Need something delicious to feed your hungry guests for your holiday party? Jamie Oliver — aka The Naked Chef — shares recipes that are sure to get everyone into a festive mood.
PAN-SEARED SCALLOPS WRAPPED IN PANCETTA WITH CREAMED JERUSALEM ARTICHOKES
Makes 16 scallops
INGREDIENTS
TK Jerusalem artichokes, peeled (can substitute new potatoes or celery root)
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 handful of fresh lemon thyme, leaves picked
Butter
Extra virgin olive oil
6-8 slices of pancetta or bacon
Optional: sticks of fresh rosemary
Juice of 2 lemons
16 Chinese soup spoons
DIRECTIONS
First of all, cut your peeled Jerusalem artichokes into rough chunks and put them into a sauté pan of butter, oil, thyme, salt and pepper. Heat on high for a minute or two. Cover the pan, lower the heat and cook until the Jerusalem artichokes are tender/soft. (If you use potatoes or celery root you should boil them in a pot of salted water.) While the Jerusalem artichokes are cooking, bash up half the thyme with a mortar and pestle (or in a metal bowl using the end of a rolling pin) and stir in 6 tablespoons of olive oil. Rub this over the scallops and the pancetta before wrapping each scallop in a slice of pancetta. Secure each one with a rosemary stalk or cocktail toothpick and place in the fridge.
When you artichokes are cooked put them into a food processor and whiz it up until really fine (or simply mash it.) Loosen with 4 or 5 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and season well to taste. Get a nonstick pan hot (you don’t need to add any oil). Put the scallops in and cook them for just 2 minutes on each side until the pancetta is nice and crisp, by which time the scallops should be perfect inside. When you turn the scallops over to cook them on the second side, get your soup spoons on a tray and put a dollop of Jerusalem artichoke in the bottom of each one.
Just as the scallops are finishing, sprinkle in the remaining thyme-it’ll crisp up in 20 seconds. Remove the scallops and thyme, and put one scallop and thyme on each spoon. Allow the pan to cool a little, then squeeze in the lemon juice and a couple of tablespoons of olive oil. Stir in any sticky goodness stuck to the bottom of the pan and then drizzle this dressing over each scallop.
GRILLED MARINATED MOZZARELLA WITH CRUNCHY BREAD, SMOKED BACON AND A BLACK OLIVE AND LEMON DRESSING
This is an absolutely genius combination . It’s not very often that mozzarella gets cooked in a credible way, but this one time it does. I love the whole idea of putting the bread, mozzarella and bacon together because when cooked they complement each other so well-the bread gets really crisp and soaks up all the lovely juices, the milky mozzarella starts to melt and get really gooey. Mini ones make great canapés.
INGREDIENTS
1 loaf of ciabatta
8 slices of thinly sliced bacon or pancetta, cut in half cross-wise
Zest of two lemons
4 large buffalo mozzarella cheeses
8 sticks of fresh rosemary, cut in half cross-wise
1 clove of garlic
Extra virgin olive oil
For the dressing
1 good handful of nice black olives, pitted
1 fresh red chili, seeded and finely chopped
5 tablespoons lemon juice
5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
DIRECTIONS
Remove the crusts from the ciabatta and tear up into rough ½-inch pieces. Throw into a bowl with the bacon and lemon zest. Divide each mozzarella into 16-similar sized pieces and add to the bowl. Keeping the leaf tips on the rosemary sticks, remove the lower leaves and then smash these up with a mortar and pestle with the garlic. Stir in 8 tablespoons of olive oil, then pour this mixture over the bread, cheese and bacon. Marinate for anything from 15 minutes to an hour.
Thread you mozzarella and bread onto your rosemary sticks, weaving the bacon in and around. Line up the kebabs on a wire rack and place under the grill on a very high heat until the bread and bacon are golden and crisp and the mozzarella is nice and gooey. While this is grilling, make sure you keep an eye on it, as it can turn into a charred kebab very quickly. To make the dressing, chop up the olives and mix with the chili, 5 tablespoons of the lemon juice and the same amount of olive oil. Season to taste.
To serve the kebabs, plate the mini-skewers on a platter and serve the dressing as dipping sauce.
MINTED PEA SOUP WITH CRISPY PANCETTA, BREAD AND SOUR CREAM
This is a really addictive, thick soup that takes no time to make. I made it just at the start of summer, when the peas were really small, sweet and burst in your mouth. If you can do that then great, but in a way I think making a soup out of fresh peas is a bit of a waste really because spring peas are best cooked for just a couple of minutes in boiling water and served quite simply. I’ve got to be honest, when I made this with a package of frozen peas, it was brilliant. With a nice hint of mint, you can serve this soup all year round and it will always be a treat.
