paul. a. young, london n1

so, you’re a foodie and someone presents you with a stilton and port chocolate truffle, what do you do? if it’s been made by paul. a. young you eat it* and hope there’s more where that came from!

 i have finally paid a visit to yorkshire choclatier paul. a. young’s shop in islington. it is a chocolate delight - a chic opulent interior with dashes of purple everywhere. incredibly helpful assistants. and best of all, superb and interesting chocolates.

i have to be honest, it wasn’t the port and stilton chocolate that drew me to the shop, it was another of paul’s specialities – his marmite and guinness truffle...

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eat the right stuff featured in delicious magazine

hello and welcome to any readers of delicious who've discovered eat the right stuff through the "blogstandard" feature in august's edition of the magazine. i hope you enjoy exploring the blog and find some recipes you'd like to try. and if you see something that piques your interest, let me know what you think - comments are hugely welcome!

below is a copy of the interview with links to help you find the recipes mentioned.

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three eggs, six yolks

yesterday, i was so excited when the three mabel pearman's burford browns that i cracked open for my cherry and almond cake each had a double yolk!

i love clarence court eggs - traditional breeds, kept in decent conditions result in fabulous tasting (and pretty) eggs. and they're stocked widely so you have no excuse for not trying them!

as they say: "(hens are) Free to range and forage on green pasture from dawn to dusk, they lead a natural and happy life. Our birds enjoy the finest cereal based diet with a generous helping of sun drenched maize, the privacy of warm secluded nest boxes, dust baths, trees and shrubs for cover - in fact everything that every healthy hen requires for its freedom of expression and fullness of life to lay a truly Free Range Farm Fresh Egg."

i have also discovered that clarence court has a hencam - although i've yet to see a hen...

updated to add: the hens are out (they seem to like the rain) and two of the remaining three eggs were also double-yolkers!

cherry and almond cake

 

nigel slater’s kitchen diaries is one of my favourite cookery books. it’s full of stories of foodie encounters of the most casual kind. whimsical cooking based on cravings and whatever happens to be in season or in the shop that he wanders into. i find this approach to cooking incredibly liberating and while i’m not lucky enough to be able to shop daily so i could truly indulge myself, i do enjoy standing, looking into the fridge and cupboards while thinking what we could eat.

unsurprisingly this process starts before i leave the house so that i have all day to think about different options. inevitably this can cause confusion and david regularly gets exasperated as i suggest one dish which he agrees to only for me to then add two or three other ideas into the mix.

however, when it came to this cake it was an easy decision. my mum is lucky enough to have a tree laden with cherries in her garden and was looking for ideas. this coupled with a visiting friend resulted in cherry and almond cake. mum, i hope you like it!

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butter bean bruschetta

bruschetta is an obvious choice for me when thinking about starters/ appetisers when we have friends round, especially if there is a mix of likes and dislikes that need taking into account.

the obvious topping choice is tomato and basil but i tend to relegate this to final place when choosing what to do. a long-term favourite of mine involves a creamy beany spread atop the chargrilled garlicky ciabatta.

the choice of beans is not important – haricot, broad or even chickpeas all work fine. This time i chose butter beans. these were topped with parma ham, skye gyngell’s slow roasted tomatoes and some fresh basil. this is incredibly easy, store-cupboard based and delicious. if you need a change from your usual choice of bruschetta topping, give this a try.

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