Strawberry Pavlova

This is the dessert that I make most often, varying the filling to use whatever fruits are in season. Pavlovas look so much more complicated to make than they are in reality. There is only one rule to remember when making meringues, which is that all utensils, including the mixing bowl must be scrupulously clean or you will not be able to whisk the egg whites to the correct consistency. Any trace of water or grease will spell disaster and you will have to start again. But other than this, pavlovas are extremely easy to make and are an incredibly popular dessert.

 

Pavlovas have a crisp meringue exterior but should have a soft billowy, marshmallow-like consistence on the inside. They are usually served with a filling of cream and fresh fruit – some people favour using a crème Chantilly, but to be honest – the meringue contains enough sugar already so I don’t believe the cream needs added sweetening.

The version that I have made here uses strawberries, but I also like to make an autumnal version using sliced poached pears, some roasted hazelnuts and a generous drizzle of melted dark chocolate. After you have made the meringue you can add a little spice, a couple of tablespoons of toasted, desiccated coconut or some finely chopped toasted nuts before piling onto the parchment and baking in the oven. The recipe is fairly adaptable once you have made the basic meringue.
 

I love this dessert! It’s a wonderful way to finish a meal, being light but sweet and rich at the same time and simply delicious.

 

Ingredients:

4 large egg whites

225g caster sugar

4tsp cornflour

2tsp lemon juice

½tsp vanilla paste/extract

Filling:

300g fresh strawberries, hulled and quartered

350ml single cream
 

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 140C/Fan oven 120C/Gas Mark 2. Line a large square baking tray with baking parchment and set aside.
2. Place the egg whites in a large mixing bowl and using a hand-held electric mixer beat until the egg whites are standing in soft peaks. Add in the caster sugar, a tablespoon at a time, mixing well between each addition.
3. When all the sugar has been added, sieve in the cornflour and mix well to fully incorporate. Add the lemon juice and vanilla paste and mix in to the meringue.

4. Pile half of the meringue on to the parchment lined baking tray. Using a metal spoon, spread the meringue into a rough circle, about 20cms in diameter. Place blobs of the remaining meringue on top of the meringue circle around the edge.

5. Place into the preheated oven for 1 hour. After the baking time is up, switch off the oven but leave the meringue to fully cool before removing (I tend to make my pavlovas before I go to bed and let them cool in the oven overnight).

Filling:

6. Carefully remove the baking parchment from the bottom of the cooled pavlova. Place on a serving plate. Softly whip the cream. Scatter half of the quartered strawberries over the top of the pavlova and then dollop on the cream. Finish by scattering over the remaining strawberries.
 

Serves 6-8.
 

     

Hot Cross Buns

Today is Good Friday which is a day observed mainly by Christians and is said to represent the day of the Crucifixion and the death of Christ at Calvary. Hot cross buns are sweet and spicy yeasted buns, traditionally eaten on Good Friday. They contain dried fruits, most often raisins or currants but I have come across quite a few versions which actually use up some of the store of mincemeat left over after Christmas.

Given that I made quite a large amount last Christmas and still had a couple of jars remaining at the back of the kitchen cupboard, I decided to make these hot cross buns using mincemeat. I was delighted with the results which I think made for a far juicier bun. The dough was a little softer than the results I usually get for other bread buns that I make, but if I’m being completely honest, I have sometimes found that they can be a little heavier than I might wish. This was not the case with these hot cross buns. They were surprisingly light and not at all doughy. I really loved them.

I kneaded and worked the dough by hand on a lightly floured work-surface, but I could as easily have used the dough attachment on my mixer. I have always preferred to make yeast risen breads by hand as I like to feel more connected to the dough and find it easier to gauge when it has been sufficiently kneaded; when using the mixer, there is more of a risk that the bread dough will be over-worked. I also find that if the dough contains other ingredients such as nuts or dried fruit, these can get broken down slightly – these are all issues that I don’t have to worry about if I work the dough by hand. Persevere with this dough, even if it seems a bit soft initially, and you will be rewarded with the lightest, softest, most delicious buns.

 

Traditional recipes make the cross on top of the bun using strips of shortcrust pastry, but I made a paste out of flour, milk and icing sugar which I piped on to the buns after the second proving and just prior to baking in the oven.

The buns were delicious served fresh, still slightly warm from the oven liberally spread with some butter. We also ate them the following day, lightly toasted - be careful to keep an eye on them when they are toasting as due to the sugar in the glaze and in the buns themselves, they can quickly burn.

