Milly’s Real Food: 100+ easy and delicious recipes to comfort, restore and put a smile on your face. Nicola Millbank

oil, for deep-frying enough to fill a pan up to ⅓

      black sesame seeds

      spring onion, finely sliced

      1 red chilli, finely sliced

      METHOD:

      To make the sauce, place a pan over a medium–high heat and add the gochujang, Sriracha chilli sauce, sugar, vinegar, ketchup, barbecue sauce, American hot sauce, sesame oil, butter and salt. Bring to the boil and allow to bubble for a couple of minutes, then remove from the heat and set aside.

      Mix the plain flour and cornflour in a bowl and season with a big pinch of salt. Toss the wings in the flour mix until fully coated.

      Heat the vegetable oil in a heavy-based saucepan to 140°C or until the edge of a chicken wing sizzles in the oil. Carefully add the wings and fry for 8–10 minutes or until they are cooked through but still pale in colour.

      Transfer the wings onto kitchen paper and scatter with more flour. Increase the temperature of the oil to 190°C (or simply turn up the heat, if you don’t have a thermometer, and wait for 5 minutes), return the wings to the pan and fry for a further 2–3 minutes until golden.

      Drain the wings on kitchen paper before coating in the spicy sauce. Scatter over the sesame seeds, red chilli and spring onion and serve immediately.

CLAMS WITH PANCETTA AND CIDER

      SERVES

      4

      Clams are my favourite shellfish. I eat them by the bucket-load when I go abroad and live off them when I go on holiday to Portugal. These are a different take on the classic lemon, garlic and white wine clams, using something a bit more British: bacon and cider. This dish is sweet, tangy and salty and needs only a spoon and a wedge of bread to mop up all the delicious sauce.

      INGREDIENTS:

      4 rashers streaky pancetta, sliced

      1 tbsp olive oil

      1 banana shallot, sliced

      1 garlic clove, crushed

      150ml dry cider

      juice of ½ lemon

      500g fresh clams, left to sit in a bowl of cold water for at least 30 minutes

      extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling

      1 tbsp flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped

      sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

      METHOD:

      In a heavy-based pan, heat the olive oil over a medium heat and throw in the pancetta. Fry for a few minutes until lightly golden brown and crispy, then remove from the pan and drain on kitchen paper.

      Add the shallot to the pan and turn down the heat, cooking for a few minutes until soft. Add the garlic and cook for another couple of minutes.

      Pour in the cider and the lemon juice and bring to the boil.

      Drain the clams, discarding any that are open or damaged. Add the clams to the pan, reduce to a simmer and cover. Leave to cook for 3–5 minutes, or until all the shells have opened. Discard any clams that have not opened after 5 minutes.

      Return the pancetta to the pan, check the seasoning and serve with a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil and chopped parsley.

CHICKEN, LEEK AND GINGER POTSTICKERS

      MAKES

      24

      These potstickers are essentially dumplings, and have a crispy base while the rest is steam-cooked, giving them a beautifully pillow-soft texture. Make these with a group of friends around the table or make a batch, pop in the freezer, and cook straight from frozen.

      INGREDIENTS:

      800g chicken mince

      1 large leek, thinly sliced

      1 tsp fresh ginger, finely chopped

      1 tsp garlic, finely chopped

      1 tsp toasted sesame oil

      1 medium free-range egg, separated

      24 wanton wrappers (available online or at Asian supermarkets)

      2 tbsp light soy sauce

      2 tbsp rice wine vinegar, (malt vinegar is fine too)

      a thumb-sized piece of ginger, peeled and sliced into matchsticks

      4 tbsp groundnut or vegetable oil – 1tbsp per batch of dumplings