I guess it goes without saying that I am THE hugest fan of the lady who delights in sinfully rich, decadent (she uses half a kilo of chocolate to make 12 cookies) food, and terribly unapologetic she is about it too (I do not put a price on someone's comfort). I love watching Jamie Oliver but the lone book of his I own goes unused, just because I find his writing too simplistic (the adjectives fantastic and pukka can only carry you so far) and uninspiring. Nigel Slater has a dry wit and that is always the truth, and gives such graphic descriptions of the food - "glorious dripping and jelly.........., the gelatinous bones, sucked or not..., the crunchy, sticky bits of skin and potato stuck to the pan ( I love Real Cooking, and am currently enjoying The Kitchen Diaries.
But the book that sparked my bankruptcy-inducing relationship with Amazon.com, the book that I carry from living room to kitchen to bedroom, that I read whilst forking instant noodles into my mouth, my all-time favourite cookbook, is undoubtedly How to Eat. I contemplated for almost an hour between Domestic Goddess and How to Eat browsing in Kinokuniya (reading and re-reading the covers - that was all I could see since I didn't want to bother the staff to unwrap the plastic) in 2008, and ended up returning to my hotel room and reading the book reviews. This is how I ended up with How to Eat. And I haven't put it down since. I love her prose, the way she describes her Sauternes Custard as "wobbling like the inside of a Reubenesque thigh", love to read about how she feeds her children smoked salmon and liver with apricots (yeuch though), and her sound advice (don't just stick food into the fridge or freezer with no thought of its purpose/plan in mind, most likely you'll end up not using it and chucking it out later - how true it is). And I will be forever grateful for her Best Chocolate Ice Cream in the World recipe.
OK, this one is a bit of a cheat - the recipe is from How to Eat, but the name is from Feast. I switched it up because I just posted the sticky chocolate pudding recipe, and the name in HtE is Gooey Chocolate Puddings, but they are quite different really. While the sticky pudding is like a cake with a thick chocolate sauce, this one is like a rich, hot, molten chocolate with a thin, crisp shell on top. This one, despite its name, is rather more elegant in looks than the homey-looking pudding - a shiny crisp carapace that encapsulates hot, molten chocolate lava underneath. This one you'd be forced to eat in modest teaspoonfuls, otherwise it'd just be too much hot stuff in your mouth. Trust me, I learnt the hard way. :P
But the book that sparked my bankruptcy-inducing relationship with Amazon.com, the book that I carry from living room to kitchen to bedroom, that I read whilst forking instant noodles into my mouth, my all-time favourite cookbook, is undoubtedly How to Eat. I contemplated for almost an hour between Domestic Goddess and How to Eat browsing in Kinokuniya (reading and re-reading the covers - that was all I could see since I didn't want to bother the staff to unwrap the plastic) in 2008, and ended up returning to my hotel room and reading the book reviews. This is how I ended up with How to Eat. And I haven't put it down since. I love her prose, the way she describes her Sauternes Custard as "wobbling like the inside of a Reubenesque thigh", love to read about how she feeds her children smoked salmon and liver with apricots (yeuch though), and her sound advice (don't just stick food into the fridge or freezer with no thought of its purpose/plan in mind, most likely you'll end up not using it and chucking it out later - how true it is). And I will be forever grateful for her Best Chocolate Ice Cream in the World recipe.
OK, this one is a bit of a cheat - the recipe is from How to Eat, but the name is from Feast. I switched it up because I just posted the sticky chocolate pudding recipe, and the name in HtE is Gooey Chocolate Puddings, but they are quite different really. While the sticky pudding is like a cake with a thick chocolate sauce, this one is like a rich, hot, molten chocolate with a thin, crisp shell on top. This one, despite its name, is rather more elegant in looks than the homey-looking pudding - a shiny crisp carapace that encapsulates hot, molten chocolate lava underneath. This one you'd be forced to eat in modest teaspoonfuls, otherwise it'd just be too much hot stuff in your mouth. Trust me, I learnt the hard way. :P
Chocohotopots (or Gooey Chocolate Puddings)
125 g best quality dark chocolate, finely chopped
125g unsalted butter
3 large eggs
150g sugar
35g plain flour (preferably 00 flour - I used superfine flour)
butter and flour for preparing ramekins (I used bowls)
Put the chocolate and butter in a bowl and suspend over a pan of simmering water. Whisk every now and then until melted. Alternatively, use the microwave in 30-second bursts.
In another bowl, whisk the eggs, sugar and flour until just blended. Gradually whisk in the melted chocolate and butter. Set aside to rest.
Grease four 250g ramekins with butter and add flour to cover the butter, tapping the ramekins to get rid of the excess. Preheat the oven to 200 degC about half an hour before you want to eat the pudding.
Pour the mixture into the ramekins and put them on a baking sheet in the oven for 10-12 minutes, until the tops are firm and cracking slightly and the edges set. Serve immediately and consider providing a jug of cold, cold cream for people to pout over their pudding's hotly deliquescing interior as they eat.
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