Food In My Home

I was asked to make a triple chocolate cake to go in the freezer for New Years eve for a friends Mum so I did a little tester on my family this weekend at our mini christmas dinner. I ended up doing a double as it looked so rich and I also don't like white chocolate and it was amaaaaazing. You don't need to do the mousse layer on top but it was really good having the two different textures. serves 18-20 240g unsalted butter, cut into small cubes 360g dark chocolate, broken up 290g light muscovado sugar 4 tbsp water 5 large eggs, separated pinch of salt Preheat the oven to 170˚C. Grease a 20cm springform cake tin and line the base and sides with baking parchment. Put the butter and chocolate in a big heatproof bowl. Heat the brown sugar and water in a small saucepan until it boils then pour it over the chocolate and butter, stirring well until it has turned into a runny sauce. If it doesn't all melt then put the bowl above some simmering water until it's smooth. Stir in

I have been pretty manic this week with the run up to Christmas, doing dinner and canapé parties for clients. On Thursday me and my sister Anna did canapes for 100 which went really well, never seen so much champagne consumed and "accidental" boob brushing against the poor waitresses. I can now safely say I never want to prep or eat pork belly ever again after an incident trimming the skin and coming across two pig nipples...euggh. Butterflied Prawn on Spiced Guacamole and Tortilla Crisps 2 mexican flour tortilla wraps, cut into bite-size rounds If you have a deep fat fryer heat it to about 190˚ and fry them until they are golden all over, only takes about 30 secs and then chuck them onto some kitchen towel. They keep well in an airtight container so you can make them a couple of days ahead. 1-2 ripe Avocados ⅓ red onion finely chopped teaspoon of finely chopped chili juice of ½ lime 1-2 tomatoes, de seeded and roughly chopped chopped coriander Raw prawns (run a knife down th

These brownies rock, they are super gooey and always come out incredible. They also just require mixing with a spoon and a little melting so no way you can mess up. Makes 12 200g Dark chocolate roughly chopped 175g Unsalted butter cut into small pieces 325g Caster sugar 130g Plain flour 3 Eggs Preheat the oven to 170˚C. Melt the chocolate and butter together in a big heatproof bowl over boiling water, making sure the bowl isn't touching the water. When all melted take off the heat and stir in the sugar and then the flour, then the eggs one at a time until smooth. Pour into a baking tray lined with baking parchment and bake in the oven for 30 mins. They should have a slightly flaky top layer and be soft all the way through. I let them cool and then put them in the fridge because they are good cold but otherwise you can't go wrong if you serve them warm with ice cream.

I just bought myself a George Foreman grill and it has opened up a whole load more of cooking possibilities, mainly toasting but still very exciting. My friend Lizzie said I should write a cookbook on what to do with what's left in the fridge and today was one of those moments where I had a bunch of random leftover stuff and managed to make an epic lunch. So here is my first addition to making lovely leftovers. 1 wrap or baguette/pitta/sliced bread A handful of salad leaves Half and onion Bits of leftover veg, red pepper, aubergine, courgette, tomato etc Any fresh herbs leftover meat, chicken, lamb, beef, ham, bacon Any melty cheese The moist maker, sour cream, creme fraiche, tomato sauce, pickle, mayo, mustard, pesto, chili sauce, yogurt So get all your random bits from your fridge out together. Fry up any meat, vegetables, onions until soft, go crazy and add some chili flakes, spices or left over pesto or sauce. Put your wrap or whatever vessel you have chosen on a plate and chuc

Serves 6-8 1 Pack ready made puff pastry 5 cox's apples 200g Caster Sugar 100g Unsalted butter cubed ½ tsp Cinnamon Double cream of vanilla ice cream Preheat the oven to 190˚C Use an oven proof dish or frying pan that is around 18cm. Prepare the pastry by rolling it with some flour sprinkled over so it doesn't stick until it's the thickness of a pound coin. Turn the dish you are going to use upside down over the pastry and cut around it leaving around 1½cm extra pastry around. Core and peel the apples and cut in half. Over a gentle heat melt the sugar until it becomes golden brown, do not be tempted to stir it. When caramelised add the butter and stir in to make a caramel sauce, don't worry if it looks separated just keep stirring or whisk. Arrange the apples cut side up in the pan since you are going to turn it upside down to serve. The apples shrink in the oven so pack them in as tight as you can, filling any gaps with smaller sliced apples. Sprinkle on cinnamon and c

Lots of pears and apples around it being winter and all, so I got all english at the weekend and made crumble with poached pears. By poaching the fruit the crumble tastes pretty different and less sugary in my opinion, you could poach apples too I guess and I like to mix half poached with half not so you get a different texture and taste. Poaching liquid 100ml of caster sugar to 200ml of water...use depending on how many pears you poach and should cover all the pears in a big pan cinnamon stick 2 Star Anise 1 bit of peeled lemon rind 1 Pear per person (best to use harder pears not very ripe ones) Heat the poaching liquid and spices, lemon rind until the sugar has dissolved. Peel half the pears whole and place in the poaching liquid and cover with a round piece of parchment paper. Bring liquid to a low simmer and they should cook for about 20-30 mins depending on how ripe the pears were at the start. You should be able to stick a knife through. Take them off the heat and let them cool i

I used to eat Gyoza in Paris with my Uncle on Rue Sainte-Anne which is loaded with Japanese restaurants, and I love them, as I do dim sum. I actually wanted to make dim sum but bought the wrong wrappers from the thai supermarket, gyoza ones are thicker and round. Anyway I watched this hilarious video in Japanease on youtube of this woman making them and the technique to fold them, and it worked a treat, they were very easy to do and came out perfect. I would only do them if you have lots of people over or if your happy to fill the freezer up and have time at hand to do the wrapping. My recipe is very vague because I looked at a few and played around with what I like and tested and adapted the mix until I was happy. So add more or less and fry a bit to test. makes around 30 1 or 2 packs round dumpling wrappers, I used mine all up so get another pack as they freeze well. 400g minced pork 200g raw peeled prawns chopped roughly 4/5 sliced whole spring onion (stalk included) or Chives 5cm k