Dover sole with summer girolles, sage and butter

As it was my mum’s birthday, I really wanted to spoil her with this lunch. So after the squid was devoured, I chucked the grill on and set about on a speedy main course. There were only the three of us eating, so the evening before I had excitedly rushed home with a trio of lovely Cornish Dover sole. Having only cooked and eaten these prized fish on less than a handful of occasions, I was determined to cook them carefully and treat them simply. A bag of mushrooms, a slab of butter and few bits picked from the allotment were all that was needed. 

 
My mistake was in bringing the fish down to Brighton unprepared. I thought that my parents would want to be hands on and take interest in learning how to skin the fish. They were, although I wasn’t quite ready for the total mess that it would cause. At work, any mess is barely noticeable as it gets quickly slooshed away with a bucket of water. There was no such solution this time as scales sprayed across the kitchen, attaching themselves to the floorboards, fridge, clothing and hair. I felt so bad!

But once the fish was prepared and that total lead balloon had worn off a little, the rest of the dish came together in a flash. Simply grilled fish is always a pleasure to eat, especially when it emerges golden brown and sizzling from the oven and is swiftly doused in hot melted butter. Mushrooms and sage might seem a strange combination, but they provided a lovely contrast to the rich and meaty flesh. 

 
We were all stuffed to bursting after two plates of food, but of course there was cake. And cream. And clotted cream. And ice cream. Oh heavens! Dad had followed a particularly lovely Nigel Slater recipe for lemon cake, all sticky and dense, and with tangy candied sliced burnished on top. After half an hour of eating grace to try and find some extra stomach space, it was happily forked up to complete a memorable afternoon celebration.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

4 Dover sole, each about 400g in weight, skinned and trimmed 
2 large handfuls of girolle mushrooms, brushed clean 
1 clove of garlic, crushed 
A few sprigs of sage, leaves picked 
4 tbsp of butter 
1 lemon

 
Heat the grill to high. Line a large oven tray with greaseproof paper and rub with 1 tsp of olive oil and a good pinch of seasoning. Place the Dover sole on top and rub with a little more oil and seasoning. Slide under the hot grill for 8 minutes. 

 
Slice or tear the mushrooms into bite-size pieces if necessary.

Bring a large frying pan to a medium heat. Add the butter and melt, then toss in the mushrooms, crushed garlic clove and a pinch of seasoning. Fry for 4-5 minutes, tossing frequently, until caramelised on all sides. Add the sage leaves about halfway through, and allow them to slightly crisp in the hot butter.  

Carefully transfer the cooked fish to each plate. Squeeze half of the lemon juice into the butter and mushrooms and stir to combine, then spoon generously over the fish. Serve with the remaining lemon on the side.

Slow-cooked chuck steak ragu with pappardelle, girolles and sage leaves

The relationship between food and family and friends is extremely close and important to me. Growing up as part of a large family, my parents would often be busy cooking two or three different meals per evening for fussy children of different ages, and then finally themselves. Despite this, they always made sure that we all sat down and had dinner together at least 4-5 times a week, and this is something that I will be very keen to pass down when I am a father. Most of my memories involve food. Big family Sunday roasts with steaming joints of chicken. The day my dad called me to the kitchen to make me try a mussel he was cooking for a dinner party (I hated it!). Gazing through old cookbooks with my mum, and really wanting to make the cake that was a house in the shape of a boot, complete with a shredded wheat roof. Thinking about these times fills me with a warmth and happiness. Food is so much more than a fuel to keep us alive, it binds us socially, creates atmosphere and inspires. The wafting smell of bread baking in the oven does so much more than just produce a loaf for toast. 

As I have grown older this bond between food and my social life has become stronger. Nowadays I love nothing more than having friends over for a good meal and a glass or two of wine. I enjoy going out to nice restaurants and eating fancy food where every ingredient intrigues, but my fondest meals are ones where the food is a background constant to bustling conversation. For this kind of occasion, cooking should not dominate; I don’t want to be stuck in the kitchen away from my friends. But that doesn’t mean that it can’t be good, it just needs to be approached in a different way.

On this occasion a few weeks ago, a couple of old friends were coming over for dinner. At first I was just going to knock together a simple but tasty one pot supper, something casual to plonk on the table for everyone to help themselves. This was thrown out the window the day before however, when they told me that they had seen this blog, and they had high expectations of what they would be served. This presented me with a challenge, as I had to try and create something impressive that was practical socially. All those memories of dad making his dinner party staple of salmon en croute came flooding back!

