Royal icing

Spinach fritters

This Indian inspired recipe gives a delicious contrast betwen the hot crispy fritters and the cool, slightly sharp herb dressing.

Dried apricots

Making your own dried apricots at home is perfectly feasible. It's really quite simple, though it takes a long time. Basically, the apricots need to be cut in half, destoned, then the halves put to dry slowly for several hours in a cool oven.

How to cook caramelized puff pastry well

When puff pastry is caramelized to use in patisseries like millefeuille, French chefs call it a "feuilletage" (which means "lamination" or "leafing"). This is baked on its own before being assembled with cream, fruit, etc. The baking needs to be carefully managed: the pastry should puff into layers, but not swell too much (just a few millimeters normally). To achieve this, we need to follow a special method that I have explained for you here.

Pan con tomate

"Pan con tomate" (tomato toast) is a staple of Spanish cuisine, where it is often served as an aperitif snack. It is really simple to make and delicious: the bread is rubbed with half a tomato to soak it with the juice. After that, all it needs is seasoning and a drizzle of olive oil. This is a slightly more sophisticated version.

Normandy seafood stew

A "marmite normande" is a combination of different seasonal julienne vegetables and a mix of shellfish, rapidly sautéed, then deglazed with cider. The vegetables and shellfish are then simmered together in cream, which intensifies the...