Wednesday, February 23, 2011




Nigel Slater's Best Brownies. Heaven in a tin. The fudgy moist centre is the aim. 

300g caster sugar
250g butter
250g chocolate (70% cocoa solids)
3 large eggs plus 1 extra yolk
50g gluten free flour (60g plain wheat flour)
60g cocoa powder
½ tsp baking powder

Preheat oven to 180ºC and line a baking tin with greaseproof paper. 

Mix the sugar and butter into a fluffy pale cloud. Set aside 50g of the chocolate (chop it up into gravel-sized pieces) and melt the rest - 20 seconds at time in the microwave, stirring after each blast. Meanwhile sift together the flour, cocoa, and baking powder with a pinch of salt.

Mix the beaten eggs into the sugar and butter fluff, a quarter at a time. Beat fast in between additions. Add the melted chocolate and the broken up chocolate (i used white chocolate in this version) then fold in the flour/cocoa and baking powder mixture as gently as possible. 

Put the mixture into the cake tin and put it into the oven for 25 minutes. The surface should have crusted over, but with a wobble underneath. Check with a skewer - if too much mixture clings then put it back for 3 more minutes, but no longer. 

Sunday, February 20, 2011


I made 2 batches of chocolate brownies at the beginning of the week, which left one egg white per batch languishing in my fridge. These are worth making even if you don't need to use up leftovers - add the extra yoke to your frittata or scrambled egg instead.

2 egg whites (unbeaten), 175g icing sugar, 30g of cocoa and 200g ground almonds, mixed together with a fork. Pinch and roll into walnut-sized balls (keep fingers wet), bake at 200ºC for exactly 11 minutes. They will harden as they cool, but you want to keep the moist chewy centre. Try and stop eating them, if you can.

Tuesday, February 15, 2011


Chicken Stew, my version of Nigel Slater's Chicken stew and mash, Kitchen Diaries.

Chicken thighs, 8
Olive oil - 50ml, plus extra
Balsamic vinegar - 50ml
garlic - 4 cloves, peeled
Dried herbs - an Italian mix
bay leaves - 4 or 5
pared rind of a small orange
leeks - 3 or 4, thickly sliced

Put the chicken in a bowl (not plastic). Pour over the olive oil and a couple of tablespoons of balsamic vinegar, tuck in the bay leaves and garlic cloves, a scatter of dried herbs, salt and pepper and the orange rind. Leave overnight or for at least four or five hours.


Set the oven at 200ºC. Heat enough oil in a shallow pan. Shaking each piece of chicken (the marinade will spit in the hot pan), fry each piece until golden brown on each side. Transfer to a casserole dish with a lid. In the same pan, fry the leeks over a low heat until they soften - not too hot or they will colour too much and become bitter. Add the garlic, the marinade, the rest of the balsamic and a litre of water. Bring to a boil and pour over the chicken, with the bay and orange rind. 


Put in the oven for 2 hours, checking partway through that there is enough water to cover the chicken. Add salt, pepper or a little balsamic if you wish. Serve with mashed potato.