RECIPES WITH BAILEYS

Baileys is one of those drinks that I occasionally have a real craving for. On ice, straight up after a long, leisurely dinner. But it's also a great ingredient to use in cocktail making, as well as making puddings. Here are a couple of ideas of what to do with the creamy, luxurious drink.

FLAT WHITE COCKTAIL

Makes 1 drink
50ml Baileys
25ml vodka
25ml espresso coffee

Add all the ingredients to a cocktail shaker along with lots of ice and shake until the drink is really cold. Strain in to a martini glass, garnish with a couple of coffee beans and enjoy! You can watch a little 15 second video here of exactly how the cocktail's made.

CHOCOLATE & BAILEYS MOUSSE WITH RASPBERRIES

Serves 8
200g dark chocolate
3 free range eggs, separated
2 pieces stem ginger
2 tbsp. Baileys
250ml double cream
Raspberries or blueberries

Break the chocolate up and put it in a bowl over a pan of simmering water, making sure the bowl doesn't touch the water. Leave it until the chocolate is 70% melted then turn the heat off and gently stir the chocolate until it's all melted. By removing it from the heat before it's all melted you'll make sure it doesn't overheat and split.

In a magimix or nutribullet blitz the stem ginger and Baileys. Add this to the melted chocolate, followed by the egg yolks. Leave to one side.

Whip 150ml of the cream gently until it starts to become thick. Whip the egg whites until they start to form soft peaks. Fold the cream, then the egg whites into the chocolate mixture.

Pour the mixture into a large dish, then top with a layer of cream and then some fresh fruit (raspberries, blueberries etc). Leave to cool for a couple of hours in the fridge. Serve with a flat white martini for extra creaminess and decadence!

And if that all sounds a bit chocolatey for you, I've just found a recipe for sticky toffee pudding with Baileys salted caramel sauce that sounds like heaven!

View Post

SALTED CARAMEL VANILLA CHEESECAKE

I'm not sure why the recipes on my blog have gone in such a sweet direction recently.... A lot of the savoury recipes I make I'm saving for the book I'm still trying to write!! So here's another sweet one for you - and actually this time it's not one of my own recipes, though I have tweaked the original slightly as I can't help myself! Today's recipe is Eric Lanlard's baked vanilla cheesecake, with the addition of my own salted caramel sauce. It's decadent and completely OTT but isn't that what sweet treats are about?! It's also very easy to make so even a less confident cook can whip this up to enjoy.

Serves 12

For the base:
150g crushed Digestive biscuits
75g unsalted butter

For the cheese filling:
900g full fat cream cheese - always use Philadelphia - it's so much better for baking than any other brand, and believe me when I say I've tried and failed with others!
200g unrefined golden caster sugar
200ml sour cream
3 tbsp. plain flour
3 free range eggs + 1 yolk
3 tsp Nielsen-Massey vanilla bean paste

For the salted caramel:
100g unsalted butter
200g light brown sugar
220ml heavy double cream
2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp Nielsen-Massey vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease and line the base of a 20cm spring form cake tin.

Melt the butter and add the crushed digestives, stirring to combing. Press down into base of the cake tin and bake for 10 minutes until golden. Remove and leave to cool.

Reduce the oven to 160C.

Make your salted caramel. Melt the butter in a saucepan over a medium heat. Once melted, add the sugar, double cream and salt and whisk until combined and smooth. Bubble gently for 5 minutes, stirring regularly. Remove from the heat and whisk in the vanilla. Leave to cool.

In a large bowl beat the cream cheese and golden caster together until smooth, then add the sour cream and flour and beat again. Gradually add the eggs and vanilla bean paste, beating well between each addition.

Pour the salted caramel on to the biscuit base, then top with the cream cheese mixture. Bake in the oven for 45 minutes, or until the edges become lightly golden. Turn the oven off, but leave the cheesecake in the oven to cool, with the door open a little. This stops the cheesecake from cracking.

 

View Post

PEAR, GINGER & THYME TARTE TATIN

Good baking requires 2 things - patience and precision. If you patiently follow the recipe, step by step, and measure and time with precision, you can't go wrong. Which is why Heston Blumenthal's latest cooking range with Salter is all about precision. He's developed a range of gadgets including dual platform scales, spatulas, an adjustable rolling pin, balloon whisk and measuring spoons. They're all great kitchen utensils and each has a USP of its own. The spatulas are double ended, the whisk is steadfast, the measuring spoons are super useful, the rolling pin has guides at each end so you can roll to specific thicknesses and the scales measure from 0.1g to 10kg! My brother and his wife bought me a beautiful baking cookbook called Bouchon Bakery by Thomas Keller that requires measurements of weight in decimal places so I can see the scales being very useful for making those recipes.

