Add the butter to a small saucepan over a low heat. Stir until the butter has melted. Add the flour and cook for 30 seconds while stirring. Add the mustard powder and stir through. Pour in the beer in a thin stream while whisking constantly. Turn the heat to low, stir in the cream and add the cheese. Stir until completely melted and incorporated as a sauce. Serve the sauce as a dip with vegetable sticks, pretzels or bread sticks.
This is an easy soufflé, packed to the brim with flavour!
75ml flour 250ml milk a pinch of nutmeg 5ml salt 4 eggs, separated 250ml Gruyére cheese, grated 250ml cream 5ml dried tarragon rocket leaves 15ml olive oil 5ml lemon juice a pinch of salt
Preheat your oven to 190℃ and brush 6 heatproof ramekins with sunflower oil – be generous! Add the flour to a small saucepan but do not place it on the heat. Drizzle in some milk to form a paste. Place the saucepan on medium heat and slowly drizzle in the rest of the milk while whisking continuously. Simmer the mixture while stirring for about 3 minutes – you want the mixture to be very thick. Take the saucepan from the heat and add the nutmeg and salt and mix through. Allow the mixture to cool until it is warm to the touch but not burning your finger. Add the egg yolks one at a time and stir until incorporated. Stir in the cheese and put aside. Beat the egg whites to medium-stiff peaks and fold it into the cheese mixture. Spoon the batter into the ramekins. Place the ramekins in a roasting tin and fill the tin about 2-3cm deep with hot water. Bake the soufflés for 20 minutes. The soufflés will deflate once you take them from the oven, but do not panic!! Turn your oven down to 180℃. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray and unmould the soufflés – they are now upside down… Pour the cream into a small saucepan and add the tarragon. Bring the cream to a boil, turn off the heat and allow to stand for about 10 minutes. Spoon the cream onto the soufflés and bake them for another 15 minutes. Serve immediately with a side of rocket dressed with olive oil, lemon juice and salt.
For the pasta: Cook the pasta, drain and return to the saucepan in which it was cooked. Crumble the feta over the pasta and mix together. Add the egg whites and mix through. Set aside.
For the meat sauce: Place a heavy bottom saucepan on medium-high heat and add the olive oil and onion. Fry for 2-3 minutes and then add the garlic, tomato paste and minced beef. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring and breaking up the beef while browning it. Add the red wine, tomatoes, sugar, bay leaf, cinnamon, salt and pepper. Bring the mixture to a simmer and cook for about 40 minutes until most of the liquid has evaporated and the sauce is thick. Remove the bay leaf and cinnamon quill and take the mixture from the heat. Allow to cool slightly.
For the Béchamel Sauce: Place a saucepan on medium heat and add the butter to melt. Add the flour and stir the paste around for 2 minutes while cooking. Add the milk and whisk until the sauce has no lumps and has thickened. Remove from the heat and add the nutmeg, salt and half the cheese. Whisk until smooth. Cool the sauce for 5 minutes and then whisk in the egg yolks.
Preheat your oven to 180℃ and spray an oven dish of 23cm X 26cm with cooking spray. Spoon the pasta into the dish and spread it into an even layer. Spoon the meat sauce on top and then top it with the béchamel sauce. Sprinkle the rest of the cheese on top in an even layer. Place the dish in the oven and bake for 40 minutes. The Pastitsio can be served at room temperature.
250g tenderstem broccoli, blanched 200g streaky bacon 1 large / 2 small avocado pear, pitted and peeled 60ml peanuts, toasted
Blue Cheese Dressing: 60ml sour cream 60ml mayonnaise 60ml milk 100g blue cheese, crumbled 15ml parsley, chopped 15ml lemon juice a pinch of salt
Preheat your oven to 200℃ and line a baking sheet with baking paper. Place the bacon on the baking sheet and bake in the oven until crispy. Arrange the blanched broccoli, bacon and sliced avocado on a serving platter.
For the dressing: Add all the ingredients to a jug and whisk together to amalgamate.
Drizzle the dressing on the salad and sprinkle the peanuts over before serving.
This is the perfect food as a light starter or simply as a canapé served with drinks on the patio. It can also double up as a light lunch when served with a salad.
