James Martin's recipes
Charentais melon, prosciutto, wild rocket and pecorino salad
Serves 4 people
Ingredients
16 Slices Prosciutto
1 Charentais Melons
Handful Wild rocket leaves
75 ml Virgin olive oil
Maldon Sea Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
100 g Pecorino cheese
Method
1. Remove the outer skin from the melon. Cut in half and remove and discard the seeds. Slice the melon thinly and arrange on the serving plate, together with the sliced prosciutto. Wash and drain the wild rocket, and sprinkle a few leaves over the top.
2. Using a potato peeler, shave the Pecorino cheese over the salad, drizzle with olive oil and a little Maldon Sea salt before serving.
Grilled Sardines with a Raw Vegetable Salsa
Serves 2 people
Ingredients
6 medium sardines, cleaned and gutted
¼ small carrot, peeled and finely chopped
¼ red onion, peeled and finely chopped
½ red pepper, de-seeded and finely chopped
¼ fresh red chilli, de-seeded and finely chopped
½ garlic clove, peeled and finely chopped
1/8 small cucumber, finely chopped
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
juice and zest of 1 lemons
3 oz fresh chopped chives
3 oz fresh chopped coriander
Method
1. Prepare the vegetable dice and mix them all together, apart from the cucumber.
2. Put the sardines on a tray, season them and drizzle with olive oil. Place under a hot pre-heated grill and cook for 3 minutes on one side. Turn them over and cook on the other side for another 2- 3 minutes. Make sure the skin is good and crisp for maximum taste.
3. Add the cucumber dice and the juice and zest of the lemons to the diced vegetables, together with 1 tbsp of olive oil and some seasoning. Place the mix in a pan and just warm through, or sling into the microwave for a few seconds to warm it up. Don't overheat or the cucumber will go to mush!
4. Add the chopped herbs to the salsa, spoon over the hot sardines and serve.
Chocolate Truffle Cake
Ingredients
For the Sponge:
(1 x 25cm/10" chocolate vanilla sponge - Genoise or Genoese)
6 medium eggs
175g/6oz caster sugar
175g/6oz plain flour, sifted + extra for dusting
2tbsp of cocoa powder, sifted
55g/2oz unsalted butter, melted + extra for greasing
For the Rum Syrup:
85ml/3fl oz water
50g/2oz castor sugar
Rum, to taste
For the truffle mix:
450g/1lb plain chocolate, broken into small pieces
600ml/1pint double cream
4 medium egg, yolks
50g/2oz caster sugar
For the Chocolate topping:
100g/4oz good quality plain chocolate, broken into small pieces
50ml/2fl oz double cream
25g/1oz unsalted butter, softened
To Garnish:
whipped cream
sprigs of fresh mint
icing sugar
Method
To make Genoise (Genoese):
1. Pre-heat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6. Grease a 25cm/10" round cake tin and dust with flour.
2. Whisk the eggs and sugar together in a large heatproof bowl over a pan of barely simmering water until the mixture has doubled in volume and is light and creamy. Remove from the heat and continue to whisk until cold and thick. When you lift the whisk out of the mixture, the mixture should trail off the whisk in ribbons. (This is called the "ribbon stage")
3. Lightly fold in the flour and cocoa powder followed by the melted butter until evenly blended.
4. Gently pour and spread the cake mixture into the prepared tin and bake for approximately 30 minutes. Test the cake is cooked with a skewer. If it comes out clean, the sponge is ready.
5. Allow the cake to cool for 10 minutes in the tin, and then turn it out onto a wire rack.
To make the Rum Syrup:
1. Pour the water into a small saucepan and stir in the sugar until dissolved. Bring the water to the boil for 1 minute then turn off the heat and leave the syrup to cool. Add rum, to taste, making approximately 120ml/4 fl oz.
2. Using a 20cm/8" metal flan ring, cut a round of sponge out of the cooled cake. Cut the round in half horizontally. You should now have 2 x 1cm thick rounds (20cm/8") of chocolate sponge.
3. Place 1 round of sponge in the base of a 20cm/8" loose-bottomed flan tin.
4. Pour the rum syrup over the sponge and leave to soak.
To make the truffle mixture:
1. Melt the chocolate with half the cream in a large heatproof bowl over a pan of barely simmering water.
2. Meanwhile, in a separate bowl, whisk the egg yolks and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Set aside.
3. Whip the remaining cream to soft peaks and set aside.
5. Once the chocolate has melted, carefully remove from the heat and allow to cool a little.
6. Beat the egg mixture into the cooled chocolate and fold in the whipped cream.
7. Pour the truffle mixture over the top of the sponge base. Smooth the top with a palette knife and leave to set.
To make the chocolate topping:
1. Once the truffle mixture has set, melt the chocolate with the double cream in a small heatproof bowl over a pan of barely simmering water.
2. Gently stir in the butter, carefully remove from the heat and leave to cool and thicken.
3. Spread the chocolate topping evenly over the set truffle mixture.
To serve:
Cut a slice of cake with a hot clean knife then blow torch the top for a few seconds to melt it a little. Add a spoonful of whipped cream and garnish with a sprig of fresh mint and a dusting of icing sugar.
These recipes have been designed for you to cook at home and will not necessarily be available on board.
Click here to open a link to James Martin's web site, which contains more recipes.
