Chefs at home - London's chefs are cooking for themselves in self-isolation (17 April)

Catherine Hanly 17 April 2020

Looking for inspiration? With chefs self-isolating at home, many of them are showing just what's possible in your own kitchen. We've picked five of the best from the past week.

Tom Anglesea - The Laughing Heart

What's a chef to do with extra time on his hands? How about making this iconic ratatoille dish from American top chef Thomas Keller - or, to give it its proper name, his confit biyaldi which was used in the movie Ratatouille.

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On sat @cindabloc and I cooked @chefthomaskeller ratatouille dish together. A dish I would often have to make at @perseny years ago and featured in @disney Ratatouille. Being so far apart is incredibly difficult and my heart goes out to all those loved ones separated at this time through closed borders and time differences. Stay safe and strong #disney #ratatouille #thomaskeller #longdistance
A post shared by Tom Anglesea (@tomanglesea) on Apr 13, 2020 at 3:58am PDT

Karan Gokani - Hoppers London

Part of Team Sethi and JKS restaurants, Karan's gone all store cupboard hero on us this week with his Indo-Chinese chilli paneer - a 10 minute effort that's great for using up about-to-turn produce.

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INDO-CHINESE CHILLI PANEER I've never had this dish cooked the same way by two different people or restaurants. Almost everyone I ask has their version of this iconic dish, and even I cook it differently each time I do. That's what makes it the perfect intuitive store cupboard dish. And this literally was a refrigerator clear-out, 10 minute meal made with a bunch of vegetables I would have had to throw away and a block of paneer that had been sitting at the back of the fridge for a week. *** Full step by step recipe in my stories/highlights, and some additional tips below: You can swap the paneer for chicken breast, tofu or skin on parboiled baby potatoes. Feel free to alter the sauce based on what you have lying around - tomato ketchup, a white vinegar and soy sauce are usually a good starting point. Add curry leaves if you have some lying around. Add more or less water/sauce if you prefer this drier or wetter. Don't make this if you don't have ginger, garlic, spring onions and green chillies though, these are essential! *** Serve with a quick fried rice (here I refried a fried rice!) or simple steamed white rice on the side. #paneer #paneerchilli #indochinese #chindian #keepcalmandkarion
A post shared by Karan Gokani (@karancooks) on Apr 14, 2020 at 2:30am PDT

Alice Norman - Emilia

Emilia's Head Chef Alice has the perfect dish for anyone who's been experimenting with sourdough baking this week (that'll be the whole of London, then). This roasted garlic and bread soup is a properly hearty effort.

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Roasted Garlic and Bread Soup w/ Eliza Dolbey’s Walnut Tarator. An old Bulgarian peasant inspired dish. - Quite a good way of using up those awkward bits of sourdough. Soak SD scraps in water, soften celery with aromats, add soaked SD, roasted garlic, veg stock etc. Blitz. Tastes like malted barley - very hearty, thick and nourishing with a tang from the tarator. I actually finished it with some chaat masala because why not.
A post shared by Alice Norman (@alice.norman.food) on Apr 12, 2020 at 1:12pm PDT

Jeremy Chan - Ikoyi

Lockdown gives us all plenty of time to work on our baking skills, like coming up with the perfect cookie. We are 100% making Jeremy's chocolate miso cookie this weekend.

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Contemplating the perfect cookie. A recipe for a very rich but light, multi textured cookie for @nearnessproject uniting creativity throughout isolation. Collage by @aliiiiia 185g Flour 30g Sesame Seeds 3.5g Baking Soda 4g Salt Flakes 220g Chocolate 65% 240g Butter 15g White Miso 200g Light Brown Sugar 120g Golden Caster Sugar 2 x Eggs Allow the butter to soften at room temperature. Add both the sugars to the butter and whip until very light and fluffy. Beat in egg 1 at a time and then add the white miso and continue to beat the batter until well incorporated. Sift the flour and baking soda. Add the sesame seeds and salt flakes and then add to the wet ingredients. Mix the batter until well combined and then add the chocolate. If your chocolate is in bar form, chop it into small pieces and then sift out the dust. Chill the dough for 30 mins in the fridge. Place a sheet of cling film onto a flat surface and form the dough into a log shape, then roll and wrap tightly. Repeat with other half of dough. For the best result, let the cookie dough firm up in the freezer and then slice large 1.5 inch rounds from your cookie log. Place the semi-frozen dough onto baking parchment and bake for 12 to 14 mins at 175C fan oven. I recommend only baking 2 or 3 large cookies at a time and not a bunch of smaller ones. These really flatten out so they need to be well spaced out. The outer layers will be crisp like tuile, with a chewy inner rim and a soft centre. Remove and cool on wire rack for 15 mins until the cookies begin to hold their form. Store the cookie log in your freezer so that you can slice and bake to order.
A post shared by Jeremy Chan (@jeremychanikoyi) on Apr 5, 2020 at 12:16pm PDT

Amy Poon - Poons

Amy's gone for a twist on a classic this week, making sausage rolls using Poon's wind-dried sausage which, she proclaims, turned out "quite delicious". The good news is you can order those sausages online - either the duck liver with XO sauce or the wind dried pork with salted egg yolks - and have a go yourself.

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A little experiment - sausage rolls made with @poonslondon wind-dried sausages. I made one version with the duck liver sausage and XO sauce and another version with the wind-dried pork sausage and salted egg yolks. Just for fun and quite delicious. Waiting for my father's verdict when I drop these off!😉 Poon's wind-dried sausages available @seewoouk and @souschefuk . . . #ediblelove #experimentalchinesecooking #fusion #chinglish #winddriedsausage #lapcheong #notabaker #sausagerolls #lockdowncooking
A post shared by Amy Poon Mackenzie (@amy__poon) on Apr 13, 2020 at 9:39am PDT