2 large pears 30ml butter 30ml honey 1 lemon 500g ready-made pastry 200g goats cheese a handful of pecan nuts a handful of thyme leaves egg-wash: 1 egg + 15ml milk
Preheat your oven to 200℃ and line a baking sheet with baking paper. Peel and core the pears and cut them into thin wedges lengthwise. Place in a bowl and squeeze the lemon juice over. Mix up the slices with your hands so that the pear is covered with lemon juice. Add the butter and honey to a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the pear slices and any lemon juice from the bowl and cook for 2-3 minutes a side, until the pear is caramelised. Remove the pear slices but reserve the honey caramel in the pan. Roll the pastry to a 28cm X 38cm rectangle and score a 2cm border all around the edges. Place the pastry on the lined baking sheet. Arrange the pear slices over the pastry within the border. Now break up the cheese and arrange it randomly between the pear. Scatter the pecan nuts and the thyme leaves over the pear and goats cheese. Drizzle the leftover caramel from the pan over the tart. Whisk the egg and milk together and brush the pastry border with it. Bake the tart for 20 minutes until the pastry is beautifully golden. Serve slightly warm.
This is slow cooking at its best with a punchy umami deliciousness! Leftovers and some salad make a fabulous wrap the next day.
about 2kg of beef brisket, bone in 2 onions, chopped 2 carrots, diced 4 cloves of garlic, minced 250ml red wine 500ml beef stock (cubes are perfect!) 500ml water 3 tins of diced tomato 2 bay leaves 45ml Worcestershire sauce 5ml salt
Preheat your oven to 180℃. Put a heavy-base ovenproof saucepan on to medium-high heat and cover the bottom with vegetable oil. Add the beef and brown it all over. Remove from the saucepan and set aside. Add some more oil to the pan and add the onion and carrot. Cook on a medium heat, stirring every now and then until the onion is soft. Add the garlic and cook for another minute. Pour in the wine and simmer until reduced by half. Add the stock, water, tomato, bay leaf, Worcestershire sauce and salt. Return the beef to the saucepan and bring back to a simmer. Cover the saucepan with a lid, place in the oven and cook for 2 hours. Turn the meat, return the saucepan to the oven and cook for a further 2 hours. Take the brisket from the saucepan, place it in an oven tray and shred the meat by pulling it apart with two forks. Remove any bones and chunks of fat. Return the meat to the sauce and warm through. Serve on buttery mashed potato.
This recipe, as the name suggests, is loaded with butter, as it was originally intended! This is no low-calorie, adapted butter chicken but the true, real, original dish!
For the marinade: Add the yoghurt, tomato, garam masala, chilli, mustard, cumin, coriander, salt, turmeric, sugar and lemon juice to a blender and blitz together. Pour the marinade in to a large mixing bowl. Cut the chicken breasts into cubes of 2cm X 2cm and add it to the marinade. Stir the mixture through so that the chicken pieces are completely covered in the marinade. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set aside (in the refrigerator if your kitchen is warm) to marinate for at least one hour.
Pour some vegetable oil in to a large saucepan and add the onion and garlic. Cook over a low heat until the onion is very soft. Add the chicken pieces and marinade to the onion mixture and bring to a simmer. Cook the chicken for 40 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the cream and the cubed butter and stir until the butter has melted completely. Garnish with fresh coriander leaves. Serve the butter chicken with rice and naan bread.
These cakes are like little jewels of chocolate and orange that explode in your mouth. This is an easy dessert when you are entertaining friends and want to impress.
Orange syrup: 200ml sugar 200ml water zest from one orange
For the cake: 320g De Villiers Chocolate: orange and vanilla, 70% dark or any other dark chocolate 250g butter, cubed 300g brown sugar 5 eggs 100g cake flour 100g self-raising flour 30ml orange liqueur or brandy
For the orange syrup: Strip the zest from the orange with a vegetable peeler. Put the strip of zest flat onto a chopping board and slice into needle-wide strips with a sharp knife. Cut all of the zest into these needle strips. Put aside. Add the sugar and water to a small saucepan and place on a high heat. Stir the mixture until all the sugar has dissolved. DO NOT stir again. Add the zest-needles to the mixture and bring the mixture to a boil, FOR ONE MINUTE. Take the saucepan from the heat and set aside to cool.
For the cake: Preheat your oven to 160℃. Grease 12 small baking moulds or a 12-hole standard muffin tin. Chop the chocolate. Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan with simmering water. Stir every now and then until all the chocolate has melted and the mixture is completely smooth. Remove from the heat and put aside. Add the butter and sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Turn the mixer down to a medium speed and add the eggs one at a time, waiting for each to be incorporated. Turn the mixer to its lowest speed and add the slightly cooled chocolate, liqueur and flour. Scoop the batter into the prepared mould and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the cakes from the oven. Cut the cakes flush with the moulds you baked them in while still very warm. This will leave you with a flat surface to stand the cakes once you plate them. Spoon about 20ml of the cold syrup onto the cut-side of the warm cakes. Remove each cake from the mould (stand them up – the way you will serve them) and spoon the rest of the orange syrup over. Serve slightly warm or at room temperature.
My Whisk and I 