Denis Cotter, Paul Flynn, Angela Hartnett, Thomas Keller and Rick Stein share their domestic recipes.
ANGELA'S ROASTED FIGS IN RED WINE SERVED WITH ZABAGLIONE Serves 4
8-12 figs per person, depending on size
500g caster sugar
1 litre water
375ml red wine
For the zabaglione:
4 egg yolks
5 tbsp caster sugar
2 tsp muscovado sugar
240g Moscato wine, or other sweet dessert wine
Peel the figs, taking care not to damage the shape. Put the sugar, water and wine in a heavy-based pan and place over a low heat, stirring occasionally, until the sugar has dissolved. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and add the figs. Cover the mixture with a piece of baking parchment paper and poach the figs for eight to ten minutes, until tender. Drain well, reserving the liquid. If not serving them immediately, let the figs cool and then store them in a container in the fridge.
To make the zabaglione, put all the ingredients in a large bowl set over a pan of simmering water, making sure the water does not touch the base of the bowl. Whisk with a balloon whisk or a hand-held electric beater until the mixture is thick and fluffy and has at least doubled in size. Serve immediately with the figs, warming them through in the cooking liquor if necessary. To make the dish even richer, you could boil the fig cooking liquid until thick and syrupy and serve it on the side.
PAUL'S WARM BOILED CORNED BEEF SANDWICH WITH CELERIAC AND RAISIN RELISH
An Irish slant on the classic the hot beef sandwich. If you haven't time to poach your own corned beef, buy it sliced from a good deli and heat it. To cook it yourself, poach the meat for 30 minutes per 500g.
For the celeriac relish:
half a cup of mayonnaise
1 head of celeriac
juice of 1 lemon
1 tsp wholegrain mustard
¼ cup raisins soaked in ½ cup of boiling water
Corned beef
Good-quality sandwich bread
To make the celeriac relish, peel the celeriac with a serrated carving knife. Slice into half-centimetre slices as best you can, and grate the celeriac in a food processor or on the largest side of the grater. Pour the lemon juice over it. Mix the celeriac with the mayonnaise and grain mustard. Drain the raisins and add to the celeriac, stirring everything together.
If you need to re-heat the beef, do so by placing it in a bowl with a little liquid (water or beef stock), and zapping in the microwave for a couple of seconds. (It's important that this sandwich is served warm.) Make an open sandwich with the warm boiled beef garnished with the celeriac and raisin relish.
RICK'S MARINATED TUNA WITH PASSION FRUIT, LIME AND CORIANDER
Chefs generally agree that tuna is best served extremely rare. Here I've taken the idea of the South American ceviche and added some Australian flavours, but not marinated the fish in the passion fruit and lime dressing for any more than 10 minutes. It makes a perfect first course, but is also endlessly popular at drinks parties. And by the way, the more wrinkly the passion fruits, the riper and juicier they will be.
A 3cm thick piece of tuna loin fillet, weighing about 400g
2 small, ripe and wrinkly passion fruits, weighing about 35g each
1 tbsp lime juice
3 tablespoons sunflower oil
1 medium-hot green chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
1 tsp caster sugar
1 ½ tbsp finely chopped coriander
½ tsp salt
5 turns of the black pepper mill
Put the tuna on a board and cut it across into very thin slices. Lay the slices, side by side, but close together, on four 25-centimetre plates. Cover each one with cling film and set aside in the fridge for at least an hour or until you are ready to serve.
Shortly before serving, make the dressing. Cut the passion fruit in half and scoop the pulp into a sieve set over a bowl. Rub the pulp through the sieve to extract the juice, then discard the seeds. There should be about one tablespoon of juice. Stir in the lime juice, sunflower oil, green chilli, sugar, coriander, salt and pepper.
To serve, uncover the tuna, spoon over the dressing and spread it over the fish with the back of the spoon. Leave for 10 minutes before serving.
DENIS'S LEMON RISOTTO WITH PUMPKIN BROTH AND BRAISED FENNEL
1 onion, finely diced
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
250g Carnaroli rice
100mls dry white wine
1 litre vegetable stock, simmering
60g butter
80g hard mature cheese, such as Desmond or Cratloe sheep's cheese
rind of 1 lemon and juice of ½
1 tbsp chives
200g pumpkin flesh
1 whole red chilli
1-inch piece ginger
1 star anise
3 bulbs fennel
100mls white wine
Fry the onion, garlic and rice in olive oil for seven to eight minutes, then add the wine and simmer until the pan is almost dry. Add a few ladlefuls of stock and simmer again until almost dry. Continue with the stock until the rice is just tender, then stir in the butter, cheese, lemon, chives and some salt and pepper.
Meanwhile, boil the pumpkin with the whole spices in one litre of stock or water, until tender. Remove the spices and blend to get a thin pouring consistency. Reduce if necessary, and season with salt.
Quarter the fennel and fry it in olive oil until lightly coloured. Add the wine and seasoning, bring it to a boil and transfer, with the fennel, to an oven dish. Cover loosely with foil and braise at 180 degrees/ gas four, for 30-50 minutes, until the fennel is tender right through. Serve the risotto with some pumpkin broth poured around it, and the fennel on the side.
THOMAS'S AMERICAN POT ROAST WITH WINTER VEG AND WHOLEGRAIN MUSTARD SAUCE Serves 4
1kg trimmed forerib of beef off the bone (boneless beef rib roast). Ask your butcher for the trimmings and bones to use for the sauce
125ml vegetable oil
3 large carrots, cut into batons
16 baby turnips, peeled
1 head of celeriac (celery root), peeled and cut into 1cm cubes
16 small new potatoes, peeled
16 baby leeks, trimmed
salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the wholegrain mustard sauce:
4 tbsp vegetable oil
300g beef bones, cut up small - ask your butcher to do this
350g lean, meaty trimmings from the beef
150g carrots, cut into 5mm dice
120g vine-ripened tomatoes, cut into 5mm dice
120g white onions, cut into 5mm dice
75g leek tops, cut into 5mm dice
1 tbsp wholegrain mustard
1 tbsp creme fraiche
1 tbsp butter
First make the base for the mustard sauce. Pour the oil into a large, heavy-based pan and place over a moderate heat. When hot, add the beef bones and cook them until well browned. Add the beef trimmings and brown thoroughly. Add the vegetables and cook until caramelised. Deglaze by pouring in 100ml water and stirring to scrape up all the sediment from the base of the pan. Simmer until the liquid has almost completely evaporated and has reduce to a glaze. Repeat this process twice, using 150ml water each time. Repeat one last time, using 1 litre water and simmering until reduced to about 200ml. Strain through a fine sieve and leave to cool.
Season the beef and let it come to room temperature for 30 minutes. Heat the oil in a large casserole, add the beef and brown on all sides. Remove the meat from the pan and drain off half the oil. Add all the vegetables except the leeks and reduce the heat to moderate. Season the vegetables with salt and pepper and cook until they begin to brown lightly around the edges. Return the beef to the casserole, cover and place in an oven preheated to 200 degrees/gas six. Cook for 12 minutes, then remove the lid and cook for a further 10 minutes, which should give medium-rare meat. Remove from the oven and leave to rest for 20-30 minutes.
Bring the sauce base to a simmer and whisk in the mustard, creme fraiche and butter. Strain through a fine sieve and keep warm. Cook the leeks in boiling salted water until tender, then drain.
To serve, arrange the roast vegetables in the centre of four plates. Cut 12 slices of beef and arrange on top of the vegetables. Garnish the beef with the leeks and spoon the sauce around.