Banana and butterscotch fool

Bananas, grown in 107 countries (according to Wikipedia), have the 4th highest monetary value in food (after rice, wheat and corn). In 2011, India produced 29.7 million tonnes of bananas (20% of the world's production) (also according to Wikipedia).When I made this dish, it was purely to use up a few overripe bananas, but it became SO much more... It's moreish and indulgent, yet light, as well as tasting just like bannoffee pie - which can only be a good thing. In the highly unlikely possibility that you have butterscotch left over, serve with ice cream for a knickerbocker glory, or with stewed apples.

Banana and butterscotch fool

 BANANA FOOLfour overripe bananas (just because their skin is speckled or brown, it doesn't mean the bananas are too ripe- especially if you're blending them!)
350ml double cream
100g marscapone/ ricotta
a few tablespoons of caster sugar (how much you use depends on the sweetness of the banana)

BUTTERSCOTCH200g soft brown sugar/ caster sugar
150g salted butter, cubed
200ml double cream

Banana and butterscotch fool

Blitz the bananas until smooth and set aside.
Whip the cream into soft peaks, then stir in the sugar until thoroughly combined.
Turn the whisk back on and add the marscapone (be careful the mixture doesn't splash up everywhere, unless you want your kitchen redecorated...)
Mix in the blitzed banana, and set the mixture aside.

Banana and butterscotch fool

In a medium-sized saucepan, put the sugar in on a low-to-medium heat.
If the mixture starts bubbling at the sides, add the butter onto the sugar, and start to stir.
Continue stirring until all the butter has melted, and the sugar has completely dissolved into it.
Take the mixture off the heat, and stir in the cream. Even if it looks like the cream is separating from the mixture, continue stirring until it combines.

In individual ramekins, layer the banana mixture, then the butterscotch, then banana mixture then butterscotch. I layered it up whilst the butterscotch is still warm, though not really hot (so the mixture is liquid enough to drizzle over and set).
Leave in the fridge until ready to be served.
Just before eating, top with flaked almonds.

Banana and butterscotch fool

Or, you could...

crumble amaretti or gingernut biscuits on top just before serving.

add a bottom of espresso-soaked biscuits.

Toasted walnut and gruyère biscotti

Toasted walnut and gruyère biscotti 

BISCOTTI150g plain flour
half a teaspoon of baking powder
pepper
dash of salt (because cheese provides a lot of saltiness)
2 small/medium eggs, beaten
70g whole walnuts
70g gruyère cheese, grated
a teaspoon of worcestershire sauce

Preheat the oven to 200C, and turn a pan onto medium heat.
In the pan, toast the walnuts for about 5 minutes, but be careful not to burn them! Constantly move them.
Mix together the flour, baking powder, salt, pepper and worcestershire sauce.
Then add the eggs, mixing with the fork until you get a good dough. You don't want the mixture to be wet, so add more flour if it needs it.
Roughly chop the walnuts into smaller chunks (discarding any burnt bits), and add to the dough.
Also add the cheese to the dough and combine by hand. Or do it all by food processor. But cooking like this is healthy! It's exercise! Cans of beans for weights, whisking egg whites for toning, and kneading for stamina. It's cheaper than a gym membership too!

Toasted walnut and gruyère biscotti

Divide the dough into two and shape into rolls.
Press down on the rolls so that you have fat, flat, long rolls (approx, and I mean approx 1.5cm x 5cm x 15cm)
Put them on a baking tray lined with baking paper, and 2 minutes before you put them in the oven, turn the oven down to 180C.
Leave to cook in the oven for 20-25 minutes.
When you take the biscotti out, cut it diagonally (it looks nice) with a serrated knife.
Put these slices back into the oven on the slightly lower temperature of 170C to cook for a further fifteen minutes. You want to dry the biscotti out a bit.

Serve with a nut dip, or a soup.
I would personally serve with a fresh chunky yet smooth blend of cashews and salted/honey roasted peanuts (blitz them together in a food processor) or guacamole, or French onion soup.

