Crunch time
A tasty line-up of textures
Chicken & date lettuce cups with lemon yoghurt
This irresistible flavour combo, served here as finger food, can easily be morphed into a salad if you’d rather.
2 tsp butter 1⁄2 cup (75g) almonds, coarsely chopped
2 tsp sumac
Pinch of chilli flakes (optional) 4 tbsp very finely chopped
red onion
1 tsp red wine vinegar
3 medjool dates, stones removed,
finely chopped
1 cup (200g) shredded cooked chicken 1⁄2 cup coriander, roughly chopped 1⁄2 cup thick, plain yoghurt 1 lemon, finely grated zest
24 small cos or iceberg lettuce
leaves or similar
Seeds from 1 pomegranate
In a heavy-bottomed frying pan over medium-high heat, melt the butter and toast the almonds for 6-7 minutes, until golden and fragrant.
Remove from the heat, stir in the sumac and chilli flakes (if using) and season well with sea salt. Set aside.
Put the red onion in a bowl, pour over the vinegar, stir and let sit for a few minutes before mixing in the dates, chicken and coriander.
In a small bowl, combine the yoghurt and lemon zest and season with sea salt.
Arrange the lettuce leaves on a plate, put a teaspoon of the chicken mixture into the centre of each leaf, top with a dollop of the yoghurt and sprinkle with a few pomegranate seeds. Makes 24 portions
Warm farro, apple & beetroot salad
This crispy, colourful salad comes with the perfect foil – a creamy goat’s cheese dressing. It makes a great vegetarian meal but is also good served as a side to white meat or duck.
3 beetroot, stalks and skins intact 11⁄2 cups farro, well rinsed 6 tbsp extra virgin olive oil 3 handfuls watercress sprigs 1 radicchio, leaves detached from
central stem and torn into pieces 2 crisp red apples, halved, cored,
cut into 2cm dice
1 stick celery, very thinly sliced on the diagonal 3⁄4 cup pecans, roasted 1⁄2 cup dried cranberries
1 small red onion, finely chopped 100g creamy goat’s cheese Juice of 1 orange
Juice of 1 lemon
Heat oven to 200C. Put the beetroot in a roasting dish and dry-roast for 1-11⁄2 hours or until they feel very tender when a skewer is inserted into the middle. Remove from the oven and set aside until cool enough to handle. Peel and slice into thin wedges.
Meanwhile, boil the farro in plenty of water until al dente, then drain and put in a bowl. Add 2 tablespoons of the oil and mix well, then taste and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Combine the watercress and radicchio in a wide bowl and sprinkle with the farro. Sprinkle over the apples, celery, pecans, cranberries and onion.
Put the goat’s cheese, citrus juices and remaining oil in a small food processor and blend until smooth. Taste and season, then drizzle over the salad and serve. Serves 6
Raspberry bombe
This is a real classic: it can be made ahead, and is easy and delicious. You can use plain meringues (homemade or bought, but avoid the hard industrial types) or meringues in a flavour that goes well with raspberries, such as chocolate or almond.
500g fresh or frozen raspberries 3 tbsp icing sugar, sifted 600ml cream
1 tbsp brandy or liqueur (such as
Grand Marnier)
12 medium meringues Fresh or freeze-dried raspberries and chopped pistachios (or use chocolate if using chocolate meringues, almonds if using almond meringues, etc), to serve
Put the raspberries in a food processor and process to a puree. In batches, pass the puree through a sieve to remove the seeds. Stir the icing sugar through the puree and set aside.
Whip the cream to soft peaks and stir in the brandy or liqueur. Set aside 1 meringue and crush the rest into large pieces. Stir these through the cream then gently swirl through a few tablespoons of the raspberry puree.
Line a 25cm x 11cm loaf tin with plastic wrap (leave enough overhang to cover the top). Pour the cream mixture into the tin, cover the top with the overhanging plastic wrap and freeze for at least 24 hours and up to 5 days (you can freeze for longer, but the remaining puree needs to be used up in 3 days).
Remove dessert from the freezer 15 minutes before serving.
Turn onto a platter and scatter with the reserved meringue, crushed fresh or freeze-dried raspberries and chopped pistachios. Serve with the remaining puree. Serves 8-10