Paul's cooking .......

Chocolate cake

I am not really a dessert type person - main course is as the name suggests the highlight of any meal for me. However just occasionally I will indulge in this fantastically dense, rich cake which tastes great warm or cold. In fact, assuming you have the self-discipline, this cake tastes even better the day after baking.

Ingredients

70 g un-salted softened butter

100 g good quality dark chocolate

3 medium eggs, seperated

60 g icing sugar

30g finely chopped almond nuts

1 level tablespoon plain flour

a sprinkle of caster sugar

Before cooking first separate the three egg yolks and whites.

Now, begin by breaking up the chocolate and placing it in a bowl and putting the bowl over a pan of boiling water. Reduce the heat on the pan to take the water off the boil and allow the chocolate to melt almost completely.

Just before the chocolate has completely melted, add 50 g of the softened butter and stir into the chocolate using a spatula. Immediately add the 3 egg yolks, stirring continuously, followed by the icing sugar, finely chopped almonds, and the flour. Stir until everything is blended beautifully.

Remove the bowl from the pan, and set aside allowing the mix to cool a little.

Pre-heat the oven to 180 C.

Take a very clean mixing bowl and add the 3 egg whites with the caster sugar. Start by whisking slowly and gradually increase whisking speed. Whisk until the whisk leaves traces in the whites and they no longer stick to the sides of the bowl.

Take a quarter of the whisked whites and fold into the chocolate mixture. When incorporated, gently fold in the rest of the whites, and continue slowly until all traces of white have disappeared.

Take an 8 inch round cake tin (or rectangular), grease with the remaining butter and sprinkle in a little flour. Shake the flour around the greased cake tin and tap out any excess. Take the batter and carefully fill the cake tin, making it smooth on top.

Place the cake tin in the bottom half of the oven and bake for 20 minutes.

Now slip the blade of the knife into the cake to see if it is done or not. It should emerge with the edges dry, but the centre still reasonably moist.

Remove the cake from the baking tin, and turn upside down onto a cooling rack.

The cake can be ate warm or cool. As I said earlier, it tastes best the day after, but can you wait that long?

Serve with creme fraiche, yoghurt, vanilla ice cream, or a favourite of mine raspberry sorbet!

Enjoy!!!

Roast beef and yorkshire pudding

 

A small confession to begin with! For many years, although I love roast beef. it was my least favourite meat to cook. I always felt it was the meat I cooked least well - pork, lamb, poultry I have cooked with confidence, and always been pleased with the results - beef less so.

Then I read an excellent book called Sunday Roast by Clarissa Dickson Wright and Johnny Scott and finally it all fell into place. 

Firstly choose your meat carefully - it is better to buy a cheaper cut of meat from a good butcher, than a good cut of meat from a cheap butcher if cost is a consideration. Always ask for a piece that has properly hung, the meat should not be bright red, it should be much darker - Johnny Scott suggests somewhere "between garnet-coloured and near black. We are also looking for meat with  a good layer of fat on top and plenty of marbling throughout. 

I'm cooking a rib of beef here, a 2.25 kg joint will comfortably serve 8.

Ingredients

1 rib of beef - 2.0 -2.25kg

sea salt, black pepper and good quality mustard powder

an onion, or perhaps a couple of carrots

for the yorkshire pudding:

165g plain flour

salt and freshly ground black pepper

3 eggs

450 ml milk

beef dripping or goose fat

As with all meat it is important to bring the joint up to room temperature before cooking, so remove from the fridge at least two hours before cooking. If cooking for lunch, I generally remove the night before and leave uncovered in the kitchen (no central heating on). The effect is quite startling, the meat loosens, the fat turns a creamy yellow and yes, the kitchen will smell of meat!

Take a large roasting tin and place the rib of beef  with the bone side down. Now take the onion or carrots, slice the onion in two, and tuck in the space under the ribs , they will roast and caramelise wonderfully whilst the meat roasts and add great flavour to the gravy.

If not already done so by the butcher, cross-hatch the fat carefully with a sharp knife (try not to cut through to the meat). Mix the sea salt, black pepper and mustard powder and rub into the fat on the top of the joint.

Pre-heat the oven to 230 C.

Just a note on cooking times here. Meat on the bone cooks quicker than meat off the bone. obviously cooking times differ depending upon the oven, and particularly the accuracy of the oven thermostat but generally the following is true. Cooking time for very rare is 12-13 minutes per 500g, 15-16 minutes for rare, 20 minutes for medium to well done. I usually go for 18 minutes per 500 g, but 20 is probably the safe option for guests who don't like too much rare meat in the middle. (Off the bone, timings are 15, 20 and 25 minutes respectively).

