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  As the artichokes become tender, add the grapes and sultanas and lastly, the pistachios and parsley.

  • Small potatoes can successfully replace the artichokes. You could also use parsnips. I find it best to use parsnips that have been steamed for ten minutes before frying. They are more tender that way.

  • Should you find it easier, you can roast the artichokes instead of frying them, adding the remaining ingredients to the pan once the artichokes are golden.

  MUSHROOMS, HUMMUS, HERBS

  Creamed chickpeas. Sizzling mushrooms.

  Serves 2

  double cream 250ml

  chickpeas 1 × 400g can

  coriander leaves and stems 10g

  dill 15g

  parsley 10g

  king oyster mushrooms 400g

  olive oil 4 tablespoons

  butter 30g

  garlic 4 cloves

  Warm the cream and drained chickpeas in a medium-sized saucepan for five minutes over a moderate heat. Tip them into a blender or food processor with the coriander, dill and parsley and process to a thick cream. Transfer back to the saucepan and season.

  Slice the mushrooms into 1cm-thick pieces. Warm the olive oil and butter in a shallow pan, add the slices of mushroom and cook till golden on both sides. You may need to add a little more oil. As each mushroom browns, remove to a plate or piece of kitchen paper.

  Peel and thinly slice the garlic, cook briefly in the pan until it turns gold, then return all the mushrooms to the pan. Warm the hummus, spoon onto plates, then add the sizzling mushrooms and garlic.

  • Mushrooms, fried with butter and garlic, are just one possibility here; the soft, herb-speckled purée lends itself to sitting under deep-fried artichokes or roast parsnips, baked tomatoes or wedges of baked cabbage.

  • Such purées can be made and kept in a small bowl overnight in the fridge, their surface splashed with olive oil and tightly covered. Stored like this, their texture will thicken and they can be spread on slices of hot toast for a quick bite to eat when you arrive home, hungry.

  PARSLEY, PARMESAN, EGGS

  Warm, soft, parsley-freckled drop scones. (Picture overleaf.)

  Makes 6

  parsley leaves 15g

  self-raising flour 180g

  baking powder 1 teaspoon

  a large egg

  milk 220ml

  Parmesan, grated 5 heaped tablespoons

  butter a little

  Roughly chop the parsley leaves. Put the flour in a large mixing bowl, add the baking powder and combine. (You can sieve the two together if you wish.) Break the egg into a bowl and beat lightly with a fork to combine white and yolk, mix in the milk, then stir into the flour.

  Add the grated Parmesan and chopped parsley to the batter. Melt the butter in a small saucepan, then remove from the heat. In a medium, non-stick or well-used frying pan, pour a couple of tablespoons of the melted butter and let it warm over a moderate heat. Pour in a sixth of the batter, making a round approximately the size of a digestive biscuit. Repeat with two more, then let them cook for four or five minutes, checking the underside regularly for colour.

  When they are puffed and golden, use a palette knife to carefully turn each one over. Leave for a further three or four minutes, then lift out and keep warm. A sound test for doneness is to touch the centre of each scone with your finger. It should feel lightly springy. Continue with the remaining batter. Serve with the pumpkin hash overleaf.

  • The drop scones can be flavoured with chopped thyme or rosemary, basil or tarragon. In which case I would serve them with grilled tomatoes, lightly crushed with a fork, or chopped spinach softened with a little cream.

  PUMPKIN, ONIONS, ROSEMARY

  Sweet and sticky squash.

  Enough for 6

  pumpkin or butternut squash 700g

  onions, medium 2

  butter 30g

  olive oil 2 tablespoons

  rosemary 3 sprigs

  Peel the pumpkin and cut the flesh into cubes roughly 3 x 3cm. Peel and roughly chop the onions. Warm the butter and olive oil in a large, shallow pan, add the pumpkin and onions and let them cook, with a regular stir, for about ten minutes. Finely chop the rosemary leaves, discarding the stalks, add to the pan with a little sea salt and coarsely ground black pepper, then cover with a lid and leave to cook over a low to moderate heat for about fifteen minutes.

