I enjoy slow-cooked casseroles and chunky vegetable soups, not to mention fragrant, oven-baked puddings. After all, that is what keeps us all going through the colder months. But by this time of year I want bright colours, not brown food, lively flavours, not comfort food, and new dishes instead of old favourites.

Crisp leaf salads of rocket and lamb’s lettuce, enhanced with the crunch and bitterness of pale yellow chicory and ruby red radicchio are my favourites to accompany grilled meat and fish instead of root vegetable purées. Green beans, broad beans and peas, too, are vegetables of choice.

With the sun, tomatoes are developing more and more flavour, so they will always find a place on my table from now on, whether in a salad or a chilled soup, and with plenty of fresh mint, basil or chives.

For desserts I want sharp, citrusy flavours, grapefruit and Campari sorbets or jellies, for example, or a lemon tart, syllabub or posset. Among imported fruit, passion fruit are well worth buying, as these rather dull looking fruit pack a huge punch of flavour.

The true passion fruit (Passiflora edulis) in its natural fresh ripe state is a smooth ovoid about 7cm long with either a reddish-purple leathery skin or a pale yellow skin. Originally from Brazil, the passion fruit is now widely cultivated in Kenya and in South America, notably Colombia where it is known as maracuya.

By the time it reaches us it is often somewhat shrivelled in appearance. And it is not true that the wrinklier they are the better; they are simply older and drier, so look for the smoothest available.

The leathery skin encloses a thin reddish pith surrounding a white membranous lining which en­closes small edible crunchy seeds, each one set in a fragrant, in­tensely flavoured, sweet-sour and translucent pulp, dark greenish orange in colour.

To get to the sweet pulp, cut the top off the fruit like an egg and spoon out the interior. Both pulp and seeds are edible. If you just want the pulp, rub through a fine sieve with a tablespoon of boiling water, which will help to remove the pulp from the seeds. Add the pulp to fruit salad.

The juice can be used for marinating. I find it particularly successful with duck, pork and quail and I add the marinade to the sauce or gravy at the end. Passion fruit curd, ice-cream and sorbet are perhaps the most effective ways of using this delicious fruit, and also in the classic posset I include today.

All today’s recipes use traditional techniques and recipes, which I have reworked with less familiar ingredients. The first recipe combines two meridional dishes, the tomato gazpacho and the salt cod brandade; it is a vivid, colourful dish, and can be made well in advance, so is a useful dish for entertaining.

The posset is best made in ad­vance to give the flavours time to develop. My main course was in­spired by the large swordfish I often see for sale in local fish markets.

Thinly sliced, the pieces remind me of veal, and I have cooked it in several ways suitable for the delicate meat. Dipped in beaten egg, and then in breadcrumbs and fried in butter or extra virgin olive oil, the ‘escalope’ of swordfish makes an excellent, quick-to-cook main course. Serve it with a lemon and caper sauce or mayonnaise. Or try it stuffed and baked as I have done today, for a dish full of flavour and colour. The rolls can be prepared in advance and refrigerated for a few hours until you want to cook them.

Chilled fino sherry is the perfect accompaniment to the brandade and gazpacho. Meridiana’s Isis or a Sicilian white wine will be very happy with the swordfish, or you might prefer a rosé. Have a look at Abraham’s Supplies wine list; he has a nice Spanish Toro rosé from Bodegas Fariña and an attractive Languedoc rosé, which we prefer to the Provence pink wines. With the posset I suggest either a Moscato d’Asti or a Passito di Pantelleria.

Gazpacho with brandade

(Serves 4 to 6)

400g salt cod
200ml extra virgin olive oil
100ml semi-skimmed milk
White pepper, freshly ground

Soak the salt cod for at least 24 hours, preferably 48, in several changes of water.

Place in a saucepan just covered with fresh water, and simmer for five to eight minutes, depending on the thickness of the piece of fish. If you have been lucky enough to get a thick piece of cod, cook it for longer than the thinner tail or belly piece.

Remove from the heat, drain, and flake the fish, discarding skin and bones. Heat the olive oil and milk in two separate sauce pans.

The creamed cod can now be prepared in a food processor or by hand. If by hand, put the fish in a warm bowl, and gradually work in half the olive oil with a wooden spoon until the mixture begins to turn to a soft mass. Then beat in the milk and remaining olive oil, a little at a time, almost as if you were making mayonnaise. Both oil and milk should be at the same temperature, hot, to help maintain the emulsion.

The resulting cream or brandade is pale and creamy, not unlike potato purée. Season with white pepper. Salt is usually un­necessary because there will be residual salt in the cod, even though well soaked. Serve warm or cold in a traditional gazpacho.

Gazpacho:
4 slices white bread, crusts removed
3 to 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
2 small mild onions or 6 spring onions
2 cloves garlic (optional)
1/2 cucumber
1/2 green pepper
1kg ripe tomatoes
Up to 1 litre water
Gozo salt
Black pepper, freshly ground

Soak the bread in the vinegar while you peel and roughly chop the vegetables. Put everything except the seasoning in the blender, in two batches, if necessary, and blend until smooth, gradually adding the olive oil. Sieve into a serving bowl, and season to taste. Place a quenelle of salt cod in the soup plate and garnish with herbs or edible flowers.

Bragioli of swordfish

(Serves 6)

2 or 3 red peppers, skinned, seeded and cut into strips
2 fennel bulbs, trimmed and thinly sliced
1 or 2 onions or shallots, peeled and thinly sliced
Extra virgin olive oil – see recipe
6 thin slices swordfish, about 120-150g each
6 heaped tablespoons cooked rice, quinoa or couscous
2 medium size ripe tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped
1 lemon
Fresh herbs such as chives, basil, coriander, marjoram, mint
4 tablespoons white wine or fino sherry

In a frying pan, cook the peppers, fennel and onion in some of the olive oil until softened, then transfer to an oven-proof dish.

Remove the skin from the swordfish and trim the pieces to a neat shape. Chop the trimmings and put to one side.

Spread cling film on a work top, place one slice of fish on it, and cover with another piece of cling film. Using a rolling pin, carefully flatten the fish to spread it further. Do not bash it as this will tear the delicate flesh.

Remove the top sheet of cling film. Mix the fish trimmings with the rice, quinoa or couscous and the tomato, together with grated lemon zest and herbs. Moisten with a little olive oil. Heap a spoonful of stuffing in the centre of the slice of swordfish and roll or fold into a neat parcel. Place it join side down on the vegetables. Prepare the remaining fish in the same way.

Trickle a thread or two of olive oil over the swordfish rolls, and splash on the wine or fino. Bake at 180° C for 25 to 30 minutes. Serve with a rocket salad.

Passion fruit posset

(Serves 6)

2 or 3 passion fruit
Caster sugar – see recipe
300ml double cream

Halve the passion fruit and scoop the seeds and jelly into a measuring jug. Add a tablespoon of water, as this helps to loosen the seeds. Pour into a small saucepan and add an equal volume of sugar.

Heat gently until the sugar has dissolved, bring to the boil and simmer for two to three minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to cool. Set aside a couple of teaspoons of the syrup for garnish.

Pour the cream into a jug and sieve the passion fruit syrup into the cream, stirring all the while.

The cream will thicken considerably as the acid goes to work but it will remain smooth.

Spoon into shot glasses or custard cups, top with a little of the syrup and a few seeds, then chill until required.

These are very good with a crisp almond biscuit or a shortbread finger.

Cook’s note: If passion fruit are not available, bitter oranges, lemons or limes can be used, making up the syrup in exactly the same way.

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