Honey and Vanilla Madeleines

I have turned incredibly jet set these days and after a week of being home in England I headed out to Verbier to start working for a family for 3 weeks, it turned out the weather was again torrential rain, cold and stormy...seems to be a pattern with me at the moment. Anyway we were going to head down to the south of France after a week in the Alps but looking at the two weather forecasts decided that one was much more disirable than the other so left for the sunny Côte d'Azur pretty pronto.

Well its nice and tres chaud here so I'm very happy and I have been testing out some of my frenchy food recipes and here is a yummy recipe for Madeleines. Great as a little tea time treat!

100g plain flour , plus extra for dusting

100g caster sugar

100g butter , melted
1 whole egg , separated, plus 1 egg white
1 tbsp honey or you can use lemon/orange zest
1 tsp vanilla extract
icing sugar , for dusting

Heat oven to 190c. Use a little of the melted butter to grease the madeleine mould and then dust with flour, if you don't have one you could use something small like a cupcake tin.

Mix the flour and sugar in a bowl. Put the butter, egg yolk, honey and vanilla into a separate bowl and whisk with a fork till mixed. Whisk the two egg whites until stiff. Fold the butter mixture into the dry ingredients until evenly mixed, then fold in the egg whites in two batches.

Divide between the prepared moulds and bake for 10-12 mins until golden brown and firm to the touch. Leave to cool in the moulds for a few mins, then turn out and cool on a wire rack. Dust with icing sugar before serving.

River cafe polenta, almond and lemon cake

This week has been a bit up and down with the weather, lots of rain and then an absolute scorcher yesterday in the 30˚s. Yesterday was an especially good day because not only did I get a little bit less pasty but I also stood up on my surfboard about 10 times!! I did almost die about twice getting absolutely smashed by waves and ended up with my hair looking a bit like a loo brush but very happy!! Since the weather has been crappy I made a huge cake, and I think this could be my newest most favourite cake I have ever made. I have been trawling through my River cafe books and there is so much amazing stuff so since I have all kinds of great ingredients on my door step I am going to go nuts and try loads this month. Serves 12 450g unsalted butter, softened 450g caster sugar 450g ground almonds 2 teaspoons good vanilla essence 6 free range eggs zest of 4 lemons juice of 1 lemon 225g polenta flour or fine semolina 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder 1/4 teaspoon of salt Preheat the oven to ...

Caramelised endive with Serrano ham

This is another delicious Ottolenghi recipe, you could do it as a starter or part of a summery lunch. Serves 6 6 endives, cut in half lengthways 40g unsalted butter 4 tsp caster sugar 50g breadcrumbs 70g parmesan cheese, freshly grated 2 tbsp thyme leaves 120ml whipping cream 12 thin sliced of Serrano ham olive oil for drizzling Preheat the oven to 200˚C. Start by caramelising the endive in batches depending on how many you can fit in a frying pan. Put the butter and sugar in the pan over a high heat until the butter starts to bubble, then place the endive halves into the pan cut side down until they are golden. Remove and place into a lined baking tray, caramelised side up. Sprinkle with a little salt and pepper. Mix the breadcrumbs with the cream, parmesan, thyme some salt and ground pepper. Spoon the mix on top of the endives and top with a slice of the ham. Roast in the oven until golden and the endives feel soft when poked with a knife. Serve hot or warm drizzled with a little oli...

Fig, rocket and basil salad with goats cheese and prosciutto

This is the most simple salad to make and the combination of the basil, goats cheese, fig and prosciutto is amazing. Another nice thing to do is turn it into a canape by quartering the figs, putting a small dollop of goats cheese on, season, add a basil leaf and wrap in prosciutto. serves 5/6 as a Starter 1 bag Rocket 2 tubs of soft goats cheese/goats curd 1 Bunch of Basil 1 pack of Prosciutto/Parma ham 10 Figs For the dressing I just make a basic vinaigrette with a little bit of mustard, balsamic vinegar, olive oil and a squeeze of lemon. And for the final touch you can either buy a bottle of balsamic reduction or make it yourself by boiling it in a pan until it becomes thicker, but still runny enough to squeeze through a bottle. Then do a swirl over and around the salad.

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