I like to think that this recipe fits somewhere between all of them. It’s made with a focaccia dough that’s so fluffy and airy and the bake gets such a beautiful golden crust. Toppings can be changed but for me, this is the best way to do it.

Full video is on my Instagram for reference:

FULL VIDEO

Ingredients:

Dough

• 1kg strong white bread flour

• 5g yeast

• 20g fine salt

• 750ml warm water

• 75ml olive oil + extra for greasing tin and drizzling

Sauce:

• 1 tin of mutti finely chopped tomatoes

• 1 tbsp tomato puree

• Big pinch of fine salt

• Big pinch of sugar

• Handful of torn fresh basil

Toppings:

• 1 ball of burrata

• 1 ball of mozzarella

• Fresh basil

• A wedge of pecorino

• Spicy pepperoni slices

Hot honey:

• 100g honey

• 1tsp chilli flakes

• 10g olive oil to infuse the chilli flake with at the start

• Tiny splash of lime juice

Method:

Dough

The dough is what you want to start on first as it will need to ferment overnight. Start by mixing your flour and salt. Then mix your oil, yeast and water. Making sure to use warm water to activate the yeast and fully dissolve it into the liquids.

Add the wet to the dry and stir until a rough dough is formed. Cover with a tea towel/cloth and let rest for 20 minutes. Then fold the dough for a few minutes. Tip here: use a little bowl of water to lightly wet your hands to make folding easier.

Repeat this process 4/5 times letting it rest for 20 minutes each time. Then oil a tin and transfer your dough into the tin, covering with a damp cloth and letting ferment in the fridge overnight.

The next day, lightly flour your surface and half the dough using a bench scraper. I used half for pizza and the other for focaccia.

Heavily oil a non stick baking tray before placing your dough covering it with oil and a few splashes of water. Stretch it out every 20 minutes until it’s light and fluffy and has gone to the edges of the tray you’re using. You can then push in with the tips of your fingers to create indents and air pockets.

Sauce

Take a saucepan on low heat and sauté off the tomato puree with some olive oil. Then add in the tinned tomatoes stirring everything to combine. Season with salt, sugar and freshly torn basil. Gently simmer for 10 minutes. Add a drizzle of olive oil too and stir in and then allow to cool.

Hot honey

Into a saucepan goes olive oil and the chilli flakes. Infuse gently for a minute or two before adding the honey and a tad more oil. Let this melt for a few minutes until the honey loosens and the texture is runny/pourable and taste for seasoning. BE CAREFUL it’s very hot! I usually add a tiny squeeze of lime or vinegar to balance things.

Id recommend doing this AFTER the pizzas baked so you don’t need to re heat it as the honey will go hard when it cools and sits there.

Baking

Make the indents into the dough to form the air pockets and lightly spread a thin layer of the sauce on top. I’d also ensure olive oil is aplenty at the bottom and sides of the tray to fry the dough making it crispy and golden brown.

Then grate your mozzarella so it is as dry as possible. Any moisture is the enemy of a deep dish pizza.

Then place down the pepperoni slices. Optional is a bit more sauce, or cheese and then sauce but I just baked mine as seen in the video.

Bake at 240c for 35 minutes or until golden brown and charred leopard spotted crusts.

Remove and cover in blobs of burrata, drizzles of hot honey, lashings of pecorino around the crust and fresh basil leafs.

This is probably the best pizza I've made without a pizza oven and the toppings/flavour combos are to die for. It’s the perfect balance of spicy, sweet, fatty richness, savoury, creamy, salty and sharp.

With the texture of the bread being so light and airy. Just look at the inside of this…

There you have it. A deep dish pizza anybody can make that is so ridiculously good.

Enjoy! :)

The Amalfi coast is famous for a lot of things and in my opinion I think their pasta dishes get overlooked. With a long standing history between the northern and southern parts of Italy, the differences in their pasta dishes are vast and for good reason.

The southern part of Italy historically was a lot poorer and needed to rely on whatever the land could provide them with for their food. So a lot of their dishes were very simple, humble and were comprised with minimal ingredients. Encompassing for me what I believe Italian food does best. Keeping things minimal and allowing the best, freshest produce to do the talking.

Courgettes are bang in season and this is certainly a dish perfect for hot summery days. So here is how to make it.