INGREDIENTS
½ loaf stale white bread
extra virgin olive oil
1 large handful of fresh mint, leaves picked
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
12 slices of thin pancetta or bacon
1 bunch of scallions, ends trimmed and roughly chopped
2 pats of butter
1 lb 2 ounce frozen peas
2 pints chicken stock
7 tablespoons heavy cream
4 teaspoons sour cream
DIRECTIONS
Preheat your oven to 350 degree F. Take the crusts off the bread and pinch off irregular dice-size pieces. Put these into a roasting pan and drizzle with a little olive oil, scatter over some of the mint leaves and season. Drape you pancetta over the top and cook until bread and pancetta are crunchy and golden-around 15-20 minutes. Meanwhile, in a medium to large saucepan, slowly fry the scallions and remaining mint in butter for about 3 minutes, or until soft. Turn the heat up, add your frozen peas and the chicken stock and bring to a boil. Now lower the heat, add the heavy cream and simmer gently for 15 minutes.
The next thing is to puree the soup until it’s very smooth (you may want to do this batches). Correct the seasoning very carefully to taste-really think about this bit and get it just right. Remember: add, taste, add, taste. By this time your bread and pancetta should be nice and crisp, ladle the soup into your demi-tasse cups sprinkle over your brad, mint leaves and pancetta. Add a little sour cream and drizzle with some peppery extra virgin olive oil.
STEAMED PORK BUNS CHINESE STYLE
Makes 8 buns
INGREDIENTS
For the filling
Olive oil
2 7 ounce pork chops, boned
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon five-spice powder
3 cloves of garlic, peeled and sliced
1 inch piece of fresh finger, peeled and sliced
2 dried chilies, crumbled
1 wineglass of fresh orange juice
For the buns
1 » ounce package of active dried yeast
14 tablespoons tepid water
2 scant cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup cornstarch
1 teaspoon salt
3 ½ tablespoons butter
For the pork
6 tablespoons hoisin sauce
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon sweet chili sauce
Optional: 1 handful of fresh lime leaves
To serve
Soy sauce
Sweet chili sauce
DIRECTIONS
Heat a large frying pan and add a splash olive oil. Season the chops with salt, pepper and five-spice powder and fry on both sides until browned and cooked through. Add the garlic, ginger and chilies, and continue to fry for a minute. Add the orange juice, reduce by half, then pour the contents of the pan into a bowl and leave it to cool.
Empty the yeast into a second bowl and add half the tepid water. In another bowl, sift the flour, cornstarch, and the salt together and rub in the butter. When the yeast has bubbled up, pour in the rest of the water and then add that to the flour and butter. Mix to form a soft dough. Leave to rise in a warm place, covered with plastic wrap, until it has doubled in size, then break it into pieces about the size of a walnut and shape into little round balls.
Put one of the chops into a food processor together with all the juice remaining in the mixing bowl, and pulse until fine. Cut up the other chop coarsely by hand to give you good texture, and add all the pork back to the bowl with the hoisin, the sesame oil and the chili sauce. Mix well.
What I like to do for extra fragrance is line the bottom of a bamboo steamer, colander or your normal steamer with lime leaves. Take one of the risen dough balls and flatten it out on the palm of your hand until it measures about 2 ½ inches in diameter. Press it down in the middle so it’s slightly cup-shaped, and put a teaspoon of the pork mix in the middle. Gently wrap the sides of the dough up around the filling, pinch and seal it up, and place sealed-side down on the lime leaves in the steamer. Repeat with the other dough balls. Leave a gap of about ¾ inch between the buns to give them room to puff up (or you could steam them in 2 or 3 layers at once in batches, depending on your steamer). Allow the buns to sit and prove, again for 5 minutes before you steam them. Put the lid on and steam over a pan of boiling water for about 10 minutes, until the buns are cooked and the filling is hot (cut one open to check). Serve with little bowls of soy sauce and sweet chili sauce to dip the buns in.
POMEGRANATE AND GIN COCKTAIL
This cocktail is great served at the end of a meal. The first time I had it was in a bar called MG Garage in Sydney where they brought out frozen glasses, frozen gin, and a tray full of pomegranates at the end of our meal. Since then I’ve used it as a good trick after a meal to clean the palate and relaunch the conversation. Buy a good quality bottle of gin-you normally get what you pay for. Pop it in the freezer for an hour, along with a shot glass for each of your guests.
Peel some pomegranate and remove the beautiful deep purple-red capsules from inside. At then end of a meal, simply fill your shot glass with pomegranate seeds, pour in your iced gin and shoot the cocktail back. Don’t swallow until you’ve crunched the pomegranate seeds and got a real burst of fragrance and flavor in your mouth. Then swallow the lot and continue the conversation…or have another one.
For cocktail parties, pass the shot glasses on a tray to generate conversation.