Category: Food & Recipes

Roasted beetroot, candied walnut & goat’s cheese salad

Method

Preheat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan/gas 6. Place the purple beetroot in a roasting tin and add about a 6mm depth of water. Cover the tin tightly with foil and roast for 40–50 minutes or until tender. Leave to cool, then use your fingers (you may want to wear gloves!) or kitchen paper to rub the skins from the beetroot. Cut into wedges.

Meanwhile, cut the heritage or candy beetroot into very thin slices, using either a mandolin or a very sharp knife. Put into a bowl. In a small bowl, whisk the dressing ingredients. Lightly season and pour half over the raw beetroot. Leave to marinate 30 minutes while the purple beetroot is roasting.

Line a baking sheet with parchment. Place the sugar, butter and chilli flakes in a small non-stick frying pan and cook over a medium heat, stirring, until the butter and sugar have melted and turned golden. Stir in the walnuts for a minute until the nuts are nicely coated. Pour out on to the baking sheet and use two forks to quickly separate the nuts.

Sprinkle with a little sea salt and leave to cool completely.

To serve, arrange the marinated beetroot on a plate then pile the wedges of roasted beetroot on top. Scatter over the cheese, mint and candied walnuts and top with salad leaves. Sprinkle over orange zest, drizzle over the remaining dressing and season with a little flaky sea salt.

Blueberry & almond clafoutis with cardamom cream

Method

traditional French clafoutis is made with cherries but I love the unique, perfumed sweet sourness of blueberries, and they go so well with almond. The ground almonds make this slightly less custard-like than a typical clafoutis. Instead, it has more texture and flavour, like a deliciously light cake batter. Serving with a cardamom cream may sound peculiar, yet the combination of the citrusy, aromatic spice with the vanilla notes in the sweet berries really does work. I like to call this bluefoutis, but maybe that’s just me!

Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/gas 4. Grease a 20cm ovenproof baking or pie dish with the butter and sprinkle with two tablespoons of caster sugar to coat the inside. Put the blueberries in the bottom of the dish and scatter over the lemon zest.

Mix together the milk, cream and almond extract.

In a separate mixing bowl, whisk the eggs and sugar together until light and frothy, then stir in the flour, ground almonds, baking powder and salt. Gradually pour the milk mixture on to the eggs, whisking all the time, until the batter is smooth and creamy, but being careful not to overmix.

Pour the batter over the blueberries and sprinkle with caster sugar. Bake in the oven for 35 to 40 minutes or until puffy, golden and just set with a slight wobble in the middle.

Meanwhile, whisk the double cream and icing sugar together until soft peaks form. Fold in the cardamon until well combined. Chill until needed.

Remove the clafoutis from the oven and transfer the dish to a wire rack for 5–10 minutes. The clafoutis will deflate a little as it cools, but don’t worry! Dust with icing sugar and serve warm or at room temperature, topped with a spoonful of the cardamom cream.

Method

Pastry:
Beat the butter and sugar until mixed together. Add the beaten eggs and then add the flour and icing sugar mix until it forms a dough.

Squash the pastry into a round disc, shape with cling film and chill for an hour in the fridge.

Filling:
Add 30g of butter to a hard-based pan and place on a hob to melt and brown.

Beat the eggs and then add the sugar, double cream, ground almonds, vanilla paste and flour.

Once the butter has cooled slightly, add to the egg mixture and chill in the fridge. Set the oven to 175°c.

Roll out the pastry on to a lightly floured surface. Transfer to a tin and trim the edges with a knife. Prick the tart base.

Fill the tart with the filling mixture. Sprinkle in the berries and sliced almonds.

Bake for 50 minutes and then serve with cream and a dusting of icing sugar.

Method
In a small bowl, combine the cherry tomatoes with the tamari or light soy sauce and chopped chives and set aside.

Place the jasmine rice in a saucepan with the coconut milk and 350ml (12fl oz) water. Bring to the boil over a high heat. Reduce the heat to low to bring to a simmer, then cover and cook for 15–20 minutes.

