Peter Gordon's six delicious salad recipes | Salad (2024)

“Salad is a main course now,” he says. “But it should still be an achievable thing, something you can rustle up.” His favourite recipe in the book is for burrata and heirloom tomatoes with a mango dressing which, assuming you can get your hands on the relevant ingredients – spongey supermarket toms are not going to cut it here – is the very definition of doable. “It sounds ridiculous. Mangoes don’t grow in Italy, do they? But it comes together with such harmony. It’s delicious.”

Gordon, who brought his still-mourned restaurant the Sugar Club to Notting Hill in 1996, made his name with unlikely combinations; anyone who’s come to dread the word “fusion’ must lay much of the blame at his door, for all that he did it so much better than most (and still does, perhaps: his current restaurant, the Providores, in Marylebone, remains full to bursting every night). “Fusion is everywhere now,” he says. “But back then, it really wasn’t, even in Australia.” As an apprentice chef in Melbourne, his college lecturers, weaned on French sauces, were dismissive of Gordon’s weird ideas, born of the Damascene moment when he tasted silken tofu for the first time; and it was the same when he arrived in London, doing shifts at the likes of Launceston Place in Kensington.

Where did it come from, this love for the kitchen? He’s not sure. He grew up in Whanganui, a coastal town on New Zealand’s North Island. His father was an engineer who liked to render his own beef fat. “Everything was cooked in it. I used to hate it. The first time I tasted fish and chips that had been cooked in sunflower oil, it was a revelation.” When he was seven, the family’s deep fat fryer fell on top of him; his burns were so bad, he needed skin grafts. But though this only added to his loathing of the oil inside it, it didn’t put him off cooking: “I lost a year of school, but I honestly have no bad memories of that time.”

In his 50s now, he shows no sign of simplifying his life any time soon. “The portfolio does need … managing,” he says, pulling his fingers through his hair distractedly. “I do want to travel for work less. I started learning the cello, but didn’t have the time for the lessons. But Alastair has this property in the Australian bush that he’s always thought would make a good cookery school, so …” Alastair is his partner, Alastair Carruthers, a leading lawyer and champion of the arts in New Zealand, who is moving to London later this year to be with him, “a huge deal” for them both. Will he always have a restaurant? Yes, of this he’s certain – and likely in London, a city he has come to think of as his own. “I’ve lived here longer than I ever lived in New Zealand. It’s still so exciting to me. Even when it’s hard, it’s a privilege to be here.”

Roast chicken, kumquats, black garlic, kale and avocado

Preheat the oven to 180C/gas mark 4.Place the chicken thighs, garlic, kumquats, rosemary and sunflower seeds in a roasting dish. Pour on the avocado oil and 2 tablespoons of water and season with salt and pepper. Toss everything together. Roast, turning the chicken several times while cooking, until the chicken is cooked through and the skin is golden and crispy, about 30-40 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave until cool enough to handle, then cut each thigh into four or five slices.

While the chicken is cooking, soak the onion in cold water for 10 minutes, then drain. Meanwhile, blanch or steam the kale for 3 minutes. Tip it into a colander and, when it is cool enough to handle, squeeze out as much water as you can, then coarsely shred it.

Remove the flesh from the avocados and cut into chunks. Mix with the lemon juice to prevent it going brown.

To serve, toss the kale, onion, cucumber and avocado together and lay it on the bottom of a serving dish. Lay the chicken on top then spoon over the contents of the roasting dish.

Crusty baked wasabi mushrooms, spinach, tomato, orange, dill and grated egg

Preheat the oven to 170C/gas mark 3. If the mushrooms have thick stalks, cut them out and thinly slice. Lay the mushrooms in one or two baking dishes, open side facing up. Heat the butter in a frying pan over a medium heat with the garlic, rosemary and sliced mushroom stalks (if using), and cook until the garlic turns golden, stirring frequently. Remove the pan from the heat. Mix the wasabi paste with 1 tablespoon of water to form a slurry and stir into the butter. Stir in the breadcrumbs thoroughly. Spoon this mixture on top of the mushrooms and bake until the crumbs are golden, about 20 minutes.

Cut the tomatoes in half crossways and gently squeeze out the seeds, or use a teaspoon to scoop them out. Cut the tomato flesh into chunks and mix with the orange segments and juice. Add the dill and olive oil, season with salt and coarse black pepper and stir.

To serve, divide the spinach among your plates and sit the mushrooms on top. Spoon on the tomato and orange and then, using a coarse grater, grate the eggs over the top.

Chilli-roast sweet potato, courgettes, roast garlic, hazelnuts and pears

Preheat the oven to 180C/gas mark 4.Put the garlic in a pan, cover with 3cm water and add ½ teaspoon of fine salt. Bring to the boil, then cook over a medium heat until the water has almost evaporated. Drain.

