I was asked to run a few sessions for Gefiltefest this year, and Diana Lipton, my tutor at University, suggested that I make Tortas de Aceite while she speaks about the launch of her new project for charity, linking biblical commentary and food to benefit a soup kitchen.

So far so good.

In London Bridge’s Brindisa I bought a packet of traditional Tortas de Aceite. I tried one and it tasted good.

Once I was home, I opened a second and nibbled on it as I worked, the delicate aniseed flavour and slight sweetness were growing on me.

A little while later I opened a third… Wait a minute, what was going on here? These are addictive…

So I developed my recipe knowing that this could be a dangerous project.

You might like to know that my first batch looked less than perfect, and they set the fire alarm off. But I adjusted the cooking time, and they improved, and then I tasted a few. Just as a scientific experiment to compare them to the shop bought one, you understand? And then I couldn’t stop…

Tortas de Aceite are Spanish olive oil wafers, traditionally from Andalusia – flaky, light, sweet, and completely moreish.

So here they are. They’ll keep for a while if you have self-restraint.

Enjoy

Tortas de Aceite (Spanish Olive Oil Cakes)

Makes 20-24

Ingredients

400g plain flour

100g caster sugar

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons aniseed

2 tablespoons sesame seeds, lightly toasted

150ml water

150ml extra virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon aniseed liqueur

Extra caster sugar for dusting

Method

• Preheat the oven to 220C.
• Combine the flour, sugar, salt, aniseed and sesame seeds in a bowl, and stir to combine.
• Make a well in the centre, and pour in the water, olive oil and liqueur. Using a dough scraper or a wooden spoon, combine the ingredients and mix until a dough is formed.
• Tip the dough onto the work surface and knead for 5 minutes until the dough is smooth.
• Divide the dough into walnut sized pieces and roll out each one as thinly as possible, about 1mm thick. You can lightly flour the work surface if necessary, but the oil in the dough should stop it from sticking.
• Put the rolled out pieces onto lined baking trays, and brush with a little water. Sprinkle a light layer of caster sugar and bake in batches for 8-10 minutes or until golden around the edges with some caramelised sugar. Keep an eye on them as they burn easily.
• Allow to cool before serving. These will keep in an airtight container for a few weeks.

Want to learn how to make more delicious food? Sign up to Rachel’s classes.

You might also like:

Impressive Beetroot and Orange Gravadlax

Tasty Sri Lankan Soup

Or Ginger Crunch

I treated myself to an ice cream maker recently.

I don’t like to feel limited by my equipment in the kitchen. If a recipe calls for a sugar thermometer, I’ve got one in the drawer. You need a rice cooker, or a superfine zester, a long pallet knife, or a bundt tin? Bingo. It’s right here.

And in all honesty, there’s a limited amount of gadgets that most recipes require. With one exception – ice cream makers. I actually did have one already, but it unfortunately didn’t fit in my freezer(!).

Time after time I was let down when reading recipes, and had to mentally file them away in the “I’ll make that one when I move house and have a bigger freezer” section. Sigh…

So I shouldn’t really have been surprised by my new ice cream churning obsession, but I am a little.

I need people with a big appetite for ice cream to visit immediately. And yes, a bigger freezer. In the past week I’ve made Vanilla Frozen Yoghurt, Rum and Raisin, Green Tea, and Wasabi ice cream, and there’s a Mango Sorbet churning away as I write this.

All the recipes I’ve made so far are from or adapted from David Leibovitz’s superb book, The Perfect Scoop.
Alphonso mangoes are still in season, so if you’re lucky enough to have an ice cream maker too, give this a go.

If not, maybe it’s time to treat yourself?!

Mango, Lime and Rum Sorbet

Adapted from David Leibovitz, The Perfect Scoop
Makes about 1 litre

Ingredients

1kg ripe mangos (ideally Alphonso or other fragrant varieties)

130g caster sugar

160ml water

2 tablespoons fresh lime juice, plus more to taste

1 tablespoon dark rum, plus more to taste

Pinch of sea salt

Method

• Peel the mangos and cut the flesh away from the stone.
• Cut the flesh into chunks and put in a bowl with the sugar, water, lime juice, rum and salt. Blend the mixture until smooth.
• Taste, and adjust the lime, sugar and rum if you like.
• Churn in your clever ice cream maker and freeze.