Salmon was not on the menu for me however. I love making pasta, and the thought of a slow-cooked, meaty ragu sauce was too much to resist. This ticked all of my worry boxes; the homemade pasta and flavoursome sauce would please my guests, and I would be able to make the whole thing in advance.

I know that in the last month I have cooked beef a lot, with a tartare, a Wellington and now a ragu, but for this meal it worked perfectly. My only dilemma was the cut to use. Ideally I would have used something with bags of flavour like cheek, shin or oxtail. But as it was a Sunday and I had limited time on my hands, I left the butchers with a whopping piece of chuck. This is the joy of local, independent butchers; you can really talk to them about what you want to cook, and they have the wealth of knowledge to advise. So although they didn’t have the cuts I was looking for (but would have been able to order with a few days notice), I left with something that was still bang up for the job.

Britain has some wonderful mushrooms, and a quick gaze at this blog will tell you that I am obsessed with them. I am lucky that my local greengrocer has a wide range, and I really recommend searching in local food markets. But if you can’t get hold of girolles, then meaty, strong mushrooms such as chestnut or portabella will also work well.

Lots of this preparation can be done days before it is needed, and aside from the pasta, requires very little time. The sauce itself gets better over time, and any leftovers are great with potatoes or as a pie filling.

Serves 6-8

Ingredients:

For the pasta:

600g strong ‘00’ grade flour
6 eggs
1 tbsp salt
2 tbsp olive oil

For the ragu:

1.5kg chuck steak, cut into 2-3” chunks
200g plain flour
2 onions, finely chopped
1 head of garlic, chopped in half
2 celery sticks, finely chopped
2 carrots, finely chopped
200g button mushrooms, sliced
2 bay leaves
10 sprigs of thyme
2 sprigs of rosemary
½ bottle of red wine
1.5ltr good beef stock
Salt and pepper 

6 rashers smoked streaky bacon, finely chopped
2 shallots, finely chopped
50g butter, cubed
40g pecorino, finely grated

For the sage leaves:

About 30 sage leaves
3-4 tbsp vegetable oil, for frying

For the girolles:

About 30 girolle mushrooms, cleaned and trimmed
30g butter
½ clove garlic, finely chopped
Salt and pepper

To finish:

Grated pecorino
Extra virgin olive oil
Pepper


Get the ragu going to start with. Tip the plain flour onto a plate and season well, then use this mixture to lightly dust the chuck steak. Heat up a large, heavy bottomed saucepan to a high temperature and add 2 tbsp of oil. Cook the meat in batches, searing quickly until well browned on all sides before removing to a plate. When all of the meat is cooked, add the onions and celery. Sautee for a couple of minutes until coloured, then add the carrots, garlic, mushrooms and herbs. Continue to cook for another 2-3 minutes then pour in the red wine. Bring to the boil and allow to reduce slightly, then put the meat back into the pan. Cover with the stock, topping up with water if needed. Season well and bring back to the boil then turn down to a simmer. Cover with a lid and cook for about 5 hours, until the meat is falling apart. 
 

While the ragu is cooking, make the pasta. Add the flour, eggs, salt and oil to a food processor and blend until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Tip out onto a clean surface and pat together, then knead well for 10-15 minutes. The dough should be soft in texture but not sticky. Wrap well in cling film and put in the fridge to rest for at least half an hour, preferably longer.

When the dough has rested, remove it from the fridge and cut it into four pieces. Dust with a little flour, then pass one piece through the widest setting of a pasta machine. Repeat 7-8 times, or until the dough has a really elastic texture. Rub with a little more flour if it starts to turn sticky at this point. Now roll the pasta down through each setting on the machine you get to the second thinnest; number 5 on an Imperia machine. Sprinkle the outside of the sheet with flour, cover with a clean tea towel and repeat with the other pieces of pasta dough. Cut the sheets to the length that you want the pappardelle to be, then pass through the pasta cutter. Dust a cooling rack with flour and lay the individual strands down to dry. Keep the pasta separate and in one layer to avoid sticking. 
 