Put the garlic, sweet potatoes, pears, chillies, rosemary, olive oil and half the sesame oil into a roasting dish. Sprinkle on 1 teaspoon of salt and plenty of freshly ground black pepper. Roast in the oven for 45 minutes, tossing twice.

Add the courgettes, hazelnuts and remaining sesame oil and toss together, then cook until the pears and sweet potato are cooked through, about 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and stir in the spinach.

Farro, capers, herb-baked tomatoes, roast carrots and Parmesan

Preheat the oven to 170C/gas mark 3. Put the farro in a medium pan, cover with 3cm of cold water and add the onion and bay leaf. Bring to the boil and put a lid on the pan. Reduce the heat to a rapid simmer and cook until tender, about 40 minutes. Add 1 teaspoon of flaky salt after 20 minutes. Drain in a colander, then transfer to a large bowl. Taste for seasoning and mix in the capers and vinegar. Leave to cool.

While the farro is cooking, lay the carrots in a roasting dish, drizzle on 2 tablespoons of the oil and half the thyme, then season with salt and pepper and add 2 tablespoons of water. Roast until cooked, about 30 minutes; you should be able to easily insert a sharp knife through them.

Cut each into five or six pieces on an angle. Lay the tomato halves, cut side up, on a baking sheet lined with baking parchment. Mix the oregano, rosemary and the remaining thyme and 2 tablespoons of oil and drizzle this on the tomatoes. Sprinkle with a little salt and freshly ground black pepper. Bake for 40-50 minutes until the tomatoes have shrunk a little and coloured slightly. To serve, toss the rocket loosely through the farro and divide among your plates. Sit the carrots and tomatoes on top, pour on any roasting juices from either and scatter with the parmesan shavings.

Butternut squash with coconut, radicchio, chicory and feta

Preheat the oven to 170C/gas mark 3.Put the butternut in a roasting dish with the pumpkin seeds and cumin seeds, 1½ tablespoons of the olive oil and 1 tablespoon of water. Season with a little salt (not too much as feta is salty) and black pepper and mix together. Roast in the oven for 20 minutes, then stir in the coconut. Continue cooking, tossing every 10 minutes, until the butternut has coloured and you can insert a knife through it with little resistance. It should take about 30-45 minutes.

Separate the leaves of the radicchio, discarding the thick white stalks. Tear up the larger ones. Cut the base from the chictory and separate the leaves. Cut the larger leaves in half lengthways.

To serve, simply toss everything together with the remaining olive oil, tasting for seasoning.

Smoked mackerel, beetroot, egg, apple and dill miso mustard dressing

For 4 as a lunchtime dish; serve warm or at room temperature
beetroot 2 medium
extra virgin olive oil 1 tbsp
lemon juice 2 tbsp
Chioggia (striped) beetroot 1 small, for garnish
smoked mackerel fillets 400g (about 4)
baby salad leaves 1 handful
eggs 4, soft boiled and peeled
apple 1

For the dill mustard dressing
lemon juice 2 tbsp
pale miso paste ½ tsp
grain mustard 1 tsp
English mustard ½ tsp
caster sugar ½ tsp
fresh dill 2 tsp chopped
extra virgin olive oil 2 tbsp

Preheat the oven to 180C/gas mark 4. Wash any dirt off the two beetroot, then wrap them up together tightly in foil. Place in a roasting dish and bake in the middle of the oven until you can insert a thin sharp knife or skewer through the foil into the centre of the beetroot. This will take anywhere from 45 to 90 minutes depending on their size. Remove from the oven and leave until cool enough to handle. Still wearing gloves, unwrap from the foil and then use your fingers, and a small knife if needed, to rub and peel off the skins.

Thickly slice the roast beetroot while still warm and toss with the olive oil, 2 tablespoons of the lemon juice and salt and pepper, then leave to cool.

Peel the Chioggia beet and slice as thin as possible into rings – a mandoline is ideal. Put in iced water to crisp up.

Make the dressing. Mix the lemon juice into the miso paste to form a slurry. Mix in both mustards and sugar. Finally stir in the dill and the olive oil.

Remove the skin, bones and blood line from the mackerel, then break into chunks. To serve, scatter the salad leaves on four plates. Lay the roast beetroot slices on top, then the mackerel and Chioggia beets. Cut the eggs in half and julienne the apple, discarding the core, and sit these on top. Spoon over the dressing. OFM

Extracted from Savour: Salads for all Seasons by Peter Gordon (Jacqui Small, £25). Click here to order a copy for £20 from Guardian Bookshop