Nina Parker’s St Tropez recipes: from barbecued sea bass to pink chard tart

St Tropez is known for as a glamorous holiday destination with pristine beaches and blue skies, as well as its exceptional cuisine

Professionally trained chef, Nina Parker, brings delicious Provençal cuisine and Mediterranean recipes to our table in the form of her book, St Tropez. After working at London's L'Anima, The Dorchester and The Ledbury, she combined her skills and experience with her love of the little French fishing village, which began when her parents met there on a beach in their summer holidays. Since then, her family holidayed in the historic area every year since, leading to her dedicating her book to cuisine of St Tropez and the surrounding area which she endlessly explored.

(Photo: Paul Winch-Furness)

Bookclub fritters

My friends Charli, Felicité, Leo, Roxane and I have a book club, and these fritters made their debut at one of our suppers. The girls insisted on them featuring in the book. In some of the restaurants I’ve worked in, they’re often served with garlic mayonnaise, but here I’ve gone for a lighter yoghurt-based sauce.

Serves 6

For the dip

150ml (5fl oz) Greek yoghurt
½ clove garlic, diced
1 tbsp lemon juice
½ tsp honey mustard
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
handful fresh mint, chopped
sea salt and black pepper

For the beignets

200g (7oz) plain flour
350ml (12fl oz) water
1l (1¾pt) sunflower oil
1 aubergine, sliced 5mm thick
1 cauliflower, cut into bite-sized chunks
6 large asparagus spears, cut in half lengthways
2 courgettes, sliced 5mm thick
1 lemon, cut into wedges

Mix all the ingredients for the dip (saving a few mint leaves to garnish) together in a bowl and taste to check the seasoning. Set aside in the fridge. Put the flour in a bowl and slowly stir in the water to make a batter. Season with salt and pepper. Heat the sunflower oil in a large, deep saucepan over a medium-high heat until a pinch of flour sizzles as soon as it’s dropped in the pan.

Salt the aubergine slices generously, leave them for a few minutes, then pat dry with kitchen paper. Toss half the vegetables in the batter, allowing any excess to drip off. Place them carefully in the hot oil to deep-fry in batches, using a long metal spoon to move everything around and turn them over to fry all sides evenly. Fry for 2 minutes, until golden, then remove and drain on kitchen paper. Continue with the rest of the vegetables. Season them generously with salt and serve with the yoghurt dip, topped with the remaining mint leaves and lemon wedges for squeezing on the side.

(Photo: Paul Winch-Furness)

Barbecue on the beach with sea bass parcels

I like to prepare the fish at home by wrapping it with the fillings in kitchen foil, then pedal down to the beach with it in a picnic basket on my bike, along with a couple of bottles of chilled rosé. My friend Jean-Baptiste and his friends have usually organised a blazing barbecue on our little local beach. The fish goes straight on to the roaring grill and we make a start on the wine while it cooks.

Serves 2

2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp unsalted butter
1 large fennel bulb, thinly sliced
2 banana shallots, thinly sliced
3 cloves garlic, diced
2 whole sea bass, cleaned and gutted
2 tsp honey
2 tbsp white wine
1 lemon, sliced
small bunch flat-leaf parsley
sea salt and black pepper

Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/Gas mark 6 or light the barbecue. Cut two sheets of non-stick baking paper and two sheets of kitchen foil large enough to cover the fish. Heat the olive oil and butter in a large frying pan until hot. Add the fennel and shallots and cook for a few minutes, until softened. When they begin to brown, add the garlic and stir together for a moment, then remove from the heat.

Lay out the sheets of foil with the baking paper on top (this prevents the fish from piercing the parcel). Divide the onion and fennel mixture between the two pieces of paper and place a sea bass on top of each. Season with salt and pepper. Fold in the ends of each parcel on either side of the fish’s head and tail and gradually begin to tightly twist it into a sealed package, leaving a 10cm (4in) hole open at the top. Distribute the honey, white wine, lemon slices and parsley equally between each parcel before sealing the tops. Tightly fold the foil under the fish to make a tight and compact parcel. Place the foil packages on a baking tray and bake for about 45 minutes, or grill on a preheated barbecue, covered, for 30 minutes. The fish should be perfectly cooked and tender. Serve in the foil packages for guests to open at the table.

