Food Wine Sleep

Ah the humble crumble, in season sweet apples stewed with cinnamon and brown sugar, golden baked buttery topping and vanilla ice cream on the side! Is there a more appropriate thing to serve as dessert in the colder months? I think not.

This is one of my favourite classic recipes. The name originates from and was made famous by the Tatin Sisters of France in the early part of the last century, I believe they had a Restaurant/Hotel in Paris but don't quote me on that. In fact, feel free to quote me if you wish, what should it matter if I have the geography wrong, the important thing is that I have the recipe right. What I find most appealing about this dish is its simplicity of ingredients and the ease of preparation. Try it out and I'm sure it will become one of the main stays of your dessert repertoire.

Ah! Don't you love winter, the season of indulgent deserts. The one time of year no one really feels too guilty about too many sweets, must be the fact that beach season is well behind us.....or in front (depends whether you are a "glass half full" or "glass half empty" kind of person). The nice thing about this recipe is that even if you only have 4 dinner guests you can still enjoy the 6 puddings this recipe makes (they make a wonderful decadent muffin in the morning).

When I was 18, a few friends and I were backpacking around Australia and during that time we held all sorts of odd jobs. One of which was fruit picking, pears in particular. From those weeks on the ladders and in the trees we all learnt many things, namely not to take for granted the amount of work that goes into getting produce into our supermarkets, but also 1001 ways to eat pears. To be totally honest with you for 5 years afterwards I couldn't look at another pear. Anyhow long story short, after my 5 years of a pearless diet since, I was ready to gradually start eating them again. I am now back to loving them again as I'm no longer a backpacking teenager eating the...

I know it's not overly creative of me, but hey can I help it if throwing mascarpone at any fresh fruit makes a wonderful dessert all on its own. Thank god for the Italians; they've created perfection in so many simple ingredients that lazy Chefs like me can impress with very little effort. With that said, I did stew the fruit and toast the almonds.

This is one of my favourite desserts to prepare when having guests over for dinner as it can be completed entirely on the day before and leaves time to focus on other parts of the dinner on the night. On top of this early preparation ease, the quality chocolate, the creamy texture, and the accompaniment of chocolate’s perfect match; raspberries, ensures it is always a big winner with guests and never fails to impress. It is quite an adaptable dessert as well; if you are not a fan of Cointreau, feel free to substitute with any other liqueur you may like or simply some vanilla extract. However if using vanilla use only about ½ tsp as it is much stronger...

If you love Chocolate (yeah right who doesn't?) and Creme Brulee, then you'll love this recipe. The option is yours as to whether you want to caramelise sugar on top of the finished product as it is equally delicious without it. Keep in mind however that then it would technically not be a creme brulee, as the words literally translated mean cream burnt. Anyhow enough useless facts, on with the recipe.

What Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven" is to a beginning guitar player, the Creme Brulee is to the apprentice Chef. It is the first real Restaurant dessert that they learn, and like playing "Stairway" they can now impress their friends. Over the years in restaurant kitchens I have found there to be as many recipes for Creme Brulee as there are Chefs. This is the recipe I have perfected over those years. Some recipes you will find need to be in the oven for half a day before they set, others set like a rock, and some curdle as soon as they see the oven. If you stick to this recipe, you will consistently produce a perfectly balanced beautiful creme bru...

You will feel guilty after eating some of this chocolate cake. 'Chocoholics' and chocolate fanatics love the rich, smooth and creamy texture and the full flavor of bitter sweet chocolate. I prefer to use Valrhona chocolate for this recipe, but if it's not available use a good quality high cocoa butter content dark chocolate.

Folding is quite simply the process of combining two or more ingredients by lifting rather than stirring. It is a technique most often used when attempting to mix ingredients where one or more is of a very delicate nature. A good example is when attempting to fold a thicker substance through whisked egg whites. Egg whites that have been whisked contain little bubbles of air in them and stirring them with another ingredient would simply knock all the air out of these bubbles. By folding the ingredients together these air bubbles are retained.

