King Prawn and Samphire Bisque.

Remove the heads and shells from the prawns - leave the shell on one prawn per portion you are making.

De-vein the prawns and put to one side.

In a sauce pan fry the prawn heads and shells in a glug of olive oil with the stalks and 3/4 of the leaves from a small bunch of parsley, a bay leaf, a sprinkle of crushed fennel seeds, a stick of chopped celery, a couple of chopped spring onions, a chopped clove or two of garlic and a good grind of sea salt until they are coloured on both sides.

Add a glug of white wine and burn off the alcohol then add water and bring to a boil - turn to a simmer and cook for 5-10mins.

Pour the contents of the saucepan into a blender and blitz - then blitz again!

Pour into a sieve over the cleaned saucepan and allow the liquid to drain through. 

Press the contents of the sieve with the back of a wooden spoon to get as much liquid and flavour into the bisque as possible and then warm through to reconstitute.

In a separate saucepan warm a little oil and add a little finely chopped celery, a finely chopped spring onion - when softened add the prawns, season and cook on both sides until turned pink then sprinkle with a little paprika.

Add the samphire cook on for a minute or so then add the bisque and warm through.

Serve with a sprinkling of the reserved chopped parsley leaves.

Squid and Samphire Linguine.

 While your linguine is cooking slice your squid into rings.

Add a good glug of olive oil to a pan and add some chilli flakes (you can use fresh too).

Heat the oil and when hot add the squid rings (you need to do this a couple of mins before the pasta is ready) and season generously with salt and pepper.

After a minute or two turn the rings and add the tentacles - they take a shorter time to cook.

When the squid has turned white add a knob of butter and the samphire and give it a good squeeze of lemon - give it a minute to warm the samphire through being careful not too over cook the squid.

Drain the pasta and add the squid and samphire - mix and serve immediately.

Chicken, Fennel, Olives and Citrus.

 

In a mortar and pestle pound some fennel seeds, a few peppercorns, rock salt  and a clove of garlic into a paste.

Make a marinade by adding the juice and zest of a lemon and half an orange, olive oil and chopped oregano (dried if possible).

Chop fennel bulbs into quarters and marinade for a day with your chicken pieces.

Place all the ingredients in an open casserole (no lid) along with a few handfuls of large green olives and cook in a moderate oven until the chicken has coloured and cook through.

Remove the chicken, olives and fennel and keep warm while you reduce the liquid by half to a sauce on the hob.

Serve with a little more chopped  fresh oregano.