Chocolate, olive oil and salt were a combination that I hadn’t imagined together until I first went to Barcelona and started to see it everywhere. In lots of ways, and in one of my favourite desserts too, chocolate mousse. Then I spotted it in one of my favourite London tapas bars, Morito, and I wasn’t alone, Nigella is a fan too.

Extra Virgin Olive Oil – the secret ingredient in this lovely chocolate mousse

Like me, I am sure that you likely always have extra virgin olive oil in your kitchen. You likely use it for cooking and salad dressing, as I do too. It brings a lightness and a freshness to cooking which I love.  But chocolate mousse?

It seems an unusual thing to add but ultimately it is fat, just like cream, and so it gives a beautiful texture and a gorgeous flavour too. Extra virgin olive oil acts as a seasoning too, a peppery extra virgin olive oil works beautifully with dark chocolate which loves all things spice like pepper, cardamom and chilli. It is a dairy-free dessert so perfect for people who might otherwise have had to avoid chocolate mousse. With extra virgin olive oil, eggs and chocolate all being quite good for you, all you need to worry about is the sugar. Of course, you don’t need to worry at all as there is only a small amount in it. This is all about the chocolate and the olive oil with the eggs providing richness and fluffiness. Continue reading

This post is a happy sponsored collaboration with Sherry Wines UK with 3 new festive recipes for you: a clementine and rosemary manzanilla cocktail, sherry cream and rosemary pork chops and PX, dark chocolate and coconut panna cotta. For further inspiration, check out my Sherry summer picnic feature with recipes for peach and manzanilla slushie, smoky pork rillettes & olive tapenade.

It is December 1st! And so yes, now we all can start raving about and planning Christmas. Today I went out and bought pine branches and red berries and lots of clementines. Tis the season, and it is freezing to boot so I need no excuses.

You know how much I love sherry, that most underrated of drinks. I am delighted to be working again with Sherry Wines UK, and here I present 3 festive recipes for you, for your Christmas. A bright easy but full flavoured lunch, a gorgeous dessert and a cocktail to get you through.

I wax lyrically about my favourite dry sherries all the time: bone dry fino, briney manzanilla and nutty oloroso regularly grace my table. I am such a fan. There are many sherries though, and sweet sherries are perfect to consider for winter and also for festive celebrations. They are rich and deep and reassuring. They speak of time and luxury and relaxing. For this piece I will focus on three of my favourite sherries and three recipes and recommendations. Continue reading

More chocolate and more spices. I just can’t get enough. And another post so quickly after the last one, but I really wanted you to have this for Christmas. 

Before we begin, cast aside any ideas about a traditional cinnamon roll recipe that you might have. Their dough is firm and easily manipulated, and yes, they are a joy. But these are different. These are based loosely on the idea of a Swedish kanelbullar (Swedish cinnamon roll) but the dough is very loose and very sticky, so that the buns will be gorgeously soft.

I have been playing around with cinnamon rolls for some time now, and I wondered what a chocolate one might be like. I pushed the dough until it was as loose and as sticky as it could be to yield a soft bun when cooked. It also makes them so easy to put together. I chose cardamom over cinnamon, because I love the chocolate and cardamom combination, and felt cinnamon did not need to be involved.

These are simple, and not too sweet. They are very messy too, but this is a little liberating. When the dough is ready, you just slap it out, and squish it, spread the butter, gently roll and slice. They are wonderful fresh out of the oven, but like all pastries of this type, they fade and toughen up fast. The best thing to do is eat the ones you want on the day, and once cool immediately freeze all of the others, bringing them back to life in a medium oven when you want one. They won’t be quite the same as fresh, but they will be better than most from the shop.

I topped these with a very simple runny ganache which works very well, especially when the buns are hot. I had planned to make a cream cheese icing to go on top, with maple and rum and candied clementines. Lets save that for next time, it is too good not to appear here. For now, we will stick with chocolate, which is perfect in its own way.

Enjoy and have a wonderful Christmas! 

