As a stalwart of London’s Farringdon Road since 1869, The Quality Chop House remains a firm favourite with Londoners thanks to chef Shaun Searley’s modern, innovative cooking. Reopened in 2012 by William Lander and Daniel Morgenthau (the duo behind Michelin-starred Portland and Clipstone), the restaurant has launched its 150th anniversary cookbook featuring expert advice, history and stories of its daily rituals alongside a selection of bold and inviting recipes. Divided into handy categories, the book gives you the opportunity to rustle up Searley’s delicious dishes, including duck liver parfait and black truffle, slow-roast lamb shoulder, pastrami-cured salmon or a bell honey custard tart in the comfort of your own home.

Bell Heather Honey Custard Tart, Ginger Crème Fraîche

‘We work with Steve at The London Honey Co, and it’s always a pleasure. His depth of knowledge is immense, as is his passion for bees. Try experimenting with different kinds of honey for this tart. We’ve used bell heather, which has a beautiful floral flavour, but feel free to shop around if you want something with more or less potency.’

SERVES 12

Ingredients:

Ginger crème fraîche:

400g crème fraîche

30g stem ginger, plus 1 tbsp of syrup

500ml whipping cream

10 free-range organic egg yolks

200g bell heather honey

1 blind-baked tart case (below)

Method:

1. To make the ginger crème fraîche, finely grate the stem ginger into the crème fraîche along with a spoonful of the syrup. Combine, then ideally transfer into a muslin cloth bag and hang in the fridge overnight. Leave a small bowl underneath to catch the excess liquid.

2. Transfer to an airtight container until you are ready to use.

3. Warm the cream in a large saucepan over a low heat until it reaches 50°C. Whisk the egg yolks and honey together in a large bowl until combined, then pour over the hot cream, whisking continuously; it should start to thicken slightly. Pass the custard through a fine sieve and leave to rest for five minutes. Skim off the layer of foam that will form on top.

4. Preheat the oven to 110°C. Half-fill the blind-baked tart case with the cooled custard, then carefully transfer to the oven. Bake for 45 minutes to an hour. You are looking for a slight wobble in the centre of the custard. Leave to rest for a couple of hours before you cut into it.

5. To serve, slice the tart into wedges and serve with a generous spoonful of ginger crème fraîche.

Sweet pastry tart case

At the restaurant we get through lots of sweet pastry so we make huge batches of these and freeze them.

Ingredients (makes three 20cm fluted tart cases):

250g butter, at room temperature

180g caster sugar

1 vanilla pod, split lengthways and seeds scraped out

2 free-range organic eggs

500g plain flour

Beaten egg yolk, to glaze

Method:

1. Cream together the butter, sugar and vanilla seeds until light and fluffy and almost white in colour. Beat in the eggs one at a time – if the mixture looks like it is going to separate, add a little flour. Fold in the rest of the flour in three batches and bring it together to form a dough. Divide the dough into three pieces, then wrap in cling film and store in the fridge or freezer until you need it. To make a blind-baked tart case, take a piece of dough and roll out to a 25cm circle, 3mm thick. Use it to line a 20cm fluted loose-bottomed tart case. Leave to rest in the fridge for at least two hours. Preheat the oven to 170°C.

2. Lay out two sheets of cling film to really get into the grooves of the tart case, one on top of the other, and press into the lined tart case. Fill with baking beans or dried haricot beans and bake for 15–20 minutes. Carefully remove the beans and continue to bake for another five–10 minutes. The pastry should be a pale golden colour and firm to the touch – if the centre is still a little soft give it another minute or two in the oven. Once it’s definitely baked, make sure there are no holes (you can patch them up with a little leftover pastry), then brush with a little egg yolk to glaze.

Chilled Lovage Soup with Gorgonzola, Asparagus And Grapes

This is a perfect example of suppliers writing the menu and dishes for us. Natoora had an abundance of lovage and that same weekend Shaun had visited Elliot from the Ham & Cheese Company in Bermondsey, who had the most amazing Gorgonzola. It was a hot day and he’d been wracking his brain for a cold soup to put on the menu. This was the answer. Lovage is incredibly herbaceous and pairs brilliantly with the salty, creamy Gorgonzola and the sweetness of the asparagus and grapes. It’s the ideal spring soup.

