Gordon Ramsay's Sunday Lunch

Gordon is back with a new series of the F Word. You can watch the popular TV show on Wednesday evenings at 9pm. We've got a selection of some of Gordon's recipes from the show and his new book, Sunday Lunch.

I love the subtle flavours running through this menu - a velvety soup of white beans, a mushroom-infused sauce to enhance chicken and a comforting apple sponge to finish. For a lighter dessert, you could omit the sponge and simply serve the caramelised apples with creme anglaise. This menu serves 4.

-- Haricot soup with tiger prawns
-- Chicken breast with a morel veloute
-- Pommes puree
-- Asparagus with herb butter
-- Gordon's apple pudding
-- Preparation

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Pureed haricot beans provide a velvety back ground to tiger prawns - a concept we call terr et mer, which combines the flavours of the land and sea. In a dish like this, we generally use chicken stock as the base for the soup, as fish stock would overpower the distinctive but delicate flavour of the bean.

4 servings
250g dried haricot beans, soaked overnight
1 small onion, peeled and halved
1 carrot, peeled and halved
1 bouquet garni (thyme, bay leaf and parsley tied together)
800 ml Court bouillon
18 tiger prawns, peeled and deveined
300ml Chicken (or vegetable) stock
150ml double cream
Sea sale and freshly ground black pepper
30g cold butter, cut into cubes, plus a few knobs for frying
Handful of chives, finely chopped
Olive oil, to drizzle

Drain the haricot beans and place in a saucepan. Add the onion, carrot and bouquet garni and cover with cold water. Bring to the boil and boil steadily for 10 minutes, then lower the heat to a simmer. Partially cover the pan and cook for 1-2 hours until the beans are soft, stirring occasionally and topping up with boiling water if they appear dry. Drain the beans and discard the onion, carrot and bouquet garni. Scoop out about 4 tbsp beans and set aside for the garnish.

Whiz the beans in a blender to a smooth puree, adding a touch of boiling water if necessary (to get the blades moving) and scraping down the sides of a couple of times. For a really smooth soup, push the puree through a fine sieve.

Bring the court bouillon to the boil in a pan, add the prawns and blanch for 30 seconds, then drain and refresh under cold running water. Cut each prawn into two or three bite-sized pieces if you like.

Pour the bean puree into a pan and reheat gently, then whisk in the stock and cream and season with salt and pepper to taste. Whisk in the cold butter, a piece at a time, using a hand-held stick blender if you like - to froth up the soup.

Saute the prawns and reserved beans with a few knobs of butter to heat through. Season well, add the chives and toss through. Pile into the centre of warm bowls, pour the soup around them and serve, drizzled with a little olive oil.

Published by Quadrille, Photography Jill Mead.