Marco Pierre White - Marco Pierre White in Hells Kitchen: Over 100 wickedly tempting recipes

Long before Gordon Ramsay and Antony Bourdain, there was Marco Pierre White: the first and the greatest enfant terrible of the cookery world. His book, White Heat, caused a sensation on publication in 1990. Now Marco puts his chefs whites back on and returns to the kitchen for the first time in years as he puts the celebrities through their paces on this exciting and enduringly popular television show, moving into its third series. The colourful chef, as famous for his ability to make headlines as for making headturning dishes, serves up 100 delicious recipes in this mouthwatering cookery book. Alongside the wonderful recipes ranging from partridge pie with creamy wild mushroom sauce to melting chocolate souffle with vanilla cream come shortcuts, masterful tips and tricks of the trade. Marco Pierre White is a natural for television and this fully illustrated book allows his talents to shine. Use this book at home and youll have a taste of what its like to cook in the company of a culinary genius.

Marco Pierre White was born on a council estate in Leeds in 1961, and his Italian mother died when he was six years old. He became the youngest chef ever to be awarded three Michelin stars and today is a star chef of international renown and a multi-millionaire businessman. His many restaurants include Mirabelle, Drones, LEscargot and the Belvedere.

I would like to give special thanks to Alexandra Antonioni for all her hard work and for delivering this book on time. I would also like to thank my chefs, Roger, Callum, Tim and Matthew, for all their hard work, and Natalka Znak, Richard Cowles, Beth Hart, Katie Rawcliffe, Jeanette Moffat, John Hollywood, Jane Beacon and Maria Knibbs at ITV who are working on Hells Kitchen. Finally, I would like to congratulate all those at Ebury who worked so hard to make the book happen, especially Carey and Norma, who worked hand in hand with myself and Alex to get it produced in double quick time.

Painting by numbers is one thing but cooking by them is something else.

The perfect soup for a summers day. It combines all the flavours of the Mediterranean whilst being extremely easy to prepare. You can add whatever takes your fancy, maybe some crotons or a little pesto, or you can make it even more interesting by adding some freshly cooked seafood such as lobster, langoustines or a little white crab meat.

700 g plum tomatoes, skinned and seeded

cucumber, peeled and seeded

onion, finely chopped

3 garlic cloves, finely chopped

5 red peppers, seeded and chopped

75 ml sherry vinegar

2 tbsp Mayonnaise ()

Tabasco sauce

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Liquidize the first six ingredients until smooth, then pass through a fine sieve. Season well with a little salt and pepper, whisk in the mayonnaise and add Tabasco to suit your personal taste.
2. Serve well chilled.

Tip > The most important thing to remember is to insure that the tomatoes are of the very best quality and erring on being just a little too ripe.

The brick-red colour of this soup is simply stunning. The two main ingredients, namely mussels and saffron, complement each other beautifully to give a really concentrated burst of flavour. This is so important in a starter, where we are looking for something to stimulate the palate without ruining our appetite with anything overly rich or heavy. Once again you can be adventurous with the garnishes. One idea, if you dont want to use oysters as is done here, is to add some diced potato and a few snipped chives, or maybe simply crotons sprinkled with a few extra strands of saffron.

2 kg fresh mussels

1 onion, finely chopped

1 celery stick, finely chopped

1 white part of leek, finely chopped

25 g unsalted butter

1 tsp curry powder

pinch of saffron strands

tsp cayenne pepper

sprig of thyme

1 bay leaf

600 ml white wine

300 ml Fish Stock ()

450 ml double cream

sea salt

Garnish

4 Native oysters, No. 2

1. Wash the mussels and pull off their beards, then wash them again carefully.
2. Sweat the vegetables gently in the butter for 5 minutes. Add the curry powder, saffron strands, cayenne and herbs, then add the mussels. Continue to cook gently with the lid on for another minute. Add the wine and stock, and cook for another few minutes, still covered, until all the mussels are open.
3. Pick the mussels out of the pan and set aside. Strain the stock through muslin or a fine sieve into a clean pan. Bring to the boil and reduce the stock by half. Add the cream and reduce further until the soup is the consistency of thin cream. Season with a little salt if required (depending on the saltiness of the mussels this may not be needed).
4. To serve, remove the mussels from their shells and place a few in each soup bowl along with a freshly shucked oyster lying on the very bottom. Heat the soup to just below boiling point and pour over the mussels.

Tip > As ever, the golden rule when cooking mussels is to discard any that fail to close before you have cooked them and any that fail to open once you have.

The delicate flavour of red mullet coupled with saffron produces an earthy but truly refined fish soup. You should start making it the day before serving, to allow the mullet enough time to marinate. It is the garnishes that really make this into something out of the ordinary, so dont skimp on them. Put them on the table separately to allow others to add as much as they choose.

10 red mullets

100 ml olive oil

pinch of saffron strands

pinch of cayenne pepper

1 onion

head of celery

fennel bulb

bulb of garlic

250 g tomatoes, diced

450 g tomato pure

175 ml Pernod

175 ml Cognac

2 litres Fish Stock ()

large potato, peeled and thinly sliced

Garnishes

Rouille ()

Gruyre cheese, grated

small crisp crotons

1. Scale the mullets and cut off the heads. Remove and discard the innards, plus the gills and the eyes. Wash all the pieces thoroughly in cold water. Cut up each body into three equal pieces. Place everything, heads and all, in a dish.