Want to learn how to make more delicious food? Sign up to Rachel’s classes.

You might also like:

Impressive Beetroot and Orange Gravadlax

Tasty Sri Lankan Soup

Or Ginger Crunch

St George’s Day was celebrated with sunshine and plenty of delicious food this year, and I was delighted to be giving two cookery demonstrations at the Feast Of St George in Trafalgar Square, organised by the Mayor of London.

Inspired by all things sugary, I made Bread and Butter Pudding and Treacle Tart.

The recipes are below. Enjoy!

Treacle Tart

Ingredients

For the Pastry

260g plain flour

100g icing sugar

30g ground almonds

125g unsalted butter, diced

2 eggs

Extra flour for dusting

For the Filling

60g unsalted butter

1 egg

1 egg yolk

3 tablespoons double cream

½ tablespoon sea salt flakes

450g golden syrup

120g brown bread crumbs

To serve

Vanilla Ice cream

Method

• Start by making the pastry. Put the flour, sugar, almonds and butter in a large bowl. Using your fingertips, mix together into a crumb consistency. Add the eggs and mix well. Cover and rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 180°C. Lightly dust a work surface with flour. Roll out the pastry to about 2mm thick. Line the tart ring with the pastry, letting it hang over the sides. Cover with baking paper and fill the tart base with baking beans.
• Bake blind for about 20 minutes or until the case is cooked through and lightly golden. Remove the rice or baking beans and the baking paper, and bake for another few minutes until the base is lightly golden.
• Reduce the oven temperature to 160°C. For the filling, mix the egg, egg yolk, cream and salt in a bowl. Melt the butter in a saucepan until it starts to foam and turn brown, then take off the heat. In a saucepan heat the golden syrup gently for a few minutes until hot. Add the brown butter and mix well. Then slowly whisk in the cream mixture, followed by the breadcrumbs.
• Pour the mixture into the cooked tart base, and bake for 25 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 140°C and cook for a further 20 minutes, until set around the edges and still a little wobbly in the middle.
• Leave to cool, and carefully trim the pastry with a sharp knife before removing the tart ring.
• Cut the tart into portions, and serve with vanilla ice cream.

Bread and Butter Pudding

Serves 8-10

Ingredients

Butter to grease tin

12 slices of white bread

80g sultanas

600ml double cream

7 eggs

1 egg yolk

200g caster sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons caster sugar for glazing

Method

• Preheat the oven to 180°C. Butter an ovenproof dish and sprinkle half the sultanas over the bottom. Cut the crusts off the bread, and arrange 1 layer of bread triangles, then sprinkle again with sultanas. Repeat until you reach the rim of the dish or the bread has all been used.
• Bring the cream almost to the boil over a medium heat. In the meantime whisk the eggs, yolk and sugar together. Pour the hot cream very slowly into the eggs, whisking constantly to stop the eggs from scrambling.
• Add the vanilla, sieve the custard into a jug, and pour into the baking dish, covering all of the bread. You might not need to use all the custard depending on the size of the dish. Baste any parts of the bread that are dry, and leave to soak for 10 minutes.
• Place the dish in a larger, deeper baking tray and put on the oven shelf. Pour enough water into the baking tray to cover two thirds of the pudding dish, and carefully close the oven. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the custard has just set and the pudding is golden.
• Sprinkle a thin layer of sugar over the top, and glaze with a blowtorch or under the grill. Serve warm, preferably with rum and raisin ice cream.
• The pudding will keep in the fridge for a few days. To reheat cover with foil.

Want to learn how to make more delicious food? Come along to one of Rachel’s classes.

You might also like:

Impressive Beetroot and Orange Gravadlax

Tasty Sri Lankan Soup

Or Ginger Crunch

Want to learn how to make more delicious food? Sign up to Rachel’s classes.

You might also like:

Halloween Cookies – use these techniques for all occasions!

