Homegrown chefs: improve your isolation cooking with these recipes

We've complied some of the best recipes from our Homegrown Chef section, featuring Border and North East chefs, to keep your kitchen smelling great through the pandemic.

Serves 4

Base

Additional ingredients

Method

In a medium pot place all ingredients apart from the chia seeds. Cover and cook until quinoa has absorbed all the liquid. Transfer to a large bowl, add chia seeds and cool overnight or until cold.

Assemble

Stir through the almonds, pumpkin and sunflower seeds. In a glass or cup container, layer mixed berries, coconut flakes, coconut yoghurt and base.

EBDEN & Olive co-owner and chef Jodie Jones shares her recipe for these popular bliss balls.

Ebden & Olive Bliss Balls

Ingredients

Method

Place the dates in the food processor and pulse until the dates are chopped or finely pureed. Combine the rest of the ingredients, except the extra coconut, in a mixing bowl. Add the dates and mix well. Roll the mixture into balls of similar size. Roll the balls in the extra coconut. Serve.

Duck a l'Orange

What's included: Duck breast, white witlof with liquid, fennel, orange segments, roasted flaked almonds, pomegranate seeds, salad leaves, pickled red onion, salad dressing, fondant potato, duck sauce, pink salt, white pepper, olive oil. You will need: Cooking oil.

Method:

Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Place duck breast and witlof (both still in the vac bags) into a large mixing bowl. Fill with very hot water out of the tap. Cover with lid or foil for 15 minutes. Note: These have been cooked beforehand, this step re-heats. On a lined baking tray, place the fennel quarters and potato fondants. Season with pink salt, pepper and sprinkle with olive oil. Bake in oven for 20 minutes, turning fennel after 10 minutes.

In a bowl, add salad leaves, almond flakes, pomegranate seeds, orange segments, pickled red onion wedges, shaved fennel, fennel tops, pinch of salt and pepper.

Heat a frying pan. Remove duck breast from bag. Pat dry. Season skin with pink salt. Add cooking oil. Place duck breast skin side down, cook until golden brown. Flip for 10 seconds. Rest duck for five minutes.

Spinach, Blue Cheese and Bacon Tart (Serves 8)

Ingredients

Tart filling

Pastry Instructions

Make by hand or in food processor. Rub butter into flour. Mix eggs and water together. Add egg mix into flour, mix, then add seasoning and cheese to form a dough. Wrap in cling film and rest in fridge for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Grease a 28cm diameter with butter. Bring dough out of fridge and roll out to 1/2 cm to line the greased tart shell. Blind-bake tart shell. Cook till golden (about 20 minutes rotating). Take blind baking beans/rice out in the last five minutes. Take out of oven, glaze with egg wash.

Filling instructions

Turn oven down to 160 degrees. Fry bacon lightly in some oil. Lightly wilt spinach leaves in pan, take off heat and let cool. In a bowl whisk lightly the eggs and cream. Add remaining ingredients (cheese, parsley, spring onions etc). Pour into tart shell. Cook in oven till just set, about 25-30 minutes. Serve with salad greens and spiced peach relish.

Lamb Ragu and Gnocchi

Ragu ingredients

Serves 6

Marinate diced lamb in the white wine for one hour. Remove the meat from the wine, setting aside the wine. Brown the meat in a hot pan, set aside. Sweat down the onion, celery and garlic in some olive oil until soft and shiny. Add the tomato paste and cook down for a minute. Add the white wine, turn up to full heat and reduce until there is very little liquid left. Add the stock, tomato, aromatics and meat and bring to the boil. Turn to a very low simmer and cook for 2-3 hours until the meat is tender. Add some extra stock if the ragu becomes too thick. Serve with gnocchi.

Gnocchi ingredients

Place the potatoes in a pot of cold salted water, bring to the boil and then turn down to a very low simmer. Cook through. Peel the potatoes and put through the Tamis sieve. Make a circle with the potatoes, place the flour around inside the potato, and then the eggs, salt in the middle. Whisk the eggs with a fork, slowly incorporating the flour. Then get your hands into it and knead until smooth. Roll into long logs and cut into about 8-centimetre pieces. Blanch in boiling salted water until they float. Refresh in iced water.