London Cheesecake

Photograph by Petrina Tinslay

Serving Size : Serves 8

 

Ingredients

 

For the base:

 

150g digestive biscuits

75g unsalted butter, melted or very soft

600g cream cheese

150g caster sugar

3 large eggs

3 large egg yolks

11/2 tablespoons vanilla extract

11/2 tablespoons lemon juice

20cm Springform tin

extra-strength tin foil

 

For the topping:

 

145ml tub sour cream

1 tablespoon caster sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

 

 

Directions

 

1.Process the biscuits until they are like crumbs, then add the butter and pulse again. Line the bottom of the Springform tin, pressing the biscuits in with your hands or the back of a spoon. Put the tin in the fridge to set, and preheat the oven to 180ºC/gas mark 4.

 

2.Beat the cream cheese gently until it's smooth, then add the sugar. Beat in the eggs and egg yolks, then finally the vanilla and lemon juice. Put the kettle on.

 

3.Line the outside of the chilled tin with strong foil so that it covers the bottom and sides in one large piece, and then do the same again and put it into a roasting dish. This will protect the cheesecake from the water as it is cooked in its water bath.

 

4.Pour the cream-cheese filling into the chilled biscuit base, and then pour hot water from the recently boiled kettle into the roasting tin around the cheesecake. It should come about halfway up; don't overfill as it will be difficult to lift up the tin. Put it into the oven and cook for 50 minutes. It should feel set, but not rigidly so: you just need to feel confident that when you pour the sour cream over, it will sit on the surface and not sink in. Whisk together the sour cream, sugar and vanilla for the topping and pour over the cheesecake. Put it back in the oven for a further 10 minutes.

 

5.Take the roasting tin out of the oven, then gingerly remove the Springform, unwrap it and stand it on a rack to cool. When it's cooled down completely, put it in the fridge, removing it 20 minutes before eating to take the chill off. Unmould and when you cut into it, plunge a knife in hot water first.

 

From: nigella.com

Cheddar Cheese Risotto

Photograph by Lis Parsons


Ingredients

1 x 15ml tablespoon butter
1 x 15ml tablespoon oil
2 baby leeks (or fat spring onions), finely sliced
300g risotto rice
125ml white wine
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 litre hot vegetable stock
125g Cheddar, chopped
2 x 15ml tablespoons chopped fresh chives
Serving Size : Serves 2 as a main course; 4 as a starter


Directions


1. Melt the butter and oil in a medium-sized pan and cook the sliced baby leeks until they have softened.

2. Add the risotto rice and keep stirring for a minute or so, then turn up the heat and add the wine and mustard, stirring until the wine is absorbed.

3. Start ladling in the hot stock, letting each ladleful become absorbed as you stir, before adding the next one.

4. Stir and ladle until the rice is al dente, about 18 minutes, then add the cheese, stirring it into the rice until it melts.

5. Take the pan straight off the heat, still stirring as you do so, and spoon the risotto into warmed dishes, sprinkling with some of the chopped chives.

From: nigella.com

Caramel Croissant Pudding

Photograph by Lis Parsons

If you have any stale croissants in your kitchen, you are in for a treat. Deeply luscious and easy to make, this is an all-too manageable indulgence. - Nigella

Ingredients

2 stale croissants
100g caster sugar
2 x 15ml tablespoons water
125ml double cream
125ml full-fat milk
2 x 15ml tablespoons bourbon
2 eggs, beaten
Serving Size : Serves 2 greedy people


Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4.
2. Tear the croissants into pieces and put in a small gratin dish; I use a cast iron oval one with a capacity of about 500ml for this.
3. Put the caster sugar and water into a saucepan, and swirl around to help dissolve the sugar before putting the saucepan on the hob over a medium to high heat.
4. Caramelize the sugar and water mixture by letting it bubble away, without stirring, until it all turns a deep amber colour; this will take 3–5 minutes. Keep looking but don't be too timid.
5. Turn heat down to low and add the cream – ignoring all spluttering – and, whisking away, the milk and bourbon. Any solid toffee that forms in the pan will dissolve easily if you keep whisking over low heat. Take off the heat and, still whisking, add the beaten eggs.
6. Pour the caramel bourbon custard over the croissants and leave to steep for 10 minutes if the croissants are very stale.
7. Place in the oven for 20 minutes and prepare to swoon.


If you don't have any bourbon in the house, first may I say, please consider it, and second, replace it, rather, with rum; Scotch whisky may seem the obvious substitute but it would be the wrong one I feel.- Nigella

My Mother-in-Law's Madeira Cake

I love a good old-fashioned seed cake; if you do too, add a couple of teaspoons of caraway to this mixture. For a lemon poppyseed cake, add the juice of another half lemon and a tablespoon or two of poppyseeds. And I once came across an expensive but tempting curiosity: dried strawberries, tiny things harvested by that clever Terence Conran. I upped the liquid to the juice of 2 lemons and folded in 100g of the strawberries. It was a wholly successful experiment. - Nigella


Ingredients

240g softened unsalted butter
200g caster sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
3 large eggs
210g self-raising flour
90g plain flour
23 x 13 x 7cm loaf tin, buttered and lined
Serving Size : Makes 8–10 slices.


