“We are in the midst of multiple crises; a climate crisis, a cost-of-living crisis, a housing crisis etc and what this ultimately has led to, in my opinion, is a community crisis. We are all craving community, in one way or another, and coming together to share a meal is the ultimate way to experience that.”
Rosie Kellett’s new Sunday Times bestseller recipe book In For Dinner, published by Square Peg, is out now. Here’s a little taste of what to expect…
Browned Butter, Almond, Summer Fruit Cake
“This cake is the epitome of summer: it’s sticky, jammy, fresh and not too sweet. The browned butter and ground almonds give it a beautiful nuttiness and it’s just dreamy with a dollop of crème fraîche on top, on a warm summer’s day” Serves 8 generously.
Ingredients
- 250g unsalted butter 370g icing sugar, sifted
- 200g ground almonds
- 80g plain flour
- a pinch of sea salt
- 220g egg whites (save the egg yolks for tiramisù!)
- 3 tsp vanilla extract
- 100g berries
- 1 ripe peach, sliced into half-moons (tinned also work well)
- crème fraîche, to serve
Method
- Preheat the oven to 170°C/150°C fan/gas mark 3. Grease and line a 21cm round tin.
- Melt the butter in a saucepan over a medium-high heat and continue to cook until it starts to brown, swirling the pan and keeping an eye on it so it doesn’t turn from brown to burnt. Once the milk solids have gone a nutty brown, take the pan off the heat and leave to cool.
- Whisk together the icing sugar, ground almonds, plain flour and salt in a large bowl.
- Add the egg whites and vanilla and stir until combined, then add the cooled brown butter and mix again.
- Pour the batter into the tin and put the tin into the fridge for 15 minutes until the batter has slightly firmed up.
- Sprinkle the fruit on top, pressing the berries and slices of peach halfway into the batter.
- Bake for 1 hour 15 minutes, covering loosely with foil after 50 minutes so it doesn’t brown too much on top.
- Let the cake cool completely in the tin, then serve with a light dusting of icing sugar and a dollop of crème fraîche.
Confit Cherry Tomatoes & Labneh on Toast
This is my favourite way to preserve summer cherry tomatoes. It’s a vibe any time of day, but as a slow Sunday breakfast this toast really shines. Once confited, these tomatoes will keep for up to 1 month in the fridge. Once you have made the labneh and confited the tomatoes, you can whip up this meal in seconds, so it’s a great one to prep for the week and come to when you are short of time. It’s not just break- fast: the tomatoes are good on everything from savoury pancakes to eggs, pasta to couscous and polenta – use them far and wide! When you have eaten all the tomatoes you may well have some confit oil left over – hold on to this, as it is brilliant to add to salad dressings or use as a cooking oil, adding extra flavour to everything it touches.
Serves 4-6 as a substantial breakfast or light brunch.
Ingredients
- 400g cherry tomatoes 200ml olive oil
- a pinch of sea salt 700ml full-fat yoghurt zest of 1 lemon
- ½ tsp sea salt
- To serve:
- 6 slices of good bread (I like to use
- a wholemeal sourdough; use gluten- free bread to keep this recipe GF)
- 1 clove of garlic, peeled
- sea salt and ground black pepper
Method
- Put the cherry tomatoes, olive oil and a pinch of sea salt into a medium saucepan over the lowest heat possible and leave to confit for at least 1 hour, and anywhere up to 3 hours.
- To make the labneh, mix the yoghurt with the lemon zest and ½ tsp sea salt.
- Place a sieve over a bowl and line the sieve with a large, clean piece of cheesecloth, muslin or a fresh dishcloth. Pour the yoghurt mix into the lined sieve and tuck the mixture in with the excess cloth.
- Leave to strain like this in the fridge overnight. In the morning the bowl will have collected all the milky excess liquid from the yoghurt (which you can discard), and you will have a thick labneh in the lined sieve.
- When you are ready to serve, toast the bread and rub it lightly with the garlic clove. Top with the labneh and then the tomatoes, drizzling over some extra confit oil and sprinkling with salt and pepper.
Citrus Mackerel Spaghetti with Pangrattato
This recipe was born, like the best of them, out of necessity. While living with my first boyfriend in my early twenties, we existed almost exclusively off BLTs and a version of this pasta. Tinned fish and dried pasta were affordable, and this recipe became a staple dinner. It’s for the cash poor and the time poor, yet it’s serving big time flavour. It’s made up of pantry staples and will be on the table in less than half an hour. Serves 6.
Ingredients
- 200g stale bread
- 100ml extra virgin olive oil 1 clove of garlic, minced 500g dried spaghetti
- 4 × 125g tins of mackerel in olive oil, drained and broken up
- 1 × 180g jar of capers, drained and finely chopped
- 2 tsp chilli flakes
- zest and juice of 3 lemons
- a large bunch of flat-leaf parsley, leaves and stalks finely chopped
- sea salt and ground black pepper
Method
- First make the pangrattato by blitzing the bread into breadcrumbs in a food processor.
- In a frying pan, over a medium heat, heat a tablespoon of the olive oil and fry the breadcrumbs with the garlic until golden brown and crisp. I like to take them pretty dark, bordering on a little burned, but you do you.
- Cook the spaghetti in well-salted, boiling water until al dente.
- Put the mackerel, capers, chilli flakes, lemon zest and juice, most of the parsley and half the olive oil into a large mixing bowl and combine thoroughly.
- Drain the pasta, reserving a little of the water, and add it to the mackerel mixture.
- Mix vigorously, adding a little pasta water and more olive oil if it seems too dry. You should end up with a glossy sauce that clings to the pasta.
- Serve on a large platter, topped with the pangrattato and the rest of the chopped parsley.
All photography by Benedikte Klüver
