Recipes
Introducing Melissa
We are absolutely thrilled to announce that we will be working with Chef Melissa Thompson for the foreseeable future! Chef Melissa Thompson will be composing monthly seasonal recipes featuring our Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil's, exclusively for you.
I’m Melissa Thompson, and I run Food & Recipe project Fowl Mouths
Back in 2014, while working in national journalism, I started a monthly supper club from my home.
This grew into a popular restaurant pop-up, taking over kitchens in pubs and cafes across London. I paused when I had a baby in 2018...and never went back.
Instead I started developing recipes for brands, cooking, barbecuing and writing about the hospitality industry.
Of Maltese and Jamaican descent, food from all over the world excites me. I am a Good Food columnist and my written work has appeared in The Guardian, Vittles, Condé Naste Traveller, National Geographic, Waitrose Magazine and more.
I am co-director of the British Library Food Season, a regular panellist on BBC R4’s The Kitchen Cabinet and give in-house talks to corporations as well as consult about race, diversity and inclusion.
Get in touch if you’d like to discuss any upcoming projects, writing commissions or your favourite ice cream flavour (mine is brown bread or fior di latte).
Melissa
https://www.fowlmouths.co.uk/
Chilli, Lemon & Wild Garlic Pesto March 2026
By Melissa Thompson
I’ve experimented with wild garlic a lot, ever since I lived in Dorset and first got into foraging more than 20 years ago.
Pesto is one of the most common uses of the wild-grown allium leaf and it is lovely - as long as it’s made properly.
I’m not keen on wild garlic pesto made with no other leaves. I find the taste overpowering and one-note. . Here, I add the foraged leaves to a base of basil, and add lemon and chilli to it which adds further fragrant dimensions and a very delicate heat. I used 2 generic red chillies that aren’t particularly hot so my daughter can enjoy it too - but feel free to go heavier on the chillies or use stronger ones if you really want to know they’re there.
I also use walnuts in lieu of pine nuts. I’ll be honest - the first reason I made the switch was down to cost as walnuts are way less expensive. And now I prefer walnuts. They bring a beautiful toasted nuttiness that rounds out the pesto.
The oil in a pesto is also what makes it. I went for The Gay Farmer’s Early Harvest Picuol Extra Virgin Olive Oil in this - the pesto’s flavours can really handle its robustness.
Ingredients (this makes about 450g)
120g basil, washed and thick stems removed
30g wild garlic, washed and dried as much as possible
100g parmesan cheese
120g walnuts
Zest of 3 organic lemons (squeeze the juice and freeze in ice cube trays for use another time)
1 small clove of garlic
1-3 chillies (depending on heat tolerance), roughly chopped
200ml The Gay Farmer Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Sea salt
Method:
Toast the walnuts in a pan over a medium heat for 8-10 minutes until toasted and fragrant. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.
In a food processor, blitz the parmesan cheese until it resembles crumbs and empty into a bowl. Repeat with the walnuts, but pulse them to prevent them breaking up too much and turning into a paste. Remove to the same bowl as the cheese and add the lemon zest.
Then add the basil and wild garlic to the food processor and pulse the leaves until they’re broken up and uniform, but stop before they turn into a paste. Add the chillies, garlic clove and a drizzle of the oil and pulse until the chillies and garlic are chopped into small pieces.
Scrape out the basil, wild garlic, chillies and garlic into the bowl with the cheese and walnuts and mix well. Slowly drizzle in the olive oil and keep mixing until it’s fully incorporated. Taste for seasoning and add salt as needed.
Transfer to a clean, sterilised jar. Smooth the top and pour in olive oil to create an airtight seal. Store in the fridge and use within 1 month - ensuring you level out the pesto and cover with olive oil each time you use it to stop the air from spoiling it.
To use it, simply add to a pan of cooked, drained pasta and loosen as needed with a little bit of reserved pasta water. Or add dollops to white beans cooked with onions, celery and stock, topped with grilled courgettes and tomatoes.
NOTE: we use a lot of pesto in our house and this makes a lot - feel free to halve the quantities to make a smaller amount
And I specially recommend using organic lemons - regular lemons, including unwaxed, are sprayed with chemicals that can be harmful to health.