Peanut dip

You could:
add diced black olives/ serve with a tapenade
use sundried tomatoes instead of walnuts
use parmigiano reggiano
make a 'quattro formaggi' biscotti with 4 different cheeses

Pea and leek risotto

Many people think that risottos are rich, creamy, savoury, calorie-laden rice puddings for which you have to laboriously slave over the stove for an hour or more. NOT TRUE. Many people think that it's dinner party food. NOT (necessarily) TRUE. Maybe I'm just projecting all of my previous risotto-related thoughts onto the third person. But whatever. NOT TRUE.

Pea and leek risotto

RISOTTO
2 leeks, sliced - about 1cm widths, peppered
150g frozen peas
a few handfuls of spinach
lots of streaky bacon, chopped - I use oak smoked for a deeper flavour
some chunks of ham
250g risotto rice
700ml chicken stock

Preheat the oven to 190C. I use a fan oven.
In a pan, on medium heat, pour in a healthy glug of oil.
When hot (the oil rolls around the pan easily), add the bacon and fry for two minutes.
Then turn the heat down a little and add the leeks.
Whilst the leeks are cooking, prepare the chicken stock (dissolve a cube). If you're using homemade chicken stock, I applaud you!
After the leeks have softened (about 5-6 minutes), add the risotto rice- I use arborio.
After 1 minute, cover with the chicken stock, cover with tinfoil and leave in the oven for 25 minutes.
About half-way through stir the risotto, recover with tinfoil, and pop back in the oven.
After 15 minutes (or until the rice has soaked up all of the moisture), add the peas and ham, and cook for a further 5 minutes.
Once cooked, stir in the cream cheese and mozzarella. ET VOILA.

Serve with wilted spinach and a glass of chablis.

Variations
Swap some of the chicken stock for pea and ham soup.
Add mint.
Use double cream/ soured cream/ gran padano/ parmesan instead of cream cheese and mozzarella.
Serve topped with crispy leeks and onions.

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

To be honest, there aren't many things you can do with an overripe pineapple. So I was thinking, why not do something using the excess sweetness and slight alcohol tint to complement something which is perfectly nice on its own, but could do with a bit of spicing up.

It's paramount to have fluffy egg whites, because juice from the pineapple drips into the cake (like a tarte tatin) making it a bit wet, and therefore making an otherwise light dessert, dense.

 

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

 

Serves 6

PINEAPPLE CAKE

1 small pineapple, cut into chunks

3 eggs separated

150g slightly salted butter, softened

150g caster sugar

150g plain flour (you can add baking powder for an extra lift)

a few spoonfuls of muscovado sugar

 

caster sugar to water in the units of 1:3 (respectively)

a teaspoon of chilli flakes

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

 

Preheat your oven to 200C and grease a cake tin.

Beat together the egg yolks and sugar until you get a smooth, creamy consistency.

Stir in the flour until you get a sort of wet crumble-looking mixture. Yes it should look like that.

Beat in the softened butter until you have a more typical cake mixture.

Then, whisk the egg whites until they're stiff like meringues.

When you add the egg whites to the rest of the mixture, don't add it from a height or you'll lose some of the air.

Stir the mixtures together until fully combined and you have a fluffy mixture. Yum.

Turn the oven down to 180C as you're nearly to put the cake in.

Put the pineapple in the cake tin, neat and evenly spaced, or dropped in (authentic).

Evenly sprinkle muscovado (or another dark brown sugar, maybe treacle) over the pineapple. This creates a kind of caramel, nuttifying the pineapple.

Completely cover the pineapple with cake mixture, and put in the oven for 40 minutes or until a fork comes out of the cake with a few crumbs. Check the cake at 35 minutes though.

When cooked, turn the cake out and leave to cool- if you leave it in the tin, it continues cooking, drying the cake out.

 

Over a medium heat, bring caster sugar and cold water to the boil in a saucepan.

Then turn the heat down, add the chilli flakes, and continuously stir until ALL of the sugar is dissolved.

Strain the syrup and leave to cool to remember.

The longer you boil the syrup, the thicker it will be.

