Easy cheese & onion slice

Easy cheese & onion slice

Ingredients:

600g baking potatoes , peeled and chopped into chunks
300g mature cheddar , 200g grated, 100g cubed
pinch cayenne pepper
large bunch spring onions , finely sliced
1 egg , beaten
500g pack all-butter puff pastry
jar caramelised red onions (we used English Provender Company), to serve

Methods:

Heat oven to 220C/200C fan/gas 7. Boil potatoes for 15 mins until tender, then drain well and smash a little. Cool slightly.
Mix the cheese, cayenne and onions with the smashed potatoes and stir to make a mouldable filling. Roll out the pastry to a rectangle about 25 x 35cm. Carefully lift onto a baking sheet and brush all over with beaten egg.
Press the cheese mix along one of the long sides of the pastry, leaving 2cm pastry free on one side for sealing, and half of the pastry empty on the other side for folding over later. Fold the pastry over the filling and press the edges together, before trimming with a knife and sealing well by pressing the edges with a fork.
Brush with egg and bake for 30 mins. Cool, then slice and serve with caramelised red onions. Can be made 1 day ahead

467 kcalories, protein 16g, carbohydrate 35g, fat 31 g, saturated fat 19g, fibre 2g, sugar 1g, salt 1.37 g

Wonton Soup

Ingredients
250 g peeled uncooked prawns, de-veined and coarsely chopped
250 g minced pork
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground white pepper
1 1/2 tsp light soy sauce
2 tbsp finely chopped spring onions
1 tbsp Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry
1 tsp sugar
2 tsp sesame oil
1 egg white, lightly beaten
250 g wonton skins
1.2 litres chicken stock
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
chopped spring onions, to garnish

Method
1. Put the prawns and pork in a large bowl; add the salt and pepper and mix well, either by kneading with your hands or by stirring with a wooden spoon. Then add all the other filling ingredients and stir them well into the prawn and pork mixture. Cover the bowl with cling film and chill for at least 20 minutes.

2. Put 1 tbsp of the filling in the centre of the first wonton skin. Dampen the edges with a little water and bring up the sides of the skin around the filling. Pinch the edges together at the top to seal; it should look like a small filled bag. Fill the remaining wontons.

3. When the wontons are ready, bring the stock, soy sauce and sesame oil to a simmer in a large pan. In another large pan, bring salted water to a boil and poach the wontons for 1 minute or until they float to the top. Remove them immediately and transfer them to the pan with the stock. Continue to simmer them in the stock for 2 minutes. Ladle into a large soup tureen or individual bowls. Garnish with the spring onions and serve at once.

Chocolate

Chocolate

Method:

These are deconstructed chocolate truffles and if you arrange this nicely on a table, put a few cocktail sticks next to them and let people get stuck in and make their own, I’m telling you, you’ll have some excited guests. It’s interesting, it’s different and to be able to make your own truffle is really quite cool, not to mention delicious. It’s worth remembering that chocolate is friends with lots of different types of booze so, if you prefer, you can swap out the brandy here for rum, whiskey or red wine.

Put the cream in a pan over a medium heat and let it heat up. You don’t want it boiling, just hot. As soon as tiny bubbles start to appear, add the knob of butter and the clementine zest. Once the butter has melted, pour this hot mixture over the chocolate pieces, whisking as you go, so the chocolate melts nice and slowly. If the mixture splits slightly, don’t worry, you can bring it right by adding a splash of boiling water.

Add a pinch of salt to the mixture; it may sound bonkers, but the smallest pinch of salt actually makes chocolate taste even chocolatier! Stir in a splash of brandy.
Once completely melted and smooth, pour your melted chocolate mixture into a nice little serving dish or bowl. Pop this in the fridge for about 2 hours to set. Christmas is a busy time so you can always do this a few days before you need it if you want. About 30 minutes before you’re ready to make your truffles, pull the bowl out of the fridge and let the chocolate warm up to room temperature.

Put your mixed nuts into a plastic bag and use a rolling pin to bash them up quite finely. Get some little saucers or bowls and put the nuts in one and your cocoa powder in the other. Put a teacup filled with boiled water on the tray and pop a few teaspoons in there for scooping the chocolate. Get everyone around the table to spoon their own truffles out of the serving dish and roll them in cocoa powder, crushed nuts or anything else you fancy. Or, you can let them smear their truffles over a biscotti like some posh Nutella! Serve with a few glasses of your chilled Vin Santo.

Ultimate Chocolate Cake

Ultimate Chocolate Cake

1. Butter a 20cm round cake tin (7.5cm deep) and line the base. Preheat the oven to fan 140C/conventional 160C/ gas 3. Break 200g good quality dark chocolate in pieces into a medium, heavy-based pan. Cut 200g butter into pieces and tip in with the chocolate, then mix 1 tbsp instant coffee granules into 125ml cold water and pour into the pan. Warm through over a low heat just until everything is melted - don't overheat. Or melt in the microwave on Medium for about 5 minutes, stirring half way through.
2. While the chocolate is melting, mix 85g self-raising flour, 85g plain flour, ¼ bicarbonate of soda, 200g light muscovado sugar, 200g golden caster sugar and 25g cocoa powder in a big bowl, mixing with your hands to get rid of any lumps. Beat 3 medium eggs in a bowl and stir in 75ml (5 tbsp) buttermilk.
3. Now pour the melted chocolate mixture and the egg mixture into the flour mixture, stirring just until everything is well blended and you have a smooth, quite runny consistency. Pour this into the tin and bake for 1 hour 25- 1 hour 30 minutes - if you push a skewer in the centre it should come out clean and the top should feel firm (don't worry if it cracks a bit). Leave to cool in the tin (don't worry if it dips slightly), then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
4. When the cake is cold, cut it horizontally into three. Make the ganache: chop 200g good quality dark chocolate into small pieces and tip into a bowl. Pour a 284ml carton of double cream into a pan, add 2 tbsp golden caster sugar, and heat until it is about to boil. Take off the heat and pour it over the chocolate. Stir until the chocolate has melted and the mixture is smooth.
5. Sandwich the layers together with just a little of the ganache. Pour the rest over the cake letting it fall down the sides and smoothing to cover with a palette knife. Decorate with grated chocolate or a pile of chocolate curls. The cake keeps moist and gooey for 3-4 days.