Aphrodiziac food recipes

Merlot-poached pears with vanilla & cinnamon

 

Ingredients

 

750ml bottle Merlot or other red wine

200g golden caster sugar

2 cinnamon sticks, snapped in half

1 vanilla pod, halved lengthways then halved across to make 4 strips

4 firm pears, peeled

 

 

Method

Tip the wine, sugar, cinnamon and vanilla into a deep medium pan and heat gently until the sugar dissolves. Add the pears, making sure they are fully covered by the wine, then simmer for 30 mins until they are just tender. If the pears are very ripe, they may be ready in 20 mins. Can be made up to 2 days ahead – leave the pears in the syrup in the fridge until you’re ready to finish the recipe.

Remove the pears from the pan with a slotted spoon and boil the syrup for 30 mins to reduce it and make it more syrupy. Cool, then chill for up to 2 days. Remove from the fridge 1 hr before serving

 

 

Chocolate sorbet

 

 

Ingredients

• 200g caster sugar
• 50g cocoa
• 50g dark chocolate, finely chopped
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

 

Method

1. Tip the sugar into a bowl, sift in the cocoa and stir. Bring 600ml water to the boil in a medium saucepan. Whisk in the sugar and cocoa and return to a gentle simmer. Simmer, uncovered, for 5 mins, whisking occasionally. Remove from the heat and stir in the chocolate and vanilla until the chocolate has melted.
2. Cool the mixture, then put in the fridge for several hrs or overnight until well chilled. Make the sorbet in an ice-cream machine or pour into a rigid plastic container, preferably bowl shaped, and freeze until frozen 3cm from the edges. Whisk to break down the ice crystals, then freeze again for 1 hr more. Whisk and freeze again one more time, then leave until completely frozen.
3. Before serving, transfer to the fridge for 30 mins to make scooping easier.

 

 

 

 

Steak & sticky red wine shallots

 

 

Ingredients 

 

8 brown shallot, peeled and quartered but left whole at the root

2 sirloin steak, about 175g/6oz each

crushed black peppercorns

25g butter

4 tbsp balsamic vinegar

large glass red wine, about 175ml/6fl oz

150ml beef stock

 

 

 

Method

1. Simmer the shallots in a pan of water for 2-3 min, then drain and set aside. Season the steaks with a little salt and plenty of crushed peppercorns. Heat half the butter in a pan until sizzling, then cook the steaks for 3 min on each side for medium or until done to your liking.
2. Remove the steaks and keep warm. While they rest, add the remaining butter to the pan, throw in the shallots, then sizzle in the sticky pan until starting to brown. Add the balsamic vinegar and bubble for a few min. Add the wine and boil down until sticky, then add the beef stock and simmer until everything comes together. Spoon the shallots over the steaks and serve with green beans and chips

 

 

 

 

 

Zesty strawberries with Cointreau

 

 

Ingredients

• 500g strawberry, hulled halved or quartered, depending on size
• 3 tbsp. Cointreau
• zest 1 orange
• 4 tbsp. icing sugar
• mint leaves, roughly torn, to serve

 

Method

1. Tip the strawberries into a large bowl. Splash over the Cointreau, add the orange zest and sift in the icing sugar, then give everything a really good mix. Cover, then leave for 1 hr or more for the juices to become syrupy and the strawberries to soak up some of the alcohol.
2. To serve, scatter the mint leaves over the strawberries and give them one more good stir, then spoon into individual glass dishes

 

 

 

One-pan salmon with roast asparagus

 

 

Ingredients

• 400g new potato, halved if large
• 2 tbsp. olive oil
• 8 asparagus spears, trimmed and halved
• 2 handfuls cherry tomato
• 1 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
• 2 salmon fillet, about 140g/5oz each
• handful basil leaves

 

 

Method

1. Heat oven to 220C/fan 200C/gas 7. Tip the potatoes and 1 tbsp. of olive oil into an ovenproof dish, then roast the potatoes for 20 min until starting to brown. Toss the asparagus in with the potatoes, then return to the oven for 15 min
2. Throw in the cherry tomatoes and vinegar and nestle the salmon amongst the vegetables. Drizzle with the remaining oil and return to the oven for a final 10-15 min until the salmon is cooked. Scatter over the basil leaves and serve everything scooped straight from the dish.