Incidentally if using a meat thermometer, insert away from the bone and fat for accuracy - rare will be at 51 C, medium-rare 54 C and medium 60 C. Please allow for the fact that the internal temperature of the meat will rise by approximately 2 C during 15 minutes of resting.

Place the meat in the middle of the oven and roast for 15 minutes at 230 C (if the joint is 2.5kg 18 minutes, over 2.75 kg 20 minutes). After the allotted time, turn the oven temperature down to 160 C and cook for the remaining time, using the timings above.

When done remove the rib of beef from the oven and allow to rest on a warm serving plate for 15 minutes. Don't worry the beef will continue to cook whilst standing, and be lovely and juicy, and most importantly easier to carve for having rested.

Now for the Yorkshire Puddings!

 

Sift the flour with some salt and pepper into a bowl and make a well in the middle. Add the eggs and mix well. Now add the milk using 2/3 rds initially and then adding more until happy with the consistency of the batter. We're looking for a good thick batter, not too runny. Try and beat in as much air as possible, but don't over beat. Allow the batter mix to stand for 30 minutes.

I'll assume that we have two ovens here, but if not I'll cover that in a second!. Preheat the oven to 220 C and get the pudding tin in the oven with a tablespoon of dripping or fat in each individual mould. When the oven has reached temperature remove the pudding tin, and to ensure that the fat is smoking hot I place the pudding tin on the hob - just be careful, no accidents!

Quickly pour in the batter mix into each mould and get it back into the oven. Bake for 25 - 30 minutes, but resist the temptation to open the door to monitor progress!

Now if there's only 1 oven available, turn the temperature up from 160 to 220 C, and reduce the beef cooking time by 10 minutes to allow for the higher temperature. The beef will only have 10 minutes at the higher temperature as it will be resting for 15 minutes. This will also allow the potatoes to crisp up if using the same oven.

Use the delicious juices and fats, plus roasting vegetables to make the most delicious gravy, which I'll cover in another recipe.

Bring the rib joint to the table in one piece. Carve at the table and serve with roast potatoes, gravy and some horseradish sauce or mustard.

The most British of all dishes ! Enjoy!

Caramel ice cream with chocolate sauce

Home-made ice cream made from simple fresh ingredients far surpass anything found in stores. The advent of the home ice-dream maker ensures that delicious ice cream is a relatively simple process, yet provides a fantastic dessert. Here's one of my favourites with a fabulous chocolate sauce:

 Ingredients:

185 g caster sugar plus 2 tablespoons

2 tablespoons water

1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

240 ml double cream

4 large egg yolks

pinch of salt

375 ml wholefat milk

1 tablespoon vanilla essence, or 1 vanilla pod

Firstly we will make the caramel. Use a heavy 2L saucepan and combine the caster sugar (185 g) with 2 tablespoons of water and the lemon juice. Heat over a medium high flame, stirring with a wooden spoon until the sugar dissolves. Stop stirring at this point and continue cooking until the syrup turns an amber colour. Just a note of caution, the sugar caramelises between 160 -180 C, so exercise extreme caution, it can cause serious burns. 

Remove the pan from the heat, and very carefully pour 180ml of the double cream into the hot syrup, ensuring it does not splash. With a long-handled wooden spoon stir until smooth. Place back onto a medium heat and cook further until bubbles appear around the edges of the pan - no more than 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside.

Now combine in a bowl the egg yolks, salt, the 2 tablespoons of sugar and the remaining 60 ml of double cream. Whisk until smooth and then pour in the milk and if using, the vanilla pod .

Add the above to the warm caramel and cook over a medium/low heat stirring constantly with a wooden spoon until it is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. This should take 4 - 6 minutes. Strain the custard through a sieve into a large bowl. If using vanilla essence, add now.

Cool in a larger bowl or perhaps the sink filled with cold water and ice cubes, if available, stirring occasionally until cool. Now take some cling film and cover with the cling film touching the surface of the custard to prevent a skin forming. Refrigerate for a minimum of 3 hours and up to 24 hours. Incidentally the flavour develops over a period of time, so a better ice cream is created if the custard is left overnight.

Pour the chilled custard into your ice-cream maker, and following manufacturers instructions make your ice cream. Alternatively place into a container, into the freezer and fork the mixture regularly to break up the ice crystals to create a smooth ice cream.

