All posts filed under: Recipes

Michel Roux chocolate fondant recipe

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Everyone loves a good dessert. You’re mad if you don’t. There’s nothing I enjoy more than a sweet and decadent treat at the end of a meal but when it comes to looking for inspiration to create my very own, the first person I turn to is the god of all pastry chef gods, Michel Roux. I received his newest book, Desserts, to review last week. I flicked through and stopped in my tracks when I arrived at the warm chocolate fondant recipe. There is no doubt about the fact that I’ll always choose this dessert if it is on the menu. No doubt. But for some reason I’ve never attempted making it at home, probably because I thought it would go wrong and I’d end up smashing it up with a fork – yes, this has happened in the past and that little tantrum has become a joke in my household. Enjoy with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or a generous glug of double cream. Warm chocolate fondant recipe – serves 10 – …

Jack Daniels truffles – recipe

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I was invited to my friends house for dinner this week. It got to Monday and I started to panic. What was I going to take with me?! A bottle of wine is too boring, a dessert too hard to transport, flowers were out of the question as the host is a man and taking nothing is just plain rude. After much deliberation I settled on Jack Daniels truffles for a sweet post meal treat. Truffles are really fun to make, although pretty messy. I filled the sink with warm water so that I could wash my hands every time they got too chocolatey. Ingredients Makes 20 – 25 truffles • 150ml double cream • Knob of unsalted butter • 150g dark chocolate (at least 70% cocoa solids) • Pinch of sea salt • 2 tsp Jack Daniels • 50g chopped hazelnuts, on a plate • 4 tablespoons cocoa powder, on a plate Method 1. Break up the chocolate into small pieces and place into a large bowl 2. Heat the cream in a pan …

Home made spaghetti recipe

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I love my KitchenAid. Not only does it whip up the best tasting cakes, it also helps me in my quest to making the best fresh spaghetti, thanks to the pasta attachment. Last night I decided, for the second time, to try my hand at making fresh pasta. The first time hadn’t quite gone to plan and I ended up with slightly thicker tagliatelle than I wanted. Combined with too short a cooking time, it was a bit claggy and not overly pleasant. The inspiration for this dish came from one of my favourite food magazines, Donna Hay. I first discovered the magazine on my travels around Australia and was disgruntled when I came home, thinking that I wouldn’t be able to find it over here. I was wrong. Selfridges sells it, albeit at a premium price. But it is imported from Australia and it’s totally worth every penny. I love fresh, simple pasta so decided only to use my handy little tins of Nudo Extra Virgin basil oil, Nudo Extra Virgin Sicilian lemon oil, …

Lemon olive oil cake recipe

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Olive oil cake. What’s all that about then? Well, let me tell you. I first came across cake baked with olive oil at Towpath in Dalston last year. Towpath, if you are wondering, is a delightful little café on the canal in Dalston, run by writer Lori De Mori and photographer Jason Lowe. I wasn’t brave enough at the time to try it, despite reading that it was very delicious. But ever since that day I have been contemplating baking a cake with olive oil, rather than butter. I’ve baked with vegetable oil before and been impressed with the results, but it was only when I was in touch with the lovely team at Nudo that I finally bit the bullet. I was sent a tin of Nudo Extra Virgin olive oil with lemons to try, which I decided I would use to bake a lemon loaf cake. Good choice. I found this recipe on Completely Delicious and substituted the lemons and extra virgin olive oil for my nifty little tin of Nudo. The whipped …

Ottolenghi caramel and macadamia cheesecake recipe

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A few years ago I found myself exploring an area of London that I had never been before. It was a far cry from the areas that I had been spending so much of my time during university. As I was casually meandering down Upper Street in Islington, I stopped dead in my tracks when I caught glimpse of the biggest meringues I had ever seen out of the corner of my eye. Now, even though I don’t really care much for meringues, what was beyond the mountain of giant white rock like meringues flecked with luscious red raspberry was utterly appealing. I stepped inside, amongst the hustle and bustle and gawped at the array of freshly baked cakes that lay in front of me for a good ten minutes before I decided on which one I wanted to take away with me. I’m not very good at making decisions at the best of times so present me with a huge range of delicious looking cakes and we have a problem. Stood on a cake …