Author: Chef M

Ever-expanding international supermarket ranges are proof of a positive sea change in attitudes toward food in recent years. Few ingredients now are deemed too niche to include, and while you’d once (not all that long ago) be struggling to find wonderful ingredients such as chipotle morita chillies, they can now be bought on impulse by the casual, intrigued aisle browser, rather than having to be specifically hunted down by the foodie know-it-all. If you want actual heat, go for two chillies; for a gentle tingle and a hint of that amazing smoky chipotle flavour, just add the one.

The scallops are to this what the flaming orange zest is to a Cosmopolitan. Sure, you can enjoy it without, but there’s a reason earthy beetroot and sweet scallops are so commonly paired, and these little Patagonian ones are just so conveniently crouton sized…

Traditional Hungarian goulash is the simplest of stews, calling for little more than beef, onions, and paprika. This stew is traditionally cooked for hours over a low fire, making the even heat of the Dutch oven a perfect fit. To recover this recipe from overly busy American versions, we stuck with a simple ingredient list. Tasters preferred traditional sweet paprika to hot or smoked, but when we used enough to pack the flavor punch we wanted, the spice contributed a gritty, dusty texture. Consulting a few Hungarian restaurants, we discovered they used “paprika cream,” so we created our own by…