Monday 23 January 2012

a chocolate pot day

We've just had a lovely weekend with old friends coming to stay. Jenny, Phil, Dave and Bridget  arrived from the West Country on Friday night and we did nothing but laugh,eat,drink lots of prosecco and wine,plus go on some long walks.

Normally I  suppose I'm rather a slapdash cook, I usually forget to buy one vital ingredient which is frustrating when I live three and a half miles from the nearest shop.So this weekend, I was highly organised...which stunned everyone (including me) ..and it was such a relaxing weekend.

I'd cooked for the rather filthy weather...rainy , cold and blustery. Warming casseroles and boozy crumbles, homemade soups and the like which went down well....what I call homey food. The sort of food that you can put on the table and everyone can dive in .

Now there's nothing I like more than delving into cookery books ..I adore cookbooks..I've got quite a few and I'm such an easy person to buy a prezzie for. OOH, a cookbook....thank you! But I'm no Masterchef or Cordon Bleu cook.

However this is the book that I use time and time again...for the tried and tested , the recipes that never ever fail ....as well as the ones which I can adapt easily when I do forget that vital ingredient!



It's full of handwritten recipes I've scrounged from family and friends and old family favourites which haven't been written down before.

This was the pudding I made on Saturday night....






As you can see from the date, I've been making this since 1994 - it's so easy and everyone likes it. Dot is my friend who lives a couple of houses away from me.Now she is a cordon bleu cook...and can knock up anything from a the perfect souffle for two, to a hunt tea for a hundred.She's amazing...and I 'm planning at some stage to  lock her in her own  kitchen , chain her to the aga and refuse to let her out again until she teaches me some of her skills and more of her recipes.

Anyway, I decided to make these chocolate pots for Saturday evening.After all, what could go wrong? Well, there was just one small problem - I couldn't find the little glass pots that I serve them in. I couldn't find enough little ramekin dishes either. Now I'm not blaming Mr Thinking of the Days -but he has been reorganising my kitchen cupboards recently!

 While I was frantically scanning the kitchen  for them and mouthing a few expletives ....Jenny pointed out my expresso cups and saucers.So that's what I used...




 I added some of the shortbread biscuits I'd made on the Friday on the side too. I haven't done that before either. but I will from now on....So here's chocolate pots ....in cups

Ingredients

8 ounces dark bitter choclate
1oz butter, cut into pieces
4 eggs
2-4oz of ordinary chocolate

Method

1.Break the chocolate into a bowl and melt in the microwave for a minute or two.

2.Seperate the eggs.When the chocolate has melted , beat in pieces of the butter and the egg yolks.

3.Whip up the egg whites until stiff and fold gently into the chocolate mixture.

4. Ladle into small glass pots , ramekin dishes or even expresso cups (!) and put in the fridge for a couple of hours.

And that's it.....so easy....and you don't have to add ordinary milk chocolate either.Much richer flavour if you don't. You choose!

And this post's track....It's "End of the Movie"from Stornaway...... I love this band -interviewed them back in 2010, and adore their album Beachcombers Windowsill.Played it on the i pod on Saturday night and now Dave does too....

3 comments:

  1. I love cookery books too even though I probably use them less than you do! That chocolate pot looks great in the cup and saucer with the yummy (I know cause I've tasted them) biscuits on the side.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow, those chocolate pots/cups sound delicious! Will have to try make them someday soon! And I love your recipe book! Just came across your blog - it's great!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Clare.....do try the chocolate pots...hope you like them. And thanks for the comments and following the blog!

    ReplyDelete