Borough Market blueprint recipes

Borough Market blueprint recipes From stocks and sauces to soups and sandwiches, a simple guide to elevating basic foods by making them from scratch

Borough Market blueprint recipes While being in lockdown has deprived us of many pleasures, the one thing it has offered in return—certainly to those of us not engaged in essential work—is time. Before all this began, time was often a commodity in desperately short supply, with the demands of work, friendships and family leaving very few gaps in between. Now, many people have more of it stacked up than they know what to do with.

Thankfully, of all the ingredients that go into making delicious, satisfying food, time is among the most precious. And that’s as true when it comes to making the basics, the real building blocks, as it is for creating showstopping dinners.

Where before we cut corners, now we can be slow and considered. Rather than buying stock, we can try making our own. We can experiment with whipping up custard, ice cream and mayonnaise. We can create tomato sauces and cheese sauces without recourse to sachets or jars. We can sit and wait while our homemade yoghurt becomes thick and creamy.

This collection of recipes and guides, drawn from the Borough Market archive, offers a blueprint for making basic foods in a slow, considered, hands-on way.

Some, like the French mother sauces, Italian tomato sauce and vegetable stock (highlighted in red), are staple recipes from which to build other dishes. Others, like the mac and cheese or the vegetable soup, are meals in their own right. All of them are worth the effort. If you have the time, you might as well put it to use.

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Staples: Vegetable stock Tim Maddams French mother sauces Angela Clutto Italian tomato sauce Daniel Tapper Dishes: Provençal vegetable soup Beca Lyne-Pirkis A Borough Market toastie Ed Smith Macaroni cheese Hayden Groves Extra-creamy yoghurt Malou Herkes Homemade ice cream Daniel Tapper Pedro ximenez custard Angela Clutton Honey & rosemary lemonade Jenny Chandler

Sourcing ingredients As well as time, another factor that can turn simple recipes like these into something really special is exceptional produce.

To get the best ingredients possible while supporting Borough’s independent traders, please consider coming to the Market to do your shopping if you live or work nearby.

If you’re further afield, visit Borough Market Online, or check the traders’ own websites. @boroughmarket

JOHN HOLDSHIP

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How to make: Vegetable stock Tim Maddams

Capturing a good, fresh and clean flavour from a simple vegetable stock is a skill that once learned, will stand you in good stead— not only to make the most of any veg left lingering in the fridge drawer, but as a great way to add punch, depth and complexity to dishes without resorting to dairy or salt. It is also a great way to celebrate seasonal changes in the kitchen. Making a fresh new season asparagus risotto? Use the tough asparagus stalks to flavour the stock and you will have a far superior risotto. Braising some wild mushrooms? Add the well-washed trimmings and even a few dried mushrooms to the stock and you will be cooking at another level altogether.

Light veg stock The process for making this stock is very short and sweet. If you are lucky enough to have a grating attachment for your food mixer then this will save you time. If not, then I am afraid it’s time to roll up those sleeves.

But we must learn to walk before we jog—and the examples below will help do just that, by offering you a helping hand as you launch the kayak of hope from the shale beach of inexperience. It will help us as well to consider the broader view and have a basic understanding of exactly what stock is before we set off on this voyage.

Grate the carrots, onions, garlic and 2 sticks of celery. Warm a large casserole type pan on the stove or a big saucepan if you do not have one—not too hot, I want this to start very gently. Add 1 tbsp good olive oil to the pan and then add 10 just-cracked black peppercorns, 1 sprig of fresh thyme and 2 fresh bay leaves and allow the aromas of these things to come alive. Cook slowly like this for 10 mins, then add all the vegetables and cook for 1 min.

Veg stocks are very fast to cook. A traditional fresh, light veg stock is called a ‘nagé’ and often contains vermouth or anise. This is mostly used for dressing vegetable dishes in a re-heating scenario, or indeed for cooking things like fish, when it is then called a ‘court bullion’ and tends to contain more wine and aromatics.

But I have no truck with all that—this is how I make a light veg stock, and I have supplied a variation for making a darker, richer version as well. These will upset some traditional cooks, but they are my honed and personally preferred ways of doing things. You may well wish to develop your own after giving these ago—and that is cookery at its very heart.

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Wash 4 large carrots well—you can leave the skin on, but no grit please. If you are lucky enough to get fresh carrots with the tops on, then a little of the carrot tops can be added to the stock as it cools—the rest will make a fine pesto. Peel 2 large onions and 4 garlic cloves.

