At a time when everything is getting more expensive, including food, is it possible to pull together an interesting dinner-party main for £10? We challenged four chefs behind four of the most talked-about restaurants to open in London in the past year to try. The rules: the recipe must feed four people; the ingredients cannot cost more than £10 in total (excluding wine)*; and, the final result has to be a dish you’d be happy to serve at a dinner party, not just a casual midweek supper. Here’s what they came up with.
* Ingredients are priced as a proportion of total ingredient cost and sourced from a major supermarket
Spinach and ricotta gnudi with sage butter: £6.63
by Yohei Furuhashi of Toklas
Some people say gnudi are the Italian answer to dumplings, yet I think this does them a disservice. They are light and elegant, easy to make, incredibly versatile and can do wonders with a small quantity of strong flavours such as sage. For me this is the epitome of Italian cooking. Something really beautiful, fashioned almost from nothing.
Serves four
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Blanch the spinach in boiling salted water, drain, cool and gently but firmly squeeze out as much water as you can. There will be a surprising amount. Chop finely.
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Combine the spinach, ricotta, egg yolks, grated parmesan, plain flour and nutmeg to taste. Season with sea salt and taste. Take a teaspoonful of the mixture and, using wet hands, form into golf balls and dip in the semolina. Repeat for the rest of the mix. Space them out on a tray. Rest in the fridge for at least an hour, ideally a few hours.
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Bring a pan of salted water to the boil, slip in the gnudi and wait until they come to the surface. Melt the butter with sage leaves in a separate pan and, as the gnudi rise to the surface, remove a tablespoon or two of the water and emulsify with the butter.
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Remove the gnudi with a slotted spoon, coat in the melted butter. Serve with grated parmesan.
Thai omelette: £7.25
by Luke Farrell of Speedboat Bar
There is a cheery lady at the end of my street in Bangkok who makes omelettes. They’re done in seconds but come out looking like classy centrepiece soufflés. Street-food chefs are always trying to pinch a margin, and having the guts to trust in your technique makes all the difference here. Don’t fear the raging hot oil required for this recipe — you’ll be amazed at the results. You’ll also have leftover homemade Sriracha sauce to fire up other meals.
Serves four
Sriracha chilli sauce
Rice
For the Sriracha
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Remove the stems from the jalapeños and blitz with the garlic, sugar and salt to a fine paste. Leave in a sterilised jar for three days to ferment.
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In a pan, add the fermented chilli paste to the vinegar and fish sauce. Simmer for a few minutes. It should be hot and rounded out with the sugar and vinegar. Chillies vary, so season with sugar and vinegar until you are happy. Cool and pour into a bottle. Refrigerated, it will keep for two months.
For the omelette
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Cook the rice, then cover and leave to one side. Don’t open the lid for 25 minutes or until you’re ready to serve the omelette.
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To make the omelette, get a small saucepan with high sides, a fine mesh sieve and a metal spatula or slotted spoon. Wire mesh over a tray will help you to drain the omelette.
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Crack the eggs into a bowl, add the fish sauce, salt and a squeeze of lime and mix until combined with a fork. Add the prawns.
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Pour cooking oil into your saucepan until it reaches halfway. Heat until it starts to smoke, at around 220C.
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Pour the egg mixture from a height through a sieve into the oil in a circular motion. The prawns will remain in the sieve. The egg will bubble furiously. After two minutes, or once it’s getting crispy, pour in the prawns (the picture shows some on the surface but I’d use them all in the omelette). They will turn pink immediately. Working quickly, turn one side of the omelette over with your spatula. Remove gently and put into a colander.
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Place in the middle of the table and lay a few coriander sprigs over it. Your guests can help themselves to rice and spoon through the crunchy prawn omelette with as much Sriracha sauce as they like.
Homemade pasta with tomato sauce: £3.27
by Ed McIlroy of The Plimsoll
In the words of a French visitor to 18th-century Naples, “When a lazzarone has earned four or five coins to have some macaroni for the day, he no longer worries about tomorrow.” This recipe is for a simple but delicious pasta sauce. Making your own pasta to accompany the sauce transforms it into a dish that could be served if you’re entertaining.
Serves four
For the dough
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Combine the flour, eggs, some olive oil and salt, and knead this rigid mixture until your forearms are sore. If you have a stand mixer, use the paddle attachment for about 10 minutes. Minuscule amounts of water should be added gradually to help bring the dough together. Knead further, folding the dough into itself. Do not over-wet. The end result should be firm, not sticky, and bouncy enough to come back when lightly pressed.
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Wrap the dough in a tea towel or cling film and leave to rest for an hour.
For the sauce
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Heat some oil in a deepish pan, add the onion and stir to distribute evenly. Leave the onions until almost caramelising, then add the garlic and cook until its smell begins to fill the room.
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Add the tomato paste. Season.
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Pour in the tin of tomatoes, add half a litre of water and bring the lot to the boil. Reduce the heat, season again and add some chilli flakes. Add water when needed to prevent it from catching and cook for as long as possible, at least 45 minutes. All the water should be reduced before serving so that you have a thick tomato sauce.
To make the pasta
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Use a rolling pin or some other heavy cylinder. Split the dough into three pieces and roll.
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When first flattened, fold the pasta in half both ways and start again to help the elasticity and texture.
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Roll flat, a bit thinner than a pound coin. If you end up with fairly uniform sheets of pasta, cut it into strips for tagliatelle. If not, cut whatever shapes you want and call it maltagliati.
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Bring a pot of salted water to the boil and add the pasta. Cooking time depends on your pasta’s thickness, but start checking soon after it rises to the top of the water.
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Combine, serve, season if needed, pour on some olive oil if you’d like and grate some cheese.
Kofte piyaz: £9.41
by Esra Muslu of Zahter
Kofte is classic comfort food in Turkish culture and, according to all kids, their mother’s recipe is the best. To bring down the cost, cooks sometimes add breadcrumbs (the doughy inside part of stale bread that’s been soaked, not the crust) and boiled rice to make the meal go further with less meat. Piyaz (a Turkish white-bean salad) is the perfect accompaniment: crunchy, sweet and fresh.
Serves four
Kofte
Piyaz
Piyaz dressing
Garnish
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For the piyaz, boil the beans until soft or soak them in water overnight if dried to speed up the process.
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Once cooled, mix with the diced tomato, red onion, spring onion and roughly chopped parsley. The chilli should be sliced thinly at an angle (too thick and you’ll get too much heat). Mix the dressing ingredients and pour them over the salad. Serve with a drizzle of olive oil.
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For the kofte, grate the onion and garlic, finely chop the parsley and mix together with the minced meat. You can rest it overnight to let all the flavours combine, but it’s not a must. Make 12 patties of equal size.
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You can grill, bake or pan-fry your kofte. I prefer them grilled for around six minutes or until cooked through — you don’t want to see any pink.
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Mix all the ingredients for the garnish and serve on top of the kofte.
Food styling by Seiko Hatfield. Set design and prop styling by Sandy Suffield
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