Nigel Slater’s Dish of the Day episode 1: Nigel proves that the food we buy week in week out can always be exciting as he introduces us to some new delicious flavour combinations to reinvigorate the weekly shop. Recipes include ricotta beefburger, sesame seed salmon with mirin, and lemon and thyme cake.
Nigel Slater shows how, with a bit of culinary creativity, he turns the contents of his weekly shop into seven delicious dishes – one for every day of the week. Nigel Slater OBE is an English food writer, journalist and broadcaster. He has written a column for The Observer Magazine for over a decade and is the principal writer for the Observer Food Monthly supplement. Prior to this, Slater was a food writer for Marie Claire for five years.
Nigel Slater’s Dish of the Day episode 1
Lemon and thyme cake
A simple, moist lemon sponge soaked with thyme and lemon syrup. Tastes wonderful served with thick, creamy Greek yoghurt.
Method:
- Pre-heat the oven to 160C/325F/Gas 3. Line a 900g/2lb loaf tin with baking parchment.
- Cream the butter with the sugar in a food mixer until pale and fluffy. In a separate bowl sift together the flour and baking powder then mix with the almonds.
- Lightly beat the eggs then fold them into the butter mixture in two or three sessions, beating them in thoroughly each time. If the mixture looks as if it is about to curdle, stir in some of the flour.
- Grate the zest from the lemon and mix it with the thyme leaves. Pound the two together with a pestle, or some other heavy weight, and stir into the cake mixture.
- Gradually mix in the flour, baking powder and almonds.
- Spoon the cake mixture into the lined tin and bake for 45 minutes (if dividing the mixture into smaller tins reduce the time accordingly).
- For the topping, dissolve the sugar in the juice of the lemons over a moderate heat and stir in the thyme leaves (a few flowers would be good here too). As the cake comes from the oven, spike the surface with a skewer and spoon over the syrup.
- Leave to cool and serve in slices with thick yoghurt.
Spicy stuffed pitta
A super quick, warm pitta sandwich of lightly spiced courgette slices and juicy tomatoes.
Method:
- Preheat the grill.
- Grind the cumin and coriander seeds with the garam masala in a mortar and pestle and add the oil.
- Thinly slice the courgettes and mix with the spice oil.
- Place the courgettes in a pan with the tomatoes and cook for 6-8 minutes.
- Toast the pitta bread under the grill.
- Fill the pittas with the courgettes and tomatoes and squeeze down to release the tomato juice.
Peppers with chickpeas and harissa
Fire up peppers and chickpeas with spicy harissa paste for a quick, tasty weeknight supper.
Method:
- Pour the olive oil into a large frying pan over a medium heat.
- Add the sliced red and yellow pepper to the pan and allow to soften for 2-3 minutes.
- Add the cherry tomatoes to the pan and cook for a further two minutes, gently squashing the tomatoes with a wooden spoon to release their juices.
- Mix in the harissa paste.
- Carefully pour the chickpeas, and the water in which they were stored, into the pan. Stir, then allow them to heat through thoroughly for 3-4 minutes.
- Season with salt and the juice of half a lemon.
- Add a handful of fresh basil leaves right at the end of cooking, so they wilt under the residual heat. Serve immediately.