Alice Staple

One of my favourite dishes - I could eat this every day! Raw artichoke salad, pecorino, lemon and truffle oil.

Now is the perfect time to make the most of globe artichokes and eating them raw like this makes for a wonderful, light lunch, reminiscent of holidays in Italy.
                                     

This is a new-ish dish, or rather a tagliere, we have on the menu at our restaurant, - prosciutto with farinata and caperberries. For me it completely embodies the flavours I love so much from our little corner of Tuscany. 
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We bought this wonderful prosciutto from a butchers called Ferri Federico in our town, Campiglia Marittima (swipe to see!) and drove it back over on our last trip. I love that we can bring our favourite ingredients over for everyone to try in Brixton - each prosciutto is so unique and you won’t find this one anywhere else in the UK!
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We serve it with caperberries and farinata, also known as torta di ceci. It’s a kind of savoury pancake made with chickpea flour and you find it everywhere in the Maremma. It’s often eaten on it’s own as street food, with lots of black pepper on top but this one we make with rosemary, which can easily be foraged in the scrubland all along the coast.
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Perfect either as an aperitivo or antipasti and brilliant for guests to nibble on at a private event
         

Salt-baked sea trout with crushed tarragon and spring onion Jersey Royals, samphire and a big dollop of roasted tomato aioli. This dish was a hit at one of my first supper clubs and it’s also a favourite with my private clients - perfect for a summer’s lunch or evening dinner in the garden.

Asparagus season is upon us! For me there’s no better way to serve it than with really good buffalo mozzarella, Parmesan, rocket, a drizzle of homegrown Tuscan olive oil and, if you feel like something a bit more substantial, a slice of grilled sourdough

Enjoying a peaceful moment in the kitchen 🤍 There’s nothing more meditative than spending a solitary afternoon cooking, after rifling through my favourite cook books with a coffee in hand. This particular afternoon, during autumn, was spent making brown sugar meringues for a dinner party for a private client. The brown sugar gives the meringue a beautiful caramel flavour and they’re perfectly chewy in the middle. Here I served them with quince and blackberries, but they’re delicious with any seasonal fruit and cream