CHEF’S TIP: Removing ramekins from a bain marie

It’s a pesky business removing a perfectly cooked custard or crème brûlée from a scorching hot water bath. You use a towel and it ends up getting soaked. You use the tips of your fingers and they get scolded. You use a pair of tongs and they slip from your reach, spraying you and your brûlées with water. Like I said, it’s a pesky business.

Only, according to much praised pastry chef David Guas- it need not be so. Wrap each end of your tongs with thick rubber bands to create a non-slippery surface and remove your ramekins with ease. Now, isn’t that just sweet? Oh, to have a clever chef in every kitchen.

David currently owns Damgoodsweet Consulting Group LLC and is set to open Bayou Bakery, in McLean, Virginia by the end of the year.

A RECIPE: Oatmeal chocolate chip cookies (with avocado)

A while back I was given a recipe for avocado oatmeal cookies and my boss and I looked at each other, raised our eyebrows and similtaneously said: “bleh“. Without even giving the recipe a chance on its own we omitted all the spices and wacked in some coconut, good quality chocolate chips and hallelua we had avocado and oat cookies. Only what blew us away was that they were truly magnificent. Perhaps some of the best cookies I’ve ever eaten- no joke. And I wasn’t the only one saying it,

So, what’s the deal with the avocado? Well, the whole point is to use the avocado as a partial replacement for butter, which means that you’re getting a little more healthy fat and a little less lardy fat. I’m pretty sure that this still doesn’t classify them as healthy or part of your five-a-day and I’m sure that some of you are thinking ‘what’s the point- if you’re going to eat a cookie, eat a cookie’. But- I live my life along the lines of ‘it’s the little things that count’ and a little more avocado and a little less be butter without altering the flavour is certainly not going to hurt you. In fact I think it’s a wonderful thing. It’s like buying a dress in a sample sale- it’s still a great dress but you feel especially smug knowing that you snagged it for half price. Need another reason to try them? How’s this-there is something extraordinarily satisfying about giving a begging pair of hands a cookie, walking away and then turning back over your shoulder to say: “oh, by the way- it has avocado in it….mwahaaha!”

CHEF’S TIP: Corn off the cob

Marc Murphy

According to New York City chef, Marc Murphy a Bundt tin is not just for cakes. So if you’re someone who has avoided buying one because you think it’s a gimmick- you can think again. No longer will you find sweetcorn kernels on the floor a week after you sliced them off the cob.

Place the tip of the sweetcorn in the hole in your Bundt tin and holding onto the stem slice away the kernels, which will fall neatly into one contained place. What could make me happier? A similar invention for grating carrots.

landmarc [at the time warner center]
10 columbus circle [3rd floor]
new york city 10019
p. 212.823.6123
f. 212.823.6122

landmarc [tribeca]
179 west broadway [between leonard & worth]
new york city 10013
p. 212.343.3883
f. 212.343.3890

ditch plains
29 bedford street [at downing]
new york city 10014
p. 212.633.0202
f. 212.633.0255

A RECIPE: Strawberry summer salad

I was on the phone to my good old friend Courtney the other day when she suddenly asked me:

“Got any good salad recipes going?”

And it struck me at that instant that although I eat a salad of some description at least once a day I rarely post about them. I LOVE salads- why the heck wasn’t I writing about them? Perhaps because they are my go-to meal of choice and I inevitably throw them together, using up the contents of my fridge. There are of course the old favourite add-ins- crispy chorizo, roasted butternut squash, crumbled feta cheese, grilled halloumi….but really there is no one combination that I seek to recreate. I just love the concept of throwing things together- a little of this, a handful of this, a really big handful of that, ooh that would be good too and viola! Dinner is ready- a meal in a bowl, what could be better?

Getting out the scales and the measuring cups is just not something I think to do when I make a salad. Even the dressings tend to be thrown together or sometimes I just drizzle the individual dressing elements over my plate. However, (because there is obviously a recipe for a salad about to come) there was this occasion, oh, only last week when I was rummaging through the contents of my newly cleaned fridge wondering what salad I could throw together that would be sophisticated enough to present to company. I had recently visited the smitten kitchen who had opened my eyes up to the novel idea of raw courgette and then there were those beautiful glistening strawberries perched close by, which I had just seen Jamie Oliver throwing in a salad (so it couldn’t be wrong). Well, that was it. I had my soft and crisp elements- now all I needed was, a bit of crunch (walnuts), a little chew (edamame), a creamy touch (blue cheese) and some peppery greens (rocket). Viola! A salad easy enough to throw together and sophisticated enough for company. Now, wasn’t that easy?

Got any salad favourites? Send them my way!