Salmon Mousse

Salmon Mousse is a versatile food, perfect for making starters, sides and canapes. Many “vegetarian” friends of mine also eat fish, so this is a handy substitute for pate. The mousse goes quite firm after a night in the fridge so you can form it into shapes for a fancy presentation, or else just spoon [...]

White Chocolate Mousse

Another recipe courtesy of Thorntons.
Ingredients

100ml single cream
1 vanilla pod split length ways and seeds scraped
250g White Belgian Chocolate
284ml double cream
3 medium egg whites
1 tbsp lemon juice

Method

Put the single cream, vanilla pod and seeds in a pan over a medium heat.
Bring to just below boiling, then set aside for 15 minutes to infuse.
Discard the vanilla pod.
Meanwhile, [...]

Summer Pudding

This is a very fresh and healthy dessert made with British fruits which are only available for a short period in the year. Use good quality white bread and avoid using too many blackberries as the pudding should turn out a bright pink colour.

Ingredients

1kg mixture of strawberries, raspberries and blackberries
125g caster sugar
8 thin slices [...]

Parmesan Baskets

On New Year’s Eve we went to a friend’s for dinner and were amazed by the construction of some parmesan funnels filled with cream cheese and prawns. I don’t like prawns at all but this dish was delicious. Parmesan baskets can be used as a fancy presentation device for salad, seafood and savoury mousse.

Ingredients

1 cup [...]

Easy Fishcakes

I don’t know about anyone else, but I always overestimate when making mash. If you have some leftover mash and a tin of tuna in the cupboard, you can make fishcakes. They make a great starter because they only take a few minutes to prepare on the day.

Ingredients
Day 1

Potato mash
Tinned tuna (or tinned salmon or [...]

Chocolate Mousse

This is rich, decadent, heavy chocolate mousse and you only need serve a tiny amount. Chocoholics will be left indisposed for the ensuing weeks after having discovered this recipe.

Ingredients
150g (6oz) Plain chocolate
175g (6oz) Unsalted butter
75g (3oz) Cocoa
300ml (10 fl oz) double cream
4 eggs, separated
175g (6oz) Caster Sugar
Method
Melt the chocolate with the butter in a bowl [...]