Ingredients (serves six):

2 onions

2 leeks, tough green outer leaves discarded

4 celery sticks

½ fennel bulb

2 garlic cloves

Olive oil, for drizzling

A sprig of thyme

2 bay leaves

150ml white wine

2 floury potatoes

2l vegetable stock or water

2 slices of farmhouse white bread, cut into 2cm dice

250g lovage

250g baby spinach

Salt, to taste

To garnish:

100g grapes, thinly sliced

6 baby asparagus spears, thinly sliced

200g Gorgonzola, at room temperature

Wild garlic oil (below)

Method:

1. Peel and evenly dice the onions, leeks, celery and fennel. Peel and finely chop the garlic. Heat a good glug of olive oil in a large heavy-based pan over a low-medium heat and sweat the diced vegetables with the thyme and bay leaves. Keep the heat low as you don’t want to get any colour on the vegetables. They should take about 20 minutes to soften.

2. Add the white wine and simmer until the liquid has reduced by half. Peel and dice the potatoes and add along with the vegetable stock or water. Simmer for another 20–30 minutes until the potatoes are cooked. Leave to cool, then chill in the fridge until you are ready to make your soup.

3. To make your croutons, preheat the oven to 170°C. Toss the bread cubes with olive oil and salt and bake for five–10 minutes, or until golden brown and crunchy. Leave on a piece of kitchen paper to drain while you finish the soup. Meanwhile, bring another large saucepan of water to the boil with a good pinch of salt and prepare a large bowl of iced water. Blanch the lovage and spinach for 30 seconds in the boiling water, strain and plunge into the iced water (this will ensure the vibrant green colour is kept).

4. Once chilled, strain again and squeeze out the excess water. In a high-speed blender, whizz the lovage, spinach and chilled soup base together – you will probably have to do this in several batches. Pass the soup through a fine sieve as you go. Double check the seasoning and pour into soup bowls. Garnish with thinly sliced grapes and asparagus, spoon over the Gorgonzola and finish with the garlic oil and croutons.

Flavoured Oils: Parsley or Other Herbs

This is not so much a recipe as a very simple way to use up herbs. The method below would work with any soft green herb, but we tend to use wild garlic and parsley the most: another way of extending wild garlic season.

Take a handful of parsley, wild garlic leaves or any other soft herb. Blanch in boiling water and refresh in ice cold water before blending with vegetable oil until you have an oily consistency.

Pastrami-cured Salmon

This was inspired by the legendary Russ & Daughters on New York’s Lower East Side. We were already making pastrami from silverside, a cut from the hindquarters of the cow that we break down in the butchery. So, this was the obvious next step. The mineral tang of the cured salmon works brilliantly with the smoky black pepper crust. You’ll need to cure the salmon a couple of days in advance but it will keep in the fridge for up to three days, and makes the perfect festive starter for a crowd.

Ingredients (serves 12):

Cured salmon:

800g salt

150g flat-leaf parsley

800g sugar

1 side (about 2kg) skin-on salmon fillet, pin-boned and trimmed of excess fat

25g black treacle

200g sweet chestnut

Smoking chips

Firelighters

Pastrami seasoning:

100g coriander seeds

200g black peppercorns

To serve:

½ bunch of breakfast radishes

200g crème fraîche

A handful of watercress

Parsley oil (see above)

Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Method:

1. Start by curing the salmon. In a food processor, blend the salt and parsley together, then mix thoroughly with the sugar to make the cure. Pick a dish that fits the salmon (and also fits in your fridge!). Put a large handful of the salt cure in the bottom of the dish, lay the salmon on top, then cover with the remaining cure. Cover and refrigerate for 48 hours, turning the salmon after 24 hours.

2. To make the pastrami seasoning, preheat the oven to 170°C. Mix the coriander seeds and peppercorns together and toast in the oven for 4–5 minutes. Allow to cool, then pulse in a food processor to a coarse consistency. (You can prepare this up to a week ahead and store in an airtight container.)

3. When the salmon is cured, remove from the salt mix and wash away any excess. Pat dry and place in a roasting tray. Drizzle the black treacle over the salmon and massage into the flesh, then cover with the pastrami seasoning.

4. To smoke the salmon, line a roasting tray with a couple of layers of foil. Place a pile of  smoking chips and a couple of firelighters into the centre. Light the firelighters, leave to smoulder for a few minutes and then carefully transfer to the bottom shelf of the oven, quickly shutting the door. Leave for a couple of minutes, then put the tray of salmon on the shelf above. This will get very smoky, so turn that extractor fan up to the max. Smoke for around 30 minutes. (If you have a kettle barbecue with a lid, do use that instead). Remove, rest and then chill for at least six hours and up to two days.

5. Just before serving, thinly slice the radishes using a mandoline. Remove the skin from the salmon and slice into 4mm pieces, or whatever thickness you prefer. Place three slices on each plate, dot around the crème fraîche, then arrange the sliced radishes and watercress on the plate. Drizzle with parsley oil and a final twist of black pepper.

All recipes taken from The Quality Chop House: Recipes and Stories from a London Classic (£30, Quadrille), available now; thequalitychophouse.com