Super Vegeterian Salad with avocado, beans and cottage cheese

I know this seems like a plate of randomly chosen ingredients just chucked in together...it's because that's pretty much what it is. I used random ingredients that i had in the fridge, you can easily substitute or add some, its just a matter of getting the right balance of flavors, a good dressing and it becomes a bowl of goodness for your mind, body and soul. Filled with antioxidants and vitamins, a perfect raw lunch salad to share with your friends. 

Serves 2

200g baby spinach leaves or any other leaves you have

6 strawberries

A handful of blueberries

100g red kidney beans

50g Mangetout

1 avocado

100g cottage cheese

Sprouts

Seeds to sprinkle on

2 branches of red currants

Yoghurt and chives dressing:

1/2 garlic clove, crushed

100 ml natural yoghurt

2 tbsp olive oil

squeeze of lemon juice to taste

salt and pepper, to taste

bunch of chives, finely chopped

1. Make dressing by placing the crushed garlic in a bowl and adding the yoghurt. Mix then in the olive oil, season to taste with salt, pepper and add a squeeze of lemon. Add chopped chives at the end. 

2. Arrange all the ingredients for the salad roughly on the plate. I prefer not to mix it, just serving the salad at the bottom, cottage cheese in the centre and the avocado, mangetout, beans and fruit scattered around. Decorate with some sprouts, red currants and sprinkle with seeds of your choice. 

3. Serve the dressing on the side.

Thyme scented warm goat cheese salad

Thyme Scented warm goat cheese and honey salad with spinach and a walnut and grapefruit glaze

This is a typical autumn salad that warms the heart and tummy. If you don't feel like grapefruit and walnut in the salad, which is delicious, you can make it with honey glazed figs and toasted pecans, toasted beet root and walnuts, pear... a combination of any sweet or sour fruit or vegetable with earthy nuts is a marriage from heaven with goat cheese. 

Serves 2

100g soft goats cheese
3 tbsp honey
300g spinach salad leaves, washed
1 grapefruit
50g walnuts, roasted
6 slices of baguette
a small bunch of thyme, leaves picked

Dressing:
4 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp walnut oil
1 tsp dijon mustard
2 tbsp grapefruit juice
1 tsp honey
1/2 garlic clove, crushed
1 tsp cream
salt and pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 180C
2. Peel the grapefruit and cut out the segments with a knife.

3. Place the soft goat cheese in a bowl and stir in 1/2 of the honey. Spread it out on the baguette slices. 

4. Place them on a trey and sprinkle some thyme leaves on top of the cheese spread and drizzle with the rest of the honey. 

(trick: to avoid scrubbing the trey after, cover it with some kitchen foil and place the toasties on top)

5. Bake in the oven for 10-15 min until golden. 

6. In the meantime make the dressing by putting the mustard and honey in a bowl. Add the pressed garlic and season with salt and pepper. Whisk in the grapefruit juice. 

7. Whisk in the olive oil, a little at the time. Your dressing should start thickening up. Add the walnut olive oil at the end, still whisking. You should end up with a glossy glaze. Add a dash of cream at the very end. 

8. Place the spinach, walnuts and grapefruit segments in a large bowl. Mix delicately with your hands not to break or bruise the leaves. 

9. Serve in a large bowl, place the toasties on top and drizzle with some dressing. 

Trick:

Pasta with Tomato and Basil Sauce

With simple, basic sauces such as the tomato and basil sauce it's all, ALL about the ingredients. You want to use those tomatoes which are too soft, the ones that have lied in your vegetable bowl or fridge drawer a few days too long. For any sauces or soups these are the best so never discard of them, just learn how to make use of them. This is a delicious super quick recipe, perfect for an easy dinner in front of the TV or lunch. 

Serves 2

200g pasta, cooked al dente

Tomato and Basil Sauce:

2tbsp olive oil

2 shallots, finely chopped

1 garlic clove, crushed

6 large, soft wine tomatoes, skin removed and blanched

50g tinned tomatoes, chopped up

1 tbsp tomato puree

pinch of sugar

10g butter

salt and pepper

handful of basil leaves

Cook the pasta in salted water according to instructions on packaging. Make sure it is cooked al dente. 

Making the sauce:

1. Blanch, deseed and chop the tomatoes.(detailed description below)

2. Put the olive oil into a saucepan on medium heat and add the chopped shallots and sweat for a few minutes. 

2. Add the garlic and after about 30 sec add the chopped tomatoes. 

3. Stir around and let cook for 3 min and then add the tinned tomatoes, tomato puree and pinch of sugar.

4. Cook for 5-10 min, season with salt and pepper and a knob of butter. It gives it a lovely shine and rich but still fresh flavor. Add the chopped basil just before serving. 

5. Put in the cooked pasta into the sauce, stir around making sure all the pasta is coated with sauce and serve up on plates, decoration with a basil sprig. 