To prepare the sage leaves, pour the oil in a small frying pan and put on a medium-high heat. When hot, add the sage in batches and cook for 20-30 seconds, or until crispy, then remove to a plate lined with kitchen roll. Set aside until needed later.

After 5 hours, carefully remove the meat and a little of the liquid to a bowl and allow to cool. Once cold, finely shred the meat and set aside. Strain the remaining stock from the saucepan through a sieve into a large bowl and discard the cooked vegetables. Set a large, high-sided frying pan or skillet onto a medium-high heat and add a little oil. Add the bacon and cook for a couple of minutes until starting to colour, then add the shallot and fry for another 2 minutes. Now pour in the strained stock. Turn the heat up and allow to reduce by at least half, until just enough is left to hold the shredded meat. Turn down to a simmer and add the meat, combining well so that the sauce and meat come together as one. Taste and season if necessary, then turn the heat right down until needed. 
 

Fill a large saucepan with well-salted water and bring to the boil.

While the water is boiling, raise the heat of the ragu sauce pan to a simmer.

When the water boils add the pasta. Cook for 1-2 minutes, until just al dente.

While the pasta is cooking, add the cubed butter and grated pecorino to ragu sauce and stir well to combine. Taste and add salt and pepper if needed. As soon as the pasta is cooked, use tongs to transfer the pappardelle to the pan with the ragu and toss to combine well, so that every strand is coated. Remove from the heat.

Heat up a medium sized frying pan to a moderate temperature and add the butter for the mushrooms. Fry the garlic for 30 seconds then add the prepared girolles, cooking for another couple of minutes until crisp on the outside and soft in the middle.

To plate, spoon a generous amount of the pasta into bowl and top with some of the girolles and sage leaves. Grate over some more pecorino, grind some black pepper and drizzle a little extra virgin olive oil.

Spinach farfalle with mushrooms, celeriac puree, parma ham and a crispy hen’s egg

It feels like ages since I wrote my last blog entry. With December and Christmas being really busy, my Mondays off were spent rushing around sorting presents and preparing for the holidays and time in the kitchen was minimal. Now that we’re back into January I’ve been really looking forward to doing some proper cooking again, and this week was the first time that my Monday lunches got back on the road again. 

I am always thinking up different dishes to make on my days off, and I have been wanted to make this particular one for a while. As always, the dish started off as a simplified version, just some fresh tagliatelle with mushrooms and parma ham, but the more I thought about it, the more bits were added to it until it became the finished meal. No doubt I will think of other ways to further change it as time goes on... 

I have been making fresh pasta for many years now, but have always made ‘cut’ pasta or cannelloni. I have always wanted to have a go at making pasta shapes, but have never got around to it until now. The same goes for making a flavoured and coloured pasta dough. The idea of making farfalle with different coloured halves it not my own. I first saw it whilst watching Masterchef last year, when one of the finalists learned how to make it whilst placed in a London Restaurant (I seem to remember it being with Alain Ducasse but I’m not positive). It seemed like a great idea and fairly straightforward to make, but after making the batch for this recipe it definitely takes a knack to get the pasta just right. I found that the most important thing is making sure that the seam between the two dough pieces is properly sealed before running it through the machine, otherwise the seam can split which makes the finished dough look really messy. It’s well worth trying though as the little bow ties look great once finished. 

The inspiration for this dish came from eating plain pasta (not even any butter or oil!) with breaded chicken as a small child. I used to love the crispy bits of breadcrumb that would find their way into the pasta, and this is replicated with the deep fried egg. It’s funny how childhood eating memories influence the way we eat now, although I’m not sure I’ll be rushing back to syrup sandwiches any time soon!

The key with getting this dish right is balancing the flavours properly. The richness of the egg yolk and saltiness of the parma ham is cut by the acidity in the puree and the earthiness of the mushrooms. No one taste really dominates, they just come together and compliment one another when eaten at the same time. 

This dish can be changed slightly to make it vegetarian. In this case, swap the parma ham for a salty, tangy cheese such as a mild goat’s cheese. 

