Flognard/Custard Cake with Currants

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So, recently I had an operation which meant a whole week at home for recuperation. I wasn't really able to do much, which generally meant I was forced to knit by the fire, peruse cookbooks and watch cookery programmes -there was an upside to the pain! About a week after the doctors dissected me I suddenly felt the urge to bake a cake -I knew in that moment I was almost fully recovered. I had been studying a French cookbook, Savouring France by Georgeanna Brennan (recipe below taken from it) and also watching a series on the 'god-fathers' of French cuisine 'The Roux Brothers' -wow, how inspiring.
There was a cake on the show and in the book that caught my eye and excited my taste buds, a cherry custard cake Calfouti aux Cerises -I had to make it. And after all this was a celebration and also a thank you to my family for looking after me. It's such an easy cake to make -you don't need a food processor as it's more custard than sponge, actually zero sponge. In France it is usually made when the cherries are in season and called a clafouti when made with other fruit it's called a flognard. I had to root in the freezer and in the depths I found the remains of a glut of currants; red, black and white. Usually you wouldn't use frozen berries in a recipe but needs must, so I defrosted them gently in a very low oven, over some kitchen paper -to reduce the wetness. And when the cake came out of the oven I couldn't stop smiling -that's part of the joy of cooking for me, it can make you and others feel so goddamn happy!

Get a spoon

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flmoa2dVOSU  The very sexy & French -Carla Bruni !
  • Preheat oven to 180'C, grease a flan dish size 23-25 cm
  • Combine 1 cup milk, 1/4 cup double cream, 3 tbsp good vanilla extract, 3 eggs, 1/4 cup caster sugar(extra if using tart berries), 1/4 tsp salt, 2/3 cup all purpose/plain flour sieved -make sure you have no lumps.
  • Pour in about 1 cm of the custard into the dish and put in oven for 2 minutes
  • Put in your fruit -berries, plums or cherries (stoned), pour over the rest of the custard
  • Cook in the oven for 30mins or until it has risen, browned and you can get a clean knife out of it
  • Dust with castor sugar, allow to cool a little -serve warm or cold.
  • Return for seconds.....!

Ready for the oven






Roast Sweet Potatoe & Parsnip with a twist of Lemon

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After you make this you'll never be able to do 'plain' roast veg again! A one tray wonder and the result a delicious burst of flavours.....tangy & sharp lemon and capers, earthy mustard balanced with maple syrup and perfectly caramelised vegetables...If we hadn't licked the platter clean, I would be eating it for breakfast right now. This is from Plenty  by  Yotam Ottolenghi, it's a cookbook for veggies and non-veggies alike. Plenty  presents its food in a 'sexy' way, with finesse.... which can sometimes be difficult to find in the realm of veggie cooking!



To feed 4 as a main with no starter;

  • Turn oven on 190'C/Gas 5
  • 4 parsnips cut roughly into 5cm long pieces, 1.5cm wide
  • 4 red onions quartered
  • 1head of garlic halved with ways
  • Take the above veg put into a roasting dish with 120ml of olive oil a couple of rosemary sprigs, 4 sprigs of thyme, pepper and salt
  • Roast in oven for 20 mins
  • Meanwhile cut up 2 medium sized sweet potatoes into chunky wedges -leave the skin on
  • Make your vinaigrette -2 tbsp of lemon juice, 4 tbsp of capers (chop if large), half tbsp maple syrup (I used agave...you could probably use honey too) half tsp of Dijon mustard (I used wholegrain) & half a tsp of salt...whisk it up!
  • After the first 20 mins have passed, add your sweet potatoes and roast for 40/45 mins
  • When the veg have turned golden add 25/30 halved cherry tomatoes and roast for about 10 more mins
  • Take out the veg, pour over the dressing and serve with a plain leafy salad....nom nom!! If you wanted to serve 6 people you could have a loaf of crusty bread and it should stretch.

Cocoa-nutty-meringueS

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Cocoa-nutty-meringueS

Meringue with chocolate shavings, chestnut puree and whipped cream......very mmmmmoreish!! This a Mont Blanc of sorts and really very, very delicious!! Meringue is one of those things that holds a certain amount of fear for the creator, especially for first timers....(which I was when making these), but when they turn out well- it's like magic. The recipe books have quite a large variety of cooking methods and I suppose every oven varies too ...BUT... do try, as these are most fun and like risotto once you know 'how to', you can be the magician and create whatever fillings and additions you desire!



