Steven Wallis's Recipes

We are really excited to introduce one of our guest chefs, none other than Mr Steven Wallis, who many of you may remember as former winner of BBC’s Masterchef in 2007.

You can find more of Stevens creations @mr.stevenwallis on his Instagram or on Linkedin!

Steven Wallis is an internationally respected specialist in brand futures—whose trend insights and creative vision empowers his clients to harness the potential for growth in a rapidly-shifting global consumer landscape.

He currently works with a host of global luxury and FMCG brands across multiple industries. His incisive analysis is highly valued by his clients in the food, beverage, restaurant, hospitality, travel and FMCG sectors.

As a consultant semiotician, Steven has advised brands from Unilever, Nestlé, P&G, PepsiCo to Diageo, Sapporo and ABinBev. As Creative Strategy Director at an internationally renowned brand design agency, his mastery of foresight, cultural analysis and brand recoding consistently delivered unique and game-changing growth strategies for the brands in his portfolio.

World-class businesses including Harrods, Fortnum & Mason, LVMH, and Amazon relied upon his strategic insights of food culture and flavours as Group Head of Culinary Innovation at the UK’s biggest food manufacturer. In this demanding role, Steven helped shape the food experiences of millions by running entire recipe design chains for prestige and supermarket brands—overseeing the creative culinary process from defining white space opportunities, brand positioning and product development, to the briefing of factory production lines.

Steven’s multi-cultural background and passion for culinary culture led him to TV stardom. In 2007, he won BBC’s notoriously-gruelling Masterchef. Post winning, he continues to cook for private clients and charities across the world. He continues to return to the show every year to lend his incisive judging expertise and share his wealth of cross-industry knowledge.

Check out these delicious recipes he has created:

ROASTED CARROTS WITH CUMIN

Roasted carrots with cumin taken to the next level with kefir, feta, apricot harissa and a drizzle of pomegranate molasses.

Serves: 2

YOU WILL NEED:

6 organic carrots

1 teaspoon cumin seeds

1 teaspoon of Extra Virgin olive oil for drizzling over the carrots

100g feta crumbled

2 tablespoons labneh or keffir

2 teaspoons of apricot or rose harissa

Pomegranate molasses for drizzling

Mint leaves for decoration

A pinch of Maldon sea salt for seasoning

WHAT YOU NEED TO DO:

1.   Firstly, scrub a bunch of organic carrots and douse with olive oil, cumin seeds and Maldon salt.

2.   Roast at 200C for 40 mins until tender.

3.   To serve, dress with a good spoonful of labneh or kefir, crumbles of salty feta, apricot harissa, pomegranate seeds and a drizzle of pomegranate molasses.

RADICCHIO SALAD WITH FENNEL AND BLOOD ORANGE

Sometimes it’s worth splurging on beautiful ingredients for the sheer joy of it! - Try out this really simple vegan salad made with only a few ingredients.

YOU WILL NEED:

1 Radicchio head (Natoora is a great supplier of the fancier varieties)

1 blood orange cut into segments

1 small bulb of fennel shaved into fine shreds

For the dressing mix:

1 tablespoon of mandarin or citrus infused olive oil

A squeeze of juice from the blood orange

Maldon sea salt to taste

A tiny pinch of sugar (to balance acidity)

WHAT YOU NEED TO DO:

1.   Assemble the radicchio, shaved fennel and blood orange.

2.   Finished with a mandarin oil vinaigrette and Sal de Ibiza’s flower salt.

GRILLED COURGETTE WITH COCONUT FETA, MINT OIL, LEMON ZEST

GRILLED COURGETTE WITH COCONUT FETA, MINT OIL, LEMON ZEST

My inspiration for this dish heralds from the eastern Mediterranean— and is vegan too. This dish is really simple, but has lots of flavours dancing around that make it fresh, lively yet satisfyingly delicious.

Serves: 1 as a side dish

You will need:

·    1 courgette —sliced lengthways with a mandolin or peeler

·    50g coconut feta crumbled

·    50g mint leaves

·    Zest of half a lemon

·    100ml rapeseed or olive oil

·    Maldon sea salt to season

·    Add a scattering of pine nuts or walnuts for additional crunch

What you need to do:

1.   Finely slice a courgette lengthways, drizzle the slices with a fine slick of olive oil and sear on both sides on a hot griddle pan.

2.   Serve these slices warm with crumbles of coconut feta, and a mint oil made by blitzing a handful of mint with some rapeseed oil in a nutribullet.

3.   For added crunch add pine nuts or crush walnut pieces.

DECONSTRUCTED CHEESECAKE WITH POACHED RHUBARB

When lockdown has you craving dessert — my suggestion is to hack the faffing about and go deconstructed. You still get all the pleasure, minus hours of buggering about.

Serves: 2-3

What you need:

·    3/4 stalks of pink rhubarb

·    Juice and zest of a small orange

·    1 tablespoon of caster or icing sugar

·    A couple of crushed cardamon pods

·    A tablespoon (per serving) of keffir with a little vanilla extract mixed through it

·    2/3 digestives (per serving) crushed into a rubble

·    A few frozen raspberries chopped into fine pieces

Directions:

1.   Cut rhubarb into chunks, add a dessert spoon of golden sugar and add the zest and juice of a large orange

2.   Cover with parchment paper and pop into a med/low oven for around an hour.

3.   Drizzle vanilla paste into a spoonful of coconut kefir.

4.   Crush a couple of digestive biscuits (I use @dovesfarm ) to a fine sandy rubble.

5.   Assemble into arty piles on your plate, and pile crumbs on top. Finish with frozen raspberry shards and a dusting of icing sugar.

6.   Post on your socials and then eat.

ROASTED CELERIAC HUMMUS

This is my roasted celeriac hummus that’s so easy to make and is great for dipping chicory or lightly toasted wholemeal khobez - it’s vegan too!

What you will need:

·    1 small celeriac (peeled and chopped)

·    1 teaspoon of Ras el Hanout spice mix

·    1 onion

·    1 tin of cannellini beans or chickpeas, drained

·    1 tablespoon of tahini

·    50g coconut feta

·    A few saffron strands (optional)

·    Juice and zest of half a lemon

·    A good pinch of Maldon sea salt

·    Preserved lemon (cut into small pieces to serve)

·    A drizzle of mandarin or citrus olive oil

What you need to do:

1.   Start off by roasting a small celeriac with Ras el Hanout spices, along with a white onion until tender and lightly charred.

2.   Once cooled blitz these up along with a drained can of cannellini beans, around a dessert spoon of tahini, coconut feta, a pinch of saffron and enough extra virgin olive oil to make it lusciously smooth.

3.   Serve up with preserved lemons and a good drizzle of Sicilian mandarin olive oil.

4.   For dipping you could go for chicory and lightly toasted wholemeal khobez breads.

Credit: @mr.stevenwallis