Syrup keeps for one month in a sealed container.

 

Serve a slice of cake with a drizzle of chilli.

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

In the syrup I used chilli flakes instead of fresh chilli because I didn't want too strong a flavour.

Vivat Bacchus

Less than 30 seconds from London bridge station Vivat Bacchus is a pretty convenient location! There is also another branch in Farringdon.
The small chain describes themselves as "European cooking with a South African twist".

Ambience: Even though only a third of the seats were filled, there was a lively atmosphere. The restaurant was mostly filled with thirty-something professionals who'd come from a long day at work judging from the copious amounts of red wine being drunk. The restaurant played modern pop music but when you go to a fusion place you want fusion food.

What did I have?: £14.95 for 2 courses, £17.95 for 3 courses. For main course I had braised oxtail with lentils and mash, and for dessert I had a slice of chocolate torte with a caramel sauce and creme fraîche. The oxtail was meltingly good and lentils were not too hard, but the mash was a tad floury. The best part of the main was the green salad that came with it which had a wonderful dressing. The oxtail was drowned in a rich sauce (too thick for a jus, not quite a gravy,) which was tasty with the lentils. The portion size was massive, a great big bowl. Now I have an appetite, but I only managed half of it. Some of the food was quite salty, so don't come here if you've got high blood pressure. The torte was eggy and heavy and not complemented by the creme fraîche. The caramel sauce on the other hand gave a hint of saltiness, taking away from the bitterness of the torte.

Service: The staff were discreet, but picked up on the fact it was my grandma's birthday and gave her a glass of champagne on the house.

Would I go there again?: Hm. It's a decent (London) price for ostrich and kangaroo.

Banana and coconut ice cream

This recipe is so delicious and simple that you could have it as a milkshake instead (minus the coconut)!

ICE CREAM6 spotted bananas - the overrripeness gives lots of sweetness so you don't have to add too much sugar
600ml double cream
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
3 egg yolks
150g desiccated coconut

Beat the sugar and egg yolks together until fully combined.
In a small saucepan, gently heat the cream on medium heat.
When the cream starts to bubble, take it off the heat and pour into the egg/sugar mixture slowly, whisking at the same time. Never pour the egg mixture into the pan as the direct heat will cook the eggs, giving sweet scrambled eggs but not custard.
In a separate bowl, mash the bananas until you get a smooth purée.
Add the bananas to the custard, mix together, and strain through a sieve into your ice-cream maker.
Add the coconut and leave to churn.
If you don't have an ice cream maker, stir the coconut into the banana custard and leave in a tub to freeze. After an hour, stir it up so you get a smooth mixture, not one with ice in.

Notes
You could use chocolate or toffee instead of coconut, or tequila or pineapple instead of banana. Be careful with freezing alcohol... Alcohol has a much lower freezing point than water, and the higher the proof, the lower the temperature. So by diluting the alcohol or using a lower strength, alcohol should freeze.

An alternative way of making ice cream is the Victorian way of getting a huge bag of ice and some rock salt.
As soon as salt is added to ice, they react (doing something of which i'm not quite sure)
So pour the ice cream mixture into a sealed bag, and put this bag into the bag of ice. When you add the salt to the ice, close the bag up, and shake for anywhere from 5-15 minutes until the ice cream sets.

Cardamom poached plum jelly

A very light dessert, perfect to end a rich meal.

Cardamom poached plum jelly

6 plums

8 cardamom pods, crushed

half still water, half fizzy water

60g sugar

gelatine leaves/ powder

Over a medium heat, dissolve sugar in water until you get a syrup.

Add the cardamom and plums to the liquid, turn to a low heat, and leave covered for 20 minutes.

Strain the plums and cardamom (keep the liquid for the jelly), and immediately put the plums into a bowl of iced water for 5 minutes.

Pat the plums dry and dice into thumb-sizes pieces.

Soak the gelatine in cold water, then add to the hot syrup, whisking, to make sure all the gelatine is dissolved.

Put the plums into the jelly mould(s) and cover with the jelly mixture. Leave in the fridge to set.