Blanching and deseeding tomatoes:

1. Start off by bringing a saucepan of water to boil.

2. Make a cross with a knife on the top of the tomatoes.

3. Put them into the boiling water for 10 seconds. 

4. Now remove them a transfer to ice water. This process is called blanching. 

5. Now peel off the skin and remove the core. Cut the tomatoes into quarters.

6. Remove the seeds and you'll be left with tomato "petals".

7. Chop them quite roughly but still into rather small pieces.

Wild mushrooms tartine with thyme creme fraiche

As i like cooking with seasonal ingredients, wild mushrooms are a great and available right now. Their season is quite short so make sure you get some before they disappear on us again. They can be prepared in so many different ways - on toasts, in sallads, soups, pasta sauces, risottos... the possibilities are unlimited. They are unfortunately not that easy to get hold of, at least not a larger range of them. I found the best choice to be at the borough market in south london, which is open from thursday to sunday. All the big chefs go there to get there produce and inspiration. I make sure i go there at least once i week and i absolutely love it. If you however aren't planning a trip downtown, and wild mushrooms are not a motivation enough, you can get some in some larger department stores such as harrods or selfridges and possibly at whole foods. 

Wild mushroom tartine with thyme creme fraiche

Serves 4


2 tbsp olive oil
1 garlic clove, crushed
300g wild mushrooms ( combine as many as you can find - girolles, trumpets, oyster mushrooms, chantarelles, pied bleu, chestnut mushrooms)
bunch of parsley, finely chopped 
25g butter
salt and pepper to season
8 slices of sourdough bread (pain de campagne)
100ml creme fraiche
3 sprigs of thyme, leaves picked

1. Preheat the grill or oven to maximum heat.
2. Prepare the mushrooms by cleaning quickly under cold water and cutting where necessary. You want to end up with different sizes and textures so don't worry too much about it all being perfect.
Also make sure to dry out the mushrooms properly as they will otherwise cook in the pan.  
3. It is very important to divide the mushrooms into different groups depending on the texture. I usually use the foot of the mushroom as a guide line. The thicker the foot the longer it will need to be in the pan. (Divided them into groups below)

4. Mix the thyme leaves with creme fraiche and season with salt and pepper. Set aside.
5. Slice the bread and drizzle with olive oil and toast them in the oven until golden brown.
6. Now heat up a pan to maximum heat, drizzle with some olive oil and sautee the mushrooms in batches until nice and golden. Do not overcrowd the pan. 

7. Once all the "groups" of mushrooms have been done, melt the butter in the pan and add the crushed garlic and all the mushrooms for another 30 seconds to just reheat them. Add the chopped parsley. Season with salt and pepper.
8. Serve immediately on a hot toast and finish off with a spoon of thyme creme fraiche on top.  

Cep mushrooms - thick foot

Girolles and black trumpets

Mini guideline
Thick foot - longest cooking time (about 90-120 sec)- Ceps, chestnut, brown, button, pied bleu
Medium foot (60-90 sec)- girolles
Soft - short cooking time (30 sec) - black trumpet, oyster, chantarelles

 

Best tiramisu

If there's one dessert that always goes down well on a dinner party its tiramisu. Its light, creamy, sweet but not sickening. Can be made really quickly, be prepared ahead and made to look gorgeous...Just a spoonful with an espresso...mmm..yum!

To me...the tiramisu is all about the cream...i love a fluffy, airy, smooth and sweet cream....

So my challenge today was to make the best tiramisu cream!

There are thousands of methods out there... do i only use whipped cream with mascarpone? eggs? egg yolks? do i add egg whites? milk?

I looked through books, surfed online, from michelin star chef recipes to anonymous blogs and picked 5 that were different, set up my kitchen and the challenge started!:)

I ended up making up my own recipe which is just delicious!

Tiramisu

8 eggs

200g sugar

vanilla pod

600g mascarpone cheese

200ml whipping cream

savoiradi biscuits

4 shots of espresso,or a large cup of strong coffee

amaretto, kahlua, rum or a liquer of choice

cocoa powder

1.     Separate the eggs and put the egg yolks and sugar in a heat-proof bowl and beat until mixed. Score the vanilla bean in half, and with a knife, gently remove the beans and add to the egg yolk mix. Bring a pot with some water to simmer and put the bowl with egg yolk mix on top. Never allow the bottom of the bowl to touch the water as too much heat will scramble the egg yolks. Beat with an electric whisk until the mixture is pale, fluffy and 3 times the size. This took me about 10 min.

2.     Put the mascarpone cheese in a separate bowl and mix with a wooden spoon until smooth.

3.     Fold the mascarpone in to the egg yolk mix, a little at the time, carefully smoothening out any lumps, creating a smooth, wonderful cream.

