Steak & Stout Pie

a life of pies…the life of pie… pies are squared? so comfortingly satisfying is a good pie that it lulls you into a state where you want to contemplate such matters and more.

The making of a good pie is not to be rushed, its a calm purposeful endeavour. Here my late friend the too talented photographer Teodora Maftei took the photos for an article that first appeared in food story.ro so thats why they look so polished and slick and I am in them! What fun we had that day shooting, Teo exclaiming her characteristic “Fxxxxxxck” every few minutes and then scoffing pie.

Teo loved London more than any other city. So this one is for her. Go Teo – you daughter of London. xxx

Ingredients

Continue reading “Steak & Stout Pie”

Italian Chocolate, Nut & Orange Christmas Cake

rich, moist, nutty, cinnamony , orangy …….. this is one of my all time favourite cakes

I have been making this cake for a few years now and have tinkered around with the original Anna Del Conte recipe and I hope the grand dame wont mind as I think my method adds a touch more body and is very easy, provided you do have an electric whisk or failing that bionic arms as it involves making a meringue. If you do not the cake will not fail, it will just be more dense and “fudgy”. The method is fun and involves blitzing up dark chocolate into chocolate “crumbs” which then melt into the cake as it bakes. Here I’ve served it with white chocolate ice cream.

Continue reading “Italian Chocolate, Nut & Orange Christmas Cake”

Beetroot, Walnut & Prune Brownie

Too good to be good for you!

A chocolate cake made with beetroot? No flour? no fat? no sugar? How can it taste good? and yet it does. The beetroot gives body and sweetness too, the walnuts depth of flavour and moistness, the prunes give another hit of chewiness and good quality chocolate gives a strong chocolatey flavour. Added to that the beetroot is full of antioxidants, as is the chocolate,the nuts pack a powerful Vitamin E punch and prunes…well we all know that prunes work miracles. I’ve done the maths and yes they come in at less than half the calories of a regular brownie. This is a brownie recipe but I often serve them as little cubes.

Continue reading “Beetroot, Walnut & Prune Brownie”