From Angela Hartnett's arancini to Mark Hix's elderflower ice cream, fabulous meat-free recipes from our chefs

July's Observer Food Monthly is a vegetarian special, guest edited by Paul, Mary and Stella McCartney. As part of this very special event, OFM sourced a selection of vegetarian recipes from top chefs and celebrities, with everyone from Jamie Oliver to Gwyneth Paltrow contributing their favourites.

For more information on Meat Free Monday visit supportMFM.org; for more on Linda McCartney Foods: lindamccartneyfoods.co.uk

David Thompson's mixed vegetable and fruit salad dressed with tamarind, palm sugar and sesame seeds

This is a versatile salad, you can use a wide range of ingredients. Below I have used all Thai items but you can stretch the boundaries a bit by adding some non-Thai stuff. I've considered horseradish, various types of lettuce and herbs and even a few pieces of pear. What is important, though, is finding good fresh ingredients – hardly a secret but imperative nonetheless.

Serves 4

For the dressing:

½ cup best quality palm sugar
125ml thick tamarind water
2-3 tbsp light soy sauce
a good pinch white sesame seeds
4 sliced and deep-fried red shallots

For the salad, a mixture of some of the following:

a handful of mixed mint leaves and dill sprigs
a handful of mixed Thai, holy and lemon basil
some sliced yam bean (jicama)
2 tbsp sliced green beans
1 tbsp pak chi farang (long-leaf coriander), shredded
½ small green mango, shredded
1 stalk lemon grass, cleaned and finely sliced
1 sliced apple aubergine
4 shredded kaffir lime leaves
½ star fruit, elegantly sliced (optional)
1 large red chilli, deep-fried

To make the dressing, dissolve the palm sugar in the tamarind water and soy. Toast the sesame seeds and once fragrant and golden, allow to cool. Crush the sesame seeds and deep-fried shallots in a pestle and mortar and stir into the sauce. It should taste sweet, sour and only very slightly salty. It might be necessary to lighten the sauce with a few tablespoons of water. If the sauce has been refrigerated, bring to room temperature.

Combine the prepared fruits and vegetables in a bowl. While not every suggested vegetable is necessary, a good selection gives a rounded balance to the salad. Dress and serve sprinkled with coarsely crushed deep-fried chilli.

Alicia Silverstone's Moroccan couscous with saffron

I adore couscous, and this is a wonderful way to prepare it. Not only is it tasty, it looks gorgeous on a big serving plate. You can complement it with a simple salad or let it be the beginning of a feast that includes soup, hummus and veggies. This recipe serves six, but you can halve it or just make a big batch and keep leftovers in the fridge.

Serves 6

2 cups butternut squash, peeled and cut into 5mm to 1cm cubes
2 cups yellow onion, cut into large dice
1½ cups carrots cut into 5mm to 1cm cubes
1½ cups courgette cut into 1.5cm cubes
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
fine sea salt
1½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
375ml vegetable broth
2 tbsp non-dairy butter
¼ tsp ground cumin
½ tsp saffron threads
1½ cups wholewheat couscous
spring onions 2, chopped

Preheat the oven to 190C/gas mark 5. Place the butternut squash, onion, carrots and courgette on a baking sheet and toss with the olive oil, 1 teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon pepper. Roast for 25 to 30 minutes, turning once with a spatula about midway through.

While the vegetables roast, bring the broth to the boil in a pan. Remove pan from the heat and stir in the butter, remaining ½ teaspoon pepper, cumin, saffron and salt to taste. Cover pan and steep for 15 minutes.

Scrape the roasted vegetables and their juices into a large bowl and add the couscous. Bring the vegetable broth back to the boil, and pour over the couscous mixture all at once. Cover tightly with a plate and allow to stand for 15 minutes. Add the spring onions, toss the couscous and vegetables with a fork, and serve.

• The Kind Diet by Alicia Silverstone (Rodale, £19.99)

Mario Batali's shaved asparagus with Parmigiano Reggiano

Serves 6

800g medium asparagus, tough bottom ends snapped off
75g Parmigiano Reggiano, coarsely grated
juice of 1 lemon
2 tbsp warm water
125ml extra virgin olive oil
Maldon or other flaky sea salt and coarsely ground black pepper

Using a Benriner (Japanese mandolin) or other vegetable slicer, or a vegetable peeler, thinly shave the asparagus, making long diagonal shavings.

Put the Parmigiano in a large bowl and whisk in the lemon juice and warm water. Whisking constantly, slowly drizzle in the oil to make a loose emulsion. Add the asparagus and toss gently to coat. Season with salt if necessary and with pepper and serve.

• Molto Gusto: Easy Italian Cooking by Mario Batali (Ecco Press, £19.99)

Valentine Warner's elote: sweetcorn with mayonnaise, cheese and chilli

The Mexicans really understand maize like no other nationality and the following recipe is one that you will find being sold on many streets across the country. This is not about manners, knives or forks – and be warned, there are no maize workshops to help you through your subsequent addiction to this recipe. I prefer shop-bought mayonnaise for elote, and as for the cheese – Wensleydale seems the closest to the crumbly ones used in Mexico. Bottom line is you can always use a mild cheddar.

Serves 4

4 cobs of corn
40g Wensleydale cheese, grated
4 tbsp bought mayonnaise
1 lime
chipotle powder or hot smoked paprika
salt
4 wooden skewers

Peel the sweetcorn of its husks and threads. Boil the corn for 8 minutes in a pan of salted water.

While the corn boils, take a large plate – on one side put the grated cheese, and on the other dollop the mayonnaise. Cut the lime in half and have the chilli ready. If you have the chipotle chilli powder great! Otherwise hot smoked paprika will get the job done.

When the cobs are ready, take them out of the water. Holding each one with a tea towel, drive a skewer into the stem end. Holding it by the skewer, roll it first in the mayonnaise thoroughly and then in the grated cheese. Sprinkle it all about with the chipotle powder or smoked paprika. Finish it with a little squeeze of lime juice and some more salt. Relish not only the taste but also the mess you are creating.

• Valentine Warner will be at Harvest at Jimmy's 11-12 September; harvestatjimmys.com

Mark Hix's elderflower ice cream

Rich and creamy, with a subtle fragrance, this is the perfect ice cream to serve with summer berries and fruit jellies. It is best eaten on the day it is made, though it can be kept in the freezer for a day or two.

Makes about 750ml

300ml creamy milk, such as Guernsey or Jersey
6 egg yolks
100g caster sugar
300ml Jersey cream or clotted cream (or a mixture)
200ml elderflower syrup, or more to taste

Pour the milk into a saucepan and bring to the boil, then remove from the heat.

Whisk the egg yolks and sugar together in a bowl, then pour on the milk, whisking as you do so. Return to the pan and place over a low heat. Cook, stirring constantly, using a whisk, for about 5 minutes, until the custard has thickened lightly, but don't let it boil.

Pour the custard into a bowl and whisk in the cream and elderflower syrup. Leave to cool, then churn in an ice cream machine until thickened. Scoop into glass bowls and serve, with summer berries if you like.

• British Seasonal Food by Mark Hix (Quadrille, £25)

Jason Atherton's roasted beetroot with baby chard, goat's cheese and walnuts

This is a relaxed version of one of my star restaurant dishes. The simple marriage of beetroot and goat's cheese works beautifully and the glaze adds a lovely complexity. it's a very easy dish to put together.

Serves 4 as a starter or 2 as a main course

3 red beetroot, washed
sea salt
1 plain goat's cheese log, about 150g, without rind
40ml milk
40g baby chard leaves, or mixed baby greens, such as rocket or spinach
olive oil, to drizzle

For the walnut dressing:

100g walnuts, shelled and chopped
15g parsley leaves, finely chopped
15g chervil leaves, finely chopped
15g garlic, peeled and crushed
2 tbsp white wine vinegar
150ml olive oil

For the glaze:

40ml thin honey
50ml red wine vinegar
65ml olive oil

Preheat the oven to 200C/gas mark 6. Trim the tops and roots from the beetroot, chop the trimmings and put them into a saucepan. Cut off and roughly chop a quarter of 1 beetroot; add to the pan. Loosely wrap all the rest of the beetroot in foil, sprinkle with a little salt and bake until tender when tested with a knife (1-1½ hours). Unwrap and leave to cool.

In a small bowl, mix the goat's cheese with the milk using a fork to loosen it slightly. Cover and refrigerate.

For the walnut dressing, toast the walnuts in a dry frying pan over a medium heat until light golden brown and starting to give off a nutty aroma. Tip into a bowl and add the herbs, garlic, wine vinegar and olive oil. Stir to combine and season with salt to taste.

Peel the cooled beetroot and set aside; add the skins to the other trimmings.

To make the glaze, pour 200-300ml water over the beetroot trimmings – just enough to cover them. Bring to the boil and simmer for 10 minutes or until the water is deep red in colour. Strain, discarding the trimmings, and return to the pan. Whisk in the honey, wine vinegar, olive oil and some salt. Simmer until reduced and thickened to a syrupy glaze, about 6-8 minutes.

Meanwhile cut the beetroot into wedges. Toss into the pan and gently move them around with a spoon to coat with the glaze and heat through, about 3-5 minutes.

To plate: Place a ring of beetroot wedges on each plate and drizzle with the glaze. Dollop the goat's cheese in between and spoon on the walnut dressing. Arrange the salad leaves decoratively and sprinkle with a few drops of olive oil and a little sea salt.

• Gourmet Food for a Fiver by Jason Atherton(Quadrille, £14.99)

Anjum Anand's Bengali squash with chickpeas

Serves 4

3 tbsp vegetable oil
a good pinch of asafoetida
1 bay leaf
¼ tsp panch phoron
1 or 2 mild dried red chillies
1 small onion, peeled and sliced
½ tsp turmeric
2 scant tsp ground cumin
1 rounded tsp ground coriander
salt, to taste
¾ tsp sugar or to taste
2 tsp ginger paste
500g butternut squash, peeled, seeds removed and flesh cut into 4cm chunks
150-200g tinned chickpeas, drained and rinsed
¾ tsp garam masala
¾ tsp fennel seeds, powdered

Heat the oil in a large non-stick saucepan. Add the asafoetida, bay leaf, panch phoron and chillies; cook over a low heat for about 1 minute.

Add the onion and cook until soft and golden. Stir in the turmeric, cumin and coriander, along with the salt, sugar and ginger paste. Give the pan a stir, add a splash of water and cook for another minute.

Add the squash, and pour in 150ml water. Bring to the boil, then cover and simmer until the squash is cooked through, around 15-18 minutes.

Stir in the chickpeas, garam masala, fennel seed powder and a splash of water. Cook for another minute and serve. The dish should be moist but not gravied.

• Anjum Anand's I Love Curry (Quadrille, £17.99) will be out in October

Thomasina Miers's summer tacos with courgette and corn

I love this filling. Lightly sautéed courgette and corn flavoured with fresh summer herbs. What could be simpler?

Serves 4

2 tbsp olive or vegetable oil
2 small shallots, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
corn kernels cut from a cob
1 green chilli, finely chopped
700g courgette, cut into small dice
1 tbsp chopped mint
1 tbsp chervil, chopped
juice of ½ lime
sea salt and black pepper
crumbled feta, to serve (optional)

Heat a heavy-bottomed frying pan and add the oil. When it is hot, add the shallots, garlic, corn, chilli and courgette. Fry, stirring all the time, until the vegetables are gently coloured on all sides and the onion is translucent. It is delicious if the courgette still has a little bite. Stir in the herbs, squeeze over the limes and season to taste. This is really good sprinkled with a little crumbled feta.

• Mexican Food Made Simple by Thomasina Miers(Hodder & Stoughton, £20)

Sam and Eddie Hart's beetroot and St Tola tart

Serves 4

250g dried figs, finely chopped
250ml red wine
125ml port
500g red onions, sliced into thin rounds
50g butter
8 beetroot
puff pastry
80g St Tola cheese
½ clove garlic, crushed
1 tsp thyme leaves, chopped
a splash of milk
salt and pepper

Marinate the figs in the red wine and port – leave for at least half an hour.

Preheat your oven to 180C/gas mark 4. Cook the onions in the butter very slowly until translucent. Add the figs, wine and port and reduce until syrupy, then set aside.

Cook the beetroot in plenty of salty water until tender. Remove from the pan, peel and slice into 5mm rounds.

Roll the puff pastry into a 5mm sheet. With a 9cm pastry cutter, cut 4 rounds. Place the puff pastry rounds on a lightly oiled baking tray, place another heavy tray on top (to stop the puff pastry rising too much), and blind bake in the oven for 12 minutes.

While the pastry bakes, mix the St Tola with the garlic, thyme, and milk to form a paste, then season with salt and pepper. Remove the pastry bases from the oven and leave to cool for 5 minutes.

Then assemble the tarts: on top of each pastry base place a spoonful of the figs and onions, then a couple of slices of beetroot, then a dollop of cheese. Bake in the oven for 5 minutes.

Drizzle a little of the remaining fig and onion syrup around each tart and serve at once.

Clare Smyth's spiced aubergine salad

Serves 4

2 aubergines
salt
vegetable oil
1 shallot
1 tbsp cumin
½ tbsp tomato purée
250ml tomato juice
50g raisins, soaked
1 tbsp flat parsley, chopped
2 tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped

Dice the aubergine into 2.5cm square pieces and salt them for 2 hours. After the 2 hours, dry them off on a clean towel then deep-fry them until golden brown. Leave to cool on kitchen paper to soak up the excess oil.

Finely slice the shallot and sweat down in a saucepan, add the cumin, cook out for 30 seconds, then add the tomato purée and cook out again for 2 minutes on a low heat.

Add the tomato juice and cook for a further 2 minutes, add the raisins and the aubergine, mix well and check the seasoning. Leave to cool.

When the mix is cool, add the chopped parsley and fresh tomatoes. Serve at room temperature with some crusty bread and mint yoghurt.

Clare Smyth's spiced aubergine salad

Serves 4

oil
1 shallot
1 tbsp cumin
½ tbsp tomato purée
250ml tomato juice
50g raisins, soaked
2 aubergine
1 tbsp flat parsley, chopped
2 tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped

Dice the aubergine into 2cm square pieces and salt them for 2 hours. After the 2 hours dry them off on a clean towel, then deep-fry them until golden brown. Leave to cool on kitchen paper to soak up the excess oil.

Finely slice the shallot and sweat down in a saucepan, add the cumin, cook out for 30 seconds, then add the tomato purée and cook out again for 2 minutes on a low heat.

Add the tomato juice and cook for a further 2 minutes, add the raisins and the aubergine, mix well and check the seasoning. Leave to cool.

When the mix is cool add the chopped parsley and fresh tomatoes. Serve at room temperature with some crusty bread and mint yoghurt.

• Clare Smyth is head chef at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay (gordonramsay.com)

Jeremy Lee's beetroot with poached eggs

Serves 2 as a main course

2kg smaller-sized beetroot of every colour and variety
125g caster sugar
250ml very good red wine vinegar
6 soft-boiled eggs
a stick of horseradish
salad leaves
chopped chives (optional)

For the dressing:

2 tbsp caster sugar
2 tbsp white wine vinegar
2 tsp good Dijon mustard
6 tbsp double cream

Trim and wash the beetroot well. Place in a suitable pot to steam until quite cooked through and tender. When done, remove them to a bowl and when cooled slightly, rub the skin away from the beetroot. When all are peeled, cut the beetroot into large pieces, random shapes of roughly the same size.

In a bowl, whisk the sugar and vinegar until it is dissolved and add the water. Pour this light pickle over the beetroot and cover well. Refrigerate. These pickles will happily last a week in the fridge.

Bring a pan of water to a furious boil. Drop in the eggs and let cook for 3 minutes once the water is returned to the boil. Remove the eggs to a bowl of iced water and once cooled, peel carefully, storing them in another bowl of iced water.

To make the dressing, dissolve the sugar and the vinegar in a bowl. Stir in the mustard until smooth then add in the cream. Pour into a bowl, cover and refrigerate.

Peel the horseradish and keep covered until needed. Wash the salad leaves, dry well and keep covered.

Should chives be at hand, then slice them very thinly in readiness.

Tumble the salad leaves onto a plate, then heap the beetroot thereon. Cut the egg in half and lay upon the beetroot, seasoning with a little salt and pepper. Liberally spoon over the mustard dressing and then grate horseradish all over, swiftly followed by the chives.

• Jeremy Lee is head chef at the Blueprint Cafe (blueprintcafe.co.uk)

Trina Hahnemann's baked green and white asparagus salad

Serves 4

15 green asparagus spears
15 white asparagus spears
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
grated zest and juice of an organic lemon
salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 180C/gas mark 4. Cut 3cm from the base of each asparagus spear, then peel the white ones only from the head down. Rinse the asparagus with the tips downwards in cold water. Place the spears in an ovenproof dish and mix well with the olive oil, lemon zest and juice and some salt and freshly ground pepper.

Bake the spears for 5-7 minutes. You can then serve them as they are, hot or cold, or cut the spears into smaller pieces, making sure the lemon zest and juice are still coating the asparagus.

• Scandinavian Cookbook by Trina Hahnemann(Quadrille, £14.99)

Skye Gyngell's farro with broad beans, peas, asparagus and spinach

Serves 4

60g cooked broad beans
8 asparagus spears, quickly blanched
60g cooked peas
125g cooked spinach
250g cooked farro
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
juice of 1 lemon
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

As a rule of thumb, vegetables that grow above the ground should be dropped into boiling, well-salted water, while vegetables that grow below the ground should go into cold water. Broad beans need no more than a minute in boiling water – asparagus the same. Peas need a minute or so more. I prefer not to refresh cooked vegetables under running water but to dress them quickly while still warm. I believe that this gives them a better flavour.

Cook the spinach by simply rinsing well in cold water and placing in a dry pan over a low heat – the water that clings to the leaves is enough to create steam to wilt the spinach. Once it is wilted, remove quickly and drain in a colander.

I always double-pod broad beans – I do not find the pale, tough, outer skin pleasant to eat. It's extra work, but well worth it. Place the spinach, peas, broad beans and asparagus and farro into a bowl and dress with olive oil and lemon.

Season with sea salt and black pepper and toss together lightly with your fingers. Again, serve quickly while the flavours are fresh.

• Skye Gyngell is head chef of Petersham Nurseries Cafe (petershamnurseries.com)

Vivek Singh's stir-fried okra with dried mango

Serves 4-6

800g okra, topped and tailed, sliced into 1cm roundels
100ml corn or vegetable oil
2 tsp cumin seeds
2 onions, peeled and finely chopped
2 tomatoes, cleaned and roughly chopped
1 tsp chilli powder
3cm ginger, finely chopped
1 tsp dried mango powder (available in Asian stores – otherwise use black salt or chaat masala)
½ tsp garam masala powder
oil to flash-fry the okra

Fry the okra for 30 seconds in very hot oil and drain on kitchen towels.

Heat the 100ml oil for the sauce, add the cumin seeds, and when they crackle add the onions and cook until they start to turn brown. Add the tomatoes and cook till they are soft and the juices dry out.

Add the chilli powder and cook for a further couple of minutes. Add the flash-fried okra and toss quickly. While stirring briskly on high heat, add the ginger, salt and dried mango powder to finish.

To give an extra touch of flavour, garam masala powder may be added at the end.

• Vivek Singh is executive chef, the Cinnamon Club (cinnamonclub.com)

Pasquale Amico's carpaccio di zucchine e rucola (Courgette carpaccio with rocket salad)

Serves 2

For the dressing:

juice of a small lemon
salt and pepper
4 tbsp organic extra virgin olive oil
1 medium-sized courgette
15g rocket salad

Place the lemon juice in a bowl, add a pinch of salt and pepper, pour in the oil and whisk until all is amalgamated. Set to one the side.

With a mandolin, slice the courgette thinly, place in a bowl and season with salt and pepper. Add some lemon dressing and mix well. Place the courgette on the plate starting from the side to the centre, forming a ring.

Place the rocket salad in a bowl, season with salt and pepper, and add the lemon dressing. Place on top of the courgette in the middle and serve.

• Pasquale Amico is the chef at Amico Bio, London's first organic vegetarian Italian restaurant (amicobio.co.uk)

Mark Sargeant's mango curry

Serves 4

3 medium-ripe mangoes, peeled, pit removed and flesh cut into 1cm pieces
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1-1½ tsp salt
55g jaggery or brown sugar, if needed
310g coconut, freshly grated
3-4 fresh hot green chillies, coarsely chopped
½ tbsp cumin seeds
250ml water
290ml natural yoghurt, lightly beaten
2 tbsp coconut oil or any other vegetable oil
½ tsp brown mustard seeds
3 or 4 dried hot red chillies, broken into halves
½ tsp fenugreek seeds
10-12 fresh curry leaves, if available

Put the mangoes in a medium-sized pan. Add 250ml water. Cover and stew for 8-10 minutes over a medium-low heat. Stir occasionally. Add the turmeric, cayenne pepper and salt. Stir well. (If the mangoes are not sweet enough, add the jaggery or brown sugar to make the dish sweeter.) Meanwhile put the coconut, green chillies and cumin seeds into a blender. Add 250ml water and blend to a fine paste.

When the mangoes are cooked, mash them to a pulp. Add the coconut paste. Mix. Cover and simmer over a medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the mixture becomes thick. This should take about 10-15 minutes. Add the yoghurt and heat, stirring, until just warmed through. Do not let the mixture come to the boil. Remove from the heat and put to one side. Check for seasoning.

Heat the oil in a small pan over a medium-high heat. When hot, add the mustard seeds. When the mustard seeds begin to pop (a matter of a few seconds) add the chillies, fenugreek seeds and the curry leaves. Stir and fry for a few seconds until the chillies darken. Quickly add the contents of the small pan to the mangoes. Stir to mix.