 

 

 

 

Chocolate fondant

 

 

Ingredients

• 50g melted butter, for brushing
• cocoa powder, for dusting
• 200g good-quality dark chocolate, chopped into small pieces
• 200g butter, in small pieces
• 200g golden caster sugar
• 4 egg and 4 yolks
• 200g plain flour
• Caramel sauce and vanilla ice cream or orange sorbet, to serve

 

 

Method

1. First get your moulds ready. Using upward strokes, heavily brush the melted butter all over the inside of the pudding mould. Place the mould in the fridge or freezer. Brush more melted butter over the chilled butter, then add a good spoonful of cocoa powder into the mould. Tip the mould so the powder completely coats the butter. Tap any excess cocoa back into the jar, then repeat with 1 the next mould.
2. Place a bowl over a pan of barely simmering water, then slowly melt the chocolate and butter together. Remove bowl from the heat and stir until smooth. Leave to cool for about 10 min.
3. In a separate bowl whisk the eggs and yolks together with the sugar until thick and pale and the whisk leaves a trail; use an electric whisk if you want. Sift the flour into the eggs, then beat together.
4. Pour the melted chocolate into the egg mixture in thirds, beating well between each addition, until all the chocolate is added and the mixture is completely combined to a loose cake batter.
5. Tip the fondant batter into a jug, then evenly divide between the moulds. The fondants can now be frozen for up to a month and cooked from frozen. Chill for at least 20 min or up to the night before. To bake from frozen, simply carry on as stated, adding 5 min more to the cooking time.
6. Heat oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6. Place the fondants on a baking tray, then cook for 10-12 min until the tops have formed a crust and they are starting to come away from the sides of their moulds. Remove from the oven, then leave to sit for 1 min before turning out.
7. Loosen the fondants by moving the tops very gently so they come away from the sides, easing them out of the moulds. Tip each fondant slightly onto your hand so you know it has come away, then tip back into the mould ready to plate up.
8. Starting from the middle of each plate, squeeze a spiral of caramel sauce – do all the plates you need before you go on to the next stage.
9. Sit a fondant in the middle of each plate. Using a large spoon dipped in hot water, scoop a ‘quenelle’ of ice cream.
10. Carefully place the ice cream on top of the fondant, then serve immediately. Repeat with the rest of the fondants.

 

 

 

Chilli chicken one-pot

 

 

 

Ingredients

• 2 large onion, halved and sliced
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 265g chorizo ring, peeled and thickly sliced
• 4 red pepper, deseeded and cut into large chunks
• 2 x 400g/14oz can chopped tomato
• 2 chicken stock cube
• ½-1 tsp dried chilli flakes
• 2 tsp dried oregano
• 16 boneless skinless chicken thighs
• 3 x 410g/14oz cans red kidney beans, drained

To serve

• 15g pack coriander, chopped
• 2-3 avocado, skinned and sliced
• good squeeze lime juice

 

 

Method

1. Heat oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4. Fry the onions in the oil for 5 mins until they become soft and start to colour. Add the chorizo and fry for a few mins more. Stir in the peppers, then pour in the tomatoes, followed by a can of water, the stock cubes, chilli and oregano.
2. Arrange the chicken thighs on top of the sauce, pushing them under the liquid. Bring to a simmer, cover, then cook in the oven for 40 mins. Add the beans, stir, then cook for 20 mins more. You can make this up to 2 days ahead and keep chilled.
3. To serve, reheat on the top of the stove or in the oven at 190C/fan 170C/gas 5 for 1 hr 10 mins until piping hot. Stir in most of the coriander, toss the rest with the avocado, lime and a little salt, then pile this on top. Serve with Garlic & oregano bread (below) and a bag of green salad tossed with olives, cherry tomatoes and finely sliced red onion

 

 

 

Chicken with saffron, raisins & pine nuts

 

 

 

Ingredients

• 1¼kg chicken, jointed and on the bone (ask your butcher to do this for you or see Know-how)
• 2 tbsp. olive oil
• 2 onion, chopped
• 3 garlic clove, chopped
• good pinch of saffron (about 20 strands)
• 125ml glass dry sherry (such as Fino or Manzanilla)
• 200ml chicken stock
• 1 tbsp. thyme leaves
• 50g raisins
• 2 tbsp. pine nuts
• handful chopped flat-leaf parsley, to serve

 

 

Method

1. Heat a large frying pan on a high heat and season the chicken. Add the olive oil to the pan, then the chicken. Brown for about 5 min on each side, remove onto a plate, then set aside.
2. Lower the heat to medium. In the remaining fat, fry the onions for 3 min, then add the garlic and saffron. Cook for 3-4 min more. Add the Sherry, then simmer for 3-5 min until syrupy.
3. Put the chicken leg pieces back into the pan, tip in the stock, thyme and raisins, cover, then gently cook on a low heat for 20 min. Add the breast meat and any juices left on the plate, simmer for 10 min more until cooked through and the sauce in the pan has reduced.
4. While the chicken is cooking, heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Scatter the pine nuts over a baking sheet, then roast for 10 min until golden and toasted. Once the chicken has cooked through, season to taste, scatter with pine nuts and parsley, then serve with rice

