Honey Nut Fruit Salad

My work station this morning.

I recently watched Gennaro Contaldo prepare beef carpaccio sat down in the sun on YouTube, and I thought to myself "What a weird way to prepare food." I'm used to the fast-paced, high pressure way of preparing food in a professional kitchen, and sitting down just doesn't enter your mind. 

We are going through an interesting time at work right now - none of the new apprentices are lasting because they are not used to the speed at which we work. However, it made me realise that I rarely savour the preparation of all the fresh and vibrant ingredients that come through our door. I questioned myself on whether I am in love with the food or with the work, so I did this ... 

As it turns out, I love both. 

The fruit: Strawberries, Raspberries, Orange and Physalis. 

The Flatbread: Wheat topped with Golden and Brown Linseed, Millet, Hemp seed and Poppy seed (as I am at home relaxing in my Crocs, I bought these from Tesco).

The dressing: Orange Blossom Honey and Toasted Almonds. 

Top with some fresh cream, orange and lime zest and pour a glass of white wine in the sun! 

Enjoy.  

Cheeky Rhubarb Crumble

A small adaption - Rhubarb and Strawberry (Raymond Blanc)

I have recently had a small break from my blog (after only a month of filling it ... I'm a rubbish blogger!) because we have become prematurely busy at work this year. I'm not complaining - the more I have to cook for strangers, the better. 

However, my style is already changing and I'm looking forward to sharing my new culinary experiences with you. 

In the past month I have realised the importance of people liking how your food tastes as apposed to how it looks. My head chef creates the tastiest plates of food you will ever eat, and when it's on the plate it looks classical and wholesome. Nobody can complain and everybody will enjoy it. That is what my summer is going to be about. 

So let's begin! 

This is a Rhubarb Crumble ... It is very unlike a traditional English crumble as the rhubarb hasn't steamed underneath a thick, stodgy layer of crumble for ages and it is not heavy. 

To make the crumble disks, get your mother's crumble recipe (but then add orange zest and fresh vanilla seeds) and fill round cookie cutters 1cm thick with the mixture on a baking tray. Whack it in a hot oven for about 10 minutes. Keep checking it.

To make the rhubarb "filling", top and tail your fresh rhubarb and clean the petioles thoroughly under cold running water. Cut them into inch-long dices and throw them into a saucepan over a medium-high heat. Add a cup or so of sugar (granulated is fine, it all dissolves in the end) and then add a dash of Vermouth Bianco. Cover with a lid and allow to sweat until the rhubarb is tender throughout (we're not making a compote, so don't over-cook the rhubarb). After the rhubarb is cooked there will be a lot of excess water in the pan. Remove the lid and allow to evaporate until you get a nice, syrupy liquid. Keep tasting it - if you think it needs more Vermouth, add more Vermouth.

Stir in some fresh coriander (this is optional, but I think it's fantastic) and serve in a bowl with a crumble disk on top. The crumble disk is likely to break in the process, but who cares? It will taste just as delicious. 

Keep at it.

14 months difference. It's not where you begin, it's where you end up that matters.  

Keep at it :)

Taste. Taste. Taste.

This is a pistachio parfait with a bitter chocolate mousse and honey cream on a bed of lavender jelly. 

The pistachio, coconut and lavender sponge makes this dish look incredibly detailed. Otherwise it's just three components on a plate. The honey is seasoned with freshly ground black pepper - alongside the aromatic lavender, this gives it an interesting kick that is not generally found in desserts. 

Considering I have recently had a masterclass in handcrafted luxury chocolates, there is not an awful lot of chocolate skill on display here. However, the flavour combinations that I was introduced to inspired me to experiment and apply to my own style of cooking. Finding a balance between strong flavours is not easy, especially when the flavours are distributed across a few different components on the plate. There was a lot of tasting involved here! Taste. Taste. Taste. That's all my head chef used to tell me when I began. I wouldn't let a sausage out of the kitchen without having tested the batch first nowadays.

The parfait is my favourite component here - mainly because of it's texture. It's basically an ice cream, but it is the creamiest ice cream you will ever taste. The best thing about it is when it approaches room temperature, it doesn't melt ... Instead it holds its shape and becomes a mousse. I can't even tell you the recipe because Claire Lara, Masterchef the Professionals winner 2010, taught me how to make it and I am not at liberty to share the secrets! Consider it the catering Magic Circle. 

With regards to the design - what can I say? I like it and I don't care if the plate looks empty. I have every confidence that it will wow the consumer via flavour alone. 

Taste. Taste. Taste. 

Chocolate Fudge Cake

Once you find your recipe (there are hundreds of ways to make chocolate cakes - everybody has their favourite) you can simply enjoy making it look literally irresistible. 

I thoroughly enjoy spending time with my Head Chef, Ellis Barrie, just messing about with chocolate. Next week I will be travelling to Cumbria to learn how to use chocolate properly ... Things are about to get serious. 

Peach Melba - by Richard Holt

The smallest thing can inspire me. A little message or a postcard from my girlfriend saying she can't wait to see me can put me on top of the world, or even a Justin Timberlake track that I can't get out of my head (yes, I actually think his 20/20 Experience album rocks). 