Peter Gordon's chilled beetroot and sourdough soup

This chilled soup is thickened with sourdough, which gives it great body and texture.

Serves 6

700g unpeeled red beetroot, skins gently scrubbed
100ml white vinegar or cider vinegar
1 tsp salt
100g sliced sourdough bread, crusts removed (2-3 slices)
1 red onion, peeled and thinly sliced
4 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced
1 tsp coriander seeds
1 tbsp olive oil
2 bay leaves
2 tsp fresh thyme leaves (or try oregano or rosemary)
8 large tomatoes, chopped
600ml water
50ml crème fraîche
mint leaves, a small handful shredded

Place the beetroot and 90ml of the vinegar in a pot with plenty of cold water to cover, add 1 tsp of salt and bring to the boil. Cook, with a lid on, until you can easily insert a knife through them. Drain and place in a bowl of iced water until they are cool enough to handle, then peel them (wearing gloves) and cut into chunks.

While the beetroot are cooking, toast the bread until golden and crisp, then tear into pieces.

Sauté the onion, garlic and coriander seeds in the oil until it is just beginning to caramelise, then add the herbs and tomatoes and bring to a boil. Add the chopped beetroot and the water and bring back to the boil, then put a lid on and rapidly simmer for 30 minutes.

Add the toast and give it a good stir, then put the lid back on and cook another 10 minutes. Remove the bay leaves, add the reserved vinegar and purée till smooth. I find using a stick blender the best method, as you can do this while the soup is still really hot. If you have to use a blender, then leave it to cool down before puréeing. Adjust the seasoning and leave to cool, then place in the fridge to chill down for at least 3 hours.

To serve, give it a good stir, then taste for seasoning – when food is served cold it usually needs a little extra salt. Ladle into bowls then dollop on the crème fraîche and shredded mint.

Peter Gordon's golden beetroot pesto with linguine, peas and mint

I prefer to use golden beets in this recipe, although you can substitute them with red ones. There are so many varieties out there it'd be worth you experimenting with them.

Makes a great lunchtime meal for 4, a starter for 6-8

3 golden beetroot (about 400g)
100g lightly toasted macadamia nuts
3 garlic cloves, peeled
a handful basil leaves and stalk, shredded
a small handful tarragon leaves
a small handful parsley leaves
80ml extra virgin olive oil
40g grated Parmesan (and extra for serving)
salt and freshly ground black pepper
400g dried linguine, spaghettini or tagliatelli
200g peas (frozen will work)
a handful of mint leaves, torn

Preheat the oven to 200C/gas mark 6. Wash any dirt from the beetroot then wrap them tightly in foil, either individually or all in one sausage shape. Roast for 90 minutes then poke a skewer or thin sharp knife through the foil to see if they're cooked – it should go through with the tiniest resistance. Once they're cooked, open the foil up and plunge into iced water to cool for 5 minutes, then rub their skins off with your fingers or a sharp knife. Dice 2 of them to be tossed through the pasta, and cut the other into chunks.

Place the macadamia nuts and garlic in a small food processor and blitz to give coarse crumbs. Add the beetroot chunks, basil, tarragon and parsley and blitz for 10 seconds, then add 60ml of the olive oil and blitz again briefly. Tip into a bowl and stir in the Parmesan. If the mixture looks too dry then mix in a little extra olive oil. Taste for seasoning, adding salt and freshly ground pepper to taste.

Bring a large pan of lightly salted water to the boil (no need to add any oil) and drop the pasta in, then give it a good stir. Cook it until almost al dente then add the peas and boil another 2 minutes before draining into a colander. Tip into a large bowl, or back into the pan, add the diced beetroot, remaining olive oil, the mint and ⅔ of the pesto. Mix it together really well, divide among your bowls, then dollop on the remaining pesto. Offer extra grated Parmesan as you serve it.

Peter Gordon's mushroom and seawood broth with shiitake dumplings

You can save time by buying wonton wrappers instead of making your own dumpling dough, but the five-spice adds a great flavour.

Serves 4

For the dumpling dough:
½ tsp five-spice powder
90g strong flour (bread flour)
1 medium egg
1 tsp sesame oil, plus extra for cooking
12 shiitake mushrooms, stems removed (reserve stems for broth)
100ml soy sauce
1 spring onion, thinly sliced
1 x 10cm length kombu seaweed
1 stalk celery, thickly sliced
2 thumbs ginger, peeled and finely julienned or diced (reserve peel forbroth)
5g dried wakame or arame seaweed
3 tbsp mirin (or 1 tbsp sugar)
a generous handful of raw Asian mushrooms (I use shimeji, enoki and oyster mushrooms)
cress or snipped chives to garnish

Make your dumpling dough first. Sieve the five-spice with the flour on a work surface, making a well in the centre. In a small bowl whisk the egg and oil together with a few pinches of salt and pour into the well. Using your fingers, mix the egg mixture into the flour and bring it together to form a dough, then gently knead for 30 seconds. It should be moist but not sticky – add more flour if it's too wet. Wrap in cling film and put to one side in a cool place (not the fridge) to rest for an hour.

Thinly slice the shiitake caps, then fry two-thirds of them in a little sesame oil (preferably in a non-stick pan as it'll need less oil), stirring all the time, until they collapse and soften. Stir in 1 tablespoon of the soy then take off the heat and mix in the spring onion.

Take 8 small marble-sized lumps of the dough and flatten between your fingers to form a disc, then either roll out on a lightly floured work surface or use a pasta roller to get the disc quite thin. Place a spoonful of the shiitake mixture in the centre, lightly brush the outer rim of dough with a little cold water, then fold one side over to the other. Press down gently but firmly to expel any air. Use a fork dipped in a little flour to secure the seams. Lay on a tray lined with cling film while you make the rest. You'll have plenty of dough left over – it'll keep in the freezer for one month.

Soak the kombu in tepid water for 20 seconds, then wipe it gently all over with a cloth to remove the white powdery coat. Place in a pan with 1 litre cold water, the celery and the shiitake stems and the ginger peelings. Bring almost to the boil, then simmer with a lid on for 8 minutes, turn the heat off and leave to infuse for 20 minutes.

Strain the stock into a wide pan, add the seaweed, ginger julienne, mirin and the remaining soy and bring to a rolling simmer. Add the dumplings and cook with a lid on, turning them over after 4 minutes. Add the mushrooms and cook another 4 minutes with the lid ajar, gently stirring from time to time. Taste for seasoning then ladle into warmed soup bowls, garnishing with the cress or chives.

• Fusion: A Culinary Journey by Peter Gordon(Jacqui Small, £25)

Angela Hartnett's arancini

This is a fantastic recipe for using up leftover risotto. Filled with melting mozzarella, arancini (meaning "little oranges") are perfect comfort food. If you like, roll them into smaller, bite-sized balls and serve them as canapés with drinks.

Makes 12-15 large balls, 20-25 smaller ones

½ quantity basic risotto (see recipe below)
4 tbsp olive oil
250g mixed wild mushrooms, wiped with a damp cloth and finely chopped
1 x 125g ball buffalo mozzarella, finely diced
1 tsp fresh flatleaf parsley, finely chopped
dash of truffle oil (optional)
200g "00" flour
salt and freshly ground black pepper
200g fresh white breadcrumbs
3 eggs, beaten
vegetable oil, for deep-frying

If making the risotto, spread it out on a flat tray to cool.

Heat the olive oil in a pan over a medium heat, add the mushrooms and cook for 3-4 minutes until golden brown. Transfer to a bowl, mix in the mozzarella and parsley, and season. If you have some truffle oil, you can add a dash of it to the mixture.

Add the risotto to the bowl and stir well. Take a heaped tablespoonful of the mixture and roll it between the palms of your hands to form a ball about 4-5cm in diameter. Set aside on a plate while you roll the rest of the mixture.

Put the flour in a dish and mix in some seasoning. Put the breadcrumbs and eggs in 2 more separate dishes. Take a rice ball and roll first in the flour, then in the egg and finally the breadcrumbs. Shake off any excess crumbs and set aside on a clean plate. Repeat with the remaining rice balls.

Preheat a deep-fat fryer or pan of oil to 180C. Gently lower the arancini into the pan in batches and cook for 3-4 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove with a slotted or wire spoon and drain on kitchen paper. Serve immediately.

Angela Hartnett's basic risotto

Serves 4

2 tbsp olive oil
225g cold butter, diced
small onion 1, chopped or small shallots 2, chopped
350g risotto rice
200ml white wine
about 1.25 litres hot vegetable stock
fresh Parmesan 100g, finely grated
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Heat the oil and 25g of the butter in a large pan over a medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring, until soft and translucent, about 2 minutes. Stir in the rice and cook for a further 2 minutes. Turn up the heat and add the wine – it should sizzle as it hits the pan. Cook for about 2 minutes to evaporate the alcohol.

Once the liquid has reduced, begin adding the hot stock a ladleful at a time over a medium heat, allowing each addition to be absorbed before adding the next, and stirring continuously. The rice should always be moist but not swimming in liquid. The process of adding and stirring should take about 16-18 minutes.

Remove from the heat and stir in the remaining butter. Finish with the Parmesan, then season well and serve.

• Angela Hartnett's Cucina (Ebury Press, £25)

Bryn Williams's leek and egg salad

4 new season leeks, washed
100ml vinaigrette
4 soft-boiled eggs
1 bunch chopped chives
Halen Môn sea salt with organic celery seed
ground pepper

Trim the dark green tops off the leeks. Cook the leeks in a large of salted boiling water for about 6-8 minutes until tender. Remove the leeks from the boiling water and leave to cool on a wire rack.

Place the vinaigrette in a bowl, peel the boiled eggs and roughly chop to a small bite size, making sure you keep all the yolk. Add the egg and chopped chives to the vinaigrette and season with salt and pepper.

Cut the warm leek in half lengthways and place on a large plate. Spoon the vinaigrette over the leeks, making sure you scatter the egg evenly over the dish.

Best eaten when the leeks are warm.

• Bryn Williams is chef/patron of Odette's (odettesprimrosehill.com)

The top chef responds to the news that a record number of female chefs have been awarded Michelin stars

It's great that a record number of women have been awarded Michelin stars this year, but if you look at the list and compare it to the men, we're not breaking down barriers. There are a lot more women coming in and the industry is changing, for the better. It's just that more needs to be done.

Some people have suggested that the increase is due to the fact that Derek Bulmer, the previous editor in chief of Michelin UK & Ireland, has been replaced by a woman – Rebecca Burr. That's just ridiculous. The Michelin inspectors judge on food, not whether or not the chef is a man or not. There are more women cooking, therefore, there are more women being judged, and by the law of probability, more women getting stars. Admittedly, there are just 11 women receiving stars at the moment, but I don't think we should be given preferential treatment in order to try to even things out. You should be judged on how you cook – that alone.

As a female chef, I've been asked about sexism so many times I'm almost bored with the question. And to be honest, in over 20 years in the industry I've never experienced any kind of sexism. The male chefs I know are happy to have women in their kitchen. It's better to have a mix – it changes the atmosphere, and men work differently when they are with women, they behave better.

Anyway, there's inequality everywhere. Last year I filmed a TV show, and there was only one woman on the crew. The idea that it's just catering, or it's worse in this industry, is not right.

There are far more female head chefs out there than people realise – Rachel Humphrey at Le Gavroche, Clare Smyth at Royal Hospital Road, Lisa Allen at Northcote in Lancashire – you just don't necessarily hear about them, just like you don't necessarily hear about all the male chefs. People know me, but they don't know my head chef Diego. It's not 50/50 by any stretch, but there are a lot more female chefs than there used to be.

And I think we will continue to see that rise. Partly this is because the industry now has so much more exposure, with female chefs on TV or writing about food and their restaurants being more successful. Being a chef is seen as a skilled job. And the hours have become more approachable. You used to have to do five doubles – you'd start in the morning and finish late at night, and only get two days off a week. Now you get three days, though I think that was something that everyone wanted – it had to change, people wanted a life. The pay has increased as well, which has probably made a difference to the number of women entering the profession.

People are always saying that this industry makes it difficult for women to have a family, but I just don't think that's true. This country has some of the best maternity laws in the world. There are a lot of female chefs who have kids. Hélène Darroze, who has two Michelin stars, has two children, Sally Clarke has a child and has run a restaurant for the last 20 years, and Skye Gyngell, who has just won a star for Peterhsam Nurseries, has children. If you really want them, you make it work. It might be harder in terms of nights, but that's when kids are asleep. You have to be more organised, but that applies to women in every industry. It is interesting, though, that France and Italy have a lot more three-star female chefs, women such as Nadia Santini, Elena Arzak and Anne-Sophie Pic. They are often in family-run businesses – father and daughter, or husband and wife. I wonder if that makes things easier?

Being a chef is hard – you have to work long hours, late into the night – it's antisocial. Perhaps that's why it attracts fewer women? But I don't really think that's the case. I think you either want to do it, or you don't, and there's nothing standing in your way.

Michelin-starred cook Angela Hartnett is to start a new column for G2, providing weekly recipes. 'It'll be easy stuff you can whack together,' she promises

Angela Hartnett does not do precious. It's not what she is, not how she could ever be. "People get far too precious about far too much where food is concerned," she says. "A lot of it comes from the very male brigade of cooks. They are just too dogmatic." You will not get dogma from Hartnett, either in person or in the recipes she is going to be writing for G2 from next week. Yes, she says, she will be focusing on seasonal ingredients, but out of no greater principle than that when something is in season there's more of it about, and when there's more of it about, it's cheaper.

Hartnett – Ange to her friends – resists stuffiness like toddlers resist bedtime. We are talking in the drawing room of the fabulous Georgian house in Spitalfields, east London, that she has co-owned for the last seven years with her brother Michael (a financial whizz who lives in New York), and there is a glorious sense of lightly controlled chaos about the place. There are piles of magazines that need to be shifted off the squishy sofas before she can sit down. Her mad little terrier Alfie is bouncing around the room, barking at everything. Downstairs, Diego, the head chef at her Mayfair restaurant Murano, is working on some dishes that need to be photographed. She has a book project she must complete, though she can't quite recall the title (A Taste of Home, out in July), plus she must think about the menus at the nearby Whitechapel gallery restaurant, where she has just become a consultant. And, of course, there are her recipes for G2 to plan.

For all that, she seems very relaxed. Perhaps that comes with being her own boss. Now 42, she last year parted company with Gordon Ramsay, buying the Michelin-starred Murano from him, and on New Year's Eve, relinquished control at York & Albany, the boutique hotel and cafe in north London that had also been her responsibility. "It was all entirely amicable," she says, and there is no reason to disbelieve her. Almost alone among Ramsay's former employees, she has never once said a bad word about him publicly. "I worked for Gordon for 17 years, but you get to a point where you have to ask yourself, are you going to move on or stay for ever? Gordon's great gift is his relationship with his cooks, and I really do wish him well. But I simply wanted to be in a position not to have to answer to anyone." She does not want to put her name on a worldwide chain of businesses. She has Murano and the deal to oversee the food at the Whitechapel gallery. For now, she says, that's enough.

I wonder out loud whether she will move away from the kind of fine dining restaurants and Michelin stars that have made her name, now that she has left the restaurant company that specialised in them. "Absolutely not," she says. "I do care about Michelin. I'd love to be the first British-born woman to get two stars. You work damn hard, so it's nice for that to be recognised – though I don't run my restaurant for the guides." Recently, the Michelin inspectors told her she should remove a table to make Murano less crowded. She refused. "I told them that if I did that it wouldn't have the buzzy atmosphere I wanted."

So which is the real Angela Hartnett? The one expressed amid the finery at Murano, or the one who will be sharing her ideas with G2? "They are both a part of me. You can do different things. You just have to define them well. But if you look at my home and what I do here, that throw-it-on-the-table thing, well, that's much more me." That, she says, will be the person we'll meet in her new column. "It's easy stuff that you can whack together. It's taking the fear out of food."

Are we really afraid of it? Yes, she says. The culture of glossy cookbooks full of gastro-porn double-spreads in sexy, backlit saturated colours has developed because consumers are desperate to know what the dish they are cooking should look like; they are, she says, fearful of it having the wrong appearance, when they just need to be far more relaxed. "It commodifies good food, turns it into part of a lifestyle for the affluent. I worry that we're moving towards a two-tier food culture in this country. I upset a lot of people by saying on Radio 4 that British food culture is too based around the south of the country, but I think that's true because the south is where the money is."

She wants to democratise things, pull recipe writing away from the domain of hard-nosed, kitchen-singed chefs and into the domestic realm. Asked for her heroes, she immediately names Delia Smith. "For me Delia is still one of the best cooks in the country, because her recipes always work. There's not a chef in this country who hasn't stolen a recipe from her." Has she stolen one? "I must have done," she replies with a big, throaty laugh.

The recipes in these pages, however, will be all her own. The column kicks off next week with mackerel, pickled fennel and harissa. "I love fennel and I love mackerel. It's an oily fish, so it can take big flavours, hence the harissa." And will she be brow-beating us into getting out the pestle and mortar and making our own spicy Moroccan condiment? She laughs again. "Well, you can if you like, but let's be honest – you might as well buy it."

And what of her much talked about Italian influences? "Richard Corrigan was having a go at me once. He was asking me what I was that day, whether it was Irish, Welsh or Italian. But I'm all those things. My father was born in Ireland and my mother was born in Wales to Italian parents. It gives me huge scope." She pauses. "Look, in my business, everyone's got a thing, a selling point. What sells me is the fact that I'm a woman."

It seems too bald a statement. Surely it's about personality; the fact of who Hartnett is rather than just the mere accident of chromosomes? She concedes the point. "What I'm saying is that while I'm a good chef, that's not necessarily what sells me." It's a moment of clear-eyed and rather customary honesty, which fades into rather customary modesty. We like Hartnett because of her generosity of spirit, her need to feed us. She may have won Michelin stars. She may be an expert technician with a famously pitch-perfect palate who knows how to do earthy things with fancy ingredients. But we also know that if she were the one in charge of our home menu, we would come away from the table with the unique feeling of pleasure that comes from having eaten well without breaking sweat in the kitchen. Happily for G2 readers, from next week, she will be.

From Jamie's jam jar and Hugh's potato ricer to Rick's much-loved old cook's knife and Nigella's bin (yes, really), Britain's top chefs, food writers and restaurateurs pick their kitchen gadget essentials

Jamie Oliver:"An empty jam jar: super-cheap and super-useful, for anything from salad dressings and salsas to storing pulses and spices."

Yotam Ottolenghi Weekend columnist,Ottolenghi and Nopi, London:"For years I struggled with all sorts of mashers, then I found the Masterclass potato ricer. It fits in a drawer, it's easy to handle and clean, and creates a mega-smooth mash. I now use it for mashing all my root veg."

Thomasina MiersWahaca chain, London: "Not at all hi-tech but utterly brilliant: my old Braun hand blender is so neat it can be stashed in a drawer, yet it can help you cook a thousand dishes. It's a lifesaver."
Braun MultiQuick hand blender, £85.25, amazon.co.uk

Mark Hix Hix Oyster & Chop House and Hix, both London, Hix Oyster & Fish House, Lyme Regis, Dorset: "I wouldn't be without my Kitchen Aid Artisan mixer. I have one in Dorset and one in London, and use them weekly for my sourdough."
From £377.10, johnlewis.com

Simon Hopkinson author and TV presenter – his latest book is The Good Cook (BBC Books, £20): "The wooden-handled scraper that's been in my sweaty hands for nearly 27 years. Occasionally I use it to scrape up pastry debris (for which it was designed), but mainly I use it for collecting up all manner of chopped ingredients to add to a cooking pot: herbs; crushed garlic; grated stuff; hand-chopped chicken liver pâtés; even bits of fish for the cats."
Ateco make something similar, £22.98, langtoninfo.co.uk

Nigella Lawson:"My kitchen life is littered with highly specialised and seductive gadgets to which I've succumbed over the years, only to abandon, but the one thing I couldn't be without at this time of year is a plastic bin, which I use as a brining bucket for my turkey. Once you've tried it, there is just no turning back."

Clare Smyth head chef, Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, London SW3:"My Big Green Egg barbecue. You can put whatever you like on it, pull down the lid and leave it for hours without having to do anything at all. Good food made with ease and no stress."
From £450, biggreenegg.co.uk

Stuart Gillies The Savoy Grill, London WC2, Bread Street Kitchen, London E4: "Easy: our popcorn maker at home. Salt and vinegar for my wife and me, butterscotch for our boys."
American originals popcorn maker, £15.99, amazon.co.uk

Laura Santtini author, Flash Cooking (Quadrille, £20):"My Wet-N-Dry spice grinder. It is a great little gadget for making 'flavour bombs' because it blends anything from tough spices to smooth pastes and delicate finishing salts. Unlike a traditional coffee grinder, the bowl is dishwasher-safe, so there are no lingering flavours."
£36.99, lakeland.co.uk

Michel Roux JrLe Gavroche, Roux at Parliament Square, Roux at The Landau, all London:"A mahogany truffle box made by one of my old maitre'd's. It's the most beautiful way to present fresh truffles to customers during the season."

Tom KerridgeThe Hand & Flowers, Marlow, Buckinghamshire: "My Homer Simpson bottle-opener, a present from my PA, Zabrina. Each time I open a bottle, it goes, 'Mmmmmm, beer.'"
£5.95, gadgets.co.uk

Bruno Loubet Bistrot Bruno Loubet, London EC1:"I love my electric mincer – it's great for making terrines, sausages, stuffings, even burgers. I never buy mince, because I'm often unsure what's actually in it. We have a professional one at the restaurant, but Moulinex and Kitchen Aid make good ones for the home – you can get them on Amazon for about £80."

Fergus Henderson St John, St John Bread & Wine and St John Hotel, all London:"A wooden spoon: you can stir food, spank those who need spanking, conduct… A wonderful tool, ergonomical, and a beautiful object when lying dormant."

