Summer recipes

Salade Niçoise

Pascal Aussignac and Julien Carlon share their recipe for this classic French dish, created for their Holborn restaurant Cigalon. According to the duo it should be made using only very good quality raw vegetables.

Ingredients
Tinned white tuna (Ortiz does some amazing ones) or confit Mediterranean Albacore tuna loin as we do at Cigalon (cooked very slowly in olive oil for a an hour without exceeding 55° C)
Salted anchovy fillets
Niçoise black pitted olives
Soft boiled organic free range eggs (7 to 8 min)
Mesclun salad leaves mix
Baby gem lettuce or iceberg lettuce for crunch
Spring onions
Pink French Breakfast radishes
Cucumber
Best tomatoes when in season (otherwise I would advise to use some sundried or cherry tomatoes)
Celery

For the dressing:
15cl extra virgin oil
5cl aged balsamic vinegar
50g of cherry tomatoes per 100g of oil
1 small garlic clove per 100g of oil
Salt and pepper

Method
For the dressing, crush the cherry tomatoes and garlic with a pestle and mortar, then add the oil and vinegar slowly using the mortar to mix and emulsify. Season to your taste and reserve in a cool place but not in the refrigerator as the oil would set with the cold.

You might serve this salad as a starter or main. I personally like it as a main with a large amount of garnish and a nice piece of rustic bread. It is really up to you how you want to have it, just make sure that all vegetables and salad leaves are fresh and washed properly, and that the anchovy fillets are clean of excess salt by rinsing them for long enough under cold water.


Salad of Native Lobster served with Jelly of Spring Peas, Broad beans and Lemon Verbena (pictured)
Impress your dinner guests with this opulent salad, courtesy of John Williams, executive chef at The Ritz.

Ingredients
2 whole native lobsters
1 punnet micro herbs
20g sliced baby carrot
20g sliced radish
60ml diced ginger jelly
40g diced granny smith apple
20g shelled broad beans and peas
¼ bunch lemon verbena
8g caviar

For the lobster dressing:
4 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp soy sauce
½ tbsp chopped shallots
50ml olive oil
½ passion fruit, juiced

For the pea jelly:
100g cooked peas
½ leaf gelatine
2 tbsp crème fraiche
5 ml milk
seasoning to taste

Method
Prepare the pea jelly by puréeing peas, then add crème fraiche. Warm milk and add gelatine. Combine the purée and milk. Cool then pipe onto plate. Once set, cut into a neat circle.

Boil the lobster for 4 minutes. Remove the meat from shell. Combine ingredients for the dressing, then toss the lobster in the dressing.

Place the lobster meat on the pea jelly. Place ginger jelly, peas, broad beans and apple around the pea jelly. Toss micro salad, radish, carrot and verbena in dressing then scatter over the dish. Serve warm, finishing with caviar.


Clafoutis aux Peches
Pierre Koffman’s summer dessert is a variation on the traditional cherry clafoutis.

Ingredients
3 large peaches
250g sugar (for the syrup)
250ml water
4 eggs
150g sugar
300ml double cream
1 tablespoon flour sifted
2 tablespoons raspberry liqueur
10g butter to grease the dish.

Method
Preheat oven to 180 C/gas mark 4. Prepare a syrup with the water and 250g sugar. Bring to the boil and plunge the peaches in it. Simmer for no more than 3 minutes once the syrup starts to boil again. Remove the peaches with a slotted spoon, peel, halve and stone. Set aside.

Whisk the eggs and 150g of sugar together until frothy. Mix in the flour, add the cream and whisk until smooth. Add the liqueur and stir well.

Butter an ovenproof dish. Put the peaches in cut side down. Pour the batter over and cook in a preheated oven for 30 minutes or until set. Eat at room temperature.