The interest in home baking shows no sign of slowing down and while it’s fun to experiment, nothing beats having a great cake recipe to hand that you know comes out perfectly every time. That’s certainly the case for my brownie recipe featured here – I like to think of it as the definitive recipe as it’s absolutely fail-safe and is a delicious gooey and chocolatey treat. Once baked it can be served for elevenses or afternoon tea, but to make it totally irresistible, serve with good quality vanilla ice-cream and chocolate fudge sauce.
September may have arrived but that doesn’t mean bidding farewell to salads. I’ve created a late summer salad using lentils and the Scottish soft cheese, Crowdie. Often people have the impression that pulses are bland and boring but they are full of protein and really good for you and with a little application they can be used to make many delicious dishes.
I get my Crowdie cheese from Katy Rodgers Artisan Dairy near Stirling. Katy makes amazing Crowdie, creme fresh and yoghurt. It’s really good news that more and more people are turning on to Crowdie – it’s a wonderful Scottish product.
LENTIL, BEETROOT AND CROWDIE SALAD
SERVES 4
120g Puy Lentils
1 red chilli
1 head of garlic
3 grated cloves of garlic
2 bay leaves
1 jar of cooked beetroot, drained and diced
1 small carrot, peeled and diced
2 sticks of celery, diced
The white part of one small leek, diced
Fresh thyme and parsley, chopped
1 small tub Crowdie
Firstly, in a deep pot, cover the lentils with lots of cold water. Add the chilli, the whole garlic head and bay leaves. Bring to a boil, skim off any scum and simmer gently for around 8-10 minutes until the lentils become just tender to the bite and no more. Drain into a colander and then rinse quickly under a cold running tap until the water runs clear. Remove the garlic, chilli and bay and discard.
In a shallow, wide pot set on medium heat a small amount of oil and gently fry the diced vegetables (carrot, celery and leek) until soft. Stir in the grated garlic and continue to cook for a further minute or so. Add to this the cooked lentils, diced beetroot, chopped herbs and mix well while adding a little dressing to evenly coat all the mixture. Season well with salt and pepper. This base can be eaten as is or, any can be a base for adding anything you fancy.
Cream the Crowdie cheese by simply beating it in a bowl with a wooden spoon until smooth, then with a hot teaspoon carve out curves or egg-like shapes and place on top of the lentil salad. For a finishing touch, make a salad dressing using Rapeseed oil and vinaigrette.
THE DEFINITIVE DARK CHOCOLATE BROWNIE
MAKES 8-10 PORTIONS
224g dark chocolate
224g butter
84g cocoa
84g plain flour
112g chopped pecans
112g white chocolate drops
4 eggs
280g caster sugar
Gently melt the chocolate and butter together (short bursts in microwave is fine). Whisk the eggs and sugar until thick then add in the chocolate mix. Mix together the flour, cocoa, white chocolate and pecans. Add this to the egg and chocolate mixture and fold everything together gently. Pour into a tin (9in or 12in) lined with baking parchment. Bake in pre-heated oven 180c for 20-22 minutes (20 minutes is the gooiest). Cool before removing from tin.
CHOCOLATE FUDGE SAUCE
200ml double cream
100ml full milk
30g butter
250g soft dark brown sugar
40g golden syrup
180g chocolate
Bring to a boil all the ingredients, excluding the chocolate, in a pan. Once boiling, turn down to a gentler bubble until nice and thick. Allow to cool slightly then add in the chocolate. Thin with hot milk if too thick.