From zingy chilli crabs in the Caribbean to creamy coconut curries in Kolkata, top chefs share their favourite dishes from around the globe to transport us to far-flung places.

Three years ago I visited Sardinia with a boyfriend, Luca, for Sa Sartiglia, Oristanos Mardi Gras festival, complete with medieval horse racing, drinking and eating. Oristano is one of Sardinias great medieval cities, with cobbled streets and balconies blowsy with bougainvillea. During Sa Sartiglia the equivalent of the Palio horse race in Siena the city-centre piazza shuts down and it becomes the course. Riders get dressed up in elaborate costumes with white masks, bells and silk, and do acrobatics on the horses.

Lucas family home was a stream of friends and family, the TV blaring out live coverage of the race, though it was happening less than 100 yards away there was too much eating to be done to leave the house. There was a table spread with suckling pig, roast lamb and chicken (all from the family farm), rag, ravioli, bread, olives and grilled aubergines. The viola aubergines in Sardinia are enormous and beautiful, and you taste the sun when you eat them.

Serves four to six as an antipasti

Ingredients

80g pine nuts

3 large aubergines, sliced cm thick

handful of mint, chopped

80g feta or ricotta salata

For the dressing

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 tbsp date molasses

1 garlic clove, minced

2 tbsp lemon juice

zest of half a lemon, grated

5 tbsp best-quality olive oil

pinch of chilli akes

Method

Preheat the oven to 170C/Gas 3.

Toast the pine nuts on a baking sheet for a few minutes, until golden.

In a griddle pan over a medium heat, grill the aubergines in batches until they have softened, making sure they take a good amount of colour on each side.

Arrange on a platter and sprinkle over the mint, the nuts and the ricotta/feta. Mix the ingredients for the dressing together, whisk well, then drizzle over the top.

Bitter Honey: Recipes and Stories from the Island of Sardinia by Letitia Clark (Hardie Grant) is out on April 30

My fondest travel memories are from childhood holidays in south Devon. Pottering about in the rock pools on Salcombe beach, seeing bright sea anemones and crabs for the first time, and using our little nets to catch fresh shrimps by the bucketload, which my parents would cook up for tea.

We stayed in the picturesque village of Newton Ferrers. At low tide we could walk right across the causeway to Noss Mayo, all the boats keeled over in the mud. It was and still is very beautiful, a largely untouched landscape on the estuary of the River Yealm where you can see herons, kingfishers and egrets.

My father had a 19ft sailing boat and we would go mackerel fishing with a long line and flies on the string. Any mackerel dish I make still takes me back to these memories of Devon.

To make a great ceviche, coarsely chop 200g mackerel and marinate in lime juice and zest, 20ml olive oil, half a teaspoon of caster sugar, a teaspoon of chopped coriander, a pinch of chili flakes, salt, a teaspoon of finely chopped shallot and a little chopped garlic. Serve with tartar sauce (make your own by adding chopped gherkins, capers, parsley and shallots to mayonnaise).

Muse by Tom Aikens, 38 Groom Place, London SW1 (musebytomaikens.co.uk)

After checking into Soho House Barcelona one Friday last spring, my boyfriend and I headed to the bar for pre-dinner drinks, where we were immersed in the young vibrant energy. We ordered chilled manzanilla (Spanish crisp dry white sherry) with a platter of green olives, almonds and Iberico ham simple Spanish bar food, but it was fantastic, so much so that it has become our ritual aperitif during lockdown.

Early the next morning we visited La Boqueria, a buzzing market with jaw-dropping displays of fresh fish, cured meats, spices, cheeses, vegetables and an extraordinary array of beans. We called at Bar Pinotxo for brunch its the oldest bar in the market, a small counter seating only about 12 people, and the food is sensational and incredibly good value.

We ate lightly smoked sardine fillets, chickpeas with black pudding, slow-cooked beef cheeks and squid with Santa Pau beans (a local bean similar to borlotti). All accompanied by an ice-cold local beer! Inspired, we hit the stalls, and I bought an array of fabulous spices and oils including saffron to recreate a fish dish when I got home for a taste-escape back to this magical place.

Serves four

Ingredients

Olive oil

800g white fish (ling, haddock, hake or whiting), cut into small pieces

1 onion, finely chopped

3 cloves of garlic, crushed

1 tin of cherry tomatoes

2 tbsp whole almonds, finely chopped

a good pinch of saffron, soaked with warm water

300ml white wine

2 tbsp fresh flat parsley, finely chopped

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 180C/Gas 4.

