FAY'S SIMPLE SACHERTORTE

As a thank you to our lovely friends for generously giving us lots and lots of baby stuff, my husband Pascal and I wanted to cook them a special supper on Saturday night. It was truffle based and very cheesy but to round it off, we had to have some chocolate too…….obviously! For pudding I decided to try this Sachertorte from Fay Ripley's second cookbook - I was a little apprehensive as I had never cooked it before but it seemed simple enough and it took around an hour plus cooling time.

Ingredients for 8-10 people:

200g dark chocolate (at least 70% cocoa solids), broken up
160g butter, softened
120g caster sugar
4 large free range eggs, separated 
200g ground almonds

Topping
100g dark chocolate (at least 70% cocoa solids), broken up
50g butter
3 heaped tbsp apricot jam

Preheat the oven to 150 C (fan), 170 C, gas mark 3 and line the base of the cake tin with baking parchment. Your tin needs to be a spring form cake tin around 20-22cm.

Melt the chocolate in a glass bowl set over simmering water, then set aside to cool (my bowl was actually china)!

Using an electric whisk, cream the butter and sugar together until fluffy. Add the egg yolks, melted chocolate and ground almonds and mix until evenly combined.

In the separate bowl, whisk the egg whites with an electric whisk until soft peaks form and then carefully fold into the cake mix. This took longer than I expected and I thought it would never combine but it did (patience is a virtue)! Pop into the cake tin and then bake for 35 minutes. Leave in the tin to cool completely.

For the topping, melt the chocolate and butter in a glass bowl over a pan of simmering water like before and leave to cool slightly.

Carefully remove the cake from it's tin and spread the three tablespoons of apricot jam over the top. Dribble the warm chocolate topping over the cake, letting it drip down the sides and leave it to set. Serve at room temperature on it's own or with a dollop of cream or ice cream.

I will admit I was a little unsure of this recipe as I don't really like dark chocolate and I couldn't understand how the apricot jam fitted in but I was very pleasantly surprised - it definitely all works. The sachertorte was invented in Vienna in 1832 and is one of Vienna's culinary specialities - it even has it's own day - 5th December. After making this, I can see why it is such a hit. I loved it with the vanilla ice cream.  A great dinner party recipe as you can make it the day before and you can even freeze the base (not the topping). I have enjoyed polishing off the leftovers….I am certainly making the most of eating for two!

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CREAMY SMOKED HADDOCK WITH LEEKS ON TOAST

I am now seven months pregnant and starting to really feel it so my motivation for cooking is spiralling downwards. At the moment I just want something easy and quick and I am thinking it is only going to get worse when the baby arrives....thank goodness for the BBQ and salad! 

Anyway I am trying to make sure I eat fish at least once a week and decided to do this haddock and leeks on toast thing as apparently it can be on the table within 30 minutes plus as you know, I am a sucker for anything with melted cheese.

Ingredients for 2 people:

230g smoked haddock (I just used normal haddock)

100ml whole milk (I used skimmed as that was all I had in the fridge)

25g unsalted butter

1 leek, trimmed and finely sliced

1/2 tbsp plain flour

3 tbsp creme fraiche

2 - 3 slices of crusty bread

40g mature cheddar, grated (I didn't measure this out and just out on what I felt it needed)

2 tbsp roughly chopped flat leaf parsley (I used dill)

Put the haddock and milk in a shallow pan and bring just to the boil, cover and cook for 5 minutes and then take off the heat. Leave the fish for a few more minutes to cook and then remove to a plate, reserving the milk.

Meanwhile heat the butter in a large pan and gently saute the leeks for 4-5 minutes. Then add the flour for 1 minute, followed by the milk, stirring until thickened. Start preheating the grill to high.

Stir through the creme fraiche and heat for another minute and then flake in the fish and season.

Grill the bread lightly on both sides under the preheated grill. Spoon the haddock mixture on top and then scatter generously with cheese. Pop under the grill for a few minutes until golden (not burnt!), sprinkle with parsley and serve with a green salad if liked.

When I picked Arabella up from ballet she announced she was starving but when I told her what we were eating, she changed her mind! However after a couple of mouthfuls she decided this was delicious and ended up eating half of mine too. I felt it lacked a little something (maybe because I didn't use smoked haddock) and so added some capers which did the trick - in all honesty it was similar to a tuna melt. I would say it is a very child (and adult) friendly way to serve up fish!

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SARTORIA, MAYFAIR

It was my husband's birthday at the weekend so I wanted to book somewhere special and I immediately came up with the idea of Sartoria. Even though Sartoria has been around for many years, it has recently been revamped with the arrival of a new chef patron (Francesco Mazzei from the renowned Italian restaurant L'Amina) and a smart refurbishment. As well as the main restaurant, there is a heated terrace, a delicious looking cicchetti counter, two private dining rooms and a wine cellar.

We originally booked for the evening but then changed it for lunch - I am seven months pregnant now and so going out in the day is much more appealing that the evening!