Cut a medium-sized leek lengthways and wash it very well. This will need to be chopped up finely by hand.

Now, turn the heat right up and add 1½ litres water and 1 level tsp sea salt. Bring rapidly to the boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for just 2 mins. Turn off the heat and allow the stock to steep for a while before passing through a fine sieve into a clean bowl, ready for use. The remaining veg pulp can be blended and used for a side dish or added to a ragu along with some chilli, for a simple vegetable dish—it will need a lot of seasoning and herbs, though, as most of the flavour is now in your stock. @boroughmarket

REGULA YSEWIJN

Dark veg stock A dark stock can be made as above but wash your onions before peeling them and retain the skins. Use a light oil and get the pan hot before adding the grated and chopped veg (along with the onion leaves) and cook fiercely for a few mins, stirring only occasionally so some of the vegetable matter starts to brown a little. Add 2 tsp tomato puree and cook for 2 mins before adding the herbs and the water.

Cook for a little longer before straining and you should have a darker, slightly richer and earthier version of the light veg stock.

USES — I will often drink a cup of the fresh, light veg stock as it sits in its bowl cooling down and it tastes and feels great. I love to use this base to add to a noodle dish or for a seasonal risotto, but it can find a home in many dishes, soups and sauces—try cooking some fresh greens in a ladle of this stock, with a dash more olive oil, in a pan with a lid. Best of all, though, warm a pan of this, add a few leaves of wild garlic and maybe some fresh spring greens, then pop a couple of eggs in and poach them lightly in the Visit boroughmarket.org.uk for more recipes

liquor. Season well and enjoy—a super fresh, light and delicious dish.

—M aking a bechamel-type sauce with this light veg stock in place of milk makes things a little lighter and more interesting. This sauce can then be used in many, many ways, just like its more dairy-heavy inspiration. I also often use this stock to make wet polenta.

—T he darker version, meanwhile, works very well in pulse dishes, like a chilli or a ribollita.

I also like to use it with mushrooms—a sort of brothy hot pot can be made by cooking large flat mushrooms with thyme, garlic and olive oil in the oven. These can then be sliced and the hot stock poured over the top. I often add wilted greens as well and some toasted hazelnuts, lightly crushed.

—T his is also a very good base for a meat-free gravy: reduce some dark beer or red wine and add some of this stock and reduce further. Season and add a little butter and egg yolk to help it thicken (being careful not to boil it once these are added at the end!)

A risotto recipe can be made completely vegetarian by using this stock instead of the usual meat stock. @boroughmarket

How to make: French mother sauces Angela Clutton

“England has two sauces and 300 religions; France two religions and 300 sauces” So—apparently—said early 19th century French politician and Napoleon’s chief diplomat, Charles-Maurice de TalleyrandPérigord. His comment isn’t wholly accurate on any front, of course, but his drift was that the French love their culinary sauces and the Brits, well, less so. (Which I roundly dispute.)

There are, in fact, merely five core French sauces. Known as the ‘mother’ sauces because they are the heart from which so very many other sauces then come. In classical cookery they are considered hugely important. But as this isn’t chef class nor (despite the opening line) a history lesson, what matters much more than their ‘importance’ is how useful they are to the modern cook.

And my oh my how gloriously useful they really are. These three, I think, most of all.

Get the basics of these down and a world of sauce opportunity opens up. (The other two are espagnole, which is in honesty quite a bit of a faff, and a tomato sauce.

Both lovely and useful and worth looking up if this gets you in the French mother sauce mood.)

Hollandaise This is the one I find most useful, in both its base form and the sauces it gives birth to. The hollandaise is not thickened by a roux (see below) as the other mother sauces are, but by egg yolks. A simple hollandaise is just 2 egg yolks whisked with a little lemon juice and mustard, then set over a pan of simmering Visit boroughmarket.org.uk for more recipes

water as you slowly whisk in 100g melted butter. It is lustrous and fabulous, and just the best thing for poached eggs and much more besides.

From hollandaise comes mayonnaise.

If you have never made it before yourself, please give it a go and discover a) how easy it is to make (whisk egg yolks with lemon juice, mustard, and the oil of your choice); b) how incredibly satisfying it is to make; and c) that it is almost an entirely different thing from bottled mayo. If you have made it before, you won’t need me to tell you all the things it makes more delicious.

