Cracked Black Pepper - 100g - Chilli Wizards Free P&P

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We're discussing his new book, Cooking For Fitness, which he co-wrote with chef Omar Meziane. In a market saturated with so-called superfoods and fad diet, Haskell aims to cut through the noise with a refreshingly straightforward message: Healthy eating is simple, and yes, of course everyone can do it.

In a food processor or pestle and mortar, blend the spice paste ingredients together into a paste. Heat the oil in a wok or large sauté pan on a medium heat and cook the paste for a couple of minutes stirring continuously, then add the crab into the pan. Mix well until it’s well coated. You can add truffle if you wish, something unlikely to have been found in the rag puddings he knew growing up, particularly the ones steamed in a pillow case. Haskell is coy – but doesn't rule it out. "I would love to be a food critic – I think it's almost easier to write about this stuff than it is to talk to people in person – and I've got another couple of book ideas. Possibly. Watch this space." It has. The lamb is from Castleshaw, just beyond Oldham, and it’s all used to make the type of coiled sausage you’d dream of seeing stuffed into a warm muffin the morning after the night before. (Credit: Louis Cannell/itsmelouis.com) You can use the same recipe as below. However, I would wait to add the cheese until the end of the cooking time. I would also make a slurry out of cornstarch and water and add to the recipe in lieu of the flour and butter. 💭 Top Tips

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In all the subgenres of food, none can hold a light to the cult status various condiments command. Like mayonnaise? You probably fall into the Hellmann’s or kewpie camp, eschewing any other mayo as inferior; a pale imitation of the one true emulsified egg, vinegar and oil king. Hot sauce is a whole other battleground – Tabasco, Sriracha, Cholula, Frank’s – each has their own army of devout followers ready to wax lyrical and sing praises on their beloved sauce. Ketchup – well, it’s got to be Heinz, hasn’t it? Heat the oil on medium low with all the aromatics until small bubbles start to appear. Then set the temperature to the lowest setting and heat for about 15 minutes. Then remove from heat. Set aside for 5 minutes. I think the media talk a load of crap about diets," he declares, "and doctors don't know a lot about nutrition." So, to do that, you can dish out the chili into bowls and top it with the bacon bits and some more shredded cheese on top. You could even add some hot sauce for a little heat and sour cream for some more creaminess. In a small bowl, combine the clear runny honey, tomato ketchup, rice vinegar and soy sauce. Mix well and set aside for later. That’s it! It’s that easy! Step 3: Prepping Vegetables

As far as the veggies go, you really can add in anything you're in the mood for. Celery, carrots, bell peppers and jalapenos are a few of my favorites to use. While the soup is cooking, place the remaining potato chunks on a baking tray, and bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes or until cooked through.

Though chilli crab tends to be less spicy than the dish’s name implies, chilli’s fruity warmth plays a big part in the finished dish. Teo uses bird’s eye, Leong chilli sauce (which I interpret as sambal), Roland’s recipe, as interpreted by the Martha Stewart team, chilli paste and chilli garlic sauce, Liaw long red chillies, while Tan simply lists red chillies. Given the other ingredients involved will rob them of much of their nuance, it doesn’t matter too much what kind you use, as long as they’re red and have some heat to them; exactly how much depends on your taste, though I like the sweetness of the long red variety, when they’re available. Speaking of leftovers, if you end up with some you can store the chili in an airtight container and it will stay good in the fridge for up to 4 days. And while choosing plates here and there might seem casual, this is still serious eating with serious cooking going on behind it, though with some of the fun regional flourishes he’s become known for. Food writer Sylvia Tan cooks her crabs whole in boiling water, before dividing them up and tossing them in the sauce. This does make the process less fiddly, because it’s easier to prepare the sauce without huge pieces of crustacean getting in the way. But it inevitably means that the crab cannot infuse the sauce with its flavour, and that the sauce has less chance to creep into every crevice of the crab, so I wouldn’t counsel it. I would, however, recommend saving yourself a bit of work by asking the fishmonger to dispatch and divide the crab up for you – it’s not hard work (there are many helpful videos online), but to do it humanely does require know-how and a firm hand with a cleaver. Nostalgia can be annoying on some menus. Vimto reductions feel like a tiring nod and a wink, a bad joke told loudly. The nostalgia that appears occasionally here is simply for great dishes and food memories that perhaps we’ve lost. They’re echoes of the past gently revived and sympathetically rethought.

