Thursday 28 April 2011

Hi everyone sorry for lack of recipes moving shop which has taken up all my time will
be back with some new recipes soon

Saturday 19 February 2011




Hi everyone another new recipe coming up and the first chocolate one!
This recipe was recently published on the Lovely Emma Forbes website

The recipe makes 4 portions (or two large ones) and is perfect for sharing it
is a beautiful dessert for parties as most of it can be prepared before hand.
Its homely but utterly decadent, I prefer to serve it with brownies and fruit I
find marshmallows a bit sweet but some people love them especially sweet
toothed pudding buffs!

Ok Here we go

Chocolate Fondue 4 Portions
300g Single Cream
3g Cardamom Pods (approximately 12 pods lightly crushed)

0.5 Cinnamon Stick (broken in 4)
0.5 Vanilla Pod (split)
1 Whole Star Anise (broken)
1g Dried Chilli (about 1/8th of a teaspoon)
15g Caster Sugar
6g Honey (1/8th of a teaspoon)
160g Very Good Quality Dark Chocolate 70-75% Cocoa Solids

Method

1.  Bring cream up to the boil.
2.  Add the spices, sugar and honey leave to infuse for 30 minutes.
3.  Push through a fine sieve to remove the spices, discard.
4.  Bring the infused cream back to the boil.
5.  Place the dark chocolate into a bowl broken into small pieces.
6.  When the cream boils remove from the heat.
7.  Pour onto the dark chocolate and leave to warm for one minute.
8.  Whisk vigorously until smooth and shiny.
9.  Taste, add more sugar if desired.

                                            Suggestions to dip

                                                  Brownies
                                             Cookies/flapjacks
                                                  Fresh Fruit
                                               Marshmallows

                        Accompaniments to dip in after the fondue

                                       Crushed Honeycomb
                                               Toasted Nuts
                                              Marshmallows

Note* depending on the type and strength of the chocolate you may wish to
adjust the consistency, flavours and sweetness which are down to personal taste.
This is my version which I think works really well.

Happy cooking

xxx

Friday 4 February 2011

Coconut & Cardamom Rice Pudding with Mango & Lime

Hi Everyone welcome to the new recipe, this weeks dish is a personal favourite.
I like this dessert a lot, its a beautiful marriage of flavours and the mango and lime
is a perfect foil to the creamy fragrant rice pudding. I entered this into a competition
run by Tilda rice, the rules were simple enough make 2 portions of a dish using their
rice I was in the competition with 9 other chefs and interestingly enough I was the
only one to make a dessert which probably helped my dish stand out on the day.
I was lucky enough to win I got a gold award and £500 prize money which I spent
on another guitar as I recall, very nice indeed!



The recipe is very simple, it has some delicate flavours that perfume the milk which
really has to be the whole stuff don't try and cut down on the calories by using thinner
milk it won't be the same its a creamy perfumed dessert with a great depth of flavour.
If you want to write and complain to me about not using healthier milk feel free my
view is very simple "show me a semi-skimmed cow and I will use semi-skimmed milk"
Use the proper stuff its a pudding its supposed to be indulgent!
On the day I served it with a ball of coconut ice cream too, but thats an extra indulgence!

As per usual a few points before we start.
I only use digital scales, I weigh all my ingredients on scales thats why the recipe is
only in grams it also means it will always come out the same its very accurate.

Never add the sugar until the rice is cooked if you do the syrup formed from the sugar
will coat the grains of rice and prevent the starch from bursting and therefore cooking.

I strongly recommend that you make the lime syrup first and macerate the mango in it.
If you can find the time to place into the fridge at least 4 hours or the day before you
make the pudding and can resist eating this delicious accompanyment before serving
it will taste much better that way and of course it will be chilled which is the ideal way
to serve the fruit with the hot pudding. I warn you resisting eating this is difficult, mango
and lime is a marriage made in heaven, you may have to make extra for this eventuality.

Allow about an hour and a half to cook the dessert so if its for dinner you can have it
simmering away on the back of the stove do not rush it, rice pudding should be creamy
and unctuous, to undercook the rice is a major crime please be patient its so worth it!

