Simon Rogan - Rogan

Simply created as a celebration of all the flavoursome and delicious herbs and baby vegetables that we produce, this is a showcase for the produce from Our Farm, demonstrating exactly what we are all about, so it seemed only right to call this dish after the land where we grow – Aynesome.

SERVES 4, AS A STARTER

Vegetable broth

3 large onions, halved

6 red peppers, halved and deseeded

6 plum tomatoes, halved

2 sprigs of rosemary

2 bay leaves

2 sprigs of thyme

tapioca flour, for thickening

Aynesome vegetables

a few sprigs of bronze fennel tops

6 mixed colour cherry tomatoes, peeled (see here) and halved

4 baby pigeon cabbage leaves

2 courgette flowers, halved

2 baby turnips, halved

5mm-thick slice of kohlrabi, cut into 4 small discs using an apple corer

4 tiny baby radishes

32 broad beans, shelled

2 baby courgettes, 1 green, 1 yellow, each cut into 8

8 cooked simane onion petals (see here)

Thai basil leaves and brassica flowers, to serve

To make the broth, preheat the oven to 200°C/180°C Fan/Gas Mark 6. Place the onions cut side down on a baking tray and bake for 40 minutes until golden. After 5 minutes, put the peppers, cut side down on another baking tray and bake in the oven for 30–35 minutes until soft and starting to char, then add the tomatoes on another baking tray for the last 20 minutes of cooking. If the onions or peppers are beginning to brown too much, move them to a lower shelf or cover them with foil to avoid the stock becoming too dark.

Once cooked, put the vegetables into separate large, heavy-based saucepans and add 2 litres of water to each, adding the rosemary to the tomatoes, bay leaves to the peppers and thyme to the onions. Bring the pans to the boil over a medium heat, then cover with lids, turn the heat down as low as possible and cook for a further hour. Strain each liquid through a fine sieve into a measuring jug, making a note of how much stock you have – aim for 1 litre per pan – then stir them together in a large, clean saucepan.

For every 500ml of vegetable broth, blend 15g tapioca flour and 30ml water to a paste. Add to the warm liquid and whisk over a low heat for 5–10 minutes until it has thickened to a broth consistency (do not let it boil).

While the stock is thickening, arrange the Aynesome vegetables evenly into four bowls and sprinkle over some Thai basil leaves and brassica flowers. Pour over the hot thickened broth and serve immediately.

NOTE: This recipe yields around 1 litre of each broth, which is more than you need. Keep the leftover broth in the fridge for up to a week.

GRILLED COURGETTES AND QUAILS’ EGGS WITH MARJORAM BUTTER

If you grow your own courgettes, use a few different-coloured varieties for maximum visual effect. We use whatever we have growing, but particular favourites are green Passandra F1 and yellow Easy Pick Gold. (This dish is a great way to use up a glut, too!) The grilled courgettes are served with butter sauce flecked with marjoram, which adds a sweet spiciness. Add this right at the end, though, as these subtle flavours can be lost during cooking. The soft-boiled quails’ eggs from our birds add a little extravagant luxury here.

SERVES 4, AS A STARTER

Grilled courgettes

selection of mixed-size different-coloured courgettes, such as Partner, Passandra, Alena F1

2 tbsp sunflower oil

Courgette purée

75g unsalted butter

300g large green courgettes, thinly sliced

100ml double cream

Marjoram butter sauce

2 tbsp sunflower oil

140g white onion, finely diced

50ml white wine vinegar

150ml white wine

10g marjoram leaves

160ml double cream

300g unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

Quails’ eggs

50ml white wine vinegar

12 quails’ eggs

salt, for seasoning

To make the purée, melt the butter in a large, heavy-based saucepan over a medium–high heat, then add the courgettes and sweat them for 5–6 minutes until tender and soft. Add the cream and cook for about 2 minutes to reduce the liquid, until the cream is almost split. Transfer to a blender and blitz until smooth. Season with salt and leave to one side.

Preheat a barbecue or grill to high.

To make the marjoram butter sauce, warm a large saucepan over a medium heat, add the oil and sweat the onion, stirring regularly, for 5–7 minutes until translucent. Deglaze the pan with the vinegar and wine, add half the marjoram and cook for 3–4 minutes until reduced to a syrup. Pass the syrup through a fine sieve into a medium saucepan, set the pan over a medium heat and add the cream, stirring well. Bring to the boil then reduce to a simmer. Gradually add the butter pieces, whisking constantly and adding more when the previous piece has melted and is incorporated into the sauce. Remove from the heat and season with salt.

Halve the courgettes, cutting any larger bits into chunks, coat in the oil and season with a pinch of salt. Cook on the barbecue or grill until charred and tender.

To cook the quails’ eggs, pour 45ml of the white wine vinegar into a wide bowl and carefully crack in all of the eggs, slightly spaced apart. Allow the eggs to sit in the vinegar for 2 minutes. Meanwhile, bring a medium saucepan of water to the boil and add the remaining vinegar. Turn down the heat and reduce to a simmer. Swiftly but carefully remove the eggs from the vinegar one at a time with a slotted spoon, transfer straight into the simmering water and cook all the eggs together for 1 minute 20 seconds. Remove and season with salt. They will look like little hard-boiled eggs because the vinegar sets the white around the yolk.

Spoon the courgette purée on to plates, then divide the grilled courgettes among the plates, distributing the shapes and sizes evenly. Finish the sauce with the remaining chopped marjoram and drizzle over. Carefully halve the eggs and add to each plate.

HERITAGE POTATOES WITH LOVAGE AND ONION ASH

We grow heritage potatoes at Our Farm, because they have a deeper flavour than most ordinary new potatoes, but a good organic baby potato will do just as well here. The maltodextrin for the onions is optional; it adds a white speckling to the black powder that, visually, gives it more depth and the appearance of real ash, but you can leave it out if you can’t get hold of it. Lovage is a staple in my mind and its pungent, musky overtones of anise, lemon and mint are perfect for livening up potato dishes – but be warned, a little goes a long way!

SERVES 6–8, AS A SIDE

Onion ash

1kg large white onions

50g maltodextrin (optional)

Confit potatoes

500g heritage baby potatoes, such as baby red King Edwards

300ml rapeseed oil

10g salt

2 bay leaves

1 tsp white peppercorns

4 garlic cloves, crushed

Caramelised shallot purée

350g shallots, sliced

1 tbsp sunflower oil

50g unsalted butter

70ml whole milk

salt, for seasoning

Lovage emulsion

100g flat-leaf parsley leaves

100g lovage leaves

300ml sunflower oil

2 soft-boiled eggs (cooked for 4 minutes)

Preheat the oven to 200°C/180°C Fan/Gas Mark 6. To make the onion ash, cut the unpeeled onions in half and place on a baking sheet lined with baking parchment. Bake for 1½ hours until black. Leaving the onions in the oven, reduce the heat to 110°C/90°C Fan/Gas Mark ¼ and dry them out for about 3 hours.