Serve with a quinelle of orange blossom cream, or chantilly.

Cardamom poached plum jelly

You can peel the plums, but I find the skin adds texture.

Lamb tagine

Tagines are a North African speciality, usually made with lamb or goat. As they're slow cooked, you can use the toughest part of the animal, because in a good tagine the meat should fall off the bone and melt in your mouth.

Lamb tagine

one and a half teaspoons of each: turmeric, dried chilli flakes, whole cumin seeds, paprika
2 red onions
garlic cloves
olive oil
2 lemons
orange juice
flat-leaf parsley
coriander
fresh ginger

2 carrots
dried apricots
2 lamb shanks

On medium heat, toast all of the dry spices in a pan until the aromas are released, then blitz until you get a powder.
Add one onion, some garlic, the juice of one and a half lemons, the coriander, the parsley and the ginger to the blender, and blitz until you have a smooth paste.
 Then add 40 ml olive oil and 60 ml orange juice to the blender until you have a smooth sauce. Marinade the meat in the sauce for several hours (or overnight for maximumflavour).

Preheat the oven to 200C.
Heat rapeseed oil in an oven-friendly pan  (or even better, a tagine dish!) over a high heat.
Take the meat out of the marinade, pat dry, and sear in the pan until browned.
When browned, add a chopped onion, the chopped carrots, the apricots, and the rest of the marinade. Pour in enough stock to cover the meat, add a squeeze of lemon juice, cover with foil, and put in the oven.
After 20 minutes, turn the oven down to 160C, and leave to cook for several hourse unril the meat is tender.

Serve with jewelled cous cous and minted yoghurt.

Jewelled couscous (couscous with pomegranate seeds)

Tips
Don't use a widepan, because you want to cover the meat with liquid, but too muxh will silute the flavour.
Add blanched almonds before serving.
Once plated, top with sesame seeds.

Lamb tagine

Dean Street Townhouse

After confirming my booking from a very chirpy man on the other end, I have high hopes for Dean Street Townhouse. Situated in "the thick of buzzing Soho" (their website), they're slap bang in the heart of the West End, just down the road from Burger and Lobster.

The dining room is half full when H and I arrive, and two things immediately strike me...Firstly, the service is very good. The man at the desk (maitre d? host?) greets me like he knows me, "ah, Chloé", and after being shown to our seats, water is instantly yet discreetly served. Unfortunately the lighting is somewhat lacking. As a glasses-wearing individual, I need all the light I can get. So whilst I'm sure they save a lot of energy, it's not convenient for reading the weekend papers.

Coffee (£3.75)

After seeing the menu, I opt for the Lorne sausage, tattie scones, and fried egg (£7) which sounds promising. A Lorne sausage is a flat sausage, a bit like a pattie made out of very moist sausage meat. The fried egg was done perfectly with a runny yolk and a cooked white. I did have a slight issue with the tattie scones though...The tattie scones (Scottish potato farls) were a bit chewy and greasy. I'm not sure if it was excess oil from the sausage, but it was just a tad too indigestion inducing. It could have done with some tomato relish or a good dollop of brown sauce, but aside from that it was pleasantly enjoyable, made better by the fresh carrot juice (£3.75).

Lorne sausage, tattie scones and a fried egg (£7)

H had the Full English breakast (£12); the Black Pudding was delicious and everything else was good too. 2 coffees came to £7, a bit steep even for a good coffee!

Full English Breakfast (£12)

Dean Street Townhouse is the kind of place where people come to be seen, a bit like the Delaunay. After thinking we saw Pete Townsend (still undecided whether it was him or not) we were excited as to which jet setting cockney we'd see next. I mean the people next to us sounded famous...There were also your fair share of families, well-dressed ladies, and plenty of Americans.

It's definitely worth a visit if you want to experience a posh breakfast in London, but for the price, you could have twice as much somewhere with twice the taste.

Hollandaise sauce

Egg and hollandaise sauce



Egg and hollandaise sauce

Normally, hollandaise sauce is made with raw egg yolk, lemon juice, vinegar and (salted) butter, but I didn't have half of those ingredients, so I decided to improvise...

