Matchstick Beetroot and Apple Salad

This is a Jamie Oliver recipe that I did for lunch. It was really light and fresh, perfect in the sun, it could also be served as a side salad to a BBQ or just on its own.

Serves 4 as a side

100g Feta cheese
Handful of fresh mint, flat leaf parsley, basil leaves torn into small bits
300g beetroot
1 crunchy apple
1 fresh chili finely sliced or a bit of dried crumbled
8 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 juiced lemon

Crumble the feta into a salad bowl, finely slice the beets and apple into matchsticks, add all the ingredients into the bowl and just before serving toss all together with the lemon and olive oil and some pepper, you shouldn't need salt as the feta should be enough, and serve straight away.

Lemon and Almond cake with Raspberries

It was another gloomy day on Tuesday and the young boys of the family I work for were desperate to go to the beach and play in the sea, so they all went off to Cannes and I had the place to myself. I decided to make a cake for tea time when they returned as I had seen a nice recipe for a summery sponge cake with berries baked into the top. I love almond cakes so I found a sponge cake recipe and swapped the flour for ground almonds, to my amazement it actually worked so maybe I am a cake scientist in the making?

225g soft butter

225g caster sugar

225g ground almonds

4 medium eggs

1 lemon zested and juiced

1 heaped tsp baking powder

berries, frozen or fresh

Heat the oven to 180c and butter the inside of your cake tin. Beat the butter and sugar together with an electric whisk until pale and creamy, add the lemon zest and juice then slowly add the eggs one at a time, still with the electric mixer, it may look like its curdled but thats normal. 

Mix the ground almonds and baking powder together and fold in using a large spoon until everything is smooth.

If you have frozen berries let them defrost before making the cake and then get rid of the juice that comes out as it will make the cake soggy, sprinkle on some icing sugar and spoon into the base of the cake tin.

I used fresh raspberries and heated them in a pan for a second with a tsp of water and a tablespoon of icing sugar until it had dissolved.

Spoon the cake mixture into the tin on top of the berries and bake in the oven for around 40 mins to an hour, depending on your oven you may need to turn it down to 160c if the cake looks like its getting too brown. To test if its ready insert a skewer and if it comes out clean its ready.

Turn the cake out onto a wire rack to cool and serve with créme fraîche and summer berries.

Chocolate Moelleux

I got this recipe from the patisserie chef in Paris and when writing it down he instructed very casually that I melt everything and mix it together.
The language barrier made me question this but I did just as he said and ended up with perfect little soft and sorry to say it but..extremely moist little gooey chocolate fondant style cakes. So this is an idiot proof recipe which will not fail to impress!

Makes 5 ramekins

230g Unsalted butter

100g Caster sugar

130g Dark chocolate

50g Plain flour

4 Eggs

Melt the butter and sugar together in a pan, when all melted take the pan off the heat, melt the chocolate and then mix in with the melted butter and sugar, sieve in the flour and fold. Whisk the eggs in a separate bowl until combined and then mix everything together until smooth.

Melt some butter and lightly brush it on the inside of each ramekin then dust with cocoa powder, cool in the fridge until set and then fill 3/4 full with the mix.

Cook at 180c for around 5 mins, you want them to have risen and not be wobbly if you give them a gentle shake. Let them cool for a minute then run a knife around the edge and turn out onto a plate. 

They are fine to be kept in the fridge uncooked for a day so you can be prepared ahead. Or cook them ahead and heat them up in the microwave for a few seconds before serving. And if your feeling really jazzy you could always add raspberries to the mix or any other flavouring you might fancy.

Best served warm with vanilla ice cream.

Honey and Vanilla Madeleines

I have turned incredibly jet set these days and after a week of being home in England I headed out to Verbier to start working for a family for 3 weeks, it turned out the weather was again torrential rain, cold and stormy...seems to be a pattern with me at the moment. Anyway we were going to head down to the south of France after a week in the Alps but looking at the two weather forecasts decided that one was much more disirable than the other so left for the sunny Côte d'Azur pretty pronto.


Well its nice and tres chaud here so I'm very happy and I have been testing out some of my frenchy food recipes and here is a yummy recipe for Madeleines. Great as a little tea time treat!

100g plain flour , plus extra for dusting

100g caster sugar

100g butter , melted
1 whole egg , separated, plus 1 egg white
1 tbsp honey or you can use lemon/orange zest
1 tsp vanilla extract
icing sugar , for dusting

Heat oven to 190c. Use a little of the melted butter to grease the madeleine mould and then dust with flour, if you don't have one you could use something small like a cupcake tin. 

Mix the flour and sugar in a bowl. Put the butter, egg yolk, honey and vanilla into a separate bowl and whisk with a fork till mixed. Whisk the two egg whites until stiff. Fold the butter mixture into the dry ingredients until evenly mixed, then fold in the egg whites in two batches.

Divide between the prepared moulds and bake for 10-12 mins until golden brown and firm to the touch. Leave to cool in the moulds for a few mins, then turn out and cool on a wire rack. Dust with icing sugar before serving.

Crab Salad with lemon dressing

I returned from Paris last week very sad to leave but also fairly relieved that I didn't have to attempt to speak bad french anymore.

My parents were spending the week in our house in north Wales which is close to the sea so I went up on the train to join them for a few days and put in my orders for lobster and crabs from Ken the fisherman. It was extreme welsh weather when I arrived with horizontal rain and crazy winds after apparently a mediterranean week...typical!

Crab Salad


This is the most delicious salad if your a crab lover. I advise picking through the crab a bit before you mix it with anything just to prevent breaking a tooth on a bit of shell that could be lurking.

White crab meat
1/2 red chilli finely diced
Coriander roughly chopped
Seasoning and drizzle of lemon dressing

Salad, baby gem or soft green lettuce
Cucumber peeled and cored then sliced
Tomatoes cored and chopped
Avocado peeled and sliced
Lemon wedges

Lay the salad out on a plate with the cucumber and tomatoes scattered over.

Mix the crab meat with the chilli and coriander and a drizzle of the lemon dressing or mayonnaise and a squeeze of lemon juice.

Spoon the crab onto the top of the salad and drizzle the lemon dressing over the salad, serve with a lemon wedge.


Lemon dressing

I make the lemon dressing the same sort of way as making mayonnaise.

1 yolk
small teaspoon of dijon mustard
olive oil around 200ml
Juice of 1 lemon
tablespoon of water
1/2 teaspoon sugar

Put the yolk in a bowl and using a small whisk mix it with the mustard.
Slowly drizzle in olive oil, as otherwise it will separate. It will start to thicken.
Add around a tablespoon of water and some of the lemon juice and sugar to loosen it up.
Add some seasoning and keep tasting and adjusting ingredients, if its bitter add more sugar.