Ingredients:

500g strong white flour
½tsp mixed spice

1tsp salt

75g butter, slightly softened

1 x 7g sachet of fast action yeast

50g caster sugar

250ml milk

1 egg, lightly beaten

150g mincemeat

A little extra beaten egg to brush on the buns

Paste for the crosses:

75g flour

25g icing sugar

60ml milk

Glaze:

100g sugar

100ml water
 

Method:

1. Place the flour, mixed spice and salt into a large mixing bowl and using your fingertips, rub in the softened butter. Once the butter has been rubbed in, sprinkle in the yeast and make a well in the centre of the flour mixture. Pour in the milk and the lightly beaten egg. Bring everything together to make a fairly soft but not sticky dough.
2. Turn the dough out on to a lightly floured work-surface and knead for 10 minutes. The dough should be elastic and spring back when prodded. Start working in the mincemeat. The dough will become sticky, but persevere and everything will come together again. Knead for a couple of further minutes. Place into a clean, lightly oiled bowl and cover with cling film. Leave to prove in a warm place (a warm kitchen is perfect) for about an hour and a half until doubled in size.

3. Turn the dough out on to a lightly floured work-surface and knock back. Cur the dough into 10 equal pieces and form into round buns. Place the buns on a large baking tray lined with baking parchment. Leave to prove again for about an hour, covered with cling film until they have doubled in size. Brush the buns with a little beaten egg using a pastry brush.

4. Preheat the oven to 190C/Fan Oven 170C/Gas Mark 5.

Make the paste for the crosses:

5. Mix all the ingredients together and place the resulting paste into a disposable piping bag. Snip off the tip of the bag and pipe crosses on top of each of the buns. Bake in the pre-heated oven for 18-20 minutes until well they are a rich golden colour. Remove from the oven.

Glaze:

6. Whilst the buns are baking bring the sugar and water to the boil in a small saucepan. Once the sugar has dissolved, remove from the heat and set aside. Bush each of the buns, when removed from the oven (but still warm) with a little of the sugar glaze.

Makes 10.
     



Oven-Dried Tomatoes

This is a really handy recipe to have in your repertoire, as once dried in the oven these tomatoes can either be eaten immediately or stored in a sterilised jar, covered with olive oil, until you are ready to use them. If you are lucky enough to grown your own tomatoes or know someone who does and is prepared to part with some of their produce, this is the recipe for you.

Drying the tomatoes in this way intensifies their flavour and really highlights their natural sweetness. Once made, these tomatoes can be used in a number of ways; scattered on salads or pizzas, roughly chopped up in sauces - the possibilities are endless. I regularly make preserved tomato bread rolls as one in a selection of flavoured breads if I am hosting a dinner party or other occasion which I have to cater for. They always go down a treat and people invariable ask for the recipe (which I will post in the near future).

I love homemade tomato soup using fresh tomatoes, but I find that the addition of a few preserved tomatoes before puréeing the soup really adds something extra in terms of the finished flavour of the soup.
 

The long slow cooking dries out the tomatoes leaving them slightly chewy, with a little moisture still remaining. If you cook them for too long they will become hard, brittle and a little bitter to taste - this is obviously not what you are trying to achieve, so I would advise checking them for the last half hour of the allotted cooking time, just in case they are ready sooner than expected.

The point that I want to get across is that these tomatoes are incredibly delicious but are also an extremely versatile ingredient with a myriad of uses in so many other dishes, so when tomatoes are in season, are abundant and cheap, have a go at making a few jars.

      

Ingredients:

100ml olive oil, plus extra to cover them if being kept
8 garlic cloves

500g cherry tomatoes

2tsp icing sugar

A few sprigs of thyme

Salt & freshly ground black pepper
 

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 110C/Fan oven 90-100C/Gas Mark ½.
2. Put the oil and garlic in a small oven proof bowl and place in the oven for 20 minutes to allow the garlic to infuse into the oil.

3. Meanwhile slice the tomatoes in half across their middle. Gently squeeze each halved tomato to remove some of the seeds and then place the tomatoes in a single layer, cut side uppermost in the baking dish (approximately 20cm x 30cm). Pour over the infused olive oil, discarding the garlic and ensuring that the tomatoes are well covered in the oil.

4. Sieve the icing sugar evenly over the tomatoes and season generously with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Tuck the sprigs of thyme around the tomatoes.

5. Place in the pre-heated oven for 2½ hours. You can either serve the tomatoes warm or place them in a jar, discard the thyme and cover with fresh olive oil and refrigerate. They will keep in the fridge covered in oil for up to 6 weeks… if they last that long!