View Post

THE APPLE TREE - PATISSERIE IN ACTON!

I live in Acton. It's not the most happening place in the world, and the little strip of shops near where I live used to be made up of a few grotty corner shops, an electrics shop, a funeral parlour (!) and not much else. In the last year however we've had a mini Sainsburys open, as well as a really good fish and chip shop, and most recently a great pizza place that does small pizzas for a very reasonable £4 each. And then a few weeks ago I noticed something else had appeared - a tiny café called The Apple Tree. We popped in for a chat with the owners and to see what they were selling, and I was thrilled to find out that they sell fresh juices and patisserie cakes! I would've never thought we could get such nice cakes right at the top of our road, but now we can. I must've been in nearly 10 times since they opened as they are now my go to for cakes to take to parties, or just for a lazy pudding to have at home on the rare occasions I really crave something sweet.

The Apple Tree is run by a lovely husband and wife team, and the wife's mother makes most of the cakes at her local bakery. They sell a wide range of biscuits, tarts, cream cakes and slices, and also do sandwiches during the week. They've got good, proper coffee, fresh juices, and my favourite, a frozen lemonade which is like a fresh lemon slushy - perfect for the hot weather.

I picked up a few cakes for a friend's baby shower yesterday and they all got eaten, so that can only be a good sign! I snapped a few photos of some of what's on offer, but just with my iPhone so excuse the quality.

Crunchy buttery biscuits - think delicious homemade jammy dodgers:

 

View Post

MY NEXT POP UP - 26th APRIL

Another month, another pop up! I thought I should let you know about my next pop up restaurant, as there are still tickets available, but they do start to sell out around now.

I've got a bumper Spring menu, full of some of my favourite produce for my pop up on Saturday 26th April. The event is at our lovely house in West London, and starts at 7.30pm, and is kind of similar to a dinner party - a large table filled with guests, eating my four course menu, and having a great time. I've had guests from age 11 up to 60+ in the past, from all walks of life, and from all over the world. You can come with a group of friends, in a pair, or on your own, and it's bring your own booze, so you can bring a bottle or 2 of your favourite. I also serve either a welcome cocktail, pudding wine or port to go with the cheese, and there's homemade soft drinks for anyone who wants.

Every component of the food I serve is made from scratch, in my kitchen, with as much as possible being British, seasonal ingredients.

The menu for 26th April is:

 

Hand picked Dorset crab, homemade mayonnaise, remoulade, crusty white bread

 

Slow cooked shoulder of Spring lamb, savoy cabbage, Jersey royal new potatoes, with watercress and wild garlic salsa verde

 

Lemon posset with rhubarb compote and vanilla shortbread biscuits

 

Somerset cheeseboard, tomato chutney and herby salted crackers

 

Coffee/herbal tea served with sticky chocolate balls

If you'd like to come but can't eat or don't like something on the menu, that's fine - when you book there's a comments section where you can mention this. I don't think I've yet done a pop up where I haven't done at least 2 different main courses to cater for everyone's needs.

To find out what my previous guests have thought of the evenings you can see reviews of my last event here or a review written by another of my guests here.

Tickets for my pop up on 26th April are £30 each and can be bought via Grub Club.

And here's a couple of pics of the food my from the last event (although I always forget to take proper photos!)

Crusty white bread:

View Post

NEXT A LITTLE LUSCIOUSNESS POP UPS!

Last October I started doing a monthly pop up restaurant/supper club at our home in Acton Town and I've absolutely loved every minute of menu planning, food sourcing and all the cooking and preparation involved in putting on these events, as well as meeting all the lovely guests who've come to eat my food.  

My next pop up is on Saturday 29th March 2014, at our lovely house, in Acton Town, West London (Piccadilly line). The menu for the night is:

STARTER – Salmon three ways - beetroot cured with capers, sashimi with spring onions and pan fried with soy glaze

MAIN – Bavette steak, dauphinoise potatoes, greens and red wine sauce

PUDDING – Rhubarb hazelnut crumble, homemade stem ginger, hazelnut ice cream (this is the same pudding I served at my February pop up, but it went down so well, and rhubarb season should be made the most of, so I'm serving it again in March!)