This ice-cream goes wonderfully with a chocolate sauce, recipe below:

Chocolate sauce

Ingredients:

185 g unsalted butter

60 g bitter, high quality chocolate

20 g unsweetened cocoa powder

250 g caster sugar

pinch of salt

250 ml double cream

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Using a double-boiler slowly let the chocolate and butter melt to a liquid consistency. Whilst the chocolate and butter are melting, mix the unsweetened cocoa, sugar and salt. When the chocolate and butter have melted, stir and add the sugar/cocoa mix and stir to combine well. Now add the double cream and bring the bowl to the boil in the double boiler. (ie turn the heat up high under the double boiler, until the water is boiling hard)

Once the sauce is at the boil, remove from the heat and allow to cool for a few minutes before stirring in the vanilla.

Allow the sauce to cool to room temperature before spooning over the delicious caramel ice cream. Any left over sauce will keep in the fridge for 3 days.

This is a great treat, and will thrill the most sophisticated of adult palettes whilst clearly being super popular with children.

Enjoy and make time and time again!

Fig, honey and mascarpone tart

The fig is a fruit like no other, it is historic, ancient and evocative. Like all the best things, the second crop has a short season, so you have to savour it before it is gone again for another year. We're getting to the end of the season, so why not finish off with this delicious tart.

Ingredients

For the sweet pastry:

225g plain flour

125g fridge-cold butter

90g caster sugar

2 egg yolks

For the filling:

12 figs

2 tablespoons honey

6 tablespoons mascarpone cheese

150g creme fraiche

2 large egg yolks

4 tablespoons caster sugar

Place the flour in a large mixing bowl, and cut the cold butter into small chunks. With clean hands, rub the butter and flour between your finger and thumb tips until the mix resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar and add the egg yolks. 

Mix in the eggs with your hands until the mix is bound together. It may be necessary to add a couple of drops of water, but please exercise caution! When you have a soft ball of dough, cover with cling film and cool in the fridge for 1 hour.

After cooling, roll out the pastry on a floured surface so that it will fit a deep 25cm tart tin. Lift the pastry, and place into the tart tin, pushing the pastry lightly into the corners. 

Prick the pastry with a fork, place a piece of greaseproof paper over it, and weigh down with  dried beans or rice. Rest the pastry whilst the oven heats up to 180C. Bake the pastry for 20 minutes. Take out of the oven, remove the dried beans/rice and the  greaseproof paper and pop back in the oven for a further 5 minutes. Remove and allow to cool a little.

Take your figs and cut deep crosses into them. Place the figs into the tart tin, ensuring each fig opens up. Stuff  the mascarpone  into each of the open figs.Take the honey ( a thyme flavoured honey would be fantastic) and pour over the fruit. Now mix the creme fraiche with the eggs and the caster sugar. Carefully pour over the fruit.

Place back into the oven and bake for up to 35 minutes, or until the edges of the pastry are nicely browned and the mascarpone, fig juices and creme fraiche mix have formed a nice light custard.

Remove carefully from the oven and allow to cool and set.

Serve, enjoy and be prepared to fight over seconds!

Baked quince with cinnamon, bay and honey

Quince is an amazing fruit. When raw it has a hard, tannic flesh, and is often furry to touch, therefore rendering it unpalatable. A little patience in the kitchen though, provides a memorable eating experience, golden, perfumed and voluptuous! The added flavours of cinnamon, bay and honey make this dish memorable!

Ingredients

4 quinces

100ml apple juice

squeeze of lemon juice

fine zest of 1 lemon

4 tablespoons good quality honey

4 bay leaves

2 cinnamon sticks

1 vanilla pod, split

Creme fraiche to serve

Preheat the oven to 150 C. Whilst the oven is warming, wipe the quinces clean and remove any of the furry layer with a dry cloth. Quarter them lengthways, leave the pips and core intact and place in a baking tray cut side up.

Pour the apple juice over the quince and give a good squeeze of lemon juice also. Scatter over the cinnamon sticks, bay leaves and lemon zest. Add the vanilla pod. Finally, drizzle the honey over the quince.

Take a sheet of foil and cover the baking tray, but not too tightly. Now place in the oven and bake for a minimum of 2 hours, ideally for 2 1/2. Turn the quince after an hour of cooking.

The quince are ready when beautifully sticky and soft, with an amazing burnt orange colour. Remove the cinnamon, bay and vanilla pod. Allow to cool, serving either just warm or at room temperature with a little creme fraiche.

