To enjoy Gill’s recipes, the crew sailed back into the quayside, moored up the boats and got another small wood fire burning – the smoke deliciously scented with cherry and oak. As the flames died down to reveal glowing black and orange embers, Gill tells us about his next recipe. “This is all about celebrating salt marsh lamb, good, fatty lambs chops cooked over fire with asparagus and marsh samphire. Super fresh samphire that I have foraged from the coastline this morning.”

With the woodfire now set to the perfect temperature, Gill delicately places the lamb chops onto the grill, producing the most satisfying popping sounds as the meat and fat start to sizzle and char. “These grilled lamb chops will be served on my homemade labneh, which is a quick homemade cheese made by straining yoghurt, and finished off with fresh garden herbs like flowering chives, thyme and mint from my garden. And that’s exactly what summer cooking is all about for me, using seasonal and local produce with lovely fresh salads, zesty herbs, vinegars and citrus fruits. Then towards the end of summer, you start thinking about drying some of the things you’ve grown over the previous months, plus preserving tomatoes, pickling cucumbers, that sort of thing.”

Mussels and cockles with smoked bacon, leeks, potatoes and cider

“I like this recipe for its simplicity. It all comes together in one big pan, which is always a nice thing, but there’s an extraordinary amount going on here: plenty of texture, lots of flavour and more than enough to go round. Make sure the mussels are tightly closed, or close when tapped, and that the cockles are alive and freshly purged of sand before cooking. The sweet leeks, potatoes and cider make a rich, comforting broth, while the cream and parsley bring everything together at the end.” – Gill Meller 

Ingredients (Serves 4–6)

1kg washed live mussels 
1kg live cockles, thoroughly rinsed and purged 
200g smoked bacon lardons 
2 medium leeks, halved lengthways, washed well and sliced 
500g new potatoes, scrubbed and cut into small equal-sized pieces 
2–3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced 
A colander of sea beet or spinach leaves 
500ml medium dry cider 
400ml double cream 
A large handful of flat-leaf parsley, leaves picked and roughly chopped 
1 small knob of butter 
1 Tbls olive oil 
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

Place a large saucepan or heavy cast-iron pan over a medium-high heat. Add the olive oil and butter. When hot, scatter in the bacon lardons and cook for 3–4 minutes until they’re beginning to crisp around the edges. 

Add the leeks and potatoes, season lightly with salt and pepper and cook gently for 12–15 minutes, stirring regularly, until the leeks have softened and the potatoes are almost tender. Stir in the garlic and cook for a further minute. 

Pour in the cider and bring to a lively simmer. Cook for 5–8 minutes, or until the potatoes are completely tender and the liquid has reduced slightly. 

Add the mussels, cockles and sea beet or spinach leaves. Cover the pan with a lid and cook over a high heat for 3–5 minutes, shaking the pan once or twice, until the shellfish have opened. 

Discard any mussels or cockles that remain closed. Pour in the cream and return the pan briefly to the heat. Taste the broth and adjust the seasoning with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper as needed. 

Stir through the chopped parsley just before serving and bring the pan straight to the table with plenty of good bread alongside to soak up the rich cider and cream broth. 

Grilled lamb chops with labneh, asparagus, samphire, lovage and mint

Gill notes on this recipe, “This is a nice summery number to bring together whenyou’relooking for something special to pop down on the table. Look for nice thick fatty chops and grill them untilthey’recrisp and caramelised, but a touch pink inside. The asparagus should take on a gentle smokiness from the fire which goes particularly well with the rich creamy labneh, a quite wonderful homemade cheese made using strained yoghurt. If youcan’ttrack down samphire you can leave it out, but it has a particular affinity with asparagus and lamb.”

Ingredients (Serves 2-3)

4–6 lamb chops 
1 Tbls extra-virgin olive oil 
1 tsp rosemary leaves, finely chopped 
12 asparagus spears 
100g samphire, lightly blanched 
1 Tbls extra-virgin olive oil 
A few sprigs of thyme 
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper 
For the labneh 
500ml natural yoghurt 
½ tsp fine sea salt 

To finish 

A small handful of mint leaves 
A small handful of lovage leaves 
A small handful of chive flowers 
1 lemon 
Extra-virgin olive oil 

Method

Begin with the labneh. Place the yoghurt into a bowl, add the salt and stir well. Line a sieve with a clean muslin cloth or thin tea towel and set it over a bowl. Spoon the yoghurt into the cloth, gather up the sides and place in the fridge for 8–12 hours or overnight to drain. 

Transfer the thickened labneh to a serving platter and spread it out into an even layer. Set aside. 

If you're cooking over fire, make sure you have a good bed of glowing embers. Snap away the woody ends from the asparagus and place the spears on a tray with the thyme. Trickle over the olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Cook over the embers for 2–3 minutes on each side, until lightly charred and tender. Set aside. 

Trickle the lamb chops with the olive oil. Season them all over with salt and pepper and sprinkle over the chopped rosemary. 

Place the chops on the barbecue or under a hot preheated grill and cook for 5–7 minutes on each side, depending on their thickness and how you like them cooked. As they near the end of cooking, stand them on their fat edges for a minute or two, turning as necessary, so the fat renders, crisps and caramelises. The chops should be golden and crisping around the edges when you take them from the heat. Allow them to rest for 5 minutes. 

Arrange the asparagus over the labneh and scatter over the blanched samphire. Nestle the lamb chops alongside. Scatter over the mint leaves, lovage leaves and chive flowers. Squeeze over the lemon juice and finish with a generous trickle of extra-virgin olive oil before serving.