the boil, add the asparagus and cook for 3–5 minutes, until just tender. For the last minute, drop in the samphire or sea purslane to blanch. Drain immediately and refresh in iced water.6 Spread the brown crab meat and apple mayo out on a platter. Top with the drained potatoes, lettuce (leaves and heart), samphire (or sea purslane) if using, and asparagus, building up layers and seasoning as you go with salt, pepper and lemon juice. Top with the remaining mayo, followed by the white crab meat and soft herbs. Squeeze over a touch more lemon juice, sprinkle with cayenne pepper, if you like, and serve.
Cime di rapa
with roast peppers, chickpeas and oregano-baked feta
Serves 2 as a lunch or starter, or 4 as a side
This is a lovely veggie lunch in its own right, or a satisfying summer side to go with a barbecue. Cime di rapa is one of my all-time favourite greens – it has wonderfully sweet and tender leaves and a satisfying bitterness. Translating from Italian as ‘turnip tops’, it is also known as broccoli rabe or rapini, and is great in pasta dishes, on pizza or as a blanched side (dressed with plenty of lovely extra-virgin olive oil) for roasted or barbecued meats or fish.
400g mixed tomatoes, roughly chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
50ml extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
pinch of dried chilli flakes
2 sprigs of rosemary
1 × 400g tin chickpeas, drained
2 romano peppers (or red bell peppers)
200g block of feta
1 tbsp fresh oregano leaves or 1 tsp dried oregano
pinch of coriander seeds
bunch of cime di rapa (or chard or cavolo nero), bases trimmed and leaves separated from stalks
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 Preheat the oven to 220°C/200°C fan/gas 7, or if you have one, fire up the wood oven.
2 Place the tomatoes in a roasting tray with the garlic, drizzle over half the olive oil and sprinkle with the chilli flakes, then season well with salt and pepper. Throw the rosemary in the tray and shake everything together, then roast in the oven for 15–20 minutes, until the tomatoes have softened and are starting to char and caramelise. Add the drained chickpeas, toss to combine, then return to the oven for another 10 minutes, until the chickpeas are roasted and are starting to crisp up.
3 In the meantime, char the peppers over a gas flame, on a barbecue or under the grill, until black and soft all over. Remove from the flame, place in a bowl and cover the bowl with cling film. Allow to cool then wipe away the blackened skin with kitchen paper (don’t worry if you can’t get it all off). Remove the seeds and cut the peppers lengthways into long, thin strips.
4 Put the feta on a piece of foil and drizzle over the rest of the olive oil. Scatter over the oregano and coriander seeds and wrap the foil around the feta. Place in the oven or on the embers of the barbecue and cook for 10 minutes, or until starting to turn golden and tender.
5 Bring a large saucepan of well salted water to the boil. Blanche the cime di rapa stalks in the water for a couple of minutes, then add the leaves, cooking both the leaves and stalks for a further minute, then drain. Remove the tomatoes and chickpeas from the oven, add the red peppers and cime di rapa and toss through. Remove the rosemary sprigs and serve with the baked feta on top and some extra olive oil drizzled over.
Quick wild garlic yoghurt flatbreads
Makes 2 medium or 4 small flatbreads
These speedy, four-ingredient flatbreads are perfect for a quick family lunch, a pre-dinner snack or on the side of the plate with a stew or curry to soak up the juices. They get a lot of airtime in our house, particularly in spring and summer when the wood oven is lit, but you can just as easily cook them on the barbecue too, or a hot griddle or frying pan. They have a moreish sour flavour (thanks to the yoghurt, which reacts with the self-raising flour to puff them up) and are just begging to be slathered with wild garlic pesto or butter while they’re warm. Experiment with some of the other flavoured butters (see here) in autumn: try brushing them with the porcini butter and topping them with fried wild mushrooms and tarragon. Don’t scrimp on the yoghurt with this one, full-fat is the way to go.
210g self-raising flour, plus extra for dusting
½ tsp salt
210g full-fat natural Greek yoghurt
1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
4 tbsp Wild Garlic Pesto (see here), or 30g Wild Garlic Butter (see here), melted
1 Put the flour and salt in a bowl and combine, then spoon in the yoghurt and olive oil. Give it a stir to combine everything, then, using oiled hands, bring the mix together into a soft dough. Briefly knead and scrape around the sides of the bowl to pick up any crumbs or scraggy bits, then allow the dough to sit in the bowl for a couple of minutes. While it’s resting, either heat up a cast-iron skillet over a high heat or set your grill to its highest setting. For those with a wood-fired oven, these are also great cooked in there as you would the Sourdough Pizza (see here).
2 Lightly dust the surface with flour and tip your dough out onto it. Split the dough into two or four, depending on whether you prefer 2 medium flatbreads or 4 small. Roll each piece of dough into a smooth ball and flatten each one on the surface with the palm of your hand, then roll it out using a rolling pin to your desired thickness and shape – I like these quite thick and pillowy (about 1cm thick).
3 If using a griddle pan, place your flatbread on it and cook over the highest heat for 3–5 minutes on each side, until golden and puffed, then remove from the pan and slather the top with the wild garlic pesto (loosened with the tablespoon of oil first) or butter while the bread’s hot. If using the grill, place the flatbreads under the grill and grill for about 4 minutes, until puffed and golden, then brush the tops with the wild garlic butter or pesto and return to the grill for another minute or two. If you’re cooking them in the wood oven, bake them as you would a pizza and brush them afterwards with the pesto or butter. Eat while still warm.
Waste not, want not allotment greens pasties
with cumin and za’atar
Makes 4
These rustic, meat-free pasties take their lead from Greek spanakopita and are perfect for picnics. They can be made with any combination of greens you like – it’s all about using up whatever you’ve got lurking in your fridge. I came up with them after a meagre and rather random haul of greens from my allotment; a mix of spinach, chard and kale along with some window-box herbs. The cumin in the pastry adds a pleasing earthiness, while the za’atar brings a bright blast of herbaceousness. Serve with a