Serves 2

Ingredients:

For the pasta: 

200g ’00’ strong pasta flour, separated into two 100g amounts, plus more for kneading

2 eggs

50g spinach leaves, tough stalks discarded

1 tbsp olive oil

Salt

2 tbsp dried cous cous

For the crispy eggs:

3 large eggs

100g plain flour

75g panko flakes

Salt and pepper

2 tbsp white wine vinegar

Vegetable oil for frying, about 1.5-2 litres

For the celeriac puree:

1/3 of a large celeriac (about 300g), peeled and chopped into 1in pieces

3 tbsp whole milk

1 tsp wholegrain mustard

40g butter

Salt and pepper

200g fresh girolles, trimmed and cleaned with a brush

100g brown beech mushrooms, trimmed

15g dried porcini mushrooms

20g butter

1 tbsp olive oil

1/2 a lemon, juice only

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

To finish:

2 slices parma ham

A few shards of parmesan

A few rocket leaves

First make the pasta. Bring a medium saucepan of water to the boil, and when hot, blanch the spinach leaves for a minute. Immediately put the cooked spinach leaves into iced water and leave to cool. Thoroughly squeeze out the water from the leaves so that they are fairly dry. Place into a food processor and blitz until very finely chopped (they should be too dry to really form a puree). Add 1 of the eggs and a pinch of salt and blitz again until will combined. Tip in 100g of the ’00’ flour and mix again until the dough resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Pour onto a work surface and knead really well, until a smooth and elastic dough is formed that is not wet or sticky. Wrap with clingfilm and put in the fridge to rest for at least 30 minutes. 

Now make the plain pasta dough. Put the second 100g portion of flour into a cleaned food processor bowl and add the second of the eggs, the olive oil and a good pinch of salt and repeat the blitzing / kneading / resting process as the spinch dough. 

Using a pasta machine and a little extra flour, roll each dough through each of the thickness settings until you get to the second finest (I only really use the finest setting for filled pasta). Cut each sheet of pasta in half so that you have two narrow pieces of each dough, then cut each piece so that it is about 30cm long; this will make it much more manageable. Carefully brush one long edge of each spinach sheet to about 1cm in, then very gently position the long edge of one of the plain pasta sheets on top. Seal with your fingers. Roll the sealed combined sheet through the second thinnest setting on the machine and you should be left with a sealed sheet with one side spinach dough and the other plain. Cut into 4cm strips, then use a large circular cutter to form the outer edges. Try to make this as even as possible so that the join between the two doughs is in the centre. Squeeze the centre of the strips to form the bow tie shape. Gently flour the completed farfalle, then pour the cous cous onto a plate and position the pasta on top. The cous cous absorbs the moisture but will drop off in the pan whilst boiling. Set aside to dry whilst you prepare the rest of the recipe. 

While the pasta dough is resting, make the crispy eggs. Bring a pan of water to the boil and lower in 2 of the eggs. Cook for 1 minute, then turn the heat off, cover and leave for another 5 minutes. Remove the eggs and place in iced water mixed with the white wine vinegar. Allow to cool thoroughly, then peel the eggs very carefully. Set up 2 small plates and 1 small bowl. Put the flour on one plate, the panko on the other and beat the egg into the bowl. Season each element. Roll the eggs one at a time very gently in the flour to cover then dip into the egg. Finally transfer the eggs to the panko and roll around until fully covered with the breadcrumbs. Set aside until needed.

To make the puree, bring a large saucepan of salty water to the boil and when hot, add the chopped celeriac. Boil for about 10 minutes, or until tender before draining and putting into a food processor with the milk, butter, seasoning and mustard. Blitz very well before tasting and adjusting with milk/butter/seasoning as necessary. Pass through a fine sieve and into a bowl. Keep warm if near to serving, or cool and refrigerate if making in advance to reheat later. 

Put the porcini into a small bowl and cover with boiling water. Leave for 20 minutes to soak before draining, keeping the strained liquid for later. 

While the celeriac is cooking, make the crispy parma ham. Preheat the oven to 190ºC (Fan). Line a baking tray with baking parchment and lay the parma ham on top. Cook in the hot oven for 6-8 minutes or until very crisp. Drain on kitchen paper and break into small shards. 

Fill a large saucepan with water, add salt and bring to the boil. In a separate medium saucepan heat the deep frying oil to 170ºC. Finally, put a large frying pan onto a medium heat. 