Tasty Sri Lankan Soup

Or Ginger Crunch

When I was invited to teach a class at the Chocolate Festival on London’s Southbank, my mind raced. What was I going to teach chocolate lovers that was a bit different to the other classes on offer, but still absolutely delicious?

The answer, as you might have guessed, was Chocolate Tortellini.

Italians will no doubt be appalled by the lessing around with their staple food, but the verdict was a big thumbs up, with plenty of students coming back for a second plate!

It was a freezing cold day, but people still braved the snow to come and make pasta in a tent.

It’s an unusual dessert that will impress your friends, and you can make it ahead of time, cooking the tortellini and coating with the sauce and caramelised nuts to serve.

I wanted to share the recipe with you, as it went down really well. If you don’t have a pasta machine, you can roll out the dough as thinly as you can using lots of flour to stop it from sticking.

Enjoy the recipe, and I should mention that wearing a hat, coat and gloves while you make it is optional.

Mascarpone filled Chocolate Tortellini with Caramelised Pecans in an Orange Cream Sauce.

Serves 4

Ingredients

For the Chocolate Pasta

170g 00 flour

20g cocoa powder

2 eggs

2 egg yolks

1 tablespoon olive oil

Zest of 1 orange

For the filling

400g mascarpone

2 teaspoons vanilla paste

For the sauce

100g caster sugar

100ml water

200ml double cream

Zest of 2 oranges, in long strips

For the pecan topping

150g caster sugar

4 tablespoons water

15g glucose

100g pecan halves

Big pinch of sea salt

Chocolate shavings to serve

Method

• For the pasta dough, mix together the flour and cocoa powder. Tip them onto your work surface and make a well in the middle. Pour the eggs, yolks, oil and zest into the well, and using a fork, whisk the liquid gently, bringing in flour slowly from the outside to form a dough.

• Bring the dough together with your hand and knead the dough for 10 minutes until it becomes smooth and elastic.

• Wrap the dough in clingfilm and allow to rest in the fridge for at least 20 minutes or up to 24 hours.

• For the filling, mix the mascarpone and vanilla together and refrigerate until you’re ready to use.

• For the sauce, bring the sugar, water and orange zest to a gentle simmer. When the sugar has dissolved, add the cream and simmer for a further minute. Remove from the heat and leave to infuse.

• To make the caramelised pecans, place the caster sugar and water into a stainless steel saucepan and dissolve over a very low heat, swirling the pan occasionally. Once the sugar has completely dissolved, turn up the heat, then add the glucose and simmer until it turns a golden caramel colour. Working quickly, stir through the pecans and sea salt, turn the mixture onto a baking tray lined with silicone paper and spread it out as much as possible. When cool, break up the mixture, and chop into small pieces.

• Cut the pasta dough into quarters and with one quarter at a time, work through the widest roller of the pasta machine.  Fold in two, and repeat this process about 8 times, folding the dough each time.  Dust with a little flour if necessary.

• When it is smooth and rectangular, continue rolling through the machine, each time lowering the setting by one notch.  Do not fold the dough between rolls.  Dust the dough with flour to prevent sticking.

• Take the dough through the machine to the second lowest setting (any lower than this and the dough can fall apart). Lay on a tray dusted lightly with flour, and repeat with the remainder of the dough.

• For the tortellini, cut the dough into squares, and put teaspoons of mascarpone onto the middles of the square. Brush a little water around the filling, and fold one corner over to the opposite corner, expelling all the air with your fingers and seal. Sit the filling up, and bring the corners around to touch each other.

• Cook immediately, or keep covered in the fridge to prevent the pasta drying out.

• Gently reheat the sauce. Boil the fresh pasta for 3-5 minutes in a pan of simmering water, remove with a slotted spoon and serve topped with warm sauce and a sprinkle of caramelised pecans and chocolate shavings.

Important

Sugar turns to caramel at 160°C -190°C. Be very careful about burning yourself. To clean the caramel off the pan, stand back from the pan and add water. Heat gently until the caramel melts into the water, then wash as normal.

Want to learn how to make more delicious food? Sign up to Rachel’s classes.