  • Separate 4 eggs making sure not to get any yolk in with the white
  • Take the 4 egg whites and start beating in an electric mixer with a pinch of salt
  • Line two trays with baking paper, turn oven on to 140'C/Gas 1
  • Whisk the egg whites until they form stiff peaks, you can do this by hand if you fancy an arm work out.
  • When the egg has formed soft peaks begin adding 200g caster sugar, 1 tbsp at a time
  • When the mixture is forming stiff peaks and clinging easily onto the whisk -c'est le fin!
  • Using two dstsp's scoop out blobs onto the baking trays
  • Bake in the oven for 35/40 mins depending on your oven -allow to cool completely in the oven
  • When you're ready to serve, take some chestnut puree -if it's quite sweet then dilute it in a pan with some hot water
  • Take your meringues spoon on some puree, followed by whipped cream and then shave some dark chocolate atop the cream....enjoy!





On a wing & a prayer -my first Veggie Christmas Dinner

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To be honest I haven't been the sole chef in residence for too many Christmas dinners -my Mum always does ours, although the role of comis chef does seem to get bigger as the years go on. The Christmas dinners I have cooked have usually been with friends, before we all go our separate ways for the festive season. One of my dinners this year was to be shared with a vegetarian. It can be difficult for carnivores to even conceive of a Christmas dinner without any meat. but I do like a culinary challenge. I pondered a variety of dishes and perused a selection of veggie cookbooks, in the end we decided to try a dish from Hugh Fearnleys new veggie cookbook. A warming gratin of sweet potato with a layer of peanut butter and lime -sounds odd? Yes, I think that's why I wanted to try it out.....

For the starter I made a simple, tasty salad with buffalo mozzarella and pomegranate -it's usually made with fresh figs but for the life of me I couldn't lay my hands on them. Buffalo mozzarella is more expensive than cows milk mozzarella, but hey it's Christmas & it's the real deal -plus you can eat the cheaper version the rest of the year, not to mention that the taste and texture are oh, so much more interesting!



Buffalo Mozzarella & Pomegranate Salad

  • Tear up your ball of buffalo mozzarella into bite sized pieces
  • Cut your pomegranate in half and using a wooden spoon bash the skin side of the fruit, whilst holding it over a large bowl -keep bashing until you have enough seeds OR if using fresh figs (dry figs will not be of any use!) quarter them
  • Make a dressing with 1 part lemon juice to 2 parts olive oil - season with fresh black pepper and sea salt
  • Place some salad leaves -just a few, and lots of fresh basil leaves in a bowl 
  • Quarter a couple of cherry tomatoes, add to leaves
  • Scatter over the mozzarella and  fruit and pour over your dressing -serve immediately

Second up were these super simple toasts you can top them with whatever takes your fancy, I just couldn't resist the wild mushrooms at the organic market and the artichokes at the deli....


Wild Mushroom  & Artichoke Toasts


  • Clean any dirt from your mushrooms and roughly chop them 
  • Cut a few slices from a nice loaf of bread -either grill them gently or pop them into the oven on a tray until dry and crisp
  • In a frying pan over a medium heat place a large nob of butter
  • Take a few sprigs of thyme and 'scratch'off the fragrant leaves, place in the pan
  • When the butter and thyme have had a little dance, place the mushrooms in and sauté
  • Take your toasted bread, rub with a clove of garlic and  drizzle generously with olive oil
  • Top some of your toast with the mushrooms and some with chopped artichokes -serve immediately