When everything is hot, melt the butter with the olive oil in the frying pan. Add the soaked porcini and the garlic and fry for 1 minute, before adding the girolles and season well. At this point, put the farfalle into the boiling water and carefully lower the crumbed eggs into the hot oil. Add the beech mushrooms and lemon juice to the frying pan and cook for a minute, by which point the pasta should be ready. Lift the pasta using a slotted spoon and transfer to the pan with the mushrooms and gently stir everything together. Add a couple of tablespoons of the porcini liquid and cook for another minute, at which point the egg should have turned a golden brown in the oil. Remove from the oil and drain. 

To serve, spoon a little of the puree onto the middle of the plates and top with the crispy eggs. Arrange the farfalle around the egg and top with the mushrooms. Spoon a little of the buttery pan juices over the pasta. Scatter the parma ham, parmesan and rocket around the pasta and serve. 

Seared scallops with stuffed chicken wings, girolles and oyster beurre blanc

Another Monday, and another day off to make myself a nice lunch. This is starting to get into a bit of a routine, but one that I am certainly enjoying so far. Although I am often busy doing various bits and pieces, it’s really nice to have a couple of hours to be creative make something (hopefully) good to eat. The joy of this is also that I can cook whatever I want; I don’t have to cater for anyone else’s taste and I can experiment without the pressure of anything going wrong. It’s very relaxing too, I just put on the Saturday Kitchen that I invariably missed over the weekend in the background and get going. 

The only slightly weird thing about the Monday lunch routine comes with the eating. Although I really enjoy cooking everything on my own, I find sitting down to a meal such a sociable experience, and it’s almost an anticlimax to eat on my own. This is the funny thing about having days off in the week; Katie and most of my friends are at work, so often I end up pottering around by myself. For the most part I really enjoy this, I like how chilled out it can be, but it did get me thinking that there must be a load of others in the same boat. I’m tempted to look into creating some sort of Monday lunch supperclub, which would make these days off more sociable and open the opportunity to meet other likeminded foodies. I think it would also be a lot of fun, sitting with a load of strangers with a glass of wine and some good food on a random lunchtime. There are some slight practical problems with doing this though, such as the feeble amount of space available in my flat and kitchen, and working out the time that I would take to organise it to a high standard. But perhaps with a bit of thought and planning I can make something happen. We shall see!

Anyway, back to the recipe. I have wanted to include a scallop recipe in this blog for ages but have been very indecisive about which one. Scallops really are a fantastic and luxury ingredient and I relish every opportunity that I get to cook and eat them. They go well with a wide range of flavours, from grilled on the barbecue with garlic butter to the classic combo of peas and black pudding. For this recipe I wanted to do something slightly different, and have paired the scallops with chicken wings and in-season girolle mushrooms. 

Fish with chicken and mushrooms might sound like a slightly strange mixture, but it really does work. I first had the scallop and mushroom combination at the excellent Trangallan at Newington Green, and have wanted to have a go at it myself ever since. The stuffed chicken and crispy bacon that I have used add a lovely salty seasoning to the scallops, whilst the flavour of the mushrooms gives a mellow backnote. I really want the flavour of the scallops to be the main event of this dish, as it should be, and the other ingredients give a subtle support. The sauce brings everything together with the creamy butter and the tangy oysters. 

Chicken wings are often forgotten, and are dirt cheap. The butcher gave me the ones used in this recipe for free! But they are perfect for this recipe. Boning them is a little tricky at first, but once you get the hang of it it is easy to create perfect little pouches. The parts of the wing that you don’t use can be used when making the beurre blanc to add extra flavour, so nothing is wasted. 

A quick note on using microherbs and shoots. I think they can really be a bit faddy and are often overused (I am guilty of this myself!), but I really think that there is a place for them with a bit of thought. They do really pretty up a dish, which in this case would otherwise be a very brown plate of food. Taste is important too though, and they must add something in their own right. The salad fennel gives a slight aniseed taste, which adds another flavour dimension to the scallops and chicken. The broccoli shoots are lovely and peppery and can be used as an alternative to rocket or watercress. 