Associated to mayonnaise is rouille, which has the added delight of being thickened with bread and pepped up with cayenne. My recipe here serves that spread on toast to accompany a simple fish stew.

TOP TIPS —F or hollandaise, keep the heat low and the base of the whisking bowl away from the water’s surface to prevent curdling or splitting.

— I f your hollandaise threatens to split, whisk in an ice cube for a miracle rescue.

—H ave all your ingredients at room temperature before you start and your mayo will never go wrong. I promise.

—U sing the best eggs and butter you can get hold of will ensure these sauces have optimum flavour and a real depth of colour.

—A bain-marie is a useful bit of kit to have if you are going to be making these a lot, but otherwise just a glass mixing bowl that fits well over a pan works just fine. @boroughmarket

KIM LIGHTBODY

Béchamel The base of a béchamel is its ‘roux’—the term for cooking flour with fat. Stir 40g butter with 30g plain flour in a pan over heat, until it become thickly glossy. That’s your roux ready for whisking in 500ml or so of milk, bit by bit.

Keep stirring, let it bubble, and it will thicken to something glorious, all ready for you to add seasonings of grated cheese, chopped herbs, cloves, nutmeg etc and serve with fish, meat, or over a whole roasted cauliflower.

Veloute Similar to a béchamel but using stock instead of milk. Go for chicken, beef or vegetable as suits whatever you are serving it with. Again, stir in seasonings at the end.

Some chopped mushrooms can be great in a veloute.

Something similar to a veloute can be made without flour, by just using heat to reduce and therefore thicken the sauce. Melt a knob of butter, add stock, simmer to reduce, then TOP TIPS finish with cream and whatever flavourings —T o avoid a lumpy béchamel, don’t add the you fancy. It’s not at all classic in the French milk all in one go. mother sauce sense, but handy for those —B e patient! The béchamel is only ready when avoiding gluten. And isn’t that the point; that it coats the back of a wooden spoon, leaving these ideas and ways of making delicious a gap when you draw a finger through it. If sauces don’t get stuck in time, but evolve to you aren’t sure if it’s ready, the chances are suit modern tastes? it isn’t.

—U sing a deep, heavy-based saucepan will The trick is to not be put off by the intimidating ensure even distribution of heat as you make names and just think of these as simple the sauce and prevent burning. There are sauces. With just a modicum of skill, some some beautiful sauce pans around that will good ingredients and a little know-how on earn you significant kitchen kit bragging how to fix them if they should go wrong, they rights. can lift all kinds of dishes.

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How to make: Italian tomato sauce Daniel Tapper

“I can’t think about a life without tomatoes.

Really, I can’t,” says Giorgio Locatelli in his now legendary cookbook, Made in Italy. And frankly, who can? The perfect combination of sweet and savoury but with a bracing hit of tart acidity, the humble tomato is perhaps the world’s most versatile, cherished and delectable fruit. And no dish offers a purer expression of this remarkable ingredient than Italian-style tomato sauce.

My earliest attempts were carried out as a student and in hindsight were a culinary abomination. Inspired by the jars of ready-made sauce I’d eaten as a child, I assumed that the real deal was a hotchpotch of cheap passata, red peppers, desiccated basil and chunky onions— not forgetting rogue additions of chilli, garlic powder and smoked paprika.

It wasn’t until I married an Italian that I realised that the best examples are not fussy, complicated and showy but are instead built around a handful of quality ingredients cooked with patience and attention to detail. Rush a tomato sauce and it will be thin, watery and entirely forgettable. Scrimp on ingredients, and you may as well have bought a cheap jar.

The beating heart of any tomato sauce worth its salt is the san marzano tomato, a thin, pointy plum variety cultivated in Naples, Salerno and Avellino. Harvested in summer when plump and juicy, these tomatoes are famed for their gentle sweetness and concentrated flavour. They boast lower water content than most varieties and fewer bitter-tasting seeds.

The virtues of the san marzano don’t end there.

When blanched, the skins practically melt away, leaving you with the all-important pulp needed Visit boroughmarket.org.uk for more recipes

to create the sauce. Crucially, they are also exceptionally adept at being canned. Far from being a second-rate version of the ‘real thing’, many claim that canned tomatoes are even better—and I would have to agree.

But what of the other ingredients required? One of the things that makes an authentic tomato sauce so endlessly alluring is how brimming it is with contradictions. It is at once sweet but sour; warming yet refreshing. And though all of its ingredients are deeply, steadfastly different, they each bring something unique to the table.