 

Rib-eye steak with basil hollandaise
 

 

Ingredients

• 1 bone thickness rib-eye steak, about 600g
• 4 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
• 4 garlic clove, left in their skins
• handful thyme sprigs
• 1 bay leaf

For the basil hollandaise

• 100ml white wine vinegar
• small bunch basil, stalks roughly chopped
• 1 bay leaf
• few peppercorns
• 2 egg yolk
• 250g unsalted butter, melted and skimmed to give about 200ml
• squeeze lemon juice
 
 

Method

1. Heat oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6. Put the steak on a plate and rub with 2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil and plenty of black pepper and flaky sea salt. Leave to marinate at room temperature for about 10 min. Heat a heavy-based ovenproof frying pan until sparingly hot.
2. Add the meat to the pan, with oil from the plate, the garlic cloves, thyme and bay leaf. Sear the steak for 3 min on the first side until well browned, basting with the oil and herbs as it cooks. Carefully tip off the oil, add another 2 tbsp. then sear the second side of the steak in the same way. Quickly brown around the edges, then slide the pan into the oven and roast for 15 min, turning over halfway through.
3. Take the steak from the pan and sit it on a rack over a roasting tin. Tip the oil, herbs and garlic from the pan over the steak, then leave to rest for 15-20 min. Leave the steak uncovered – covering with foil will make the steak steam and lose its crisp crust.
4. Meanwhile, start the hollandaise. Put a medium pan of water on to boil. Put the vinegar, basil stalks, bay leaf and spices into a small pan. Boil down to about 3 tbsp., then strain. Put the egg yolks into a large, deep bowl, add 1 tbsp. cold water and 1 tbsp. of the vinegar reduction, then whisk briefly until light and frothy.
5. Put the bowl over, but not touching, the simmering water, then whisk to a light, airy foam. Now gradually add the butter, little by little, whisking all the time to make a silky yellow sauce. Prevent the sauce overheating by lifting the bowl on and off the pan, adding a splash more water if it starts to get too thick. The sauce can be kept warm for up to 30 min by sitting the bowl in a bath of just-warm water. If it gets too hot, the sauce will split. Just before serving, finely chop the basil and stir into the sauce with the lemon juice and seasoning to taste.
6. HOLLANDAISE TIP: This recipe makes enough reduction for three batches of sauce – keep what’s left over in the fridge for several months. We make huge batches in our restaurants, reducing to 100ml, adding a little water and storing in a squeeze bottle. Leftover hollandaise will keep well in the fridge for up to 2 days. Try stirring it through some mash to top a fish pie.
 
 
 
Mocha fondant puddings
 

 

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp. top-quality instant coffee
• 100g dark 'continental' chocolate (at least 65% cocoa solids)
• 100g unsalted butter, plus a little extra softened butter for greasing
• 4 large free-range eggs
• 140g golden caster sugar (preferably vanilla infused)
• 50g plain flour, sifted
• double cream (cold) to serve
 
 

Method

1. Butter 6 small metal moulds, the type used for sticky toffee puddings. (You can line the bottoms with a circle of parchment to prevent sticking). In a warmed small cup, dissolve the coffee granules in 1 tbsp boiling water. Leave to cool.
2. Break up the chocolate by bashing the foil packet with a rolling pin – and melt with the butter.
3. Meanwhile, beat the eggs and sugar together until the mixture is thick and foamy and has tripled in volume. You will need to use electric beaters or the cake-making and whisk attachment of a food processor for high on 10 minutes.
4. Pour the dissolved coffee and the melted chocolate on to the egg and sugar mixture and briefly beat to combine. Tip in the flour and beat again, just long enough to combine.
5. Put the buttered moulds on to a heavy baking sheet and pour in the batter, leaving a good 1cm/1⁄2in space at the top for the sponges to rise. Put the baking sheet on the middle shelf of the oven preheated to 200C/Gas 6/fan 180C and cook for 8-9 minutes, until they look set and firm enough to turn out.
6. Remove the puddings and leave them to cool for 5 minutes before carefully turning them out – the top is the most vulnerable. Serve with double cream.
 
