As the temperature rises and the evenings get longer, it is only natural that we are craving food that is light and seasonal.
Michelin-starred chef Paul Ainsworth, who worked under Gordon Ramsay and Marcus Wareing before opening his own acclaimed restaurant in Cornwall, knows that good produce and simple recipes are the key to bringing any meal to life, particularly at this time of year.
In his debut book, For the Love of Food, Paul shares his secrets for elevated dishes at home, with recipes that celebrate seasonality while bringing gourmet flavours into your home.
Here are some of his spring favourites…
Grilled scallops in the shell, Café de Paris butter
Serves 4
- 12 scallops (ideally hand-dived)
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 12 x 20g slices of
- Café de Paris butter (see below)
- 1 lemon
- 1 lime
- Sea salt
- Cracked black pepper
For the Café de Paris butter
- 1 shallot, finely diced
- Zest and juice of 1 lemon
- 50ml brandy
- 250g salted butter, softened
- 35g capers
- 100g roasted red peppers, tinned or from a jar, finely diced
- 10g flat-leaf parsley, chopped
- 4 sprigs of thyme, leaves picked
- ½ tsp English mustard powder
- 1 tsp curry powder
- 1½ tbsp Dijon mustard
- 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- ½ tbsp Worcestershire sauce
First, make the Café de Paris butter. In a small saucepan, add the shallot, lemon juice and brandy. Over a medium heat, reduce the lemon juice and brandy until the liquid has evaporated. Place the softened butter in a bowl and add the shallot mixture, along with the remaining ingredients. Mix well and roll into logs with parchment paper. I usually get about three logs from this mixture. Place the Café de Paris butter logs into the fridge and chill.
Preheat the grill to hot, or the oven to 200°C fan.
Place the white scallop meat and roe back into the scallop shells and season lightly all over with sea salt and a twist of black pepper. Drizzle each scallop with olive oil. Place a disc of Café de Paris butter over each scallop, then transfer the shells to an oven tray and place under the grill or in the oven.
Cook the scallops for about four to five minutes. Ideally, an inexpensive digital meat probe will give you consistent results every time – the scallops are beautifully cooked when they reach an internal temperature of 45°C-47°C.
Arrange the grilled scallops on a big platter and finish with lemon and lime zest all over the top, then cut the lemon and lime into wedges to serve alongside.
Enjoy with a crisp, cold Pilsner or white wine.
Gypsy eggs
Serves 4
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 100g raw chorizo, diced
- 40g onion, diced
- 8 cherry tomatoes, halved
- 200g tinned or cooked cannellini beans
- 2 tbsp red-wine vinegar
- 400g can quality tomato pasta sauce with basil
- 8 large basil leaves, torn
- 4 eggs
- 30g feta
- Extra virgin olive oil, for drizzling
- Sea salt
- Cracked black pepper
- Toast, to serve
Preheat the oven to 180°C fan. Take a large ovenproof frying pan and heat the oil over a high heat. Add the chorizo and cook for two to three minutes until all the fat comes out of the sausage. Add the onion and cherry tomatoes, along with a pinch of sea salt. Turn down the heat to medium and stir occasionally until the onions and tomatoes are soft, then stir in the cannellini beans. Add the vinegar and cook until the mixture is sticky and the vinegar has evaporated.
Now add the tomato fondue and stir well. Add half the basil leaves, stir again and check the seasoning. Cook for two minutes, ensuring everything is hot and well mixed, with a stew-like consistency.
Crack one of the eggs and place in a quarter of the pan, on top of the mixture. Repeat in each of the other quarters.
Season with sea salt and black pepper and transfer the frying pan to the oven. Cook for around one minute until the whites of the eggs are set but the yolks are still runny.
Remove from the oven. Once cooled, finish by crumbling over the feta and sprinkling with the rest of the basil.
Drizzle with a few teaspoons of extra-virgin olive oil and serve in the pan, in the middle of the table, with some toast.
Nefali Garden fried feta
Serves 4
- 200g block of feta
- 20g sesame seeds
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- ½ tsp onion powder
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- 6g nigella seeds
- 25g dried breadcrumbs (I use panko)
- 25g plain flour
- 2 egg whites, whisked
- 150ml olive oil
- Sea salt
- Cracked black pepper
- Chestnut honey, to serve
Take the feta block out of the packet and drain on kitchen paper. Leave for 20 minutes.
In a bowl, mix together the sesame seeds, smoked paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, nigella seeds and breadcrumbs.
Season the flour with a pinch of sea salt and black pepper, and place on a plate, then place the egg whites in a shallow dish.
Coat the feta in the seasoned flour, shaking off any excess, then dip into the egg whites, again shaking off the excess.
Finally, place the feta in the spiced breadcrumbs and coat really well.
In a small frying pan, heat the olive oil to about 160°C, using a food thermometer to check the temperature. Carefully shallow-fry the feta on both sides, turning every minute until golden-brown and crisp. Drain the fried feta on kitchen paper and serve with chestnut honey drizzled all over the top.
Recipes extracted from ‘For the Love of Food’ Pavilion Books, £26