Angela Hartnett Murano, London W1: "My ridged Le Creuset griddle pan– it's great for giving meat, especially steak, that special smoky flavour."
Around £65, lecreuset.co.uk

Felicity Cloake G2 columnist, author, Perfect (Penguin, £18.99): "My silicone tongs (9) – they're incredibly handy for turning bacon, tossing pasta and generally fiddling with hot food in a professional sort of way. I even take them on holiday with me."
£10.95, divertimenti.co.uk

Ashley Palmer-Wattshead chef, Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, London SW1:"I haven't got one yet, but I've got my eye on a Hotmix Pro, a mixer that heats to 190C and down to -24C."
£1,570, metcalfecatering.com

Syke GyngellPetersham Nurseries, Richmond:"My most invaluable utensil is my ice-cream maker – I make ice-cream or sorbet every day. Mine's a professional brand, a Robocoupe, which is very pricey, so go for one you can afford. It's a lovely way to showcase fruit in season, and you can play around with combinations and tastes."
Kenwood IM200 ice-cream maker, £35.99, amazon.co.uk

Pierre Gagnaire Sketch, London W1; Pierre Gagnaire, Paris:"A cast-iron casserole, such as a Le Creuset. Great for low-heat cooking, and the thickness is good for slow cooking."

Rick Stein The Seafood Restaurant, Padstow, Cornwall:"I hate to be a bore, but it's the cook's knife I've used for most of my professional life. It has a nick about halfway up the blade where I stupidly once cracked a lobster. Every time I sharpen it, the blemish gets minutely shallower. One day, it'll be perfect again."

Nathan Outlaw Restaurant Nathan Outlaw, Rock, Cornwall:"My antique butter churner. It makes me think about the days when things were done properly but not necessarily quickly. The rest of the team thought I'd gone mad when I turned up with what they saw as a piece of junk, but they've changed their tune now."

José Pizarro Pizarro and José, both London SE1: "A wooden pestle and mortar – my mum and grandma always used one, so it reminds me of them."
Olive wood pestle and mortar, from £14.99, naturallymed.com

Mitch TonksThe Seahorse and Rockfish, both Dartmouth; Rockfish Grill, Bristol:"A wooden flour sifter I bought in Spain. It's just two trays, with a smaller one with a mesh bottom that slides over the top of a larger one. You pop in your squid, prawns, small fish or veg, heap on some flour, jiggle the top box back and forth, and you end up with the lightest of coatings, all ready for the deep-fryer. Simple and bloody ace."

Sam and Sam Clark Moro and Morito, both London EC1:"An electric bean and pea sheller. We first found one in a hardware store in Spain (where they're a lot cheaper), and it's ideal for peas, broad beans, borlotti, anything like that. Saves time like you wouldn't believe."
Electric pea sheller, £147.46, from UK Equipment Direct, 08000 821123

Stephen Harris The Sportsman, Seasalter, Kent:"I'm a bit cynical about chefs who love the latest kit – all the gear, no idea – so I'm going for a ceramic Kyocera knife."
From £28.65, cooks-knives.co.uk

Sat Bains Restaurant Sat Bains, Nottingham: "A Thermomix. As well as being a solid, all-round blender, it's so versatile – it can puree and heat at the same time, which is great for soups and sauces, even stews."

Claude Bosi Hibiscus, London W1:"My favourite bit of kitchen kit is my kitchen porter, because I hate washing up and a good KP can turn their hand to anything."

Henry Dimbleby Leon chain, London and the south-east: "It has to be my mouli, for making mashed potato. Nothing else comes close."
£59, richmondcookshop.co.uk

Russell Norman co-owner, Polpo, Polpetto, Spuntino, Da Polpo, Mishkin's, all London: "Without a doubt it's my Presso manual espresso maker. As well as being elegantly designed, it simply requires freshly boiled water, coffee and elbow grease to make pretty passable espresso without the need for an expensive, George Clooney-endorsed machine."
£69.96, coffeecavern.co.uk

Maria EliaJoe's, London SW3: "My favourite kitchen tool is one I haven't even got. When I lived in Italy, we had these little wood-chip smoking boxes that were just perfect for smoking small portions of fish and meat. Maybe Father Christmas will bring me one this year…"
£11.99, forfoodsmokers.co.uk

Mary Berryfood writer – her latest book is The Great British Bake-Off (BBC Books, £20):"I adore my Magimix processor– it is wonderful for pâté, soups, pastry and so much more. I also use it for slicing potatoes for dauphinoise; and if I've made a lumpy sauce, I just pop it in the Magimix to get rid of the lumps."
From £199, johnlewis.com

Tom Aikens: "The Microplane grater is, for me, the best and simplest piece of kitchen gadgetry. You can now get them with all sorts of blades and graters, and they're great for everything from cheese and veg to truffles and frozen flavoured ice."
From £13.45, hartsofstur.com

Tom Kitchin The Kitchin, Leith, Edinburgh: "A good set of knives. There are a huge number of gadgets out there, but ask any chef and nothing is as important."

David Thompson Nahm, London and Bangkok: "A granite pestle and mortar – Thai, primitive, almost unbreakable and versatile. Great for pastes, spices, sauces and a workout."
From £15.99, thai-food-online.co.uk

Raymond Blanc Le Manoir Aux Quat'Saisons, Great Milton, Oxford:"My Gaggenau baking stone: it heats up to 300C and is especially good for bread. Perfect for one of my favourites, Maman Blanc's tarte tartin."
From £448.99, gaggenau-eshop.com

Richard Bertinet Bertinet Kitchen & Bakery, Bath:"I can't live without my scraper – for working the dough, taking it out of bowls after it's proved, dividing for loaves and rolls… and for cleaning the car windscreen in winter."
From £2.39, bakerybits.co.uk

Giorgio Locatelli Locanda Locatelli, London W1: "Our Crustastun– it ensures we kill our lobsters humanely."
From £2,500, crustastun.com

Alexis Gauthier Gauthier Soho, London W1: "I have quite a few gadgets that I use both at work and at home, and none costs more than £5 from any half-decent Chinese supermarket: my favourites include a negi cutter (leek shredder) – no risk of cutting fingers when slicing into perfect thin widths – and a ravioli maker that makes the most beautiful ravioli with just one touch."

Anna Hansen The Modern Pantry, London EC1:"I was in Sri Lanka recently and bought a coconut grater. It's genius: a rotating dome of formidable blades that grate fresh coconut into fluffy, supplicant perfection."
£14.99, coconutty.co.uk

Gizzi Erskine:"My mum gave me her old enamel pans when I left home at 19. They're bright yellow, 60s, with a thick enamel, so they regulate heat as well as any pan. They've cooked many a mean stew and spag bol, and while I may not use them as much as my other pans now, I know they'll be with me for life."

Jane Baxter Riverford Field Kitchen, Buckfastleigh, Devon:"No contest – my red Victorinox tomato knife. It's great for general veg prep, especially for dealing with tough squash skins and other root veg. In fact, it's good for most jobs. It has to be the one with the red handle, because there's less chance of it being chucked in the bin along with all the peelings."
£2.69, Nisbets

Bill GrangerGranger & Co, London W11: "My favourite gadget would have to be the humble mandoline. It's a very simple tool, but a versatile one, and I don't know where I'd be without it. It not only saves time, but requires much less effort than agonisingly trying to create uniform slices with a knife. It also gives your dishes that polished, cheffy appearance. Just mind your fingers."
Oxo Good Grips hand-held mandoline, £12.69

Shaun Hill The Walnut Tree, Llanddewi Skirrid, Abergavenny:"My favourite and most used gadget is a liquidiser. Unlike a food processor, which merely chops stuff up, this centrifuges liquids along with oil or butter into silky sauces and soups – it's almost miraculous. I always buy the cheapest and crappiest, usually a Kenwood or Moulinex, and rarely pay more than £20 or £30, because there is no discernible difference in the results between these and glossier, more elegant and expensive models."
Kenwood liquidiser, £29.99, amazon.co.uk

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall Weekend columnist: "My potato ricer. It's a like a giant garlic crush – you put in cooked spuds, bring the handles together and squiggly worms of mash wriggle out of the holes. Aside from the childish glee I get from it, it makes the best mash ever."

Jason Atherton Pollen Street Social, London W1:"All my appliances at home are Kitchen Aid, because they're the best, most durable and deliver professional results. I use my large mixer to make instant ice-cream with dry ice – that sends my daughter crazy with delight– and the blender to mix spices or to make brilliant alcohol smoothies."
kitchenaid.co.uk

Theo Randall Theo Randall at the Intercontinental, London W1:"My Imperia pasta machine: it's the most useful – and probably most used – piece of equipment I have."
£43.19, amazon.co.uk

Anissa Heloufood writer:"I have collected a few ceramic knives over the years, but my favourite is a precious one I got from Lorenzi in Milan. It has an incredibly sharp, grey blade. which makes it look like a regular knife, and a beautiful, Italian-crafted rosewood handle. It's too fine to use every day, but I  use it to slice bottarga or foie gras, or simply to show off."

Trish Deseine:"My favourite kitchen utensil – and this is great for chocolate – is a silicone spatula. I adore its smooth, velvety, supple feel around a baking bowl and how cleverly it picks up every trace of chocolate or cake batter, or whipped cream. There are so many brands to choose from – just pick one to suit your taste and wallet."
Silicone spatula, £7.50, debenhams.co.uk

Eddie Hart co-owner Fino, Barrafina and Quo Vadis, all London:"My garlic peeler: it's genius as some garlic cloves are very fiddly to peel."
From £1.50, pedlars.co.uk

Dan LepardWeekend columnist:"Electronic 1g kitchen scales – they're as essential for me as your iPhone is for you."
Salter digital kitchen scales, £14.99, argos.co.uk

A quick, easy winter's dish that we've embraced as one of our own – and no wonder

Macaroni cheese

If you don't have any cheddar, use up any odds and ends of cheese you have in the fridge, even blue cheese.

400g dried macaroni
25g butter, plus 1 tbsp extra
25g flour
500ml milk
Salt and black pepper
200g Montgomery cheddar, grated
2 leeks, washed, halved and sliced
100g pancetta, chopped
1 tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley
100g parmesan, grated

Bring a large pan of salted water to a boil, add the pasta, stir and cook until al dente. Heat the oven to 200C/400F/gas mark 6. Meanwhile, melt 25g butter in a saucepan, stir in the flour and cook for a minute. Slowly whisk in the milk until you have a smooth, white sauce. Season, and whisk in the cheddar. Melt the tablespoon of butter in a sauté pan, and fry the leeks and pancetta until the leeks are soft and the pancetta is cooked. Drain the pasta, tip it back into the pot, then mix in the sauce, leeks, pancetta and parsley. Pour into an ovenproof dish and top with parmesan. Bake for 15 minutes until golden brown and starting to colour.

• This recipe is extracted from A Taste Of Home: 200 Quick And Easy Recipes, by Angela Hartnett, is published by Ebury at £25. To order a copy for £20, go to guardian.co.uk/bookshop

In this season of detoxs and diets here's a salad that's both healthy and tasty

We've hit the season of diets, detox and guilt. But in my opinion, the same old adages apply: less is more, and eat everything but in moderation. However, salads are way past the days of lettuce, tomato, sliced cucumber and salad cream. So if you're after a healthy option, but still want to eat tasty food, this week's recipe should hit the spot. If you want to go fat-free, ditch the vinaigrette, and season with cumin and a touch of lemon juice instead.

Serves 2

20ml red wine vinegar
½ tsp dijon mustard
100ml olive oil
1 small red onion, peeled and thinly sliced
1 cauliflower
3 large oranges
1 pomegranate
50g raisins
1 tbsp chopped mint
Salt and pepper

Mix the red wine vinegar, mustard and olive oil in a large bowl, season and mix well and leave to one side. Add the red onion to the vinaigrette – this will allow the vinegar to slightly "cook" the red onion.

Put a pan of salted water on to boil, and prepare the cauliflower by removing the stalk and root, and cutting into florets. Add the florets to the boiling water and simmer until just cooked. When ready, drain well and immediately, while still warm, add it to the vinaigrette. Mix well.

Using a sharp knife, cut away the peel of the orange and slice into segments (or if easier, peel and segment by hand). If the oranges are lovely and ripe, don't worry too much about removing any of the pith. Prepare the pomegranate (it's not the easiest but it's well worth the hassle). Cut the fruit in half, then carefully scoop out the seeds. Add the orange and pomegranate to the cauliflower, mix well, and add the raisins and mint. Check the seasoning and serve.

If making for later, leave in the fridge but remember to remove 15 minutes before serving so that it reaches room temperature.

• Angela Hartnett is chef patron at Murano restaurant and consults at the Whitechapel Gallery and Dining Room, London

Twitter.com/angelahartnett

Enter now for your chance to sample the menus of world-beating women chefs, including Angela Hartnett, Margot Janse and Helena Rizzo

This competition is now closed

Girls' Night Out celebrates women in the restaurant industry. Over three nights in March, six leading chefs from London and abroad will be cooking specially devised menus at 1 Lombard Street, London EC3. You can win a five-course dinner for two worth £200 per head, including champagne and wine, on one of these nights.

On March 11, Gabrielle Hamilton, chef-owner of Prune in New York, will cook with Angela Hartnett of London's Murano.

On March 12, Helena Rizzo of Mani in Sao Paolo, Brazil, and Clare Smyth, triple-Michelin-starred head chef of London's Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, will take over the kitchen.

On March 13, it's the turn of Margot Janse, executive chef of Le Quartier Français in South Africa's Western Cape, and Anna Hansen, chef-owner of The Modern Pantry in London.

The evenings will begin with champagne and canapes, followed by a meal with wines chosen by Selfridges buyer Dawn Davies, who has sourced wine from female producers. The chefs will talk about their menus and answer your questions.

To win a place at this exclusive event – organised by Guardian chef Angela Hartnett and writer Fiona Sims, and sponsored by American Express – email g2.competition@guardian.co.uk with your name and phone number, and preferred date. The competition closes at 11.59pm on Sunday 19 February 2012. Full terms and conditions below. Good luck!

Full terms and conditions

1. To enter, email g2.competition@guardian.co.uk with your contact details (name, email address and phone number) and preferred date to attend the event. 2. Competition open to UK residents aged 18 and over. 3. Employees and agencies of Guardian News & Media Limited ("GNM"), its group companies, family members and anyone connected to the competition may not enter. 4. Competition closes 11.59pm on 19 February 2012. 5. One entry per person. 6. Three winners will be selected at random and will be notified by email or phone on or before 27 February 2012. Winners must reply within 6 days or will forfeit the prize. 7. Each prize is pair of tickets for one Girls Night Out dinner on 11, 12 or 13 March 2012. Winners' preferred choice of date is not guaranteed. 8. No cash alternative. Prize is non-transferable and non-exchangeable. 9. By entering you accept GNM's full terms and conditions. 10. Name of winners available on written request to G2. 11. Winners may be required for promotional activity.

Restaurant kitchens have punishing hours and a macho culture, so is it any wonder that only 20% of British chefs are women? Angela Hartnett, one of the UK's greatest talents, has cooked up a way to celebrate the genius of her female peers

When Gabrielle Hamilton was heavily pregnant with her second son, Leone, her to-do list read roughly like this: tell brunch crew vinaigrette too acidic; pick up white platters; have baby; figure out pomegranate syrup. As chef-owner of the highly lauded New York restaurant Prune, Hamilton had planned to let the birth take its natural course. Then two of her small team of cooks quit abruptly. The birth would have to be scheduled and induced. As she writes in her bestselling memoir, Blood, Bones and Butter, she felt "in the moment, like the only thing I could control was the birth of my second son ... With nothing more than Pitocin in your IV drip, you can sooner control the date and time of the birth of a human being – the gushing entry into the great blue world of a whole new person – than you can the scheduling of a few line cooks in your operation."

Hamilton's memoir charts her chef's progress, from the smell of lamb roasting over apple-wood coals at her childhood home in rural Pennsylvania, her desire as a nine-year-old to get in among the tongue-lolling carcasses in the butcher's cooler, her teen years as a snot-nosed, coke-snorting waitress charged briefly with grand larceny (the charges were dropped), then a staunch Marxist feminist college dropout. Her path winds through temporary, 20-hour-a-day jobs in catering, a diversion through a fiction-writing degree, and on to the moment she opened Prune. It is a tale filled with indignities – she once had to clear human shit and a maggot-filled rat from the outside stairs of the restaurant – as well as triumphs. Last year she was named Best Chef in New York City at the James Beard awards.

Hamilton also describes the particular circumstance of being a woman chef. On her way to a panel discussion about the paucity of women in the restaurant industry, she wonders why they're still having this "draining, polarising conversation". After all, as she says to me, as salty and straightforward to speak to as she is in her memoir, "the kitchen is pretty merit-based. There's nothing in a kitchen that either gender can't do. It's not like sumo wrestling. You don't actually have to be physically larger." Yet, as that panel gets underway, she finds herself thinking about the "second job" she has been holding down while working in male-dominated kitchens, "that of constantly, vigilantly figuring out and calibrating my place in that kitchen with those guys to make a space for myself that was bearable and viable", she writes. "Should I wear pink clogs or black steel-toe work shoes? Lipstick or chapstick? Work double hard, double fast, double strong, or keep pace with the average Joe? Swear like a line cook or giggle like a girl? Meanwhile, the parsley needs to be chopped, and the veal chops seared off. There is, still, the work itself to do."

While home cooking is still associated primarily with women, the restaurant industry remains heavily male-dominated. Figures from the Office for National Statistics show that of the UK's 187,000 chefs, 37,000 are women, making up just under 20% of the total. And at the very top, in the ranks of executive and head chefs, women seem even more anomalous. The Best New Chef lists created by US magazine Food & Wine have featured 92 men and 11 women in the last 10 years (89.3% male, 10.7% female); and while there were celebrations when a record-breaking 11 women won Michelin stars in the UK at the start of 2011, that was out of 143 Michelin-starred restaurants altogether.

It was partly this lack of women that led Angela Hartnett, chef and owner of the Michelin-starred restaurant Murano– and arguably the best-known woman chef in the UK – to set up Girls' Night Out, a celebration next month of those rare women at the very top of the industry. She and her fellow organiser, food and wine writer Fiona Sims, decided to stage an event where three British-based chefs would cook with three from restaurants overseas, two a night, for three consecutive nights, starting with Hartnett and Hamilton on 11 March. They are followed by Clare Smyth, head chef at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay– the first and only woman in the UK to run a restaurant with three Michelin stars – cooking with Helena Rizzo, one of the best chefs in South America, at the forefront of Brazil's burgeoning food scene with her restaurant Mani.

The third night features Anna Hansen, chef-owner of the highly lauded London restaurant The Modern Pantry, cooking with Margot Janse, executive chef of Le Quartier Français, which is among South Africa's best restaurants, and specialises in food firmly rooted in that country's natural ingredients. The £200-per-head, five-course menus include Hamilton's buttered brown rice with rock shrimp, roasted mushrooms and duck crackling; Janse's loin of springbok, African grains, fermented garlic nougatine and celeriac puree; and Rizzo's ice-cream of egg yolks with coconut foam and crispy coconut.

Speaking to these women, the reasons for their success emerge quickly. They are all direct, down to earth and driven by their love of food. Hansen describes how, as a trainee, she would go into work even on days off, lured by the rabbits that were being brought in to be gutted and skinned. Smyth realised she wanted to be a chef in her mid-teens, and immediately started reading about grand chefs, learning classical sauce bases, saving money from her school holiday restaurant job, before packing up and moving from her parents' farm in Northern Ireland to take up an apprenticeship in England straight after her GCSEs. Her parents weren't especially pleased.

The reasons there are so few women at the top also become clear: a sticky mix of kitchen machismo, punitively long hours, benevolent sexism and a culture that still sees women as cooks, men as chefs; women in the home, men in the professional kitchen. When I go to meet Hansen at The Modern Pantry, her staff gliding gracefully through the final hour of lunch service, I ask whether she thinks women in the industry get enough recognition. "No, I don't, overall, frankly," she says. "People are fascinated with male chefs, not female chefs, because female chefs are doing what females are supposed to do: cook. But males are seen as doing something extraordinary … When you think about food, it's often seen as a female domain, but as soon as it becomes something where you can win a crown then the boys move in, right?"

Hansen grew up in Auckland, New Zealand, and started her career unexpectedly in her early 20s, when she came to the UK and took up a dishwasher position at The French House Dining Room in Soho, London. It was a tiny kitchen, and she was soon promoted to trainee, working with the two chefs, married couple Margot and Fergus Henderson. They were friendly, encouraging, and she loved it. Hansen has only ever worked in one fairly macho kitchen "and I've never hated going to work so much in my life", she says. Had she started out there, she adds, she doesn't think she would have become a chef.

Some professional kitchens are legendarily tense. The turning point in Hartnett's career came when she went to work for Gordon Ramsay at his restaurant Aubergine in the mid-1990s – when the kitchen there was referred to as "Vietnam" and she was the only woman. There were bets she wouldn't last much more than a week, but she persisted. "At the time you felt like you were in a war zone," she says, "because you were being screamed at, but when you relaxed you could laugh. There was one Easter I think, when every single person seemed to do something wrong, to the point where we were all wondering who would be next to screw up. Another time, I'd gone into the fridge, and the pastry chef had put all these souffle moulds on a tray, and as I turned around I clipped it, and of course you could just hear Gordon going: 'What the fuck's she done now? What's Dizzy' – he used to call me Dizzy Lizzy – 'done now?'"

It was suggested that Smyth wouldn't last long in Ramsay's kitchen either, but within three years, aged just 29, she was appointed head chef. Smyth has taken only half a day off for sickness in 17 years, and says when she was younger she always felt she had to prove herself. "If I was tired, or I cut myself, or I wasn't strong enough to do something, I used to think people would be saying: 'Oh, it's because she's a woman.' I would be the first one in, the last one out. But I don't think anyone else put that pressure on me but me."

