Favorite Recipes from our Favorite Chefs

December- making the most of winter vegetables
We supply Fifteen Cornwall with much of their local seasonal organic fruit and vegetables, their menu uses the finest produce simply cooked. So here is a recipe from Neil Haydock, executive chef plus a few Jamie Oliver recipes that make the most of our fine winter produce. Neil has promised to keep us supplied with regular seasonal recipes for the website – Thanks Neil.

Ribollita
Ribollita is a classic Tuscan peasant soup that has pulled itself into stardom of the soup world. It is made traditionally from leftovers and thickened with stale bread, so don’t ask for bread if you are in Tuscany as you will get a funny look….. Ribollita translates as reboiled so it may have started life as a Aquacotta which means cooked water, which could be a broth packed with vegetables and possibly meat if it was affordable, or left over from a roast or something similar.

4 persons
Ingredients
1 tin of cooked cannellini beans in water or similar
2 large carrots washed and peeled
1 large onion peeled
2 sticks of washed and peeled celery
2 cloves of garlic peeled
100g of cabbage or kale or a combination
3 large tomatoes chopped
Salt pepper
Olive oil
Water to cover or chicken stock approx 2 litres
1Bay leaf
4 slices of San Danielle (a fine ham from Italy , Parma or our local air dried from Deli Farm Charcuterie will be fine) torn into strips
2 Italian sausages rolled into meatballs
200g of stale proper bread torn into rough pieces

Method
Chop the vegetables depending on the type of finish you want so it can e chunky or fine.
Heat a large pan and add the olive oil.
Add the vegetables bar the tomatoes cannellini beans and cabbage and sweat (to cook without colour) for approximately 5 to 10 minutes until the vegetables are soft, at this point add a little salt and cover with water or chicken stock.
Add the cannellini beans, tomatoes, cabbage and meats bring to a simmer and cook for about 15 to 20 minutes
And add the bread and allow to soak for at least 5 minutes, check the seasoning, serve into large bowls grate fresh parmesan over and a drizzle of olive oil.

If there is any left, place in the fridge when cool and overnight, it will thicken even more and the flavours will develop.

To re-heat place a little olive oil in frying pan and add the thickened soup and move around until hot serve on a plate and grate over fresh parmesan and more oil by now you should be able to eat it like a stew with a fork!!!! delish

Carrots boiled with orange, garlic and herb - Serves 4
Carrots are brilliant – full of vitamins and extremely good for you. My favorite ways of cooking carrots all serve 4 people – for each recipe you will need 500g/1lb 2oz of carrots, either left whole if they are baby ones, or sliced into small erratic pieces – nothing too perfect.

Boil the carrots in salted boiling water with a tablespoon of sugar, a knob of butter and a little handful of fragrant herbs, tied up. Parsley, rosemary, thyme, bay – use just one or a mixture. Cut an orange into eighths and add them to the water, along with a few whole garlic cloves in their skins. If you really want to be a little tiger, add a pinch of cumin as well (seeds or ground) – it subtly cuts through with the most wonderful flavour. As soon as the carrots are cooked, drain them, discard the herbs and all but one of the orange pieces, squeeze the garlic out of its skin, chop the remaining orange piece finely and toss with the carrots, some seasoning and a little more butter. The flavour will be incredible.

Another idea is to fry the chopped-up orange in a good tablespoon of sugar, so it almost jammifies, and serve this on top of the carrots. These two flavours together are one of the coolest things.

Roasted carrots with orange, garlic and thyme
Or – just as easy – as soon as you drain the carrots you can throw them into a baking tray with the chopped-up orange and the garlic cloves and roast them at 200°C/400°F/gas 6 for 10 minutes – this will give you a slightly meatier flavour.

Hamilton squash
This is a recipe inspired by a one-minute conversation with my mate Johnny Boy Hamilton. He had basically eaten far too much meat in Paris, went for the veggie option one night and was blown away by it. His description used a marrow instead of a squash and some kind of green rice, but anyway, the great thing is I've given this a bash my way and think it's an absolutely fantastic recipe. So, nice one John. There is no need to precook the rice as it will take on moisture from being cooked inside the squash.

•1 small handful of dried porcini mushrooms
• 1 butternut squash, halved and seeds removed
• olive oil
• 1 red onion, finely chopped
• 1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon coriander seeds, pounded
• a pinch or two of dried chilli, to taste
• 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary, leaves picked and finely chopped
• 5 sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 100g basmati rice
• ½ a handful of pinenuts lightly roasted

First of all, soak your porcini for 5 minutes in 140ml of boiling water. Preheat the oven to 230ºC/450ºF/gas 8. Using a teaspoon, score and scoop out some extra flesh from the length of the squash. Finely chop this flesh with the squash seeds and add to a frying pan with 4 lugs of olive oil, the onion, garlic, coriander seeds, chilli, rosemary and sun-dried tomatoes. Fry for 4 minutes until softened. Add the porcini and half their soaking water. Cook for a further 2 minutes before seasoning. Stir in your rice and pinenuts, pack the mixture tightly into the 2 halves of the squash and then press them together. Rub the skin of the squash with a little olive oil, wrap in tin-foil, and bake in the preheated oven for about 1¼ hours

Crostini – Greens
Take 3 large handfuls of cavolo nero, kale, cabbage or Swiss chard and strip the leaves off the stalks. Add 3 cloves of peeled garlic to a pan of salted water and bring to the boil, then add the cavolo. Cook until tender, then drain well in a colander and allow to cool. Squeeze out any excess water from the cavolo, mush up the garlic, season to taste with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil. Toss around and divide on to each of your hot crostini, drizzled with more olive oil and a squeeze of lemon juice

Roast potatoes, parsnips and carrots - Serves 4 - 6
In my eyes, a good roast potato is one of the most important things in cooking. How is it that such a humble little vegetable can make people so happy? Have a go at this recipe – it will give you potatoes that are perfectly crispy on the outside and fluffy in the middle. The principle of parcooking in boiling water, then tossing in flavoured oil and roasting until deliciously golden and crisp, is just about the same for any other root veg, particularly parsnips and carrots, so I’ve included these in this recipe too.

