Crème renversée à l’orange

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Or, as it’s more popularly known, crème caramel, or flan in Spain. I am unreasonably picky about this ubiquitous dessert. Absolutely no bubbles allowed: it should be a perfectly smooth, only just set custard that wobbles when you turn it out. I’ve lost count of the number of times I have been disappointed in restaurants. Always, always bubbly round the edges, or worse. Yet it takes no more time, only attention, to achieve a perfect one. This Simon Hopkinson recipe is the acme of baked egg custard. It simply can’t be improved on. I hadn’t made it for ages, but today we had a surfeit of eggs. I’m so pleased I did. It turned out perfectly. My only regret: I halved the recipe to serve two, so there’s none left.

Note: I know, the photo is aesthetically lacking, but I wanted to show the texture. Even then, the photo can’t convey the velvety smoothness. Never mind!

It’s most impressive when made as a single large custard in a soufflé dish, very carefully turned out onto a large plate. But you can of course make smaller individual ones in ramekins. This recipe makes four or six servings, depending on how greedy you are. Allow plenty of time for it to cool. You can chill it, but it’s best to take it out of the fridge half an hour before you want to serve it. If the recipe looks long, it’s not because it’s complicated — it’s because you need attention to detail.
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Roast summer vegetables

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Roast vegetables
A recipe shamelessly pinched from Nigel Slater’s Observer column, because I want to make sure I always have it to hand. I suppose it’s a variation on escalivade really, but the carrots and spice make it quite different. I have changed it a little — Nigel said to put two tablespoons of harissa in it. I think harissa in the UK must be quite feeble. If I’d used that much of the ubiquitous Tunisian harissa in tubes that we get here, it would have blown our heads off. Naturally you can adjust the level to your taste and the strength of your harissa.

Make lots of this, as it’s ideal for keeping in the fridge and eating at room temperature when it’s so hot you don’t want to cook. A good party buffet dish too I should think.
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Watermelon gazpacho

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Watermelon gazpacho
Gazpacho is thought of as a chilled raw soup, always containing tomatoes, plus peppers, cucumber, olive oil, and vinegar. And possibly stale bread: there seem to be two schools of thought on this (I’ve always put bread in mine). But as Spanish cuisine has become more internationally famous, chefs have been creative in coming up with variations; I clearly remember being served a tomato and cherry gazpacho a decade ago. It really lends itself to experimentation, so I wasn’t surprised to stumble across a watermelon variation online. Rooting through the fridge today to find ways of using up some leftover watermelon, I found I had practically all the ingredients. The site I found it on has many other variations.

The recipe I found made a vast quantity. I like to serve gazpacho in shot glasses or small glass bowls as a starter or part of an apero spread. So my reduced quantity will serve about 4-6. If you really do want substantial bowlfuls, double it. It’s traditional to garnish gazpacho with tropezones, tiny dice of tomato, pepper, cucumber. I used what was available: feta and some charentais melon. Finally, with gazpacho always be bold with the seasoning. Remember chilling it affects how strong the seasoning tastes. It will also mellow with time, so check again before serving.
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Authentic spaghetti carbonara

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Tagliatelle carbonara
OK, it’s tagliatelle, home-made from excess sourdough starter. I generally don’t have spaghetti in the house as it’s far from my favourite pasta shape. I’m just back from a trip to northern Italy and on our last evening I ventured to order spaghetti carbonara. It was divine. We make a version of it quite often at home (never order it in a restaurant in France. You will get a pile of lukewarm pasta slathered in cream and piled with lardons and cheese, plus a raw egg yolk in half an eggshell perched on top).

Anyway. This experience prompted me to stop in at a deli the next day and buy some guanciale (dry-cured pork cheek), which according to purists is the only meat you should use for carbonara. Maybe pancetta at a pinch, certainly not bacon. I can now confirm this is true, having made it for lunch today. Admittedly I had forgotten to buy any pecorino cheese, so I used Parmesan. If you can get hold of pecorino, do. The restaurant used a soft fresh pecorino grated over the top; I’m not sure if this is truly authentic or a northern Italy quirk.

