Sophie Dahl - From Season to Season - A Year in Recipes

SERVES 4

1 tablespoon of olive oil or butter, plus extra oil

1 onion, peeled and finely chopped

1 clove of garlic, peeled and finely chopped

2 handfuls of mushrooms, roughly chopped

500g/1lb 2oz of beef fillet, chopped into strips 1cm/½ inch wide and thick

1 teaspoon of paprika

Juice of ½ a lemon

A splash of vermouth

60ml/¼ cup of sour cream

A handful of fresh chopped parsley

Put a frying pan on a low heat and drop in the oil or butter. Add the onion and garlic and sweat for a few minutes, making sure they don’t brown. Add the mushrooms and cook until they are golden. Put this mixture to the side.

In the same pan, heat a little more oil and add the beef strips, the paprika and the lemon. Toss around. Cook for a minute or so, and then splash on the vermouth. Pour the mushroom and onion mixture back in the pan, cook for another minute but no longer, and then take off the heat and add the sour cream and the parsley. Mix it all together and serve with some simple boiled potatoes or rice.

Autumn Suppers

Salmon steaks with a wasabi coating

I adore the kick that wasabi gives to anything in its path. Buy it in powder form and add SLOWLY to dressings or mayonnaise, or if anyone you know goes to Japan, get them to bring you back some of the toxic green stuff in a tube.

SERVES 2

2 salmon steaks, about 175g/6oz each

Salt and pepper

For the rice

100g/¾ cup of wild rice

1 large beetroot/beet

1 pomegranate

1 tablespoon of olive oil

A small handful of fresh chopped mint

For the wasabi coating

2 tablespoons of mayonnaise

½ teaspoon of ground cumin

1 teaspoon of wasabi paste or powder mixed to a paste with water

Cook the wild rice (two parts water to one part rice) by boiling for 45 minutes. Leave to the side to cool.

Meanwhile, cover the beetroot/beet with water; bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for about 30 minutes until the beetroot/beet is tender. Drain, and when cool enough to handle, peel off the skin and cut the beetroot/beet into rough chunks.

Chop the pomegranate in half and extract the seeds. Add the pomegranate, beetroot/beet, olive oil and mint to the rice. Leave to the side.

Make the wasabi coating by mixing the mayonnaise, cumin and wasabi together. Taste and adjust if you want. Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/Gas 4.

Wash and dry the salmon, and season. Heat a griddle pan or ovenproof frying pan big enough to fit both salmon steaks and, when it is searing hot, drop the salmon in, skin-side down. Turn after 5 minutes or when the skin is brown and crispy. Take off the heat, carefully turn again, and spoon the wasabi mayonnaise onto the top of the salmon. Put the pan into the oven and cook for around 10 minutes until the glaze begins to brown. Serve on the wild rice.

Baked vegetables smothered in scamorza

Scamorza is an Italian cow’s milk cheese, available in most Italian delis. If you can’t find it, use mozzarella instead. The smoked scamorza lends a smoky depth to sauces and whatever it touches. It is also pretty bloody good on it’s own, eaten from the packet. This is a variation on a recipe given to me by my girlfriend Emma.

SERVES 2

1 large aubergine/ eggplant

Salt and pepper

2 tablespoons of olive oil

1 ball of smoked scamorza or smoked mozzarella (or use regular mozzarella)

For the pesto

1 large clove of garlic, peeled

A large handful of fresh basil

A few tablespoons of pine nuts

3 tablespoons of olive oil

30g/¼ cup of grated Parmesan

Salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/Gas 4.

Start with salting the aubergine/eggplant. Slice it lengthways, put on a tea towel and sprinkle it with sea salt. Turn after 20 minutes or so, and do the other side. Rinse and dry thoroughly.

Make the pesto in a big pestle and mortar by grinding up the garlic. Add the basil, keep mashing away, and then add the pine nuts. Slowly add the olive oil, and then the Parmesan. Season to taste.

Put all the aubergine/eggplant in an ovenproof dish and give it a good dash of olive oil. Cook for around 10 minutes. Take out and spread the pesto on a layer of aubergine/eggplant, followed by a layer of scamorza or mozzarella (if using). Repeat the process until everything is used up. Bake for around 30 minutes and serve with a crisp green salad.

Root vegetable cakes with a cheesy béchamel sauce

Basically, a bubble-and-squeak cake with melted cheese on top. You could also serve this as an accompaniment to roast beef or any meat. Children seem to like these, they are crispy outside and sweet and moreish on the in. Serve with a gravy, either meat eaters or a mushroom or onion one for non- meat eaters.

SERVES 4

2 sweet potatoes, chopped into rough pieces

2 parsnips, chopped into rough pieces

2 carrots, chopped into rough pieces

A handful of chopped curly kale

½ a celeriac, chopped into small pieces

A handful of spinach, chopped

½ a leek, cut into small rounds

2 knobs of butter

Salt and pepper

2 tablespoons of olive oil

For the sauce

500ml/2 cups of milk

A few slices of carrot and onion

A few sprigs of fresh parsley

A few peppercorns

1 tablespoon of butter

1 tablespoon of arrowroot

50g/½ cup of grated cheese

Salt and pepper

To make the sauce, put the milk in a saucepan with the carrot, onion, parsley and peppercorns. Bring to the boil, turn down and simmer for 5 minutes. Pour the milk into a Pyrex jug. Wash the saucepan out and dry, then melt the butter. Slowly add the arrowroot, stirring continuously. Very slowly add the milk, again stirring all the while. When this is incorporated and smooth, add the cheese and stir until it melts. Season to taste and if too thick, add a few more drops of milk.

Bring all of the vegetables EXCEPT the spinach and leek to the boil in a pan of salted water, cooking until soft. This should take about 15 minutes. Take the pan off the heat and mash the vegetables roughly with a knob of butter and some salt and pepper.

In a separate pan, heat a knob of butter and soften the leek and spinach for a few minutes. Mix the spinach and leek into the coarsely mashed vegetables and form into small cakes. Pop in the fridge for an hour or so.

In a big frying pan, heat the olive oil. Put the cakes in and cook for a few minutes on each side, until they are lacy and golden. Serve with a big spoon of sauce.

Tofu lasagne

Something I used to make a lot when I lived in New York on a brisk night, that once again, even fussy children seem to like. If your carnivores are horrified by tofu, just substitute 400g/14oz of coarsely minced beef, and brown in a very hot pan with the olive oil. Instead of leaving to one side, carry on cooking with the sauce, and assemble as you would the original.

SERVES 4

300g/1 block of firm tofu, drained, sliced across to make 1cm/½ inch thick rectangles (and patted dry with kitchen towel)

4 tablespoons of finely grated Parmesan

Salt and pepper

4 tablespoons of olive oil

4 portobello mushrooms, thickly sliced

200g/7oz of cherry tomatoes