Butternut Squash Ndunderi January 2026
I first heard about ndunderi in the Amalfi Coast during a cookery class at the hotel we were staying in a couple of years ago.
They’re made with ricotta instead of potato. And they’re incredible. They have the most pleasing chew when biting into them, while still remaining light. And they’re easy to make. Here, I add butternut squash into the mix, seasoned with paprika and garlic. It’s absolutely not traditional but really tasty and a great vehicle for a delicious sauce. The quality of the olive oil is really important here - the piquancy of The Gay Farmer extra virgin olive oil adds another dimension to the flavour, rounding it out.
I add a couple of de-skinned sausages into the mix - a great, economical way of including extra flavour - but it’s by no means necessary and you can exclude it if you wish to keep the dish vegetarian.
For the ndunderi:
500g raw butternut squash
1tsp garlic granules
1tsp sweet paprika
2tbsp The Gay Farmer extra virgin olive oil
½ tsp ground black pepper
1.5 tsp dried oregano
Good pinch of sea salt flakes
300-350g plain flour plus extra for dusting
300g ricotta
For the sauce:
1 tin good quality tinned cherry tomatoes
2 sausages, peeled
2 garlic cloves, minced
½ red onion, finely chopped
1tsp dried oregano
2tbsp The Gay Farmer extra virgin olive oil
Pre-heat your oven to 180C (fan: 160C).
Peel the butternut squash and cut into 2cm chunks. Add to a bowl, drizzle with the extra virgin olive oil, shake to coat and then add the remaining ingredients. Mix well to coat and lay on a baking sheet or tray and roast until tender when poked with a fork - turning halfway - about 40–50 minutes in total. Remove from the oven and leave to cool.
Add the squash to a bowl and mash with a potato masher until as smooth as possible. Stir in the ricotta, and then add half the flour. Mix in well, and keep adding until it’s fully incorporated and the mix is no longer sticky. Once ready, turn it out onto a floured surface and divide into 8. Roll each piece into a long thin sausage until it’s around 1.5cm thick, and then cut with a knife into chunks. If you have a rigagnocchi - a ridged wooden board used for gnocchi and ndunderi, use it by pressing the ndunderi piece at the handle end and then dragging across with your thumb so the piece ndunderi curls and is ridged on its outside. But if you don’t have the tool, you can simply press a thumb into one side of the ndunderi to create a divot into which sauce can settle. Sprinkle flour onto the finished ndunderi to stop them stocking to each other.
Bring a pan of salted water to the boil. Add the ndunderi to a sieve and shake gently to remove excess flour, before adding the ndunderi to the water. Boil until they rise to the surface and then scoop them out to a bowl. Repeat with the remaining mix until it’s all used up. Keep a cupful of the cooking water.
To make the sauce, add the oil and onion to a frying pan and cook over a medium heat. Once the onion is starting to brown, about 5-8 minutes, add the garlic, oregano and then break chunks of the peeled sausage into the mix. Fry for another 5 minutes and add the tinned tomatoes. Cook for 10-12 until the sauce has thickened and then add the ndunderi with a splash of reserved cooking water
and cook for a further 5 minutes. Taste for seasoning and add salt if needed. Serve with plenty of hard Italian cheese.
Note: this recipe uses 500g of butternut squash but I recommend cooking the entire squash - you can then use any leftovers for salads in future days.
Pork Schnitzel with Brussels sprouts coleslaw
December 2025
This isn’t a Christmas recipe per se, more of a recipe with festive undertones. Schnitzels work because the crunch-to-chew ratio leans pleasingly heavy into the crispy side; all that abundant surface area, breadcrumbed and fried to satisfying crispiness.
Now anyone who knows me knows I hate brussels sprouts. But here, sliced thinly and mixed with carrot, red onion, lemon juice, a tiny bit of mayonnaise and The Gay Farmer extra virgin olive oil, they are refreshing and offer a light contrast to the meat. It’s only the second time I’ve enjoyed them.
I fry the schnitzel in The Gay Farmer olive oil too. For too long extra virgin olive oil has had a reputation that it’s not suitable for frying yet research shows that’s not the case. As long as it doesn’t reach smoking point - about 190C - it makes for a perfect medium in which to fry. Healthy, too.
