Ingredients

200g Ripe Bananas

200g Single Cream

130g Caster Sugar

50g  Dark Rum

Method

Blend the bananas, rum & sugar until smooth.

Add the single cream and only blend for a few seconds.

Put the mixture in an ice-cream maker and churn until set.  It should only take about 20 minutes so you can eat it straight away or put it in the freezer until later.

If you don’t have an ice-cream maker, put the mixture in a tub and into the freezer.  Take it out and stir approximately every half an hour.  It will take at least ½ day so allow lots of time! 

Top Tip:   Make sure your bananas are good and ripe before you make this.  If you’ve got children you can swap the Rum for raisins (add approximately 100g to the blender).  Slice some fresh bananas on top to serve – delicious! 

Enjoy!  Any questions just leave a comment and I’ll help you out

Thierry Laborde

Ingredients

1 egg yolk

125g mascarpone cheese

125g double cream

35g caster sugar

2 sponge fingers

2 shots espresso coffee

Cocoa powder

Method

Mix the egg yolk and sugar together with a whisk, add the cheese and whisk until well combined.  Gradually add the cream until you achieve the right consistency – like whipped cream, not too stiff though!

In a wine glass or trifle dish, place a spoon of the cream mixture.  Dip the sponge fingers in the coffee and arrange on top of the cream, spoon more mix over the top and finish by dusting the cocoa powder over the top.  Refrigerate for 20 minutes to set.

Top Tip:  use very bitter coffee for the best flavour

Look forward to hearing what you think

Thierry Laborde

Cooking the crab: 

Serves 1

500g Fresh whole crab

Celery

Peppercorns

Rock Salt

Bring a pan of water to the boil.  Throw in a head of celery, peppercorns and a handful of rock salt.  Put the crab in and boil for 10 minutes (make sure the pan is full enough with water and covering).  Take the crab out of the water and leave to cool down.

Mayonnaise:

Serves 4

3 egg yolks

1tbls Dijon mustard

25ml white wine vinegar

125ml olive oil

125ml vegetable oil

4 cloves of garlic (optional)

Salt & pepper

Whisk the egg yolk, mustard and vinegar together until smooth.  Then very slowly pour in the oil, still mixing, until you reach a nice thick consistency.  Stir in the crushed garlic.

Top Tip:  When you take the crab out of the water – do not try to cool it down quickly  in cold water as the shell will just absorb the water and make the white crab meat very soggy.  And when making the mayonnaise make sure you pour the oil very slowly or the mixture will curdle.

I hope you enjoy this and I look forward to hearing what you think

Thierry Laborde

This week I thought you might like to try my Creme Vichyssoise, a popular soup, this must be served very cold.  If you have no chicken stock in the fridge, you can make the Vichyssoise entirely with water.

Serves 6

Ingredients

700g  Leeks

350g  Onions

350g  Potatoes

750ml  Water

750ml  Chicken Stock

400ml  Double Cream

50g  Butter

2tbls  Snipped Chives

Salt

Method

Trim, wash and finely chop the leeks – keeping only the white parts and the first 2.5cm of the green parts. 

Peel, wash and finely chop the onions.

Peel the potatoes and cut them into large even-sized chunks.

Melt the butter in a saucepan and gently sweat the leeks and onions.  Add the water, chicken stock and potatoes and leave to simmer for 20 minutes.  Add the cream and cook for a further 5 minutes.

Puree the mixture in a blender or food processor, and then run through a sieve into a bowl set over crushed ice.  Stir the soup gently from time to time and season with salt. 

Sprinkle over the chives just before serving.

Top Tip:  Make sure this soup is very cold before serving, so prepare in advance to allow enough time for chilling.  If you’d like to know how to make a delicious chicken stock, please send me an email.

Look forward to hearing what you think

Thierry Laborde

Such a simple concoction of ingredients that creates an amazingly light but powerful and mouth-watering taste– I’d love you to try this out on your friends and family. 

This dressing goes wonderfully with beef, tuna, salmon or even a vegetable stir-fry:

Ingredients

25g  black beans

50g  shallots

25g  ginger

½     garlic clove

80ml  olive oil

70ml  soy

Mirin & freshly ground pepper to taste

Method

Cut the black beans in half (individually).  Finely chop the shallots, ginger and garlic and mix well with the rest of the ingredients.  Season to taste.

Top Tip:  Make sure the black beans are only chopped roughly.  If you chop them too fine, they will release bitterness and the whole dressing will taste wrong!

One of the starters on my Come Cook with Me – The Michelin Star Way  master class is ‘Organic Seared Salmon with Sesame Seeds, Black bean Dressing’ so if you’d like to see how it’s done please email Clare for details on the dates and menus (or you can click here).

Look forward to hearing what you think

Thierry Laborde

Serves 4

Ingredients

1.5kg ripe tomatoes

2 cloves garlic, peeled

Breadcrumbs (4 slices of day old bread, crusts off )

1 green bell pepper

1 medium cucumber

200ml extra virgin olive oil

1 ½ tbsp sherry vinegar

200ml ice water

Method

Slice the tomatoes.  Mash the garlic in a mortar & pestle with a good pinch of salt (or you can use a food processor). 

Soak the breadcrumbs in a little cold water.  Peel the cucumber and cut into large chunks.  Squeeze as much water as you can out of the breadcrumbs, add to the mortal & pestle and combine with the garlic and salt.  Place the breadcrumbs, garlic and tomatoes in the food processor and puree.

