Tiramisu Recipe

Serves: 6-8

Ingredients:

500g Mascarpone Cheese
5 eggs separated
½ cup castor sugar
pinch Salt
Sponge biscuits, to line dishes
¼ cup strong espresso coffee
4 Tbsp Brandy or Rum
Cocoa Powder

Method:

Beat the mascarpone cheese until it soft. In a Separate bowl beat the egg yolks with the sugar (reserving 1 tablespoon) until the mixture is pale, yellow and fluffy. Gradually beat in the softened Mascarpone cheese.

Beat the egg whites with the salt until they reach soft peak. Fold the egg whites into the cheese mixture. Line a dish, or even individual glasses with sponge biscuits. Add the reserved sugar to the coffee and stir in brandy

Sprinkle the coffee over biscuits, just to moisten them, you want to avoid making the biscuit to soggy.

Cover with half of the egg mixture, then another layer of biscuits with coffee sprinkled onto them, and then the rest of egg mixture.

Sprinkle with cocoa powder. Put the dessert into the fridge for one hour to set before serving.

If you want to add more flavour and colour to this dessert, you can do a layer of raspberries or even mixed berries between the cheese mixture and the biscuit mix. It looks great when you serve it in individual glasses.

To garnish you can use some more fresh colourful berries, as well as chocolate shavings. Again this served and garnished in individual glasses looks amazing

Bon Appétit

 

Tuna Nicoise Salad Recipe

Serves 2 people as a starter

Ingredients

50g pitted Kalamata Olives

4 cherry tomatoes, both red and yellow

10 Green Beans

4 new potatoes

4 quail eggs

1 side of fresh tuna

Dill

Olive oil

Baby basil or other micro cress to serve

Rock Salt

Juice of half a lemon

 

Method

 

Slice the new potatoes in half and steam them until they are cooked all the way through, but not so much that they become too soft, rinse them with cold water until they are completely cooled, drain and set aside.

 

Trim the beans. Blanch the green beans until al dente, they should still have their entire colour and be crunchy when they are bitten. Cut each bean in half. Set aside

 

Slice the tomatoes in half and set aside.

 

Take about half a bunch of fresh dill, and place it into a blender, pour in about 100ml of olive oil and blend, you should have a green oil that is easy to pour, like a dressing. If you need to, add more oil, or dill, whichever is needed to get the consistency you would like

 

Bring a pot of water to a rapid boil, and then place the quail eggs inside, boil for 1 minute 30 seconds, then remove the eggs and place them in water that has ice in it, you want to cool the eggs as quickly as possible. To make peeling them easier, add some white vinegar to the water that they are cooling in. Peel the eggs and then cut them in half, length ways.

 

Take the tune and season it with some rock salt, and then pour over a little of the dill oil you have prepared, this is just to give it some extra flavour and colour when you fry it

 

Heat up a griddle pan with a little oil, and when the pan is really hot, add the tuna. Fry the tuna until it has the marks of the pan on it, and then do the same for the other side, You want to keep the tuna a bit pink and rare in the middle, so do not overcook it

 

Now that you have all the components of the dish ready, it’s time to plate them up.

 

Place the green beans in the centre of the plate, then place the tomatoes, olives and egg halves and potatoes around the beans, as well as a few elements on top of the beans to give the dish a bit of ‘lift’. Then take the tuna, and break it with your fingers into chunks. Drizzle the dill oil around the plate and on the ingredients, but remember dill has a very strong flavour so do not be too generous.

 

Bon Appétit

Orange and Chocolate Tart Recipe

 

 

Ingredients

50g orange zest

600g dark chocolate
250g whole eggs
120g pasteurised egg yolk
120g sugar
100ml water
400g soft butter
100ml grand mariner

Method 

Pre heat the oven to 110 C full fan

Have a pre-baked and sealed tart shell.  Melt the chocolate over a water bath and gently mix in the softened butter. Blanch the zest in boiling water, re-fresh and strain. Add the alcohol and zest to the chocolate butter

Whisk the sugar into the eggs and yolks and whisk to a sabayon, the sugar and eggs must have doubled in volume. 

Carefully fold the two mixes together and pour into the tart shell and bake for 15 minutes until just set.  Cool and store the tart in the fridge.  Cut in 12 portions and serve at room temp.

Bon Appétit

Rocket, Pear and Parmesan Salad Recipe

Ingredients

200g Rocket leaves
1 Pear
150g shaved Parmesan

Method

Put the washed rocket leaves into a bowl, and drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle on a pinch of rock salt. Toss the leaves in the bowl so that all the leaves get a light coating of the olive oil.

Slice the pear very thinly and place the slices into a bowl of water that has a little lemon juice in it, set aside until you have finished preparing the Parmesan.

With a peeler, 'peel' the cheese to get the Parmesan shavings.

Drain the pear from the lemon water, and place it into the bowl with the rocket, then add the Parmesan cheese. Drizzle a little more olive oil over the salad, and toss everything together.

Bon Appetit

Serves 2 people

 

Roasted Tomato and Basil Soup Recipe

Ingredients:

75ml olive oil

1kg ripe tomatoes
3g garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
100g carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
100g onions, peeled and roughly chopped
100g leeks, roughly chopped and washed
42.5g tomato puree
1 liter vegetable stock

10g basil

Method:

Heat the olive oil in a thick-bottomed pan. Add the tomatoes, garlic and vegetables and roast in a medium oven for about 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the tomato puree and return to the oven for another 15 – 20 minutes.