Absolutely delicious, I assure you!

 

Traditional "boiled" christmas cake

In our family the Christmas cake is made at the beginning of October in two parts. Firstly the fruit is boiled in water and orange juice and allowed to stand for several days (3 minimum) at room temperature before being baked in the traditional way and then stored for Christmas.

Rather than being decorated with marzipan and icing, the cake is finished with a glazed fruit and nut topping.The result is an amazingly dark rich and plump cake that is surprisingly light to eat.

Get the Christmas CD out and begin!

Ingredients

225 g butter

225 g sultanas

225 g raisins

110 g currants

55 g chopped mixed peel

55 g glace cherries, chopped

170 g dried apricots

55 g dried apples

110 g dried dates chopped

110 g dried peaches chopped

110 g dried pears chopped

225 g soft brown sugar

grated zest and juice of 1 lemon

grated zest and juice of 1 orange

110 ml water

110 ml orange juice

110 ml brandy

1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground allspice

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon ground cardamon

2 tablespoons black treacle

5 eggs beaten

300 g plain flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

for the fruit topping

340 g seville marmalade

340 g mixed dried fruit and nuts

With Bing warbling in the background (only joking!) place the butter, sultanas, raisin, currants, mixed peel, cherries, apricots, apples, dates, peaches, pears, sugar, lemon and orange juice and zest, water and orange juice into a large pan. Bring to the boil slowly, stirring with a wooden spoon.Cover with a lid and allow to simmer for 10 minutes, removing from the heat immediately after.

Allow the contents to cool slightly before adding the brandy and spices.  The smell at this stage is just amazing! Stir well and transfer into a large bowl. When completely cold, cover well and leave at room temperature for a minimum of 3 days (I leave mine considerably longer, but 3 is a safe compromise). Don't forget to stir daily!

Now for baking the cake. Pre-heat the oven to 170 C. Take a round 25 cm cake tin and line with a double layer of greased greaseproof paper.

Take the fruit mixture and stir in the treacle and beaten eggs. Sift the flour and the baking powder and stir into the cake mixture. It will appear slightly sloppy, but don't worry! Turn the mixture into the lined cake tin and bake in the middle of the pre-heated oven for about 4 and a half hours. Check to see if the skewer comes out clean, and you know the cake is done.

Now leave the cake to cool in the tin. When completely cold, wrap carefully in kitchen foil and leave to mature in a cool dry place.

On Christmas Eve remove the cake from the foil to add the final touches. Take the seville marmalade, add a tablespoon of water and heat in a saucepan until boiling. Pass through a sieve and allow to cool slightly before brushing generously over the top of the cake. Now arrange the dried fruits and nuts over the cake before applying carefully a second coating of the glaze.

A festive ribbon around the cake adds the final touch, but is not strictly necessary!

Serve on Christmas day, and I can assure you this is one Christmas cake that will not last into the New Year!

Enjoy!

Bramley apple crumble

Trying to maintain the seasonal food theme, here's a way of creating a particularly rich version of this great British classic. Bramley's are by far the best cooking apples in my opinion, and of course are abundant at this time of the year!

Ingredients:

6 large Bramley apples, peeled, cored and diced (but not too finely)

225 g unsalted butter

light brown soft sugar to taste

a cinnamon stick

2 star anise

120 g plain flour

zest of half un-waxed lemon

zest of half un-waxed orange

40 g ground almonds

40 g nibbed almonds (skinned almonds cut into small cubes, and toasted)

60 g muscovado sugar

to serve (optional)

1 Bramley apple

fresh custard!

In a heavy bottomed pan saute the peeled and diced bramleys in half the butter over a moderate heat. Add the light brown soft sugar, cinnamon stick and star anise, and cook for around 13 minutes until the apples are caramelised and soft. Now set aside.

Pre-heat the oven to 190 C.

For the crumble begin by putting the flour and the remaining butter in a food processor and pulse until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Alternatively for those that prefer the more traditional method of making crumble, sift the flour into a large bowl and lightly rub in the butter with your fingertips.

Regardless of the method used, when the mix reaches the "breadcrumb" stage stir in the lemon and orange zest, the nibbed and ground almonds and the muscavado sugar. Mix well. 

Here's the unusual bit! Spread the crumble on a baking tray and cook in the over for 10 minutes, move it around once in the cooking process with a fork. Now place the sauteed apples (remove cinnamon and star anise) into an ovenproof dish and cover with the partially cooked crumble. Cook for a further 15 minutes in the oven.