Cregraveme bruleacute is perhaps one of the most popular desserts anywhere. There are some recipes of it already on Chef's pencil, but I still wanted to share mine as well. This recipe for cregrave;me bruleacute has an Asian twist as that the cream is infused with ginger. I feel that ginger, although in general mostly used for hot savoury dishes, adapts very well to custards and cream and adds that little bit of spice in life I am sometimes looking for. If you can get Muscovado sugar please try this with it. It really does have a different taste to it and balances great with the ginger.

This is one of my favourite summer desserts. I must admit, one of the reasons I probably like it so much is because no matter how many summer cocktails I've had on the balcony I can always roll back into the kitchen for the last course and manage to pull this one off and still impress every time. Considering that all stone fruits are in such abundance in summer feel free to experiment with other fruit variations.

This recipe is actually from my mother. Throughout the year, but especially around Christmas time, she used to borrow the ”wafer iron” from my grandmother and produced those thin, sweet crisp wafers. After they wafers have cooled on a rack, they were stored in airtight containers for up to a month. In dry, relative humidity free, Switzerland, they stayed crisp and fresh. Problem was, it was never really proven, that the wafers could be stored that long, as my brother, my sister and my dad usually ensured the wafers were eaten while fresh and crisp.

This is a well liked dessert in one of our schools restaurants. As with all ice parfaits or ice soufflés, the trick of getting the ice cream really smooth, light and frothy is in the correct beating of the sabayon.  Once the sabayon is well done, the rest is a piece of cake.

There's nothing really seasonal about chocolate, but I thought the endorphin lift it gives could better be utilized in the gloomier months and as such have decided to put it on the winter menu. Some would say there's enough chocolate in this recipe to make a Nordic Laplander trapped in 6 months of darkness forget about the "gloomy" weather. So if the words chocolate, indulgence and excess aren't words you like to describe winter desserts, please move on. Just Kidding!! You can always cut the chocolate by 1/3rd, also you'll find that the refreshing cinnamon cream really does help to cut some of that richness.

These individual chocolate marbled cheesecakes are easy to do, simple to assemble and very versatile.

Imagine a Sunday afternoon, somewhere in a idyllic little town in the Normandy (France), sipping "Cafe au lait" on a small marble table in front of a side walk cafe. Acoompanying the cafe, a freshly baked, Calvados scented, warm apple tart with vanilla sauce or a generous dollop of whipped cream. Sometimes it's those day-dreams of the simple things in (culinary) life that inspire the most.

As I've said before, "I love spring!" A time when menus virtually write themselves. How can one not incorporate strawberries, raspberries, boysenberries and blueberries into at least one course of a dinner menu. In this dish I've steeped more than stewed; blueberries, raspberries and boysenberries in a light sugar syrup to accompany the delicate panna cotta. Even if I'm only cooking for four I still tend to make this recipe for six, a little snack for the cook pre dinner...ssshhhh.

Pate a choux is also called Choux paste or pastry or Chou dough and is a basic dough for many savory and sweet dishes. Pate a chou is the base for traditional cakes such as the Gateau St. Honoré, Paris-Brest and the Croque-em-bouche or individual pastries like éclairs and the children favorite Choux puffs.  But choux paste it can also be fried into Beignets, Crullers and Churros, or used as the base for hot soufflés and mixed with mashed potatoes for Dauphine potatoes. In Austria this same basic dough is also used to make sweet knoedels (dumplings), where a fruit is incased into pate a choux filled and then poached...

Personally I am not a huge dessert eater, I like to taste it but after 1 or 2 bites I've had enough. So what usually happens is that I just have a few bites and give the rest to my girlfriend. When we are at a restaurant it's a win win, she doesn't want the guilt of ordering one for herself, but she does like�sorry LOVES dessert. I order dessert, save her the guilt, I have a couple small bites and she gets 2/3rds of a dessert to herself. Anyway, I digress, as I was saying I'm not big on dessert but whenever I make this dessert, 5 minutes into making it, the smell of the freshly roasting pecans wafting through the kitchen has me salivating and thinking about sneak...