You might also like:

Impressive Beetroot and Orange Gravadlax

Tasty Sri Lankan Soup

Or Ginger Crunch

Typically made for Easter, hot cross buns actually pre-date the Christian celebration, as the Saxons ate something similar to celebrate the goddess Eostre – the origin of the word Easter.

Get into the mood by baking up a batch of hot, spiced buns, and enjoy then with butter for your tea!

Ps I have a confession to make. I was cooking up a batch of Spiced Plum Compote while the buns were baking. And rather than boil up some apricot jam, it was just too easy to glaze the buns with, well, I should have thought about the photos. Please forgive the pinkish glaze… 

Hot Cross Buns

Makes 15

Ingredients

300ml milk

50g butter

500g strong bread flour

1 teaspoon salt

75g caster sugar

7g sachet fast-action or easy-blend yeast

Zest of 1 orange

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon mixed spice

1 egg, beaten

75g sultanas

50g mixed peel

75g plain flour, plus extra for dusting

3 tablespoons apricot jam

Method

• Bring the milk to the boil, then remove from the heat and add the butter. Leave to cool until it reaches hand temperature.
• Put the flour, salt, sugar, yeast, zest and spices into a bowl. Make a well in the centre. Pour in the warm milk and butter mixture, then add the beaten egg. Using a wooden spoon or dough scraper, mix well and bring everything together with your hands until you have a sticky dough.
• Tip on to a lightly floured surface and knead by holding the dough with one hand and stretching it with the heal of the other hand, then folding it back on itself. Repeat for 5 minutes until smooth and elastic. Put the dough in a lightly oiled bowl. Cover with oiled cling film and leave to rise in a warm place for 1 hour or until doubled in size.
• With the dough still in the bowl, tip in the sultanas and mixed peel. Knead into the dough, making sure everything is well distributed.
• Divide the dough into 15 even pieces (about 75g per piece). Roll each piece into a smooth ball on a lightly floured work surface. Arrange the buns on two baking trays lined with parchment, leaving enough space for the dough to expand. Cover lightly with more oiled cling film or a clean tea towel, then prove for 1 hour more.
• Heat oven to 220C/200C fan/gas 7. Mix the flour with about 5 tablespoons of water to make the paste for the cross – add the water 1 tablespoon at a time, just adding enough for a thick paste. Spoon into a piping bag and cut a small hole. Pipe a cross on each bun.Bake for 13-17 minutes until golden brown.
• Gently heat the apricot jam with a splash of water to melt, then sieve to remove any bits. While the jam is still warm, brush over the top of the warm buns and leave to cool.

Want to learn how to make more delicious food? Sign up to Rachel’s classes.

You might also like:

Impressive Beetroot and Orange Gravadlax

Tasty Sri Lankan Soup

Or Ginger Crunch

There are a few recipes that I come back to over and over again.

Sometimes they’re divine. Some I can make-ahead of time, perfect when I’m cooking for friends, and often they use ingredients which are in the cupboard, or that I have lying around.

This soup is all three. Miso paste lasts for months in the fridge, and I have a tendency to buy bags of carrots and then wonder what I was planning to do with them.

Most importantly, it tastes great. The soup is also super healthy, and I can eat it for dinner, lunch, and then dinner again and not get bored of the savoury miso with the sweet carrots in this smooth and hearty soup.

So if you’ve got lots of carrots that you don’t know what to do with, give this a try.

You can buy miso paste from Asian and health food shops, and it will keep for ages in the fridge wrapped in clingfilm.

Carrot and Miso Soup (adapted from Smitten Kitchen)

Serves 6

Ingredients

2 tablespoons sunflower oil

1kg carrots, peeled and thinly sliced

1 onion, finely chopped

5 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped

1 tablespoon of grated ginger root

1.25 litres hot vegetable stock

65g white miso paste

To Garnish:

Toasted sesame oil

Spring onions

Method

• Heat the oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat. Sweat the carrot, onion and garlic until the onion is translucent, about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Add the stock and ginger, and simmer gently for about 30 minutes, or until the carrot is soft and cooked through.
• Blend the soup with a stick blender until very smooth. In a separate bowl, mix a ladle of soup with the miso paste to make a loose paste, and then pour the mixture back into the soup.
• Taste, and adjust the seasoning with more miso paste or salt and pepper as necessary.
• Ladle into bowls and garnish with finely sliced spring onions and a drizzle of sesame oil.