Add a tablespoon of olive oil to a frying pan over a medium heat, then add the fish, season and cook for 30 seconds on each side. Transfer to a casserole dish.

Add another tablespoon of olive oil to the pan and stir in the onions and garlic, cover and cook for two to three minutes. Then stir in the tomatoes. Season and cook for a further five minutes and transfer to the casserole dish with the fish, almonds, and the saffron and water, plus white wine and one glass of water.

Cook in the oven for 30 minutes, then stir in the parsley and serve with basmati rice or a big green salad and lemon wedges.

Try more recipes in Clodaghs Suppers or get daily inspiration on IGTV @clodagh_mckenna

King prawns in malai curry sauce is a perfect holiday dish. It transports me to Kolkata, one of my favourite places in the world. Usually reserved for special occasions, it takes me back to when I worked at The Oberoi Grand hotel and the Bijoya celebrations between the Durga Puja and Kali Puja festivals. Malai refers to the creamy, tender meat inside a young coconut.

Serves two

Ingredients

400g large freshwater prawns, peeled and deveined

1 tsp ground turmeric

1 tsp salt

2 bay leaves

3 red onions, blended to a fine paste

1 tbsp ground cumin

2 tbsp ginger and garlic paste

2 green chillies, slit lengthways

250ml shellfish stock

75ml coconut milk

tsp sugar

4-5 green cardamom pods, ground

1 tbsp coriander, chopped

juice of lime

Method

Marinate the prawns in turmeric and salt for five minutes. Saut the bay leaves and onion paste in vegetable oil over a medium heat for 10 to 12 minutes. Meanwhile, sear the prawns in oil for a minute on each side.

Mix turmeric, ground cumin and ginger-garlic paste in 75ml water, add to the sauted onions, and cook gently for two to three minutes, stirring.

Add the remaining salt, green chillies and prawns and stir for a minute.

Add the stock, then mix in the coconut milk and simmer for two or three minutes, adding more stock if necessary.

Season and sprinkle on the ground cardamom and chopped coriander.

Squeeze over the lime juice and serve with basmati rice.

From Spice at Home by Vivek Singh (Absolute Press, 25); cinnamonclub.com

On my first trip to the Philippines with my wife, Irha, she took me straight to Caf Laguna in Cebu, where shes from. Its a popular local restaurant thats always packed. I had eaten Philippine adobo before, in Dubai but the adobo at Laguna was the best Id ever had. It makes such a difference eating a national dish in its place of origin.

Afterwards I had to go to my mother-in-laws house to taste the family recipe. Initially, I was worried: what if I didnt like her mothers version as much? Thankfully it was amazing, and Irhas mother taught me how to cook it. Now we enjoy this recipe as a family at home and it always brings back memories of that astonishing trip.

Pollen Street Social, London W1 (pollenstreetsocial.com)

In this region of Spain, on the Portuguese border, the black pigs roam semi-wild, feasting on acorns before they become exquisite iberico pork. From the pigs, they also make sausages and the most amazing smoked paprika, garlic and cumin-spiked chorizos. I tried it while I was there, grilled over open flames (there may be nothing better than that smell for grabbing attention at a gathering), alongside roasted peppers. Its the finest chorizo Ive found, made even better by the cooling saffron aioli.

Serves four

Ingredients

350g soft, spicy cooking chorizo (about six sausages), peeled

1 large red bell pepper

1 large yellow bell pepper

1 garlic clove, finely chopped

1 tsp thyme leaves

50ml extra virgin olive oil

50ml white balsamic vinegar

2 pinches of saffron strands, infused in a splash of warm water

sea salt and black pepper

200ml aioli or olive oil mayonnaise, to serve

Method

Light the barbecue or use a hot griddle pan.

Put the peppers on the grill and blacken all sides.

Transfer the peppers to the indirect heat zone, and cook for 20 minutes.

Put in a heatproof bowl and cover with cling film.

Leave to steam for 15 minutes, then deseed and peel off the skins. Roughly slice, then put in a bowl with the garlic, thyme, extra virgin olive oil, vinegar and seasoning. Marinate for 15 minutes.

Cut the chorizo in half lengthways, place on the grill and cook for two minutes on each side until lightly charred and cooked through.

Whisk the saffron-infused water into the aioli/mayonnaise.

Spoon the marinated peppers on to the plates and serve with the chorizo and a dollop of aioli.

Norma, 8 Charlotte Street, London W1 (normalondon.com)

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Travel with your taste buds recipes from around the world by Britain's top chefs - Telegraph.co.uk