A correct flaky, buttery and light puff pastry or “Pate feuilletee” is the most important ingredient to so many dessert and savory dishes. Preparing and baking the puff pastry takes some practice, is fairly time consuming and tedious process, but the final product will be so much more rewarding, whether you are making a vol-en-vent, mille-feuille or the famous Napoleon.

This is a great recipe for dessert after a rich or heavy meal. Unlike a simple fruit granita, it has a little more depth and also a little bit of kick thanks to the Grand Marnier and red wine. I tend to serve it in the warmer months, but if you have served a warming stew or even something spicy in the cooler months, it can be just the right way to finish the meal then as well. Due to the high alcohol content it will not hold it's frozen properties for long once out of the freezer, so it is best served and eaten right away, and as such may be better suited to smaller parties rather than large gatherings. Trust me your close friends will be glad you didn't invite too many p...

In Austria a dessert is referred to as the “Mehlspeis” or directly translated the dish/meal with flour. Personally I think very highly of Austrian desserts and pastries and certainly in terms of warm desserts there are fantastic dishes within the Austrian cuisine. The most notable and the sort of “piece de resistance” is the famed Salzburger Nockerl, a light, baked soufflé, typically served with a fresh berry compot, a fruit coulis or berry gelee enriched whipped cream. I like to serve Salzburger Nockerl when I have friends over, as they “stand” a little longer that regular soufflés and can...

This dessert is ideal to serve if you are having a large gathering. It sets in the dish or glass you serve it in and it can be prepared well ahead of time. It can be made for minimal guests as well, although due to the 3 different components it may be a bit cumbersome. Of course you could just serve more to your minimal guests in order to make it worth the effort, but beware; rich rich rich.

I know what you're thinking, didn't we see enough of this dessert in the 90's. Well yes I think we did, but no we don't see enough of it now. It went from hip to passe overnight, and I am usually the first to bid good riddance to a dish that is eaten simply because it is in fashion, but the sticky date should never have been fashionable. It is a humble dessert, a dessert that was never suited to being trendy, it's old, and it's a classic and should be treated accordingly. You don't dress your grandmother in the latest hipster jeans, off the shoulder top, Gucci sunglasses and hang with her at the latest clubs every weekend for the entire summer, no of course not. You love...

The strawberry shortcake is an American classic and if the strawberries are ripe, sweet and juicy, it makes for a great dessert. The shortcake crust can be done small for individual desserts or large as a whole cake. Alternatively shortcakes can be done with fresh peaches; bananas or any other ripe fruit in season. The crust can be easily pre-baked in the morning and assembled just before serving.

The light texture of the homemade tart shell and the natural sweetness of the strawberries, make this tart a great choice for a lovely Morning Tea or High Tea. It can even be a delicious Dessert after a dinner of heavy meats and rich sauces. If however you are enjoying it for Morning Tea, High Tea or following a not so rich meal it can be made a little more indulgent by adding some whipped or double cream on the side. This recipe uses an incredible amount of strawberries and as such I wouldn't recommend making it outside of berry season as it can get expensive.

Tiramisu is one of those dishes that is widely available as almost every restaurant serves some variation of it. Unfortunately it is this same widespread availability that means it can often disappoint. Fortunately when it is good it is sublime and it is these occasions that keep most of us coming back for more and trying it again and again. This recipe is a result of years of working with numerous other Chefs (Italian and otherwise) creating different Tiramisu’s in countless different kitchens using just as many different methods. During this time I watched, learned, tasted and most importantly listened to the customers in those places where the Tiramisu was...

The French have a name for it and the Italians have a name for it. I'm not sure who created it (and who really cares?) it tastes great, is simple to make and can turn any fruit into a rich and impressive dessert. Ok, my money is on the Italians, but if you know otherwise drop us an email.