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Crispy Cream and Chocolate Pastries

ingredients for 8 pastries 2 rectangular sheets of puff pastry. 1 egg yolk. 1 rectangular cookie cutter, 10x5cm. powdered sugar for dusting. pastry cream: 400cc whole or semi-skimmed milk. 30g cornstarch. 120g sugar. 4 egg yolks. chocolate cream: 150cc heavy cream (35% fat). 120g dark chocolate (chips or chopped).   preparation First, we'll make the pastry cream : Put the milk and sugar in a pot over medium heat. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg yolks with the cornstarch. Once the milk is warm, mix it into the yolk mixture, then pour everything back into the pot. Keep stirring with a wooden spoon over low heat until the cream thickens and coats the back of the spoon. Set aside. For the chocolate cream : Heat the heavy cream in a small saucepan until it's just about to boil. Remove from heat, add the chocolate, and stir until it's completely melted and smooth. Set aside. Preheat your oven to 180°C, with heat from both top and bottom. Cut t...

Fish Stew


Mmmmmm, can you smell that?





Ingredients

for 4 people
  • 8 prawns.
  • 400g monkfish.
  • 400g squid, sliced into rings.
  • 500g mussels.
  • 300g small clams (or cockles, whatever you can find at the market).
  • 2 carrots.
  • 1/2 red pepper.
  • 1 small green pepper.
  • 4 cloves of garlic.
  • 2 spring onions.
  • 1/2 leek.
  • 20 toasted almonds.
  • parsley.
  • 1 tablespoon flour.
  • 4 ripe tomatoes.
  • 100ml dry white wine.
  • 1 tsp sweet paprika.
  • fish stock.
  • olive oil.
  • salt.

you'll also need

  • thin slices of toasted bread.
  • olive oil.

Preparation

Steam open the mussels and clams separately — you don't want to mix them just yet.
Remove the shells from all the mussels and some of the clams (keep a few in their shells for serving). Save every drop of the liquid they've released and strain it through a fine cloth — that precious juice goes straight into your fish stock.
In a good-sized pot with three tablespoons of olive oil, fry the squid rings until they just start to turn golden.
Take them out and set aside. In that same lovely oil (add a splash more if needed), lightly fry the peeled prawn tails first — but save one whole prawn per person for garnish. Then add the monkfish, cut into chunks.
Set everything aside off the heat while you build the sauce.
In the same pot (I know, fewer dishes to wash!), add a bit more oil if it looks dry, then fry the chopped garlic and almonds together.
Stir in the leek and spring onions, chopped into small pieces.
Then toss in the peppers and carrots, chopped up nicely. Let this cook over medium heat for about 10 minutes, stirring now and then. Pour in the wine and let it bubble away until it's mostly evaporated.
Now stir in the paprika and chopped parsley, followed by the flour — give it a good stir so the flour cooks for a minute or two. Pour in your fish stock, cover the pot, and let it simmer gently for 15 minutes, giving it a stir every so often.
Once it's all lovely and thick, pass the sauce through a fine-mesh strainer (a China cap works perfectly) and return it to the pot along with all your cooked seafood.
Pop the covered pot into a 180°C oven for 10 minutes to let everything get acquainted.
Brush those thin bread slices with a drizzle of olive oil and toast them in the oven until they're golden and crisp.
Grill the reserved whole prawns (shells on!) until they're beautifully pink. Serve one on top of each bowl of stew, with the toasted bread on the side so everyone can help themselves.

Hope you enjoy this one!

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