radish, pecorino salad w/ pomegranate and truffle oil, bocca di lupo, london

Strawberry Granita

“A famine of snow, they themselves say, would be more grievous than a famine of either corn or wine.” 18th century author and traveller Patrick Brydone's keen observation indicates not only the importance of chrystalline matter in the development of a cultures cuisine but that this pivotal moment was due in no small part to the arab influence on southern Italian cuisine.
The snow in question is that nestled around Mount Etna on the island of Sicily. The snow provided an icy alchemy for the arabs who used it to make sarbat (later to become granita and sorbets).
Unlike ice cream and sorbets you dont need an ice-cream machine to make granita.
Get hold of the juiciest Irish strawberries to make what could become a regular cooling ingredient in your freezer this summer.
In Sicily Granita are often served, for breakfact, with a dollop of whipped cream alongside warm brioche for dunking.

Ingredients

450g strawberries
400ml water
200g sugar
Juice of 1 lemon
Make a stock syrup with the water and sugar (Mix the water till the sugar dissolves). Wash the strawberries and leave them to dry. Blitz them with the lemon juice till you get a pulp. Add the stock syrup and blitz for about 30 seconds. Pour the mixture into a container and put into the freezer, preferably overnight.

Ken Doherty is a chef and journalist

Japanese Sainbaizu Dressing

Umami might sound like the name of a Marvel comic strip character battling to the purge the earth of dark and pernicious forces but along with sweet, salty, bitter and sour it more humbly represents one of the five tastes. According to food scientist Harold McGee bonito fish flakes (katsuobushi), here representing umami, the fifth taste, are “to the Japanese tradition what a concentrated veal stock is to the French.” Umami (translates roughly as delicious or tasty), a natural glutamate, initially found in seaweed by Japanese chemist Kikunae Ikeda, enhances and gives body to food.
Parmesan cheese, fish sauce, soy sauce, mushrooms and tomato ketchup also satisfy our umami cravings.
This vinegar dressing gives a welcome fragrance to a wakame and cucumber salad. Deepens and concentrates stocks and soups (Bonito flakes are the key ingredient in Dashi a Japanese stock). Good with quick fried squid, foil baked whole fish and as poaching liquer for fish fillets.

Ingredients

250mls rice wine vinegar.
320mls water
25mls soy sauce.
60g sugar.
dash of mirin.
2 or 3 tablespoons bonito flakes

Bring the rice vinegar, water, sugar, mirin and soy to a boil til the sugar dissolves. Take off the heat and stir in the bonito flakes. Leave infuse for about ten minutes. Strain the liquid, bring to the boil again and let it cool. Refrigerate after use.

Ken Doherty is a chef and journalist

Sorrel Syrup

It is not often that a herb comes with both a knockout description and a warning. Sorrel, says Richard Maybey, is “marvellously cool and sharp when raw like young plum skins, but perhaps too acid for some palates”. Although sorrel aids digestion it can be too astringent for some. Its tangy, lemony flavour is due to high levels of ascorbic acid. In fact those with kidney problems should not over-indulge in this spinach-like perennial. In Jamaica red sorrel is used to make a refreshing cold drink. Common sorrel, no relation to Jamaican, is a good substitute and is avaliable here for most of this, so far glorious, summer.

Ingredients

Cut or tear the sorrel leaves and put them in a pot with enough water to barely cover. Add the star anise and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for about ten minutes. Take the pot off the heat, cool and infuse overnight. The next day strain the liquid into a clean pot, add the sugar or honey (the sweeter the better), lemon juice and the ginger powder (if are using fresh ginger cut into thin slices and add them to the simmering sorrel at the beginning). Boil the liquid again until the sugar dissolves and it reduces a little. Strain again if using powdered ginger, pour into strerilised jars and refrigerate. Dilute and serve with sparkling water, champagne, cava or prosecco.

1 kg Sorrel
2 tablspoons ginger
1 star anise
1 Lemon
Sugar or honey
water

Ken Doherty is a chef and journalist

Persian Carrot Jam

Those used to lathering their toast with marmalaide, honey, strawberry and rasberry jam will, of course, scoff at the notion of eating carrots first thing in the morning. But this unusual jammy delight should appeal to all those with the sweetest tooth. This recipe was inspired by a recent trip to the Persian emporium Persepolis, in Peckham, south London, run by Sally Butcher and her husband Jamshid. Sour cherries sit alongside dried whey balls, herbs and spices nestle alongside dried limes and rose petals and, no doubt, if it can be pickled and preserved they will have it. Videos, cds, musical instruments and rugs give the shop a more bazaar feel. Freshly baked (in Tehran!) pastries and sweets decorate the window and would tempt most passers by.
We left with our wallets lighter, our bags heavier, a badge proclaiming 'I love Peckham' and a sense that a little known cuisine had been enthusiastically shared to total strangers. Its that sort of shop.
A recent book 'Persia in Peckham: Recipes from Persepolis' can only add to our understanding of Iran's rich culinary legacy.
This jam is great spread on hot toast or mixed into plain yogurt. Also interesting as an accompaniment to grilled fish or added to chicken or lamb casseroles.

Ingredients

600g carrots.
300ml water.
400g sugar.
1 dried lime.
1 lemon
1 tablespoon rose water
Peel the carrots and grate or julliene them into small strips. Mix the sugar with the water and bring to the boil. Add the carrots, lemon juice and dried lime and simmer until the carrots are cooked and the jam thickens. Add the rosewater at the end. Pour the jam into a liquidizer and blitz until you get a pulpy fruity mess. This gives the jam a more spreadable quality. Pack into sterilized jars and refrigerate. Best used within a couple of months.

Ken Doherty is a chef and journalist