It was pretty quiet when we arrived and we were shown to a lovely table by the window with huge comfy seats - it was just what we needed after traipsing round Mothercare. Pascal ordered a glass of champagne and I attacked the bread basket.

The menu consists of antipasti, primi (pasta), secondi (meat or fish) and sides. I was torn between the stuffed courgettes or burrata to start with but ended up going for the latter, the same as Pascal, as otherwise I would have serious food envy. The burrata was served with torpedino tomatoes, smoked aubergine, basil leaves, "mosto cotto".

The burrata was delicious, not as creamy as I was expecting but still very good, the smokey aubergine was out of this world and the basil and tomato so fresh. My only complaint was it was very cold as if it had been pre-prepared and stored in the fridge, not a surprise, but the temperature could have been better for such a smart restaurant.

For mains I ordered Pastachina which is a southern Italian lasagne made from layers of spinach and ricotta, veal and beef mince, quail egg and a unique nettle pasta with a mosto cotto which is thick tangy syrup made from reduced, aged grape juice (similar to balsamic vinegar). I was a little unsure when it arrived as I had no idea what to really expect but it was absolutely amazing.

Pascal ordered Welsh lamb ragu fettuccine, mint and Pecorino cheese - when it arrived Pascal asked for Parmesan and I felt sorry for the waitress as she grated and grated and grated some more. I hate it in restaurants when they don't give you your own Parmesan for the table but then again, I am a cheese addict. Anyway Pascal waxed lyrical about the pasta and I can wholeheartedly agree that it was one of the best dishes I have ever eaten. The lamb was so tender and soft and the mint really added strength to the dish.

We didn't need them but we ordered zucchini fritte as a side and they were so moreish, thin and crispy.

For pudding Pascal ordered the cheese board which came different chutneys, jams and honey.

I ordered Amalfi lemon cream with chocolate sorbet and it was out of this world. I nearly didn't order anything but when I tasted this, I was very pleased I did. It was so smooth, creamy and sweet and the chocolate sorbet was rich but not overpowering.

When I had booked the table, I mentioned it was Pascal's birthday and as a little surprise they bought a chocolate cake which was a very nice touch.

Wow - what a meal. Service was very polite and attentive, they were a little slow at filling up our water but other than that were excellent. The whole ambiance of the restaurant was calming and elegant, so nice to be able to have an actual conversation without shouting, my pet peeve - Pascal isn't the only one getting old!!!

Sartoria

20 Savile Row,
London
W1S 3PR
Tel: 020 7534 7000
Email: sartoriareservations@danddlondon.com

COURGETTE & RICOTTA CANNELLONI

I have several recipes in my folder that my daughter Arabella will HATE and so whilst she is with her father for the weekend, I thought it was a great opportunity to cook one of them. They mainly involve aubergines, mushrooms and courgettes! Arabella is a great little eater but there are some vegetables that she really moans about.

On Sunday night my gorgeous friend Sophie came for supper and so I dug out this recipe from Olive Magazine, it took just over an hour to cook in total and was very easy.

Ingredients for 4 - 6 people (depending on portion size):

Olive oil
750g courgettes, grated and patted dry on kitchen paper
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
250g ricotta
1 lemon, zested
2 x 400g tins of chopped tomatoes
12 fresh lasagne sheets (around 500g)
200g Parmesan, grated (I ran out so used cheddar cheese as well)

To serve:
Green Salad

Firstly prepare the ingredients by crushing the garlic, zesting the lemon and grating the courgettes. They are very watery so pat well with kitchen roll. It may look like a huge amount of courgettes but they do break down during cooking.

To make the sauce, heat one tablespoon of olive oil in a saucepan and fry half of the garlic for a couple of minutes. Then add the 2 tins of tomatoes and simmer for 15 minutes until thickened.

Meanwhile heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in another pan and add the courgettes and a big pinch of salt. Fry for 10 minutes, turning frequently. Next add the rest of the garlic and cook for another 2-3 minutes. Finally turn up the heat, to drive off any excess moisture.

While you are frying the courgettes, preheat the oven to 180 C / 160 C fan / gas mark 4.

Cool for a few minutes and then add the lemon zest and ricotta, mix and season well.

Pour boiling water over the lasagne sheets, if they are a bit still and then drain - I basically wiped them dry with kitchen roll and I was scared to break them.

Put half the tomato sauce in a heatproof dish.

Divide the ricotta mix between the sheets and roll up length ways into the cannelloni. Sit the cannelloni on top of the tomato sauce, seam side down. This was much easier and less messy than I was expecting! 

Finally cover with the remaining tomato sauce and cheese. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes and then serve with a green salad.

This was good - much lighter than a meat based cannelloni and lasagne and I loved how fresh it tasted with the hint of lemon. Being the piglet that I am, I could have probably added more cheese but other than that it was perfect just the way it was. It definitely worked well with a green salad and was a great way to have both pasta and vegetables - I wonder if I can persuade Arabella the green is cucumber?!!!