Ok here is the recipe for 4 portions

Rice Pudding
400g Tin of Coconut Milk
400g Whole Milk
2 Cardamon Pods crushed
0.5 Finely Grated Zest of Orange
1 Vanilla Pod split lengthways
90g Short Grain (pudding rice)
30g Caster Sugar

Lime Syrup
1 Lime
30g Cold Water
40g Caster Sugar

Mango
1 very ripe Mango

Method
Grate the lime on the fine side of a grater.
Place into a pan (not alluminium).
Add the water and the sugar.
Bring up to the boil and simmer gently for 1 minute.
Pour carefully into a bowl, cool for 20 minutes.
Cut the lime in half squeeze the juice into the bowl and mix in.
Pass the syrup through a fine seive into a clean bowl.
Cut the skin off the mango.
Remove the flesh from the mango cutting as close to the stone as possible.
Cut the mango into chunks not too big and place into the syrup mix in well.
Cling film the bowl and place into the fridge ideally overnight.
Bring the coconut milk and whole milk up to the boil in a pan.
Crush the cardamom pods with a knife add to the pan.
Add the grated orange zest and vanilla pod.
Leave to infuse for 30 minutes.
Wash the rice in cold water to remove some of the starch.
Drain all the water off the rice.
Pass the cream through a fine sieve into a clean pan.
Reboil the milk and coconut milk.
Add the rice and stir back to the boil.
Cook gently for 10 minutes stirring occasionally.
Place the rice into a double boiler or carefully cook out on the stove.
When the rice is full cooked and very soft add the sugar.
Cook out until soft and the correct consistancy (adjust with milk if required)
Serve in heated bowls and spoon the mango and lime over the pudding.
I sometimes serve a ball of coconut ice cream on the top as well, but the
mango and lime is delicious on its own.

Enjoy a lovely different version of a rice pudding with a twist

Happy cooking
XXX

Friday 28 January 2011

Banana Crème Brûlée


Welcome to the second recipe, today we are going to tackle an English
dessert yes that's right an English dessert because Crème Brûlée was in fact
invented in Trinity College Cambridge not in France although its sounds much
nicer in French than "burnt cream". There are many versions and almost anything
can be used to flavour it providing it can be infused or blended into the cream.
Today I am going to give you a recipe for a banana version which I normally serve
with caramel ice cream although milk chocolate ice cream is very nice with it too.
The method is fairly simple but like so many things in pastry its lots of little things
done well.

The first thing to say is that we need to use very, very ripe bananas so ripe in fact
that you would not want to eat them, that is the way to get the real taste of banana
into the cream we are not using essence or flavouring just very ripe banana which
most people have knocking around especially in large busy kitchens where pastry
chefs tear their hair out thinking what to do with the pile of over-ripe bananas given
to them to use up. I do add a small amount of banana liqueur, I use Bols because
it has the best natural banana flavour.

A few things of note here before you start

Place water in the cooking tray to cook the creams slowly, if the dishes overheat
the cream will curdle. Cover the tray with foil this prevents that horrible skin on top
of the creams the small amount of steam created will prevent any skin forming at all.
Blow torch the creams briefly BEFORE you add any sugar this dries the top and
ensure the first dusting of sugar is not made into a syrup when caramelising the top.
If you take a long time to caramelise the tops trying to "dry out" this syrup you will
curdle the cream by using the torch too long. Always use icing sugar its fine so it
caramelises quickly and goes a beautiful golden colour do not use demerara it tastes
bitter if not caramelised correctly and because its so granular it takes too long to melt
and therefore tends to burn. Lastly do not mash, puree or chop the banana it will make
the creams discolour, you do not need to do this to get the flavour into the cream just
infuse it if you cut the banans in half and let them sit in the cream all the flavour goes
into the cream and it retains it lovely yellow custard colour.


