Make Your Own Raspberry Vodka

This is something I like to do quite a lot at University. You have to leave it for a while for the flavours to properly infuse, but once its done you'll always have a tasty vodka you can even drink straight if you like. My girlfriend and I like to put it with orange juice to make a really good cocktail.

- 75cl Bottle of good quality vodka (40% not 37.5%)
- 300g Raspberries
- 150g Caster sugar
- 1 Vanilla pod
- 1 1L Clip Jar (sterilised)

- Add the vodka, raspberries, caster sugar and vanilla pod (scarpe the seeds out  and add the pod and seeds) to a saucepan and heat very gently (because we don't want to lose any of the alcohol) just long enough to melt the sugar and break down the raspberries slightly (about 5 minutes).

- Put the raspberry vodka mixture into the Clip Jar and put in a cool, dry place. Leave for at least a month. But the longer you leave it the better it will be. Give it the occasional shake to make sure its mixing well.

The vodka raspberries go really well with chocolate too. I like to garnish my homemade chocolate mousse with a few to add a boozy kick.

Enjoy!

Rich Chocolate Ice Cream

I do a lot of experimenting with different flavours of ice cream, but there are two that I get asked to make all the time. One of them is this delicious chocolate ice cream (the other, just in case your wondering - you will have to wait for). Unfortunately, you will need an ice cream machine for this recipe, unless you are truly dedicated in which case you can take it out of the freezer every10-15 minutes and stir to make sure it stays nice and creamy. 

- 300ml Double cream

- 300ml Milk (whole or semi)

- 100g Dark chocolate (but no more than 65% cacao)

- 50g Milk chocolate 

- 7 egg yolks 

- 150g Caster sugar

- 1tsp Vanilla extract (not essence)

- Combine the milk and cream in a saucepan and heat until it comes to a gentle boil. Meanwhile, in a bowl whisk together the egg yolks and caster sugar until it turns almost white in colour. 

- Once the cream/milk has come to the boil, slowly pour it into the bowl with the eggs, stirring all the time. Once you have combined the two, add the vanilla and chocolate (save a few pieces if you want to add them at the end as chocolate chips).

- Put the chocolate mixture back into the saucepan and heat gently until it thickens slightly. Make sure it does not boil, or it will split. 

- You have the ice cream mixture, now all you need to do it put it in your ice cream machine.  

Enjoy! Its pretty good on its own but if you're feeling inspired add some crushed hazelnuts.

 

Korean Spring Onion Noodles

This is a great little recipe I like to make loads at university because its so quick, easy and most importantly, cheap. You can play around with the ingredients in this recipe too, to get it just how you like it.

- 1 Medium sized rump steak
- 4 Spring onions
- 1 Thumb sized piece of ginger
- 1 Tbsp of dark soy sauce
- 1 Tbsp of light soy sauce
- 1/2 Tbsp sherry vinegar - or cider vinegar
- 2 Tsp Honey
- 1 Tsp of sesame seed oil
- 1/2 Tbsp of olive oil
- 400g fresh egg noodles

1. Slice the rump steak into thin strips, discarding any fat. Place in a bowl with the light soy sauce, olive oil and 1tsp of honey and leave to sit while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.

2. Very finely slice the spring onions (save a few slices for garnish later) and chop your ginger until it resembles a paste. Place into a separate bowl with the dark soy sauce, sesame oil, sherry vinegar and the last tsp of honey.

3. Have a frying pan on a medium-high heat and put your marinated beef into the pan, when it starts to colour. Put your noodles in the pan and heat through.

4. Pour the noodles and steak into the bowl with the spring onion dressing. Toss the noodles in the dressing and serve with a few of the fine slices of spring onion sprinkled on top.

Enjoy the first recipe in the Heathy Eating section!

Perfect Pizza Dough: Thin and Crispy

There are two types of pizza dough I usually make. One makes a thicker, 'deep-pan' base and the other makes a thinner, crispier base for a more traditional pizza, and this is the recipe I will be going through now. To cook this base a pizza stone should be used.

• 650ml lukewarm water

• 1kg strong white bread flour 

• 40-50g fresh yeast, or 14g of dried yeast (fast action)

• 1 level tablespoon fine sea salt

• 1 tablespoon golden caster sugar

• 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Sieve the flour and salt into a large bowl. In a separate jug mix the olive oil, warm water and yeast, mix well and allow to sit for a few minutes. Make a well in the flour and pour your yeast mixture into the well. Mix with a wooden spoon until combined. 

Once the mixture has come together, remove from the bowl and set on a clean, floured surface and knead with your hands until you have a smooth dough.

Line the inside of a clean bowl with a teaspoon of olive oil, put the dough in the bowl, sprinkle with flour and cover the bowl with a damp cloth. Leave to stand until it has doubled in size. About an hour.

Once the dough has risen, take it out of the bowl and knead slightly to 'knock the dough back'. It's now ready to use. Never use a rolling pin on your pizza dough because it will take the air out of it. Use your hands to stretch the dough out as thin as you want it (if its not a perfect circle don't worry, it will look more rustic if its not ;)).

Pre-heat your oven or BBQ to its hottest setting and place your pizza stone inside to heat up (Its important that you don't take the stone out to put your pizza on, just slide the pizza onto the stone in the oven/BBQ. to keep as much heat in the stone as possible).

Spread your ingredients however you like them. Slide onto your pizza stone. Cooking time is between 8-10 minutes. 

Hope this was helpful to all those pizza lovers out there!

Review: Pizza Stone

Being a massive pizza lover I made it my mission to perfect the homemade pizza. As i'm sure many of you know this is not an easy thing to do, because a conventional oven will usually max out at 220 degress C. The answer to your pizza prayers is the pizza stone. A thin ceramic stone you put in your oven (I use a BBQ but ill go into that later) to heat up, and place your pizza on to cook. Heating the pizza from above and below ensures you aren't left with a soggy mess. A must have for any pizza lover.

Tempering Chocolate

Okay so this quite an advanced technique, but it will give a much more professional look (and the satisfying snap) to your chocolate treats. If might take you a few tries to get it perfect but keep at it because the end product is well worth the effort. Pretty soon you'll be a true chocolatier.

Make sure you use the best chocolate you can afford (don't buy the chocolate drops because these will have additives to help them hold their shape at a higher temperature and the chocolate wont temper properly).

1. Set up a double boiler (a bowl suspended over a saucepan of simmering water) with a thermometer ready to measure the temperature of the chocolate.

2. Take about 3/4 of your chocolate and put it in the double boiler. Try to resist the temptation to stir and fiddle with the chocolate as it melts.

3. Watch the temperature of the chocolate carefully. When it reaches 44-48 degrees C take it off the heat quickly and add the remaining 1/4 of your chocolate (the reason we do this is to reduce the temperature of the melted chocolate) and stir in until the temperature comes back down to 28 degrees C. Remove any lumps of chocolate that have not fully melted.

4. Now once more return the melted chocolate to the double boiler and bring the temperature back up to 32 degrees C.

While you are still using the chocolate try and keep it constant at 32 degrees C. Your chocolate is now tempered and can be manipulated into whatever shape takes your fancy.

Happy cooking chocolatiers! I would love to know how people get on!

Tricks of the Trade

I recently had the pleasure of working on a super-yacht in Monaco, cooking alongside a very talented young chef for the crew of thirteen. As well as cooking exciting dishes for the crew it was a chance for me to get really creative. With a wealth of ingredients at my disposal I was in my element to say the least. I learned a few tricks and recipes I'll be passing on to fellow foodies.