homemade mushy peas

This is a fantastic recipe that is so quick and so simple and uses our reliable friends the frozen peas, which work really well here. Great with fish, meat or even as a vegetarian dish with a big dollop of butter on top.

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 bunch spring onions, chopped
• 1 large handful fresh mint, leaves picked
• 1 pound (500 grams) frozen peas
• 2 large knobs butter
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Heat the oil in a pan and add the chopped onions, mint, and peas. Cover and leave for a few minutes to steam. Mash with a potatomasher. You can do this with a food processor as well, just pulse it until smooth. Whether mashing or pulsing, when it's done add the butter and season very carefully, to taste. If the mixture appears too think, add more water

Ottolenghi's fritter roulette recipe

Makes eight fritters, to serve four.

3 free-range eggs
120ml coconut milk
75g self-raising flour
30g cornflour
¾ tsp ground cumin
1½ tsp ground coriander
½ tsp ground turmeric
3 tbsp coriander seeds
1¼ tsp salt
½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
225g peeled butternut squash (about a third of a butternut), grated
300g corn kernels (frozen or fresh)
3 spring onions, trimmed and thinly sliced
15g chopped coriander
½ red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped (or more, to taste)
Sunflower oil, for frying
3 limes, cut into wedges

Put the first 10 ingredients in a large mixing bowl and whisk to a homogeneous batter. Add the squash, sweetcorn, spring onions, coriander and chilli, and stir to combine. If the batter is too liquidy, just add more flour.

Pour enough sunflower oil into a medium frying pan to come 1cm up the sides. Place the pan over a medium-high heat for a few minutes, until the oil is hot. Scoop a heaped tablespoon of batter into the oil and cook for a few minutes on each side until golden-brown all over. Transfer to a plate covered with kitchen towel and keep warm.

Repeat with the remaining batter. Once all the fritters are cooked, serve hot, with lime wedges on the side to squeeze over. The dish goes well with a chutney like mango, bread and salad.

black pepper tofu

If you prefer meat, you can replace the tofu with chicken. I added brocoli, peas and green beans and that worked well too. The recipe says 8 chillies and 12 garlic, I would put one chilli and prehaps 4 garlic cloves but that's just me :-)

800g firm, fresh tofu
Cornflour, to dust the tofu
Vegetable oil, for frying
150g butter
12 small shallots (350g), peeled and thinly sliced
8 red chillies, thinly sliced
12 garlic cloves, crushed
3 tbsp chopped ginger
5 tbsp crushed black peppercorns 
3 tbsp sweet soy sauce
3 tbsp light soy sauce
4 tsp dark soy sauce
2 tbsp sugar
16 small, thin spring onions, cut into segments 3cm long

Cut the tofu into 3cm x 2cm blocks and toss them in cornflour, shaking off the excess. Pour in enough oil to come 0.5cm up the sides of a large frying pan, and bring up to frying heat. Fry the tofu in batches in the oil, turning the pieces as you go. Once they are golden all around, and have a thin crust, transfer to a paper towel.

Remove the oil and any sediment from the pan and throw in the butter. Once it has melted, add the shallots, chillies, garlic and ginger, and sauté for about 15 minutes on low-medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the contents of the pan are shiny and totally soft. While you wait, crush the peppercorns, using a pestle and mortar or a spice grinder. They should be quite coarse.

When the shallots and chillies are soft, add the soy sauces and the sugar, stir, then stir in the crushed pepper. Warm the tofu in the sauce for about a minute, then add the spring onion and stir through. Serve hot with steamed rice.

• Yotam Ottolenghi is chef/patron of Ottolenghi in London.

white bean and rosemary soup

• 1 lb white dried cannellini beans
• 4 cups onions, sliced
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 large fresh rosemary sprig (6-7 INCHES)
• 2 quarts chicken stock
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper

Directions:

1. 1
   In a medium bowl, cover the beans with water by at least 1 inch and leave them in the refrigerator for 6 hours or overnight. Drain.
2. 2
   In a large stockpot over low to medium heat, saute the onions with the olive oil until the onions are translucent, 10 to 15 minutes.
3. 3
   Add the garlic and cook over low heat for 3 more minutes.
4. 4
   Add the drained white beans, rosemary, chicken stock, and bay leaf. Cover, bring to a boil, and simmer for 30 to 40 minutes, until the beans are very soft.
5. 5
   Remove the rosemary branch and the bay leaf. Pass the soup through the coarsest blade of a food mill, or place in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade and pulse until coarsely pureed.
6. 6
   Return the soup to the pot to reheat and add salt and pepper to taste. Serve hot.