A childhood pudding plus dishes from family and famous friends: these are the failsafes on delicious repeat in Rick Stein’s kitchen.
Barry Humphries’ salmon, caper & pink peppercorn fishcakes
For my television series Rick Stein’s Cornwall, I asked Barry to come to Cornwall. He insisted on bringing his own fishcakes for me to taste and I was looking forward to telling him to stick to the day job. Actually, though, they were astonishingly good, with the special ingredient of pink peppercorns.
Braised beef short ribs
This is really similar to a French daube, except that the meat is served falling off the bone. It looks great and when reheated it tastes almost better than the first time round. It may not look enough but one short rib per person is perfect.
Korean prawn fritters with soy, cider vinegar & chilli
This recipe is by Rose, my wife Sas’s cousin’s partner. Being Korean she has a fabulous repertoire of seafood recipes. I love its simplicity and the subtlety of soy and vinegar; also the fact that Rose finds parsley such an exotic herb. It’s lovely to experience the flavour through somebody else’s perception.
Spatchcocked chicken with tarragon
A spatchcocked chicken roasts much quicker and every part is evenly cooked.
Linguine con tonno
The key here is the Parmesan rind in the sauce which gives it a wonderful savoury taste. Pay particular attention to your salad – it needs to have a good kick of acidity to counter the tuna pasta sauce.
Pork chops with savoy cabbage & sloes
I came up with this recipe while filming at a brilliant farm restaurant called Coombeshead in Cornwall. It was September and there was a bumper crop of sloes – perfect to cut through the fattiness of the meat.
Achiote chickpeas
I’m obsessed with the flavour of achiote paste, which you can buy from Mexican suppliers or on the internet. This recipe can be vegan if you leave out the feta.
Apple Charlotte
This is a very special recipe – it’s my mother’s and one of her favourites.
Now buy Rick’s book
Our recipes are from Rick Stein at Home by Rick Stein, to be published by BBC Books on 16 September, price £26. To pre-order a copy for £22.10 with free p&p until 26 September, go to mailshop.co.uk/books or call 020 3308 9193.
