Month: November 2015

100g butter, melted, plus a little extra for greasing
250g self-raising flour
140g golden caster sugar
50g cocoa
1 tsp baking powder
3 large eggs
200ml Irish cream liqueur
50ml milk
100g milk chocolate, very roughly chopped into chunks
icing sugar, for dusting (optional)

For the sauce

200g light muscovado sugar
25g cocoa

Grease a 2-litre baking dish and heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Put the kettle on. Put the flour, caster sugar, cocoa, baking powder and a pinch of salt in a large mixing bowl. Whisk together the eggs, butter, liqueur and milk, then pour onto the dry ingredients and mix together until smooth. Stir in the chocolate chunks and scrape everything into the baking dish.

To make the sauce, mix 300ml boiling water from the kettle with the sugar and cocoa, then pour all over the pudding batter – don’t worry, it will look very strange at this stage! Bake on the middle shelf of the oven for 30 mins until the surface looks firm, risen and crisp. Dust with icing sugar, if you like. Serve straight away – as you scoop spoonfuls into serving bowls, you should find a gorgeous chocolate sauce underneath.

Eat with single cream and extra liqueur, if you like.

200g unsalted butter
3 shallot, finely chopped
1 bay leaf
3 thyme sprigs
500g chicken or duck livers
100ml Sauternes
100ml double cream
3 medium eggs, at room temperature

For the jelly

3 sheets leaf gelatine
250ml Sauternes
50g golden caster sugar
a few thyme leaves (optional)

Prepare the livers. Use kitchen scissors to snip out anything that looks sinewy or greenish, trying to keep the lobe shapes as intact as you can.

Melt the butter in a wide frying pan and add the shallots, herbs and some seasoning. Cook gently for 10 mins until very soft. Spoon the shallots into a food processor and discard the herbs; pour the butter into a jug, leaving 1 tbsp in the pan.

Turn up the heat in the pan and add the livers. Season and fry for 30 secs on each side or until just browned all over. They will still be very raw inside. Take out of the pan and put in the processor. Splash the Sauternes into the hot pan and reduce by half, scraping up any tasty bits as it bubbles. Tip onto the liver and shallots.

Process the livers until totally smooth. With the motor running, slowly pour in the cream and add the eggs, one by one, then the warm butter. Season with 2 tsp sea salt and some pepper, but don’t taste the mixture as it’s still raw. Pass through a sieve, using a spatula to help.

Heat oven to 160C/140C fan/gas 3 and boil a full kettle. Put 6 heatproof glass tumblers, small Kilner jars or large ramekins into a roasting tin. Pour the parfait into each one. Pour hot water around the parfaits, letting it come as far up the sides as is safe for you to carry. Bake for 45 mins until the parfaits have set without a wobble and risen a little in the middle. Cool at room temperature (I make this more speedy by filling the pan with cold water and letting the whole thing stand on a wire rack), then chill.

To make the jelly, soak the gelatine in cold water until it is totally floppy. Heat the wine and sugar until it dissolves, then remove from the heat. Squeeze out as much water from the gelatine as possible, then stir into the wine until totally dissolved. Set aside.

When cooled but still liquid, pour this over the top of the parfaits, adding a few thyme leaves here and there. Leave to set in the fridge for at least 30 mins.

Can be made up to 2 days ahead. Serve with toast and cornichons.