Trio Of Rhubarb Recipe

Trio Of Rhubarb Recipe

This recipe in total needs 4 medium sized pieces of rhubarb, with the ends chopped off. Before you can make each part of this dessert, you need to bake the rhubarb in the oven. Cut each piece into 10cm pieces and place them onto a baking tray. Heat the oven to 180 degrees C. Sprinkle a little caster sugar over the uncooked rhubarb. Bake it in the oven for 15 minutes, b doing this the rhubarb cooks but still keeps its beautiful pink colour, this adds to the visual effects of the dish. Once it has baked, drain off any liquid or syrup and set it aside to cool

Elderflower and Rhubarb Jelly

150ml elderflower cordial

75g caster sugar
4 gelatine leaves
1 10cm piece of cooked rhubarb

Put the elderflower cordial and the sugar into a pot and slowly bring it to the boil, as soon as it has reach boiling point, remove it from the stove. In a separate bowl, place all the gelatine leaves into it, and cover with cold water, allowing the gelatine to soak. Once the cordial and sugar has heated, squeeze and excess water out from the gelatine, and whisk it into the cordial.

Line a bread tin with cling film, this makes removing the set jelly easier. Pour the mix of cordial and gelatine into the tin.

Cut the rhubarb into small cubes or pieces and drop them into the jelly mixture, place it into the fridge and let it set

Rhubarb Tart and Rhubarb Shot

This is done in two separate stages, but they both require the remaining rhubarb to be cooked out a little further and sweetened with some caster sugar. Place all the remaining rhubarb into a non stick pot on a medium to low heat. Generously pour in some caste sugar, there is no exact measurement, because some rhubarb is sweeter or sourer, so it just depends. Let the rhubarb cook on a low heat, all you want is to make it sweeter, so if you need to add more sugar and cook further until you have reached the sweetness you want, and also so that all the sugar has dissolved. Once the rhubarb is cooked and sweet enough, remove it from the stove, and drain off any excess liquid.

Rhubarb Tart

½ a roll of easy roll puff pastry

Cooked out rhubarb

Unroll the pastry onto a floured surface. Cut out square pieces that are roughly 7cm by 7cm and place them onto a lined tray.

 

Note: They do not have to be squares, or that size, it is up to you and how you want the final plate to look

Once you have cut out 10 squares and placed them all onto the lined tray, using a fork, make holes in the centre on each square, you want to allow air to be let out during the baking process. Using a teaspoon, place some cooked rhubarb onto each square, over the fork holes. The idea is, is that the pastry will rise up around the rhubarb when it’s in the oven. Try and not get any excess liquid onto the pastry when you spoon on the rhubarb. Bake the tarts in the oven for 10-12 minutes at 180 degrees C, you want the pastry to have a golden colour, and also make sure the pastry on the bottom of each tart s cooked.

Rhubarb Shot

All the remaining rhubarb

2 single shots of cognac

Pour the cognac over the cooled cooked rhubarb and mix it in well, place it into the fridge and let all the flavours infuse for at least 2 hours. When it is time to serve the whole dish, place the cognac rhubarb into shot glasses, filling each glass about ¾ full. When you serve the dish, whip up some sweetened cream and make a quenelle with two teaspoons.

When I serve this dish, I use some raspberry coulis to decorate the plate, and some edible flowers to garnish each part of the dessert.

Bon Appétit

 

Fish Cake Recipe

 

Ingredients 

1 kg lightly poached white fish like cod or haddock

200g lightly poached smoked haddock or cod
1.2kg dry mashed potato
14ml anchovy essence
30ml Worcestershire sauce
20g English mustard
Chopped parsley
¼ bunch spring onions, finely chopped
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

 

Method

Mix the mashed potato with half the of the fish, anchovy essence, Worcestershire sauce, mustard and season with salt and pepper.

 

Depending on the consistency of the mix add a little potato powder if necessary. Fold in the remaining fish and mould into 200 g cakes.