CHEESE – Montgomery cheeseboard, spiced chutney and herby salted crackers

COFFEE and HERBAL TEAS served with sticky chocolate balls

If you'd like to come along but there's something on the menu you don't like, just let me know in the comments section of the booking form, and I can make you an alternative.


Tickets are available HERE.

You can come on your own, bring a date, grab some friends, or book out a whole table for however many of you there are! It's £30 a head for the evening, and it's bring your own booze, so feel free to bring a bottle of your favourite!

I do my public pop ups once a month, and the next one after this will be April 26th. Link to tickets and menu is HERE.

Hope to see some of you at one of my pop ups soon!!

View Post

CRUNCHY AUTUMN APPLE CRUMBLE

I don't think there's anything that sums up British Autumn more than an apple crumble. British apples in these months taste just like apples should - sweet, ripe and juicy. And having grown up in Kent and then Somerset, I've always been surrounded by orchards full of apple trees, dropping their apples around now. Unfortunately I don't know where in the UK the apples I used for this crumble came from, but I do know they were fresh and British. I like a golden, crunchy crumble topping and if you follow this recipe you should end up with one too.

The crumble needs to be made in 2 parts, as you need to allow the apples to cool before adding the crumble and cooking in the oven.

Serves 6 using an 8" cake tin.

For the filling:

8 medium British apples (I used a mixture of Discovery and Braeburn)

Seeds from 1 vanilla pod

1 tbsp caster sugar

Water

Knob of butter

For the crumble:

3 tbsp porridge oats

3 tbsp plain flour

2 tbsp salted butter

2 tbsp caster sugar

(Sorry for the lack of weights - I don't have my scales in the house we're staying at! Use heaped tablespoons for all measurements)

Cut your apples in half, and then each half into thirds. Remove the cores. I don't like peeling apples as most of their goodness is found in and just under the skin, but feel free to peel yours if you want.

Put the apple slices in a saucepan, with the vanilla seeds, 1 tbsp caster sugar, a splash of water (just enough to cover the bottom of the pan) and a knob of butter. Cover, and cook on a low heat for 20 minutes.

Remove from the heat and allow to cool. You can speed up this process by pouring the apples into the dish you'll make your crumble in, as this will be cooler than the saucepan you've just cooked them in!

Meanwhile make your crumble topping. Mix the oats and plain flour in a large bowl. Add the butter and using your fingers, incorporate the butter into the oat and flour mix until your left with breadcrumb like crumbles. Tip the sugar in and mix with the crumble.

Preheat the oven to 200C (180C fan).

When the apples have cooled pour your crumble mix over the top. Tap the dish so it settles evenly, but don't press it down too hard.

Cook, uncovered, in the oven for 25-35 minutes, or until it looks golden like this:

View Post

CHOCOLATE CHERRY COOKIES

Cookies are something I rarely eat. I never buy them from shops, and hardly ever make them, but I whipped up a batch to take with us to a rented cottage in the New Forest a couple of weeks ago. And they were really yummy! They're full of nuts, fruit and chocolate and are nicely soft and chewy.

You want to make the cookie dough about half an hour before you cook it, as the dough's better after a quick chill in the fridge.

Makes 15 palm size cookies

130g unsalted butter
125g light brown soft sugar
75g caster sugar
1 large egg
Zest of 1 orange
200g plain flour
1 slightly heaped teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 flat teaspoon table salt
20g almonds
30g orange chocolate
20g golden sultanas
20g dried cherries

Mix the butter with the sugars and beat until light and creamy. Add the egg and stir in with the sugar mix. Zest the orange into the mix. 

Put the flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt in a separate bowl and mix. Pour into the sugar mix and stir until all combined. 

Chop the almonds, chocolate orange, sultanas and dried cherries and add to the cookie dough mixture.

Lay a piece of cling film out and tip the cookie mix onto it. Flatten out and roll into a long cylinder, wrapping the cling film tightly around it. Refrigerate this for half an hour or so.

Preheat the oven to 180C.

Once chilled, slice the cookie dough into discs, about an inch thick. Place 6 discs on each well greased baking tray, spread out as much as possible.

Cook for 8-9 mins until lightly golden at the edges.

