1 bay leaf
2 tbsp soft light brown sugar
50ml Worcestershire sauce
½–1 tsp cayenne pepper (depending how spicy you like it!)
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Several shakes of Tabasco sauce (optional)
Vodka, to taste (optional)
1 stick of celery, trimmed and cut into batons
Heat the oil in a large pan, add the onion and cook over a low heat for about 15 minutes until soft but not coloured. Add the tomatoes, tomato juice and purée, bay leaf, sugar, Worcestershire sauce and finally the cayenne and salt and pepper to taste. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat a little to let it bubble away for a good 30 minutes to really get the flavours going.
Taste the soup and add more seasoning if needed, so it is just as you like it. Remove the bay leaf and discard. Then, working in two or three batches, ladle the soup into a blender and blitz until it is quite smooth but still has a little texture. Pour the blended soup into a large bowl or jug as you go. Once done, return it all to the pan and heat through gently. Add the Tabasco and Vodka, if using, and taste again, adjusting the seasoning if necessary.
Ladle the soup into warmed mugs or serving bowls and serve with the celery batons.
Deep-fried Camembert with a cranberry, Burgundy & thyme sauce
This dish is so naughty – in every way. It comes in the canapé chapter, but it is mightily fine as a meal in itself, to be perfectly honest. For me, life is too short to make cranberry sauce from scratch every time (except at Christmas!), so I like to buy a jar of ready-made and give it a little help from some herby friends.
Serves 4
4 tbsp red wine, preferably Burgundy
Pinch of fresh thyme leaves
150g cranberry sauce
1 egg, lightly beaten
80g natural or golden breadcrumbs
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 x 250g whole Camembert, unwrapped
Vegetable oil, for deep-frying
Put the red wine in a small pan and boil it until it is reduced by half, this usually happens quite quickly. Add the thyme leaves and cranberry sauce, bring it to just below the boil, then take the pan off the heat and set aside.
Put the egg in one bowl and the breadcrumbs in another, then season the breadcrumbs with salt and pepper. Cut the Camembert into four pieces, then dip into the egg and then into the breadcrumbs. Dip once again into the egg and then into the breadcrumbs. Have a slotted spoon and tongs at the ready along with a wire rack with some kitchen paper underneath it.
Fill a medium, deep pan with oil to the depth of 6cm and heat over a medium heat until a small piece of bread carefully placed in the oil browns in 60 seconds.
Carefully place the breaded cheese into the hot oil, one by one, using a slotted spoon. Put them into the pan from a low height so that the hot fat does not splash, then deep-fry until they are a lovely golden brown colour. Remove the cheese with a slotted spoon or tongs – whichever is easier for you – and place them on the wire rack. Putting them on the rack rather than straight onto kitchen paper means that they will not be sitting in their own fat and will stay nice and crispy.
Once you have cooked all of the cheese wedges, place them on serving plates with the cranberry sauce and serve straightaway with a green salad.
Light & crispy tempura prawns & soy chilli dipping sauce
This is a great dish to impress friends. Prawns are perfect, but you could also use courgettes, aubergines, peppers and all sorts of vegetables as well if you like. I have made my own dipping sauce to serve with the tempura, but it is also delicious served with some ready-made chilli sauce.
Serves 3–4
500ml vegetable oil, for deep-frying
100g plain flour
100g cornflour
Pinch of salt
2 tbsp baking powder
180–200ml very cold sparkling water
Few ice cubes (not essential but it helps)
10 large raw prawns, peeled with tails still intact
Dipping sauce
20ml soy sauce
20ml mirin
½ chilli, deseeded and finely diced
½ clove of garlic, peeled and finely diced
1 x 5mm piece of fresh ginger, peeled and finely diced (or to taste)
Lay some kitchen paper on the work surface and place a wire rack over it. I put deep-fried food on this as soon as it is cooked because the fat can drip down onto the kitchen paper through the rack; this is better than letting the food sit in its own oil if put directly on kitchen paper. Have a slotted spoon or tongs at the ready, whichever is easiest for you to use.
Fill a medium, deep pan with enough oil to reach 5cm depth (I used about 500ml) and heat over a medium heat until a small piece of bread carefully placed in the oil browns in 50–60 seconds.
Just as the oil is almost at the right temperature, put the flour, cornflour, salt and baking powder in a bowl. Make a well in the centre and add the water. Mix everything together very quickly until just combined. The batter should be quite thick and it does not matter if there are still lumps. Add 2 or 3 ice cubes, then dip one of the prawns in the batter and let the excess drip off until you can still see a bit of prawn through the batter. Carefully add the prawns to the hot oil from a low height so the fat does not splatter. Do not overcrowd the pan, as this lowers the temperature of the oil and makes the prawns boil rather than fry, so add them in small batches and deep-fry for 2 minutes. The prawns will cook in 2–4 minutes (although this depends on how big the prawns are). Tempura batter is very pale, unlike fish and chip batter, so when it starts going from white to pale golden, the prawns should be ready. Check one by cutting it open to see if it is cooked. It should be white and not too glassy looking, and you will now know how long to cook the other prawns.
Remove the prawn with a slotted spoon or tongs and place it on the wire rack to drain, then repeat with the others. There will be enough batter here for some vegetables too, which are delicious.
Combine the sauce ingredients in a bowl and serve with the hot prawns.
Prosciutto & Brie toastie
I used to go round to my friend’s house in Witney for tea. Every so often, when cheese triangle sandwiches on white bread were not on the menu, her mum would fire up a machine that made the most perfect toasted cheese and ham sandwiches. I can never beat the perfection of those little triangle sandwiches, but this comes oh so close!
Serves 2
6 slices of prosciutto (streaky bacon will work well too)
Large knob of butter
4 slices of good thick crusty bread
Oil, for frying
100–150g Brie, ripped up into chunks
Preheat the oven