 Makes 1 small jar.
      

Fig, Goats' Cheese & Parma Ham Pizza with Rocket

Homemade pizzas are far simpler to make than you might think and once you have made the dough for the bases, you can top them with whatever takes your fancy. In my opinion they are really simple to make and every time I do so, I wonder why it is not a more regular event in our household as everyone loves to get stuck in, rolling out the dough and selecting their own favourite toppings.

The only time consuming part of the recipe is the making of the dough as, because it is a yeast dough, it must be given time to prove, but the pizzas themselves cook really quickly in the oven and if you have pre-made your dough, these are the ultimate in home cooked “fast-food”.

I recently had some figs leftover after making my Raspberry & Fig Tarte Tatin, so decided that I would use them on my pizza. No great thinking went into the making of this pizza. I literally looked in the fridge and store cupboard and used what I had to hand.

 

Luckily I had a packet of Parma ham and a log of goats’ cheese and knew that these would go wonderfully with the figs. Even though I could have made a tomato based sauce as I had the necessary ingredients, I decided that for this pizza I wouldn’t include a tomatoes either in a sauce or in any other form as I felt that their tendency towards acidity would fight against the musky fruitiness of the figs. I scattered everything on top of the pizza dough as artfully as I could and popped the pizza into the oven preheated to its highest temperature, for about 7 minutes until the base was cooked through and the cheese just melted.

 

The pizza was so simple to make, but most importantly, it was absolutely delicious.

 

Ingredients:

Dough:
500g strong white bread flour
½ tsp fine sea salt
1 x 7g sachet of dried yeast
3tblsp of olive oil
300ml of lukewarm water
A little semolina for sprinkling on the baking tray
Topping:
8 ripe figs, halved
200g soft goats’ cheese, roughly crumbled
8-10 slices of Parma ham
A little olive oil
A little balsamic vinegar
A large handful of rocket leaves
Salt & freshly ground black pepper 

Method:

Dough:
1. Sieve the flour and salt into a large mixing bowl and sprinkle in yeast. Make a well in the centre and add the olive oil and gradually add the water. Start mixing everything together with your hands to create a firm but not overly dry dough – if need’s be add a little more warm water.

2. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work-surface and knead for approximately 10 minutes until it is smooth and springy to the touch.

3. Place the dough in a lightly oiled, clean bowl and cover with a damp clean tea-towel or some lightly oiled cling-film. Leave in a warm room for about an hour until the dough has risen and has doubled in size.

To finish:

4. Preheat the oven to its highest setting (on my oven this is 250C). Lightly dust a large baking tray with a little fine semolina and set aside.

5. Turn the risen dough out onto a lightly floured work-surface and knead it a little, punching out the air. Divide the dough into four equal pieces.

6. Roll each piece of dough out into a rough circle about ½cm thick leaving a slightly thicker narrow “lip” of dough around the edge. Place on the semolina dusted baking tray. Scatter over 4 fig halves, a quarter of the crumbled goats’ cheese and some of the Parma ham. Drizzle with a little olive oil and a small amount of balsamic vinegar. Season generously with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

7. Bake in the preheated oven for 7-10 minutes until the base is cooked through and everything is piping hot. Remove from the oven and scatter a handful of fresh rocket leaves on top. Serve immediately, cut into slices.

8. Repeat this process with the remaining dough and other ingredients to make 4 medium to large pizzas.

Makes 4 medium to large pizzas.

Fig & Raspberry Tarte Tatin

Figs are a fruit you either love or hate. They contain quite a few seeds and some people find that this gives them an almost gritty texture. Although, I discovered fresh figs only relatively recently, I have to admit that I love their slightly exotic allure and their taste is unlike any other fruit that I have eaten. Ripe figs have a rich, almost meaty taste and there is a definite air of the exotic about them. The aroma of a fresh fig is something beautiful to behold and promises much in the way of flavour to tempt the diner.

 

Figs are an extremely popular ingredient in Middle Eastern cooking and are quite regularly paired with rich or salty foods or meats in many recipes. They sit equally well in both sweet and savoury dishes and for me, this really adds to their appeal – there is something so grown-up and refined about figs and I love to use them, when I can, in my cooking.
 

Many people are surprised that figs can be grown quite successfully in the British Isles, provided you have a sheltered spot which catches the sun – because they really do need that warmth to release their full taste potential.
 

