Recipes: Signature dishes reveal obsession with food

Obsession is the title, and driving force behind a new cookery book. Each of the 54 chefs included have lovingly obsessed over the 128 recipes to create a guide to the biggest culinary successes of our time.

Tom Kitchin, Theo Randall, Pierre Koffmann, Mark Hix, Phil Howard, Raymond Blanc, Brian Turner, Nick Nairn and Nigel Haworth, are some of the talented chefs included in Obsession. Anthony Flinn and Andrew Pern also contribute.

The book springs from the Obsession festival, now in its 10th year. It began in Nigel Haworth and Craig Bancroft's Northcote restaurant, and the festival is an annual culinary event where the chefs take over the restaurant to cook a feast, for one night only. This book is the result of those 10 years and features each chef's signature dish. Along with wine matching from Craig Bancroft (Nigel's partner at Northcote), this is the complete cooking bible for any foodie.

Obsession is written in partnership with Yes Chef! magazine and a percentage of sales will be given to Hospitality Action, a charity supporting those in the catering industry.

Sat Bains

Dry aged scotch beef, 'textures' of the onion family

Serves 4

Braised oxtail

1kg Chopped oxtail

2pt Guinness

6 Sprigs thyme

6 Peppercorns

6 Juniper berries

236ml Brown chicken stock

Salt and pepper

Olive oil

Caramelised shallot pure

8 Chopped shallots

25g Butter

25g Olive oil

Salt

Brown chicken stock

Braised baby onions

12 Peeled baby onions

Salt

Sprig of thyme

15ml Olive oil

Emulsion (25g butter, salt,

200g white chicken stock)

Roast shallots

4 peeled shallots

Salt

Sprig of thyme

15ml Olive oil plus a little

extra for re-heating

Butter

Crispy onion rings

1 Shallot cut into rings about

0.5cm thick

Plain flour

Egg wash

Panko breadcrumbs

Raw shallot salad

1 Shallot sliced wafer thin

Pickling juice (50g white wine vinegar, 25g sugar, pinch of salt)

Spring onions

4 Large spring onions

Olive oil

Butter

Salt

Marinade the oxtail in the Guinness and aromas (thyme, peppercorns and juniper berries) for seven days, strain and pan roast the oxtail until browned all over, reduce the Guinness down

by half and add the brown chicken stock, season. Place the oxtail and the sauce in a pressure cooker, bring up to full pressure and cook for

45 minutes. Allow to cool slightly and then pick off the meat, discarding the bones.

Fold in the sauce and roll into cylinders, allow to set. To reheat the oxtail, place in a pan of olive oil, fry both sides of the cylinder and finish

off in the oven at 180C/ 350F/gas mark 4 for 6-8 minutes.

Caramelised shallot pure: Start sweating off the shallots in the butter and olive oil; when all the moisture has evaporated, lower the heat and gently caramelise, this should take about 2 hours. When caramelised, deglaze the pan with a little brown chicken stock and blend to a pure. Season if necessary.

Braised baby onions: Place the onions in a sous vide bag along with the rest of the ingredients, place in a pan of boiling water until soft and then into a tub of iced water. Reheat in the emulsion.

Roast shallots: Place the shallots in a sous vide bag along with the salt, sprig of thyme and olive oil, place in a pan of boiling water until soft and then into a tub of iced water. When reheating caramelise the shallots in a little butter and olive oil and warm through in the oven.

Crispy onion rings: Dip the shallot rings in the flour followed by the egg wash and the breadcrumbs, fry at 180C until crispy and golden brown.

Raw shallot salad: Season the shallot with the pickling juice just before serving.

Spring onions: Blanch the spring onions in boiling salted water until soft. Reheat in a little olive oil and butter then season with salt.

Pierre Koffman

Pistachio Souffl

Serves 4

500ml Milk

Vanilla pod

120g Egg yolks

100g Caster sugar

50g Plain flour

40g Pistachio paste

25g Butter, softened

25g Dark chocolate, grated

4 Egg whites

1 tbsp Caster sugar

Icing sugar, to serve

Boil together the milk and vanilla pod. Whisk together the egg yolks and caster sugar, until the mixture slightly thickens and turns light in colour. Sieve the flour and add into the mixture, whisk until smooth. Add half the milk, whisk until there are no lumps. Sieve through a fine strainer, remove the vanilla pod and return the mixture back to the pan and add the remaining milk.

Using a whisk, stir the mixture. When it comes to the boil, reduce temperature to a simmer. Continue to stir and cook out for 8-10 minutes and mix in the pistachio paste.

Pour the pastry cream onto a shallow tray, wrap with cling film and cool rapidly.

Generously butter 4 individual souffl dishes. Put the grated chocolate inside and rotate the moulds so that the chocolate completely covers the inside, sticking to the softened butter. Beat the egg whites until firm, add the tablespoon of caster sugar and whisk until stiff. Add a small quantity of the whites to the pistachio mix to soften it, then fold in the rest of the egg whites and pour into the souffl dishes.

Bake in a hot oven 240C/ 475F/ gas mark 9 for 15 minutes or until well risen.

To serve, dust the top with icing sugar and serve with ice cream of your choice.

Obsession is available to buy for 35 at Harvey Nichols in London and Manchester, and online at www.yeschefmagazine.com or call 01280 829300.