On one occasion in her 20s, when a less established chef was about to be promoted above her to the sauce section, she threatened to quit on the spot. The tactic worked. "It wasn't that the chef was sexist – he wasn't – but the sauce section in this restaurant, and in many restaurants, is the most difficult. It's dirty, not very pleasant, and it wasn't the fact he thought I couldn't do it, but no woman had ever done that here before. He just didn't want to see me doing it really. And obviously I wanted to do everything."

Being a chef is "not a very feminine job", says Smyth. "Especially when you're coming up through the kitchen. It's hard work, you get cuts, you get burnt, you're working on the sauce, and you're working day and night." She made a decision early on that she would have to succeed young, so she could have a family later. "Women haven't got a choice," she says. "If you want to have it all, you need to achieve it young, because I couldn't do this and have a family. When I do have a family I want to do that well also. I don't want to drop them off and be working 90 hours a week. I remember years ago, when I wanted to go and train in France with Alain Ducasse, and Gordon took me out for dinner with Marcus Wareing, and they said: 'OK, where do you want to work, what do you want to do?' And I was a senior sous chef, I was 25, and I was saying to Gordon: 'I want to go here, I want to go there, and I need to do it now.' They said: 'Why are you in such a hurry?' And I said: 'Because I am. I'm a woman, Gordon. I need to do this now.' And they were like: 'Calm down.' And I said: 'No. I don't have time.'"

None of the women I speak to has ever had a problem presiding over a male-dominated kitchen. I ask if the Prune kitchen is as macho as some of those Hamilton has worked in, and she says she doesn't "scream and shout, but I do groan. And I think I make more sexual jokes than anyone — we like good, healthy, dirty banter going on in the kitchen. That keeps us all going".

In 2002, when Hartnett became head chef at the Connaught, and some customers reacted with horror at the idea of a woman running a professional kitchen (one used to ring up to ask, malevolently, if she was still there), the atmosphere was more macho than it is at Murano, she says. "There were a lot more chefs, and they'd always be mucking around and joking. There was a butcher who they said was so rude, and I'd say: 'Oh no, not George, he's very polite,' and they said: 'Oh yeah, when you're around. As soon as your back's turned it's disgusting the things he comes out with.'"

Janse's approach to managing her kitchen isn't at all punishing; rather than pushing her staff to their physical limits, she tries to encourage them to relax a little. "You have to be strict," she says, "but I don't want people to shudder when I walk in, because I don't think you're going to cook nice food if that's how you feel ... I don't have a starting time for my team. They tend to come too early, and then I have to say, no, you can't come at this time every day. It's not good. You get too tired. It's not healthy. I don't think it's right to start at nine in the morning and go home at midnight, without a proper break or split shift. I think you need to work smart, and I expect you to work hard, but I really am over the feeling that you need to kill yourself in this job."

Hartnett says that being one of the few top female chefs has helped her career, rather than hindered it, made her more likely to receive publicity, more likely to be asked to appear in magazines and on TV, just generally more prominent. And while some chefs would guard that exceptional status, she's using it to draw attention to her equally brilliant female peers. Ramsay once suggested women couldn't cook to save their lives. What does Hartnett think of that? She laughs, as she has in the past at so many macho kitchen shenanigans. "I think he said it," she hoots, "but I don't think he meant it."

• Girls' Night Out, sponsored by American Express, is on 11, 12 and 13 March at 1 Lombard Street, London EC2. To book, email el@jessen.co.uk with the subject line Girls' Night Out or call 020 7929 9511

When MasterChef put Mauritius on the foodie map, Michelin-starred chef Angela Hartnett decided to investigate. Lucy Cavendish went along for a taster

Angela Hartnett and I are sitting under the canopy of a small restaurant called Resto Sept in the depths of the Mauritian countryside. It consists of nothing more than a few tables, some plastic chairs and a bar.

We have ventured out from the grand but lovely enclave of the Belle Mare Plage hotel in search of… well, something more Mauritian. Back in the UK, Hartnett's Italian-style food has garnered her praise and a Michelin star at her restaurant, Murano. But here, away from the hotels that line the shores of the Mauritian coastline, she is looking for something more natural, more native.

This is why we are in the tiny town of Trou d'eau Douce. The 2012 MasterChef winner Shelina Permalloo, whose fusion cooking is rooted in her Mauritian culture, has sent us here. Permalloo wowed the judges with her aubergine spicy fritters with wild garlic and tomato salsa and papaya. Since her win earlier this year, she has wanted to do more for Mauritian food. "It's an interesting mix," she says. "It's really delicious."

Angela, myself and Angela's friend, the chef Neil Borthwick who works at London's two-star Michelin restaurant The Square, are the only people here. This is mainly because it is pouring with rain. "No one goes out in this type of rain," the proprietor of the restaurant says as water pours down from the roof.

But we trust Shelina, who has told us to make sure we are served traditional Creole food. "Some places water it down for the tourists," she says. "You need to ask for the real thing. It's hot and spicy."

And we certainly get it. The starters – a selection of Indian dosas – come with a stunning array of fresh pickles, a chilli dip that takes the roof off my mouth and a shockingly tangy sauce that resembles horseradish. Angela looks delighted as she ladles it on to her dosa. The main course is a thali – butterbean stew, fish curry, octopus – accompanied by the ever-present tomato-based Creole sauce of the island. "It's called rougaille," says the girl serving us (it's a family-run business; she's an elder daughter). She ladles the rougaille over my plate of fish curry – a chilli-flavoured yet sweet sauce with a hint of paprika. Angela and I agree that it's delicious.

In the daylight the following morning when, for about five minutes, the rain stops, I see that Trou d'eau Douce is beautiful. A man at a local café where we stop for a soda tells me the town's name means "sweet water", and there is water flowing everywhere. It's a small place tucked away among banana plantations with barely a tourist to be seen.

Many tourists never encounter local places to eat in Mauritius and given that Michelin-starred food is a rare luxury – the multi-Michelin-starred Alain Ducasse's Spoon at the Saint Géran hotel closed recently – it's worth venturing away from your hotel. The Deer Hunter restaurant at the Constance Belle Mare Plage resort focuses entirely on local food.

Gastro-tourism, in terms of people looking for a more "island" experience, is booming here. It only takes one trip to the Port Louis market in the Mauritian capital, to find out why. It's quite an experience. It's hot, sweaty, noisy and smelly, and the stalls are heaving with unusual fruits, vegetables and spices. Angela walks around smelling everything. Huge bunches of thyme scent the air. Sacks of rice, split peas and lentils bulge over. Every stall seems to sell a wide variety of squashes in every hue – purple, green and yellow.

Shelina has suggested trying the street food. "Gateaux piments [chilli cakes], dal poori: you should get all the toppings, usually butterbean curry, coriander sauce and chilli sauce – the combination is brilliant." I try a chilli-infused tropical fruit bag, and my eyebrows nearly blow off.

Salted fish and gajaks (the equivalent of tapas) are sold on every corner, as are dosas, Indian sweets and drinks, some of which look delicious (the juices) and some of which look disgusting (the milk-based ones).

Angela is here for the Festival Culinaire Bernard Loiseau, which involves her cooking with an island chef as part of a culinary competition established by Dominique Loiseau, the widow of Bernard. The idea is for the Michelin-starred European chefs to combine their style of cooking with the emerging style of the island chefs. Thus she spends half her time trying out dishes in the kitchen of the Belle Mare Plage and the rest adapting local recipes to suit her style. She and her island chef, Kamlesh Doorjean from the Constance Le Prince Maurice hotel, cook up breadfruit, patole (a bit like marrow), pipengaille, christophina, baton mouroum.

Angela's feeling about Mauritian food is that "it is a very diverse way of cooking – lots of spices, herbs and a different way of using sauces".

Much of the diversity comes from the island's history. It has been ruled by the Dutch, the British and the French. Most chefs have been trained to cook in the French style with a twist.

At the Deer Hunter we eat chilli cakes, saffron-infused rice and lobster with coriander. Lime and mango feature prominently in the menu, as does the spicy rougaille sauce. Doorjean tells us that everything cooked in his family home is served with this Creole sauce. "We like our food very spicy," he says.

"It's incredible the range you find," says Angela, sitting down to tuck in to noodles, vegetables and garlic-infused water, a break from the rich Michelin-starred food she has been eating all week. She sighs and closes her eyes. "I think I might actually be able to relax now," she says.

Just then, the sun comes out.

Shelina Permalloo's top tips

TROU D'EAU DOUCE
Chez Tino: The seafood is lovely, along with typical plates such as Creole rougaille sauce
Le Café des Arts: Worth trying, but you need to book
Le Touessrok: Best restaurant, and a beautiful place
Resto Sept: Hot and spicy home-cooking

UNION FLACQ
Chez Manuel: A great example of the Chinese influence. Try the mine frit – delicious with garlic water

PORT LOUIS
Le Capitaine: Pricey, but great seafood and very elaborate cocktails

For details of the Deer Hunter, Constance Belle Mare Plage or Prince Maurice hotels, go to constancehotels.com. For the annual Festival Culinaire Bernard Loiseau, go to bernard-loiseau.com.

• Lucy Cavendish flew from London with Air Mauritius (airmauritius.com). Returns from £650

Angela Hartnett's barbecue chicken and Ashley Palmer-Watts' lamb chops will ensure your jubilee party is fit for the Queen

Angela Hartnett'sbarbecue chicken with watercress mayonnaise

I think the royal family are generally a good thing. The Queen gave me my MBE and I've met Prince Charles a couple of times at events and through working with Slow Food I was lucky enough to tour the gardens at Highgrove. Although I actually met him when I was younger and in the Brownies. We were on a trip to Canterbury Cathedral and he happened to be there, and being a good sport he did a little walkabout. And we've been fortunate enough to have a couple of the royals come to the restaurant, although I can't say who.

When you were younger you used to have pretty bad chicken dishes at parties, like the chicken drumsticks people always seemed to eat in the 70s. This is a more modern, updated take on party food, and still very British.

We're having a street party near where I live in east London. My sister's on the organising committee with the local vicar. I'm just helping out with the food, so I'll do as I'm told.

Serves 8
spatchcock chicken 4

For the marinade
thyme 2 tbsp, chopped
rosemary 2 tbsp, chopped
garlic 4 cloves, crushed
honey 4 tbsp
white wine vinegar 75ml
olive oil 50ml
tomato ketchup 2 tbsp
Dijon mustard 1 tsp
lime 1, rind and juice
sea salt and pepper to taste

For the mayonnaise
readymade mayonnaise 500g
watercress 1 bunch, finely chopped

Mix all the marinade ingredients in a bowl and season to taste. Cut the spatchcocks in half, season well and rub the marinade over the skin. On a barbecue, start to cook and crisp the chicken skin-side down, turn over and move further away from the direct heat until cooked – around 40 minutes.

Remove from the heat and rest. To finish, mix the watercress with the mayo and check seasoning. Serve with crisp green herb salad and watercress mayo.

Angela Hartnett is chef patron of Murano, London W1; muranolondon.com

Ashley Palmer-Watts' lamb chops, cooked over charcoal with broad beansand mint

This recipe is spring on a plate. British produce is incredible in the springtime, and each ingredient in this dish really makes the most of that by being cooked over charcoal. I use the barbecue at home as much as I do my frying pans – and here the delicious spring lamb and the cucumber are chargrilled.

I encourage people to use cucumber. Cooking with cucumber is something not many people would think of doing, but it's a very old thing. When we go through old recipe books for inspiration at the restaurant, it always crops up. The flavour of it hot – particularly barbecued – is something else, and the texture is firm but moist. You won't look back once you've tried it. With the cucumber juice and the chardonnay vinegar it creates a kind of cucumber ketchup that's very similar to one we have at Dinner. It's beautiful, and very elegant – perfect for a jubilee party.

The royal family are very connected to Dinner, actually, because when we're standing in the kitchen we can see the Royal Horse Guards go by each day. I have to pinch myself sometimes.

Serves 4

For the sauce
lamb stock 1 litre
lamb fat (reserved from making the stock) 1 tbsp
sprig of rosemary 1
sprig of mint 1

For the chops
spring lamb chops 8
clove of garlic 1
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper

For the garnish
cucumber 1 large
olive oil
shallot 3 tbsp, finely chopped
chardonnay vinegar 2½ tbsp
broad beans 250g, podded, blanched and peeled
dill 2 tbsp, chopped
flat leaf parsley 2 tbsp, chopped

To make the sauce, place the lamb stock into a saucepan and reduce to 100ml. Remove from the heat and whisk in the lamb fat and rosemary sprig. Set aside.

My preferred method of cooking the lamb chops would be over charcoal on a barbecue, but roasted in a pan over a high heat would also be great.

Cut the garlic clove in half and rub each of the chops with the garlic, then season with sea salt and coarsely ground black pepper – lightly press the seasoning on to the flesh so it sticks and drizzle over a little olive oil. Grill the lamb chops on a barbecue each side for 2–3 minutes until medium rare, and then wrap in foil to rest while cooking the garnish.

Juice a third of the cucumber and reserve the juice. Peel the remaining cucumber and cut in half, then cut the four sides off the cucumber to leave you with just the rectangular heart. Cut the cucumber sides into 5mm pieces and set aside.

Season the cucumber hearts and drizzle with olive oil, place on the barbecue and cook for 2 minutes per side until lightly coloured and soft. Set aside and keep warm.

Pour a thin layer of olive oil into a hot pan and add the cut cucumber pieces. Leave to colour, then gently turn to colour further. Reduce the heat and add the shallot and cook for 2 minutes. Deglaze the pan with the chardonnay vinegar and reduce until almost all gone.

Add 4 tbsp of the cucumber juice and peeled broad beans and heat gently to ensure the mixture remains moist, season with salt and pepper. Stir in the chopped herbs and serve.

Heat the sauce, add the remaining 2 tbsp of cucumber juice and add the sprig of mint.

Cut the cucumber hearts in half diagonally, place on the centre of large plate, spoon the broad bean and cucumber mix around and place the two chops on top of the garnish. Remove the mint from the sauce and pour a little of the sauce over the lamb chops.

Ashley Palmer-Watts is head chef at Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, London SW1; dinnerbyheston.com

Observer Food Monthly asked four Michelin-starred chefs to pick their 'ones to watch'. Here, Angela Hartnett of Murano chooses Suzanna Kean, sous chef at Maze

"All right, Suze?" says Angela Hartnett as she greets Suzanna Kean with an affectionate, matey hello. The 25-year-old, now sous chef at London's Maze, worked with Hartnett on the opening of her Mayfair restaurant Murano. She stayed two-and-a-half years, starting as chef de partie before quickly progressing. "I had implicit trust in Suzanna," declares Hartnett. Having cut her teeth under the Ramsay regime, it's safe to assume such trust would not be easy to gain. "She naturally understood about consistency, which is so important."

Kean has always been reliable, even as a teenager, when she would peel "mountains" of vegetables for her mother, who worked in a care home. "I actually really enjoyed it," she confesses. She studied catering at Glenrothes college before coming to London six-and-a-half years ago, landing a job at Scott's before joining Hartnett at Murano. In Scotland, Kean was the only girl in the kitchen "nine times out of 10" but says that there are "far more" in London. Not that it bothers her. "You get no special treatment being a woman. Graft is part of the job, but you know that from the first day at college."

She does, however, feel like some men of a certain generation in the industry don't take younger female chefs seriously. "Sometimes those men don't listen to women," she says. "So you have to just be that little bit stronger, really believe in yourself." Hartnett believes "the male-female thing" is the same in any industry. "It's just about whether you can hack it or not," she says. "Plenty of blokes can't. Women who succeed in our industry are women who want to do well for themselves, full stop. If you want to do well, and have the passion, you just get on with it, nothing stands in your way."

It must be nice having other girls around, though? "It is," says Kean. "The guys don't swear as much but I'm worse than them to be honest."

Hartnett says she can "talk shite" and "have a gossip" with Kean, and you can definitely imagine seeing the two of them together. But would she trust a woman more than a man? "I don't know, is the honest answer. But I know I'd want to go out for a drink with her after work."

Are Nigella's days spent scoffing chocolate cake? Does Heston blow-torch his dinner every night? And what does the Guardian's restaurant critic eat when off-duty? We asked six foodies to share their week in meals, with illuminating results

Heston Blumenthal

It can be quite difficult to control what you eat when your schedule is all over the place. I tend to make small allowances when I can – for instance, cutting down on carbs by taking one layer of bread off a sandwich. I also exercise every day, even if it's just a short run. I'm tasting and developing dishes all the time – we can have around 500 dishes in development at any one time between the Fat Duck, Dinner, Waitrose and the twopubs, and that's not including the food for the TV work, so when I'm not filming, I'm kind of constantly eating/tasting. This has been an interesting exercise, though – I've never really analysed what I eat or drink. I guess I need to organise breakfast better, and I'm quite famous for drinking my body weight in Earl Grey tea, but the rest is just madness.

Sunday

Breakfast Filming this morning, so just had a quick Earl Grey tea.

Lunch Tuna sandwich… from a shop somewhere.

Dinner Sunday lunch – well, kind of lunch/dinner by the time I got home. I think it was about 8.30pm, so that makes it officially Sunday dinner. A roast, of course! Dorset lamb this week. I always try to have a Sunday joint with all the trimmings – it's one of my favourite meals of the week.

Monday

Breakfast Early morning phone interview with Australia and a cup of tea (Earl Grey with skimmed milk).

Lunch Lunch? Not today… : (

Dinner Filming at the BBC studios for Jimmy Carr's Channel 4 show 8 Out Of 10 Cats– great night, hilarious, but was up early, then straight off to filming and hadn't eaten all day. Arrived at the BBC starving – big mistake (dried-out meatballs) washed down with a few glasses (slightly warm pinot grigio). Delicious!?

Tuesday

Breakfast My new TV series is out mid-November and we're still filming – cutting it neat! Had bacon butties to start the day off, cooked in the engine of a steam train – why not?

Lunch Lunch was a bigger affair, but at least had packed my lunchbox. Grabbed some veg from the catering van, too.

Dinner Popped into the amazing Zuma with my youngest, Joy, for her birthday. We were too full for dessert, so they just sent a little something.

Wednesday

Breakfast Waitrose tasting for new hot cross buns for next Easter – Earl Grey jasmine tea and orange-flower water versus ginger and acacia honey. May sound nice, but had to taste brussels sprout leaves cooked in different ways at the same time.

Lunch Lunch at the lab: yoghurt and tampons. We were testing the effect of certain foods and how they coat the palate for an interactive presentation. The tampon dries the saliva out between spoonfuls, so you can identify how the tongue perceives flavour. It did work, but I wonder how it will go down. 

Snack Everything is getting bigger for the new programme. We supersize everything, and cook and eat it with different communities throughout the UK. Things like afternoon tea and old sweets. Not sure where the huge whisky gum came from, but I think I know someone at the lab who knows.

Tea We have a lab grade centrifuge, a distillator, a rotary evaporator, vacuum centrifuge, vac packs, water baths… But no bloody kettle. A very complex cup of tea.

Dinner After a full day in Bray and a brainstorm meeting that overran, ended up in the garden of the Crown for fish and chips – took the opportunity as a rare warm evening.

Thursday

Breakfast Book signing back in office – finally a decent cup of tea, ahhh, found teapot.

Lunch Spent most of the day at Dinner. Meeting with Ash to discuss a new project – a historic British food book – and trying to get a modern "meat fruit" shot to contrast with the historic image. Lunch was a tasting of new dishes: new terrine, autumn tart and sambonade – a goat's cheese cheesecake with elderflower and a secret centre.

Dinner Stayed and had dinner with a couple of friends – obviously had a meat fruit. We're serving around 1,000 of them a week now!

Friday

Breakfast None at home because I was running late, but I had tea and breakfast canapés at the launch of a new Vision Express shop on Oxford Street – loads of bites, so breakfast in stages.

Lunch Vision Express sushi before cutting the ribbon for the official store opening. I met another great spectacle-wearing geek, Jason Bradbury, there from The Gadget Show, so had a lot to talk about.

Dinner Roast chicken at a friend's – it's the biggest joy when someone asks you to their home and cooks for you, but my mates always joke that it's such a stress. I think it's the other way round when they come to mine – it's not as if I can just cook up a steak. People are expecting to eat the cutlery at the very least.

Saturday

Breakfast A quick tea and pastry on the way to the lab – more Earl Grey.

Lunch Tasting two new dishes for the Duck. Nowhere near finished, but one will end up on the menu for Christmas as a kind of "partridge in a pear tree" – partridge cooked in butter at a low temperature to relax the meat, served on the breastbone with brandy butter, and chestnut and pine and mandarin (basically all the aromas and flavours we associate with Christmas). We're also looking at the leathering process from the 1800s for a turbot dish – tanning agents in early 1800s Britain were sumac, oak and mimosa bark, so we use all three. The drainage from the tanneries heated up the land, and we grew pineapples and melons on it, so we serve the fish with savoury melon and purple carrot. Oh, and frankincense and crystalised sea veg – we make our own leather from the fish skin, which you don't eat, but which will be part of the cutlery for the texture and smell. Easy, really, to balance all that?!

Dinner Working late in Bray after tasting, so had a beer and some of head chef Jonny Lake's nachos with the boys after service.

• Heston's Fantastical Food starts on 6 November at 9pm on Channel 4.

Nigella Lawson

Monday

Breakfast Egg on toast, wolfed down too fast for a picture, but this is the deal (and it's often repeated): wholegrain rye toast, with a soft boiled egg schmooshed on top, with lots of Maldon salt and coarsely ground white pepper. Straight after breakfast, made batch of coffee ice-cream and chocolate nougat cookies to take to curry favour with various radio and TV interviews that I have lined up for day.