 

Bon Appétit

Pistachio Biscotti Recipe

Ingredients:

800g flour
450g caster sugar
40g cornflour
180g blanched pistachios
10g baking powder
250g butter
4 eggs
20ml vanilla essence

Method:

Pre-heat the oven to 185ºC full fan

Mix all of the ingredients together on a mixing machine until a smooth paste is formed. Mould the mix into a 10cm wide loaf shape and it put onto a silicone lined baking tray.

Bake for about 10-15 minutes and then leave it to cool.

Slice the loaf into ¼ cm slices and put them onto a clean silicone lined baking tray.  Turn the oven to ½ fan, and return and bake for about 10 minutes until crisp, then turn the slices over and bake again for another 5-7 minutes until the slices of biscotti are crisp.  Cool and store in containers until needed.

Notes:

Biscotti is something that keeps well, if it is kept in a air tight container. The trick with it is, to bake it, cool it, and then pack it away and keep it in a cool dry place.

I have done it before, where I have made a large quantity of the recipe, baked off the loaves, and then instead of cutting them and drying them, I let them cool, and wrap them in cling film really well and freeze them. You can keep them in the freezer for about 3 months before the quality of the ingredients and the finished product is affected by the freezer. If you do freeze a loaf of biscotti, when you need to use it, take it out and let is thaw over night, then slice it and dry it, as you would a loaf that you have freshly baked. Again once you have dried out the slices, pack them into an air tight container, and store it in a cool, dry place until you need it

Bon appétit

Panna Cotta Recipe

Ingredients

3 leaves of gelatin

250ml milk
375ml double cream
50 g caster sugar
¼  lemon, zested
7.5 ml brandy
1 vanilla pod, split and scraped

Method

 

Soak the gelatin leaves in cold water until soft. Bring the milk, cream, sugar, vanilla & lemon zest to the boil,  then remove from the heat and add the gelatin & brandy. Pass through a fine chinois & cool. Pour the mix moulds or even glasses that you could serve the dessert in. Set in the fridge, preferably over night

Dessert like this go really well with fresh seasonal fruits or a berry coulis.

 

The picture above is a panna cotta I made with goats cheese, and I served it with berry coulis, stewed orange segments, fresh basil, and hazelnut biscotti. The dish worked really well and all the ingredients complimented one another.

Macaroon Recipe

Macaroon Recipe

Ingredients

1kg Icing sugar

550g Ground almonds
550g Fresh egg white
150g Caster sugar

Method 

Pre-heat oven to 170ºc

Sieve the icing sugar and ground almond together. Whisk the egg whites and the sugar together. Fold the icing sugar and almonds into the egg whites until well mixed then pipe onto silicone paper.  Sprinkle with nibbed almonds and rest for 1 hour, bake till just coloured.

The macaroons can be sandwiched together with jam, ganache or a flavoured butter cream.

The recipe above is a pretty basic recipe, and you could always add colours with food colouring to your mix to give your macaroons a great colourful look. The colouring should not change the taste of the macaroon at all, and I would recommend adding the colour to your whipped egg white mix before you add it to the almonds. Make sure the egg whites have been whipped prior to you adding the colour

Places to buy macaroons

Ladurée has to be by far the shopping destination if you are as crazy about Macaroons as I am. Recently we took a trip to Paris and stopped in at Ladurée to buy some macaroons to bring home with us. The flavors, choices, and colours are all amazing. There’s licorice, chestnut, strawberry and mint. It is an experience in itself just being in Paris and buying these culinary delights. Nothing compares.

There are a few stores open now in London, and a lot more stores around the world. If you happen to pass one, stop, go inside, and let the experience run away with you

Chocolate Pot, fresh berries and Creme Anglaise pudding

Chocolate Pot Recipe

 

Anything that is made with chocolate catches my attention, this dessert in particular is something special. The rich chocolate, served with classic creme anglaise, and some fresh berries, makes for the perfect end to a great meal

Makes 6

Ingredients

167g Dark chocolate
267g Butter
3.5gYeast
40g Caster sugar
2 Whole eggs
53g Pasteurised egg yolk
33g Strong flour
Zest of 1 orange

Method

Pre-grease and line moulds with silicone paper, line the bases with a disc of soaked chocolate sponge cake.