Directions

1.Preheat the oven to 170ºC/gas mark 3.

2.Cream the butter and sugar, and add the lemon zest. Add the eggs one at a time with a tablespoon of the flour for each. Then gently mix in the rest of the flour and, finally,   the lemon juice. Sprinkle with caster sugar (about 2 tablespoons should do it) as it goes into the oven, and bake for 1 hour or until a cake-tester comes out clean. Remove to a wire rack, and let cool in the tin before turning out.

From: nigella.com

Chocolate Cloud Cake

Cook Time: 40 min
Level: Easy
Yield: 8 servings


Ingredients

9 ounces bittersweet chocolate, minimum 70 percent cocoa solids
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
6 eggs, 2 whole, 4 separated
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons orange-flavored liqueur, optional (recommended: Cointreau)
1 orange, zested


Directions

For the cream topping:

2 cups heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon orange-flavored liqueur, optional (recommended: Cointreau)
1/2 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder, for sprinkling

Special equipment: 9-inch springform pan


Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line the bottom of the cake pan with baking parchment.


Melt the chocolate either in a double boiler or a microwave, add the butter and let melt in the warm chocolate.


Beat the 2 whole eggs and 4 egg yolks with 1/3 cup of the sugar, then gently add the chocolate mixture, the orange-flavored liqueur and the orange zest.


In another bowl, whisk the 4 egg whites until foamy, then gradually add the remaining sugar and whisk until the whites hold their shape but are not too stiff. Lighten the chocolate mixture with a dollop of egg whites, and then fold in the rest of the whites. Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until the cake is risen and cracked and the center is no long wobbly. Cool the cake in its pan on a wire rack; the middle will sink as it cools.


When you are ready to eat, place the still pan-bound cake on a cake stand or plate for serving and carefully remove the sides of the pan from the cake. Don't worry about cracks or rough edges, it's the crater look we're going for here. Whip the cream until it's soft and then add the vanilla and orange-flavored liqueur and continue whisking until the cream is firm but not stiff. Fill the crater of the cake with the whipped cream, easing it out gently towards the edges of the cake, and dust the top lightly with cocoa powder pushed through a tea-strainer.

From: foodnetwork.com

Rapid Ragu

Photograph by Lis Parsons


Ingredients

2 x 15ml tablespoons garlic oil
125g cubed pancetta
500g lamb mince
75g caramelized onions
80ml Marsala
1 x 400g can chopped tomatoes
75g green lentils
125ml water
50g grated red Leicester or Cheddar (optional)
Serving Size : Serves 4


Directions

1. Heat the oil in a wide, medium-sized saucepan, and fry the cubed pancetta until beginning to crisp.

2. Add the lamb, breaking it up with a fork in the bacony pan as it browns.

3. Tip in the caramelized onions, Marsala, tomatoes, lentils and water and bring the pan to the boil.

4. Simmer the ragù for 20 minutes stirring occasionally. Sprinkle with the cheese (if using) before serving.

From: nigella.com

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Photograph by Lis Parsons

I am of the mind that it is perfectly all right to make this with canned pineapple rings. I feel it is slightly bad sport to start peeling and slicing your own pineapple. Anyway, canned pineapple is just fine, though I advise going for the one in its own juice rather than in syrup, and I add some of the juice to the sponge, too. This seems to make it light and fluffy. I have found that the best way of keeping this swift, is by baking it in my copper tarte Tatin tin; if you are using a regular cake tin, be prepared to add a few minutes on to the cooking time. - Nigella


Ingredients

butter for greasing
2 x 15ml tablespoons sugar
6 slices pineapple from a 425g can, plus 3 x 15ml tablespoons of the juice
11 glacé cherries, approx. 75g total weight
100g flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
100g soft butter
100g caster sugar
2 eggs
Serving Size : Serves 8


Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C/gas mark 6. Butter a tarte Tatin tin (24cm wide at the top and 20cm diameter at the bottom) or use a 23cm cake tin (neither loose-bottomed nor        springform).

2. Sprinkle the 2 tablespoons of sugar on top of the buttered base, and then arrange the pineapple slices to make a circular pattern as in the picture.

3. Fill each pineapple ring with a glacé cherry, and then dot one in each of the spaces in between.

4. Put the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, butter, caster sugar and eggs into a food processor and run the motor until the batter is smooth. Then pour in the 3               tablespoons of pineapple juice to thin it a little.

5. Pour this mixture carefully over the cherry-studded pineapple rings; it will only just cover it, so spread it out gently.

6. Bake for 30 minutes, then ease a spatula around the edge of the tin, place a plate on top and, with one deft – ha! – move, turn it upside-down.


From: nigella.com