Add the pepper and cucumber and keep mixing until smooth.

Gradually add the olive oil, then the vinegar.  Add the ice water little by little until you have the desired consistency.  Taste and add more vinegar and/ salt if needed.

Place in the fridge to chill before serving. 

Gazpacho is sometimes served with a garnish of finely chopped cucumber, tomato, green pepper, onion, croutons, or lobster (my personal favourite!)

Top Tip:  Plan in advance to allow lots of chilling time before you serve.  Never add ice cubes to Gazpacho to chill it as it’ll just end up diluting it.

Try filling little shot glasses of chilled Gazpacho as an impressive canapé at your next party

Any questions please leave me a comment and I’ll get back to you ASAP.  I look forward to hearing what you think,

Thierry Laborde

A delicious dessert popular with all the family and also a dinner party winner…bonus too that you can make it in advance.

Serves 4

Ingredients

140g 70% extra bitter chocolate

30g butter

4 egg whites

5 egg yolks

50ml double cream

1tbsp caster sugar

2tsps vanilla essence

6tbsp icing sugar

Method

Melt the chocolate and butter in a bowl over a pan of barely simmering water.  Make sure the bowl doesn’t touch the water or it will burn the chocolate.  Remove the bowl of chocolate from the pan and heat once melted.

Whisk the egg yolks with the caster sugar and vanilla essence until light and fluffy.  Add this to the chocolate mixture.  Gently whip the cream and stir into the mixture.

In a clean bowl whisk the egg whites, and slowly add the icing sugar until the mixture becomes hard and white (if you turn the bowl upside down it should hold!)

Using a metal spoon fold the egg whites into the chocolate mixture, careful not to lose too much of the air.

Allow the mousse to set in the fridge for at least 3-4 hours (or even over night)

Top Tip:  Make sure you buy extra bitter chocolate for the best, intense flavour.

Look forward to hearing what you think

Thierry Laborde

Serves 6

Ingredients

1kg Fresh Tuna

1 sprig of thyme

1tbsp coriander seeds

1tsp dried oregano

1 small chilli

6-8 tbsp lemon juice

125ml white wine

4tbsp olive oil

2tbls Soy Sauce

Salt & Pepper

Method

For the marinade:  shred the thyme and crush the coriander seeds with a pestle & mortar or with the back of a spoon.  Mix these with the oregano and diced chilli in a deep dish, large enough to fit the tuna in.  Season to taste with salt & pepper.  Mix in the lemon juice, white wine & olive oil.

Add the tuna, and turn in the marinade.  Cover and leave in the fridge for approximately 1 hour.

To Cook:  Preheat a non stick frying pan.  Drain the tuna and cook for 2 minutes on each side.  Remove from the heat, cover and leave to stand for 5 minutes before serving. 

The cooking time will vary depending on the thickness of the steaks.

Top Tip:  Make sure you buy grade A tuna – shiny and extremely red.  Do not overcook it or it’ll be tough and dry.  I’d recommend you try this on the BBQ this summer too – delicious!

Look forward to hearing what you think

Thierry Laborde

For those of you who are new to The Kitchen, here’s a little background…

I used to be head chef at Le Gavroche under Albert Roux, trained at the three Michelin star Louis XV under Alain Ducasse, and then went on to win critical acclaim and my own Michelin star at L’Oranger after opening Spoon at the Sanderson Hotel.  I opened The Kitchen of Parsons Green with my business partner Natalie Richmond in 2008 – a unique cookery school and make-away where I run very personal, practical master classes with my great team of chefs.

I’m inviting you to ask me any questions about my recipes or even other random culinary queries you may have.

My Thai Green Curry recipe below is definitely the most popular dish we’ve had on our Make-Away menu at The Kitchen so I hope you enjoy making it from scratch!

Serves 1-2

Ingredients:

1 medium onion, chopped

2 sticks lemongrass, chopped

4 kaffir lime leaves

3 pieces of galangal, in half

1 tsp green chilli paste

400ml coconut milk

Salt & pepper

Method:

Finely chop the onion and fry on a medium to high heat in a large saucepan.  Slice the lemongrass in half and add to the pan.  Cut the galangal against the grain of its root and add to the pan, add the lime leaves and fry everything, do not worry if the mixture starts to stick to the bottom of the pan.  After 15 minutes add the green chilli paste and turn the heat down, fry for a further 5 minutes and then add the coconut milk.  Reduce the heat and simmer until the sauce thickens.

Remove the large pieces of lemongrass etc from the sauce and blend until smooth, pass through a sieve to get rid of any remaining lumps.

Top Tip:  The longer you leave the sauce to simmer the more flavours will be released.

Any questions please post a comment below.

I look forward to hearing from you!

Thierry Laborde

Chocolate Truffles

Ganache

227g     dark chocolate

180g     cream

28g       butter

Mince Pies

Pastry

100g     Caster Sugar

225g     Butter

350g     Plain Flour

Mince Meat

100g     raisins

100g     currants

20g       chopped candied peel

1              peeled, cored & chopped apple

½         lemon zest

½         orange zest

50g       brown sugar

Nutmeg

Clove

Cinnamon

20g       chopped beef suet

Brandy or Rum

We have some spaces left on our Stuffing’s & Cranberry Sauce class tomorrow and also the Chocolate Log & Truffles session so give Clare a call if you’d like to book (020 7736 8067)

See you soon,

Jimi