serves 6
This is a great recipe for making risotto. You want it to be smooth, creamy and oozy, not thick and stodgy.

stage 1

Heat the stock. In a separate pan heat the olive oil and butter, add the onions, garlic and celery, and fry very slowly for about 15 minutes without colouring. When the vegetables have softened, add the rice and turn up the heat.

stage 2

The rice will now begin to lightly fry, so keep stirring it. After a minute it will look slightly translucent. Add the vermouth or wine and keep stirring — it will smell fantastic. Any harsh alcohol flavours will evaporate and leave the rice with a tasty essence.

stage 3

Once the vermouth or wine has cooked into the rice, add your first ladle of hot stock and a good pinch of salt. Turn down the heat to a simmer so the rice doesn’t cook too quickly on the outside. Keep adding ladlefuls of stock, stirring and almost massaging the creamy starch out of the rice, allowing each ladleful to be absorbed before adding the next. This will take around 15 minutes. Taste the rice — is it cooked? Carry on adding stock until the rice is soft but with a slight bite. Don’t forget to check the seasoning carefully. If you run out of stock before the rice is cooked, add some boiling water.

stage 4

Remove from the heat and add the butter and Parmesan. Stir well. Place a lid on the pan and allow to sit for 2 minutes. This is the most important part of making the perfect risotto, as this is when it becomes outrageously creamy and oozy like it should be. Eat it as soon as possible, while the risotto retains its beautiful texture.

Jamie Oliver

Ingredients

225g long grain rice
500g quick-frying beef steaks, cut into thin strips
1 tsp mixed peppercorns, crushed
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, finely sliced
150g closed cup mushrooms, wiped and halved
284ml carton soured cream
2 tsp paprika

The Method:

1. Cook the rice according to packet instructions. Meanwhile, put the beef strips into a shallow dish, add the crushed peppercorns and toss to coat. Set aside.
2. Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat and cook the sliced onion for 3-4 minutes or until soft but not coloured.
3. Add the mushrooms and cook for a further 5 minutes. Increase the heat, add the beef strips and fry for 4-5 minutes or until the juices have evaporated and the meat is brown. Add 3 tablespoons water and bubble to deglaze the pan.
4. Stir in most of the soured cream and half the paprika, and gently heat until warmed through. Check the seasoning.
5. Spoon the beef stroganoff onto plates. Top with the remaining soured cream. Season with the remaining paprika and black pepper and serve with the rice.

The Secret: for perfect batter, and crisp chips is to remove as much water as possible – this stops the food becoming soggy.

Preparation

You will need a large pan, using vegetable oil (I usually use sunflower oil) but don’t use olive oil as it can do wierd things and become unhealthy when exposed to the very high temperatures we will be cooking with.

Always use Maris Piper potatoes and rinse them in cold running water once cut.

The Chips

Boil the chips vigorously with quite alot of salt in the water – do this until the surface of the chips starts to become loose – this will allow the oil to get in and cook the chip properly and form a nice thick crispy exterior.

With the chips, you can remove the water by drying the chips out in the fridge for 30 minutes before cooking – the moving air in the fridge helps remove the water, so don’t cover them up.

Next is the two step frying process – this is the best way to get the centre of the chip cooked, without burning the outside of the chip. It also helps remove the water in the first step, so that their is less steam, which prevents the chips from becoming wet and soggy.

Heat the oil to about 200-220 celcius (dam hot – so be careful, and don’t leave the kitchen whilst your doing it!) Get the chips in the pan, preferably using a metal sieve to keep them under control. Keep them in for about 5 minutes until the chips just start to go golden, then remove, drain and if you are really keen on getting your chips crispy, put them back in the fridge for half an hour to remove the rest of the moisture.

Once the oil is back up to temperature (and your chips are ready) get the chips in the pan for a further 5 minutes until golden and crunchy!

The Fish

Lots of fish is good for frying, so take your pic Cod, Turbot etc. The secret is the batter and this recipe takes inspiration from Tempura style batter.

For the perfect batter, you want only a little water for the same reasons as making crisp chips. So, use 200g plain flour and 200g white rice flour  together with 300ml of lager, and 300ml vodka. The beer induces bubbles for extra crunch and the vodka will evaporate quickly to keep things crisp.

Make the batter for when you need it, otherwise the beer will go flat and you will have no benefit from the bubbles. Get everything whipped up, dip in the fish, then get the fish in the hot oil (220C and just enough oil to cover the fish). Drizzling batter little-by-little on top of the fish as the batter is getting crisp and firm will give you loads of crunchy flaky batter – tempura style!

After 1-2 minutes as the fish is getting golden, turn it over and drizzle batter on the other side for about a minute and that’s all it should take!

If you really want to go crazy, put the batter in a soda syphon first and charge with CO2 and put in the fridge for 30minutes and then empty into a bowl for dipping the fish in – this will induce loads of small bubbles that will give your batter loads of crunch!!

Mushy Peas

500g of peas, keep 1/5th aside. Defrost then boil with 50ml of water and 65g of butter then remove from pan and blend, add mint, salt and pepper to taste. You can then add the rest of the peas – you may want to par-boil these first as you like.

Easy (peasy).

ingredients
Chicken breasts
2 tbsp ricotta cheese
6 basil leaves, finely chopped
2 tbsp red pesto
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 slices of prosciutto, pancetta or streaky bacon
2 sprigs of rosemary

Dressing – 1 tbsp olive oil and 1/2 tbsp balsamic vinegar.

Method
Oven at 180c. Slice the ‘pockets’ into the side of the chicken breasts. Stuff with a spoonful of the ricotta mixture (made with basil and a tbsp of pesto with ground black pepper). Season the chicken and then wrap with a slice of prosciutto/pancetta/bacon to seal the pocket and tuck the rosemary or thyme under it too. Glaze with remaining pesto mixed with a little oil.

Bake in the oven for 20-30min until cooked through.

For the dressing, whisk the oil and vinegar with seasoning and drizzle over Serve with a light salad.

Great for sausages!

Ingredients
2 medium onions, peeled and thinky sliced
2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tbsp butter
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
750ml beef stock
4 tsp corn starch/corn flour
4 tsp cold water
Salt and black pepper

Method

Melt the oil and butter in a large saucepan over a gentle heat. Add the onion and cover with a lid. Cook slowly for approx 10 mins or until the onions are soft and translucent.
Add the sugar and balsamic vinegar to the onions and stir well. Cover with the lid and continue to cook for a further 5 minutes.
Add the stock and boil gently uncovered for 5 minutes.
In a heatproof jug or bowl mix the corn starch/flour with the cold water to a thin paste. Pour a little of the hot gravy into the starch mixture and mix thoroughly. Pour the starch mixture back into the gravy, raise the heat to high and boil for 10 minutes or until the gravy is slightly thickened. Keep warm until ready to serve.