A small amount of onion, for example, lends a gentle dose of sweetness, helping to counterbalance the acidic oomph. A scattering of earthy pecorino lends a much-needed umami kick, and though only added at the very last moment, a scattering of torn basil leaves imbues the dish with a lavish floral aroma.

Of course, it is how you use these ingredients that matters. Fry the onion for too long and it will become insipidly sweet. Add the basil a moment too soon and it’ll taste mouth-puckeringly bitter—and woe betide those too impatient to cook their tomatoes for at least 40 minutes.

Your choice of pasta is equally important. Dried, not fresh, is the classic pairing with tomato sauce, a legacy of the dish’s roots in southern Italy where the latter was considered a luxury.

And though many swear by rigatoni, fusilli and conchiglie because of their sauce-friendly nooks and crannies, the oldest written reference to the dish is from the 1790s and explicitly describes spaghetti. Can I—a man who once paired his pasta with smoked paprika—argue with more than 200 years of culinary history? I think not. @boroughmarket

The per fect tomato sauce Serves 4 Ingredients 1 small onion, finely chopped 3 cloves of garlic, crushed 800g tinned plum tomatoes A dash of red wine or red wine vinegar 1 tsp brown sugar 1 tsp tomato paste 400g dried spaghetti Handful of basil leaves, torn Pecorino romano for grating

Season lightly and simmer gently for 40 mins uncovered, stirring occasionally. The sauce should thicken and become noticeably sweeter.

10 mins before the sauce is ready, add 400g dried spaghetti to a pan of boiling water along with a splash of olive oil. Drain when it still has a little bite.

Stir the pasta through the sauce and serve with torn basil leaves, grated pecorino romano and 2 tbsp olive oil.

Method Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a saucepan on a low heat and add the chopped onion. Soften until translucent, but not coloured. Stir in three crushed garlic cloves and cook for a further 30 seconds (no longer!).

Crush the tomatoes with your hands and add them to the pan along with a dash of vinegar, the sugar and tomato paste.

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Provençal vegetable soup Beca Lyne-Pirkis Serves 4-6

Method

Known as ‘soupe au pistou’, this is a classic Provençal-style bean and vegetable soup.

Start by making the pistou so that it has time to steep. Blitz the garlic, basil, parmesan and half of the oil in a food processor until chopped. Drizzle in the remaining oil until the pistou has loosened slightly in consistency but is still thick enough to dollop. Keep in a sterile jar until needed.

Ingredients For the pistou: 1 garlic clove 1 large bunch of basil, stalk and leaves 30g grated parmesan 100-125ml olive oil For the soup: 2 tbsp olive oil 1 onion, finely chopped 2 celery sticks, finely chopped 200g small or mini new potatoes, cleaned and cut into quarters 200g carrots, peeled and finely chopped (or simply cleaned if small) 2 garlic cloves, sliced thinly 200g green or runner beans, topped and tailed and cut into 2cm pieces 2 courgettes, chopped into 2cm pieces 1 tin of cannellini or haricot beans, drained and rinsed

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Prep and chop all your vegetables before you start cooking. In a large saucepan, heat the oil and sweat the onion and celery over a medium heat, stirring occasionally until soft. This will take around 10 mins. Add in the potatoes and carrots and a pinch of salt and continue to cook for a further 5 mins—you can use a lid on the pan to help sweat the vegetables and keep the flavour in.

After this time, add in the garlic, green or runner beans, courgette and drained beans.

Add in enough water to cover the vegetables and beans, give everything a good stir and add another good pinch of salt. Leave to bubble, stirring occasionally, for around 15 mins or until the potatoes are cooked. Taste to check the seasoning, before serving in shallow bowls with a dollop of pistou on top.

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A Borough Market toastie Ed Smith Serves 1

Method

One of the most satisfying ways to celebrate freshly baked bread is to sandwich it around world-class ingredients. And then to toast it.

Cheese is obligatory; ideally a combination of one that melts well and another that packs a powerful punch. But that dairy needs another savoury item to provide interest beyond the first bite. This could be a cured or cooked meat, or a thinly sliced but still punchy vegetable, like onions, leeks or fennel.

Butter what will become the external sides of each piece of bread. Build the sandwich, with a sprinkle of cheese on the base first, then the meat or alliums, followed by the remaining cheese, then add pickles or spread the condiment onto the inside of the top slice, finally pressing that on top.

