These are addictive.
Pasilla chillies are dried and have a gorgeous fruitiness about them, so this combination of chocolate, a hint of fruit and not too hot chilli makes for a great treat. The recipe calls for the truffles to be dipped in batter and fried just long enough to make them crisp on the outside but still slightly gooey inside. Alternatively, if you just refrigerate them and don’t add the batter, you have petits fours to go with coffee.
Ingredients:
- 1 large pasilla chilli or 4tsp ground pasilla
- 200ml double cream
- ⅛ tsp cayenne pepper, or more to taste (optional)
- pinch salt
- 200g dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids), chopped into small pieces
- 6 heaped tbsp cocoa powder, for dusting
- 1 ltr corn oil, for deep frying
For the batter
- 120g plain flour
- 1½ tbsp caster sugar
- 1 tsp baking powder
- pinch salt
- 1 egg
- 100ml ice-cold water or milk (water yields a crisper batter coating)
To serve
- whipped or clotted cream
- 250g small strawberries or raspberries
Method:
- If using a whole chilli, toast it for about 10 seconds on each side in a dry pan, then grind to a powder in a spice grinder.
- Heat the cream in a pan with the ground pasilla, cayenne, if using, and the salt. When the cream is hot but not boiling, take the pan off the heat and add the chocolate to the cream. Stir gently until the chocolate has melted. Set aside to cool and then chill until it is firm enough to shape into balls.
- Using two teaspoons, shape the chocolate into 15–18 small lozenges and drop them into a bowl of cocoa powder. Using your hands and working quickly so as not to melt the chocolate, roll them into balls, dusting them with cocoa powder as you go. Put them on a tray lined with baking parchment and freeze for at least 3 hours, preferably overnight. Once frozen, they can be kept for a week or two if you like. Store them layered with baking parchment in a plastic box with a lid.
- Ten minutes before you are ready to finish the truffles, make the batter. Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt into a bowl, make a well in the centre and add the egg. Whisk the egg, gradually drawing in the flour from the sides to make a paste. Add the water or milk a little at a time until you have a smooth, thick batter.
- Heat the oil to 175°C in a large saucepan. Dip the frozen truffles into the batter, lower them into the hot oil and fry for a couple of minutes until golden. Do this in batches, setting each batch aside on kitchen paper.
- Trim off any ragged batter edges with scissors if you like. Serve immediately dusted with cocoa powder and with whipped or clotted cream and some red berries on the side.
Mexico is the new India. This landmark book and major BBC series from Rick Stein brings his expertise and joie de vivre to the hottest food trend.
These lovely aubergine rolls are from Rick Stein's The Road to Mexico.
Roasted in a sweet mustard glaze and served with a buttery gravy, Rick Stein‘s ham is a classic Christmas crowd-pleaser.
These festive pavlovas are dipped in white chocolate and topped with toasted hazelnuts, cream and berry sauce to make an impressive dessert.
‘I always think that canapés should box slightly above their weight – in other words, they need to be vividly flavoured to succeed. Here, the combination of crisp brioche, salty feta, pickled walnuts, figs, honey and thyme is just that. If you like, there’s a recipe for pickling your own green walnuts on page 275 of Rick Stein’s Christmas. You can also make this with slices of goat’s cheese from a log instead of the whipped feta.’
My reason for including this recipe in the book is that apart from the fact that it’s the first dish I ever ate at a Chinese restaurant – in Peterborough, in 1964 as it happens – it’s also a world classic but is so often ruined by tasteless crab and gloopy cornflour.
I’m inordinately fond of pot-roasting meat, particularly when it is a slightly less than tender cut, like brisket.
I wrote this recipe for a Greek-style filo pie after going to Mary Quicke’s farm and dairy near Exeter.
Liqueur-soaked slices of Madeira cake, custard and whipped cream are layered with fresh clementines in this simple, light trifle. Perfect for a show-stopping Christmas dessert.
A delicious and healthy stir-fry dish from Rick Stein at Home.
There is, I have to confess, no need to put the vodka in the blackberry compote that accompanies these, but it does add to the sense of occasion.
What appeals to me about this salad is the combination of lightly poached chicken, bean sprouts, spring onions and herbs with roasted chopped nuts and sesame seeds, and the slightly gloopy fish sauce, lime juice and chilli dressing.