Ok here we go

Banana Crème Brûlée 4 Portions
400g Double Cream
70g Egg Yolk (approximately 5 yolks)
75g Caster Sugar
3 very over-ripe bananas
10g Bols Banana Liqueur
Icing Sugar to caramelise

To serve
Ice cream, I like milk chocolate or salted caramel for this dish
Tuile biscuits and shortbread are also lovely too

Method
Pre-heat the oven to 120 degrees c.
Bring the cream up to the boil.
Add the peeled bananas cut in half (do not mash).
Cling film and leave to infuse for 30 minutes.
Pass the cream into a clean pan .
(do not push any banana through only the cream thats falls through the sieve).
Re-boil the cream.
Whisk the egg yolks and sugar together briefly.
Add a little of the boiled cream to the yolks/sugar and mix.
Add the remainder mix in well.
Place the custard into a clean pan.
Cook slowly until it coats the back of the spoon pass through a fine sieve.
Add the banana liqueur mix in.
Remove any bubbles from the top of the custard.
Place 4 dishes into a tray that fits into your oven.
Pour the custard evenly and carefully into the 4 dishes.
Slide the tray carefully into the lowest part of the oven.
Carefully pour boiled water into the tray 3/4 of the way up the dishes.
Carefully cover the tray with foil.
Cook gently for approximately 25-40 minutes (depends how deep the dishes are).
Check after 15 minutes make sure they do not cook too fast.
To check tap the dishes they should wobble like a jelly.
Remove when almost set they will carry on cooking in the dishes.
Be careful not to spill water onto the cooked creams.
Leave covered with the foil until cool.
Remove the creams from the cooking tray wipe dry.
Place into the fridge to chill for 30 minutes.
Blowtorch the creams to dry the top.
Lightly dust with icing sugar through a small sieve (a tea strainer is ideal).
Wipe excess icing sugar off the edge of the dish BEFORE you caramelise.
Caramelise with a blow torch.
Repeat until nicely caramelised (I normally do this 3 times).
Allow the top to set fully (3-4 minutes).
Serve with a ball or quenelle of ice cream on top and toasted crushed nuts (optional).
You may find it easier to scoop the ice cream before and place onto a chilled
tray and place back into the freezer to make serving easier.

Perfect for a dinner party as you can do all the prep before, the cream can be made
the day before and cling filmed just be careful not to damage the creams when cling filming.

Happy cooking
xxx

Friday 21 January 2011

Rhubarb Crumble with English Custard

Hi Everybody and welcome to the first recipe.

I have decided to tackle an English classic the often made seldom done well
Rhubarb Crumble with a recipe for proper custard made the old fashioned way.

A few notes before we start.

Yorkshire rhubarb is the beautiful pink forced rhubarb that comes from the "rhubarb triangle" an area of approximately 9 square miles in Yorkshire so named because it is grown between Wakefield, Morley and Rothwell. The rhubarb is grown in sheds underground in the dark and it grows in order to find the light hence the term "forced", The climate in Yorkshire is perfect for growing this wonderful fruit which is one of my personal favourite things to cook with. Do not buy the imatation stuff that is usually paler in colour and is imported from Holland it is a poor substitute for the real stuff.

The biggest mistake people make is to stew the fruit in water, rhubarb is full of water already the trick to getting the best flavour out of rhubarb is to extract the liquid and concentrate the flavour and to not overcook or "stew" the fruit. There is a little bit of prep and it requires patience but the results are stunning. As for the crumble only use unsalted butter I cannot stress that enough, margarine is not hard enough to make the correct texture and the flavour is awful and salted butter will ruin the dish only use unsalted trust me! The granulated sugar makes the crumble crunchy and creates a fantastic texture do not use caster sugar and do not mix on the machine after adding the sugar or it will dissolve and your crumble will be disappointing. Be brave and rub in the butter until the mixture "almost" sticks together this is also vital.

The custard recipe is how custard used to be made, custard powder was invented by a chemist as his wife had an egg allergy and he wanted her to have custard, I do like "birds" custard but prefer the real stuff providing it is thick, creamy and full of vanilla which this one is.

Rhubarb is available now and is at its peak, celebrate this fantastic English ingredient.

