For the Love of Food

FOR THE LOVE OF Recipes

FOOD

for life’s delicious moments

FROM THE LAND

We developed this flatbread not so long ago for the Caffè Rojano menu. But I wanted to be able to share it with you and not everybody has a pizza oven. So, we adapted the recipe to cook it in a frying pan. I’ve also made it using good old sandwich ham, Cheddar and mozzarella, which works just as well if that’s what you have in the fridge or are cooking on a budget. This dish is an absolute showstopper – when it goes down in the middle of the table you’ll feel like The Don in the kitchen!

Frying Pan

Flatbread with Pecorino, Mortadella Ham, Chilli Honey and Pistachios

Serves 8

420 ml lukewarm water

5 g dried active yeast

5 g honey

15 ml extra virgin olive oil, plus extra for drizzling

11 g fine sea salt

500 g strong bread flour

Olive oil, for greasing and drizzling

2 sprigs of rosemary, leaves picked

2 pinches of flaked sea salt

For the chilli honey

170 g honey

45 ml sherry vinegar

1 tbsp water

5 g chilli flakes

1 tsp hot smoked paprika

½ tsp sweet smoked paprika

Pinch of dried oregano

3 g sea salt

To serve

30 g Pecorino, finely grated

1 ball of burrata

5 slices of mortadella

10 large basil leaves, torn

20 g pistachios, roughly chopped

To make the chilli honey, heat the honey in a medium saucepan over a low heat and bring to the boil. Add the sherry vinegar, then the water, which will reduce the temperature, so stir while you bring back to the boil. At this point, season with the remaining ingredients. Remove the honey from the heat and leave to cool before pouring into a sterilized jar. It will keep for up to 2 weeks if kept in a sterilized, airtight jar at room temperature.

Now onto the bread. Using a stand mixer with a dough hook, place the water, yeast and honey in the mixer bowl. Mix on a medium speed for a couple of minutes, then leave to stand for 5 minutes, which will activate the dried yeast. Add the extra virgin olive oil, salt and flour to the mixer bowl.

Turn the mixer onto a slow speed and mix until a soft, elastic dough has formed. Increase the speed to medium and work for a further 6 minutes, then turn the mixer off.

Grease a clean, dry bowl with some olive oil. Scrape the dough into the bowl before covering tightly with clingfilm. Allow the dough to prove in a warm place for 1–2 hours, or until it has doubled in size.

Grease a large, ovenproof frying pan with olive oil and turn the proved dough out into the pan. Using your hands, spread the dough right the way to the edges – making some indents with your fingers as you go and dropping the rosemary leaves into these holes. Sprinkle some sea salt all over the dough, along with a splash of olive oil. Cover the pan with clingfilm or a damp towel. Prove again for around 1 hour, or until the dough has doubled in size again.

Preheat the oven to 220°C fan.

Remove the covering from the frying pan and bake for 20 minutes until golden and risen. Carefully remove from the oven and place the frying pan on a heatproof mat. While still warm, cover the bread with the Pecorino, then leave to rest for 10 minutes.

In 2020, when the world stopped for a while, one thing that most people did was cook a lot more at home, me included. I would regularly come down to Padstow harbour and buy fish from the harbourside to support the local boats. This dish was born out of what was in the cupboards and the fridge, and it’s stuck with me ever since. It really is a quick and easy, middle-of-thetable family recipe, with everyone digging in. Most white fish would be great for this dish but cod, hake or monkfish work particularly well.

Baked Cornish Cod Piperade,

Cornish Mussels and Basil Mayonnaise

Serves 4

4 x 180–200 g cod fillets

1 kg mussels, cleaned and debearded

250 ml white wine

Olive oil

250 g good-quality chorizo sausage, cut into thick rounds

1 onion, thinly sliced

1 green pepper, cut into strips

1 yellow pepper, cut into strips

1 red pepper, cut into strips

1 small red or green chilli, thinly sliced

4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

1 tsp smoked paprika

20 vine-ripened plum cherry tomatoes, halved (retain the vine)

200 g good-quality passata

250 g tinned or cooked chickpeas

75 g fresh basil, roughly chopped

Sea salt

Cracked white pepper

Basil mayonnaise, to serve (see page XXX [Barbecue Mackerel Bruschetta])

Lightly salt the cod portions all over and leave for 1 hour, then lightly wash off the excess salt and pat dry. Store on a tray and refrigerate. Bring the cod out of the fridge 1 hour before cooking to allow it to come up to room temperature.

