Chef to Impress with Shop Cook Eat- French Cuisine by Katherine Frelon
Previously a chef at a Michelin star restaurant, Katherine Frelon has released a cook book full of ‘good honest food’ that you can impress yourself and your guests with at home- Shop Cook Eat.
Katherine was born into a family of food lovers in the UK and spent her childhood summers in the South of France, it is here that the gourmet chef was introduced to the importance of fresh, fragrant and seasonal ingredients and her passion to create good food was ignited. Shop.Cook.Eat shares a collection of recipes that encourage readers to visit their local markets and be inspired by seasonal produce.
Katherine demonstrates how to create a store cupboard bursting with delicious jars of preserves and essentials, make fabulous gifts for friends and family, hold a simple ‘al fresco supper’, or whip up a last minute picnic lunch to be enjoyed by friends with a good bottle of wine. Shop. Cook. Eat is available from Amazon, also available as an e-book.
‘Charlies Chocolate Macaroons’ – Recipe
Fitting with the UK’s Great British Bake off obsession, we thought it only apt to share our favourite pudding recipe from the Shop Cook Eat- ‘Charlies Chocolate Macaroons’.
Macaroons are one of the most traditional French desserts, and this recipe makes it possible to create them with ease!
Ingredients
200g icing sugar
180g ground and sifted almonds
30g cocoa powder
160g egg white
200g caster sugar for chocolate ganache
250g dark bitter chocolate
20cl heavy cream
50g butter
1 tsp coffee extract (optional)
Directions
For the ganache
Make the ganache by heating the cream in a saucepan. Put the chocolate, butter and coffee extract in a bowl.
When it starts to simmer take off the heat and pour over the chocolate, beat until smooth and reserve at room temperature until needed.
For the macaroons
In a food processor blend the icing sugar, cocoa powder and ground almonds until completely fine, then sieve into a clean dry bowl.
In a saucepan (not too big but with a heavy base) add the sugar and water. Bring to a slow boil and using a sugar thermometer boil until 110°C is reached.
When the sugar reaches 100°C, 200°F, start whisking. The egg whites in a large dry, clean bowl.
Remove the sugar from the heat as soon as it reaches 110°C, 210°F wait for the bubbles to stop and then slowly pour into the beaten egg whites in a thin steady stream with the whisk going all the time. Keep the machine whisking until the meringue is cool/cold, it will take quite some time, so be patient.
While the meringue is cooling mix the almond and icing sugar mix with the remaining egg whites. Add a spoonful of beaten egg white to the almond cocoa mix with a wooden spoon or spatula and mix swiftly to loosen. Then slowly fold in the rest of the meringue. Fill up a piping bag with a plain nozzle inserted at the base.
On a large baking sheet, lined with silicone paper, pipe out small dots approx. 2cm in diameter and with space in between them. Leave to dry out for at least an hour.
Preheat the oven to 145°C, 275°F. Cook for approx. 15mins, they should be firm and should no longer stick to the silicone paper. Slide the paper off the baking tray onto a damp tea towel (this will help the macaroons peel off the paper).
Put on a cooling tray. When completely cool pipe the ganache onto one side of a macaroon and stick a second disc to it. Place on a dish until all are filled and pressed together.
It is a time consuming process, but the results are delicious. Practice makes perfect!
Then of course… ENJOY!