  Check the onion and pumpkin occasionally to make sure they aren’t browning too much. They are done when soft and easily crushed between your fingers. Serve with the drop scones on the previous page.

  • As well as a side dish for the drop scones this can be used as the stuffing for an omelette or frittata, or served as a vegetable dish piled onto steamed rice.

  • Use the recipe above with courgettes instead of pumpkin.

  RAINBOW CHARD, EGG, NOODLES

  A joyful tangle of noodles and greens.

  Serves 2

  a red chilli, medium

  a green chilli, medium

  a bunch of coriander 25g

  garlic 1 clove

  ginger a 15g piece

  rainbow chard 100g

  eggs 3

  groundnut oil 5 tablespoons

  fresh udon noodles

  soy sauce to taste

  sesame oil a dash

  Thinly slice the chillies. Cut the coriander stems into small pieces the length of a matchstick and reserve the leaves. Peel and thinly slice the garlic. Peel the ginger, then cut into skinny matchsticks. Remove the leaves from the chard and roughly shred them, then chop the stems into short pieces.

  Break the eggs into a small bowl and beat them. Warm half the oil in a large, shallow pan over a moderate heat, pour in the beaten egg and leave to set, checking the underside after a minute or two. When the omelette is golden, flip over and let the other side cook for a minute or two, then remove from the pan and tear the omelette into small pieces.

  Wipe the pan clean with kitchen paper, add the remaining oil and let it sizzle. Add the ginger, garlic and chillies to the pan and fry till golden and fragrant. Add the coriander and chard stems and continue cooking for two minutes, then add the soft noodles and toss everything together.

  Add in the soy sauce and a little sesame oil, add the chard and coriander leaves and the torn omelette, and continue cooking for a minute till all is hot and sizzling.

  TOFU, RADISH, PONZU

  A gossamer-thin, crisp crust. Trembling tofu. A salty citrus dressing.

  Serves 2

  soft tofu 340g

  ponzu sauce 4 tablespoons

  sesame oil 3 teaspoons

  rice vinegar 3 tablespoons

  spring onion 1

  radishes 4

  coriander leaves a handful

  cornflour or potato flour 6 tablespoons

  ginger a thumb-sized lump

  oil, for deep frying

  Drain the tofu on kitchen paper. Mix together the ponzu, sesame oil and rice vinegar. Trim and finely chop the spring onion, then thinly slice the radish and add both to the dressing together with the coriander leaves.

  Put the cornflour or potato flour into a shallow bowl or deep plate. Cut the tofu into six large cubes. Finely grate the ginger to a purée.

  Warm the oil to 180°C in a deep pan. Gently toss the cubes of tofu in the flour, then lower into the oil and fry for three or four minutes till light gold in colour. Divide the dressing between two deep bowls, lift the tofu from the oil with a draining spoon, then lower three pieces into each bowl, top with the puréed ginger and eat while the tofu is still hot and crisp.

  Two little words. So much joy. I sometimes think ‘on toast’ might be the best two words in the world. That slice of toast could be heavy with butter, shining pools forming on its surface; saturated with olive oil, glistening bright with crystals of sea salt, or perhaps its golden crust is shimmering with Marmite or honey.

  Toast can be a round of ‘white sliced’ popping up from the toaster; thick air-pocketed sourdough, its c
rust caught black under the grill; neat rectangles of dark rye, all treacle and aniseed. Then again it could be a muffin, ripped rather than sliced in half, or a crumpet whose buttery cargo has trickled deep into its holes. Toast can be focaccia or ciabatta, fruit loaf or panettone, naan or roti. In short, any dough whose surface will toast crisply and hold something delicious.

  I often tuck a piece of thick toast underneath a wedge of roasted pumpkin or aubergine, the bread soaking up the juices as it cooks. Almost anything, from broccoli you have cooked in butter on the hob to a stew whose juices deserve a thick pillow to soak them up, can be piled on top of toast.

  It is difficult to think of anything more instantly satisfying than a thick wodge of golden bread under a pool of melted cheese. But that is just a start. I like to cook slices of leek or onion in butter till silky, then hide them underneath a layer of Cheddar or Wensleydale; mix grated beetroot and apple with goat’s curd or soft cheese and sit it on sourdough or rye.