Condiments are essential, be it a piquant or sweet pickle or conserve, or something hot and spicy from Pimento Hill. Finally, the toastie must be cooked with care— compressed from time to time, and fried at a pace that ensures the outside is crisp and golden, and the centre molten.

To prescribe just one combination of ingredients would not do justice to the possibilities, so following the main recipe are a few ideas to inspire when out shopping or raiding the fridge.

Ingredients 2 x 1-2cm-thick slices of sourdough Butter 60g cheese, ideally a 50/50 combination of melting and strong, both coarsely grated 20g sliced cured meat or 40g sliced cooked meat (optional) 15g onions, spring onions or leeks, finely sliced (optional) Condiment of choice

Place a heavy-based frying pan over a lowmedium heat and allow it to warm up for 1 min. Transfer the sandwich to the frying pan and cook very gently, regularly pushing down on the sandwich with a fish slice or palette knife. After 2 mins, some but not all of the cheese will have melted and the base of the bread will be browning.

Carefully flip the toastie over and repeat the gentle frying and pressing for 2 mins more.

Repeat, frying both sides for another 2 mins each, so that the cheese and fats are oozing out of the sandwich and the bread is golden and crisp.

Remove from the heat and leave to cool for 1-2 mins before eating—the centre will be hotter than the sun.

POSSIBLE COMBINATIONS —S tilton (or other strong blue), fontina and kimchi —N duja, honey and mozzarella —C ooked ham, raclette, comté and mustard —C heddar, Ogleshield, leeks and chutney — Soft-rind white cheese, turkey and cranberry sauce —B resaola, tapenade and emmental on rye bread —F ennel salami, umbrico (drunken cheese) and dill pickles —T aleggio, roast peppers, spring onions and chives Recipe from The Borough Market Cookbook (Hodder and Stoughton, £25)

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ISSY CROKER

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Macaroni cheese Hayden Groves Serves 4

Method

As a child, my mother was—and still is, I hasten to add—an excellent cook. I certainly feel that for the record I should attribute a large proportion of my success in the kitchen to her.

Melt the butter in a thick based pan, add the flour and make a roux. Cook out over a low heat for 2 mins.

Food is about great moments in time and special memories. For me as a young boy, nothing summed this up more simply than a comforting macaroni cheese served at the family table. The golden, crisp armour protecting and hiding the macaroni, encased in a silky smooth cheese sauce. With each forkful, memories of a bad day at school would be put aside. My two girls now share my enthusiasm and also love this simplest of dishes.

It would only be fair to share my version of the classic with you, using mature cheddar, French comte and mozzarella. Yes, you read right. Although fairly bland, the addition of this Italian cheese really makes a textural difference to the sauce, almost a cartoon-style stretchiness. I hope you give it a go.

Ingredients 175g cheddar, grated 100g comte, grated 75g mozzarella, grated 1 tsp English mustard 1 egg yolk 500ml milk 50g butter 50g plain flour 250g macaroni 30g white breadcrumbs

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Gradually add the milk, stirring all the time to avoid lumps. This is a basic béchamel sauce.

Leave over a very low heat to cook out for 10 mins.

Meanwhile, bring a pan of salted water to the boil, add the macaroni and cook following the manufacturer’s instructions. Drain and reserve a little of the cooking water.

Pass the sauce through a sieve into a clean pan and turn off the heat. Add English mustard and the cheeses (reserving half of the cheddar for the top). Beat in the egg yolk and season with white pepper and salt if required.

Mix the drained macaroni into the cheese sauce and combine well—you may require a splash of the reserved pasta water to just thin the sauce slightly if it isn’t coating well.

Pour into your serving dish, scatter over the breadcrumbs and reserved cheddar and place under a grill set to a medium heat, till a beautiful golden crust is formed.

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Extra-creamy yoghurt Malou Herkes

Makes approx 1¼ litres

Method

A while ago, I got chatting to my TurkishKurdish greengrocer who conceded he only ate his parent’s homemade yoghurt. His mum brings it to him every few days, along with her cultured butter and kefir. She refuses to eat the shop-bought stuff, he told me. On tasting it, I could see why. This yoghurt was tangy, thick and rich, thanks to the cream she had added to it and the time she’d left it to ferment.

It was totally delicious. This is my take on her yoghurt, made using cream for extra richness.