Serves 4
Ingredients:
4 thin cut pork slices (chops and leg work well) about 150-200g each, skin removed
2 eggs, beaten
150g breadcrumbs
100g flour
1 tsp ground fennel seeds
½ tsp ground black pepper
½ tsp sea salt flakes plus extra
1tsp chopped sage
1tsp chopped rosemary
1tsp chopped thyme
4tbsp The Gay Farmer extra virgin olive oil plus extra
For the coleslaw
200g brussels sprouts, cut in half and then thinly sliced
1 carrot, peeled, cut in half/third and cut into matchsticks
½ small red onion, thinly sliced
1tbsp mayonnaise
Juice of 1 lemon
2tbsp The Gay Farmer extra virgin olive oil
To serve: Cranberry sauce
Method:
Mix together all the ingredients for the coleslaw and refrigerate until needed.
Lay a piece of pork between two sheets of parchment/baking paper and bash with a meat hammer (or the flat base of a saucepan) to flatten to about 8mm thin. Repeat with the other pieces of pork.
Mix together the fennel, black pepper, salt, herbs and flour.
Take 3 large shallow bowls or trays - large though to fit the piece of pork - and fill one with the seasoned flour, another with the eggs and the third with breadcrumbs.
Lay the first piece of pork in the flour and coat completely, ensuring flour gets into any creases. Flip and repeat on the other side. Then add the pork to the egg and fully coat before adding the pork to the breadcrumbs. Press the breadcrumbs into the pork to make sure they stick and once the meat is completely covered, transfer to a plate while you repeat the process with the other pieces of pork.
Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat and carefully lay the pork into it. Depending on the size of the frying pan and pork you may have to cook one or two pieces at a time. Fry on one side for 3-4 minutes until golden brown and crispy, before flipping over and repeating the process on the other side. You may have to top up the olive oil.
Once cooked through, remove to a tray with a rack while you cook the remaining pieces of pork in the same way, topping up the oil as needed.
Divide the pork between the four plates, add the coleslaw and a healthy dollop of cranberry sauce. Serve immediately.
Confit Tomatoes October 2025
This year the tomato plants in my garden have been abundant. Even now, in early October, I am somehow picking fruits from withered plants that are very near the end of their lives.
For me there’s always a melancholy to the end of summer and all the produce that comes during it. But these confit tomatoes are the perfect way of extending the season so they can be enjoyed long after the plants have been pulled up.
They are great on toast; the softened garlic cloves spread first before the tomatoes and shallots are piled on top. They’re also excellent tossed with pasta, finished with just a grating of parmigiano and a crack of fresh black pepper.
And don’t worry about the amount of olive oil this recipe calls for. It feels indulgent to use it with such abandon but nothing is wasted - flavoured by the ingredients, the oil is beautifully fragrant and makes an excellent base for future cooks. Once you’ve eaten all the tomatoes, just use the oil as you would normally.
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 1hr 30m
Ingredients:
800g-1kg tomatoes
8 shallots (round ones, not banana ideally), peeled and cut in half width-ways
1 bulb of garlic, cloves peeled
A few sprigs of fresh thyme or oregano
1tsp sea salt flakes
350ml The Gay Farmer Single Estate Early Harvest extra virgin olive oil
Pre-heat oven to 160C conventional (140C fan). Slice the bigger tomatoes lengthways, add to a bowl and drizzle with The Gay Farmer olive oil and a sprinkle of salt. Spread onto a tray lined with baking paper, cut-side facing up. Roast for 1 hour.
Add the remaining oil to a pan with the remaining smaller tomatoes (left whole), garlic, shallots, thyme or oregano and a sprinkle of salt. Top up with oil until the tomatoes are mostly covered and heat on a hob over medium heat. As soon as the oil starts to bubble, reduce the heat and simmer
gently for an hour. Turn the tomatoes, garlic and shallots halfway through so they cook all over, being careful to not squash them as they soften.
Once the tomatoes, garlic and shallots are softened, transfer them to a large sterilised glass jar. Top up with the oven-roasted tomatoes, ensuring they are all fully submerged in oil, and store in the fridge until ready to use. They will remain good for 1 month.