Serving the crumble with slices of caramelised apple add a visual appeal as well as an additional textural and taste experience. Firstly make a sugar syrup from sugar and water reducing it down until the water evaporates leaving a syrupy consistency.  Very finely slice across the apple and carefully dip into the sugar syrup placing on a wire rack. Allow to dry out for a few minutes before placing under a medium grill, and grill each side until caramelised.

Serve each portion of the crumble with a couple of apple slices and warm fresh custard!

A great way to finish a dinner party, or roast pork on a Sunday lunch!

Apricot and almond cake

This is really one of the most delicious cakes ever. The inclusion of lemon syrup makes the cake deliciously moist, and adds a completely fresh dimension to the taste. 

Try, you won't be disappointed!

Ingredients:

230 g unsalted butter

100 g dried apricots, chopped but not too finely

230 g caster sugar

juice and zest of 1 lemon

90 g ground almonds

4 medium sized eggs

100 g plain flour

for the lemon syrup:

1 tablespoon caster sugar

juice of 1 lemon

Prepare a 23 cm round cake tin by lightly buttering and then lining with 2 layers of baking parchment or greaseproof paper. Pre-heat the oven to 180 C.

Take the dried apricots and roughly chop with a sharp knife, or blitz quickly in a food processor.

In a large bowl, beat the sugar and the butter together until light and fluffy - don't skimp on this part of the process - the lightness of the cake comes from here! Now add the lemon juice, zest, ground almonds and beaten eggs and mix thoroughly. Gently fold in the flour and the chopped apricots.

Pour the cake mixture into the lined tin and bake for up to 35 minutes. The cake should be firm and golden with the sides leaving the side of the tin. Remove from the oven and after a couple of minutes turn out onto a plate and carefully remove the baking parchment.

Now to make the lemon syrup. Gently heat the sugar and lemon juice until the sugar has fully dissolved. Immediately pour over the cake whilst it is still warm.

The cake can be served now, warm or later cold. It is delicious served with creme fraiche.

This would be wonderful on a hot summers' afternoon !

Wild strawberries with balsamic vinegar (fragoline di bosco al balsamico)

Throughout Europe, the wild strawberry (fragaria vesca) is a wonderful late summer treat, being much more intensely flavoured and fragrant than the garden variety. Here's an interesting but simple dish that takes a little preparation time but tastes fantastic!

The use of balsamic vinegar is perhaps slightly unusual, but from a taste perspective very welcome! Balsamic vinegar is made from the juice of the Trebbiano grape, cooked and then aged in wooden barrels for anything from 15 to 50 years!

Ingredients

500 g wild strawberries

150 g caster sugar

4 tablespoons good quality balsamic vinegar (or raspberry vinegar as an alternative)

4-8 mint leaves

Place the strawberries in a bowl with the sugar, mix well and allow them to macerate for up to an hour. At the point of serving, mix with the balsamic (or raspberry) vinegar, garnish with the mint leaves, sit down and enjoy a marvelous taste experience!

Wow, my mouth is watering! Enjoy!

Pear and nutmeg tarte tatin

Most home cooks get nervous about tarte tatin, however it is extremely simple, particularly when using a good quality shop-bought puff pastry. Try it, you'll be amazed at how good it is!

Ingredients:

4 large william pears, peeled

90g unsalted butter, cubed

110 g caster sugar

nutmeg for grating

1 sheet shop bought, good quality puff pastry

creme fraiche

Firstly pre-heat the oven to 180 C. Whilst the oven is warming up, take the pears, peel, cut in half length-ways and remove the cores.

Place the sugar and butter cubes into a good quality 18 cm saute pan. Ensure that the handle is oven-proof! Place the pears on top of the sugar and butter with the outer sides of the pears facing down. 

Now over a moderate to medium heat melt the sugar and butter, and allow to caramelise without burning. Temperature control is key here, too hot and it will burn, not hot enough and it won't caramelise. Once there's a lovely golden brown caramel formed remove from the heat and grate a little fresh nutmeg over the pears (not too much).

Take your pastry (ideally removed from the fridge 10 minutes or so beforehand), roll out to a thickness of about 8 mm and cut a 20 cm diameter circle. Carefully place this over the pears (be careful, they're hot!) and tuck in at the sides.

Place in the top of the oven and cook for 25 minutes.

Now remove from the oven, and before turning out onto a serving plate allow to cool for 3 or 4 minutes. Don't wait too long or the caramel may stick to the pan.

Serve immediately with creme fraiche.

How easy is that?