Nigella Lawson - Kitchen Recipe

ISBN: 9780701184605

Format:Hardback

A big, compendious, comfortable, informative and utterly engaging book, Kitchen brings us feel-good food for cooks and eaters, whether Express-style and exotic-easy during the week, or leisurely and luxuriating (in the spirit of How to be a Domestic Goddess and Feast) at weekends or for occasions.

Divided into two parts - Kitchen Quandries and Kitchen Comforts - Nigella gives us the wherewithal to tackle any situation and satisfy all nourishment needs. But real cooking is
often about leftovers, too, so here one recipe can lead to another… from ham hocks to pea soup and pasties, from chicken to Chinatown salad. This isn’t just about being thrifty but about demonstrating how recipes come about, and giving new inspiration for last-minute meals and souped-up storecupboard suppers.

As well as offering the reader a mouthwatering array of new recipes, both comforting and exciting – from clams with chorizo to Guinness gingerbread, from Asian braised beef to flourless chocolate lime cake, from Pasta alla Genovese to Venetian carrot cake – Nigella rounds up her kitchen kit must-haves (telling us, too, what equipment we don’t need) and highlights individual ingredients – both basic essentials and modern-day life-savers. But above all, she reminds the reader how much pleasure there is to be had in real food, and in reclaiming the traditional rhythms of the kitchen, as she cooks to the beat of the heart of the home, creating simple recipes to make life less complicated.

Here is a recipe from Nigella's new book, taken from Nigella website 

Ingredients        
                                                            

CAKE

• 150g dark chocolate, chopped
• 150g soft unsalted butter, plus some for greasing
• 6 eggs
• 250g caster sugar
• 100g ground almonds
• 4 teaspoons best-quality cocoa powder, sifted zest and juice 1 lime icing sugar, to dust (optional)
• 1 x 23cm springform or other round cake tin

MARGARITA CREAM

• 60ml lime juice (2-3 limes) or from a squeezy bottle
• 1x15 ml tablespoon tequila
• 1x15 ml tablespoon triple sec or Cointreau
• 75g icing sugar
• 250ml double cream

Method

CAKE

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4, line the base of your cake tin with baking parchment and butter the sides.
2. Melt the chocolate and butter together either in a heatproof bowl suspended over a pan of simmering water, or in a microwave (following manufacturer’s instructions), then set aside to cool slightly.
3. Beat the eggs and sugar together until about tripled in volume, pale and moussy. I do this using a freestanding mixer, but a hand-held electric model would be just fine too; obviously, by hand is possible but would demand tenacity and muscle.
4. Mix the ground almonds with the cocoa powder and fold this gently into the egg and sugar mixture, followed by the slightly cooled chocolate and butter. Finally, fold in the zest and juice of your lime.
5. Pour and scrape this mixture into the prepared tin and bake in the preheated oven for 40–45 minutes (though start to check at 35); the cake will be just firm on top, but still have a bit of wobble underneath.
6. Remove from the oven and sit the cake in its tin on a wire rack to cool. Once the first heat has left it, drape a clean tea towel over the cake to stop it getting too crusty, though a cracked and cratered surface is to be expected; it’s crunch I’m avoiding here.
7. When cold, unmould, dust with icing sugar if you wish and serve with the jaunty Margarita Cream that follows.

MARGARITA CREAM

1. Stir the lime juice, tequila and orange liqueur togather in a good-sized bowl, then whisk or fork in the icing sugar and let it dissolve in the sour, strong liquid.
2. Slowly whisk in the double cream and keep whisking until you have a light, floaty, aerated mixture, then serve with the Chocolate Lime Cake above.