As summer unfurls with its long golden evening and fragrant breezes, dining outdoors is one of the great simple pleasures of the season.
To celebrate the season, Jesse Jenkins—founder of the food studio Another Day In Paradise – has shared three standout recipes from his new book Cooking With Vegetables. Each dish showcases fresh, versatile and vibrant veg, perfectly suited to al fresco meals.
Whether you're enjoying lunch beneath the dappled shade of a pergola or a candlelit dinner accompanied by the hum of a blooming garden, seasonal produce has a way of elevating every bite. Here's Jesse's Recipes:
Grilled Radicchio with Caper and Anchovy Sauce
Serves 4 as a side
Ingredients:
• 100g tin anchovy fillets in oil
• 30g capers, drained
• 1 lemon, halved
• 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, plus extra to coat the radicchio
• 1 head purple radicchio
• salt and pepper
• Handful of parsley, roughly chopped, to serve
Method:
1. First, make the sauce. Put the anchovies and oil, capers, the juice of half a lemon, and the olive oil in a blender and blend until smooth. If it’s too thick, add a little water to loosen it.
2. Trim the radicchio stem, keeping the core intact, and remove any beaten-up outer leaves. Cut the radicchio into four pieces, then put it in a bowl with some olive oil to coat with a good pinch of salt and mix well.
3. Get a griddle pan or frying pan smoking hot over a high heat, then add the radicchio, cut side down, pressing it down firmly with your hand. Cook for 2 minutes, or until deeply charred. Turn the pieces and char them on the other cut side, then transfer to a plate. Squeeze the other half lemon over them while they steam.
4. You can put the sauce on the plate with the radicchio on top or spoon it over the radicchio. Finish with the chopped parsley and a little fresh cracked black pepper.
Kimchi Pasta Puttanesca
Serves 4
Ingredients:
• 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 500g cherry tomatoes
• 1 white onion, thinly sliced
• 4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
• 6 tinned anchovy fillets in oil
• 1 tsp dried red chilli flakes
• 2 tbsp pitted olives (Italian black olives or whatever you prefer)
• 2 tbsp capers, drained
• 300g roughly-cut kimchi, plus 1 tbsp brine
• 1 tbsp white wine vinegar
• Pinch of caster sugar
• 100g tinned tuna in spring water, drained
• 300–400g spaghetti
To serve (optional):
• Handful of parsley, roughly chopped
• Lemon juice, to taste
Method:
1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over a medium–high heat, then add the tomatoes and onion and cook for 7–10 minutes, or until you can pop the tomatoes with the back of your spoon.
2. Add the garlic and anchovy and cook for a couple of minutes until fragrant, using the back of your spoon or a fork to break down the anchovy into the sauce.
3. Add the chilli flakes, olives, capers, kimchi and brine, vinegar, sugar and tuna and cook for 2 minutes, then turn off the heat. You just want the last additions to be warmed through but not lose their bright, briny flavour.
4. Cook the spaghetti in a large pot of seasoned boiling water till al dente, then mix it through the sauce with a little of the pasta cooking water. You can add some parsley and fresh lemon juice before serving.
Chocolate Beetroot Cake
Serves: 8–10
Ingredients:
• 250g raw beetroot, peeled and cut into cubes
• 200g unsalted butter, cubed
• 200g dark chocolate (70% preferably), broken into pieces
• 1 tsp instant coffee granules
• 100g plain flour
• 25g cocoa powder
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 3 large eggs
• 200g golden caster sugar
• 1 tbsp ground almonds
• Crème fraîche, to serve (optional)
• Icing sugar, to serve (optional)
Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 170°C fan and grease and line a 23cm round cake tin with baking parchment.
2. Steam the cubed beetroot for about 30 minutes, then allow to cool a little.
3. Melt the butter and chocolate together gently in a saucepan, turning off the heat when everything is liquid. Leave to cool a bit before mixing anything in, so the eggs don’t start to cook when added.
4. Blitz the steamed and cooled beetroot in a food processor until smooth, then add the eggs, sugar and blitz again.
5. Add the eggs one at a time if your processor doesn’t mix well. Then transfer the mix to a bowl and stir through the cooled melted chocolate and butter mixture. Then add the cocoa powder, ground almonds, plain flour and baking powder and mix until just folded in.
6. Bake for 40 minutes, then turn the oven temperature down to 160°C fan and bake for a further 10 minutes, until a knife inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.
7. Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin before slicing.