Finally, you want to season your oil to help bring out all those infused flavours. A decent amount of salt and some sugar will dissolve nicely into the oil and ensure it’s at its best. For example, because he’s born and bred in Oldham, there’s a rag pudding. Well, his take on one at least. In the days of his grandma, who was a frequent rag pudding maker, the suet would have been steamed in anything that came to hand, from a tea towel or cheesecloth to a pillow case (now there’s casual dining for you). Alongside sleep and hydration, it is this 'pie chart' that sustains Haskell's punishing gym routine, and on the rugby field. So what does a pie chart contain? However enthusiastic a home cook he was before meeting John Torode and Gregg Wallace, that was an impressive leap. With this recipe you can adjust the seasonings as you need to. If you prefer to give it more of a tex-mex taste, you can squeeze in some fresh lime juice and top with jalapenos.

All the dishes are divided by meal and carb-count – 'high carb lunches', 'low carb breakfasts', etc – and Haskell is clear that he wants his book to work for everyone, whatever their goals. This Catalan “pesto” (a ground mix of toasted almonds, garlic, olive oil, vinegar, salt and freestyle herbs) is, says Shumana Palit, a co-owner of the Ultracomida delis in Wales, terrific for adding depth to sauces, soups and stews. “A spoonful makes everything come to life,” she says. Epicurious has a good recipe. Even though a nice pot of hot chili is good anytime of the year, I think during the Fall and Winter, a piping hot bowl of chili always hits the spot. The only problem with enjoying soup is that it easily can become mundane. So with food becoming a focus, and rugby a career with a shelf-life, could we, in the not too distant future be talking about James Haskell the restaurateur?

Haskell is married to fellow celeb Chloe Madeley, daughter of Richard and Judy, herself a published fitness guru. Using a large knife, crush the garlic clove with a swift sharp bang of the palm of your hand. Peel the garlic cloves and chop them up very finely. Do the same with the ginger. Use a wide-bladed knife, place it on top of your unpeeled garlic with the sharp edge facing away and slam the palm of your hand to crush it under the blade (take care not to cut yourself). Both in quite terrifying physical condition, she's the perfect partner-in-crime for Haskell's routine. "There's scientific and anecdotal evidence that if you go to training with a partner or someone who knows nutrition, you're more often than not going to be successful. Chloe's diet and training are very, very different to mine, but having someone who understands the importance of nutrition has really taught me things." Alternatively, if you want to store the chili for even longer, you can freeze it in an airtight container - or freezer-safe bag - and it'll stay good for about 2 months. Needless to say, you have to be careful in handling chillies. My grandma Cecelia had a saying: Chillies which are dried up are just as spicy as when they were fresh. I’m sure it had a more profound meaning( some of the heat are lost in translation), but in this case, I mean it literally.

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The dishes talk to each other,” he says. Not literally, of course, before you start edging for the door, though hospitality is a tremendously stressful business and you could forgive the odd flight into surrealism due to extreme tiredness. The shoulder offers up the filling, spiked with classic mint, the intestines form the sausage skin, the lamb breast is cured to make lamb bacon, which is fried and showered on top, and the kidneys feature in the sauce, which is best mopped up with the Pommes Anna, fashioned from layers upon layers of buttered potato. It’s a death row chip. As always, if you give it a try, leave a comment below and let me know your thoughts. More Dinner Recipes So, for example, if you went with the bone in rib (of beef), or the short rib as your larger plate, you could then pair it with the pork fat potatoes, or the Pommes Anna and the [peas, lettuce and sea vegetables].