Melt the chocolate and butter over a water bath and combine well.  DO NOT OVER HEAT.

Dissolve the yeast in a little water and mix it into the melted chocolate with the flour and orange zest. Whisk the whole eggs, yolks and sugar to a sabayon until it has doubled in volume then fold it into the chocolate mix. Fill each mould ¾ of the way full

Bake at 190ºc (full fan) for 9 minutes.

Serve this with some crème anglaise, and if you are a fan of either fresh cherries of seasonal berries, they go so well with this dessert. The mix of warm custard, rich chocolate and fresh berries makes for a balanced and super delicious dessert.

 

Bon Appétit

Candy Beetroot Salad with Feta, Pears, Cucumber and Mint

Beetroot, Pear and Feta Salad Recipe

Ingredients

2 small candy beetroots, washed and sliced very thinly on a mandolin

3 ripe pears, peeled cored and cut into matchsticks
1 lemon
1 small bunch of mint
1/4 cup salted cashew nuts
1/4 cup sesame seeds
1/4 cup chick peas
1/2 cup of roughly minced feta
1/2 cucumber, peeled skinned & cut into matchsticks

Beetroot is not just that jarred, vinegary, crinkle cut chunks of purple vegetable that you mom tried to force you to eat as a child, but in fact a crunchy and juicy root vegetable. They can be oven roasted and pan fried in chunks, sliced thinly and eaten raw, shallow fried or baked and made into amazing crisps, or put into fresh juices.

Method:

Combine the beetroot, pears and cucumber together in a bowl. Dress them with a good squeeze of lemon juice and drizzle with olive oil as well as some salt & pepper for seasoning.

Arrange this on a plate then roughly crumble the feta and spread it over evenly, with the fresh mint contrasting the colour.

Sprinkle on some sesame seeds, chick peas and almonds.

Bon Appétit

Smoked Salmon and Celeriac Salad Recipe

Smoked Salmon and Celeriac Salad Recipe

I made this dish the other day for a corporate lunch function, and it was a huge success

This recipe will serve 2 people

Ingredients

160g Oak smoked salmon
50g Mascarpone cheese
80ml Double Cream
2 Sprigs of dill
Juice from half a fresh lemon
1/2 a large Celeriac
50ml fresh honey
Green Oil ( Olive oil mixed with dill and blitzed in a food processor)
Baby Green basil
Baby Purple Basil

Method

Peel or trim the skin off the celeriac, and then cut it into small cubes, roughly 2cm by 2cm. Place the cubes onto a lined baking tray, lightly drizzle with olive oil, and then drizzle the honey over the cubes. The honey doesn't have to completely cover the celeriac, it just has to be enough on each cube, so that when it roasts, each piece will have a honey flavour. Place the tray into an oven at 180 degrees C, and roast for 8minutes, or until the honey starts to caramelise.

In the mean time, make to large roses of salmon, and 4 small roses, equally sized and portioned. Place them in the fridge until you need them.

Take the mascarpone and double cream and place it into a mixing bowl. Chop the dill until it is really fine. Mix the dill in with the cream and cheese mix, and squeeze in the lemon juice. Mix it together until it is well incorporated, taste it, and adjust the seasoning if needed. The mix should be soft enough that you can swipe it across a plate, but firm enough to hold when you swipe it.

To Plate 

Place a large tablespoon of the cream and cheese mix on the left hand side, in the centre, of the plate. Using a clean teaspoon, place the spoon into the mix, and swipe it in any direction across the plate, dragging the mix to create the swipe.

Place 1 large salmon rose and 2 small roses on each plate, spacing them apart. Place the warm roasted celeriac on the plate, about 6-8 cubes per plate.

Garnish the dish with the purple and green basil, and dots of green oil

Bon Appétit