Greg and Lucy Malouf’s spiced plum tarte tatin with bay, anise and sherry cream
The spices used in this plum tart might seem slightly unusual – especially the pink peppercorns – but they all combine beautifully with the rich, slightly liquoricey bitter-caramel undertones of the plums. Pedro Ximénez, as well as being wickedly black and sweet, has its own anise qualities, making it an ideal flavouring for the accompanying chilled cream. We favour blood plums here, for their gorgeous moody colour, but use whatever variety suits you best.
You will need a 25cm ovenproof non-stick frying pan.
Serves 6-8
unsalted butter 50g
caster sugar 50g
bay leaves 2
star anise 2
vanilla bean ½, split lengthways and seeds scraped
pink peppercorns 1 tsp, lightly crushed
orange juice of ½
blood plums 12, halved and pitted
good-quality butter puff pastry 225g
For the sherry cream
orange finely grated zest of 1 and juice of ½
creme fraiche 125g
Greek-style yogurt 80g
Pedro Ximénez sherry 30ml
icing sugar to taste
Start by making the sherry cream. Combine all the ingredients except the sugar together in a mixing bowl. Whisk together well, then taste and add sufficient sugar to please your own palate. Chill until required.
Preheat the oven to 210C/gas mark 7.
Combine the butter and sugar in the non-stick frying pan and cook over a low heat until the sugar dissolves. Add the bay leaves, star anise, vanilla bean and seeds, peppercorns and orange juice and cook over a high heat for 8-10 minutes until it forms a dark caramel. Once the caramel is dark and you can smell the spices, remove the pan from the heat. Add the plums to the pan and turn them around in the caramel to coat, then arrange them neatly in concentric circles, skin side down.
Roll out the pastry to a circle roughly 26cm in diameter.
Carefully lift it onto the pan and tuck it in around the edges so that it envelops and contains the fruit.
Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the pastry is puffed and golden. Remove the pan from the oven and leave the tart to sit and settle for 15 minutes before inverting it carefully onto a serving plate. Serve with the chilled sherry cream.
From Suqar by Greg and Lucy Malouf (Hardie Grant, £30)
Tomos Parry’s dover sole with grapes
This is inspired by the classic French dish sole Véronique. I like to cook this dish in late September and October as the grapes are fully ripe and ready to pick for harvest. When I have served this dish in the past, I make the sauce separately, then serve with a char-grilled whole dover sole and garnish with wood roasted sweet and caramelised grapes.
Serves 2
olive oil 2 tbsp
Dover sole fillets 4
plain flour
salt
unsalted butter 50g
seedless red grapes 150g, half cut in half
white grape juice 25ml
dry white wine 25 ml
vermouth 25ml
fish stock 25ml
drained capers 1 tbsp
fresh parsley 1 tbsp chopped
lemon juice
black pepper
Heat the oil in a nonstick pan over a medium heat. Season the sole fillets with a light coating of flour and salt, and fry over a medium heat (around 2 minutes on each side), until the fish is almost cooked and has developed a slight golden colour.
Remove the fish from the pan and rest. Add the butter and whole grapes and begin to cook them gently, then add the grape juice, white wine and vermouth, and bring to the boil, then add the fish stock. Reduce this sauce to thicken (around 5 minutes).
Turn the heat off and return the sole to the sauce, with the halved grapes, capers, parsley and a squeeze of lemon juice and some black pepper and extra salt to taste.
Serve with wilted greens.
Tomos Parry is chef-owner of Brat, London E1
Tim Siadatan’s braised hispi cabbage, clams, chilli and oregano
I love hispi cabbage in all its forms, but especially slow-cooked and smothered in buttery, spicy clams.
Serves 4
hispi cabbage 2 small
olive oil
chilli 1 tsp, deseeded and finely chopped
garlic ½ clove, finely chopped
dried oregano 1 tsp
white wine ½ glass
clams 200g (or mussels), cleaned, any open ones discarded
unsalted butter 20g
pepper
Preheat the oven to 200C/gas mark 6.
Remove the outer leaves from the cabbage and cut the cabbage in half lengthways. On a medium heat, heat some olive oil in a pan big enough to fit the length of cabbage. Working in batches, colour the cabbage on its cut side until golden. Put into a roasting tray.