Serves 1

2 egg yolks
pepper, salt, herbs
50g butter,
2/3 tbsp balsamic vinegar

Beat the yolks with their seasoning, until they start to increase in size.
In a small saucepan, heat teh vinegar on a medium heat until it starts to bubble. As it soon as it starts to reduce, pour it into the egg mixture, beating whilst adding.
In the same pan used for the vinegar, melt the butter until it starts to foam, and add into the egg/vinegar mixture, once again whisking at the same time. Never add the egg mixture to the pan as the direct heat will cause the mixture to curdle, resulting in scrambled eggs.

Serve with eggs (poached or dry fried), smoked salmon, and tomatoes softened for 5 minutes in the pan.



When using the traditional hollandaise sauce recipe, you can substitute with lime to add more sharpness.

Dishoom WC2

Nestled in Upper Saint Martin's Lane with another restaurant over in Shoreditch, Dishoom have clearly got a good location(s), so this is why I was a little surprised to find a lack of people at 10.30 on a Sunday morning.

Friendly staff and a Byron meets Pain quotidien meets Bombay setting automatically created a good yet laidback atmosphere to relax in over a chai or lassi. Service was very quick so unfortunately for us (but fortunately for them)it wasn't the ideal place to linger and read a newspaper. A strong incense permeated the downstairs which had a few large and cosy alcoves.

I ordered an egg naan roll which was a very reasonable £3.50! Chewy and herby naan- which you could see being made- was stuffed with fried eggs, complete with runny yolks, a scattering of spring onions and a serving of chilli jam. The chilli jam was not spicy but quite sweet, all the while complementary.

A had a "Full Bombay", complete with akuri (a type of spicy scrambled eggs), bacon, eggs, tomatoes, and grilled bread. The akuri was pretty good, as it tasted like the way my granddad makes it. But. But, but, but... the sausages were tiny, the grilled tomatoes were basically raw, and the bacon was a bit of the disappointment. Despite this, it was £7.90, and you wouldn't get this kind of quality round here at that price...

To drink I had a breakfast lassi (£3.50). Made of banana, yoghurt, oats and mango, this drink was smooth, creamy and everything it should be. A had an Assam tea (£2.20), which was well-stewed but not enough water for such a large teapot.

It's not really relevant, but in the bathroom, there was a display cabinet of medicines, soaps, and other toiletries, which only added to the Indian-inspired atmosphere.

The breakfast menu is available from 8-11 on weekdays, and 10-1 on weekends. Have 8 breakfasts and get another one free!

Guacamole

Well my one at least.

I find avocado to be very spreadable when puréed, so its a healthy yet tasty alternative for butter. Often used in Mexican culture, guacamole is traditionally made by mashing avocado and mixing it with: pepper, salt, citrus juice, chopped tomato, sliced chilli and diced onion.

However my recipe is a little different, perhaps a slightly anglicised(?) one?

1 avocado
freshly cracked pepper
drizzle of olive oil
2 teaspoons of worcestershire sauce
handful of cherry tomatoes, halved

Mash the avocado into a smooth consistency with a few lumps.
Mix in the olive oil, and pepper.
Then mix in the worcestershire sauce.
Add the tomatoes, stir in, and voila!

Serve with crisped prosciutto or baked salmon.

 

Alternatively, you could,
replace the worcestershire sauce with some tequila
add lime juice
add chilli

Baked salmon

Salmon is an easy fish to cook well, and this recipe shows one of the easiest ways.

2 fillets of salmon
butter
herbs- dill, oregano, etc
pinenuts

Preheat an oven to 180C.
Place the salmon fillets on separate pieces on tin foil.
Sprinkle herbs on the salmon fillets, and top with thin slices of butter.
Wrap the tinfoil up loosely into a parcel and put into the oven for 20 minutes.

In the meantime put a pan on a medium heat and gently toast the pinenuts. When the pinenuts are golden brown, take out of the pan or they will continue cooking.