Transfer the tomatoes and vegetables to a pan with the stalks from the basil and the vegetable stock. Bring to the boil, season and simmer for 30 minutes. Add the basil leaves and remove from the heat. Blend the soup with a stick blender until smooth, then strain through a fine meshed sieve. Adjust the seasoning.

A soup like this is so easy to make, and super tasty, and if you wanted to take this dish one step further, you could make your own bread or bread rolls to serve with it. See my bread recipes

Bon Appétit

Chocolate Éclairs Recipe

Ingredients:

1cup water
125g butter
1 cup plain flour, sifted
4 eggs
300ml cream, whipped
150g dark chocolate, melted

Method:

Preheat oven to 210’C.

Brush two baking trays with oil.

Combine the water and butter in a small pan. Stir over medium heat until butter melts. Bring to the boil, and then remove the pan from the heat.

Add the sifted flour all at once. Return the pan to the heat and stir with a wooden spoon until mixture leaves the sides of the pan and forms a ball around the spoon. Transfer the mixture to a large bowl. Cool Slightly. Add eggs one at a time beating well after each addition, until the mixture is thick, smooth and shiny. 

Spoon the mixture into a piping bag fitted with a 1.5cm plain nozzle. Pipe roughly 12-15cm in length onto a prepared tray, leaving room between each one for expansion.

Bake for 10-15 minutes. Reduce the heat to 180’c. Bake for another 15 minutes or until golden and firm. Split each éclair, removing any uncooked dough. Fill puffs with cream. Coat the tops liberally with the melted chocolate.

Bon Appétit

Short Crust Pastry Recipe

Ingredients

500g strong flour

5g baking powder
5g salt
250g lard
250ml approx cold water

Method 

Cut the cold lard into small pieces.  Using a mixer on speed number 1, bring the lard, flour, salt and baking powder to a fine breadcrumb texture.  Slowly add the water (you may not need it all) to form a soft dough, do not over mix.  Wrap in Cling Film and store in the fridge until needed.

 

Bon Appetit

Leek and Wild Mushroom Tart

Ingredients

60g butter
500g leeks, cut into a rough 1 cm dice and washed
100ml double cream
50g parmesan cheese, grated
150g wild mushrooms, trimmed and washed
1 egg yolk
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
200-300g  short crust pastry

Method

 

On a floured table roll out the pastry to ½ cm thick and line 4 tartlet moulds measuring about 8-10 cm x 2-3 cm deep. Rest the pastry in the fridge for 1 hour.

Pre-heat the oven to 175°c. Meanwhile melt the butter in a thick bottomed pan, add the leeks and lightly season with salt and pepper then cook over a low heat with a lid on for about 15 minutes stirring every so often. Add the wild mushrooms and continue to cook with the lid on for another 10 minutes. Add the double cream and Parmesan and simmer for a further 6 or 7 minutes. Leave to cool a little then stir in the egg yolk and season again if necessary.

Line the tartlets with greaseproof paper, fill with baking beans and blind bake for 10-15 minutes until the pastry is light golden. Remove the paper and beans and leave to cool a little, and then remove the pastry carefully from the tins.

Fill the tarts with the leek mixture and bake on a tray for 15-20 minutes until golden.

 

You can serve this with a pepper rocket and baby spinach leaf salad.

Bon Appétit

Chicken Liver Parfait

Ingredients

110g chicken livers, cleaned

110g unsalted butter, melted and hot
80ml port
80ml red wine
80ml Madeira
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
2 shallots, peeled and roughly chopped
A few sprigs of thyme
1 bay leaf
1tsp salt rose (or make it 2tsp salt if not available)
1tsp salt
1tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 egg yolks
1 whole egg

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 180°C.

Put the port, red wine, Madeira, garlic, thyme and bay leaf into a saucepan, bring to the boil and continue boiling until it has reduced to a couple of tablespoons. Strain through a fine meshed sieve. Put the chicken livers into a liquidiser with the hot butter, alcohol reduction, egg yolks and whole egg. Add the salt and pepper and salt rose and mix well.

Transfer the mixture into small, sterilised jars or a suitable sized terrine mould or loaf tin. Place a piece of grease proof paper on the mix if you are using a terrine and cover with a lid or close the lids if using jars.

Place the jars or terrine in a deep roasting tray and fill with hot water three quarters of the way up the jars or terrine.

Cook for 45 minutes in the oven, and then remove then parfait from the tray and leave to cool.

 

When I serve this dish, I would serve it with some thinly sliced bread that has been toasted and drizzled with olive oil.

 

Bon Appétit

Leek Soup with Chanterelle Mushrooms

 

Ingredients

 

500g leeks, finely sliced and washed

125g onion, peeled and finely sliced

50g Chanterelle / Mushroom trimmings (not ceps)

20 ml vegetable oil

15g plain flour

Parsley stalks

1.25 liters vegetable stock

35g cooked spinach

Seasoning

 

Method

Gently cook the leeks and onion in the vegetable oil without colouring them, cook them until they are soft. Reduce the heat, add the flour and work it well into the leeks & onions, you want to “cook the flour out” for 5 minutes, then add the mushroom trimmings, parsley stalks & the vegetable stock. Cook over a high heat for 10 minutes & then add the cooked spinach, cook for 2 minutes, then remove from the heat and blend in a food processor until smooth.

 

Garnish

4g sautéed chanterelle mushrooms         

4g cooked leek