Recipe: Chocolate and Cardamom Sticky Buns

Ingredients

Buns 

450g plain flour
50g good cocoa
1 tsp dried yeast
75g brown sugar
50g butter
300ml full fat milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 egg

light oil 

spiced butter filling: 16 cardamom pods, 100g butter, 75g light brown sugar, 50g dark chocolate (in chips or grated)

glaze: 75ml single cream, 50g dark chocolate (chopped small)

1 beaten egg, to glaze

2 x 10 inch circular cake tins, greased with butter or lined with baking parchment 

Method 

Heat the milk and butter in the same pan until it is just comfortable to put your finger in it, neither hot nor cold, body temperature. Any hotter and the milk will kill the yeast.

Combine the flour, dried yeast and cocoa. Create a well in the centre and add the milk and butter mixture, and the egg, mixing with the flour as you do. Mix well in the bowl (you can do all of this in a mixer too). 

Leave the dough to rise in a warm part of your kitchen or your home. While the dough is rising, prepare the spiced butter filling. Lightly bash the cardamom pods in a pestle and mortar, remove the seeds and discard the pods, then grind the seeds as fine as you can. Add the sugar to this, and grind gently. Empty the spiced sugar into a bowl and mix well with the butter so that it is soft and pliable. 

When the dough has doubled in size (this should take no longer than an hour), knock the dough back, knocking any air out. Lightly oil the surface that you plan to shape the rolls on and turn the tough on to it. Flatten the dough out until it is about 45 cm long and 3o cm deep. 

Spread the spiced butter evenly over the dough and sprinkle the chocolate over it. Gently roll the chocolate dough, as you would for a swiss roll. Don’t worry if it is very squishy. Cut into 14 equal pieces, gently pulling them apart to expose the layers, as you lay them flat. Arrange the buns with 7 in each tin, 6 in a circle and one in the middle. 

Preheat your oven to 200 deg C. Allow the buns to rest and rise for half an hour, then bake for 15 minutes. They will be done when the top is crisp. Some of the spiced sugar and chocolate will have settled and caramelised at the bottom, making them gorgeously sticky. 

When the buns are done, prepare the ganache. Heat the cream in a pan until it is hot but not boiling. Take off the heat and add the chocolate, stirring through until melted. Drizzle over the buns, and pull apart to eat.

Enjoy!  

This year has definitely heralded the arrival of a sweeter tooth than what I have had before. I was never that bothered. I enjoyed the occasional cake, and complete surrender to some rhubarb and custard haribo, but if I was ever craving anything, it was usually composed of salt and probably fat.

I have always liked chocolate though. Chocolate is savoury first and foremost, with a layer of sweet on top. It is the gateway sweet for any savoury person. I was in Grenada earlier this year and I checked in an extra suitcase, mainly for chocolate, cocoa nibs, pure cocoa, cocoa butter and nutmeg. I keep it in an airtight box which I visit every now and then when I have a craving that needs to be satisfied or an idea that needs to be executed. Chocolate is so satisfying that I am happy after I have had my fill.

All week long I have been thinking of combining some of my Grenada cocoa and cocoa nibs with some lovely hazelnuts that I brought back from Piedmont, and that I need to use. Chocolate and hazelnut are a familiar and excellent combination. You know nutella of course, that deeply addictive chocolate spread based on gianduja from Northern Italy, a combination of hazelnut paste and chocolate. Nutella was originally called Pasta Gianduja. I make my own chocolate peanut butter at home, and my own riff on nutella too. Most recently, I made these gorgeous little cakes based on the same flavour profile.

If you love nutella, you won’t be able to get enough of these.

For intolerances or allergies – you can comfortably substitute coconut oil for butter here, for gluten free you can substitute rice flour or a gluten free flour of your choice, as the gluten isn’t key here.