Socca with crushed avocado, roasted carrots

Socca are rather charming and unusual pancakes made with chickpea flour. They’re super-healthy, wheat and gluten-free, and are fantastic for lunch. You can also make them into pizzette by topping them with tomatoes and cheese, then grilling them.

Serves 3

3 large carrots
4tsp avocado oil
½ tsp ground cinnamon
90g (3oz) chickpea flour (also known as gram flour)
140ml (5fl oz) cold water
1 tsp chopped fresh rosemary
1 tsp pumpkin seeds
1 tsp sunflower seeds
finely grated zest of ½ unwaxed lemon, plus 1 tbsp juice
2 ripe avocados
2 tbsp chopped fresh chives
sea salt and black pepper

For the dressing

3 tbsp goat’s milk or Greek yoghurt
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
finely grated zest and juice of ½ unwaxed lemon
sea salt and black pepper

Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/Gas mark 6. Slice the carrots lengthways into thin strips, season with salt and pepper, sprinkle with a little avocado oil and cinnamon and roast for about 40 minutes, until tender and golden.

Meanwhile, mix the chickpea flour, cold water, rosemary, seeds and lemon zest in a bowl and add a few drops of lemon juice. Leave to stand for 15 minutes. In the meantime, whisk all the dressing ingredients together, taste to check the seasoning and set aside in the fridge. Halve, peel, stone and lightly mash the avocados in a separate bowl, leaving some chunks. Season with salt and pepper and add the remaining lemon juice, a splash of avocado oil and the chives.

Start cooking the socca when the carrots are almost ready. Heat 1 tablespoon avocado oil in a frying pan over a medium heat and pour in a little of the batter. After about 1 minute the underneath should be golden; flip the pancake over with a spatula. Cook for another minute or so, then remove and repeat with the remaining batter. Arrange the socca on three plates with a generous spoonful of the crushed avocado and a few cinnamon-roasted carrots, then drizzle with the yoghurt dressing. Serve immediately.

Pink chard and vegetable tart

I’m constantly thinking up new ways to enjoy aubergines and tomatoes together, and on one outing to the market at La Garde-Freinet I stumbled upon some gorgeous fuchsia-pink chard. The bitterness of the chard and radicchio rosso perfectly complements the sweet tomatoes.

Serves 4

1 aubergine, sliced into 1cm discs
150g (5oz) cherry tomatoes, halved
2 tbsp olive oil
pinch sugar
5–6 leaves pink chard (or use ordinary chard)
1 small radicchio rosso (or use red endive or chicory), leaves separated
2 cloves garlic, diced
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
250g (9oz) fresh or frozen puff pastry (thawed if frozen)
flour, for dusting
1 free-range medium egg yolk, lightly beaten
fresh basil leaves, to serve
1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
sea salt and black pepper

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas mark 4 and grease and line a 25cm (10in) tart dish with non-stick baking paper. Place the aubergine slices on kitchen paper and sprinkle with salt. After 10 minutes, pat dry with kitchen paper. Season with pepper, drizzle with 1 tablespoon olive oil and place on one side of a large baking sheet. Season the tomatoes with salt, pepper and sugar and arrange them cut-side up on the other side of the sheet. Roast for about 20 minutes, until tender, turning the aubergine slices halfway through. The tomatoes may take a little longer – you want them to be shrivelled up at the edges.

Meanwhile, slice the chard stalks and roughly chop the radicchio leaves, setting a few whole leaves and sliced stalks aside for garnishing. Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a frying pan over a medium heat, add the chopped leaves and sliced stalks and cook for 7 minutes or until wilted by about half. Add the garlic and balsamic vinegar, season with salt and pepper, cook for 2 more minutes, then remove from the heat.

Increase the oven temperature to 200°C/400°F/Gas mark 6. Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured work surface to fit the tart dish and brush it with the beaten yolk.

Bake for about 13 minutes, until golden and puffed up. Spoon over the chard-radicchio mixture, arrange the roasted aubergine and tomatoes on top, tumble over the reserved radicchio leaves and pink chard stalks and scatter over a few basil leaves.

Finish with a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil and serve immediately.

Nina St Tropez by Nina Parker, published in hardback by Weidenfeld & Nicolson on 5 June 2014, price £20/ eBook £10.99 www.ninafood.com