You can, of course, leave out the cream entirely.

Heat the milk and cream over a medium-low heat until almost boiling (85C), stirring often so it doesn’t catch on the bottom. You don’t necessarily need a thermometer; as soon as it starts to froth and little bubbles appear, it’s ready. Leave it to cool to about blood temperature—meaning you can stick your finger in it, but it’s still warm (46C).

Making yoghurt is incredibly easy and the reward far outweighs the 15 minutes of handson labour you need to make it. When you’re doing this for the first time, you’ll need to buy a small pot of live yoghurt. This is the ‘starter’, which has the bacteria you need to transform plain milk into yoghurt. Once you’ve made your first batch, you can use that yoghurt to start the next lot and so on.

Ingredients

Add the yoghurt to a large, wide-lipped thermos flask or a heavy pot (with a lid). Pour in a good splash of the warm milk mixture and stir well to combine with the yoghurt, then pour in all of the remaining milk, stirring gently. Put the lid on immediately. If you’re using a pot, cover it with a few towels to keep the warmth in. Set aside for at least 8 hours or overnight. It’s important it is not moved at all during this time.

At this point, your yoghurt is ready to eat, but if you want more tang (as my Turkish friend would), leave it to ferment at room temperature for another 12 to 24 hours before putting it in the fridge.

1 litre whole milk 250ml double cream 2 tbsp plain, live yoghurt

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How to make: Homemade ice cream Daniel Tapper

In many ways, making ice cream at home is tricky. It’s time-consuming and laborious, it can be more expensive than the stuff you buy from the shop, and is certainly much more difficult than dropping by the nearest gelateria.

Especially if you make it without a machine.

But that is exactly what I set out to do, with the help of two of Borough Market’s most respected—and patient—ice cream experts: Craig Allen, co-founder of Greedy Goat, and John Marco of 3BIS Gelateria.

I have to confess—it didn’t start well.

“I’m sorry, but it’s just not possible to make proper gelato or ice cream at home, unless you have an ice cream maker,” warned John. “Would I ever attempt to make ice cream at home? No, sorry, I just wouldn’t. In fact, the only tip I can give you is to avoid it altogether.” Craig wasn’t exactly brimming with enthusiasm either: “It’s so much easier with an ice cream maker—you just pour in the ingredients and it’s done in like 20 minutes.”

After some gentle persuasion the duo agreed to help me, inspired—I like to think—by a rant of mine bemoaning the cost of such machines and celebrating the virtues of good old elbow grease.

“Okay,” said John, with a small sigh. “Let’s start with the milk and cream—both should have a decent amount of fat content, so I would always suggest whole milk and double cream. And they should always be British. In this country we have some of the best milk in the world—it’s creamier than Italian milk and is packed full of flavour, as most of the cows are grass-fed.”

If you were to freeze the milk and cream at this stage then you’d end up not with a tub of deliciously creamy ice cream but with a Visit boroughmarket.org.uk for more recipes

giant milky ice cube, which is why the second most important ingredients are eggs and sugar. The former acts as a natural emulsifier, preventing the water and fat molecules from separating, while the latter not only provides the all-important sweetness but also lowers the freezing point of the mix, ensuring it doesn’t freeze solid.

As for flavourings, I’ve met foodies who argue that the best ice creams are served pure and unadorned, with no need for extravagant additions—not even the faintest suggestion of vanilla. It’s an honourable idea but not one I’m willing to endorse. How can you, when faced with so many possibilities? “Our bestseller is pistachio and this also happens to be my favourite,” said John. “But ultimately, it doesn’t matter what the flavour is—this is just personal preference. The key is sourcing the very best ingredients you can get your hands on.”

In the end I opted for Craig’s preference, earl grey tea and lemon zest, the ingredients for which are cheap and readily available.

The initial stages of making the ice cream were surprisingly straightforward: I created a custard of milk, double cream, sugar, egg yolks and tea, which was pasteurised before being cooled and infused with fresh lemon zest. So far, so easy.

The hard part, unexpectedly, was the freezing.

While most recipes call for just a few hours in the freezer, my initial attempts still had the consistency of unpleasant milkshake some two days later. Not the result I was looking for.

The problem? I was using too much sugar, which was preventing the ice cream from forming large enough ice crystals. More still, the volume @boroughmarket

of ice cream I was attempting to freeze was too large, especially with a freezer struggling to hold its own in such balmy conditions. The solution was easy: in my next test batch I decreased the sugar and split the mixture between two bowls.

