this. I used Hikari white miso.

Divide into small individual bowls for each guest, serve the boiled vegetables separately. Pick up a little bit of the paste with your chopsticks and then some vegetables. Bliss.