Recipe: Chocolate and Hazelnut Cakes with Chocolate Butter and Caramelised Cocoa Nibs

Makes 6 small cakes
takes 45 minutes

Ingredients

Chocolate and Hazelnut Cakes

3 large egg whites
25g plain flour
75g icing / confectioners sugar
75g ground hazelnuts (use blanched hazelnuts)
25g cocoa
100g butter

Chocolate butter

100g chocolate
100g butter

Caramelised cocoa nibs

3 tbsp coarsely chopped cocoa nibs (or hazelnuts if you can’t source them)
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp brown sugar

butter or light oil greasing the tin
bun tin or similar (I used a silicon canelé mould as I love the shape)

Method

Preheat your oven to 200 deg C.

Prepare your tin by greasing with butter or oil.

Sieve the flour & icing sugar into a mixing bowl. Add the ground hazelnuts and stir through.

Whip the egg whites until fluffy but not stiff.

Melt the butter (or coconut oil) and add to the dry ingredients. Add the egg whites and stir through.

Fill tin until just below the top. There is no raising agent in this recipe but they will rise a bit.

Bake for 12 – 15 minutes until a skewer comes out dry when you test it.

Allow to cool before removing very carefully.

Melt the butter and the sugar and leave over a medium heat for a few minutes taking care not to burn it. Add the cocoa nibs or hazelnuts and stir until full coated. In a separate pan over a low heat melt the butter for the chocolate butter, then add the chocolate and remove from the heat. Stir until it has melted in.

Serve the cakes warm with some chocolate butter spooned on top and some cocoa nibs.

Enjoy!

I have an unusual and very tasty recipe for you today, ripe from the shores of Grenada. Grenada is known for high quality cocoa and spice, and they meet here in this lively Coconut & Chocolate Chicken Curry.

Do you consider chocolate a sweet or savoury ingredient? For me dark chocolate is intensely savoury, and a brilliant secret addition to many dishes, enhancing with a deep low rumble. It is perfect with chilli and spices, which of course Mexicans have known for a long time. Mole, a savoury Mexican dish rich with chocolate, is a superb example of this. 

Recently in Grenada, I had the pleasure of doing a cooking session with Esther and Omega at True Blue Bay. I cooked with them last time too. They are fun, and know exactly what to do with the vibrant ingredients available in Grenada. So many spices, and the chocolate which Grenada is rich with. 

This time we made a Coconut & Chocolate Curried Chicken. A small amount of chocolate enriches the spicy sauce, with the creamy coconut lightening it. It is surprising, and it is something that all chocaholics and savoury food fans will enjoy. I have adapted Esther & Omega’s recipe for you to make at home. It is a fun one and will for sure intrigue anyone that you make it for! Ask them to guess what the secret ingredient is.

Recipe: Coconut & Chocolate Curried Chicken

Serves 4 – 6

Ingredients

1.5kg chicken thigh meat, skin removed and chopped to approximately 2 inch segments
Chicken marinade: 2 spring onions, 2 tbsp chopped fresh chives, 2 tbsp fresh coriander, 4 cloves peeled garlic, one inch of peeled fresh ginger, 1 tbsp light oil like groundnut or sunflower)
250g ripe tomatoes or the equivalent in good tinned or passata
200ml coconut milk
1 large green pepper, core and seeds removed and diced into 1cm dice
2 tbsp curry powder
1 heaped tsp ground cumin
4 cardamom pods, coarsely crushed
2 chipotle chilles in adobo (or dried chipotle chilles, or a chilli of your choice if you can’t source either), chopped fine
juice of 1 lemon
2 bay leaves
50g good dark chocolate
1 nice apple, cored and diced (fine to leave the skin on)
light oil for frying, like groundnut or sunflower
sea salt & fresh cracked black pepper

Method

Blend all marinade ingredients and add to the chicken. Marinade in the fridge for as long as you can, at least a half hour, up to 4 hours.
Heat a couple of tablespoons of oil over a medium-high heat until sealed all over.
Add all of the dry ingredients, lemon juice and the green pepper and cook for a few minutes.
Add the coconut milk, chilli and tomatoes and cook for 30 minutes.
Add the chocolate and allow to melt through. Leave for a few minutes over a low heat.
Check for seasoning and adjust with sea salt and black pepper.
Ready to eat! Superb with rice, and take care not to eat the cardamom pods and the bay leaves, they are just for flavour.