Lunch I am not good when I miss meals; being hungry makes me both murderous and suicidal. So didn't feel good that I didn't manage to get back for lunch until about 4.30pm and had to leave house for the next thingy at 5pm, so all I had time for was some rye toast with hummus and coriander on top, and a far too small portion at that.

Supper Roast chicken – I have all the bits with cartilage and skin, by choice, while pretending to make great sacrifices so that the children can eat the white meat – on escarole (my favourite lettuce) dressed just with Maldon, Mellow Yellow cold-pressed rapeseed oil, lemon and lots of English mustard.

Tuesday

Breakfast Made an egg and bacon sandwich for one of the children, but then ran too late to have breakfast myself. Not a good start to the day, made worse by the fact that I was going to a photographic shoot, which always makes me nervy.

Lunch Made up for lack of breakfast by eating huge amounts of rotisserie chicken, char-grilled corn and crinkly chips from Chicken Shop in Kentish Town. Don't blame them for the poor display: I had a takeaway and didn't present the food (such was my quaking hunger) to its best advantage. From this point onwards, my life started looking up.

Supper By special request, made risi e bisi, a Venetian recipe (think a soupy pea risotto) that's a favourite in my home. I am always grateful when this is what I'm asked to cook, because it's quick and easy, and as comforting for the cook as the eater.

Wednesday

Breakfast Rye toast with Mellow Yellow cold-pressed rapeseed oil and Vegemite. I feel a real traitor to my country choosing Vegemite over Marmite, but there it is.

Lunch Since this is a day of interviews, and the meagre toast with Vegemite is wearing off to the point of panic, I order a steak and chips. True, there are only four chips on the plate (though I must tell you they were much bigger and hunkier than they look), but they've been generous with the béarnaise sauce, and I also have a tube of Colman's in my bag, so I manage to get through the afternoon.

Supper By request, again, I make another of my children's favourites – penne with ham, peas and cream.

Thursday

Breakfast The usual rye toast and egg – and an awful lot of tea. In fact, I can never actually eat breakfast before I've had my two mugs of tea.

Lunch Have a meeting at home over lunch, so roast a butterflied leg of lamb, along with a tin of sliced pink fir apple potatoes, yellow courgettes, cherry tomatoes, leeks and black olives. There is no particular design to this vegetable mixture: I was just giving my fridge a bit of a going through, and bunged everything that needed to be used up into a roasting tin.

Supper Although I complied with children's wishes, making them burgers (not homemade, I must own up, but Heston's from Waitrose) with plastic cheese, potatoes cut somewhere between wedges and chips, roasted with garlic cloves and pancetta cubes, and a rather 1970s-looking salad, I needed the simple salve of an avocado, eaten with nothing more than a spritz of lemon and a snowy throw of salt.

I did succumb to some Booja-Booja champagne truffles later, but I never feel bad about that.

Friday

Breakfast Smoked salmon, coarsely ground white pepper, lemon juice and lots of dill – for me, the best way to eat it. I am very fussy about the smoked salmon, though; it must be London-cure, which is so lusciously mild that it's more like eating wafer-thin sashimi than anything else. I get mine, as my grandmother did before me, from Panzer's in St John's Wood, despite the schlepp.

Lunch A frantic day, and much as I like having proper meals and not grabbed snacks, lunch today is a toasted sandwich. Still, it's a very good toastie, buttery-crisp on the outside, lined with ham as thin and tender and pink as a kitten's tongue, and gooey with jarlsberg.

Supper Going to see Michael McIntyre at the O2, so supper has to be a picnic on the way there. I have an old picnic box I bought on eBay, and make a few batches of rice noodle and prawn salad, with beansprouts, sugar snaps and a lot of ginger, chilli and soy to go inside it. Friends we're going with a supply of champagne and, given that I can get drunk on one glass, I am reeling by the time I get home. Fantastic night, though, topped off by a buttered, toasted bagel on my return, followed by crisps and chocolate.

Saturday

Breakfast Get up too late for breakfast, but manage a good lunch-after-the-night-before (and pre-opening snoop) at Colbert of fried eggs with black pudding and crêpes with lemon and sugar.

Supper I live very near the Chelsea Fishmonger and generally throw myself at Rex, the fishmonger, and get myself comfortingly overstocked for the weekend. Tonight's supper is part of this catch: halibut, juicily roasted and plonked on top of some treviso leaves, with broccoli cooked with garlic oil, anchovies, chilli and dry white vermouth. This is what I use whenever I want white wine taste, but without having to open a bottle. I know it sounds odd, but unless we're having friends over, it never occurs to me to open a bottle of wine.

Sunday

Breakfast Up too late for breakfast, but I do manage a supersized cappuccino in bed with the papers.

Lunch Tuna tartare with capers, lemon zest, spring onions and rocket: this takes about three minutes to make and is a virtuous reward for the lazy and greedy.

Supper Ever since the children have been teenagers, the ritual of Sunday lunch has been shunted on to Sunday supper. Tonight, we're having pork belly slices – think melting meat and triumphant, bronze crackling – with soy and cumin gravy, mashed potato and broccoli. I've been experimenting with some mini versions of my cappuccino pavlova and have some bases left, as well as some coffee ice-cream from Monday, so do a housekeeping job of getting rid of the two together (that's my excuse), anointed with a sticky, gleaming drizzle of Golden Syrup which, along with Maldon and Colman's, constitute the holy trinity of Great British Foodstuffs.

• Nigella Lawson's new book, Nigellissima: Instant Italian Inspiration, is published by Chatto & Windus at £26. To order a copy for £20.80, plus free UK mainland p&p, go to guardian.co.uk/bookshop, or call 0330 333 6846.

Marina O'Loughlin

A lunatic mishmash of fayn daynin', boozing and comfort eating with the odd, breakfast-based attempt at healthiness. When not working, I'll cheerfully eat the same things over and over. I was on holiday for much of the week, so I'm amazed there's no Indian or a Thai: I usually pine for them after monoculturalist Italy. No apologies for the datterini surfeit – I'd happily live on them. And toast.

Saturday

Breakfast Tomatoes with chilli: I can't get enough of the local datterini tomatoes of joy.

Lunch Risotto at Trattoria Carmello– I practically live in this restaurant in Marina di Ragusa whenever I'm in Sicily. Simple but wonderful.

Dinner Satro in Scicli – new and still finding its feet. Toast, anchovy, sliver of lemon – tangy! Maccheroni with swordfish. The inevitable almondy, custardy cakes to finish.

Sunday

Breakfast More datterini.

Lunch Tuna and green peppers – usually hate green peppers, but these almost melted down into the tuna.

Dinner Lobster paella – bizarre to be eating paella in Sicily, but that's what our hosts cooked for us.

Monday

Breakfast Berocca and banana (and one or two datterini) – healthy!

Lunch A horrid little salad with tinned corn in a Modica cafe – you can get bad food in Italy.

Dinner Anchovy toasts. Bread with red tuna and its roe. Roast pancetta at the local bar: magnificently fatty, piggy porchetta. More almond cakes.

Tuesday

Breakfast Unidentified Sicilian object stuffed with cheese and sausage. Almost Glaswegian in its loveliness.

Lunch More Don Carmello – no apologies for going back. Antipasto di mare included fish-laced caponata.

Dinner Negroni and cicchetti at Grand Café Tabbacco, Catania. Then airline food worse even than it had been on way over. "Beef rendang" looked like Pedigree Chum, so I ate cheese and oatcakes and BA nuts.

Wednesday

Breakfast Bagel and tea – am a sucker for a bagel, one side marmalade, the other Marmite.

Lunch Homemade lemon cake and tea. I meant not to eat because I knew what was coming later…

Dinner Kitchen Table on Charlotte Street, for a review – though you'll have to wait until 10 November to read it. Fourteen courses. Several highlights, chief among them a giddily brilliant liquoricey pear cake.

Thursday

Breakfast Tea and a Crunchie – not proud of this: I'm calling it elevenses.

Lunch Garufin in Holborn. Pulled pork, chorizo, beans, squash – earthy and wonderful. Quail cooked in an escabeche – the presentation made me hoot. Presa Ibérico on quinoa flavoured with smoked oil – could almost convert me to quinoa.

Afternoon Pal who owns Belvidere Place B&B in Broadstairs has just got a licence, so I'm "helping" her with a bloody mary tasting. (Big Tom wins.)

Dinner Thai sticky rice with a little lime and fish sauce. Sometimes you just need something, well, soothing.

Friday

Breakfast Espresso, pomegranate, banana – almost healthy.

Lunch The last of the (possibly illegally imported) datterini, evoo, smoked Maldon, bread, Berocca.

Snack Percy Pigs – I buy them "for the children".

Dinner Risotto with tagliata hacked from a mammoth T-bone from the Butcher of Brogdale. Husband made it: bloody gorgeous in every sense.

Allegra McEvedy

Breakfast is important in our house – it's the one meal of the day that I'm guaranteed to have with my daughter. Lunch is a big variable – weekdays, if I'm writing, I'll just grab a bowl of soup or knock up a salad, but more often than not I'll be recipe testing or out tasting for the businesses I consult for, so don't want a proper lunch. Suppers, too, have no real pattern – I'm generally out no more than twice a week, and at home it's usually based around what's about to go off in the fridge.

Saturday

Breakfast Bacon and pineapple butties – must be a Saturday!

Lunch Friends over. Stunning bit of plaice, and probably the last time I do peas and lettuce this year – definitely a sunshine dish. And an emergency pud – vanilla sponge stolen from a friend with a quick plum compote and pistachios.

Dinner My sister and her kids came round for supper, so we had the first big beefy braise of the winter.

Sunday

Breakfast Some days I have eggs, others muesli. On big days, eggs are the way to go. Homemade River Cottage green tomato chutney put some zoom in today's oeuf.

Lunch Cafe Anglais: the compulsory umami-laden starter that is Rowley's parmesan custard, then more beef.

Supper A rioja-based meal with friends. Ended up making canapés a bit pissed: hummus and mung beans, potatoes and pesto... Basically any leftovers I had in the fridge.

Monday

Breakfast Had the plaice bones from Saturday in the fridge, so put on a fish stock while eating my muesli.

Lunch A cheese straw Parthenon set the tone on the first day of cooking for the new book. Didn't have a sit-down lunch because of that: shared a PPP – potato pesto pizza – with the girls for lunch, then more baking with raspberry jam tarts. Had a proper madeleine moment when I ate one later – hadn't had a jam tart for years and I came over a bit emotional. Love that food can do that to you.

Supper Easy supper with my daughter – my favourite Turkish veggie pilaff.

Tuesday

Breakfast Quick and yum hot breakfast on a cold day: lemon and sugar pancakes. Lunch More baking. Limbering up for Bonfire night with spicy sausage rolls. Munched a lot of sponge today, plus peppermint cream hearts. A great day in the McEvedy kitchen.

Dinner One of the girl's boyfriends had been shooting at the weekend, and she brought round pheasants as a present. Because I don't have enough food in my life...

Wednesday

Breakfast Marmite crumpet.

Lunch A typing-in-the-recipes day, so had salad with poached egg and homemade chorizo.

Supper Went to a Peruvian place called Ceviche. Had a fantastic dish called pisco – so good.

Thursday

Breakfast Muesli.

Lunch Tasting, so didn't really eat lunch. On the menu were 14 organic Irish seaweeds.

Supper Mussels were on day three, so needed cooking: never-fail marinière.

Friday

Breakfast A white peach compote that I made in August – I'd taken it out of the freezer for an end-of-work bellini yesterday, so we had the rest as a smoothie this morning.

Lunch Was left with an empty tart shell after testing a shortcrust recipe, so rummaged around in the fridge for ingredients to fill it with: last of my homemade chorizo, four old ends of various cheeses and peas from the freezer. With a bit of lettuce and the last of the toms, it made pretty much my perfect lunch (just add a glass of sauvignon blanc).

Supper The Queen Adelaide on Uxbridge Road. Scotch eggs make the best pub supper – the kedgeree ones were awesome, closely followed by the pickled egg one.

Tom Parker Bowles

"The primary requisite for writing well about food," mused the great AJ Liebling, "is a good appetite. Without this, it is impossible to accumulate… enough experience of eating to have anything worth setting down. Each day brings only two opportunities for field work, and they are not to be wasted minimising the intake of cholesterol. They are indispensable, like a prizefighter's hours upon the road." Far be it from me to contradict AJ, but with training that "field work" can be stretched to at least five instances a day. The first bit of this week was fairly normal, the second more gruelling, as I was in the US to flog my new book– and to miss out on a raft of New York newbies and old favourites would be remiss. Well, that's my excuse.

Monday

Breakfast Nothing at all, but that's pretty much normal for me.

Lunch Tom yum goong soup at Tawana on Westbourne Grove, followed by larb gai and miang kum – hot as buggery.

Dinner Couscous with pickled chillies and harissa, a bowl of lentils and a Drumstick for pudding.

Tuesday

Breakfast A rare occurrence: fruit and carrots.

Lunch Haddock and potato soup, and then plaice at Hereford Road (a rather more regular occurrence).

Dinner Boiled egg and soldiers.

Wednesday

Breakfast and lunch Typical last-minute rush to get ready to go to Philadelphia for filming, so didn't get round to eating a thing all day, until I sat down to fish pie on the 5pm BA flight from Heathrow T5 – just about OK.

Dinner Landed in NYC around 8.30pm and went straight to dinner at Smith & Wollensky– a brutally monolithic onion and tomato salad, then a gargantuan New York strip that was not as good as it thought it was.

Thursday

Mid-morning A day in Philly. Cheese steak sandwich at Jim's– a touch bland; should have added onions. Then a hot dog. Good bun and topping, but the sausage lacked snap and smoke. Good local fizzy drink.

Dinner Oysters, clams and lobster roll at Sansom Street Oyster House.

Friday

Didn't eat all day because was in and out of QVC's studio. Ended up in some bar in the evening for a much-needed drink. They did a good burger, too.

Saturday

Mid-morning snack Still in New York – gobstoppers to keep me going.

Lunch To Tomoe Sushi – one of the best in town for spicy tuna tartare and eel otoro among other things.

Dinner Blue Smoke's Memphis ribs – not enough smoke, but the pulled pork was pretty damned good.

Sunday

Breakfast Are you kidding?

Lunch Sunday lunch at Má Pêche: to start, a broth of glorious, beefy, greasy depth – the sort you want to dive into – filled with chunks of wobbling tendon. And then, of course, David Chang's pork buns – world-famous, still world-class.

DinnerIl Buco Alimentari e Vineria in the East Village. Good food. Noisy, though. Home-cured salumi were damned good. And then spaghetti con bottarga – sweetly saline.

• Tom Parker Bowles's new book, Let's Eat: Recipes From My Kitchen Notebook, is published by Pavilion at £25. To order a copy for £20 including free UK mainland p&p, go to guardian.co.uk/bookshop or call 0330 333 6846.

Angela Hartnett

Few chefs get three square meals a day – sometimes I'm lucky to get one – but I pick at stuff through service, so don't go hungry. Looking back, I should eat breakfast more, but that would mean being organised first thing, which is not a strong point.Monday

Breakfast Black coffee, like every day.

Lunch A day off, so went to see my mother. We had a nice minestrone.

Dinner Nuts, beans, salad leaves and beetroot, all bought at Aldeburgh food festival at the weekend.

Tuesday

Breakfast Coffee, then to Murano for service – that keeps you going, as you pick and taste right through.

Dinner Late supper at the Green Man & French Horn on St Martin's Lane. I joined friends after service, so hoovered up the remains of what they'd been eating – zander, partridge, leeks, eggs – and rounded things off with an ace jam tart.

Wednesday

Breakfast I actually had some time today, so grapefruit with the usual coffee – more treat than habit.

Lunch Staff lunch is always at 10.45am – today it was leftover veg turned into a stew or pasta.

Thursday

Breakfast Coffee first, as always.

Then testing for a private party – couscous salad with hot smoked salmon. Stayed on for lunch service, and picked my way through to lunch.

Dinner Spent afternoon on admin and errands, so headed to Murano: pasta with bread, high in carbs!

Friday

Dinner Pretty much what I ate on Wednesday, except I came home to a slice of spinach tart. It's a thing of beauty when made well, but I have to admit this was not the best – still, the spinach came from Mum's garden.

Saturday

Breakfast Late breakfast coffee and toasted St John bread – it's so handy to have the bakery round the corner.

Lunch Running late (again) and had to get to work, so just a quick salad.

Dinner Good job I had something light earlier, because tonight I had a huge Action Against Hunger meal: Claude Bosi's buckwheat soup, Tom Kerridge's slow-cooked hake, carrot purée and lardo, Phil Howard's roast guinea fowl with semolina gnocchi and Andrew Fairlie's chocolate hedgehog.

Sunday

Breakfast To Nordic Bakery with my nephew, who loves the place – egg and herrings on rye bread while the kids ate their way through cinnamon buns and rye muffins. Numerous coffees, too, obviously.

Lunch Had family over – made some salads, sardines on tomato and fennel, and linguine with vongole, chilli and garlic. No dessert, because I didn't get to St John in time to pick up some of their doughnuts – they always sell out so early

• Angela Hartnett is chef/patron at Murano, London W1.

With the Christmas season nearly upon us, Master of Wine Antony Moss pairs wines for a three-course Christmas menu with the chef of Murano, Angela Hartnett

The Kitchen Cabinet was a happy antidote to the waffle served up by George Osborne

The Kitchen Cabinet (R4) | iPlayer

The Autumn Statement (5 Live) | iPlayer

Inside the Academy School Revolution (R4) | iPlayer

Breakfast (5 Live) | iPlayer

The Atkinson People (R4 Extra) | iPlayer

You know how, with TV, you can have millions of channels and not find anything you want to watch? Radio is never like that. If, over breakfast, you can't face an old feller grumblathon, you can turn from Radio 4 to 5 Live. If that starts harshing your am vibes (a radio joke), there's always Grimmy, or Shaun Keaveny, or Danny Wallace, or Christian O'Connell, or any number of witty morning types to giggle your kids into their uniforms and out of the door. There's even classical music on tap at all hours, on Radio 3 or Classic FM, if you fancy weeping into the washing up.

But, I dunno, last week I couldn't find anything that felt right. I wanted jokes, thoughts, stimulation, anything to turn the pre-Xmas fear into festive. Nothing did it. I tuned into The Kitchen Cabinet, Radio 4's food panel show, hosted by the always entertaining Jay Rayner of this parish. It was the first of the new series. And it was… very good, if I'm honest, with both panel and audience kept nice and frothy by Jay's daft asides. I enjoyed Angela Hartnett's contributions the most. She has that flat southern accent you rarely hear on Radio 4, plus she was a bit rude. All of which I like. In fact, the show is a great listen and I recommend it to you, if you know your way around a stuffed aubergine. I don't.

Instead, because I reckon I know my way around a stuffed wallet (ho), I listened to TheAutumn Statement on 5 Live. Early on, the Speaker tried to restore order, as the House rolled around with mirth at the chancellor's opening statement: "The British economy is healing." "Each side should be heard with courtesy," squeaked Mr Bercow, though I have a feeling that he was talking merely so everyone remembered who he was. Anyhow, there followed, from Osborne, a cascade of percentages, a blizzard of figures, words such as debt and deficit chucked around like so many snowballs. He also went on about "the transfer of the coupons", as if the budget was actually a ceremonial handing over of Green Shield Stamp books. As you can guess, my fear was not dispelled.

Ah well. The evening before, I'd settled down with Guardian columnist Zoe Williams as she took a tour around academy schools in Insidethe Academy School Revolution. Williams is a feisty type and I'd hoped for some fireworks. But it seemed as though the only academies she could access were the successful ones. No surprise really – you're not going to welcome a journalist when your school is failing – but it made for a tame programme. (And, perhaps, a premature one: surely we'll only know whether academies really work in a few years' time?)

Williams was good, despite her natural punchiness being played down. At one point she gave an audible "pscha!", when an American financier talked some rubbish about wanting his firm to be both a business and a charitable institution. Some more of that cynicism would have made a sparkier listen.

No fear-chaser as yet… and then, suddenly, I found a couple. On Thursday's 5 Live Breakfast, Nicky Campbell interviewed George Osborne and then Rachel Burden tackled Ed Balls. Not that Osborne or Balls gave any reason to do anything other than panic; just that both Campbell and Burden were excellent. Campbell began with Osborne's characterisation of benefit claimants as staying in bed. "Doesn't the language you're using stigmatise those who, through no fault of their own, are in that position? Does it not encourage scapegoating and resentment?" he said with infinite politeness. "Why don't you sneer at tax avoiders like Philip Green and Amazon?"

He handled Osborne beautifully, without rancour, in a short interview that managed to get the chancellor spluttering while also answering his questions. Similarly, Rachel Burden managed to make all her points to Balls – "You seemed a little bit muddled yesterday" – while never appearing rude. Oh, I do love gracious interviewing.

And then – hooray! – I discovered Rowan Atkinson's only ever radio series on 4 Extra. Originally broadcast in 1979, on Radio 3, The Atkinson People is a series of spoof interviews, written by Atkinson and Richard Curtis, with Atkinson playing all the parts. First up, Sir Corin Basin, actor, raconteur and crashing bore. There's no point in me retelling the jokes, as it's Atkinson's delivery – his vowels twanging and pinging, his intonation on a bungee jump – that really makes them funny. Just listen, it's a joy. Someone crack open the advocaat.

'Boy, can this pair write a menu. Every dish is something you'd like to eat, all peppered with contemporary foodie button-pushers'

Our drive to this Arcadian idyll takes us past several wild ponies. We townies go all gooey-eyed: aww. "Those?" our taxi driver dampens our spirits. "About 600 of 'em get knocked down a year."