  We can extend the very meaning of toast to include any piece of dough whose surface has been deliciously crisped by the heat. Many is the time I have commandeered everything from warm oatcakes to a white sliced loaf to use as a supporting role for cooked vegetables or melted cheese. Even a crumpet fits the bill, especially when spread with a layer of cream cheese and topped with lightly cooked spinach. And I could never forget using naan as a soft cushion on which to put torn pieces of mozzarella with tomatoes or an English muffin spread thick with hummus and fried mushrooms.

  There are no rules really. The toast should be thick enough to support whatever we put on top of it and it should be hot and freshly made. Other than that, we are surely free to mix and match toasts and toppings at will. Authenticity is of little interest here; what matters is that the two are compatible.

  A slice of toasted bread has the ability to make anything more substantial. A lump of cool, milky burrata with a trickle of peppery olive oil; a trio of roasted tomatoes, their skins blackened from the oven and scented with basil and butter; a spoon or three of last night’s stew, brought to a steaming simmer, or the bread, cut thick and toasted and dunked into a bowl of soup where it will slowly sponge up every bit of goodness and savour.

  BEETROOT, APPLE, GOAT’S CURD

  Hot toast, cool curd, crisp seeds.

  Serves 2

  pickled beetroot 100g

  a small, sharp apple

  cider vinegar 2 tablespoons

  sunflower seeds 2 tablespoons

  poppy seeds 2 tablespoons

  rye or sourdough bread 2 thick slices

  goat’s curd 200g

  dill, chopped 2 tablespoons

  Coarsely grate the beetroot into a medium-sized mixing bowl. Grate the apple into the beetroot but don’t mix them together. Sprinkle the cider vinegar over the apple and beetroot.

  In a dry pan, toast the sunflower seeds for three or four minutes till golden and fragrant, then mix them with the poppy seeds. Toast the bread lightly on both sides.

  Stir the goat’s curd into the apple and beetroot, together with a little salt and half the seeds and chopped dill. Spread the apple and goat’s curd onto the toasts in thick waves, scatter over the remaining seeds and dill and eat immediately, while the toast is still hot.

  • A light stir is all you need to mix the curd with the apple and beetroot. Over-mixing will result in a rather pink covering for your toast.

  • Instead of the goat’s curd, try fromage frais or a fresh, fluffy goat’s cheese.

  CRUMPETS, CREAM CHEESE, SPINACH

  The comfort of crumpets. The goodness of greens.

  Serves 2

  spinach 100g

  tarragon, chopped 1 tablespoon

  chives, chopped 1 tablespoon

  parsley, chopped 2 tablespoons

  spring onion 1

  cream cheese 200g

  crumpets 4

  Wash the spinach, remove any thick stems, then pile the still-wet leaves into a saucepan. Place the pan over a moderate heat, cover tightly with a lid, then let the leaves steam for a minute or two. Lift the lid and turn the leaves, so they soften evenly. When they are bright green and glossy, remove from the pan, squeeze the leaves almost dry and chop roughly.

  Mix the chopped tarragon, chives and parsley together. Finely slice the spring onion and mix with the herbs, then stir into the cream cheese. Season with black pepper and a little salt. Toast the crumpets till golden, then spread each generously with some of the herb cream cheese. Pile some of the spinach leaves on top and tuck in.

  • The crumpet’s holes have the ability to soak up anything we spread it with, from butter to herbed cream cheese. Rather than sit on top of the toasted crust, the melted cheese, cream, Marmite or whatever trickles down through the holes to become part of the crumpet itself. An utterly joyous conception and the reason for keeping a packet in the freezer.

  • Once a crumpet is toasted, I find it best to cover the surface generously with something delicious, then return it briefly to the grill. Crumpets don’t hold the heat well, so an extra minute or so under the heat will ensure they are piping hot.

  • A few delicious cheese-based ideas for your crumpets: butter and grated farmhouse cheeses; slices of soft Brie-type cheese and sharp fruit chutney such as apple or apricot; a spread made from equal amounts of butter and grated Parmesan; cream cheese flecked with dill and chopped pickled cucumber; cream into which you have melted Taleggio and added a few thyme leaves; crème fraîche and black cherry jam.