Full video is on my Instagram for reference:

FULL VIDEO

Ingredients:

• 1 green courgette

• 1 yellow courgette

• Spaghetti/Linguine

• Pecorino

• EVOO

• Fresh basil

• Salt

Method:

Courgettes

Thinly slice your courgettes. I like to use a mandolin to get the same, perfect size on each slice. However, if you aren’t comfortable or have never used one before, please just chop them! They get crisped up when fried anyway, so they will change shape regardless. A perfectly thin slice isn’t necessary.

Leave out to dry for 5 minutes so any excess moisture can escape. Grab a frying pan and fill with olive oil about 3-4cm deep. You want it deep enough to coat the slices but not too deep that the oil gets wasted.

Increase the temp and test by dropping one slice in, if it bubbles up straight away then you’re good to go. Drop the rest of the slices in and fry until golden brown. Don’t do them all at once as you don’t want to overcrowd the pan. So fry them in batches.

When frying, make sure the temperature is gradual and consistent. You don’t want it too hot or too cold. Just gently fry until golden brown before removing and placing on a paper towel.

When remove season with salt, generously. Save some of the oil for later.

Pasta

Get a pot of water and put it on the boil. When it’s a rolling boil add a good few pinches of salt. Then cook your pasta for 5-6 minutes just about al dente.

Emulsification

Take the same frying pan used earlier but empty the oil. Add a handful or two of the courgettes with a ladle of pasta water and a ladle of the oil used earlier. Gently stir to emulsify over a low heat.

Then drop in your pasta with some more pasta water. Grate in a load of pecorino and then stir. Keep stirring and tossing whilst adding more pecorino and pasta water. Do this until a sauce is forming with all the ingredients emulsifying.

Serve

To finish, use a pair of tweezers and a ladle to nicely serve onto a plate, cover with a few spoonfuls of sauce, some courgettes that weren’t used in frying and loads of pecorino. Crack some black pepper and place some fresh basil on top.

Voila! My favourite summer pasta dish.

Enjoy :)

Whenever I'm travelling or in a new place I will always try and find an ice cream spot. Gelato in Italy is the best and usually you can’t beat it. But this recipe will give it a run for its money.

It’s not a traditional flavour pairing as such and you wouldn’t typically find it on an ice cream menu. But that’s why it’s so good. The weird and wonderful ice creams are the best ones. I always try the flavours I haven’t seen before or whatever is the local speciality to the area that i’m in.

Fruity ice creams in the summer are my go to, and this is exactly that. So, here is how to make it.

Full video is on my Instagram for reference:

FULL VIDEO

I’d like to preface this by saying I made it using a Ninja Creami. And no, I am not affiliated with them I just use it to make my ice creams :)

Ingredients:

Ice cream

• 250g whole milk ricotta

• 250ml double cream

• 150ml whole milk

• 90g caster sugar

• 25g honey

• One vanilla pod (beans inside and the pod)

• Lemon zest of one lemon

• Pinch of fine salt

Cherry ripple

• 200g cherries

• 50g frozen sour cherries

• 40g caster sugar

• 2 lemons worth of juice

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• Lemon zest of one lemon

Method:

Ice Cream

It’s fairly straightforward this one. Get a large mixing bowl and add the ricotta. Mix this until smooth. Then add in the rest of your ingredients from above. One by one. Before slowly mixing together until fully combined.

Then pour into a large saucepan over a low heat to infuse all the flavours for 5 minutes. Stir gently every now and then.

Once infused, pour the mixture through a sieve to catch any unwanted bits from the vanilla pod and the pod itself. At this point you’ll be pouring the mixture into a Ninja Creami container.

Put this in the freezer overnight.

Ripple

Prep your cherries by slicing all around, twisting and pulling to reveal the pip. Remove it and set them aside.

Then into a saucepan, add your cherries and the rest of the ingredients above over a low/medium heat. You want to cook this until they become a little bit jammy but still have some bite and crunch in there. Frozen ones added later help with that textural contrast.

Let cool completely before putting in a sealed container in the fridge overnight.

Ninja Creami

Remove the ice cream container from the freezer and insert into the Ninja. Spin on ice cream mode once. Remove the lid and make a well before spooning in 3 tablespoons of the cherry mixture.

Now spin this on mix in setting, once. Before putting back in the freezer for at least a few hours.

