Clams, potatoes and green sauce

Simplicity is beauty. I've had more pleasure from a ripe and juicy nectarine than I have from a complicated fondant.According to William Morris, things should either be useful or beautiful, and if you mix that with the idea that less is more and apply it to food, you should be OK. It's something the Italians know well with their cooking; start with good ingredients and you're pretty much all the way there. And, the Spanish as well, which is where the idea for this dish came from.Today's recipe is elegant and parsimonious in its ingredients, it uses clams which are at their best at this time of year from the cold waters around the UK. It's much more than the sum of its parts. I've used Cornish ones but this dish would be equally delicious with what the Scottish call 'spoots'. I'd call it Occam's razor clams.Ingredients12 baby potatoes, halved1 small white onionA bunch of parsley200ml garlic oil (made by grating four cloves of garlic into 500ml olive oil and heating until golden. Leave to cool then strain and keep in the fridge for up to a week)1tbsp flourA bag of clamsSherry vinegar to tasteWater for the sauceSalt and pepper to seasonMethodSoak the clams in cold water for about 20 minutes in a few changes of water then give them all a good slosh about until all the grit and sand has been cleaned away.Make the green sauce by blitzing together the parsley, a good load of garlic oil and a generous splash of sherry vinegar. Season well, taste and perhaps season a little more, not forgetting that vinegar is a seasoning and brings out flavours too, so adjust as you like. You may want it sharper, saltier or sweeter with more oil.Cook the potatoes in salted, boiling water until tender. About ten minutes. Drain them and run them under cold water to stop them cooking any more.Heat the garlic oil in a large, heavy saucepan, something like a le Creuset casserole.Finely chop the onion and gently sauté in the oil, well seasoned with salt, until soft and just starting to think about turning golden.Add the potatoes and cook them for a few minutes until they start to catch here and there and colour a little.Stir in the flour and add a splash of sherry vinegar then stir in a good splash of water until you have a thick sauce the consistency of double cream.Add the clams and cook with the lid on for about five minutes, until they've all opened. Or at least until all the ones that are going to open, open. Throw the others away.Add the green sauce to the pan, stir well, warm through and serve with some more chopped parsley and a little bread to mop up the incredible juices. 

Hasselback Jersey Royals with Gribiche Sauce

When I think of Jersey, instead of potatoes and cream, I think of Bergerac and John Nettles. And Hasselback obviously sounds like Hasselhoff, so this recipe should be extraordinarily good at fighting crime.A good Maris Piper potato salad, dressed lightly with mayonnaise and chives, or new potatoes gently robed with a zingy vinaigrette always sit well on the summer table. Warm Anyas, butter melting and pooling around and tossed through with parsley, salt and pepper as well is a perfect side-dish with a barbecued and charred rib-eye steak or some grilled sea bass with a herby oil.This potato salad has the crisp salty crunch of delicious jacket potaoes. The ridges absorb all the flavours and juices. Let it sit a while before dressing so it cools down.The gribiche sauce is a classic normally served with veal's head. It's a kind of cross between egg mayo and tartar sauce. While that may not sound instantly appealing to some, it really is delicious and gives this dish a little twist.So the only crime worth fighting here is probably going to be the British summer. Oh well, maybe I'll have a Magnum anyway.Ingredients500g Jersey RoyalsOlive oilSalt to seasonFor the gribiche:2 egg yolksSalt to season2 cooled hard-boiled eggs (about eight minutes)5 cornichons1tbsp capers1 small shallot2tsp Dijon mustard1 small red chilli (optional)Olive oilRapeseed oilSome parsleyMethodHeat the oven to 180c.Score the tops of the potatoes all the way across the top a millimetre apart slicing down just a little so they look stripy.Put them on an oven tray and roll them about in olive oil and salt then roast for 45 minutes.While the potatoes are cooking, make the gribiche.Whisk the egg yolks, mustard, hard boiled egg yolks (keeping the cooked whites aside) and some salt together in a bowl then gently drizzle in the olive oil, drip by drip at first, whisking all the while until it starts to form a thick emulsion. If you have a mini food processor, by all means use it for this stage.Now switch to the rapeseed oil and continue until you have a nice pot of mayonnaise. Thin it down with a little water or lemon juice if you like.Finely chop the parsley, shallots, cornichons and chilli then lightly run your knife through the capers and dice the cooked egg whites.Add all of this to the mayonnaise then mix well. Taste and season more if you like.Let the potatoes cool just a little then stir through the sauce and serve.