Serves 2

Ingredients:

6 large scallops, coral removed and kept for the sauce

2 tbsp lemon juice

1 large knob of butter

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

For the wings:

4 chicken wings

1 large handful fresh girolle mushrooms, brushed clean

1 garlic clove, finely chopped

1 shallot, finely chopped

1 sprig of thyme, leaves picked

2 tbsp parsley, finely chopped

40g butter

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

For the beurre blanc:

2 oysters

1 cup white wine

1/2 cup white wine vinegar

1/2 shallot, finely chopped

225g butter

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 tbsp parsley, finely chopped

Pepper

For the girolles:

12-15 girolles, left whole

1 garlic clove, finely chopped

20g butter

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

1 tbsp lemon juice

2 rashers smoked streaky bacon

1 small handful salad fennel leaves

1 small handful broccoli shoots

1/2 tsp lemon juice

2 tsp extra virgin olive oil

Salt and pepper

Start by making the mushroom stuffing for the chicken wings. Chop half of the girolles for the stuffing finely (making sure that you have kept 12-15 of the prettier ones for the garnish later), and cut the other half a little coarser, which will add texture. Heat a frying pan on a medium heat and add 20g of the butter and 1 tablespoon of olive oil. When hot, add the shallots, thyme and garlic and cook until soft. Add the girolles, squeeze over the lemon juice and sprinkle over some seasoning. Cook until the moisture has evaporated, then remove from the heat and set aside to cool down. 

While the musrooms are cooling, prepare the wings. You only want the large plump middle section of the wing, so cut the pointed end and the segment that joins to the body away and reserve for the sauce. Working carefully from one end, use a sharp knife and your fingers to ease the flesh away from around the two bones, leaving the skin intact. When you get to the bottom, you should be able to easily twist the bones away and be left with a boneless pocket. When the mushroom stuffing mixture is cool, stuff each wing with about a teaspoon; enough to plump up and fill the wing, but not so much that it’s bursting out. Compact the stuffing to get as much in as possible. 

When the wings are stuffed, wrap clingfilm around each one - sealing the hole over the stuffing tightly. Carefully make sure that the clingfilm is watertight around each one, so that no water can get in when they poach. 

Fill a small saucepan with water and bring to the boil. When the water is up to temperature, drop the wrapped wings in and poach for 3 minutes. Remove the wings from  the liquid and allow to cool without unwrapping. 

Heat the oven up to 200ºC (fan). Put a sheet of greaseproof paper onto a baking sheet and add the streaky bacon. When the oven is hot, cook the bacon for around 10-14 minutes, or until crispy. Remove from the oven and drain.

While the bacon is cooking, make the beurre blanc. Cut the butter into 1/2 inch cubes and return to the fridge to keep cold. Put the white wine, vinegar, shallot, scallop corals and leftover ends from the chicken wings into a small saucepan. Shuck the oysters and add to the saucepan with the liquid, then heat up the contents to a medium - high heat. The liquid will start to bubble away and reduce, and allow the liquid to evaporate until only 2 tablespoons are left. Strain the mixture, give the pan a quick clean and return the liquid to the saucepan. Lower the heat to low and start adding the cold butter, one cube at a time, whisking continuously. Only add another knob of butter when the last one has dissolved. When only 3 or 4 knobs of butter are left, remove the pan from the heat and continue to add the butter until the mixture is smooth. Taste and add lemon and seasoning to taste; the sauce might not need any salt as the oysters will already add this. Stir through the parsley and set aside. As the sauce cools it will thicken. I like it slightly thick so I can spoon it onto the plate, but you can carefully reheat it to loosen it up a bit. 

Put two non-stick frying pans onto a medium-high heat. Unwrap the cooled chicken wings, pat dry with kitchen paper and season. When the pans are hot, add some oil to one of them and fry the wings on the skin side for 2 minutes. Add 20g of butter and turn the wings over, then use a spoon to baste them with the foaming butter until they are a golden brown colour. Remove from the heat, drain and keep warm. Give that pan a quick clean and return to the heat.

In one of the pans cook the girolles. Add a little oil and a knob of butter to the pan and add the whole, cleaned mushrooms, the garlic and the lemon juice. Cook for 2-3 minutes until slightly softened, then season and remove the pan from the heat. Keep warm in the pan until ready to plate up.

As the girolles are cooking, sear the scallops. Pour a little oil into the other pan, and when hot, add the seasoned scallops. Cook for about a minute before turning over and adding the butter and frying for another minute, basting with the juices all the time. Squeeze over the lemon and remove from the heat.

Dress the fennel leaves and broccoli shoots with the lemon and oil in a small bowl.

To plate up, spoon some of the beurre blanc across the plate and top with the scallops. Arrange the chicken wings and girolles around the scallops and top with a scattering of the dressed leaves. Serve straight away.