Straight from the sauce

My recent ‘Retro Puddings Workshop’ at Leiths School of Food and Wine was by no means ground-breaking in content. I can already whip up fairly respectable meringues, lemon curd and profiteroles and my pastry is improving with practice. Being back at cookery school was simply an excuse to mess around for five solid hours in an industrial kitchen, gossip with fellow foodies and enjoy the wonder of prepping in a space where all your equipment is stealthily taken away, washed-up and replaced by a wonderful team of kitchen ninjas.

In terms of recipes, the most useful ideas I came away with were for a selection of simple boozy sauces, toppings and fillings.

Limoncello Cream

For spooning over sweet trifles or citrus tarts

Ingredients

  • 120ml whipping cream
  • grated zest and juice of 1/2 a large lemon
  • 1 generous tablespoon Limoncello liqueur
  • 1 tablespoon of icing sugar – optional

Instructions

  • Dump all the ingredients except the icing sugar into a bowl and whisk together until well combined and the cream has thickened nicely
  • Taste
  • Decide whether or not to add the icing sugar for a bit of sweetness

Baileys Chocolate Ganache

For filling choux pastry when freshly made or rolling into truffles when left to set in the fridge

Ingredients

  • 170g double cream
  • 170g chocolate (75% cocoa solids or more), chopped
  • 3 tablespoons Baileys Irish Cream
  • 3 drops of vanilla extract

Instructions

  • Pour the cream into a small saucepan and heat through gently
  • All the cream comes to the boil, remove the pan from the heat and stir in the chocolate and Baileys
  • Stir until the chocolate melts
  • Thoroughly mix in the vanilla and then leave the mixture to cool completely (unless you want to use the ganache as an icing, rather than a filling, in which case, you will need to use the mixture while it is still warm enough to work with)

Chambord Raspberry Sauce

For drizzling on cheesecake or ice-cream or layering in a Vicky sponge or pouring over pancakes (basically this sauce is altogether quite brilliant!)

Ingredients

  • 220g raspberries
  • 3 tablespoons Chambord Liquer

Instructions

  • Pop the raspberries into a small saucepan and bring to the boil
  • Add the Chambord and boil to reduce to a thick puree
  • Push through a sieve and leave to cool

Cookery School

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