You've Pulled

There'd probably be a punch up about who first baked bread and covered it with toppings. Probably, as with everything it was invented in ancient Egypt. Or China. Or Greece. I bet it wasn't Italy and certainly not Hawaii. It doesn't really matter though, it's a great idea. A hoi sin and duck covered pizza, as I once saw advertised, is not. What kind of psychopath comes up with these things?It's hard to beat the crisp crust and soft dough of a traditional Italian pizza and it's near impossible to recreate at home. Flatbreads, however, are much simpler and delicious in their own right. They take hardly any time to make either. And this recipe, once you've got the lamb in the oven pretty much takes care of itself. If you want, you can leave the lamb cooking overnight on a very low heat, but if like us, you have an oven that sounds quite similar to Concorde taking off, you may want to cook it during the day.Get everything prepped first thing, though, and it's just a case of assembly. There may seem to bea lot of ingredients, but there's nothing unusual here. It's all great the next day too, apart from the bread, that should be cooked as freshly as possible.IngredientsFor the lamb1/2 lamb shoulder4tbsp harissa2tbsp ground cumin1 red onion, puréed2 cloves of garlic, puréed2tbsp olive oilSalt and pepper to seasonFor the tabouleh50g buckwheat, cooked200g parsley, finely chopped3tbsp olive oilSmall bunch of chopped mintJuice and zest of a lemon6 cherry tomatoes1tbsp sumacA handful of pomegranate seedssalt and pepperFor the bread280g white bread flour20g semolina200ml water7g sachet of yeastA large pinch of saltMethodMix together the lamb coating ingredients in a large dish. Stab the lamb all over a few times just to be sure then massage in the rub. Cook in a low oven for about six to eight hours. Remove and leave to cool. You wont be able to resist picking at it. This is almost the best part, pulling the meat away, licking your fingers and secretly stuffing your face in the kitchen. When cool, you can shred it with your hands or a couple of forks. Put all the meat in a large bowl and set aside.While the lamb is cooking, make the bread and tabouleh.Mix together all the tabouleh ingredients and taste to check the seasoning and balance. Adjust as you see fit.Mixt the bread ingredients together, adding the water a little at a time as you mix it in. Knead for about five minutes, cover and leave to rise for half an hour.Divide into six balls and roll out flat into circles about 3mm thick.Heat a frying pan (I prefer cast iron for this, but don't worry too much) until really hot andcook the bread one at a time until it puffs up and turns golden in parts. You can then flip it and put it directly on the flame to finish if you have gas. Can't do that on an induction can you, eh?Wrap the breads in a towel and leave until ready.Serve the breads topped with the tabouleh and shredded lamb with a spoonful or two of tahini and natural youghurt.

Who You Calling Chicken?

 When buying a few quick supper things for the children the other day (I don't always have time to cook, you know), the ingredients on the chicken Kievs had so many things a lab technician would struggle to recognise, I resolved to make a batch of my own for the freezer.There is no wheat or gluten in this recipe for those of you who are avoiding it, and I think wholegrain rice is better for you than breadcrumbs anyway. As is the coconut flour.Make the garlic butter ahead and you can freeze it to use as you need. It's best to stuff the chicken with frozen butter anyway, your hands don't become slipperier than a politician and it melts nice and slowly when you're cooking the chicken.I often serve the Kievs with green salad and some sweet potato fries.Ingredients2 skinless free-range chicken breasts100g unsalted butter2 cloves of garlic2 tbsp chopped curly parsley, because it's more fun that flatleaf50g wholegrain puffed rice cereal, blitzed to crumbs. Kallo do a good one.Coconut flour to coat the chicken1 beaten eggSalt and pepperMethodChop the garlic finely with the parsley and mix into the butter then roll into a cylinder in some greaseproof paper, wrap in clingfilm then freeze for at least half an hour.Heat the oven to 180c.Stick a knife lengthwise through the chicken breast to the middle then stuff with a large piece of garlic butter.Season the chicken and roll it through the coconut flour until well coated.Dip the chicken breast in beaten egg then cover in the rice crumbs until fully coated.Cook in the oven on a baking tray for about 30-35 minutes until golden and cooked through.