The British Larder Inspirational recipe diary

This delightful Celeriac Espuma with Ras-el-Hanout Steamed Tiger Prawns makes a perfect amuse bouche or canapé to tickle your taste buds and keep your guests very happy. I love every mouthful as it’s strong in flavour but the flavours do not overpower each other. The inspiration of this dish came from one of my customers, a lady with fine taste and more cookbooks than me.

I think we have all agreed that this recipe is worth trying. I have used the Thermomix to make this dish. This recipe is an ideal party piece , with very little effort and maximum impact.

I’m very excited about this fine pear tart.Firstly I had made a fresh batch of rough puff pastry and was very pleased with myself. Secondly I have finally followed a recipe from one of the over 200 cookbooks in our collection, now that is a achievement in itself. The recipe is taken from the book ‘ Under Pressure’ written by Thomas Keller. Well I have not followed the recipe word for word, but the excitement of twisting and tuning it by using native conference pears is wildly attractive.

It’s perhaps an unconventional way to prepare the pears  but I am smitten with this method. You do not cook the pears but  by vacuuming them hard  the texture softens almost as if it where poached but the flavour is incredibly intense and fresh. I have chosen conference pears as they are firm, packed with flavour, rustic and most importantly they are

The warm aroma  of melting cheese mixed with smoky bacon is enough to make anyone salivate. There is something magical about these Gorgonzola and smoked bacon breakfast muffins. The tiny size allows second and third helpings, and helps soothe the guilty conscious as they are only little!

I love to serve them straight from the oven as I can’t control myself. I’m not sure if it’s the melted cheese that gets stuck to the tray that’s obviously the cooks privilege or if it’s eating them. I need to think about that a bit more so that I can make up my mind . But in the meantime I shall help myself to another muffin.

The polenta gives these muffins a slightly crunchy and light texture. Sometimes I change the flavours and use ingredients that are in the fridge. Try chopped semi-dried tomatoes and goats cheese or Kalamata olives and Feta

The inspiration for this recipe came from the book ‘ Under Pressure’ by Thomas Keller. I love this recipe for many reasons, one of which is that the pears do not need to be cooked. The vacuuming breaks the pears down and gives the illusion of poached pears.

Brilliant, it’s an ingenues method as you preserve the fresh flavour of the pears. There is no need to add lemon juice as the vacuum removes the oxygen and therefore prevents the pears from oxidising.

It’s perhaps unorthodox but I believe this is a revolutionary way forward! It works with all fruits and vegetables that oxidise such as artichokes, apples, salsify etc….