I recently bought a load of books on extremely advanced desserts, and almost every single dessert had a "pulled sugar garnish". I researched how to make it, and I knew I could not become an expert over night. At the time, I was completely worn out from working insane hours at work, and I felt like I was going to have a break down any minute, so I booked a night in a hotel in Shrewsbury and took my books with me. Needless to say, I did in fact become an expert on pulling sugar over night. 

The night I came back, I stopped off at Tesco and did some shopping, came home and made my interpretation of Escoffier's Peach Melba. Filled with vanilla ice cream and garnished with edible petals, raspberry powder and pulled sugar - seems so simple. 

The colour of the pulled sugar is inspired by my girlfriend's dress ... She has a dress that I will still be dreaming about when I'm in my 70's. 

Pulling sugar is actually quite simple, but very difficult to get right (it's scorching hot, too). 

I am extremely lucky to be working with Marc Lara, Claire Lara's husband at the moment - courtesy of my shit-hot head chef, Ellis Barrie. Claire Lara, for those of you who don't recognise her name, won Masterchef the Professionals back in 2010, and she has promised to teach me a thing or two on how to perfect this technique. Stay tuned for my blog about this subject. 

Strawberry Panna Cotta II

This was made on the same day ... I won't bother writing too much because this is just too simple. 

Pour jelly into the glasses and leave to set on an angle in the fridge. Follow my basic recipe for a panna cotta and simply add vanilla essence to taste. Make sure the jelly is fully set before adding the panna cotta liquid, and pour very VERY gently. 

Inspired by the work of my favourite artist of all time - Ali Cavanaugh. 

Strawberry Panna Cotta

This is something I have wanted to do for a long time. Striking, beautiful and different was the initial aim, but after being so close to the project all I see is a simple Panna Cotta on the plate by now. 

Panna Cottas are brilliant and incredibly simple to make. Much like soup, I could make a different Panna Cotta for every day of the week. It's a small dream, but I would love to have "Panna Cotta of the Day" on my menu. Here is the basic recipe: 

900ml Double Cream
600ml Whole Milk
300g Caster Sugar
7 - 8 Gelatine Leaf Sheets

Bingo. So to make a Strawberry Panna Cotta, get a handful of the ripest Strawberries you can find and blend into a puree, then pass it through a sieve. What I do, depending on the consistency of whatever puree/flavour I add, is choose whether to replace it with the milk or the cream. For example, I might get 300ml of puree after blending the Strawberries; it will be a fairly thick consistency, so I'll replace it with 300ml of the cream. The reason I try to keep the same volume of liquid is because the amount of gelatine leaves I use gives a perfect panna cotta texture. If you wanted to make a coconut panna cotta, just replace all 600ml of the whole milk with coconut milk. So easy. If you are using vanilla pods, you must bring the milk and the cream up to a gentle boil to infuse the vanilla, but allow it to cool slightly before adding the soaked gelatine leaves. Either way, you need to heat up the milk and cream in order to dissolve the sugar. The gelatine won't dissolve in cold liquid, but it will spoil in boiling liquid. Whack it in a few Pokal glasses and chill right down until set. 

The best thing about this recipe is the fact that you can save it if it doesn't set the way you want it to. Take the mixture out, bring it back up to heat and dissolve another couple of gelatine leaves. You have to let it cool back down again, but if you're in a hurry the freezer can work wonders (just don't freeze it). 

The only other component on this dish is the white chocolate ... Two words: Transfer sheet. Garnish with some nicely cut berries, passion fruit powder and micro herbs (not really available to the general public, but you can grow your own). It has been described as "a party on a plate" - honestly, anybody can do this. Just make sure you have good thoughts and a beautiful person to inspire you and no doubt whatever you put on a plate will look like fun. 

Dolcelatte Chocolate Fondant

The simplest complicated dessert in the world. 

For the fondant:
180g of 70%+ Plain Chocolate
180g Unsalted Butter
3 Large Eggs
110g Plain Flour
110g Caster Sugar

Melt the chocolate and the butter together over a bain-marie. In a bowl, whisk together the eggs and the sugar until pale and fluffy - but don't over do it otherwise your fondants won't rise. Fold the chocolate and butter into the egg mixture, then sift the flour and mix until there is no flour visible. 

Butter and flour some cup cake tins (preferably rubber non-stick ones) and fill them to the top with the batter. Pop a small teaspoon of Dolcelatte in the center of each cup and ensure it is covered by the batter. Refrigerate. 

When ready to serve, preheat the oven to 230°C  and bake for 8 minutes. 

The dolcelatte is entirely optional. Raymond Blanc likes to put a teaspoon of caramel in the centre of his fondants - I could imagine that being to die for. Especially if you salt the caramel, too. You can even serve them plain - they would be just as amazing. 

Enjoy. 

Chocolate Stack

Here we have a stack of white chocolate cream in between dark chocolate tuiles ... As soon as you have all these basic recipes in your head, it's amazing how much you can actually do. 