There you have it, sour cherry and ricotta ice cream.

Enjoy! :)

Strawberries at their peak, British summertime in full flow and another heatwave on the horizon. So get your strawberries at the ready, whilst I show you how to make it properly.

The full video is on my Instagram for reference:

FULL VIDEO

Ingredients (Serves 4/5)

• A bottle of Pimm’s

• 1 lemon

• 1 lime

• 80g caster sugar

• 1 tbsp powdered/icing sugar

• 600g Strawberries

• 4 large eggs (egg whites only)

• 225g caster sugar (meringues)

• 600ml double cream (probably more than you need but always best to have spare incase you need more freshly whipped cream!)

Method:

Strawberries

Wash your strawberries. Take the tops off them and slice into halves. Then pour them into a large mixing bowl and squeeze in the juice of half a lemon and half of a lime. Then pour over half of the sugar and mix.

Next you want to pour over the Pimm’s and cover in more sugar. I always do this by eye and feel so don’t over do it with the Pimm’s, just a few glugs of it. Mix again and then set aside in the fridge to macerate. Ideally overnight but more than 3 hours works fine.

It should end up looking something like this:

Meringue

Crack 4 large eggs into a bowl and separate the whites from the yolks. Save the yolks for a custard or omelette. Whatever you fancy. The whites can then be whipped up slowly with a hand whisk whilst gradually adding the 225g sugar.

You want to whip these up until soft peaks, don’t over whip them. A great test is to get a bowl and put it upside down with the meringue inside. It shouldn’t fall out. If the test fails, the meringue wasn’t ready and you’ll have a messy kitchen haha.

Spoon out big blobs of the meringue mixture onto a baking tray that’s been lined wth greaseproof paper. It should do enough for 6 big meringues.

Pre heat your oven to 120c and bake for an hour. These are what you should be aiming for:

Cream

Now, I have written 600ml of double cream in the ingredients, but don’t use all of this at once! I like to whip up small amounts of cream in batches so it stays fresh and you can portion them out with the strawberries.

As cream goes bad quite quickly and it can melt with the heat. You can always pour half the cream in and whip it with a hand whisk slowly pouring in some icing sugar halfway through to stiffen it up. I like the cream to be at soft peaks to serve with the strawberries. But it holds the sauce better from the strawberries when its stiff peaks.

So it’s your call! Vanilla would be a nice addition with the cream too.

Serve

At this point your strawberries should be macerated, your meringues baked and cream whipped. Now dollop on some cream at the bottom of the plate. Cover in strawberries and the natural liquor they have released and crumble over some meringue.

I like to use the meringue to dip in at the end or halfway through eating to create an Eton mess situation.

Enjoy! Love Fin :)

The sun is well and truly out and the weekend is due to be a scorcher, so here is how to make it.

Full video is on my Instagram for reference:

FULL VIDEO

Ingredients (Serves 2)

• 4 apricots

• 250g Ricotta

• Two handfuls of walnuts

• Honey (for drizzling)

• 1 tsp Aleppo chilli (chilli flakes are fine)

• Balsamic glaze (Tesco do bottles of it)

• 1 lemon (zest and juice)

• 1 tbsp sugar

• Salt and pepper

• Extra virgin olive oil

Method:

Apricots

Run your knife (making sure it’s sharp) around the apricot and then grab each side. Pinch twist and pull them apart. Remove the stone in the centre and then slice into wedges.

Place the apricots into a large mixing bowl and season with sugar, salt, olive oil, chilli flakes. Mix well. Set this aside or in the fridge to allow the apricots to macerate. They’ll slowly start releasing this beautiful natural liquor that needs to be used later.

Ricotta

Empty the tub of ricotta into a large mixing bowl. Season with a tad of salt and pepper. Whip it with a whisk. Then add in the zest and juice of one lemon. Whip until it’s thickened. Put it in the fridge

Walnuts

Into a medium pan, throw two handfuls of walnuts. Toast them until they’re coloured and smoking. Then roughly chop them to use throughout the dish later.

The BBQ

Get your BBQ to a medium high heat. Then start placing down the apricots one by one and cooking until the flesh has char marks running across. You want to caramelise them and really char them so you get that smokey bbq flavour.

