Two's company

Make something special this weekend, even if there’s just two of you, with these inventive entertaining recipes from food writer Bre Graham

- Bre Graham

The dip is served warm and is the sort of savoury thing you crave alongside a drink before dinner. Based on an Italian bagna cauda, this version has a coarser texture and uses olive oil, not butter, and lots of parsley. You can choose to serve it with whatever raw vegetables you fancy, but radishes, carrots and fennel are my favourite.

Anchovy and walnut dip with crudités 
SERVES 2 PREP 15 MINS COOK 10 MINS EASY 

1 Prep the vegetables by trimming them and/or slicing into sticks, if needed, then arrange on a platter ready to serve.

2 Toast the walnuts in a dry frying pan over a medium heat, turning once, until fragrant and darker in colour. Set aside to cool.

3 Tip the anchovies into a small pan with the oil from the tin and let them sizzle over a medium heat, stirring, until melted into the oil.

4 Take the pan off the heat and pour the anchovies and their oil into a mini food processor (or you can use a pestle and mortar). Add the toasted walnuts, garlic, chilli, lemon zest and juice, olive oil and parsley. Blitz or grind briefly to a coarse-textured dip. Season with a pinch of salt, if needed, although the anchovies may be salty enough, and black pepper. Pour the dip into a small bowl and serve warm with the crudités on the side.

PER SERVING 929 kcals | fat 95.6G saturates 12.5G I carbs 3.1G | sugars 1.8G fibre 3.5G I protein 12.5G I salt 1.8G