Anyway. This is now my definitive recipe, though we’re unlikely to do it this way every time. Dieters look away now: guanciale is very fatty, at least 50% fat I reckon. You cook it slowly in its own fat in a frying pan till crispy, ending up with a lake of rendered fat. Then you tip the cooked pasta into the frying pan and stir it around thoroughly to make sure that pasta picks up every last drop of porky, cholesterol-laden fat. It tastes amazing and is what helps the sauce to cohere and coat the pasta properly. It’s completely different from making it with a lesser pork product. As for Jamie Oliver with his “carbonara” with sausages in it, he can get in the bin.
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Curried lentil and coconut soup

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Curried lentil and coconut soup

Another lentil soup! Similar ingredients to my previous post, but a quite different result. This one does work really well with red split lentils. I stumbled across it on the Food & Wine site, but amended it to suit my taste, since I found their version too bland and lacking spinach. The recipe makes a vast quantity, enough for at least six generous servings, so you can halve it if you want. As I was on my own, once it was cooked I ladled out enough for me into a smaller pan, and added spinach to that part. The rest will go in the freezer. It will certainly improve by being kept in the fridge until the next day.
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Moroccan spiced lentil soup

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Moroccan spiced lentil soup

A rather eccentric, messy image complete with splatters, taken immediately before we dived in to eat it! Known as “still life on the run” in our household.

I believe this soup originated in Delicious magazine. Since I discovered it via sister-in-law R, I’ve cooked it multiple times, improving it every time. It has become one of my favourite soups. Delicious, healthy, low-carb diet friendly, vegetarian — what more could you ask?

The first thing to note is that the original recipe specified red split lentils. R didn’t happen to have any when she made it, so she used Puy lentils. Good move — having tried both ways, the Puy lentil version is vastly superior. Other than that, don’t miss out any of the ingredients — they are all essential. That said, you can get away with tinned tomatoes, but fresh are better. I particularly like it with cherry tomatoes, cut in half.

The serving suggestions top the soup off to perfection, with the lemon juice adding extra zing. This amount will make about four servings, unless you are greedy like us.
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Orange and cranberry cake

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Cranberry and orange tray bakeThis is another popular cake that I’ve added to my choir rehearsal repertoire. It’s based on a sultana and orange cake I originally found on the Traditional Home Baking blog, but I gave it my own twist by changing it from a round cake to a tray bake, as well as improving the ingredients — cranberries always trump sultanas for me! I double the recipe to make a larger quantity; that given here will suit either a round 23 cm cake tin, or a square one of around 22 cm. If you have a stand mixer it’s very quick to make, and it keeps well for several days in a tin.

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Flan libanais

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Flan libanais
Before I start, a humble apology to all the people who left comments over the last, er, five months … I’ve only just found them! Now all approved. And now, my first post for six months …

We had this dessert in our local pizza restaurant a month ago. It was so light and delicious that when I got home I googled it, and immediately found a recipe that looked like a very close match, at La Cuisine de Lya. It took me a while to get round to making it, as I first had to source rose water (I ended up ordering it online) and unsalted pistachios. Lya says you can omit the rose water, but I think it’s really worth making the effort as it adds a distinct exotic flavour which is what makes the dish special; with just the orange flower flavour it would be more run of the mill. I also replaced the sugar syrup topping with honey, because that’s what the restaurant did. Choose a light, well-flavoured runny honey (mine was from the Pyrenees), and avoid the bog-standard supermarket kind.

It’s ridiculously easy to make, and diet-friendly. It’s vegan too if you use plant milk, and sugar syrup instead of honey.This quantity will make four very generous helpings, or six small ones. Serve in pretty glass bowls or glasses.
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Apricot tatin

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Apricot tatin

I saw this recipe in Let’s Eat the World‘s newsletter. Many moons ago, when we were still working, we helped to develop Cook’n with Class‘s website and I even attended a bread course taught by Eric. They’ve now branched out to culinary tours in more far-flung places, while still running their cookery school in Paris.

This recipe though is very French. I was hooked as soon as I saw the combination of apricots and rosemary — I already know it’s a match made in heaven. Plus I love a tatin, and it’s apricot season. I’ve adjusted it slightly, and while their recipe calls for it to be served with whipped cream with pistachio paste folded in, I just served it with crème fraîche. Absolutely delicious and so easy to make.
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No-knead focaccia

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No-knead focaccia
I wanted to make some focaccia for an apéritif dinatoire the same day, and my sourdough starter was dozing in the fridge. What to do? A spot of research, and I found a no-knead recipe on the blog Un déjeuner de soleil — in French, but written by an Italian. It looked just the ticket — quick and easy, with little hands-on time. I was very impressed by the result too — crisp on the outside, with a chewy, open crumb. It went down very well.

So here’s my English version. Note, it makes a very large focaccia. You could easily halve the recipe if there are only a couple of you. I have about a third of it left over, so I’ve frozen it and we’ll see how well it survives reheating.
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