STAR INGREDIENT Diana Henry’s caper-based recipes

Do you have half a jar of capers languishing in the back of the fridge? Dig them out and try one of these lip-smacking new recipes

There are some ingredients – ones I particularly love – that make my children raise an eyebrow. They make this ‘Really? Again?’ face when I suggest dishes that contain smoked paprika (the flavour of Spain, the essence of chorizo), feta (cold, salty and so good with anything warm and sweet, such as roast sweet potatoes), anchovies (more salt, and an intense umami fishiness) and, most of all, capers. I am never without a ready supply of all these foods. Capers are the pickled flower buds of the caper bush and mean more saltiness (they’re preserved in salt or brine), but in gorgeous little herbal bursts. Like anchovies, capers have strength and pungency (it doesn’t take many to make a difference) and taste of the Med. They have a sun-baked quality. I always fancy I can smell the garrigue – the herbs and low bushes that cover the ground in the Mediterranean countryside – as I eat them (they make me think of wild thyme particularly).

Capers preserved in brine need to be rinsed before use; those packed in salt need to be soaked in water, then rinsed. Their saltiness is a plus, but you don’t want it to overwhelm. Buy the smaller type of caper if you can. It means that when you add them to a sauce – say, one made by deglazing the frying pan with dry vermouth then adding double cream, a drop of Dijon and some lemon – you don’t have to chop them, you’ll just encounter tiny salt bombs as you eat the sauce (spooned over, one hopes, griddled chicken thighs or a thick pork chop). If you have capers, garlic, dried chilli, lemons and olive oil, you can always have a supper that enlivens. The pasta recipe I share on page 74 is savoury-sweet, but you can scale things back and make an even simpler sauce. Last night, because there wasn’t much in the fridge, supper was spaghetti with capers fried in olive oil, chilli, parsley, lemon and garlic. I could have added chopped anchovies too. This oily anointment has uses beyond pasta. It’s good spooned over baked sea bass, seared tuna, griddled lamb chops, even burrata. In fact, capers love fat – because they provide such a contrast – so they’re good added to olive oil, butter and cream, but also with egg yolks (warm hard-boiled eggs with a caper dressing is one of the most deeply satisfying lunches). They’re good with starchy foods too – toss them with warm waxy potatoes (along with chopped shallots, garlic, oil and lemon) – as well as with any vegetable that’s sweet, such as roast peppers.

I rarely have all the herbs – mint, parsley and basil – that you need to make classic Italian salsa verde, but I’ve often made a simpler green relish with just one of these herbs, capers and garlic, chopped and bathed in extra virgin olive oil and spritzed with lemon. Who would have thought that such an unusual ingredient – pickled flower buds – could be so useful.