Wipe away any cabbage debris from the pan and discard, then add a glug of olive oil and add the chilli, garlic and oregano. Fry for 2-3 minutes, until starting to colour, then add the white wine and reduce for 3 minutes.
Transfer into the roasting tray with the cabbage and add the uncooked clams. Mix together, add a couple of centimetres of water, the butter and some pepper, then cover tightly with foil and put in the oven. Roast for 20 minutes until the cabbage is soft at the root and the clams are open (discard any closed ones). Taste to see if it needs salt (the clams might have done the job for you).
From Trullo by Tim Siadatan (Square Peg, £25)
Trine Hahnemann’s duck legs with potatoes, apples and brown cabbage
This recipe feels a bit like going to some of the small museums you’ll find around Scandinavia, housing paintings by the old masters. When I eat this I can see the landscape in those paintings, the potatoes from the soil, the apples that grow on the trees, the ducks walking around in the villages, and the dark kitchens that smell of cabbage. It is a little bit like time travel.
Serves 4; cabbage serves 4-6
cardamom pods 5
whole allspice berries 1 tbsp
cloves 4
freshly ground black pepper 2 tsp
coarse sea salt 1 tbsp
duck legs 4
potatoes 700g, unpeeled
apples 4
For the brown cabbage (brunkål)
white cabbage 1.5kg
butter 75g
caster sugar 50g
black peppercorns 1 tsp
allspice 2 tsp
caraway seeds 2 tsp
bay leaves 2
thyme sprigs 10
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
lemon juice to taste
Grind the spices to a coarse mixture using a pestle and mortar. Mix in the salt, rub the mixture into the duck legs and refrigerate for 1 hour. Preheat the oven to 200C/gas mark 6. Place the duck legs in a roasting tin and roast for 1 hour, now and then basting the duck legs with the fat rendering into the tin as they cook.
For the brown cabbage, cut the cabbage into medium-thin slices. Melt the butter and cook until light brown, then add the sugar and let it melt into a light brown caramel. Stir well, then add the cabbage, spices and herbs and stir well. Reduce the heat to low, cover and let it simmer for about 2 hours. Take off the heat; season to taste with salt, pepper and lemon juice.
Meanwhile, cut the potatoes and apples into wedges. When the duck legs have roasted for an hour, add the potatoes to the tin and roast for another 45 minutes, then add the apples, mix well with the juices in the roasting tin and roast for another 15 minutes. Check that the duck meat is tender and, if not, continue to cook a little longer. Serve with the brown cabbage.
From Scandinavian Comfort Food: Embracing the Art of Hygge by Trine Hahnemann (Quadrille, £26)
Nigel Slater’s baked sausages with harissa and tomatoes
I like a coarse-cut, spicy sausage to cook with haricot beans. The pork, fennel seeds and black-pepper-seasoned sausages that hang in Italian grocers, displayed in plump clusters tied together with string, to be exact. Of course, any good sausages will fit the bill, as long as they are so generously filled they look like their skins are about to burst.
The recipe can be upscaled easily to cater for large numbers, but add the harissa paste to taste rather than simply multiplying the amount.
Serves 2-3
olive oil 2 tbsp
sausages 6 large
onion 1
rosemary 5 sprigs
harissa paste 2 tsp
tomatoes 4 medium
haricot or cannellini beans 2 x 400g cans
chicken stock 200ml
Using a little of the olive oil, brown the sausages in a shallow, ovenproof pan over a low to moderate heat, turning them regularly so they brown as evenly as possible. Set the oven at 200C/gas mark 6.
Peel the onion and roughly chop it. Remove the sausages and set them aside, then add the remaining olive oil to the pan and then the chopped onion, letting it soften and colour lightly. It should be the palest gold. Remove the leaves from 2 of the sprigs of rosemary, finely chop them, then add them to the softened onion with a pinch of salt.
Stir the harissa paste into the onion. Roughly chop the tomatoes. Add the chopped tomatoes to the onion and rosemary and cook for a few minutes until the tomatoes have started to soften. Drain the beans, rinse them under running water, stir them into the onion, then pour in the stock and bring to the boil. Lower the heat, then return the sausages to the pan. Check the seasoning then bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes.
Nigel Slater is the Observer’s cookery writer
