JAMES OLIVER FAMILY RECIPES

Steps:

• 1. Start by prepping all your salad ingredients. Scrub the potatoes and cook in boiling salted water for around 15 minutes, or until tender, then halve or slice up.
  2. Soft-boil the eggs for 6 minutes, or longer if you prefer them more cooked.
  3. Cut the tofu into 2½cm chunks and fry in a splash of sesame oil for around 15 minutes, or until golden, then sprinkle lightly with sea salt.
  4. Finely shred the cabbage if you want it raw or, if you’d rather cook it (which is traditional), cut it into 2cm slices, place in a colander and slowly pour a kettle of boiling water over the top. For me, this is the perfect amount of heat to soften the cabbage, but means you keep much of the delicious nutrients in there – feel free to apply this to any other seasonal greens you can find, too.
  5. Cut the tomatoes into wedges, quarter the radishes and slice the cucumber (I use my crinkle-cut knife – you should get one!). Season everything from a height with a little salt.
  6. Next, put all the sauce ingredients into a blender, peeling the garlic and grating in the palm sugar (if needed), then blitz until smooth. Have a taste and adjust the seasoning, making sure the acidity of the lime sings through, so tweak with more, if needed.
  7. Traditionally, you’d take a little bit of everything, put it into a bowl and pour the sauce over the top, which is a fine way to serve it. I like to do the reverse, because I feel that once you pour the sauce over you can’t see the care and attention that has gone into the preparation of the ingredients. So I spoon the sauce between four bowls, spread it up around the sides, then divide the ingredients around the bowls, taking a bit of pride in making them look nice.
  8. Pick over a few coriander leaves, add the prawn crackers and some finely sliced fresh chilli (if using), then show everyone what a celebration of food this is by getting them to toss together their very own portion.

Steps:

• 1. Preheat the oven to 170ºC/325ºF/gas 3.
  2. Peel and halve the carrot lengthways, then peel and thinly slice the onions.
  3. Take both legs off the birds and snap off the back bone at the base of the breastbone (or get your butcher to prepare them for you).
  4. Place a shallow, heavy-based casserole dish over a medium–high heat, add 50g butter and brown the legs, skin-side down. Flip and repeat on the other side.
  5. When they are brown all over, remove from the pan, add the carrot and onion, reduce the heat to low, pop on the lid and cook slowly for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  6. Add the vinegar and wine, then reduce by half. Return the legs to the pan, skin-side up. Add the thyme and pour over the stock to almost cover. Bring to a simmer, pop on the lid and cook in the oven for 1½ hours, until you can pull the meat from the bone.
  7. Leave the dish in the oven but take off the lid so that the skin on the legs colours and crisps up, then remove from the oven, season and keep warm. Reduce the oven to 100ºC/gas ¼.
  8. Place a heavy-based frying pan over a medium–high heat and colour the crown on all sides.
  9. Add the remaining butter, reduce the heat and continuously baste the birds. Once they’re golden and crispy, cook in the oven until the temperature in the thickest part of the breast reaches 59ºC. Carve and serve with seasonal veg.