  EGGS, SPINACH, BREAD

  Spiced, eggy toasts.

  Serves 2

  spinach 200g

  curry powder 1 teaspoon

  ground turmeric 1 teaspoon

  ground cumin ½ teaspoon

  dried chilli flakes 1 teaspoon

  eggs 4

  ciabatta 4 thick slices

  butter 40g

  Wash the spinach leaves, then put them, still very wet, into a deep saucepan for which you have a tight-fitting lid. Place over a high heat and let the spinach steam, turning it from time to time, until the leaves are dark green and wilted. A matter of five minutes or less. Remove the spinach from the pan, squeeze the leaves to remove most of the water, then chop finely.

  Put the curry powder, turmeric, cumin and chilli flakes in a dry, shallow pan and toast over a moderate heat for a minute or two till fragrant. Tip them into a medium-sized mixing bowl, then break the eggs into the bowl, add a half teaspoon of salt, stir in the spinach leaves and beat lightly to combine whites, yolks, spinach and toasted spices.

  Dunk the slices of ciabatta in the spiced batter, making sure they are well saturated. Melt the butter in a shallow pan, either non-stick or one with a good patina. As the butter warms, lower the bread into the pan, moderating the heat so it browns lightly on the base, making sure the butter doesn’t burn – a matter of three or four minutes. Turn with a palette knife and brown the other side. Drain lightly on kitchen paper before eating.

  • A substantial snack more than a meal, but a useful recipe to have to hand. Use any soft bread, preferably of the airy and light sort. I have known these be made for breakfast on a Sunday morning, an occasion to which they seem most fitting.

  • Use your favourite curry powder or own masala. You may have your own recipe or maybe a commercial brand, but either way add more or less to suit your taste.

  LEEKS, CAERPHILLY, MUSTARD

  The sweetness of leeks in butter. The quiet heat of mustard.

  Serves 2

  a large leek

  butter 30g

  plain flour 1 heaped tablespoon

  double cream 250ml

  Caerphilly 100g

  grain mustard 1 tablespoon

  Dijon mustard 1 tablespoon

  crumpets 4

  Thinly slice the leek, discarding any particularly thick, dark green leaves, and wash thoroughly. Put the still-wet leek in a deep saucepan over a low heat with the butter and cover with a lid. Leave to cook, with the occasional stir, for ten to fifteen minu
tes until they are softened. Don’t let the leeks brown.

  Stir the flour into the leeks, continue cooking for a couple of minutes, then pour in the double cream. Coarsely grate the Caerphilly into the leeks, then season with the grain and smooth mustards, and a little salt and black pepper.

  Heat an overhead grill. Toast the crumpets. Spoon the leek and cheese mixture over them and return to the grill. Cook until the surface is patchily golden. (I like mine blistered dark brown here and there.)

  • Onions make a sound substitute for the leeks. Onions take longer to cook, so fry them over a low to moderate heat, stirred regularly for a good thirty to forty minutes until they are deep golden brown.

  • You can use a more strongly-flavoured cheese if you wish, even a blue variety such as Shropshire Blue or Stichelton, in which case I would forgo the mustards and add a spoonful more cream.

  MUSHROOMS, BLUE CHEESE, TOASTING MUFFINS

  Toasted dough. Golden fungi. A savoury butter.

  Serves 2

  chestnut mushrooms, small 150g

  soft blue cheese such as Dolcelatte 50g

  butter 30g

  garlic 2 cloves

  olive oil 4 tablespoons

  thyme leaves 2 teaspoons

  the juice of half a lemon

  toasting muffins 2

  Thinly slice the mushrooms. Cream together the blue cheese and butter. Peel and thinly slice the garlic.

  Warm the olive oil in a shallow pan, add the garlic and let it soften. Add the mushrooms to the pan, followed by the thyme, and fry for six or seven minutes till they and the garlic are golden. Grind over a little black pepper and squeeze the lemon juice into the mushrooms.