 
 
 
Steak in red wine sauce
 

 
 

Ingredients

• 6 fillet steak
For the red wine sauce
• knob of butter
• 1 garlic clove, chopped
• 4 shallots, chopped
• 2 celery sticks, chopped
• 1 bay leaf
• sprig thyme
• olive oil, for frying
• 200g lean beef trimmings, chopped
• 75cl bottle red wine (Fitou gives a very rich, red colour)
• 1.2l fresh beef jus
 
 
Method
1. Melt the butter in a medium saucepan. Add the garlic, vegetables and herbs, and cook on a medium heat until they soften and begin to colour. Heat a drop of olive oil in a frying pan. Season the beef trimmings and fry until coloured and sealed all over. Add the meat to the vegetables.
2. Pour 1-2 glasses of wine into the frying pan in which you have cooked the meat. Bring this to the boil, scraping and lifting all the meat residue from the bottom of the pan. Pour the liquid into the pan that contains the meat and vegetables. Let the pan’s contents bubble until the wine has reduced by three-quarters.
3. Now add and reduce the rest of the wine, 1-2 glasses at a time. If you tip it all in at once, you wash the vegetables and meat of their roasted edge, so their flavour in the finished sauce is bland. Reduce by three-quarters, glass by glass until all the wine is used.
4. Now add the beef jus, bring to a simmer and cook gently for 45 min to 1 hr. Regularly skim away any impurities by weaving a small ladle in and out of the top of the sauce. Taste regularly and when you are happy with the flavour, strain the sauce through a fine sieve, squeezing out all the juices from the meat and vegetables.
5. Ideally, also pass the sauce through a sieve lined with a piece of muslin, which will help remove fine impurities. Check for seasoning. You can make ahead up to this point, cool and refrigerate or freeze.
6. Heat a grill or pan to hot, smear the steaks with oil and cook them, turning once, 4-5 min for rare, 7-8 min for medium, 8-10 min for well done. Serve the steaks on a bed of wilted spinach with sticky shallots and pour the red wine sauce around. Mashed potatoes make a good accompaniment to this.
Lobster with Thermidor butter
 

 
 

Ingredients

• 2 cooked lobster

For the butter

• 150ml dry white wine
• 1 shallot, very finely chopped
• handful tarragon leaves, chopped
• handful parsley leaves, chopped
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• juice 1⁄2 lemon
• pinch paprika
• dash Tabasco sauce
• 5 tbsp. Parmesan, finely grated
• 140g butter, softened
 
 
 

Method

1. First make the butter. Put the wine and shallot into a pan, then bring to the boil and simmer until nearly dry. Tip into a bowl to cool, mix all the ingredients together, roll into a log, using cling film or foil, then chill to harden. Can be frozen for up to 1 month.
2. Snap away the claws from the lobster. Using a large chef’s knife, cut the lobster in half and wash the head cavity under cold water, then dry with kitchen paper. Lay the lobsters, cut side up, on a baking tray. Crack the claws and remove the claw meat. Divide claw meat between the head cavities. This can be done the day before and the lobster kept in the fridge ready for grilling.
3. Heat grill to high. Slice the butter into thin rounds and lay it along the lobsters so all the meat is covered. Grill for 5-8 min until the butter is bubbling and starting to brown. Put the lobsters on plates, pouring any butter from the tray over them. Serve with new potatoes and some dressed salad leaves
 
 
 
 
 
Warm lobster & potato salad with truffled mayonnaise
 

 

Ingredients

• 2 cooked lobster, about 500g each
• 250g fine green bean, cooked
• 2 shallot, finely chopped
• 6 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 lemon, halved
• 12 new potato, cooked
• 100g mixed baby salad leaf
• 1 tsp white balsamic vinegar

For the mayonnaise

• 2 egg yolk
• 1 tbsp. English mustard
• 300ml olive oil
• few drops truffle oil (optional)
• juice ½ lemon
 
 