Sweet Potato & Peanut Gratin-serves 4/5



  • Turn your oven on 180'C/Gas 5
  • Peel about 5 medium sized sweet potatos' and slice to about the same thickness as 1 euro coins
  • In a large bowl place 250mls single cream, 3 chopped cloves of garlic and 1-2 red chillies or 1/2 tsps of chili flakes (depending on how hot you like things), season with salt and pepper
  • Put the slices in the bowl with a tbsp of sunflower oil and coat them
  • In a greased gratin dish place half of the sweet potato -flat
  • In a separate bowl place 150g of crunchy peanut butter (no sugar peanut butter), the zest and juice of one lime and 1tbsp of sunflower oil -whip them up
  • Blob the peanut butter mixture onto the layer of sweet potato and then add the rest of the potato
  • Add any remaining cream into the dish
  • Alternatively you could mix up the cream, chili, garlic, lime, sunflower oil, salt, pepper and peanut butter to coat all of the slices in one go
  • Pop into the oven covered in foil for the first 20 mins -after this remove foil and continue to cook for 30 mins
  • Serve with a bitter leafed salad 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aM6xVQwIOYQ  The Simpsons, Homer & Bart tease Lisa about not eating meat.....

Roast Apple & Parsnip Salad with Gorgonzola & Walnut

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This is my take on Hugh Fernley Whittingstalls apple and parsnip salad in his new book all about vegetables -yes, the great carnivore has a whole new book on food without faces. This is a really lovely warm Winter salad, admittedly it is hard to conceive of eating salads on cold Winter days -but this one is very satisfying. With the soft sweet apple, the crispy sticky parsnip, the crunchy earthy walnuts and the tangy creamy Gorgonzola -this is quite an 'experience' -for a salad!

Serves 2




  • Turn oven on to 220C /Gas 7
  • Take two cleaned parsnips and cut into long thin strips
  • Cut an apple into 8ths 
  • Place the veg into a roasting dish, coat with some olive oil, salt & pepper. Roast until the parsnips are browned and quite crispy, approx 20/25mins
  • Toast a large handful of walnut halves on a dry pan over a medium heat
  • When the veg is cooked start your dressing
  • Make your dressing  to taste with; juice of 1 lemon, olive oil, honey, small amount of wholegrain mustard, pepper & salt, plus half of the squishy roast apple -minus skin
  • In two large bowls place a few handfuls of salad leaves
  • Scatter over the walnuts and pieces of Gorgonzola
  • Scrape off the squishy apple from its skin and place around the leaves
  • Spoon the dressing around the salad
  • Arrange the parsnip strips as you wish 
  • Serve by the fire (optional!)

Chocolate Soufflé

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As I went to sleep last night the wind was howling around the house and I thought to myself   'Baking....yes baking tomorrow if the storm continues' And so it did! Over coffee I gazed at the array of cook books on my mothers welsh dresser and my hand was drawn to the infamous Silver Spoon -the bastion of Italian cooking. Then I suddenly remembered that I had promised myself (a few months ago) that I would learn how to make soufflé. It is seen as a test of culinary skill and would provide me with an escape from the grey, windy, wet Winter day. Any excuse to turn on the oven in this kind of tempestuous weather!





Serves 6
  • Turn on oven 200C/Gas6
  • Grease a soufflé dish with butter and dust with vanilla sugar (I just used brown) or 6 ramekins
  • Break up 80g dark chocolate into bowl, over a bain marie, with 175 mls milk -stir until melted, whisk if you need to get it to come together and be smooth.
  • Put 35g sifted plain flour into a saucepan add 125mls milk -mix with a whisk ensuring no lumps
  • Stir in 50g caster sugar
  • To the flour mixture add the chocolate milk mixture, bring to the boil, stirring all the time for 2/3 mins -be really careful here as the flour is cooking rapidly so you need to be vigilant in keeping it off the base -I had to use a whisk for most of this part!
  • Remove from the heat and leave to cool slightly
  • Add 15g unsalted butter
  • One at a time add 3 egg yolks
  • Pour the mixture out of the saucepan into a bowl
  • Whisk 1 egg white until stiff in a seperate grease free bowl
  • Gently fold the egg white into the chocolate mixture, working very slowly and gently from the bottom to the top, to avoid knocking out the air

  • Spoon the mixture into the soufflé dish (not more than 2/3 full) and bake for approx. 30 mins until risen and set - do not open the oven door.Or if using individual ramekins instead cook for 10 mins.
  • Serve immediately -consider jogging the next day!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuXdhow3uqQ   Flight of the Conchords - Foux Du FaFa  -Trés Funny!!