Amongst my favourite fruits are raspberries. I love their taste and believe that they complement the flavour of figs so well. The juicy sweetness of the raspberries marries so well with the rich, heady flavour of the figs and they taste delicious together. This is really an example of a dessert that is so much more than the sum of its parts.

 

I have previously given variations on the tarte tatin theme and I unashamedly give another one here. The reality is that tarte tatins are so easy to prepare, look so elegant and taste wonderful. So… here is another recipe, which I hope you enjoy!

 

Ingredients:

5 fresh figs, halved
150g fresh raspberries
100g caster sugar

55g butter

350g all-butter puff pastry
 

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 220C/Fan Oven 200C/Gas Mark 7.
2. Place the sugar in a large oven-proof frying pan (about 25cms in diameter) with 2 tablespoons of water and heat gently over a moderate heat until all the sugar has dissolved. Once the sugar has completely dissolved, turn up the heat until the mixture starts bubbling. Allow it to bubble away for about 5 minutes, keeping a close eye on it to ensure that it does not burn. Do not allow it to become too dark – you want to achieve a rich golden colour.

3. Once it has reached this stage, remove the pan from the heat and carefully add the butter and mix through. Set aside to cool.

To finish:

4. Roll out the pastry to a thickness of about 3mm and into a circle large enough to fit the frying pan with a little overhang.

5. Place the figs, cut side down in the frying pan on top of the cooled caramel. Nestle the raspberries in and around the gaps created by the figs.

6. Lay the rolled pastry on top of the figs and raspberries and tuck in the excess pastry around the edges, so everything is contained within the frying pan. Place the frying pan on a baking tray and bake in the pre-heated oven for 30 minutes approximately until the pastry is golden and well-risen.

7. Remove from the oven and allow to stand for about 5 minutes before carefully inverting onto a serving plate.

8. Serve immediately, cut into wedges, with some freshly whipped cream or a scoop of vanilla ice-cream.

 

Serves 6.
 

     

Cauliflower Soup with Cashel Blue Cheese

I have always loved cauliflowers and think that they are a much underrated vegetable that only ever seems get any air-time when smothered in a cheese sauce, gratinated and served as an accompaniment. I think that this is an awful shame as the cauliflower truly is a delicious vegetable and one that can be used in so many ways and in so many recipes when cooking.

Don’t misunderstand me - I love cauliflower cheese and sometimes as a completely indulgent treat, I like to make a Baked Cauliflower and Macaroni Cheese into which I throw in some leftover ham and a sprinkling of some crispy breadcrumbs – HEAVEN. I will post the recipe and some photos of that particular recipe in the near future, but for now, I want to give a recipe that shows the simple elegance of the cauliflower.

I love this soup. The earthy sweetness of the cauliflower really comes through and is accentuated by the addition of some crumbled Cashel Blue cheese. All too often blue cheeses are uses as a partner for broccoli, but I think that they work equally well with cauliflower, highlighting the sweet, creamy and almost nutty taste of the vegetable.

I deliberately do not use any stock when making this soup, as the taste of the cauliflower can get swamped by the taste of the stock… for me this soup really is all about the taste of the cauliflower and I prefer that nothing detracts from that. I do add a finely chopped small onion and one clove of garlic though; just to give the soup a little depth.
 

Once the cauliflower is softened I purée the soup and then pass it through a fine sieve so that the resulting soup is velvety smooth. The only other additions I make are cream and seasoning. I really do encourage you to taste the soup as you go along, adjusting the seasoning as necessary as it is crucial to the success of the finished soup. I use white pepper as the flecks of freshly ground black pepper, if used interrupt the virginal look of the finished soup.

 

Ingredients:

15g butter
1 small onion, diced
1 clove garlic, peeled and crushed
1 medium-sized cauliflower, broken into florets

250ml double cream

Salt & white pepper

To finish:

Some crumbled Cashel Blue cheese 

Method:

1. Melt the butter in a large saucepan and sweat the diced onions and crushed garlic for about 5 minutes over a low heat until softened but not coloured. Add the cauliflower florets and cover with enough cold water to barely cover the cauliflower. Bring up to the boil over a high heat, and once boiling, reduce the heat and allow simmer gently for about 10 minutes or until the cauliflower is cooked through.

2. Transfer the contents of the pan to a blender and purée everything to create a fairly thick, but still liquid mixture (You may need to do this in batches).

3. Pass the cauliflower purée through a fine sieve into a clean saucepan and add the cream. Gently heat the soup, but don’t let it boil.
4. Serve in individual bowls with a little Cashel Blue cheese crumbled over the top.

 

Serves 4.