4.     Whip the cream, but remember not to overbeat. You want a smooth whipped cream that will blend well with the rest. Add to egg yolk and mascarpone mix.

5.     Whisk the egg whites until stiff and smooth. Fold a little at the time, until you get a consistency you like. I probably used half of mine. The rest of the egg whites you can either throw away make some meringues for example!

6.     That’s your cream done. Cover with cling film and store in the fridge until use.

7.     Make your coffee and let it cool down (you can put in a couple of ice cubes to cool it down). Use 2 tsp of cocoa and add hot water to make a cup of hot chocolate. Let cool down as well.

8.     Pour the chilled coffee/hot chocolate in to a shallow bowl and add the desired alcohol/s… I used a mix of amaretto and chocolate liquor because i love the hint of the almond flavor mixed with coffee and chocolate.

9.     To prepare the dessert, choose your choice of glasses or a large form, put a layer of the chilled cream in at the bottom, arrange some soaked biscuits on top continue as many layers as you wish but making sure the last one consists of cream. Sprinkle with cocoa powder or grated chocolate flakes and serve.

Honestly there are so many different to serve tiramisu, in a large trey as described above and then just cutting into portion sizes, making individual squares, serving in a martini glass... I will present you with some presentation options but it simply depends what occasion you are making it for. 

Bon appetite!!!

Girls dinner party...

Girly dinner at home - a bunch of stunning girls, drinking martinis and champagne, getting ready together to hit town... to me it also means new recipes to be invented and my girlfriends being my guinea pigs.

So 24 hours earlier i start marinating and cooking so that on the evening itself i can have a drink and enjoy myself as well and not spend the whole evening cooking in the kitchen whilst my girlies will be sipping on fab cocktails...

I wanted to make something relatively healthy, carb free ( the carbs will be consumed in the form of a liquid) and appealing to the eye. It is important to analyze the audience and design a menu accordingly. 

I want all senses to be awakened...

So i decided to create a slightly far eastern and fusion inspired menu starting with a confit duck salad, with coriander, watermelon and cashew nuts; for main miso marinated black cod and steamed pak choy with a sesame dressing and for the daring i made my infamous oreo cookie cheesecake. Ideally i wanted to make a white chocolate and ginger cheesecake, but just when i started making the filling i realized i had run out of stem ginger, an obviously vital ingredient, hence decided to improvise and make something out of what i found in the cupboards! Oreo cookies:)

To complement these dishes i stirred up some Jasmine Cosmopolitans! yum!

The best thing about this menu, excluding the fact that its delicious, that seemed to be the common consensus, is that i prepared most of it the day before, so on the actual evening i spent hardly any time cooking. There's not fuss about cooking the steaks to everyones liking, here you put all the marinated fish in the oven together for 20 min whilst you enjoy a cocktail, salad is prepared ahead and so is the cheesecake. Super easy. Your only job is to present it on the plate pretty much.

Pick: Steamed Edamame beans with maldon salt
Starter: Confit duck salad with coriander, watermelon and roasted cashew nuts
Main: Miso Black Cod - http://thejussichef.blogspot.com/2010/10/miso-black-cod.html
Dessert: Oreo cookie cheesecake with a forest fruit coulis - http://thejussichef.blogspot.com/2010/10/oreo-american-cheesecake.html

Making Beurre Blanc

Beurre Blanc is a classic french sauce, literally translated from French as "white butter". A rich, hot butter sauce made with a reduction of vinegar and/or white wine and shallots into which cold butter is blended off the heat to prevent separation.

The traditional sauce has just some lemon juice and salt added to it at the end, however an endless range of derivatives can be prepared by varying the ingredients in the reduction or altering the garnish ingredients.

To give you some examples:

Beurre Nantais- adding cream

Beurre Rouge -  using red wine vinegar instead of white

Beurre Blanc Citron - using lemon (or another acid like orange) instead of wine.

Adding herbs such as mint, chives, tarragon, depending on ehat you are serving it with or with a pinch of saffron for a rich, flavorsome sauce.

It pairs beautifully with white fish, salmon, shellfish, asparagus...

Ingredients for a classic Beurre Blanc:

100ml dry white wine

30ml white wine vinegar

1 shallot, chopped

250g butter

lemon juice, to taste

salt

1. Place the white wine, white wine vinegar and shallots in a saucepan on high heat. Reduce until you are only left with 30ml of liquid in the pan (about a tbsp to give you an idea).

2. Once the wine and vinegar liquid has reduced start to whisk in the diced butter over low heat, making sure that the butter emulsifies rather then just melts. 

3. Add more butter once each piece has been incorporated. Continue until you have a smooth, glossy beurre blanc.

4. Add salt and a squeeze of lemon to taste.

5. Pass it through a fine sieve to remove the shallots.

6. Keep your beurre blanc at room temperature until you need it.

7. Keep your beurre blanc at room temperature until you need it.