View Post

QUICK PEACH PUDDING

This is a complete cheats pudding. It's something I make on nights we haven't planned to have pudding, but I can whip it up from what I already have in the cupboard and fridge. Of course, you can use fresh fruit for this, but when you don't even have that to hand, tinned works fine.

Serves 6.

1 pack of shop bought puff pastry
2 tbsp soft brown sugar
2 tins of peaches
2 tbsp agave nectar
1 free-range egg

Preheat the oven to 220C (200C fan).

Roll your puff pastry out to about 5mm. Lightly score a line about 1.5cm in from the edge of the rectangle. Sprinkle the brown sugar over the small rectangle you have created. If your peaches are in halves, slice each half into quarters and lay the slices in lines inside the scored rectangle until the rectangle is full of peaches. Drizzle the peaches with agave nectar. Whisk the egg and brush it onto the exposed outer rectangle of pastry.

Cook for 20 minutes or until the pastry is golden.

Serve with vanilla or honeycomb ice-cream.

View Post

LEMON, LAVENDER AND BLUEBERRY CHEESECAKE

This recipe came about almost by mistake, while I was cooking various sweets and treats for a bake sale last week. I was going to make a blueberry cheesecake, but was given a jar of lemon and lavender marmalade, so thought that it would be a great addition to the cheesecake.

I used Cheristow Lavender's Lemon and Lavender marmalade, but sadly they don't sell it on their own website.

View Post

BAKE SALE - SATURDAY 9th FEB at THE VIBE BAR

This Saturday coming I will be selling cakes, sweets and treats at the brilliant Jumble and Pearls vintage fair, at The Vibe Bar on Brick Lane. I will be there from 11-6 on Saturday 9th February, so do come along if you're in the area, and say hi! There are over 15 stalls, selling vintage ladies clothes, men's ethical clothing, jewellery and much, much more.

I will be selling - banana cakes, blue baked cheesecake, berry cheesecake, ninja bread men, salted caramel peanut brownies, fruit and chocolate brownie slabs, pecan choccy bites, coconut ice, salted chocolate truffles, caramel flapjacks, and heart shaped shortbreads.

View Post

SALTED CARAMEL PEANUT BROWNIES- by Andy Bates

If you read my blog, you'll know I was sent Andy Bates new cook book to review, and try some recipes from. I literally have hardly been able to put the book down, and have already cooked several recipes from it. The chorizo sausage rolls are incredible, and the belly of pork with creamed beans is pretty good too, but so far, my favorite recipe is this one. I do like a good brownie, and these are almost better than my boozy prune brownies - http://alittlelusciousness.blogspot.co.uk/2011/03/chocolate-rum-brownies.html !!

I doubled the mixture stated in the book, as I knew they wouldn't last long, but this is the recipe with Andy's quantities. I was also lucky enough to have been given a jar of real, proper French dulce de leche just before I made these, but if you can't find dulce de leche, a tin of condensed milk will become dulce de leche (caramel) if you cover it with water and boil for 3 hours. Make sure you allow to cool before opening!

View Post

COCONUT TREATS - COCONUT ICE

These sweet delights are perfect as a beautiful birthday gift or just a treat to yourself. Old school sweeties that are 100% homemade and a million miles better than the shop bought ones I remember from my youth.

Coconut ice is really easy to make, it takes a bit of elbow grease, but requires no cooking so really is just mixing.

397g condensed milk (1 tin)
350g desiccated coconut
320g icing sugar
Vanilla extract
Red food colouring

Take one normal size tin of condensed milk (379g) - try and avoid Nestle, there are plenty of other brands available. Add the desiccated coconut, sifted icing sugar and a splash of vanilla extract. Mix this all together, it will be very sticky and difficult to mix but persevere!!

When all the ingredients are combined, spoon half the mixture into a tray lined with buttered greaseproof paper. Ideal size for these amounts in 20cm x 10cm tray.

Add a few drops of red food dye to the remaining mixture. Mix thoroughly and press over the mix into the tin with slightly wet hands. Once you have an even surface you're done. Loosely cover with foil. Put the coconut ice into the fridge for 4-8 hours. Then remove and place in a cool, dry area for a further 12 hours. Then you're ready to cut the coconut ice into small squares, place in airtight jars and give to anyone you love!