Unrap the cooked salmon and serve with the pinenuts, and some fresh egg noodles.



You could...
instead of using butter, top the salmon with basil pesto and toasted pieces of flour tortilla
replace the butter with a drizzle of white wine
add sprigs of rosemary


Many people think that salmon cooked this way should be eaten straight from the oven, but I think there is often more flavour in the salmon when it is cold.

No.193 (Tap Coffee) - Wardour Street

This small independent chain of three shops all located W1 shows how coffee should be...

 

Walking in to No.193 Wardour Street, there are plain wooden benches, and high stools for adults who want to feel like children with legs dangling above the floor. Looking around, all you can see are hipsters and advertising types in beanie hats and checked coaks sipping their 2-shot macchiatos.

 

A latte and an orangina comes to £4.20, an acceptable price for the notoriously extortionate West End. The latte is brought to your table by the 20-something pierced good looking barista in a small glass (as it should be). Spotting the heart on the top of the coffee does make you think you might get the barista's number, but then you realise everyone else has one too.

 

The latte is smooth and creamy, and a good choice amongst the other drinks offered. Cakes are available (around £2.50), as well as sandwiches. The orangina tastes like orangine.

 

The constant grinding of coffee ensures it is never silent, and adds to the delicious aroma. With a lack of women, the crowd is surprisingly tame, entertained by the modern art on the walls, and the coffee machine at the end.

 

Although it is a chain (albeit a small one), the bathroom shows exactly what they think of mainstream coffee shops... the toilet brush holder is a Starbucks mug.

 

Worth another visit? Definitely, but the seats are not the most comfortable...

 

Find Tap on twitter, or at their website.

Poached pears*

Poached pears are a surprisingly quick dessert. The softer the pear, the quicker it will poach and the less sweetness it needs.

You can poach pears in many liquids, a sweet dessert wine being one of them (and my favourite too!)Alternatively, you could use white wine, juice, or a syrup- perhaos spiced with cinammon or cardammon.

one-two pears per person, peeled  cored
a bottle of sweet wine, like muscat
a few star aniseed
some cardammon pods
a cinnammon stick
seeds of a vanilla pod

In a medium sized saucepan over a low heat, add the liquid and the spices, and leave to simmer for 5 minutes.
Then add the pears which should be covered by liquid. If not, add more wine, or water to dilute it. You could add pear juice to intensify the flavour, but only fresh and definitely not a juice drink.
Leave the pears on a low-medium heat for about 20 minutes (for a medium sized pear), or until the pears can be cut through easily.
Remove the pears and leave the liquid on a medium heat to reduce into more of a syrup.

Serve the pears hot and drizzled in the syrup, with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream.

Perhaps...
if you use water, you could use pear stock: leaving the pear skins in freshly boiled water to infuse.
you could poach in milk.
or cider?
use another hardish fruit like an apple.




*thanks Grandma!

Fabrica (E8)

Espresso (£2.40 I think)

Brownie (£2.50)

Arrving at Dalston Junction I didn't exactly have a plan of where I was going, so finding Fabrica in Kingsland Road was a pleasant surprise.

Walking in you're greeted with heat (useful in Winter), and a selection of European languages. At the bar - which is more of a breakfast bar than a wine bar - there are different cakes and pastries ranging from £2 to £3.50. Along the bare-bricked walls there are bottles of Fentiman's rose lemonade and coca-cola lined up on one side, and pieces of art on the other.

Savoury foods like salads and sandwiches are available to feast on. Made with artisan bread, you can watch the huge legs of pork being sliced for you.

The cosy atmosphere is encouraged with the amount of tables and chairs crowded into the small space. If you are lucky enough to get a squishy armchair, pat yourself on the back, but otherwise, you run the risk of breaking a creaky and weak wooden chair. There's a sense of community like in Le Pain Quotidien as there are a couple of tables there to be shared.

Aside from the safety hazards of the rough wooden tables aching to give the customers splinters, the lack of personal space, and the smell of oil by the bathrooms, Fabrica is one of those cute places worth going into to have a (quick) coffee, and reading a few of the weekend newspapers.

