A Borough Market Chef Shares 3 Recipes & A Fun Cooking Playlist

Start by rinsing your mussels to draw any grit out. Then, carefully beard the mussels by removing any fibrous threads attached. Once done, keep refrigerated.

Cube the smoked bacon into lardons and fry in a pan until crispy, set aside.

Finely dice the fennel and leeks. Add to a pan with 100g of butter, plus the garlic and fennel seeds. On a low heat, cook the vegetables until soft. This should be a slow process, as you don’t want to colour or brown the leeks, almost confit the vegetables. Once soft, set aside.

Put a pot on the hob at full heat with a lid ready. This pot should smoke when it’s hot enough but be careful not to overheat it. Add the mussels, bacon lardons, fennel and leek mix, white wine, pastis and the remaining 100g of butter, then fit the lid.

Move the pan around to mix everything together but keep it on the heat. After a few minutes, remove the lid and see if all the mussels have now steamed themselves open. If they have, great, you’re ready. If not, leave them on the heat for a little longer.

Serve in a bowl. There should be a nice buttery, aniseed-y broth around the clams. Finish with picked sweet cicely or simply eat with a baguette.

To begin, you will need to make your Nantua bechamel sauce. This will be the cheesy mixture that goes on top of the bread. Add the butter and flour to a saucepan and make a roux. Carefully cook the flour out on medium to low heat, be careful not to burn the flour or to undercook it. Add the cayenne, paprika and mustard.

Whisk in the Guinness and Worcestershire sauce. Combine carefully and then add the milk. The sauce should now resemble a bechamel (think lasagne-style sauce).

Now add the Lincolnshire poacher and whisk until smooth, silky and cheesy. The cheese should melt into the sauce beautifully.

Take the sauce off the heat, stir in the brown crab meat and transfer to a container. Place in the fridge to chill. This wants to firm up into something more solid and shapable.

While the Nantua cheese sauce is cooling, add your white crab meat to a separate bowl. Add the zest of half a lemon, 1 tablespoon of lemon juice and 1 tablespoon of mayonnaise (to help bind) and season accordingly. Place this in the fridge.

Next, toast your thick sliced tin loaf – you can do so under the grill or in the toaster.

Once your Nantua mix has reached a firmer and spreadable texture, smear it onto the toasted bread. Be sure to get all the edges and be very generous with the mix on the toast.

Place the cheese-loaded toast under the grill until it blisters, bubbles and has caramelised.

Add a heaped tablespoon of white crab mix to the cheesy toast croque and finish with some sprigs of dill or seasonal British edible wildflowers.

Start by taking the onglet out of the fridge, pat dry the meat and allow it to come to room temperature while you make the butter.

Finely chop the herbs and place them into a food processor to make the butter. Blitz these for 30 seconds, then add all the wet ingredients to the processor (including the zest and garlic but not the capers).

Now, add the dry ingredients and spices. Then add the butter and season with salt. The butter should emulsify and form all as one. It should be bold both in colour and flavour. Allow the curry powder to be present but not overpowering. Finish it by stirring in the capers.

For the onglet, oil the steaks and liberally season with sea salt and cracked black pepper.

Heat a cast iron pan until smoking hot. Add the onglet to the dry pan and resist the urge to turn the steaks or move them. Allow to cook for 2 minutes and then turn over.

Once both sides have had 2 minutes and a crust has formed, you may turn the onglet more frequently (where necessary). It usually takes 6-9 minutes to cook, depending on preference. Add a small knob of butter to the pan and butter baste the onglet.

Remove the onglet from the pan and rest for 8 minutes.

While the onglet rests, slowly melt 250g of Café de Paris butter on low heat. Be aware that a high heat will split the butter; if this happens, add a dash of cold water to emulsify it again.

Dress the spoonwort in the simple mixture of chardonnay vinegar and extra virgin olive oil.

To serve, pour the Café de Paris butter onto a platter first. Then slice the rested onglet against the grain and place it onto the butter. Bundle the aromatic spoonwort to the side of the plate. Finish both the onglet and spoonwort with sea salt flakes.