I had batter left over from the last tuiles, I had cream left over from the pomegranate dessert ... All I did here was glaze some cherries in honey, rocher store-bought sorbet (I don't have the means to make my own ... Yet.) and sprinkled some desiccated coconut on the plate. The rocher itself melted under the lights ... I am actually ashamed to post this dessert, in all honesty. Any fellow chef would dismiss this entire dessert based on my rocher ... But this is an honest blog, and I like to share my progress. 

The most difficult part of this dish is shaping the tuiles as they need to be cut immediately after baking (you have roughly 20 seconds to do so before it starts cooling too much) and then the stacking ... They snap so easily once cooled. 

However, they can be stored for a month if stored in an air-tight container. 

White Chocolate Summer

Here is a super-simple recipe to impress over summer! I was wandering around a home retailer recently and spotted a really eye-catching plate ... So I bought one and drove home immediately, aiming straight for the kitchen. 

The tuile disks are made in the exact same way as the Peach Melba basket:
100g Plain Flour
100g Melted Unsalted Butter
100g Icing Sugar
2 Egg Whites

Combine, chill right down, bake. Simple. If you leave out the egg whites and add 50g of Golden Syrup, you happen to make a brandy snap ... But that's by the by. It's also not the correct way of making brandy snaps, but it is an easy way! 

For the White Chocolate Cream:
White Chocolate
Double Cream
Vanilla Essence

Quantity is down to you. Ratio is also down to you. Melt the chocolate over a bain-marrie. In a bowl, whip the cream to ribbon stage, then fold in the chocolate. After the cream and the chocolate are fully combined, then you can whip the cream to whichever stage you need. Add the vanilla to taste. 

Have fun stacking the dessert! I used a piping bag, but it is not necessary. I also used pomegranates, but that also isn't necessary. You can use any fruit. 

Top with a mint leaf. Not necessary, but looks and tastes great! Can you see a pattern here? Make it your own. 

I See Fire

This is another dessert influenced by the work done at The Savoy. Inspired by their pastry chef's Fantasia, here is an Amaretto Chocolate Mousse on Coffee Granita inside a Chocolate Tuile Basket. 

The flavours are all inspired by my time spent with Katrina before she left for the Riverdance European tour. From London to Staffordshire to Anglesey to Dublin ... We had an amazing time drinking Amaretto coffees over Christmas and taking turns to make the pancakes in the morning. Katrina is one of those people who makes a normal life a phenomenal life. 

For the mousse:
150g of the best quality Plain Chocolate you can find (Tesco do 80%!)
1 tbsp Amaretto Syrup (coffee flavouring)
2 Egg Yolks
175ml Double Cream

Melt the chocolate over a bain-marrie. Whip the eggs yolks in a bowl then gradually add the Amaretto syrup until your eggs have doubled in size. In a separate bowl, whip the cream to ribbon stage, and fold in the egg mixture. Stir one third of the melted chocolate into the mixture, then fold in the rest. Chill. To serve, simply get an ice cream scoop dipped in boiling hot water for the glaze. 

The coffee granita is basically a coffee slush puppy! Make a strong black coffee and poor it into a shallow tray and into the freezer. Every 20-30 minutes stir it up a little with a fork, and repeat this until you get the ice crystals you desire. 

The sugar work here is also a complete failure. Cold water accidentally splashed into the caramel and crystallised the sugar. I will post a way to make the perfect sugar garnishes shortly, including some very impressive sugar pulling recipes. 

For the chocolate tuile (a bit more of a complicated recipe, but just as easy to make):
25g Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
120g Icing Sugar
100g Plain Flour
4 Egg Whites
150g Melted Unsalted Butter

Combine all the ingredients and chill in the fridge. Spread a thin layer on a baking tray and pop it in a preheated oven (around 200°C) and bake for around 8 minutes. The thinner, the better, and it will taste amazing. A great way to impress your guests. 

My favourite aspect of this dessert is the fact that is has fire and ice - inspired solely by Ed Sheeran's theme song for The Hobbit. 

Peach Melba

This was inspired by Anton Edelmann's version of Escoffier's Peach Melba in The Savoy Cookbook. 

I have been crazy about idea and the history of The Savoy ever since I took my girlfriend, Katrina, out to dinner there about 5 months ago. We were invited into the kitchen to meet the brigade after dessert, and it will forever be a stand-out memory in my mind. 

There are 5 simple components on this dish: a sugar-poached peach, vanilla ice cream, a tuile basket, spun sugar and raspberry coulis. 

This was my first attempt at spinning sugar, and it failed. The cage itself is significantly too thick and almost inedible, but the garnish is delicate and attractive. However, stick around ... I get better at sugar work. 

The tuile recipe is such a useful tool to have stored in the back of your mind:

100g Icing Sugar
100g Plain Flour
100g Melted Unsalted Butter
2 egg whites 

Easy! Combine all the ingredients and chill it right down. Preheat your oven to 190°C and bake for 4-5 minutes, or until browned. For the first 30 seconds it will be malleable enough to shape - but it will be very hot. Experiment with all kinds of different shapes and sizes - fantastic for garnishing, too.