Gill Meller

Gill Meller · Outside: Recipes for a Wilder Way of Eating

These delicious things are stuck between realms. They’re not flat breads as we know them — they’re something else. Once you’ve shaped the dough, you bake it over a hot fire. It doesn’t take long, particularly if you cover the flat breads with an old saucepan or a fire cloche. As soon as they come off the grill you split the surface of the bread and quench their middles with tomatoes and extra-virgin olive oil. They’re incredible eaten fresh like this, but if tomatoes aren’t in season, they’re equally good drenched in a garlic and parsley butter.

Gill Meller · Gather

The last of autumn’s blackberries are ripe, salacious and full of flavour. Once all the berries are picked, the bramble retires back into the hedgerow, unnoticed and still for winter. It’s easy to forget then how productive this thorny weed really is. In this gorgeous, colourful salad, I tumble the berries through a tray of roasted early winter parsnips, where they burst in the hot honey and olive oil, and are cut through by the bitterness of red chicory. A scattering of rye flakes adds a nutty crunch, which I really love. This is a real River Cottage favourite.

Gill Meller · Root Stem Leaf Flower: How To Cook With Vegetables and Other Plants

This is such a good way to turn tomatoes into an utterly delicious main-course sort of affair, and it’s fun to make too. The idea is, of course, toad-like, but I think it offers a little more than bangers in batter. The tomatoes are so sweet and juicy they almost make a gravy of their own accord. I add wedges of red onion and lots of garlic, rosemary and thyme, which all work wonderfully. A little finely grated aged cheese is a nice touch – you could even use a blue cheese if you liked. Plus – after more than 20 years of cooking – I’ve finally found a batter recipe I want to be associated with. It actually works, every time. Thank you, Barney!

Gill Meller · Time

Our lifestyles can be so frenetic that it can be hard to find a moment to step out of the grind and slow down the rhythms. Taking our time to make something good to eat is actually a great way to do this; I'd go so far as to say, it's a form of recovery. This recipe is gentle and warming and perfect for those slower, darker nights at home. I like to use whole shin of beef on the bone. Ask your butcher for it, I find it's the best cut for cooking in this way.