Once cooked, remove the lid and fluff up the rice with a fork. Sprinkle over the toasted coconut flakes and set aside.

Heat a wok over a high heat until smoking, and add the rapeseed oil. Once hot, add the garlic and ginger. Toss for a few seconds, then add the smoked tofu and cook, tossing, for five seconds.

Add the mirin, tamari or light soy sauce and golden syrup and cook for two or three minutes until the sauce is reduced and the tofu is sticky. Set aside.

When you’re ready to serve, divide the rice between three bowls. Working in sections (like slices of a pizza) add the various toppings to the rice: the tamari-chive tomatoes, the teriyaki tofu, the kiwi, the pineapple, the mango, the cashew nuts, the edamame and the red cabbage.

Garnish with crushed crispy fried salted seaweed, nori flakes, fried shallots and toasted sesame seeds. Serve immediately.

Ching’s tip — If the coconut milk has separated in the can, stir the milk to bring it back together before using.

Method
Preheat the oven to 180°C/fan 170°C/350°F/gas mark 4. To make the three-tiered cake, take three 20cm round sandwich tins. Butter the tins and line the bases with baking parchment. If you have only two tins, then make the cake mixture and divide it evenly into three batches, baking the third as soon as a tin becomes free.

For this cake, I use an electric mixer and beater attachment, but you can use a food processor, or a bowl, add the butter, eggs, lemon zest and sugar, and beat well, adding the cordial towards the end. Be careful not to over-mix, as you want a light cake.

Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until a skewer emerges clean. (To halve the recipe, bake in two 20cm tins for 20-25 minutes.) Remove from the oven, leaves for a couple of minutes, run a knife around the rim to loosen the cakes from the tins and turn out on to a wire rack. Remove the papers and leave to cool completely. Trim the cakes flat.

For the filling and decoration:
Slice 400g of the strawberries and toss in a bowl with the sugar and vanilla, leave all the flavours to mingle for 30 minutes.

Whip the cream until soft peaks form, adding the cordial slowly just as it begins to thicken. Place one cake on a cake stand and spread with a layer of cream and half the slice strawberries. Repeat with another cake, a layer of cream and the remaining sliced strawberries. Top with the last cake. Spread the remaining cream all over the top and sides.

Take the best-shaped strawberries and cut 10-12 in half. Place the halved strawberries, cut side up in a circle around the edge of the cake, and pile up the rest in the centre. Cut the remaining strawberries into slices – or in half – and press into the cream all around the sides.

Method
Mix the soya milk and vinegar together and leave to sit for 10 minutes. Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4. Line your muffin tray with muffin cases.

In a bowl mix by hand the dry ingredients until fully combined. Add to the bowl the soya milk mixture, oil, vanilla and extract. Using a metal spoon quickly mix together until just combined (about 10 seconds). The mixture should still be a bit lumpy, so be careful to not over-mix! Tap the bowl onto the work surface to halt the raising agents from working too quickly (you will see the bubbles pop.)

Using an ice-cream scoop or a spoon, evenly place the batter into the lined muffin tray and tap the filled muffin tray on the work surface to pop the bubbles again.

Place in the oven and bake for about 15 minutes. Cool on a wire rack in the muffin tray for 10 minutes and then remove cupcakes from the muffin tray and finish cooling them on the wire rack until room temperature.

Decoration:
Once your cupcakes are cooled, spread a big dollop of jam on top of the cupcake and then pipe your almond buttercream on top to hide the jam below. Decorate using toasted almond flakes and top it all off with either a fresh or glace cherry.

Almond icing:
Using an electric mixer (or a handheld mixer), whip together the margarine, vegetable fat and vanilla until creamy (about 1 minute). Add half of the icing sugar and continue mixing (slowly at first and then bringing up to speed). Mix until combined. Add the rest of the icing sugar and mix while dripping in the soya or almond milk until it is a smooth consistency. If the icing is too firm, then add a bit more milk and mix again.