Coffee-wise it's quite good, but doesn't reach the standard of very good, as it's quite watery and a little cold. On the brownie side of things, chocolatey but dry, and a little small to cost £2.50.

Would I go there again? Hmm, there are better places, but I haven't seen any better ones round here. Yet.


Fabrica is near Dalston Junction station, which can be reached by Overground.

Pancakes

What is the difference between a pancake and a crêpe?
Crêpes are made from a thin batter and are light, whereas pancakes are thicker and fluffier. The size of a pancake is usually around half that of a crêpe.

What is the difference between an American pancake and an English pancake?
American pancakes having a raising agent like baking powder, and often use buttermilk instead of milk. Buttermilk can be made easily by squeezing some lemon into milk 10 minutes before you need to use it, and leaving it to curdle.

American pancakes
150g self-raising flour
a teaspoon of baking powder
125ml milk
one egg - I like to separate and whisk the white to give more lift.
olive oil or a few tablespoons of melted butter
a few teaspoons of demerera sugar depending on whether you're making sweet or savoury pancakes

Sift the dry ingredients together, and then whisk in with the rest of the ingredients.
On a medium heat, melt a blob of salted butter in a pan.
Pour in the liquid and don't touch until the pancake has solidified and begins to bubble. As American pancakes are small, you can make several in the pan at the same time. I tend to make mine between 7 and 14 cm diameter.
Flip the pancake and leave until golden.
Stack high and serve.

Notes/variations
Add blueberries or raspberries into the pancake mixture.
Serve the traditional way with crispy streaky bacon and maple syrup or golden syrup.
Fill with cheese, ham and spinach  and pine nuts, and roll to make a roulade.
Top with an egg or melted gruyere.

Crêpes
200ml milk - I find that full-fat holds a better texture
125g plain flour, sifted
2 eggs - and a bit of eggshell if you're like me!

salted butter

Blend all the ingredients together; this is best done adding the flour a little at a time.
Heat a crêpe pan (basically a normal pan with a thick base and low sides) until it starts steaming.
Turn the pan down to medium heat, and melt butter in the pan, swirling it around.
Pour in some of the mixture and leave until the edges curl and you can see steam. As long as you tilt the pan whilst pouring the mixture in, you will have a thin and evenly spread crêpe.
Flip the crêpe and leave until it turns golden.
As soon as it is ready, take off the heat, put in the filling and roll.

Notes/variations
I used salted butter as brings out the flavour of the crêpe.
Putting sugar in the butter before putting the crêpe mixture in it will give the crêpe a caramelised taste.
When all the crêpes have been made, you could roll them up, put them in a lined baking tray, cover with custard and bake until the custard sets- a bit like a bread and butter pudding.
Alternatively, you could make Crêpes Suzette.

White chocolate macarons and a dark chocolate mousse filling (Macaron mess)

150g ground almonds (very fine)
225g icing sugar, sieved
100g white chocolate- probably about 80g once you've had a bit of it*
3 egg whites - keep the yolks for later
50g caster sugar
dash of salt

150g dark chocolate
20g salted butter
3 egg yolks
a whole egg separated

Mix the ground almonds and icing sugar until thoroughly combined.
In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites to soft peaks. Add the salt and gradually add the caster sugar whilst whisking on a slow pace.
Fold the almonds and icing sugar into the meringue mixture, and then fold in the melted white chocolate.
Pipe the macarons  onto a baking sheet evenly spaced. If there are peaks on top of them, dab them with a damp finger.
Leave the macarons to rest for 40 minutes, until a skin forms on the top of the macarons.
In a preheated oven of 150C, bake the macarons, and make the mousse filling during the meantime.

Melt the dark chocolate and butter in a bain marie.
Once fully melted, beat the egg yolks into the chocolate and butter.
Whisk the egg white into stiff peaks and completely fold into the rest of the mousse mixture.
Pipe the chocolate mousse onto the cooled macaron halves.