We've driven though Lyndhurst, a typical New Forest small town with its tea rooms and half-timbering and Maserati dealership, and then on to this ravishing hotel, which does a glamorous, understated job of not looking like it's just had about 30 million quid's worth of renovations. A posh youth dressed head to toe in tweed ushers us into a chic urbanista's fantasy of the perfect country house, the sort of place where captains of industry don self-conscious denim and owners of Soho production companies pine for a plus-four.

Lime Wood is firmly in the Babington House model: not so much gin'n'jag as Sipsmiths'n'Bentley. Previously, its restaurant was dedicated to "fine dining", but boss Robin Huston (ex Hotel du Vin) insists this new incarnation, featuring existing chef Luke Holder with new recruit, celeb chef Angela Hartnett, is all about "fun dining". And if you want fun, you could do worse than employ Martin Brudniski (Dean Street Townhouse, Hix) as designer. He's never done a dud, and this is no exception. From the Regency windows to the glossy-berry leathers, dark marbles and Missoni-style fabrics (not forgetting those hip-restaurant-du-jour signifiers, a couple of Tracey Emins and a scarlet meat-slicer), it's a room you want to sink into with several bottles of posh booze and never leave.

And, boy, can the titular duo write a menu. Every dish is something you'd like to eat, all peppered with contemporary foodie button-pushers: oyster mayonnaise, braised treviso, apple slaw, chicken skins, Jurassic rose veal chop and, sexiest of all, smokehouse. One of which squats in the extensive grounds, rammed with gently bronzing pig and salmon. Their own-cured sausages and hams decorate the handsome central bar and turn up in a plate of charcuterie: coppa, bresaola, chorizo. I admire the initiative, but they're not a patch on their Continental counterparts: too salty and pungent, chewy and oily. Gammon broth, too, poured over a bendy little cheese on toast, is wildly oversalted and cough-making with pepper.

Hartnett's pasta is legendary, and the hero dish here is agnolotti, the egg-yolk-yellow pasta super-thin but tensile, the parcels partitioned into two, one half filled with guinea fowl, the other a squelch of milky burrata. A slick of reduced game juice beefed up with butter and Madeira, and a hail of Parmesan: wow. Reports vary as to the amount of time Hartnett is spending here, but her influence is unmistakable. Same with gnocchi, their wild rabbit ragù lubricated with own-made lardo, the dumplings made with almost too light a hand. Slow-cooked, spoonable pigs' cheeks are another Hartnett keynote. But there are irritating conceits: lots of copper dishes; calling a classic – and excellent – tarte tatin a "torta", doubtless a nod to her oft-quoted Italian nonna. Never has a relative been put to such comprehensive use since a Rolling Stone allegedly snorted the ashes of his departed pa.

Perfection? Perhaps not. But an improvement on the prevailing stuffy country house aesthetic? Hell, yes. Even if the frequently condescending staff could do with a sharp boot up the jacksie: we don't ask, but are lectured on what burrata is, and treviso. We're not booked into the hugely expensive hotel, so need a cab again. Our handsome waiter smiles pityingly: "Are you staying at a little B&B?"

It's the same taxi driver. We marvel at the car park's luxury motors and he tells us with his gallows cheer, "Ah, they like to drink and drive round here." Which might account for the aforementioned roadkill. The actual number, concerned animal lovers, is actually more like 60-odd; I suspect he enjoys hamming it up for a bunch of entitled visitors. A bit like Hartnett Holder & Co.

• Hartnett Holder & Co Lime Wood Hotel, Beaulieu Road, Lyndhurst, Hampshire 023-8028 7177. Open all week, noon-11pm. Three courses with drinks and service, £50-plus a head.

Food 6/10
Atmosphere 8/10
Value for money 7/10

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Round things off with Delia's vanilla cream terrine, Nigella's cheesecake in a glass and Marcus Wareing's gin and tonic granita, plus a whole lot more besides including some wine recommendations from Victoria Moore

Nigella Lawson: Cheesecake in a glass

This is the perfect end to a midweek dinner party, the kind you didn't know you were giving until presented with a guest list mid-afternoon. You simply chop strawberries, crush digestive biscuits and whip cream cheese and cream, then layer up quickly in some waiting glasses. Like this, they can stand for about an hour, so you can make them up just before you sit down for supper. If you want to make this in advance – and it's a versatile recipe that doesn't need to be made last minute – simply leave the glasses in the fridge, layered up with the digestive crumbs and cream cheese mixture and covered with clingfilm. Top with strawberries on serving. Serves four.

200g strawberries(or 1 big punnet)
1 tsp caster sugar
4 digestive biscuits
100g cream cheese, at room temperature
2 tbsp icing sugar
125ml double cream
1 tbsp lemon juice
½ tsp vanilla extract
4 small glasses (of about 150ml capacity; I find a small martini glass looks prettiest)
Quarter the strawberries, then cut in half again, to give pretty small dice. Put into a bowl, sprinkle with caster sugar, cover with clingfilm and shake the bowl once or twice.

Leave the berries to macerate while you put the biscuits into a freezer bag and bash with a rolling pin until you have a sandy bag of crumbs.

Measure the cream cheese and icing sugar into a bowl and whisk by hand. Add the cream, lemon juice and vanilla, and whisk gently to combine.

Divide the biscuit crumbs equally between your four glasses, and arrange in the bottom of each one. Spoon the cream cheese mix on top, dividing it equally between the glasses and covering the biscuits.

Divide the sugar-shiny strawberries between the glasses, to give a glossy, red-berried layer on each glass.

To drink: There's so much sugar in here that I think a dessert wine would be overkill – go instead for a cleansing fresh mint tea made by dunking a few sprigs of mint in a teapot full of hot water.

Nigella Quick Collection is available to download now from iTunes.

Delia Smith: Vanilla cream terrine with raspberries and blackcurrant coulis

This content has been removed as our copyright has expired.

Recipe adapted from Delia's Summer Collection (BBC Books, 1993, £12.99).

© Delia Smith 2010. For more Delia recipes go to deliaonline.com.

Delia's Complete How To Cook is published by Ebury at £30. To order a copy for £27 (inc free UK mainland p&p), go to guardian.co.uk/bookshop or call 0330 333 6846.

Antonio Carluccio: Mango con sciroppo di limo

Or mango with lime syrup. A very simple recipe with lots of fresh flavour. The best mango to use would be an Alfonso, but their season is all but over now. Never mind: this recipe will be a success whatever type you use. Serves four.

2 large, ripe mangoes
3 limes
100g caster sugar
4 small sprigs mint

To peel the mangoes, cut along the length of the fruit on each side, close to the stone. You'll be left with two rounded bits and the stone. Cut the peel off the rounded bits, cut each half in two and place on a large plate.

To prepare the syrup, cut the rind off the limes, leaving behind any pith, and cut into thin strips. Squeeze the juice from the limes into a small pan and add the sugar. Simmer until the sugar has melted, then boil to reduce by half. Add the rind and simmer until caramelised. Set aside to cool. Pour the cooled lime syrup over the mango halves and decorate with the mint.

To drink: Concha Y Toro Late Harvest Sauvignon Blanc 2006 (£6.05, Tesco; 12% abv) is a fabulous sweet wine from Chile whose floral scent and vivid lime and lemon marmalade notes go especially well with mango.

Antonio Carluccio's latest book is Antonio Carluccio's Simple Cooking (Quadrille, £20). To order a copy for £13.99 (including UK mainland p&p), go to guardian.co.uk/bookshop or call 0330 333 6846.

Anjum Anand: Strawberry and pomegranate shortcakes

Food generally evokes a memory or an emotion. This dessert reminds me of hazy-skied summer days in my parents' garden. We often had family and friends around for lunch at weekends and, weather permitting, it was always a barbecue – Indian-inspired, of course. Pudding was always outsourced to me and was normally berry-based, often with some element of cream. This unctuous cake takes me back to a now rather misty memory of contentment and summer. Makes one large cake or six to eight small individual ones.

70g cold butter, cut into cubes, plus extra for greasing
270g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
1 tbsp baking powder
120g sugar
¼ tsp salt
1 egg, beaten
100ml cold milk, plus a little extra to brush over cake
¾ tsp vanilla essence
For the filling
60ml water
50g sugar
Juice of 1 orange
1 star anise
½ tsp vanilla essence
400g strawberries, hulled and quartered
The fruit of ½ sweet pomegranate (optional)
142g pot double cream

Heat the oven to 220C/425F/gas mark 7. Butter and flour an eight-inch, round cake tin (or, if making individual cakes, a baking sheet). Mix the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt, then rub in the butter with your fingertips until the mix looks like fine sand. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg, milk and vanilla. Make a well in the middle of the flour mixture, pour in the milk and stir, drawing in the flour from the sides. Gather up the dough with your hands and give it the lightest knead, just to bring it together – it should need no more than four or five turns. Place in the cake tin and gently pat to even the surface. (Or, if making individual cakes, pat into a square, cut into eight and gently press each piece into a round, then place on the prepared baking sheet.) Brush with milk and bake for 20-25 minutes (or 15-17 for the smaller cakes), until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool. Once cool, cut in half horizontally with a serrated knife.

Heat the water, sugar, orange juice, star anise and vanilla essence in a medium saucepan, simmer until the sugar has melted, then boil for another few minutes until slightly syrupy. Add the strawberries and cook for two minutes. Turn off the heat, add the pomegranate and leave to cool.

Lightly whip the cream until it forms soft billowing peaks. Remove and discard the star anise, and spoon the strawberries and juices evenly over the base of the cake. Spread the cream over the fruit, top with the upper layer and serve.

To drink: Wine does not come more easy-drinking than Moscato Freisa Vino Spumante NV (£7.99, Marks & Spencer; 6.5% abv), a sweet, sparkling and entirely frivolous warm-weather rosé from Piedmont.

Anjum Anand's new book, I Love Curry, is published in October by Quadrille.

Raymond Blanc: Peaches poached in white wine and citrus fruits

The perfect dessert when peaches are in season; July and August are the best months. The finest peaches come from France and Italy. White peaches have the very best flavour, and for that there's a small extra price to pay. Preparation: 20 minutes, plus six hours' chilling. Cooking time: 25 minutes. Serves four.

8 ripe but firm peaches (white, if possible)
1 orange
½ lemon
175g caster sugar
500ml water
500ml dry white wine
1 vanilla pod, split open lengthways and seeds removed
8 sprigs fresh spearmint

Remove the stalks from the peaches. Cut the orange and lemon into fine, 3mm slices, leaving the rind on.

Put the peaches in a large saucepan in a single layer. Add the caster sugar, water, wine, vanilla pod and seeds. Top with the orange and lemon slices. Cut out a round of greaseproof paper the same size as the saucepan and cut a hole in the centre to allow excess steam to escape. Place this directly on top of the peaches.

On a high heat, bring to a boil, then immediately reduce the heat to a gentle simmer and cook for about 20 minutes (the flesh of the peaches is very delicate; if subjected to high heat, their texture will be ruined, so cook them very gently). There is an easy way to see if the peaches are cooked: you will notice some tiny bubbles escaping from the point where you removed the stalk; when these bubbles stop coming out, the peach is ready. Turn off the heat and leave to cool in the liquid.

Chop four sprigs of mint, mix into the syrup, and refrigerate for at least six hours and up to 24, to allow an exchange of flavours between the citrus, mint and peaches.

With a slotted spoon, transfer the peaches to a plate and carefully peel off the skins. Place the peaches, orange and lemon slices and vanilla pod in a glass serving bowl and pour over the wine and citrus syrup (if you have too much syrup, freeze it and scrape beautiful frozen flakes of it into glasses to serve as a pre-dessert for a future meal). Arrange the remaining four sprigs of spearmint on top.

To drink: What better than a sip of the upbeat, peachy, blissfully low in alcohol sparkle of Moscato d'Asti Gemma 2009 (£6.99, or £5.99 by the mixed case, Oddbins; 5.5% abv).

Raymond Blanc is chef/patron of Le Manoir Aux Quat' Saisons in Great Milton, Oxfordshire. His most recent book is A Taste Of My Life (Corgi, £8.99). To order a copy for £7.99 (including UK mainland p&p), go to guardian.co.uk/bookshop or call 0330 333 6846.

Dan Lepard: Saffron clotted cream cake

A magnificent tower of light saffron buttercake, rich with clotted cream, layered with lemon curd and topped with clotted cream frosting and more swirls of lemon. The perfect summer party cake.

For the cake
75ml lemon juice
1 large pinch saffron
100g unsalted butter, softened
50ml corn or sunflower oil
250g caster sugar
50g cornflour
4 large eggs, separated
150g clotted cream
275g plain flour
3 tsp baking powder
For the icing
50g clotted cream
225g icing sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
Lemon curd (either a good brand or make your own; see below for my recipe)

Line the base and sides of two 20cm, round, deep cake tins with nonstick baking paper. Heat the lemon juice in a pan, add the saffron and leave off the heat to infuse for 10 minutes. Beat the butter, oil, sugar and cornflour until light and fluffy, then beat in the egg yolks one at a time, followed by the saffron liquid and clotted cream.

Whisk the egg whites in a clean bowl until stiff, then fold half of them through the butter mix. Sift the flour and baking powder, and gently fold half of this through, too. Repeat with the remaining egg whites and flour, then divide the mixture between the tins and bake at 180C (160C fan-assisted)/350F/gas mark 4 for 35 minutes.

For the icing, beat the clotted cream, icing sugar and vanilla with two to three tablespoons of boiling water until thick and smooth. Slice each cake in two horizontally, then fill and stack with lemon curd. Alternately swirl spoonfuls of the icing over the top of the cake with small teaspoonfuls of lemon curd.

Dan Lepard's easy lemon curd

5 large egg yolks
1 large egg
Finely grated zest of 3 lemons
125ml lemon juice
150g caster sugar
225g unsalted butter, cut into small cubes

Have ready a large sieve placed over a clean mixing bowl. In a saucepan, whisk the yolks, whole egg, lemon zest and juice with the sugar until evenly combined, then add the butter. Bring to the first plop of a boil, stirring all the time across the base of the pan to check it isn't sticking, then quickly spoon the mixture into the sieve and press through with the wooden spoon to remove the zest. Cover and leave until cold before using.

To drink: Château la Tomaze Côteaux du Layon Rablay 2008/9 (£13.50, Yapp Brothers; 12.5% abv) from the Loire isn't cloyingly sweet, and it smells of orange blossom and orange zest.

Dan Lepard's Baking With Passion (Quadrille, £12.99) is published next month. To pre-order a copy for £9.99 (including UK mainland p&p), go to guardian.co.uk/bookshop or call 0330 333 6846.

• This recipe was amended on 2 August 2010. The original referred to 125g icing sugar. This has been corrected.

Angela Hartnett: Raspberry trifle

Simple, maybe, but oh so delicious – and a British summer wouldn't be the same without trifle, would it?

1 packet trifle sponges
2 measures Disaronno (aka amaretto)
2 punnets fresh raspberries or strawberries
250ml vanilla-flavoured custard
200ml double cream, whipped
50g amaretti biscuits, crushed

Lay the sponge fingers flat in a bowl. Pour over the liqueur so the sponges soak it up, but not so much that they're over-saturated.

Cover the soaked sponge with raspberries, pour over the vanilla custard, top with the whipped double cream and refrigerate for a couple of hours. Just before serving, sprinkle with the crushed amaretti.

To drink: Perhaps a cheeky slug of Disaronno while the bottle is open, but otherwise nothing else needed.

Angela Hartnett is head chef at Murano and York & Albany, both in London, and author of Cucina: Three Generations Of Italian Family Cooking (Ebury, £25). To order a copy for £18.99 (including UK mainland p&p), go to guardian.co.uk/bookshop or call 0330 333 6846.

Tom Kitchin: Summer berries with cottage cheese cream and almond tuiles

This dish looks great and is simple to make because everything can be prepared in advance. Use any combination of summer berries you can get your hands on. Serves four.

100g redcurrants
100g blueberries
100g blackberries
100g strawberries
100g raspberries
Fresh mint leaves
Icing sugar, for dusting
For the cottage cheese cream
200ml whipping cream
200g cottage cheese
1 lime, zest and juice
For the almond tuiles
200g icing sugar
50g flour
70g flaked almonds
Juice and zest of 1 orange
70g butter, melted

To make the cottage cheese cream, whip the cream to firm peaks, fold in the cottage cheese, lime zest and juice, and mix. Leave in the fridge until ready to serve.

Make the tuiles a day or two ahead, so they can set. Heat the oven to 200C/400F/gas mark 6. Sift together the icing sugar and flour, and mix with the flaked almonds, orange juice and zest, and the melted butter. Line a large baking sheet with parchment. Drop rounded teaspoons of the mixture on to the baking sheet and spread them out with the back of a spoon (wet the spoon with water to prevent the mix sticking) to make circles about 5cm in diameter. Leave some space between each tuile, because they will expand during cooking. You need 16 tuiles in all.

Bake the biscuits for six to eight minutes, until nicely golden. Time them carefully: if overcooked, the tuiles will be bitter and brittle; if undercooked, they will be too soft and pliable. While they are still warm, trim the discs to the desired shape. Leave them to rest and cool.

To assemble the dish, wash the berries well. Hull the strawberries and, if they are on the large side, cut them in half. Spoon a small amount of cottage cheese cream on to each plate, top with one tuile biscuit and arrange a selection of berries on the inside edge of the tuile, leaving room in the middle for more cream. Top with another tuile and repeat. Finish with a tuile on top with a teaspoon of cream in the middle.

To serve, place a few fruits on top as a garnish, add some fresh mint and dust with icing sugar.

To drink: The grapey, floral and sweet Sainsbury's Muscat De St Jean De Minervois (£4.48 for 37.5cl; 15% abv) is a steal.

Tom Kitchin is chef/patron of Kitchin in Edinburgh and author of From Nature To Plate (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, £30). To order a copy for £22.99 (including UK mainland p&p), go to guardian.co.uk/bookshop or call 0330 333 6846.

Michael Caines: Cherry parfait, poached cherries and cherry mousse with cherry jelly

Chocolate and cherries is a classic match. Ideally, use cherries from Kent, but their season is very short, only about eight weeks, peaking in July. This dish is a great way to showcase the fruit, not least because it has more than one texture going on, so there's always something to keep you interested. It is a bit complicated, yes, but each element of the dish works well in its own right, too. Serves eight.

For the poached cherries
600g fresh cherries, stoned
30ml kirsch
½ lemon, juiced
80g caster sugar
1 tsp arrowroot
For the marinated cherries
125g poached cherries (see above), finely chopped
25ml kirsch
For the cherry parfait
100g sugar
30ml water
6 egg yolks
200g poached cherries (see above)
125g marinated cherries (see above)
½ lemon, juiced
200ml double cream, whipped
8 tempered dark chocolate tubes
For the cherry chocolate mousse
3 egg yolks
75ml stock syrup (see parfait
method, right)
100g griotte cherries, finely chopped (you can buy preserved griotte cherries in a jar – strain, and use the liquor in the mousse)
50ml griotte cherry liquor
160g dark chocolate (72% cocoa solids), melted
300ml double cream
For the cherry jelly
1-2 leaves gelatine
150ml cherry juice (from the poached cherries)

For the poached cherries, put the cherries, kirsch, lemon juice and sugar in a stainless-steel saucepan and bring to a boil over a medium heat. Cook at a gentle simmer for five minutes, until the cherries are soft. Add a drop of water to the arrowroot, then whisk into the pan. Bring back to a boil, remove from the heat, strain off 150ml of juice through a fine sieve (you'll use this for the jelly) and leave the rest to cool down.

Once cooled, separate 125g of the cherries, chop finely and place in a bowl with the kirsch to steep for 12 hours (you'll use these in the parfait). Weigh out another 200g of the poached cherries, place in a liquidiser and blitz to a purée (you'll use this in the parfait, too).

To make the parfait, put the sugar and water in a saucepan over medium heat and cook until it reaches 120C – this is your stock syrup. Put the egg yolks in a bowl, pour on the hot syrup, whipping all the time, until the eggs are cold. Add the cherry purée and mix to blend, then add the marinated cherries and lemon juice. Carefully fold in the whipped cream and pour the mixture into the chocolate tubes until they are three-quarters full. Place in the freezer.

To make the mousse, make up some more stock syrup as for the parfait. Put the egg yolks, 25ml of syrup and 15ml of griottes liquor in a bowl, place over a pan of gently simmering water (make sure the water doesn't touch the base or sides of the bowl) and whisk continuously until the mixture thickens, turns frothy and forms a sabayon. Meanwhile, heat the remaining 50ml of stock syrup in a saucepan over a medium heat until it reaches 120C. Place the sabayon in a food mixer and quickly whisk in the warm stock syrup until the mixture is cold. Mix in the chopped griottes and the remaining 50ml of their liquor. Fold in the melted chocolate and double cream, and mix until smooth. Transfer the mousse into moulds and put in the fridge to set for two hours.

Finally, on to the jelly. Soften the gelatine in cold water. Meanwhile, heat the cherry juice in a saucepan over a medium heat. Once the gelatine is soft, squeeze out the excess water and add the gelatine leaves to the juice to dissolve, stirring to help the process. Once dissolved, spoon the mixture on top of the mousse, then put the moulds back in the fridge to set the jelly.

To serve, top up the frozen parfait-filled chocolate tubes with the remaining poached cherries and serve with the mousse alongside.

To drink: They use fresh cherries to make Bacchus Kriek (£2.61, Morrisons, Tesco; 5.8% abv), a sweetish, dirty ruby coloured beer that looks beautiful in champagne flutes or small tumblers.

Michael Caines is executive chef at Gidleigh Park in Chagford, Devon, and ABode nationwide.

Marcus Wareing: Gin and tonic granite

The perfect summer treat – ice-cold, refreshing and mind-numbingly good (quite literally, if you eat too much of it). Makes around a litre.