Method

1. To make the mayonnaise, whisk the egg yolks with the mustard and some salt and pepper together in a large bowl. Trickle in a few drops of oil, whisking vigorously.
2. Continue to whisk in the oil, little by little at first, then slowly increasing the amount to a steady stream. Make sure each addition is well incorporated before you add any more. Finally, add a few drops of the truffle oil, if using, then finish with the lemon juice. Keep in the fridge until needed.
3. Prepare the lobster and remove the meat from the claws and tail. Trim the frayed bit of meat from the tails and flake the claw meat into large chunks, discarding the membrane. Set aside. Cut the tails into 6 slices each and set aside.
4. Trim the ends off the beans and cut the beans in half. Tip into a bowl with the shallots and 3 tbsp. of the olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Mix in the lobster claw meat and squeeze over a lemon half, then set aside.
5. Heat 1 tbsp. olive oil in a non-stick frying pan. Fry the potato slices over a medium heat for 5 min on each side until crisp and golden. Use a fish slice to transfer them to a plate lined with kitchen paper.
6. Heat 1 tbsp. olive oil in the same pan and lower the heat, add the slices of tail meat to the pan, then heat through in the oil for a few moments on each side. Turn off the heat, season lightly with salt and pepper and squeeze over the lemon. Moments before you are ready to plate up, toss the salad leaves with the balsamic vinegar and remaining olive oil. You are now ready to plate up.
7. Spoon a quarter of the green bean salad into the centre of the plate. Shape using a 10cm ring or cutter, if you have one, then press down lightly and remove the ring. Place 1 tsp of mayonnaise on the four opposite sides of the outside of the plate and sit a piece of lobster on top of each spoonful of mayonnaise.
8. Put a fried potato slice in between each pile of lobster so you have alternate pieces of lobster, then potato. Toss the leaves in the dressing and carefully tower a small handful on top of the green beans and serve straight away
 
 
 
 
 
Rich nutmeg ice cream
 

 
 

Ingredients

• 284ml pot double cream
• 200ml full-cream milk
• 6 egg yolks
• 50g sugar
• 1 tsp freshly-grated nutmeg
 
 

Method

1. Heat the double cream and the full-cream milk in a pan until just starting to boil.
2. Meanwhile whisk the egg yolks and sugar in a large bowl. When milk and cream mix is ready, steadily pour it over the yolks, whisking continuously.
3. Pour back into a clean pan, then heat gently, stirring, for about 10 min until the mix thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. Strain custard through a sieve into another large bowl, stir in the freshly-grated nutmeg, then cool.
4. Churn in an ice cream machine or pour into a freezer-proof container, then freeze for about 1½ hrs until frozen around the edges. Stir the frozen edges into the mix, then repeat this twice more or until the ice cream is smooth and thick. Leave for at least 4 hrs to freeze before serving with Sticky orange & marsala pudding (see link, right).
 
 
 
 
Bacon-wrapped monkfish
 

 

Ingredients

• 400g monkfish tail, sliced into 2 fillets
• 2 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves stripped
• 12 rashers (about 140g/5oz) dry-cure rind less smoked streaky bacon
• 2 large tomato, halved
• 3-4 tbsp. vinaigrette
• 225g bag watercress and salad leaves
 
 

Method

1. Lay 1 monkfish tail fillet on a board, sprinkle with thyme leaves and season. Lay the other fillet on top with tapering tip in the opposite direction, so each end has one thick and one thin end butted together.
2. Lay the bacon on a board, slightly overlapping and put the monkfish in the centre. Wrap the fish in the rashers so that it holds together quite firmly.
3. Heat the grill for 3-5 min. Line the grill pan, lay the monkfish on it, with the bacon joins underneath.
4. Grill for about 7-10 min until the bacon starts to crisp, then carefully turn over and cook for another 7-10 min. At the same time, grill the tomato halves. As soon as the monkfish feels firm when pressed on top, remove and leave to stand for 5 min. Save any pan juices from the paper and drizzle into the vinaigrette. Cut the monkfish into medallions, slightly on the diagonal. Dress the watercress salad with the vinaigrette and juices and divide between four plates. Place monkfish on top, season with pepper and serve tomatoes alongside. Nice with baby new potatoes.
 
 
 
 
One-pan tikka salmon with jewelled rice
 

 

Ingredients

• 3 tbsp. tikka curry paste
• 150ml pot natural low-fat yogurt
• 3 salmon fillets, skinned
• 2 tsp olive oil
• 1 large red onion, chopped
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 50g soft dried apricots, chopped
• 200g brown basmati rice
• 100g pack pomegranate seeds
• small pack coriander, leaves picked
 
 
Method
1. Combine 1 tbsp. of the curry paste with 2 tbsp. yogurt. Season the salmon and smear the yogurt paste all over the fillets, then set aside.
2. Heat the oil in a large pan (with a lid) and add the onion. Boil the kettle. Cook the onion for 5 min to soften, and stir in the remaining curry paste then cook for 1 min more. Add the turmeric, apricots and rice, season well and give everything a good stir. Pour in 800ml water from the kettle. Bring to a boil, and simmer for 15 min. Cover with a lid, lower the heat to a gentle simmer and cook for 15 min more.
3. Uncover the rice and give it a good stir. Put the salmon fillets on top of the rice and re-cover the pan. Turn the heat to its lowest setting and leave undisturbed for 15-20 min more until the salmon and rice are perfectly cooked. Scatter over the pomegranate seeds and coriander, and serve with the yogurt.