Want to learn how to make more delicious food? Sign up to Rachel’s classes.

You might also like:

Impressive Beetroot and Orange Gravadlax

Tasty Sri Lankan Soup

Or Ginger Crunch

My husband gave me a day course at Billingsgate Seafood Training School, so after an early start, I arrived at Billingsgate bleary eyed at 6.15am.

The market was in full swing; fishmongers pushing carts of fish, seafood of varying shapes and colours sitting up on beds of ice, and plenty of surprisingly animated vendors, about to finish their days a few hours before sunrise.

We were given a tour of the market by one of the quality inspectors from the guild of fishmongers. He started by lifting a few lobsters, claws tied with elastic bands, out of tanks, describing the difference between the Scottish and Canadian lobsters while they wiggled around and hoped it wasn’t their time to end up on a plate.

We were shown crate after crate of beautiful, shiny fresh fish, live coral pink langoustines,  muddy dredged scallops and pristine hand-dived ones, an oyster the size of a melon, bags of mussels, enormous cod and silver mackerel, and all the time the fishmongers were shouting at each other, and at us, making us all laugh with their banter.

I left for breakfast unable to forget about the enormous side of salmon I’d seen, so I went back down to the market and managed to catch the fishmonger as he packed up at 7am. For £16 the two kilo pin-boned side of salmon was mine.

After a wonderful fish class at the school, I didn’t make any friends as I sat on the tube, bags stuffed full of fish, and an unsurprising odour emanating…

Back home I knew what I would make, a beautiful, ruby red beetroot cured salmon. You don’t need to go to Billingsgate to get your salmon, but I would recommend getting very fresh fish from a fishmonger for this recipe. After that it’s super easy and an impressive dish to serve to friends.

Beetroot and Orange Marinated Gravadlax
Serves 8-10

Ingredients
A side of salmon, skin on, scaled and pin-boned (ask your fishmonger to do this for you), about 800g
100g demerara sugar
175g coarse sea salt
10 g pink peppercorns
4 tablespoons vodka
Zest of 2 lemons
Zest of 1 orange
600g raw beetroot

Method

• Check the salmon for any remaining bones, and remove any with (kitchen!) tweezers.
• Lay the salmon skin-side down in a large dish.
• Put the demerara sugar, salt, vodka, lemon and orange zest in a mixing bowl. Grind the peppercorns and add to the mixture.
• Peel and grate the beetroots, then stir into the other ingredients. You can use a magimix if you have one, and you might want to wear gloves for this.
• Spread the mixture over the fish and rub in well with your hands. Place a piece of clingfilm over the fish and place a chopping board or tray on top, weighed down with cans. Refrigerate for between 48 hours and four days.
• Pour off the liquid from the marinade. Remove the cling film and rinse off the marinade.
• Pat the fish dry, and at this point you can freeze the gravadlax or it will keep wrapped in the fridge for two weeks.
• Slice the fish thinly across the grain to serve, and serve with rye bread and capers, or a gravadlax sauce.

Want to learn how to make more delicious food? Sign up to Rachel’s classes.

You might also like:

Quick and easy Spaghetti Aglio Olio e Peperoncino

Tasty Sri Lankan Soup

Delicious Ginger Crunch

Or Homemade Granola

Homemade gifts of food are one of my favourite things to give to friends and family around this time of year, displayed in a nice glass jars or cellophane packaging and tied with a festive ribbon.

These cantucci biscuits will keep for about a month if they don’t disappear before then, and contain some of my favourite flavours.

If you’d prefer different nuts, spices, dried fruits, chocolate pieces or a little vanilla or almond essence, you can be creative and play around. Just keep the biscuit recipe as it is, and substitute the orange zest, cardamom, pistachio and cranberry for flavours of your choice.