100ml water
200g caster or granulated sugar
250ml good gin (Bombay Sapphire or Beefeater)
Juice of 2 lemons
500ml tonic water

Heat the water with the sugar until the latter dissolves. Add all the remaining ingredients to the pan, stir, then pour into a freezer container and freeze. After an hour, take it out, give it a quick whisk and return to the freezer. Repeat after the second hour.

Before serving, scrape the granite all over with a fork to break it up – this will give it a softer texture. Serve as a pre-dessert (a few crystallised violet petals scattered on top are a nice touch) or as a grown-up's slushy for a hot day.

Marcus Wareing is head chef of Marcus Wareing at the Berkeley. His latest book is Nutmeg And Custard (Bantam Press, £25). To order a copy for £19.99 (including UK mainland p&p), go to guardian.co.uk/bookshop or call 0330 333 6846.

Lorraine Pascale: Watermelon and stem ginger juice

A very, very refreshing alternative to traditional lemonade.

¼ watermelon, rind and
seeds removed
Zest and juice of 2 limes
2 pieces stem ginger
Stem ginger syrup, to taste
Vodka (optional)
Ice cubes
Fresh mint, to finish
4 ice-cold glasses

Blend the watermelon, limes and ginger to a liquid, then press through a sieve. Add the syrup from the stem ginger jar to taste (I have a sweet tooth, so used almost all of it). Divide the juice between the glasses, add a splash of vodka, if using, and finish with ice cubes and mint.

Lorraine Pascal runs cake shop Ella's Bakehouse. Her first book, Lorraine Bakes, is out next year (HarperCollins, £20).

• In the original version of this article, we inadvertently omitted the egg yolks from Dan Lepard's lemon curd recipe. This has been corrected.

Enter now for your chance to sample the menus of world-beating women chefs, including Angela Hartnett, Margot Janse and Helena Rizzo

This competition is now closed

Girls' Night Out celebrates women in the restaurant industry. Over three nights in March, six leading chefs from London and abroad will be cooking specially devised menus at 1 Lombard Street, London EC3. You can win a five-course dinner for two worth £200 per head, including champagne and wine, on one of these nights.

On March 11, Gabrielle Hamilton, chef-owner of Prune in New York, will cook with Angela Hartnett of London's Murano.

On March 12, Helena Rizzo of Mani in Sao Paolo, Brazil, and Clare Smyth, triple-Michelin-starred head chef of London's Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, will take over the kitchen.

On March 13, it's the turn of Margot Janse, executive chef of Le Quartier Français in South Africa's Western Cape, and Anna Hansen, chef-owner of The Modern Pantry in London.

The evenings will begin with champagne and canapes, followed by a meal with wines chosen by Selfridges buyer Dawn Davies, who has sourced wine from female producers. The chefs will talk about their menus and answer your questions.

To win a place at this exclusive event – organised by Guardian chef Angela Hartnett and writer Fiona Sims, and sponsored by American Express – email g2.competition@guardian.co.uk with your name and phone number, and preferred date. The competition closes at 11.59pm on Sunday 19 February 2012. Full terms and conditions below. Good luck!

Full terms and conditions

1. To enter, email g2.competition@guardian.co.uk with your contact details (name, email address and phone number) and preferred date to attend the event. 2. Competition open to UK residents aged 18 and over. 3. Employees and agencies of Guardian News & Media Limited ("GNM"), its group companies, family members and anyone connected to the competition may not enter. 4. Competition closes 11.59pm on 19 February 2012. 5. One entry per person. 6. Three winners will be selected at random and will be notified by email or phone on or before 27 February 2012. Winners must reply within 6 days or will forfeit the prize. 7. Each prize is pair of tickets for one Girls Night Out dinner on 11, 12 or 13 March 2012. Winners' preferred choice of date is not guaranteed. 8. No cash alternative. Prize is non-transferable and non-exchangeable. 9. By entering you accept GNM's full terms and conditions. 10. Name of winners available on written request to G2. 11. Winners may be required for promotional activity.

From Angela Hartnett's arancini to Mark Hix's elderflower ice cream, fabulous meat-free recipes from our chefs

July's Observer Food Monthly is a vegetarian special, guest edited by Paul, Mary and Stella McCartney. As part of this very special event, OFM sourced a selection of vegetarian recipes from top chefs and celebrities, with everyone from Jamie Oliver to Gwyneth Paltrow contributing their favourites.

For more information on Meat Free Monday visit supportMFM.org; for more on Linda McCartney Foods: lindamccartneyfoods.co.uk

David Thompson's mixed vegetable and fruit salad dressed with tamarind, palm sugar and sesame seeds

This is a versatile salad, you can use a wide range of ingredients. Below I have used all Thai items but you can stretch the boundaries a bit by adding some non-Thai stuff. I've considered horseradish, various types of lettuce and herbs and even a few pieces of pear. What is important, though, is finding good fresh ingredients – hardly a secret but imperative nonetheless.

Serves 4

For the dressing:

½ cup best quality palm sugar
125ml thick tamarind water
2-3 tbsp light soy sauce
a good pinch white sesame seeds
4 sliced and deep-fried red shallots

For the salad, a mixture of some of the following:

a handful of mixed mint leaves and dill sprigs
a handful of mixed Thai, holy and lemon basil
some sliced yam bean (jicama)
2 tbsp sliced green beans
1 tbsp pak chi farang (long-leaf coriander), shredded
½ small green mango, shredded
1 stalk lemon grass, cleaned and finely sliced
1 sliced apple aubergine
4 shredded kaffir lime leaves
½ star fruit, elegantly sliced (optional)
1 large red chilli, deep-fried

To make the dressing, dissolve the palm sugar in the tamarind water and soy. Toast the sesame seeds and once fragrant and golden, allow to cool. Crush the sesame seeds and deep-fried shallots in a pestle and mortar and stir into the sauce. It should taste sweet, sour and only very slightly salty. It might be necessary to lighten the sauce with a few tablespoons of water. If the sauce has been refrigerated, bring to room temperature.

Combine the prepared fruits and vegetables in a bowl. While not every suggested vegetable is necessary, a good selection gives a rounded balance to the salad. Dress and serve sprinkled with coarsely crushed deep-fried chilli.

Alicia Silverstone's Moroccan couscous with saffron

I adore couscous, and this is a wonderful way to prepare it. Not only is it tasty, it looks gorgeous on a big serving plate. You can complement it with a simple salad or let it be the beginning of a feast that includes soup, hummus and veggies. This recipe serves six, but you can halve it or just make a big batch and keep leftovers in the fridge.

Serves 6

2 cups butternut squash, peeled and cut into 5mm to 1cm cubes
2 cups yellow onion, cut into large dice
1½ cups carrots cut into 5mm to 1cm cubes
1½ cups courgette cut into 1.5cm cubes
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
fine sea salt
1½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
375ml vegetable broth
2 tbsp non-dairy butter
¼ tsp ground cumin
½ tsp saffron threads
1½ cups wholewheat couscous
spring onions 2, chopped

Preheat the oven to 190C/gas mark 5. Place the butternut squash, onion, carrots and courgette on a baking sheet and toss with the olive oil, 1 teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon pepper. Roast for 25 to 30 minutes, turning once with a spatula about midway through.

While the vegetables roast, bring the broth to the boil in a pan. Remove pan from the heat and stir in the butter, remaining ½ teaspoon pepper, cumin, saffron and salt to taste. Cover pan and steep for 15 minutes.

Scrape the roasted vegetables and their juices into a large bowl and add the couscous. Bring the vegetable broth back to the boil, and pour over the couscous mixture all at once. Cover tightly with a plate and allow to stand for 15 minutes. Add the spring onions, toss the couscous and vegetables with a fork, and serve.

• The Kind Diet by Alicia Silverstone (Rodale, £19.99)

Mario Batali's shaved asparagus with Parmigiano Reggiano

Serves 6

800g medium asparagus, tough bottom ends snapped off
75g Parmigiano Reggiano, coarsely grated
juice of 1 lemon
2 tbsp warm water
125ml extra virgin olive oil
Maldon or other flaky sea salt and coarsely ground black pepper

Using a Benriner (Japanese mandolin) or other vegetable slicer, or a vegetable peeler, thinly shave the asparagus, making long diagonal shavings.

Put the Parmigiano in a large bowl and whisk in the lemon juice and warm water. Whisking constantly, slowly drizzle in the oil to make a loose emulsion. Add the asparagus and toss gently to coat. Season with salt if necessary and with pepper and serve.

• Molto Gusto: Easy Italian Cooking by Mario Batali (Ecco Press, £19.99)

Valentine Warner's elote: sweetcorn with mayonnaise, cheese and chilli

The Mexicans really understand maize like no other nationality and the following recipe is one that you will find being sold on many streets across the country. This is not about manners, knives or forks – and be warned, there are no maize workshops to help you through your subsequent addiction to this recipe. I prefer shop-bought mayonnaise for elote, and as for the cheese – Wensleydale seems the closest to the crumbly ones used in Mexico. Bottom line is you can always use a mild cheddar.

Serves 4

4 cobs of corn
40g Wensleydale cheese, grated
4 tbsp bought mayonnaise
1 lime
chipotle powder or hot smoked paprika
salt
4 wooden skewers

Peel the sweetcorn of its husks and threads. Boil the corn for 8 minutes in a pan of salted water.

While the corn boils, take a large plate – on one side put the grated cheese, and on the other dollop the mayonnaise. Cut the lime in half and have the chilli ready. If you have the chipotle chilli powder great! Otherwise hot smoked paprika will get the job done.

When the cobs are ready, take them out of the water. Holding each one with a tea towel, drive a skewer into the stem end. Holding it by the skewer, roll it first in the mayonnaise thoroughly and then in the grated cheese. Sprinkle it all about with the chipotle powder or smoked paprika. Finish it with a little squeeze of lime juice and some more salt. Relish not only the taste but also the mess you are creating.

• Valentine Warner will be at Harvest at Jimmy's 11-12 September; harvestatjimmys.com

Mark Hix's elderflower ice cream

Rich and creamy, with a subtle fragrance, this is the perfect ice cream to serve with summer berries and fruit jellies. It is best eaten on the day it is made, though it can be kept in the freezer for a day or two.

Makes about 750ml

300ml creamy milk, such as Guernsey or Jersey
6 egg yolks
100g caster sugar
300ml Jersey cream or clotted cream (or a mixture)
200ml elderflower syrup, or more to taste

Pour the milk into a saucepan and bring to the boil, then remove from the heat.

Whisk the egg yolks and sugar together in a bowl, then pour on the milk, whisking as you do so. Return to the pan and place over a low heat. Cook, stirring constantly, using a whisk, for about 5 minutes, until the custard has thickened lightly, but don't let it boil.

Pour the custard into a bowl and whisk in the cream and elderflower syrup. Leave to cool, then churn in an ice cream machine until thickened. Scoop into glass bowls and serve, with summer berries if you like.

• British Seasonal Food by Mark Hix (Quadrille, £25)

Jason Atherton's roasted beetroot with baby chard, goat's cheese and walnuts

This is a relaxed version of one of my star restaurant dishes. The simple marriage of beetroot and goat's cheese works beautifully and the glaze adds a lovely complexity. it's a very easy dish to put together.

Serves 4 as a starter or 2 as a main course

3 red beetroot, washed
sea salt
1 plain goat's cheese log, about 150g, without rind
40ml milk
40g baby chard leaves, or mixed baby greens, such as rocket or spinach
olive oil, to drizzle

For the walnut dressing:

100g walnuts, shelled and chopped
15g parsley leaves, finely chopped
15g chervil leaves, finely chopped
15g garlic, peeled and crushed
2 tbsp white wine vinegar
150ml olive oil

For the glaze:

40ml thin honey
50ml red wine vinegar
65ml olive oil

Preheat the oven to 200C/gas mark 6. Trim the tops and roots from the beetroot, chop the trimmings and put them into a saucepan. Cut off and roughly chop a quarter of 1 beetroot; add to the pan. Loosely wrap all the rest of the beetroot in foil, sprinkle with a little salt and bake until tender when tested with a knife (1-1½ hours). Unwrap and leave to cool.

In a small bowl, mix the goat's cheese with the milk using a fork to loosen it slightly. Cover and refrigerate.

For the walnut dressing, toast the walnuts in a dry frying pan over a medium heat until light golden brown and starting to give off a nutty aroma. Tip into a bowl and add the herbs, garlic, wine vinegar and olive oil. Stir to combine and season with salt to taste.

Peel the cooled beetroot and set aside; add the skins to the other trimmings.

To make the glaze, pour 200-300ml water over the beetroot trimmings – just enough to cover them. Bring to the boil and simmer for 10 minutes or until the water is deep red in colour. Strain, discarding the trimmings, and return to the pan. Whisk in the honey, wine vinegar, olive oil and some salt. Simmer until reduced and thickened to a syrupy glaze, about 6-8 minutes.

Meanwhile cut the beetroot into wedges. Toss into the pan and gently move them around with a spoon to coat with the glaze and heat through, about 3-5 minutes.

To plate: Place a ring of beetroot wedges on each plate and drizzle with the glaze. Dollop the goat's cheese in between and spoon on the walnut dressing. Arrange the salad leaves decoratively and sprinkle with a few drops of olive oil and a little sea salt.

• Gourmet Food for a Fiver by Jason Atherton(Quadrille, £14.99)

Anjum Anand's Bengali squash with chickpeas

Serves 4

3 tbsp vegetable oil
a good pinch of asafoetida
1 bay leaf
¼ tsp panch phoron
1 or 2 mild dried red chillies
1 small onion, peeled and sliced
½ tsp turmeric
2 scant tsp ground cumin
1 rounded tsp ground coriander
salt, to taste
¾ tsp sugar or to taste
2 tsp ginger paste
500g butternut squash, peeled, seeds removed and flesh cut into 4cm chunks
150-200g tinned chickpeas, drained and rinsed
¾ tsp garam masala
¾ tsp fennel seeds, powdered

Heat the oil in a large non-stick saucepan. Add the asafoetida, bay leaf, panch phoron and chillies; cook over a low heat for about 1 minute.

Add the onion and cook until soft and golden. Stir in the turmeric, cumin and coriander, along with the salt, sugar and ginger paste. Give the pan a stir, add a splash of water and cook for another minute.

Add the squash, and pour in 150ml water. Bring to the boil, then cover and simmer until the squash is cooked through, around 15-18 minutes.

Stir in the chickpeas, garam masala, fennel seed powder and a splash of water. Cook for another minute and serve. The dish should be moist but not gravied.

• Anjum Anand's I Love Curry (Quadrille, £17.99) will be out in October

Thomasina Miers's summer tacos with courgette and corn

I love this filling. Lightly sautéed courgette and corn flavoured with fresh summer herbs. What could be simpler?

Serves 4

2 tbsp olive or vegetable oil
2 small shallots, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
corn kernels cut from a cob
1 green chilli, finely chopped
700g courgette, cut into small dice
1 tbsp chopped mint
1 tbsp chervil, chopped
juice of ½ lime
sea salt and black pepper
crumbled feta, to serve (optional)

Heat a heavy-bottomed frying pan and add the oil. When it is hot, add the shallots, garlic, corn, chilli and courgette. Fry, stirring all the time, until the vegetables are gently coloured on all sides and the onion is translucent. It is delicious if the courgette still has a little bite. Stir in the herbs, squeeze over the limes and season to taste. This is really good sprinkled with a little crumbled feta.

• Mexican Food Made Simple by Thomasina Miers(Hodder & Stoughton, £20)

Sam and Eddie Hart's beetroot and St Tola tart

Serves 4

250g dried figs, finely chopped
250ml red wine
125ml port
500g red onions, sliced into thin rounds
50g butter
8 beetroot
puff pastry
80g St Tola cheese
½ clove garlic, crushed
1 tsp thyme leaves, chopped
a splash of milk
salt and pepper

Marinate the figs in the red wine and port – leave for at least half an hour.

Preheat your oven to 180C/gas mark 4. Cook the onions in the butter very slowly until translucent. Add the figs, wine and port and reduce until syrupy, then set aside.

Cook the beetroot in plenty of salty water until tender. Remove from the pan, peel and slice into 5mm rounds.

Roll the puff pastry into a 5mm sheet. With a 9cm pastry cutter, cut 4 rounds. Place the puff pastry rounds on a lightly oiled baking tray, place another heavy tray on top (to stop the puff pastry rising too much), and blind bake in the oven for 12 minutes.

While the pastry bakes, mix the St Tola with the garlic, thyme, and milk to form a paste, then season with salt and pepper. Remove the pastry bases from the oven and leave to cool for 5 minutes.

Then assemble the tarts: on top of each pastry base place a spoonful of the figs and onions, then a couple of slices of beetroot, then a dollop of cheese. Bake in the oven for 5 minutes.

Drizzle a little of the remaining fig and onion syrup around each tart and serve at once.

Clare Smyth's spiced aubergine salad

Serves 4

2 aubergines
salt
vegetable oil
1 shallot
1 tbsp cumin
½ tbsp tomato purée
250ml tomato juice
50g raisins, soaked
1 tbsp flat parsley, chopped
2 tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped

Dice the aubergine into 2.5cm square pieces and salt them for 2 hours. After the 2 hours, dry them off on a clean towel then deep-fry them until golden brown. Leave to cool on kitchen paper to soak up the excess oil.

Finely slice the shallot and sweat down in a saucepan, add the cumin, cook out for 30 seconds, then add the tomato purée and cook out again for 2 minutes on a low heat.

Add the tomato juice and cook for a further 2 minutes, add the raisins and the aubergine, mix well and check the seasoning. Leave to cool.

When the mix is cool, add the chopped parsley and fresh tomatoes. Serve at room temperature with some crusty bread and mint yoghurt.

Clare Smyth's spiced aubergine salad

Serves 4

oil
1 shallot
1 tbsp cumin
½ tbsp tomato purée
250ml tomato juice
50g raisins, soaked
2 aubergine
1 tbsp flat parsley, chopped
2 tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped

Dice the aubergine into 2cm square pieces and salt them for 2 hours. After the 2 hours dry them off on a clean towel, then deep-fry them until golden brown. Leave to cool on kitchen paper to soak up the excess oil.

Finely slice the shallot and sweat down in a saucepan, add the cumin, cook out for 30 seconds, then add the tomato purée and cook out again for 2 minutes on a low heat.

Add the tomato juice and cook for a further 2 minutes, add the raisins and the aubergine, mix well and check the seasoning. Leave to cool.

When the mix is cool add the chopped parsley and fresh tomatoes. Serve at room temperature with some crusty bread and mint yoghurt.

• Clare Smyth is head chef at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay (gordonramsay.com)

Jeremy Lee's beetroot with poached eggs

Serves 2 as a main course

2kg smaller-sized beetroot of every colour and variety
125g caster sugar
250ml very good red wine vinegar
6 soft-boiled eggs
a stick of horseradish
salad leaves
chopped chives (optional)

For the dressing:

2 tbsp caster sugar
2 tbsp white wine vinegar
2 tsp good Dijon mustard
6 tbsp double cream

Trim and wash the beetroot well. Place in a suitable pot to steam until quite cooked through and tender. When done, remove them to a bowl and when cooled slightly, rub the skin away from the beetroot. When all are peeled, cut the beetroot into large pieces, random shapes of roughly the same size.

In a bowl, whisk the sugar and vinegar until it is dissolved and add the water. Pour this light pickle over the beetroot and cover well. Refrigerate. These pickles will happily last a week in the fridge.

Bring a pan of water to a furious boil. Drop in the eggs and let cook for 3 minutes once the water is returned to the boil. Remove the eggs to a bowl of iced water and once cooled, peel carefully, storing them in another bowl of iced water.

To make the dressing, dissolve the sugar and the vinegar in a bowl. Stir in the mustard until smooth then add in the cream. Pour into a bowl, cover and refrigerate.

Peel the horseradish and keep covered until needed. Wash the salad leaves, dry well and keep covered.

Should chives be at hand, then slice them very thinly in readiness.

Tumble the salad leaves onto a plate, then heap the beetroot thereon. Cut the egg in half and lay upon the beetroot, seasoning with a little salt and pepper. Liberally spoon over the mustard dressing and then grate horseradish all over, swiftly followed by the chives.

• Jeremy Lee is head chef at the Blueprint Cafe (blueprintcafe.co.uk)

Trina Hahnemann's baked green and white asparagus salad

Serves 4

15 green asparagus spears
15 white asparagus spears
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
grated zest and juice of an organic lemon
salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 180C/gas mark 4. Cut 3cm from the base of each asparagus spear, then peel the white ones only from the head down. Rinse the asparagus with the tips downwards in cold water. Place the spears in an ovenproof dish and mix well with the olive oil, lemon zest and juice and some salt and freshly ground pepper.

Bake the spears for 5-7 minutes. You can then serve them as they are, hot or cold, or cut the spears into smaller pieces, making sure the lemon zest and juice are still coating the asparagus.

• Scandinavian Cookbook by Trina Hahnemann(Quadrille, £14.99)

Skye Gyngell's farro with broad beans, peas, asparagus and spinach

Serves 4

60g cooked broad beans
8 asparagus spears, quickly blanched
60g cooked peas
125g cooked spinach
250g cooked farro
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
juice of 1 lemon
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

As a rule of thumb, vegetables that grow above the ground should be dropped into boiling, well-salted water, while vegetables that grow below the ground should go into cold water. Broad beans need no more than a minute in boiling water – asparagus the same. Peas need a minute or so more. I prefer not to refresh cooked vegetables under running water but to dress them quickly while still warm. I believe that this gives them a better flavour.

Cook the spinach by simply rinsing well in cold water and placing in a dry pan over a low heat – the water that clings to the leaves is enough to create steam to wilt the spinach. Once it is wilted, remove quickly and drain in a colander.

I always double-pod broad beans – I do not find the pale, tough, outer skin pleasant to eat. It's extra work, but well worth it. Place the spinach, peas, broad beans and asparagus and farro into a bowl and dress with olive oil and lemon.