The best time to put the vegetables into the oven is about 40 minutes before the meat is ready to come out. While it rests there’ll be more space in the oven and you’ll be able to move the veg up to the top shelf to finish them off to perfection.

To prepare your vegetables
• Preheat your oven to 200°C/400°F/gas 6
• Peel the vegetables and halve any larger ones lengthways
• Break the garlic bulb into cloves, leaving them unpeeled, and bash them slightly with the palm of your hand
• Pick the rosemary leaves from the woody stalks

To cook your vegetables
• Put the potatoes and carrots into a large pan – you may need to use two – of salted, boiling water on a high heat and bring back to the boil
• Allow to boil for 5 minutes, then add the parsnips and cook for another 4 minutes
• Drain in a colander and allow to steam dry
• Take out the carrots and parsnips and put to one side
• Fluff up the potatoes in the colander by shaking it around a little – it’s important to ‘chuff them up’ like this if you want them to have all those lovely crispy bits when they’re cooked
• Put a large roasting tray over a medium heat and either add a few generous lugs of olive oil
• Add the garlic and rosemary leaves
• Put the vegetables into the tray with a good pinch of salt and pepper and stir them around to coat them in the flavours
• Spread them out evenly into one layer – this is important, as you want them to roast, not steam as they will if you have them all on top of each other

Roasted cauliflower with cumin, coriander and almonds - Serves 4
 When most people think of ways to cook cauliflower they will come up with either boiling or gratinating - I'm sure this is the same for you. It may seem strange, but cauliflower is absolutely fantastic when lightly roasted, especially with herbs, spices, cheeses or breadcrumbs. It develops a really incredible flavour that I'm well impressed by. Here's a recipe I made up that is Indian-ish in style. But, hey, it's not about points for authenticity - it's about whether it's delicious or not and I think it is! Please try this one.

Ingredients
• 1 head of cauliflower, outer green leaves removed, broken into florets
• sea salt
• olive oil
• a knob of butter
• 2 teaspoons cumin seeds
• 2 teaspoons coriander seeds
• 1-2 dried red chillies
• a handful of blanched almonds, smashed
zest and juice of 1 lemon

Preheat your oven to 200°C/400°F/gas 6. Blanch the cauliflower in salted boiling water for a couple of minutes then drain in a colander, allowing it to steam dry (you don't want any water left in your cauliflower or it won't roast properly). Toss it in a good glug of olive oil and the butter. In a pestle and mortar, bash your spices and chillies with a pinch of salt, then mix them with your almonds and put in a hot, dry ovenproof pan to slowly toast them. After a couple of minutes, add the cauliflower. When it gets a nice bit of colour on it, add the lemon zest and juice and mix around well. Fry for about a minute longer then pop the pan into the preheated oven for about 15 minutes to crisp up

Butternut squash muffins with a frosty top - Serves 12 muffins
My kids love these squash muffins. They taste a bit like carrot cake, as the two vegetables are very similar – I’ve simply swapped carrots for squash. Both of them are wonderful carriers of flavours like cinnamon, cloves and vanilla. The skin of a butternut squash goes deliciously chewy and soft when cooked, so there’s no need to peel it off. Give these little cakes a go – they’re a perfect naughty-but-nice treat. And a great way of getting your kids to eat squash!

• 400g butternut squash, skin on, deseeded and roughly chopped
• 350g light soft brown sugar
• 4 large free-range or organic eggs
• sea salt
• 300g plain flour, unsifted
• 2 heaped teaspoons baking powder
• a handful of walnuts
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 175ml extra virgin olive
• for the frosted cream topping
• zest of 1 clementine
• zest of 1 lemon and juice of ½ a lemon
• 140ml soured cream
• 2 heaped tablespoons icing sugar, sifted
• optional: lavender flowers or rose petals
• 1 vanilla pod, split lengthways and seeds scraped out

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas 4. Line your muffin tins with paper cases.

Whiz the squash in a food processor until finely chopped. Add the sugar, and crack in the eggs. Add a pinch of salt, the flour, baking powder, walnuts, cinnamon and olive oil and whiz together until well beaten. You may need to pause the machine at some point to scrape the mix down the sides with a rubber spatula. Try not to overdo it with the mixing – you want to just combine everything and no more.

Fill the paper cases with the cake mixture. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes. Check to see whether they are cooked properly by sticking a wooden skewer or a knife right into one of the cakes – if it comes out clean, they’re done. If it’s a bit sticky, pop them back into the oven for a little longer. Remove from the oven and leave the cakes to cool on a wire rack.

As soon as the muffins are in the oven, make your runny frosted topping. Place most of the clementine zest, all the lemon zest and the lemon juice in a bowl. Add the soured cream, icing sugar and vanilla seeds and mix well. Taste and have a think about it – adjust the amount of lemon juice or icing sugar to balance the sweet and sour. Put into the fridge until your cakes have cooled down, then spoon the topping on to the cakes.

Serve on a lovely plate (or on a cake stand if you’re feeling elegant, or on a rustic slab if you’re more of a hunter-gatherer type!), with the rest of the clementine zest sprinkled over. For an interesting flavour and look, a few dried lavender flowers or rose petals are fantastic.