Week 8: Patisserie Week – Savarin It’s semi-final week, and I’ve been away, so this post is really quite late (photos to follow – sorry) A ‘high end’ desert, the Savarin is a yeast leavened sponge saturated in alcohol based syrup, usually served with cream and fruit. Paul’s Savarin was exactly this. His orange sponge…
Category: French
Marjolaine
Week 7: Dessert Week – Marjolaine Target Time: 3 hours No, I didn’t know what was either so a visit to the interweb was called for. If you google Marjolaine you’re likely to come across a number of sites devoted to French lingerie. Be warned, I’m sure this was not the Marjolaine that Mary had in…
Apple Tarte Tatin
The one and only Tarte Tatin. In this recipe I’ve used a full puff pastry, but rough puff should be perfectly fine. This classic is all about showing off the fruit. It doesn’t need anything else – just apple and caramel. The choice of apple is critical here – you need something with a good…
Red Onion Tarte Tatin
A great savoury version of the french classic – the onions should caramelise to give a sticky topping to the final tarte, the sweetness is offset by the balsamic vinegar. Unlike the apple version there isn’t too much liquid so inverting should’t be too much of a hazard. Serve with a fresh side salad Makes…
French Meringue
The first of my 3 meringue recipes is the easiest to make. It’s also very versatile and can be used for ‘hard’ meringues such as meringue nests or Eton Mess, ‘chewy’ meringue dishes such as pavlova or as a soft pie topping for the likes of a lemon meringue pie – there are some tweaks…
Pate Sucree
Sweet Shortcrust Pastry or Pate Sucree is an enriched dough and the pasty of choice for sweet flans and tarts. How enriched, how sweet and how short all seem to be a matter for debate. At the end of the day, much of this is down to personal choice. I’ve stuck to some basic principles…
Lemon Curd Eclairs
So I find myself with some double cream and a batch of lemon curd to use up – what better way than to make up a batch of decadent eclairs? Mixing the lemon curd into the cream filling cuts through the richness, making these seem light and refreshing by comparison to some chocolate equivalents. The…
Choux Pastry
One of the easiest to make, Choux, or Pâte à Choux, provides a light, crisp, fluffy pastry for both sweet and savoury indulgent bakes. Use for eclairs, profiteroles, choux buns, savoury gougeres and controversially, alternative non-yeasted beignets The wonderful rise you expect in choux comes from the steam as the leavening agent, consequently you need…
Lemon Macarons
A terrific zesty macaroon with a creamy lemon buttercream and surprise lemon curd centre. This recipe uses a French Meringue technique rather than creating an Italian meringue, which is much simpler. Use the spare egg yolks to make your own lemon curd – it’s really easy! Makes 15-20 Ingredients 150g Icing Sugar 75g Ground Almonds…
Sweet Thai Chilli Macarons – Flora’s Revenge!
And so another series of Great British Bake Off has finished, the nation has finally finished mopping up those tears after Nadiya’s closing speech. A worthy winner from 3 impressive finalists, but part of me wishes Flora had made it through the semis. Also, her desire to plaster everything in sight with macarons was her…
Cheese Sable
Sable are traditional French butter cookies, originally from Normandy and usually sweet. This recipe is simplicity itself and the outcome is just wonderful. This cheese version works really well and fresh out of the oven are just wonderful by themselves. Serve as an appetiser, an interesting accompaniment for soups or with cheese Consider using the…
Mill Loaf
The Mill Loaf is in effect Dan Lepard’s take on a Pain au Levain, adapted from his book, The Handmade Loaf. Compared with other similar sourdough mixed flour loaves, this recipe uses a relatively high proportion of the sourdough starter. However, this doesn’t actually result in an overly acidic bread, but probably a more consistent…
Slow Braise Thin Rib of Beef
If you prefer lamb to beef, then this is probably the beef dish you’ve been waiting for. The lusciously moist, rich meat has much in common with roasted lamb. I came across a cut of beef in the local Farmers Market which was unfamiliar to me – ‘Rising Beef’ it was called. It looked just…
Spicy Glazed Braised Belly Pork
Not a dish you can turn around at short notice – this takes what was until recently a cheap ‘peasant’ cut and turns it into something special for a festive family occasion (quite appropriate with Christmas fast approaching). It took me a long time to try belly pork – i just hate fatty meat and…
Coq au vin
A classic, yet simple dish. This requires little effort and is ideal for entertaining. You’ll get a better result using chicken thighs, but breasts are OK. Serve with new potatoes or rice. Some left over? Thow in a bit of cream and use as a paste sauce! If neessary thicken with a beurre manie Cooking…
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