Mussels with cider butter and hispi cabbage (above)
Prep 15 min
Cook 10 min
Serves 4
150g butter, 100g cut into small cubes
1 shallot, peeled and finely sliced
2 leeks, white parts only, finely sliced
Salt and black pepper
200ml dry cider
1kg mussels, cleaned and beards removed
2 hispi cabbages, trimmed and sliced thinly
½ lemon
Heat a third of the butter in a heavy-based casserole for which you have a lid. Add the shallot and leeks, stir to coat in the hot butter and start sweating them down. Add a pinch of salt and cover the pot: the liquid and steam released by the vegetables will help them cook evenly.
After two minutes, or when the vegetables are soft and translucent, add the cider and turn up the heat. Bring to a boil, leave to bubble for 30 seconds, then add the butter cubes one by one, whisking in each one before adding the next.
Once the sauce has emulsified, add the mussels and the sliced cabbage, stir and put the lid back on. Leave for a minute, then take off the lid and stir again. Repeat regularly until all the mussels have opened (discard any that do not) – two or three minutes.
Check the sauce for salt, squeeze in the juice of half a lemon, or to taste, and serve hot.
Purple sprouting broccoli with ’nduja butter
Prep 5 min
Cook 10 min
Serves 4
150g ’nduja sausage
150g butter
1 tbsp honey
1kg purple sprouting broccoli
Salt, to taste (you shouldn’t need more than a pinch, though)
1-2 lemons, juiced
Peel and discard the skin from the ’nduja and roughly chop the butter into small cubes, then put them both in a food processor with the honey.
Whizz until blended into a smooth, hom*ogenous mix, transfer to an airtight container and set aside until needed.
Grill the broccoli on a hot griddle pan (or under the grill), until it chars – the stems should be nicely coloured on the outside but maintain a bite on the inside – then leave to cool slightly.
Put the broccoli in a bowl and add a couple of tablespoons of room-temperature ‘nduja butter (keep the rest in the fridge for another use); the heat from the broccoli should melt the butter nicely.
Keep tossing while this is happening, to create an emulsified butter dressing and to avoid the butter splitting and making the dressing greasy. Season with salt and lemon juice to taste, and serve.
Jerusalem artichoke, onion and anchovy gratin
Prep 15 min
Cook 2 hr
Serves 4
1.5kg jerusalem artichokes
1 lemon, juiced
50g butter
2 banana shallots, peeled and finely diced
1-2 onions (400g), peeled and finely diced
2 garlic cloves, peeled
1 small bunch thyme
1 bay leaf
Up to 400ml double cream
Up to 400ml whole milk
Salt
125g parmesan, grated
30g anchovy fillets, drained and diced
Peel the artichokes and put them in a bowl filled with water and the lemon
juice (this stops them oxidising and going brown). One at a time, cut the artichokes very thinly into 2mm-thick slices (use a mandoline, ideally). Return each sliced artichoke to the lemony water before starting on the next one.
Melt the butter in a saucepan, sweat the shallots and onions for five minutes, then grate in the garlic. Tie together the thyme and bay leaf with a leek skin (or with some cooking string), add to the pan, then cover and leave to cook gently for an hour, stirring every now and then so the onions don’t catch. Your patience will be rewarded with lovely sweet and soft onions.
Drain and pat dry the artichokes, then stir into the pot. Add equal quantities of cream and milk just to cover the artichoke mix, then season well with salt. Stir in three quarters of the parmesan and all the anchovies, then turn up the temperature to heat the cream, which in turn will soften the artichokes.
Heat the oven to 200C (180C fan)/390F/gas 6. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the artichoke mixture to an oven dish, laying it out nice and flat, then pour the liquid evenly on top. Scatter the rest of the parmesan on top, then bake for 45 minutes, until golden brown and bubbling. Test that the artichokes are cooked by poking in a skewer – it should go through to the bottom with no resistance. Leave to rest and settle for 10 minutes, and serve hot.
Rhubarb fool and oat biscuits
Prep 5 min
Cook 1 hr
Serves 4
300g rhubarb (forced or pink)
About 100g sugar
500ml double cream
150g goat’s cheese, a fresh, crumbly one, ideally
50g icing sugar
For the biscuits
450g butter
400g demerara sugar
300g plain flour
300g flaked oats
Wash and trim the rhubarb, cut it into 3cm lengths, then leave to drain. Weigh out the rhubarb, transfer to a bowl and add 30% of its weight in sugar. Toss and allow leave to macerate for 30 minutes.
Heat the oven to 200C (180C fan)/390F/gas 6. Tip the rhubarb into an oven dish lined with baking paper, level it out into a single layer, then bake until soft but not mushy – about 15 minutes – stirring it around in its juices every five minutes or so. Remove and leave to cool.
Keep the oven on. For the biscuits, mix the butter and sugar in a food processor until just combined – but don’t cream the butter. Add the flour and oats, mix well until it comes together into a dough, then form into a ball.
Put the ball between two sheets of baking paper and roll out into a 2-3mm-thick rectangle. Transfer to a heavy steel tray lined with greaseproof paper and bake for 15 minutes, until golden brown (if you struggle to get an even cook in your oven, turn the tray regularly during baking), then remove and leave to cool. Once the biscuit has cooled, break it up into pieces.
Now for the fool. Pour 100ml cream into a bowl, crumble in the cheese, then mix and squash it in with a spoon until well incorporated. Once the mix is smooth, add the remaining cream and the icing sugar, and whisk to firm peaks.
For each serving, fold a couple of spoons of the cream with a couple of spoons of the rhubarb and its juices. Do this at the last minute, and do not refrigerate afterwards, or the fool may set. Serve with some oat biscuit shards.
James Lowe is chef/co-owner of Lyle’s and Flor, both in London.