Do this to both sides before turning the heat down to low and brushing over the liquid that’s left in the bottom of the bowl the apricots have been sat in. Treat it as if you’re basting a steak in butter, except you’re brushing little apricot wedges with a dressing.

Serve up

Start plating by using a few heaped tablespoons of the ricotta. Sprinkle over the toasted and chopped walnuts and then drizzle over some honey. Now nicely lay out the apricots before drizzling some balsamic glaze and a tad more honey. Sprinkle over some more walnuts and you’re good to go.

Enjoy! Love Fin :)

Anyway, I got particularly giddy after posting this video of a recipe that was heavily inspired by him, to see that he had liked and reposted it himself!

So, from now on I won’t be taking any criticism hahaha - Just kidding.

In all seriousness, I think this is my favourite dessert in the world. It has everything I look for when picking a dessert from a menu. Elegance, refined yet bold flavours and a simplicity that can often be misinterpreted as boring or plain. But the flavours speak for themselves. It’s bright, sharp, punchy and incredibly moreish - It’s the best.

I’ve not got a massive sweet tooth so naturally I like fruiter desserts, often bitter or acidic with citrus so hence the lemon tart being a favourite of mine. This tart in particular is so lemony you can feel it ever so subtly at the back of your throat and dancing on the tip of your tongue - the perfect balance between sweetness and bitterness.

So here is how to make it.

Full video on my Instagram for reference:

FULL VIDEO

Ingredients

• Fresh juice of 4 lemons (120ml)

• 2 lemons for zesting

• 150g caster sugar

• 120ml double cream

• 4 large eggs (+ 1 for egg wash)

• Pinch of salt

• Short crust pastry (1 sheet of shop bought is fine)

• 200ml double cream

• 2 tbsp elderflower cordial

• Handful of green cardamom pods

• 1 tbsp icing sugar

Method:

Pastry, blind bake, tart case prep

Feel free to make your own pastry, it will be more rewarding if you can do your own sweet/short crust pastry. But to save time and effort, shop bought works perfectly.

Get a tart case with a removable base. This recipe is using a 25cm tart case. A perforated tart case used in professional kitchens is even better so if you have one of those, great.

Using the tart case as a guideline, cut out a circle shape giving enough extra pastry to fill the middle and about half a centre metre up the sides of the tray and covering the entire base. Then cut out 3 ribbons that are thick enough to line the entire circumference of the sides and all the way up to the top. Ideally so the pastry falls over the sides ensuring they’ll cover the whole wall of the tart case with any excess you can trim off later.

You can roll these out slightly to have a thinner pastry but be careful to not break it. I’d just be safe and use the thickness the pre rolled sheet as is.

Grease the tray evenly all over with a thin layer of butter and then fill with the pastry. Making sure to press into the tray and all around. Leaving no gaps or holes and ensuring the pastry is firmly in place. Score the pastry with a fork, lightly. Then using some baking beans, fill the tart. Making sure it’s lined with parchment paper. If you haven’t got baking beans, using uncooked rice and parchment paper works fine.

Heat oven to 180c and bake for 15 minutes. Then remove the beans and parchment, brush the pastry evenly and lightly all over with an egg wash and bake for another 10 minutes. Remove and let cool slightly.

Lemon filling

Get a large mixing bowl and crack in four eggs. Beat until fully mixed together. Then add your sugar and mix until fully combined. Then 120ml of double cream and mix again. Don’t over mix as this will create air bubbles. We don’t want this.

Squeeze in 120ml of fresh lemon juice (around 3-4 lemons) and the zest of two of them. Mix this until all is combined. Add a pinch of salt and mix in. Gently pour this mixture into a saucepan over a really low heat and stir until all the flavours have bloomed and infused. DO NOT scramble the eggs. Then after 5 minutes, take the mixture off the heat and into a bowl to whisk a tiny bit more to cool it down.

Pass the slightly cooled mixture through a strainer and into a jug that’s ready for you to pour into the baked tart case. Pre heat the oven to 140c before pouring the mixture into the tart case and filling it as close to the top as you can, without the risk of overspilling.

You can use a blowtorch to remove any bubbles of air that rose to the surface before baking. Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes. I baked mine for around 27 minutes. It may take a little longer if your oven is old or temperamental.

Once baked, take it out of the oven and leave in its baking tray to cool. Then leave in the fridge to set for a few hours at least. I left mine over night to fully set.