Take a casserole and place over a medium heat. Add the mussels and white wine and turn up the heat. Steam the mussels until their shells are wide open, discarding any that don’t open. Remove the mussels from the cooking liquor and retain the juice for later.

Preheat the oven to 160°C fan.

Place the casserole dish back on the heat and add a little olive oil. Cook off the chorizo until crisp, then remove from the pan with a spoon, leaving the lovely oil behind. Now add the onion and cook them in the lovely red oil. Add the peppers, chilli and garlic and smoked paprika and continue to cook over a medium heat for 2 minutes. Then add the tomatoes, including the vine, and continue to caramelize until the tomatoes start to soften. Add the passata, chickpeas, mussel cooking juice and cooked chorizo, bring to a simmer and cook for about 10 minutes or until the stew is nice and thick.

Place the cod on top of the stew, put a lid on the pan and place the oven. Cook for 5 minutes, then check. Depending on the thickness of the cod fillets, they should take about 6–7 minutes. The best way to check if they are ready is to invest in a temperature probe. Probe the thickest part of the cod fillet and when it reaches 44°C the fish will be lovely and translucent every time.

Remove the pan from the oven and leave it to sit for 2 minutes with the lid off. Remove the tomato vine, then add the picked mussel meat and carefully stir into the stew between the cod steaks. Season the cod lightly with a couple of twists of white pepper. Add the freshly chopped basil and some extra virgin olive oil. Finish with a dollop of basil mayonnaise on each piece of cod. Place the pot in the middle of the table and all get stuck in.

I really do love schnitzels and when they are done right, they are so good. I feel dishes like this are much nicer to cook at home than they are in a restaurant-style kitchen because, for me, the best way to cook breaded chicken is in a frying pan. And when you’ve got a few of these on, along with all the other madness in the kitchen, it can get a bit spicy! The piri piri works so well with this and pork tenderloins, battered flat like the chicken breasts, also works beautifully too.

Piri Piri Chicken Schnitzel

Serves 4

4 chicken breasts, brined (see page XXX) and butterflied

100 g Thick Mayonnaise (see page XXX)

3 egg whites

100 ml olive oil

150 g dried breadcrumbs

50 g unsalted butter

For the piri piri marinade

30 ml olive oil

1 onion, finely diced

1 tbsp dried oregano

1 garlic clove, finely chopped or grated

1½ tsp chilli flakes

1 red chilli, chopped

15 g dark soft brown sugar

½ tsp hot smoked paprika

35 ml sherry vinegar

150 g tinned or jarred roasted red peppers, roughly chopped

Zest and juice of ½ lemon

10 g coriander, roughly chopped

5 ml Frank’s Hot Sauce

Cornish sea salt

Cracked black pepper

To serve

8 thin slices of good-quality chorizo or salami

60 g rocket

40 g Parmesan, grated

Zest of 1 lemon

First, make the piri piri marinade. Take a medium casserole and place over a medium heat. Add the olive oil and, when warm, add the onion, oregano, garlic, chilli flakes and a pinch of sea salt. Cook the mixture for about 2–3 minutes until the onion is soft. Now add the chilli, sugar and paprika and cook for a further 2 minutes. Pour in the sherry vinegar and reduce into the mixture. Stir in the roasted red peppers and continue to cook for a further 2 minutes. Add the lemon zest and juice, coriander, a pinch of salt and pepper, the Frank’s Hot Sauce and stir well. Take off the heat, carefully transfer the mixture to a blender and blend until smooth. Have a taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary.

Once the marinade is cool, set 20 g of the marinade aside for use later. Then take 10 g per chicken breast and thoroughly rub all over the chicken. Leave to marinate at room temperature for 2 hours.

Next, make the piri piri mayonnaise. Place the mayonnaise in a bowl and add the reserved 20 g piri piri marinade. Whisk thoroughly and transfer to a piping bag or squeezy bottle. Chill well.

Next, coat the chicken. Lightly break up the egg whites with a fork and transfer onto a plate or tray. Place the breadcrumbs onto a separate plate or tray. Take a marinted chicken breast and place in the egg white. Shake off any excess egg white, then place the butterflied breast into the breadcrumbs. Repeat the process with the other chicken breasts.

Now take a large frying pan and add the olive oil. Place the pan over a medium heat. Add the chicken and cook for around 5 minutes until beautifully golden brown and then carefully turn the chicken over. Now add the butter and allow to foam to a light, nutty brown colour and baste the golden, crisp, crumbed chicken for another 5 minutes. Remove the chicken from the pan and drain on kitchen paper.