View Post

EASY PEASY TARTE TATIN

A french friend of my mum's cooks the most fantastic tarte tatins that she brings round for dinner parties. I didn't think I had a hope of recreating her amazing tarte, without even a recipe to go on. But I'm pleased to say it wasn't actually far off. Although I have used pre made puff pastry, and I'm sure my mum's friend makes her own!

Using this recipe, tarte tatin is actually really easy to make - there are only 4 ingredients - and can be made well in advance, then reheated and served warm, or just served cold!

This recipe makes a large tatin that feeds 8 people.

7 cox apples (can use Braeburns or Granny Smiths)

80g soft brown sugar

80g salter butter

1 roll of shop bought puff pastry

Preheat the oven to 220C.

Peel, quarter and core the apples. I used cox apples, you can use these, Braeburns or Granny Smiths. Slice the apples as thinly as possible. My magimix came up trumps here, with it's 2mm slicing blade. 

In a large frying pan (that is safe to later put in the oven) heat 80g of soft light brown sugar and 80g of butter. Leave this, on a medium heat, to bubble and foam and become golden and oozing. This takes around 5 minutes. Once it is so, quickly layer your apple slices onto the caramel, as neatly as possible. It doesn't matter if there are a few small holes in between the apple slices. Keep over a medium heat and let the caramel seep up between the apples.

Roll out a piece of shop bought puff pastry on a floured surface, until it's just less than 5mm thick. Cut a circle the same size of the pan out of the pastry.

Once the caramel is turning a dark golden, place the circle of puff pastry over the apples and tuck down the sides.

Put the whole pan into the oven and cook for 15-20 minutes or until the pastry has turned golden and crisp. With a teatowel, remove the pan from the oven - be careful - the handle of the pan will be very hot.

Leave to cool slightly before turning the tarte out onto a plate, with the apples showing.

Serve with vanilla ice cream.

View Post

MANGO FOOL & CRUNCHY ALMOND MOONS

I cooked a thai feast on Saturday evening for some friends, recipes for the main course to follow, but the dessert was so easy to make and went down a storm. It was a nice palette cleanser too.

FOR THE FOOL:
2 mangoes
500ml greek yoghurt
2 tbsp coconut milk or cream
Lime zest
1 tbsp icing sugar

FOR THE ALMOND MOONS:
150g ground almonds
150g plain flour
150g unsalted butter
60g soft light brown sugar
Vanilla essence

Mix equal quantities of mango flesh and greek yoghurt. Add a couple of tablespoons of coconut milk, a grating of lime zest and a spoon of sifted icing sugar. Put in individual glasses and into the fridge for a few hours. Don't remove from the fridge until it's time to eat them!

If you like you can freeze the fool, making sure to give it a stir every hour. It tastes just as good frozen. If you do freeze it though, don't serve it in glasses - freeze it in a tupperware container and then serve as ice cream.

I served my mango fool with crunchy almond biscuits, which add a lovely texture to the smooth fool: mix the ground almonds, flour, butter, sugar and a few drops of vanilla essence. Once doughy, form a ball, wrap in cling film and pop in the fridge for an hour. Roll into little moon shapes and bake on a greased baking tray for about 15 minutes at 180C, or until lightly golden brown. Wait til cool to remove from the tray otherwise they'll turn into crumbs (which are actually quite nice sprinkled on the fool anyway!)

View Post

GOOEY BANANA BREAD

Where better to start than with desert?! This is one of my favourite puddings to serve after a hearty Sunday roast. You can make it the day before and have it cold or pop it back in the oven after you've taken your roast out to warm up while you eat your mains.

This recipe is very easy, and a great way to use up bananas that look well past their best.

75g soft salted butter
200g soft brown sugar
1 large free range egg
Vanilla extract
5 medium brown bananas
170g plain flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

Pre-heat the oven to 180C. 

Take 3 mixing bowls - in the first one mix the soft butter, sugar, egg and a few drops of vanilla extract.

In the second bowl, mash up the bananas - the browner and older the better!

In the last mixing bowl sift the plain flour and 1 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda.

Tip the mashed bananas into the butter mix bowl and then gently mix in the flour. 

Banana bread is normally cooked in a loaf tin, but I like to cook mine in a round pyrex dish. This is for two reasons - you can see when it is all golden and cooked to perfection through the glass, and secondly, it means the bananas move to the centre of the cake, creating a gorgeous, sticky middle. 

View Post