Raymond Blanc, chef-patron of Le Manoir aux Quat’ Saisons, Oxfordshire:
The many colours of pasta
You can substitute egg for so many surprising things when making pasta. A pasta recipe is usually 100g of good pasta flour and one medium egg. A medium egg is on average 55ml, so you can substitute the egg for the same amount of beetroot juice, spinach puree, saffron water, red pepper juice or squid ink to make the most colourful and flavourful pasta.
You can still make the pasta exactly the same way and we would usually serve it with a complementary sauce. If we were making a beetroot pasta, for example, we would normally serve it with beetroots as well. We would make it into a ravioli filled with beetroot, ricotta, lemon and garlic and serve it with steamed beetroots, crispy sage leaves, parmesan and some good olive oil.
Paul Ainsworth, chef-owner of No 6 and Caffe Rojano, Padstow, and The Mariners, Rock:
Add custard to custard
Add custard powder to home-made custard rather than thickening it with gelatine or cornflour, which don’t really have any flavour. This idea came about when we took on The Mariners, where we use custard a lot. Custard powder gives you a lovely maltiness and it thickens the custard. It also adds sweetness, so we put less sugar in with the egg yolks as a counterbalance.
Swap bay leaves for tomato vines
If you buy your tomatoes on the vine, use the vines in stews, chillies and tomato-based sauces in the same way as you would a bay leaf (discarding before eating); there’s so much flavour in them. A chef taught me this years ago: why throw them away when they’re humming of beautiful tomatoes?
Add seaweed to stew
Keep guacamole green
When you make guacamole, rub a cut lime all over the clingfilm and then sit it directly on the guacamole, lime side down. This will keep the top layer from oxidising and going dark — and you won’t waste guacamole by scraping off a brown top layer.
Rukmini Iyer, author of "The Roasting Tin" series and "India Express" (Square Peg, $48)
Use your head (of cauliflower)
Make the most of the odd head of cauliflower, broccoli or squash that needs using up by keeping ready-made spice mixes on hand to save time and pack in flavour — a good ras el hanout, baharat, panch phoron or harissa will transform a tray of roasted veg. Shichimi togarashi is my current favourite spice mix — I added it to the sauce for a broccoli-and-kale mac and cheese recently and it was amazing. — The Guardian