To serve, place the golden crumbed chicken schnitzels on a platter. Top each one with pieces of chorizo or salami, then add rocket and zigzag the chilled piri piri mayonnaise all over the rocket. Finish with the grated Parmesan and lemon zest.

When I was first invited to write my debut cookbook, I immediately started gathering recipes from my repertoire. I had literally hundreds and hundreds of recipes for this chapter alone! ‘Snacks and Sharers’ was the hardest chapter for me to narrow down to a handful of my favourite recipes because I absolutely LOVE this way of eating. For me, there’s nothing better than flooding the dining table with smaller plates and dishes and watching the joy on people’s faces as they pass them around, trying a bit of this and a bit of that. The casual cooking style is something we aim for at my Italian restaurant Caffè Rojano.

One of my absolute favourite recipes in this section is Friday Night Duck. Long before I knew I wanted to be a chef, growing up as a kid, every so often my mum and dad would get a Chinese takeaway as a treat. I remember that aromatic duck was really the only thing I liked on the menu. I’ve used this food memory from my childhood to bring you a fantastic version of this iconic, classic dish for you to try at home. It’s a showstopper that everyone can just get stuck into.

One of our most popular small plates at Caffè Rojano is our Sicilian Arancini. You’ll find a derivative of that, our Three-cheese and Onion Arancini, which is just as delicious and a great vegetarian dish. At Caffè Rojano we fold through our Bolognese ragout which is a traditional Sicilian recipe, and you can by all means do this by saving your leftover Bolognese. But I wanted these arancini to be quick, easy and as accessible as possible, and just as delicious as the ones we serve at Caffè Rojano.

Another dish I could eat until it’s physically coming out of my ears is The Mariners Taramasalata on Toast. If you’ve ever tried shop-bought taramasalata, let me reassure you that this dish is a million miles away from that pink paste, so I really urge you to give it a try! It’s a brilliant dish to share or perfect as a starter, but my favourite way is to serve up a big plate of Taramasalata on toast in the middle of the table with everybody helping themselves. And then there’s our Squid and Scraps, Sticky PX-glazed Chicken Wings, The Mariners Hot Pork Pie... the list goes on.

I absolutely adore this chapter. It is the food I love. I’ve cooked every recipe, tested it, tasted it, then cooked, tested and tasted some more to make sure you can achieve the same results at home. I hope they bring you so much joy!

Award-winning chef Paul Ainsworth began his career helping his parents at their guesthouse in Southampton. After studying at Southampton City College, Paul’s first big break was working at the Michelin-starred Rhodes in the Square in London. Two years later, Paul moved on to work at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay. Since then, Paul and his wife Emma have built The Ainsworth Collection in Cornwall, including, in Padstow, their Michelin-starred restaurant Paul Ainsworth at No6, Caffe Rojano, and their 6-suite boutique hotel, Padstow Townhouse. The couple also have The Mariners public house in Rock. Paul appeared on BBC2’s Great British Menu in 2011 as well as regular appearances on Saturday Kitchen, Sunday Brunch, MasterChef, ITV’s This Morning, The One Show and James Martin’s Saturday Morning. Paul was also a Judge/Mentor on ITV’s prime time show Next Level Chef in 2023, with Gordon Ramsay and Nyesha Arrington.

Picture credit: Simon Burt

Paul Ainsworth has spent a lifetime in Michelin-starred kitchens from London to Cornwall, where he’s learnt that seriously good food is key to a truly flavourful life. For the Love of Food is Paul’s debut cookbook, 18 years in the making, that promises timeless table favourites and invaluable cooking tips that will help hack your way to gourmet flavour.

For food lovers who crave sophistication in simplicity, this book is your passport to effortlessly elevate the everyday. From beloved Italian dishes and herby pastas to unbeatable seafood and comforting classics, these are warm, welcoming, and generously crafted recipes achievable for both seasoned chefs and aspiring home cooks alike.

Paul makes it simple, really – you can’t go wrong when you’ve got a beautiful ingredients, and are cooking with love.

• Paul was awarded his first Michelin star in 2013 and the restaurant has been consistently in The Good Food Guide’s top 50 since 2012. In 2023, Paul was crowned Chefs’ Chef of the Year, an award voted for by chefs at restaurants which hold AA rosettes.

• After working for Gordon Ramsay, Gary Rhodes and Marcus Wareing, Paul launched his TV career in 2011 on BBC2’s Great British Menu, winning the regional heats for the South West.

• The book launches with a vibrant and unmissable marketing and publicity campaign, including TV and radio appearances, national press extracts, targeted digital advertising and influencer activity.

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