From chocolateandzucchini.com. Ingedients For the pâte sablée: 75 grams (⅓ cup plus 1 tablespoon) sugar (I use unrefined cane sugar, but regular white sugar is fine) 150 grams flour — if you use American all-purpose flour, use 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons 75 grams cold butter (I use salted, but you can use unsalted and add a pinch of salt) — if you use regular American butter (which has less butterfat than European butter), use 7 tablespoons Ice-cold water or milk For the filling:

This is taken from Simon Hopkinson’s book/TV series “Simon Hopkinson Cooks”. It’s a good example of my preferences in a trifle: a good sponge, no jelly, soft fruit (no tins of fruit cocktail), custard and cream. His finishing touch with crystallised violets is intriguing (if you can find them). Sponge: 3 eggs SR flour (same weight as the eggs) caster sugar (same weight as the eggs) soft unsalted butter (same weight as the eggs) 1 tsp baking powder Butter and line a 20cm square baking tin.

Via David Lebovitz; adapted from Chez Panisse Desserts by Lindsey Remolif Shere. I have adapted it to use marzipan instead of almond paste, which is far more obtainable in the UK. For experimenters, marzipan is roughly 66% sugars/33% almond, whereas almond paste is 50%/50%. Requires one 9-inch (at least 2" high) or 10-inch (23-25 cm) cake; alternatively you can bake this quantity in 2 x 2lb loaf tins. This keeps very well for at least a week (in a cake tin/Tupperware).

This is Madhur Jaffrey’s Eggs Massala recipe, and is apparently her favourite comfort food. Recipe is for two people. 4 large eggs 1 small/medium onion, grated or finely chopped 1" fresh ginger, grated or finely chopped 0.5 tsp chili powder 0.5 tsp ground turmeric 1 tsp ground cumin 1 tsp ground coriander 0.25 tsp salt 1 tsp lemon juice ground black pepper 15ml/1 tbs water 30ml/2 tbs oil 0.5 tsp cumin seeds 8 fl oz (half a tin) tomatoes, drained and chopped 0.

For two. 2 chicken breasts (prefer with skin and bone, but good luck getting that from a supermarket) 1 jalapeno chili (green chili alternative) 1 poblano chili (green pepper alternative) 1 anaheim chili (1 thai/finger chili alternative) 1 small onion, cut into chunks 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped 1 tsp ground cumin 0.5 tsp ground coriander 1 15oz can cannellini beans, drained 225ml chicken stock 0.5 small bunch coriander leaves juice of 0.

The ideal of roast beef is thinly sliced for sandwiches, medium-rare, succulent and served with horse radish, but the standard technique for roasting beef (at 350F) doesn’t generate these results. Sous vide cooking followed by searing will do this, but that’s expensive. The ‘trick’ is to roast long and low after an initial sear, which makes even cheap cuts of beef come out evenly pink (not raw) and delicate. For this technique, the details matter.

Sour Cream Coffee Cake The origin of this, I believe, is the Joy of Cooking. Preheat oven to 180C. Prepare streusel and set aside: 100g plain flour 165g soft light brown sugar 100g chopped walnuts or pecans 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/4 teaspoon salt 90g butter, melted Whisk together thoroughly and set aside: 300g plain flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt Combine in another bowl and set aside:

See combined ingredients list at bottom. The Flourless Chocolate Cake 200g/7oz bittersweet chocolate (70%) 75/6 tbs unsalted butter 3/4 tsp instant espresso powder Put over a bain-marie and mix until smooth. Allow to cool for 5 mins. Butter a 23cm/9" springform pan (at least 3" high). Separate 4 large eggs. Mix yolks into the chocolate mixture, then add 1.5 tsp vanilla extract. Beat the whites with a pinch of salt for 30s at medium, until colour changes to white and is starting to be frothy with large bubbles.

200C oven 8" spring form 175g flour 30g ground almonds 2 tsp baking powder 1/4 tsp salt whisk together; 120ml oil 120ml yoghurt 60ml orange juice 1 tbs orange zest 1 large egg 1 tsp vanilla extract 200g sugar mix separately. Then mix wet and dry, mix as for muffin (to just combined, some lumps ok). Put batter in the pan. Arrange 4-8 halved plums (depending on size) on top of batter, flesh up.

Plum Streusel Coffee Cake Plum Streusel Coffee Cake Set oven to 350F/180C. Streusel: 1 cup plain flour - 125g 1/2 cup light brown sugar - 100g 6 tbs butter - 85g 1 tsp cinnamon 1/4 tsp nutmeg 1/2 cup chopped walnuts - 60g Mix all except the walnuts until the texture is like breadcrumbs. Stir in the walnuts, then gently squeeze in your hands so that the mixture clumps together, in a similar way to “bringing together” pastry.