Pinch Perfect

Delia Smith’s salmon steaks with creme fraiche sauce is cold foil-baked salmon served with an avocado and creme fraiche sauce sharpened with sherry vinegar. It serves 6 and takes 20 minutes at 180C, plus cooling. The recipe comes from Delia’s Summer Collection. Delia uses this foil method in her Winter Collection too, swapping avocado sauce …

Delia Smith’s salmon in champagne sauce is fillets poached in champagne for 8-10 minutes, served with a cream sauce made from the poaching liquid. It serves 6, garnished with keta and dill, from The Delia Collection: Fish. Delia says she was served this at “the house of a Champagne producer in Rheims” and this is …

Delia Smith’s spiced pickled apricots are dried apricots and mi-cuit plums soaked in Lapsang Souchong tea, then packed in spiced vinegar with Armagnac. The recipe makes 5 jars and needs a month to mature. It comes from Delia’s Christmas Easy Magazine, 2003. Delia has a companion recipe in Complete How to Cook using Agen prunes …

Delia Smith’s Old English summer soup is potato, lettuce, cucumber and spring onion sweated in butter, simmered in stock for 20 minutes and blended smooth. It serves 4, works hot or cold, and comes from The Delia Collection: Soup. Delia wrote this for gardeners “whose summer crop threatens to overwhelm them.” She has three summer …

Delia Smith’s summer fruit compote is peaches, apricots, plums and blueberries baked uncovered at 180C for 25-30 minutes, with raspberries stirred in after. It serves 6 from The Delia Collection: Puddings. Delia also has a lemongrass version in her Summer Collection, where she blitzes the stalks into the sugar before baking. She says the lemongrass …

Delia Smith’s summer fruit brûlée is soft berries warmed with caster sugar, topped with whipped cream and Greek yoghurt, then finished with caramelised demerara. It serves 6 and takes about 20 minutes of hands-on work from her Complete How to Cook. This isn’t a crème brûlée. Delia swaps the custard for cream and yoghurt, so …

Delia Smith’s Aubergines Amalfitane are hollowed aubergine shells stuffed with sautéed pulp, anchovies and garlic, then topped with mozzarella and tomato slices. Baked at 180C for 40 minutes, they serve 6 as a starter. From The Delia Collection: Italian, Delia says she first ate this in a restaurant in Amalfi and replicated it from her …

Delia Smith’s asparagus with nearly hollandaise is steamed English asparagus with a cheat’s sauce made from crème fraîche, egg yolks, vinegar and lemon juice. It serves 4 as a starter, takes about 15 minutes and comes from her How to Cheat at Cooking book. This comes from How to Cheat at Cooking, but Delia also …

Delia Smith’s Asian steak sandwiches are marinated rump steak strips, seared for 30 seconds each side and wrapped in iceberg lettuce. Served with cucumber, spring onion, coriander and a fish sauce dipping sauce, they take under 15 minutes for 2. From her How to Cheat at Cooking (2008), Delia says these are “not bread sarnies” …