Cream

Pour out the rest of your double cream into a large mixing bowl ensuring the bowl and the cream are both cold before whipping up with an electric whisk. Whip to soft peaks. If you’re only using a small amount of cream, feel free to hand whisk as it won’t take as long. It depends on the portion size. This recipe has a lot of cream to comfortably portion out about 8 tarts with, plus some extra just in case.

In a pan throw in a handful of lightly crushed cardamom pods and a few tbsps of the elderflower cordial. Gently heat up and allow them to bloom for 2-3 minutes.

Once cooled, sieve it into the cream and slightly whip it again a little bit further so it’s a tad firmer.

Serve

Gently remove the tart out of the fridge and from its baking tray. Slice elegantly using a sharp warm knife. Quenelle or rocher the cream and serve on the side. Or if you aren’t feeling fancy, just dollop a bit on the side. It all goes down the same.

I have plenty of recipes coming out and videos on my Instagram. So please make sure you’re following on there and subscribed on here - any support is massively appreciated <3

Enjoy! Love Fin :)

But this steak sandwich is the solution to that. Chimichurri is my absolute favourite condiment to have with steak, especially with the cut I use in this recipe, bavette. It’s a match made in heaven. Along with the crispy, salty, shoe string fries - it’s a combo worthy of being sandwiched between soft ciabatta.

So here is the full recipe with some tips and tricks on how to nail it. Making sure the steak is cooked perfectly .

Full video for reference is on my Instagram:

FULL VIDEO

Ingredients:

• Bavette steak

• Maris piper/King Edward Potatoes

• 1 red chilli

• 1 shallot

• 3 garlic cloves

• Fresh parsley (handful)

• Fresh coriander (handful)

• Fresh oregano (handful)

• Red wine vinegar 4/5 tbsp

• Extra virgin olive oil 4/5 tbsp

• Dried oregano 1 tsp

• (Optional chilli flakes 1tsp for some extra heat)

• Maldon salt

• Pepper

• Ciabatta

Method:

Chimichurri

I like to do the chimichurri first as it gives it time to rest so the flavours can fully bloom whilst I prep the other elements.

Finely dice everything, the garlic, shallot, chilli, herbs and then dowse over the vinegar and olive oil. Season with plenty of good quality flakey salt and some black pepper.

Mix well with a spoon and taste, too sharp? Then add more olive oil and a pinch of salt. Too salty? Add some more vinegar. You also want to make sure the sauce isn’t dry, so use enough of the vinegar and oil so the herbs are all coated and it’s shimmering.

Set this aside, ideally in the fridge and allow to rest.

Steak

Okay so the steak. Get it up to room temperature first. As it does it’ll start sweating out the excess moisture. Pat dry and salt on all sides. Let this rest until it’s at room temp or for about half an hour before you even start cooking it.

The salt should draw out even more moisture, so feel free to pat dry again and re season. Moisture on the surface of any steak will make it harder to achieve that golden crust sear.

Pre heat a pan ripping hot. Ideally cast iron or carbon steel. Stainless works too if you know how to use it. Use a high smoke oil, ideally a neutral oil. Or even beef tallow. Algae cooking oil is a great option. To be honest, any oil you have to hand is fine.

Let this get hot before laying the steak away from you and place a steak weight on top. If you don’t have a steak weight just use a saucepan and anything to help weigh it down, like another pot or something.

A bavette can be easy to mess up when cooking as if it’s overcooked or not rested properly it can become chewy. So cook it hard and fast. 2-3 mins on the first side MAX before flipping and cooking for another 1 min before adding butter and basting for the last 2 mins with some garlic and thyme.

If you have a thermometer probe then great. Aim for an internal temp of 52-54c. Then take out and LET IT REST. This part is crucial. The steak will continue to cook and reach a 57c medium rare.

Fries

Slice your potatoes into discs and then julienne them into match stick fry sizes. Get them into a bowl and cover with water to wash off any starch. Once the water runs clear take out the potatoes and dry them.

Make sure they’re properly dry before frying as if not, they won’t crisp up properly. You can even freeze them before frying as this gets them super crispy.

Using vegetable oil fill up a saucepan and heat the oil. Test whether it’s ready for frying by using the end of a spoon handle. If little bubbles form then it’s ready to fry. Do them in batches so you don’t overcrowd the pan and get them into a big bowl. Seasoning with salt and tossing them as they’re hot out of the oil.