Chocolate mousse is a death row dish for me. Always dark, so rich and indulgent. So simple too. A simple alchemy of chocolate and eggs, and I like to make it simply this way often, as I would in school and as I shared in my cookbook Comfort & Spice, dressed up there simply with broken honeycomb. Other times, as with here, I soften things out with cream, and add flavours, here spice, wonderful cardamom. 

Chocolate & Cardamom Mousse

When working with chocolate, it is important to bear in my mind how fragile it can be, and how easy it is to burn it, so always melt it in a double boiler (with the chocolate in a pot that fits snugly on top of another pot with boiling water in it). Heat it until just melted, if you let it get too hot, you might scramble the egg yolk when you add it. Otherwise, this is very easy, quick, rich and gorgeous. 

Recipe: Chocolate & Cardamom Mousse

makes 4 polite portions – but you know, who wants to be polite around chocolate mousse?! 

Ingredients

4 cardamom pods
200g good dark chocolate
4 eggs, separated into yolks and whites (ensuring there is absolutely no trace of yolk in the white)
100ml whipping cream (heavy cream in the US)

Method

Split the cardamom pods and remove the seeds. Toast in a dry frying pan over a high heat for a minute or so, the grind to a powder in a pestle and mortar or in a spice blender.

Melt the chocolate until just melted in a double boiler, or in a pot or heatproof bowl that sits comfortably over a pot of boiling water, ensuring that the water doesn’t touch the bottom of the bowl or pot with the chocolate in.

While the chocolate is melting, whip the cream until thick, and separately egg whites as you would for meringue, until they have stiff peaks and a smooth texture. This is easiest with an electric whisk or in a mixer but by hand with a whisk will be fine, if a bit more work.

When the chocolate is just melted, remove the bowl or pot from the heat and stir in the ground cardamom, then quickly whisk in the egg yolks. If the chocolate is just melted the eggs won’t scramble when you add them (a risk when you overheat the chocolate only), but be quick with it anyway, to quickly incorporate the smooth rich eggs into the melted chocolate. Mix in the whipped cream, and then gently fold in the egg white, taking care not to knock the air out, until fully incorporated and a lovely mousse.

Divide the mousse into serving bowls and cover with cling film or similar. I like to serve it in my vintage babycham glasses, below. Leave to set in the fridge for an hour or two.

Enjoy!

Bourbon bacon chocolate truffles

I have been withholding most of my bacon recipes from you, and for a very good reason which will be revealed in a bit. I am sharing one today though, it was published on Stylist recently for Bacon Connoisseurs Week, and I am sharing it here now so that you can do something delicious for Easter. Here you go: Bourbon Bacon Chocolate Truffles.

What madness is this? What deliciousness lies within? Let me tell you people, these little truffles, balls of intense flavourful delight, will win you friends and appease your enemies.

Candied bacon

When thinking of bacon in sweets, remember how you first felt when you heard about salted caramel. Right? This is just as good, I say even better.

Bacon and sugar love each other and so they should. Combined in an oven and candied, bacon becomes arnished with a sugar toffee that will snap, and that is the secret ingredient in these truffles.

Bacon bourbon chocolate truffles

Bourbon has to be invited to the party, mainly because it will be upset if not, its rumbly alcoholic tones complete the trinity.

Have fun, try to share and don’t eat them all at once.

RECIPE: Bourbon Bacon Chocolate Truffles

Ingredients

6 slices of streaky bacon
6 heaped tbsp brown sugar
250 ml cream
250g dark chocolate
25ml bourbon
100g cocoa

Method

Start by candying your bacon. Preheat your oven to 200 deg C and put one heaped tbsp of sugar on each bacon slice rubbing it in on each side with your fingers. Lay out flat and cook for 10 minutes, turn and lay flat and cook for 10 more minutes. Take each slice out and lay on a buttered plate or greaseproof paper and allow to cool. Chop finely when cold. It is important that you remove it from the oven tray, or it will stick there.