Cardamom, Orange, Cranberry and Pistachio Cantucci

(adapted from Maria Elia, Full Of Flavour)

Makes about 60

Ingredients

180g butter, softened

275g caster sugar

4 eggs

10g baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

600g 00 flour

½ teaspoon ground cardamom seeds

1 orange, zest only

100g pistachio nuts,

60g dried cranberries

Method

• Preheat the oven to 150˚C and line 2 baking trays with baking paper.
• Using an electric whisk or standing mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy.
• Gradually add the eggs into the mixture, combining well each time. Scrape the mixture down with a spatula.
• Beat in the remaining ingredients until the mixture comes together.
• On the baking trays form the dough into 3 or 4 logs, approximately 5cm wide, and pat into an even shape using wet hands. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until risen and lightly golden.
• Transfer the logs onto a wire rack to cool slightly for 5-10 minutes. When still warm, cut the cantucci diagonally into 1cm thick pieces. Lay on the baking sheets, turn the oven down to 120˚C and bake for 30-40 minutes, turning halfway through.
• Cool on a wire rack before serving. These cantucci will keep in an airtight container for up to a month.

Want to learn how to make more delicious food? Sign up to Rachel’s classes.

You might also like:

Rachel’s Top 10 Cookbooks for 2012

Seasonal Mince Pies

Or delicious Ginger Crunch

I have a question for you – do you have cookbooks on your bookshelf that you’ve never opened?

You might not be surprised to hear that I have an extensive collection of cookbooks that is quickly taking over my bookshelves (this photo is only a selection!). I’m seduced by the pretty covers, big name chefs, high profile restaurants, exotic cuisines, and good-enough-to-eat photographs, and I do try to cook from as many of them as possible.

To avoid disaster purchases which end up in Oxfam, I’d suggest you have a flick through a real-life copy of the book before you buy it. Look at the recipes and ask yourself whether you like them, and what purpose the book would serve – everyday meals, entertaining, experimenting, inspiration, learning new techniques, or is the book not really your thing?

Sometimes I buy a recipe book for inspiration, to challenge me to try new things, or to introduce ingredients and techniques. For example, I love Ottolenghi’s cookbooks because they contain lots of vegetables, they teach me interesting combinations of flavours and ingredients, and I trust that his recipes will work, which matters.

I will probably never cook from Heston Blumenthal’s Fat Duck Cookbook – it has six columns of ingredients to make just one dish, but the photos and explanations are pure inspiration, and I treasure the book for that.

And some books I don’t need. For example,  I won’t be buying Fergus Henderson’s Nose to Tail Eating. You might, and at some point I will probably flick through it and think it’s amazing, but for now I’m not going to make Bone marrow salad or Rolled Pig’s Spleen, so I’ll pass.

So here are the top five cookbooks I own, and five from my wishlist. Have a flick through them and see what you think.

1. Jerusalem, Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi

Covering a wide range of cuisines all found in Jerusalem, these are exciting recipes full of big flavours, fairly long lists of ingredients, well worth a little effort. Ottolenghi’s other books are equally delightful, and the results are always fabulous.

2. Bill’s Everyday Asian, Bill Granger

I haven’t made a recipe from this book that hasn’t been divine. Bill Granger demystifies Asian food, with simplified recipes and gorgeous photography.

3. Pastry, Michel Roux

This is for people intrigued by pastry, and willing to take a leap of faith. It contains lots of wonderful recipes and step-by-step instructions, but you’ll need to dedicate some time to giving them a try.

4. Dough, Richard Bertinet

Famous for his bread, you could do worse than taking Bertient’s advice if you want to give bread-making a try. Again, if you’ll never find the time to do a little kneading, this isn’t for you, but if you’re interested in making bread for the first time, or in widening your repetoire, he explains the processes well with plenty of photos, and I love the results.

5. Cake Chic, Peggy Porschen

Peggy is the queen of cake, and her books are pure pleasure for a decorating geek like me.

And Santa, if you’re listening…

6. Everyday, Peter Gordon

7. Polpo: A Venetian Cookbook (Of Sorts), Russell Norman

8. Eggs, Michel Roux

9. The Lebanese Kitchen, Salma Hage

10. Salt Sugar Smoke: How to Preserve Fruit, Vegetables, Meat and Fish, Diana Henry

Enjoy! And I’d love to hear what your favourite cookery books are too…