Season with sea salt and black pepper and toss together lightly with your fingers. Again, serve quickly while the flavours are fresh.

• Skye Gyngell is head chef of Petersham Nurseries Cafe (petershamnurseries.com)

Vivek Singh's stir-fried okra with dried mango

Serves 4-6

800g okra, topped and tailed, sliced into 1cm roundels
100ml corn or vegetable oil
2 tsp cumin seeds
2 onions, peeled and finely chopped
2 tomatoes, cleaned and roughly chopped
1 tsp chilli powder
3cm ginger, finely chopped
1 tsp dried mango powder (available in Asian stores – otherwise use black salt or chaat masala)
½ tsp garam masala powder
oil to flash-fry the okra

Fry the okra for 30 seconds in very hot oil and drain on kitchen towels.

Heat the 100ml oil for the sauce, add the cumin seeds, and when they crackle add the onions and cook until they start to turn brown. Add the tomatoes and cook till they are soft and the juices dry out.

Add the chilli powder and cook for a further couple of minutes. Add the flash-fried okra and toss quickly. While stirring briskly on high heat, add the ginger, salt and dried mango powder to finish.

To give an extra touch of flavour, garam masala powder may be added at the end.

• Vivek Singh is executive chef, the Cinnamon Club (cinnamonclub.com)

Pasquale Amico's carpaccio di zucchine e rucola (Courgette carpaccio with rocket salad)

Serves 2

For the dressing:

juice of a small lemon
salt and pepper
4 tbsp organic extra virgin olive oil
1 medium-sized courgette
15g rocket salad

Place the lemon juice in a bowl, add a pinch of salt and pepper, pour in the oil and whisk until all is amalgamated. Set to one the side.

With a mandolin, slice the courgette thinly, place in a bowl and season with salt and pepper. Add some lemon dressing and mix well. Place the courgette on the plate starting from the side to the centre, forming a ring.

Place the rocket salad in a bowl, season with salt and pepper, and add the lemon dressing. Place on top of the courgette in the middle and serve.

• Pasquale Amico is the chef at Amico Bio, London's first organic vegetarian Italian restaurant (amicobio.co.uk)

Mark Sargeant's mango curry

Serves 4

3 medium-ripe mangoes, peeled, pit removed and flesh cut into 1cm pieces
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1-1½ tsp salt
55g jaggery or brown sugar, if needed
310g coconut, freshly grated
3-4 fresh hot green chillies, coarsely chopped
½ tbsp cumin seeds
250ml water
290ml natural yoghurt, lightly beaten
2 tbsp coconut oil or any other vegetable oil
½ tsp brown mustard seeds
3 or 4 dried hot red chillies, broken into halves
½ tsp fenugreek seeds
10-12 fresh curry leaves, if available

Put the mangoes in a medium-sized pan. Add 250ml water. Cover and stew for 8-10 minutes over a medium-low heat. Stir occasionally. Add the turmeric, cayenne pepper and salt. Stir well. (If the mangoes are not sweet enough, add the jaggery or brown sugar to make the dish sweeter.) Meanwhile put the coconut, green chillies and cumin seeds into a blender. Add 250ml water and blend to a fine paste.

When the mangoes are cooked, mash them to a pulp. Add the coconut paste. Mix. Cover and simmer over a medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the mixture becomes thick. This should take about 10-15 minutes. Add the yoghurt and heat, stirring, until just warmed through. Do not let the mixture come to the boil. Remove from the heat and put to one side. Check for seasoning.

Heat the oil in a small pan over a medium-high heat. When hot, add the mustard seeds. When the mustard seeds begin to pop (a matter of a few seconds) add the chillies, fenugreek seeds and the curry leaves. Stir and fry for a few seconds until the chillies darken. Quickly add the contents of the small pan to the mangoes. Stir to mix.

Peter Gordon's chilled beetroot and sourdough soup

This chilled soup is thickened with sourdough, which gives it great body and texture.

Serves 6

700g unpeeled red beetroot, skins gently scrubbed
100ml white vinegar or cider vinegar
1 tsp salt
100g sliced sourdough bread, crusts removed (2-3 slices)
1 red onion, peeled and thinly sliced
4 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced
1 tsp coriander seeds
1 tbsp olive oil
2 bay leaves
2 tsp fresh thyme leaves (or try oregano or rosemary)
8 large tomatoes, chopped
600ml water
50ml crème fraîche
mint leaves, a small handful shredded

Place the beetroot and 90ml of the vinegar in a pot with plenty of cold water to cover, add 1 tsp of salt and bring to the boil. Cook, with a lid on, until you can easily insert a knife through them. Drain and place in a bowl of iced water until they are cool enough to handle, then peel them (wearing gloves) and cut into chunks.

While the beetroot are cooking, toast the bread until golden and crisp, then tear into pieces.

Sauté the onion, garlic and coriander seeds in the oil until it is just beginning to caramelise, then add the herbs and tomatoes and bring to a boil. Add the chopped beetroot and the water and bring back to the boil, then put a lid on and rapidly simmer for 30 minutes.

Add the toast and give it a good stir, then put the lid back on and cook another 10 minutes. Remove the bay leaves, add the reserved vinegar and purée till smooth. I find using a stick blender the best method, as you can do this while the soup is still really hot. If you have to use a blender, then leave it to cool down before puréeing. Adjust the seasoning and leave to cool, then place in the fridge to chill down for at least 3 hours.

To serve, give it a good stir, then taste for seasoning – when food is served cold it usually needs a little extra salt. Ladle into bowls then dollop on the crème fraîche and shredded mint.

Peter Gordon's golden beetroot pesto with linguine, peas and mint

I prefer to use golden beets in this recipe, although you can substitute them with red ones. There are so many varieties out there it'd be worth you experimenting with them.

Makes a great lunchtime meal for 4, a starter for 6-8

3 golden beetroot (about 400g)
100g lightly toasted macadamia nuts
3 garlic cloves, peeled
a handful basil leaves and stalk, shredded
a small handful tarragon leaves
a small handful parsley leaves
80ml extra virgin olive oil
40g grated Parmesan (and extra for serving)
salt and freshly ground black pepper
400g dried linguine, spaghettini or tagliatelli
200g peas (frozen will work)
a handful of mint leaves, torn

Preheat the oven to 200C/gas mark 6. Wash any dirt from the beetroot then wrap them tightly in foil, either individually or all in one sausage shape. Roast for 90 minutes then poke a skewer or thin sharp knife through the foil to see if they're cooked – it should go through with the tiniest resistance. Once they're cooked, open the foil up and plunge into iced water to cool for 5 minutes, then rub their skins off with your fingers or a sharp knife. Dice 2 of them to be tossed through the pasta, and cut the other into chunks.

Place the macadamia nuts and garlic in a small food processor and blitz to give coarse crumbs. Add the beetroot chunks, basil, tarragon and parsley and blitz for 10 seconds, then add 60ml of the olive oil and blitz again briefly. Tip into a bowl and stir in the Parmesan. If the mixture looks too dry then mix in a little extra olive oil. Taste for seasoning, adding salt and freshly ground pepper to taste.

Bring a large pan of lightly salted water to the boil (no need to add any oil) and drop the pasta in, then give it a good stir. Cook it until almost al dente then add the peas and boil another 2 minutes before draining into a colander. Tip into a large bowl, or back into the pan, add the diced beetroot, remaining olive oil, the mint and ⅔ of the pesto. Mix it together really well, divide among your bowls, then dollop on the remaining pesto. Offer extra grated Parmesan as you serve it.

Peter Gordon's mushroom and seawood broth with shiitake dumplings

You can save time by buying wonton wrappers instead of making your own dumpling dough, but the five-spice adds a great flavour.

Serves 4

For the dumpling dough:
½ tsp five-spice powder
90g strong flour (bread flour)
1 medium egg
1 tsp sesame oil, plus extra for cooking
12 shiitake mushrooms, stems removed (reserve stems for broth)
100ml soy sauce
1 spring onion, thinly sliced
1 x 10cm length kombu seaweed
1 stalk celery, thickly sliced
2 thumbs ginger, peeled and finely julienned or diced (reserve peel forbroth)
5g dried wakame or arame seaweed
3 tbsp mirin (or 1 tbsp sugar)
a generous handful of raw Asian mushrooms (I use shimeji, enoki and oyster mushrooms)
cress or snipped chives to garnish

Make your dumpling dough first. Sieve the five-spice with the flour on a work surface, making a well in the centre. In a small bowl whisk the egg and oil together with a few pinches of salt and pour into the well. Using your fingers, mix the egg mixture into the flour and bring it together to form a dough, then gently knead for 30 seconds. It should be moist but not sticky – add more flour if it's too wet. Wrap in cling film and put to one side in a cool place (not the fridge) to rest for an hour.

Thinly slice the shiitake caps, then fry two-thirds of them in a little sesame oil (preferably in a non-stick pan as it'll need less oil), stirring all the time, until they collapse and soften. Stir in 1 tablespoon of the soy then take off the heat and mix in the spring onion.

Take 8 small marble-sized lumps of the dough and flatten between your fingers to form a disc, then either roll out on a lightly floured work surface or use a pasta roller to get the disc quite thin. Place a spoonful of the shiitake mixture in the centre, lightly brush the outer rim of dough with a little cold water, then fold one side over to the other. Press down gently but firmly to expel any air. Use a fork dipped in a little flour to secure the seams. Lay on a tray lined with cling film while you make the rest. You'll have plenty of dough left over – it'll keep in the freezer for one month.

Soak the kombu in tepid water for 20 seconds, then wipe it gently all over with a cloth to remove the white powdery coat. Place in a pan with 1 litre cold water, the celery and the shiitake stems and the ginger peelings. Bring almost to the boil, then simmer with a lid on for 8 minutes, turn the heat off and leave to infuse for 20 minutes.

Strain the stock into a wide pan, add the seaweed, ginger julienne, mirin and the remaining soy and bring to a rolling simmer. Add the dumplings and cook with a lid on, turning them over after 4 minutes. Add the mushrooms and cook another 4 minutes with the lid ajar, gently stirring from time to time. Taste for seasoning then ladle into warmed soup bowls, garnishing with the cress or chives.

• Fusion: A Culinary Journey by Peter Gordon(Jacqui Small, £25)

Angela Hartnett's arancini

This is a fantastic recipe for using up leftover risotto. Filled with melting mozzarella, arancini (meaning "little oranges") are perfect comfort food. If you like, roll them into smaller, bite-sized balls and serve them as canapés with drinks.

Makes 12-15 large balls, 20-25 smaller ones

½ quantity basic risotto (see recipe below)
4 tbsp olive oil
250g mixed wild mushrooms, wiped with a damp cloth and finely chopped
1 x 125g ball buffalo mozzarella, finely diced
1 tsp fresh flatleaf parsley, finely chopped
dash of truffle oil (optional)
200g "00" flour
salt and freshly ground black pepper
200g fresh white breadcrumbs
3 eggs, beaten
vegetable oil, for deep-frying

If making the risotto, spread it out on a flat tray to cool.

Heat the olive oil in a pan over a medium heat, add the mushrooms and cook for 3-4 minutes until golden brown. Transfer to a bowl, mix in the mozzarella and parsley, and season. If you have some truffle oil, you can add a dash of it to the mixture.

Add the risotto to the bowl and stir well. Take a heaped tablespoonful of the mixture and roll it between the palms of your hands to form a ball about 4-5cm in diameter. Set aside on a plate while you roll the rest of the mixture.

Put the flour in a dish and mix in some seasoning. Put the breadcrumbs and eggs in 2 more separate dishes. Take a rice ball and roll first in the flour, then in the egg and finally the breadcrumbs. Shake off any excess crumbs and set aside on a clean plate. Repeat with the remaining rice balls.

Preheat a deep-fat fryer or pan of oil to 180C. Gently lower the arancini into the pan in batches and cook for 3-4 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove with a slotted or wire spoon and drain on kitchen paper. Serve immediately.

Angela Hartnett's basic risotto

Serves 4

2 tbsp olive oil
225g cold butter, diced
small onion 1, chopped or small shallots 2, chopped
350g risotto rice
200ml white wine
about 1.25 litres hot vegetable stock
fresh Parmesan 100g, finely grated
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Heat the oil and 25g of the butter in a large pan over a medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring, until soft and translucent, about 2 minutes. Stir in the rice and cook for a further 2 minutes. Turn up the heat and add the wine – it should sizzle as it hits the pan. Cook for about 2 minutes to evaporate the alcohol.

Once the liquid has reduced, begin adding the hot stock a ladleful at a time over a medium heat, allowing each addition to be absorbed before adding the next, and stirring continuously. The rice should always be moist but not swimming in liquid. The process of adding and stirring should take about 16-18 minutes.

Remove from the heat and stir in the remaining butter. Finish with the Parmesan, then season well and serve.

• Angela Hartnett's Cucina (Ebury Press, £25)

Bryn Williams's leek and egg salad

4 new season leeks, washed
100ml vinaigrette
4 soft-boiled eggs
1 bunch chopped chives
Halen Môn sea salt with organic celery seed
ground pepper

Trim the dark green tops off the leeks. Cook the leeks in a large of salted boiling water for about 6-8 minutes until tender. Remove the leeks from the boiling water and leave to cool on a wire rack.

Place the vinaigrette in a bowl, peel the boiled eggs and roughly chop to a small bite size, making sure you keep all the yolk. Add the egg and chopped chives to the vinaigrette and season with salt and pepper.

Cut the warm leek in half lengthways and place on a large plate. Spoon the vinaigrette over the leeks, making sure you scatter the egg evenly over the dish.

Best eaten when the leeks are warm.

• Bryn Williams is chef/patron of Odette's (odettesprimrosehill.com)

The top chef responds to the news that a record number of female chefs have been awarded Michelin stars

It's great that a record number of women have been awarded Michelin stars this year, but if you look at the list and compare it to the men, we're not breaking down barriers. There are a lot more women coming in and the industry is changing, for the better. It's just that more needs to be done.

Some people have suggested that the increase is due to the fact that Derek Bulmer, the previous editor in chief of Michelin UK & Ireland, has been replaced by a woman – Rebecca Burr. That's just ridiculous. The Michelin inspectors judge on food, not whether or not the chef is a man or not. There are more women cooking, therefore, there are more women being judged, and by the law of probability, more women getting stars. Admittedly, there are just 11 women receiving stars at the moment, but I don't think we should be given preferential treatment in order to try to even things out. You should be judged on how you cook – that alone.

As a female chef, I've been asked about sexism so many times I'm almost bored with the question. And to be honest, in over 20 years in the industry I've never experienced any kind of sexism. The male chefs I know are happy to have women in their kitchen. It's better to have a mix – it changes the atmosphere, and men work differently when they are with women, they behave better.

Anyway, there's inequality everywhere. Last year I filmed a TV show, and there was only one woman on the crew. The idea that it's just catering, or it's worse in this industry, is not right.

There are far more female head chefs out there than people realise – Rachel Humphrey at Le Gavroche, Clare Smyth at Royal Hospital Road, Lisa Allen at Northcote in Lancashire – you just don't necessarily hear about them, just like you don't necessarily hear about all the male chefs. People know me, but they don't know my head chef Diego. It's not 50/50 by any stretch, but there are a lot more female chefs than there used to be.

And I think we will continue to see that rise. Partly this is because the industry now has so much more exposure, with female chefs on TV or writing about food and their restaurants being more successful. Being a chef is seen as a skilled job. And the hours have become more approachable. You used to have to do five doubles – you'd start in the morning and finish late at night, and only get two days off a week. Now you get three days, though I think that was something that everyone wanted – it had to change, people wanted a life. The pay has increased as well, which has probably made a difference to the number of women entering the profession.

People are always saying that this industry makes it difficult for women to have a family, but I just don't think that's true. This country has some of the best maternity laws in the world. There are a lot of female chefs who have kids. Hélène Darroze, who has two Michelin stars, has two children, Sally Clarke has a child and has run a restaurant for the last 20 years, and Skye Gyngell, who has just won a star for Peterhsam Nurseries, has children. If you really want them, you make it work. It might be harder in terms of nights, but that's when kids are asleep. You have to be more organised, but that applies to women in every industry. It is interesting, though, that France and Italy have a lot more three-star female chefs, women such as Nadia Santini, Elena Arzak and Anne-Sophie Pic. They are often in family-run businesses – father and daughter, or husband and wife. I wonder if that makes things easier?

Being a chef is hard – you have to work long hours, late into the night – it's antisocial. Perhaps that's why it attracts fewer women? But I don't really think that's the case. I think you either want to do it, or you don't, and there's nothing standing in your way.

Michelin-starred cook Angela Hartnett is to start a new column for G2, providing weekly recipes. 'It'll be easy stuff you can whack together,' she promises

Angela Hartnett does not do precious. It's not what she is, not how she could ever be. "People get far too precious about far too much where food is concerned," she says. "A lot of it comes from the very male brigade of cooks. They are just too dogmatic." You will not get dogma from Hartnett, either in person or in the recipes she is going to be writing for G2 from next week. Yes, she says, she will be focusing on seasonal ingredients, but out of no greater principle than that when something is in season there's more of it about, and when there's more of it about, it's cheaper.

Hartnett – Ange to her friends – resists stuffiness like toddlers resist bedtime. We are talking in the drawing room of the fabulous Georgian house in Spitalfields, east London, that she has co-owned for the last seven years with her brother Michael (a financial whizz who lives in New York), and there is a glorious sense of lightly controlled chaos about the place. There are piles of magazines that need to be shifted off the squishy sofas before she can sit down. Her mad little terrier Alfie is bouncing around the room, barking at everything. Downstairs, Diego, the head chef at her Mayfair restaurant Murano, is working on some dishes that need to be photographed. She has a book project she must complete, though she can't quite recall the title (A Taste of Home, out in July), plus she must think about the menus at the nearby Whitechapel gallery restaurant, where she has just become a consultant. And, of course, there are her recipes for G2 to plan.

For all that, she seems very relaxed. Perhaps that comes with being her own boss. Now 42, she last year parted company with Gordon Ramsay, buying the Michelin-starred Murano from him, and on New Year's Eve, relinquished control at York & Albany, the boutique hotel and cafe in north London that had also been her responsibility. "It was all entirely amicable," she says, and there is no reason to disbelieve her. Almost alone among Ramsay's former employees, she has never once said a bad word about him publicly. "I worked for Gordon for 17 years, but you get to a point where you have to ask yourself, are you going to move on or stay for ever? Gordon's great gift is his relationship with his cooks, and I really do wish him well. But I simply wanted to be in a position not to have to answer to anyone." She does not want to put her name on a worldwide chain of businesses. She has Murano and the deal to oversee the food at the Whitechapel gallery. For now, she says, that's enough.

I wonder out loud whether she will move away from the kind of fine dining restaurants and Michelin stars that have made her name, now that she has left the restaurant company that specialised in them. "Absolutely not," she says. "I do care about Michelin. I'd love to be the first British-born woman to get two stars. You work damn hard, so it's nice for that to be recognised – though I don't run my restaurant for the guides." Recently, the Michelin inspectors told her she should remove a table to make Murano less crowded. She refused. "I told them that if I did that it wouldn't have the buzzy atmosphere I wanted."

So which is the real Angela Hartnett? The one expressed amid the finery at Murano, or the one who will be sharing her ideas with G2? "They are both a part of me. You can do different things. You just have to define them well. But if you look at my home and what I do here, that throw-it-on-the-table thing, well, that's much more me." That, she says, will be the person we'll meet in her new column. "It's easy stuff that you can whack together. It's taking the fear out of food."

Are we really afraid of it? Yes, she says. The culture of glossy cookbooks full of gastro-porn double-spreads in sexy, backlit saturated colours has developed because consumers are desperate to know what the dish they are cooking should look like; they are, she says, fearful of it having the wrong appearance, when they just need to be far more relaxed. "It commodifies good food, turns it into part of a lifestyle for the affluent. I worry that we're moving towards a two-tier food culture in this country. I upset a lot of people by saying on Radio 4 that British food culture is too based around the south of the country, but I think that's true because the south is where the money is."

She wants to democratise things, pull recipe writing away from the domain of hard-nosed, kitchen-singed chefs and into the domestic realm. Asked for her heroes, she immediately names Delia Smith. "For me Delia is still one of the best cooks in the country, because her recipes always work. There's not a chef in this country who hasn't stolen a recipe from her." Has she stolen one? "I must have done," she replies with a big, throaty laugh.

The recipes in these pages, however, will be all her own. The column kicks off next week with mackerel, pickled fennel and harissa. "I love fennel and I love mackerel. It's an oily fish, so it can take big flavours, hence the harissa." And will she be brow-beating us into getting out the pestle and mortar and making our own spicy Moroccan condiment? She laughs again. "Well, you can if you like, but let's be honest – you might as well buy it."

And what of her much talked about Italian influences? "Richard Corrigan was having a go at me once. He was asking me what I was that day, whether it was Irish, Welsh or Italian. But I'm all those things. My father was born in Ireland and my mother was born in Wales to Italian parents. It gives me huge scope." She pauses. "Look, in my business, everyone's got a thing, a selling point. What sells me is the fact that I'm a woman."

It seems too bald a statement. Surely it's about personality; the fact of who Hartnett is rather than just the mere accident of chromosomes? She concedes the point. "What I'm saying is that while I'm a good chef, that's not necessarily what sells me." It's a moment of clear-eyed and rather customary honesty, which fades into rather customary modesty. We like Hartnett because of her generosity of spirit, her need to feed us. She may have won Michelin stars. She may be an expert technician with a famously pitch-perfect palate who knows how to do earthy things with fancy ingredients. But we also know that if she were the one in charge of our home menu, we would come away from the table with the unique feeling of pleasure that comes from having eaten well without breaking sweat in the kitchen. Happily for G2 readers, from next week, she will be.