... and can even have some fun with this easy-to-prepare menu. All recipes serve 4.

Sat Jul 29 2006 - 01:00

... and can even have some fun with this easy-to-prepare menu. All recipes serve 4.

SCALLOP SALAD, CORIANDER AND GINGER DRESSING

  • 3cm piece of ginger cut into julienne strips
  • 1 carrot, peeled and cut into julienne strips
  • 3 spring onions, cut into julienne strips
  • 1 garlic clove, peeled and finely chopped
  • 8 scallops, with corals if possible
  • small bunch of coriander
  • soy sauce
  • freshly ground black pepper
  • 2 tbsp sesame oil
  • 2 tbsp groundnut oil
  • 2 lemons, trimmed and halved

Place the ginger, carrot, spring onion and garlic in a bowl of iced water. Cut the scallops in half. Drain the vegetables and place on a plate that will fit in your steamer, along with four of the coriander stems. Scatter the scallops over the top. Sprinkle a little soy sauce over them and season well with pepper. Place a dozen of the coriander leaves in a bowl of ice-cold water.

Place the plate in the top half of a steamer and steam for five minutes. Put the scallops and vegetables on four warm plates, removing the coriander stems. Reduce the resulting juices in a small saucepan by about half. Remove from the heat and whisk in the oils.

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Taste the dressing for seasoning; you may need a little more soy. Spoon this over the scallops and vegetables. Scatter the coriander leaves over the top and serve with the lemon halves.

ROAST RACK OF LAMB, HARICOT BEANS AND ROSEMARY

  • bunch of rosemary
  • 3 unpeeled garlic cloves, smashed with a large
  • knife or rolling pin
  • 2 racks of lamb (three cutlets per person)
  • olive oil
  • 2 shallots, very finely chopped
  • 1 carrot, very finely chopped
  • 1 stick of celery, very finely chopped
  • 2 400g tins haricot beans, rinsed and drained
  • 1 tbsp finely chopped parsley
  • glass of white wine

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees/gas six. Put several sprigs of rosemary in the centre of a small roasting tin, along with two of the garlic cloves. Set the racks of lamb on top of the rosemary and garlic, dribble a little olive oil over them and season with salt and pepper. Roast in the oven for 20 minutes. Remove them and keep warm.

Saute the shallots, carrot, celery and remaining garlic clove in two tablespoons of olive oil for five minutes. Add the beans and parsley and simmer gently in a covered pan for 10 minutes.

Season with salt and pepper and keep this warm. Deglaze the roasting pan with the white wine and a glass of water. Simmer over a moderate heat until reduced by half. Remove the garlic clove from the beans and place a mound of beans in the centre of each plate. Cut the lamb rack into individual cutlets, arrange on top of the beans and spoon a little of the jus around the edge.

RASPBERRY 'TRIFLE'

  • 2 punnets raspberries
  • 150ml whipping cream, whipped
  • 100g white chocolate
  • 100g dark chocolate
  • 1 tbsp chopped mint
  • icing sugar to serve

Use a vegetable peeler to shave off some dark and some white chocolate and set this aside for serving. In four glasses spoon alternate layers of cream, raspberries, grated white and dark chocolate and mint. Finish with the chocolate shavings and dust with icing sugar.