Heat the cream until it just shivers, if you boil it it will change the taste and be too hot for the chocolate. Add the chocolate off the heat and stir in to melt until it becomes all glossy, then and add the bourbon and the finely chopped candied bacon. Stir in and leave to chill in the fridge for 2 hours until solid.

Put the cocoa on a plate and scoop out your truffles with a teaspoon, or for a perfect round with a melon baller. I like them to be rough and ready as a bacon truffle would demand. Roll them in the cocoa and then they are ready.

Time to eat them!

Claudia Roden's Gateau Au Chocolat with Ganache Frosting

I have a Kitchenaid. At last. I feel like I have always wanted one, perhaps I have, although it’s realistic to say that in my early years, I was craving sweets a big stronger.

It is bright pink and stands proudly in my kitchen. I have been sent one to review – disclaimer – and I have been happily whipping up cakes and brownies and all sorts of other bits and pieces that are detrimental to my waistline but so, so good for my soul.

My Bright Pink Kitchen Soldier

It has made life very quick and convenient. We had a few run ins but I soon realised that that is because I was putting too much in the bowl. 1.5kg bread too much. That was a bit silly, it is a home mixer, not an industrial one, and treated as such – with one cake mix, not three – it works like a charm. It is tough and quick, and the patisserie attachment has been very useful, especially for my new baking experiments that have been taking place in my kitchen.

I don’t often write about cakes, for several reasons. They require precision and following the rules, and I find this restrictive and annoying. I can almost see my Home Economics teacher watching me carefully from the corner of the room. I think it’s part of my rejection of my previous scientific education. I have now decided to embrace it and learn the language properly, not just the stuff I know and learned at home in school, but more ambitious stuff, so that I can be as creative with my baking as I am with everything else that I cook at home.

This seems a pointless pre-amble now as Gateau au Chocolate is not my recipe but one from food superstar Claudia Roden. But I can’t resist a rich, dense chocolate cake. It is full of great stuff: eggs, ground almonds, butter and rich dark chocolate. I used Green & Blacks Cooking Chocolate which I find rich and dense with some lovely orange / citrus undertones. It’s protein rich, with just a whisper of sugar, a proper adults chocolate cake. You kids will need to look somewhere else.

Chocolate Ganache

I thought it looked a bit naked just on its own, so I whipped up a quick chocolate ganache to cover it with. It worked very well. Any leftovers can become truffles too.

The recipe has featured in many books, I got this from the Green & Black’s Ultimate: Chocolate Recipes: The New Collection, which has been sitting on my shelf for a year now unloved, I am ashamed to confess. It’s a lovely book with some gorgeous recipes and I will be trying more of them soon.

The recipe is unchanged except for the ordering of it. I changed it simply so that it was more practical for me.

Recipe: Claudia Roden’s Gateau Au Chocolate with a Lick of Chocolate Ganache Frosting

Ingredients

CAKE

250g dark chocolate (70% or above recommended)
100g unsalted butter (optional but I used it), plus extra for greasing
6 large free range eggs, seperated
75g caster sugar
100g ground almonds
Flour or matzo meal for dusting

GANACHE

150ml double cream
150g dark chocolate

Method

CAKE

Preheat your oven 180 deg C. Grease a 23cm cake pan and dust with your flour / matzo.

Melt the chocolate and butter in a pan over another (slightly larger) pan of water, or a double boiler.

Whisk the egg whites in a clean mixer bowl until white and fluffy with dense peaks, as you would for meringue. Leave to the side.

Refill your mixer bowl with sugar and butter and beat until light and fluffy (they will be pale and creamy).

Add the ground almonds and melted chocolate and butter and mix thoroughly. Gently fold in the whisked egg whites, taking care not to knock out the air.

Pour into your cake tin and make for 30 – 45 minutes. Test it by sticking a metal skewer or knife through it, when it comes out dry, it’s done. I found mine was perfect at 35 minutes.

GANACHE

Just as the cake is cooled, melt your chocolate as before. Stir through the cream and spread all over the cake once it’s cooled and out of the cake tin.