However, if like mine you decided to use all your macaron mixture in one batch... break up the macarons and combine into the mousse getting a macaron mess (instead of Eton Mess - see what I did there?). It tastes the same even if the presentation is questionable.

Variations:
use coffee or dark rum in the mousse
make caramel macarons instead of white chocolate
make a lavender praline filling

*it might just be worth getting 200g on the off chance you eat more than a nibble. Just a thought...

Chloé's warming meaty winter broth

3 small white onions, sliced medium-sized
3 garlic cloves, crushed and cut in half
one and a half teaspoons garam masala
a teaspoon of dried chillies
one and a half teaspoons of cumin seeds
a tin of plum tomatoes- use blended fresh tomatoes for a more concentrated paste
beef chunks
lamb chunks
rapesed oil
red wine- deep, rich ones work best
*worcester sauce/balsamic vinegar - not mandatory but it adds that little je ne sais quoi

In one pan and one pot, heat generous drizzles of rapeseed oil until they run around the pan/pot quickly. Use the a medium-high heat on the hob.

In the pan add the sliced onions and garlic, and in the other add the meat. Turn both hobs down to medium at most. You want to brown/ sear the meat, whilst softening the onions. When the meat is completely browned (you can see no pink), and the onions have reduced in size by at least double, it's done.

In the onion pan, push the onions to the sides and drop in the cumin seeds. Leave the cumin seeds to toast for about half a minute, and then stir into the onions. Repeat again with the garam masala, then again with the chillies.

Add the tomatoes (and worcester/balsamic) to the meat along with a generous glass of the wine. For the chef. I mean the meat. No definitely the chef. You can blend the tomatoes before you add to the meat, but you get a more watery outcome at the end, so if you throw them in whole, they'll break up naturally into juicy chunks.

When the onions have fully absorbed the spices and are nice and golden-brown, add to the the tomatoey meat pot. Cover the pot and leave to simmer until the meat is nice and tender (30 minutes- 2 hours depending on how you like it and how big the chunks are). If you have a concentrated sauce, add a knob of butter a few minutes before serving to smoothen the sauce and give a more creamy, delicate flavour.


Serve with rice or a big hunk of foccacia.




All of the recipe can be varied to be adapted to your ingredients. I used beef and lamb because they were reduced from £5.60 to 50p...Obviously not boasting or anything.

Tarte au citron Meyer

Tarte au citron is a classic French tart filled with a tangy lemon custard. I used Meyer lemons which are a cross between a lemon and a mandarin. They are quite sweet in comparison to other lemons, yet still quite tangy.

A nice even bake :-)

175g 00 flour (this flour is very fine, so makes the pastry more crumbly, it's fine to use normal plain flour though too)
140g unsalted butter, diced
30g soft brown sugar
25g icing sugar
zest of one lemon

5 eggs
160ml double cream
the zest and juice of 3 Meyer lemons
100g caster sugar

Sieve the sugar and flour, and mix with the zest of one lemon.
Add the cold butter and rub until you achieve a crumble mixture. As there is a lot of butter in this pastry, it shouldn't need any liquid. If you do add liquid, the consequence is that the pastry will not be as crumbly when cooked.
Wrap the pastry in clingfilm and leave in the fridge for 15 minutes to harden up.

Preheat the oven to 200C and butter a tart case.
Roll the pastry to less than a 1 centimetre thickness, and roll over the tart case.
prick the pastry case and blind bake it in the oven for 20 minutes. Instead of using baking beans, you can use baking paper with a similar sized cake tin on top.
Whilst the cake is cooking, whisk the eggs until they increase in size by about one and a half.
Add the sugar, lemon zest and lemon juice to the eggs, but continue whisking.
When thoroughly combined, pour in the double cream, and whisk again. You can add milk if you want a thinner mixture.
Pour into the tart case and bake for about half an hour, or until the filling is a little wobbly.

Serve cold with a spoonful of clotted cream.


You could

• decorate with candied lemons
• spread the base with lemon curd or melted dark chocolate, and cover with the filling mixture
• use tangerines instead of lemons