There’s an air of mystique around baking, but it’s easy to master with a little guidance. Cakes, bread, pies, tarts, slices, biscuits, crumbles and flans – here are my favourite baking recipes
Manx Fruit Bonnag Like this recipe? You’ll love my online British cooking class! If the Isle of Man can lay claim to a ‘best known dish’, it would be bonnag. The name probably comes from the same root as Scots bannock and I believe it would originally have been a simple soda bread or griddle […]
Tarte Flambée Forestière Like this recipe? You’ll love my online French cooking class inspired by Damien Pignolet! While restaurants in France and abroad add all sorts of toppings to tarte flambée (flammekueche) these days, the traditional toppings I’ve always seen in Alsace are crème fraîche and onion with either speck or mushrooms (or both). So […]
Bensone Ripieno Taste Bensone in Modena on my Small Group Italian Food & Wine Tour Bensone is a specialty of Modena, where it’s also called balsone or ciambella Emiliana. Ciambella means donut in Italian and also refers to any ring-shaped cake. Ciambelle appear all over the country with different flavourings and textures, there are even […]
Mostaccioli Calabrese Sometimes called mustazzoli or mustazzuole, depending on the dialect, mostaccioli are super hard biscuits that are popular at Christmas and often shaped like fish (an ancient symbol of Christianity). They come in many other shapes, some quite elaborate, including baskets, horses and hearts as well as a simple S. These simple Calabrian honey […]
Salmon Wellington Traditional beef Wellington is a series of parcels – beef wrapped in mushroom, wrapped in crêpe, wrapped in pastry – and the method can easily be adapted to other proteins, especially salmon which looks very pretty with its orange flesh contrasting against the golden pastry. When making salmon Wellington there’s no need to […]
Snapper Baked in Salt Crust Snapper baked in salt crust is a wonderful dish for entertaining – it’s easy to prepare as most of the work is done ahead of time and it’s so impressive when unveiled at the table. Janni Kyritsis taught me all about baking in salt crust when we wrote his cookbook […]
Salmon Bisteeya Bisteeya is a classic Moroccan pie, traditionally made with pigeon and other poultry. It lends itself beautifully to seafood too, especially gorgeous pink salmon – and a seafood version is even quicker and easier to make as there’s no need to poach the fish before assembling the pie. Traditionally the egg is scrambled […]
Seafood Pot Pies I love pot pies as there’s no pastry base to fiddle around blind baking, just a flaky golden pastry lid. You can bake them in a ramekin, ovenproof bowl or soufflé dish and fill them with virtually anything you like so, with a roll of Carême sour cream shortcrust pastry in the […]
Basler Läckerli Discover more regional specialties on my small group food & wine tour of Switzerland! Basler läckerli is a delicious sweet treat that’s a specialty of the Swiss canton of Basel. It’s sometimes made with hazelnuts instead of almonds and some recipes use either just orange peel or just lemon peel, so feel free […]
Navettes Like this recipe? You’ll love my online French cooking class featuring the Food of Provence! Navettes de Marseille are simple boat-shaped Provençal cookies scented with orange blossom water. They’re a delicious treat at any time and, as they’re quite firm, they’re often served with coffee, sweet wine or a glass of pastis de Marseille […]