Please note I weigh all my ingredients on a digital scale including liquids its much more accurate that way

Ok best of luck have fun and feedback your results and any recipe requests or tips

Happy cooking xx


Rhubarb Crumble with English Custard 4 Portions

Rhubarb
400g Yorkshire Rhubarb
1 Vanilla Pod
80g Granulated Sugar
Squeeze of lemon juice
50g Unsalted Butter
Sufficient unsalted butter to grease a 4 portion pudding dish
Crumble
300g Plain Flour
170g Unsalted Butter
170g Granulated Sugar
Custard
350g Whole Milk
100g Single Cream
2 Vanilla Pods (1 reserved from earlier see recipe method)
6 Egg Yolks
120g Caster Sugar
To Finish
2g Freshly Ground Cinnamon
30g Caster Sugar

Method
Cut the ends off the rhubarb and discard.
Cut the rhubarb into batons about 10cm long.
wash then shake off excess water.
Place into an overproof dish (Not alluminium).
Sprinkle the 80g of granulated sugar evenly over the rhubarb.
Split one vanilla pod lengthways and place over the rhubarb.
Cover the dish with foil which must not touch the fruit place into an oven at 90 degrees c.
Cook for approximately 40-50 minutes or until the rhubarb is soft but with a little firmness.
Remove from the oven lift off the foil and cool thoroughly in its own juice.
Carefully lift the rhubarb out of the dish place onto a clean choppping board.
Cut into pieces about 1.5cm long.
Place the pieces of rhubarb into a bowl place aside.
Take out the vanilla and wash (keep to use for the custard).
Place the cooking liquid from the rhubarb into a pan and reduce by half
Add the reduced rhubarb juice to the the cut rhubarb and mix well.
Add the lemon juice and taste, chill completely.
Butter a 4 portion baking dish with unsalted butter.
When the rhubarb is cold spoon into the buttered dish and place aside.
Cut the 50g of unsalted butter into small chunks.
Dot the butter evenly over the rhubarb (this thickens up the juice as the crumble cooks).
Sift the 300g of flour into a bowl for a small machine.
Cut the 170g of butter into small cubes and place into the flour.
Make sure the butter is coated in flour.
Mix with the beater attachment until almost sticking together.
Add the granulated sugar and mix in with your hands.
Sprinkle the crumble mix onto the rhubarb evenly making sure all the fruit is covered.
Place into an oven at 190 degrees c, check after 20 minutes turn dish if necessary.
Cook in total for approximately 40 minutes or until the crumble is golden brown.
Make sure the crumble is completely cooked (there is nothing worse than raw crumble).
Remove from the oven place aside.
Mix the 2g of cinnamon with the 30g of caster sugar and sprinkle evenly over the crumble.
Leave aside for 10 minutes to cool slightly while you make the custard.

Boil the milk/cream with the washed vanilla and the fresh one split open.
Whisk the egg yolks and caster sugar together briefly.
Add a little of the boiled milk/cream onto the yolks/sugar whisk in quickly.
Add the remainder of the milk cream and whisk in
Place into a CLEAN pan not the one used for milk/cream if you do it may burn.
Stir constantly until thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon, take care not to boil.
Immediately pass through a fine sieve into a jug.
Serve and enjoy

Remember to wash and dry the vanilla pods and use again, contrary to popular belief the
flavour in vanilla is in the pods themselves which can be used several times the seeds are
cosmetic only.

Enjoy an English classic

Happy Cooking xx

Sunday 16 January 2011

Introduction

Hi everybody I have created a blog so that I can post recipes and stuff to people who ask.
I often get asked for recipes particulary chocolate ones and desserts/cakes so I thought I
would creat a blog so that I could assist with these requests.
Please feel free to ask me any questions and I will do my best to help, I have a very good
background as a professional chef and I am a chocolate and pastry specialist please go
to the website and send me an email if you have any questions I have posted an image
below to show you the sort of desserts I create if you want to see my chocolates check
out the website.

Happy cooking speak soon
Tim xxx