A day later and voila, I was rewarded with a rich and velvety-smooth ice cream brimming with flavours of lemon and bergamot. Sure, a machine might have saved me time, but what could be more important than an afternoon spent making ice cream?

sugar, double cream and teabags in a heavy saucepan and heat to just before boiling point, stirring occasionally (remove the tea bags when the mixture reaches 80C, and set them aside).

Earl grey tea & lemon zest ice cream Serves 4

Transfer the mixture into a large bowl and leave to come down to room temperature. Add the zest of 1 lemon and the tea bags, cover with clingfilm, and place in the fridge overnight. In the morning, remove the tea bags and decant the mixture into two shallow bowls before placing them in the freezer.

Ingredients 6 egg yolks 250ml whole milk 90g icing sugar 400ml double cream 6 earl grey teabags Zest of 1 lemon Whisk the egg yolks vigorously in a bowl for around 5 mins and set aside. Place the milk, Visit boroughmarket.org.uk for more recipes

Allow the mixture to cool to room temperature before slowly stirring it into the egg yolks.

Whisk until it forms a thickened custard. Add this mixture back to the pan and bring it up to around 80C, stirring regularly until thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.

Remove the bowls from the freezer every half an hour and use a fork to whisk around the sides. This needs to be done repeatedly for the next 3 hours, or until you achieve a smooth consistency. Leave in the freezer undisturbed for at least 24 hours before serving. @boroughmarket

Pedro ximenez custard Angela Clutton Serves 4

Method

The basic idea with custard is to whisk egg yolks with sugar, pour over warm milk (optionally vanilla-infused) and then continuously stir the while lot over heat, until it thickens. There are two important things to remember. 1) Go very slowly when first adding the warm milk to the eggs. You do not want sweet scrambled egg. 2) Patience is needed. Your custard will be thickened and ready when it wants to be. You can’t hurry it. Yes, there’s the oft-touted gauge of it being ready when thick enough to coat the back of a spoon and keep a clean line when you run a finger through it. It is also ready when it looks as thick as you would want it to be served.

Split the vanilla pod in half lengthways and scrape out its seeds. Put the seeds and the vanilla pod they came from into a small saucepan along with the milk. Bring to a low simmer, then turn the heat off and set aside for 5 mins to let the milk infuse with the vanilla.

What’s even better than your own creamy custard made with top-notch milk and eggs?

That same custard with a smooth hit of sweet pedro ximenez sherry. The sherry is, admittedly, optional. With it or without, this is a luscious treat for serving with all kinds of desserts.

Mix the egg yolks and sugar together in a bowl.

Remove the vanilla pod from the milk. Pour a little of the hot milk into the egg yolk mix and whisk. Gradually add the rest of the milk, whisking continuously, then pour into a clean pan. Set that over a gentle heat and whisk constantly, taking care not to let the custard simmer at any point or it will split.

After about 5 mins it will begin to thicken slightly and become the consistency of single cream (it will thicken more when it cools down). Whisk in the pedro ximenez sherry.

Ingredients 1 vanilla pod 500ml whole milk 5 egg yolks 60g caster sugar 2 tbsp pedro ximenez sherry

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KIM LIGHTBODY

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Honey & rosemary lemonade Jenny Chandler Serves 6-8

Method

The most thirst-quenching drink imaginable, as long as it’s not too sweet. Lemons vary in size and acidity, so I’d have a couple of extras standing by in case you need to sharpen this up a little.

Peel the zest from 2 lemons (avoiding too much bitter white pith) and place in a small saucepan with 3 of the rosemary sprigs, the honey, sugar and water.

Ingredients

Heat the pan up to boiling point and then set aside to steep and cool for a couple of hours.

Once cool, strain the aromatic syrup into a jug.

6 large, juicy lemons 6 sprigs of rosemary 3 tbsp lightly scented honey such as acacia or borage 4 tbsp sugar 250ml water Plenty of ice and cold water to top up

Squeeze the lemons, a great job for any children around, and add to the jug. Top up to taste with plenty of ice (don’t forget that this will dilute the lemonade as it melts) and some cool water.

Serve with a couple of whole sprigs of rosemary in the jug (not the individual leaves as my daughter prepared, or you will end up with a mouthful of needle-like greenery) and maybe a slice of lemon.

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JOHN HOLDSHIP

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