Assemble and serve

I used a ciabatta which you can lightly toast in the same pan you used for the steaks. Lay down a generous few tablespoons of your chimichurri onto the bottom slice.

Then once properly rested, slice your steak AGAINST the grain into thin strips. Layer this on top. Stack on your fries before drizzling over some more chimichurri.

Voila - the perfect steak sandwich.

Enjoy, love Fin :)

Light, fresh and zingy. With all the greens in peak season, it’s the best time to be using as many of them as you can in your pasta dishes. This is one of my favourite ways to do so.

Full video for reference on my Instagram:

FULL VIDEO

Ingredients:

• Conchiglia pasta shells

• Frozen peas

• Two handfuls of spinach

• 1 lemon (zest and half for the juice)

• 250g ricotta

• Handful of fresh mint

• Handful of fresh parsley

• Pecorino / Parmigiano

• 1 garlic clove

• Salt and pepper

• Extra virgin olive oil

Method:

Ricotta

Empty out the tub of ricotta into a large mixing bowl. With a fork, whisk until smooth and fully broken down. Then set aside. Finely chop parsley and add it in. Grate in one garlic clove, the zest of one lemon and squeeze in half the lemons juice. Then season liberally with salt, pepper and a good glug of EVOO.

Pasta, greens, peas and puree

Heavily salt boiling water before cooking your conchiglia until al dente. This is important so the pasta can hold its shape and not break apart when being filled with the ricotta mix.

Whilst the pasta is cooking, have a bowl of ice cold water on the side to put the pasta straight into once cooked. This immediately stops the cooking process. Let the pasta dry whilst moving onto the greens.

Repeat this process for the spinach and the peas. Ensuring any melted ice is topped up and replenished. This keeps the greens extra vibrant and preserves the chlorophyll which ensures a bright green colour.

Set aside your ingredients ready for filling the pasta shells and making the puree. Into a blender add half of the peas, the spinach, grated pecorino/parmesan, fresh mint, olive oil and salt. Blitz into a puree that isn’t silky smooth throughout. The texture is nice.

Take the remaining peas and char them in a sieve over a bbq or an open flame, season them with salt and olive oil. You want them to be slightly blistered and charred for the smokey flavour.

Filling and finishing touches

Take each pasta shell and scoop in the filling using a small spoon and palate knife to evenly spread the filling into each shell.

Once all the pasta is filled you are ready to eat! On a plate, place a few large tbsp’s of the puree. Then elegantly place your filled pasta shells on top.

Dress with some EVOO and the charred peas. Grate on some more cheese if you’d like, if not just dig in. Either way they are both FIRE.

Enjoy! Love Fin :)

With just 5 main ingredients, it doesn’t take a lot to put together. Just some focus and patience. Perfect for a dinner party or just to impress a couple of mates. It’s an absolute delight.

Full video for reference on my Instagram:

FULL VIDEO

Ingredients:

• 500ml whole milk

• 250ml double cream

• 150g egg yolks

• 110g caster sugar

• 335g 70% dark chocolate

Method:

Milk and cream

Get a saucepan and pour in the milk and cream. Gently heat this for 2-3 mins with an optional splash of vanilla extract. Stir gently whilst doing so. Once infused and combined, set aside to rest for a second.

Eggs and sugar

Into a large mixing bowl go the eggs. Beat these until fully combined and smooth. Then add in the sugar and whisk them together until the two are fully combined.

Bit by bit add the milk and cream to the eggs and sugar whilst mixing vigorously. DO NOT scramble the eggs. Once half the milk and cream mixture is added keep mixing. Then add it all in and put it back on the heat.

Now gently stir back and forth being careful not to create any air bubbles. Heat this mixture until it gets to 82c degrees. Once it gets there, take it off the heat.

Chocolate

Break up all of your chocolate into smallish pieces into a big bowl. Then pour over your anglaise and stir, stir, stir. This will gradually melt the chocolate and emulsify them with the eggs, sugar, milk and cream into a thick glossy chocolate liquid.

Once fully smooth and incorporated, pour it into a container and tightly wrap with clingfilm. Then into the fridge to set, ideally overnight.

Serve

Using a warm spoon, take a nice portion out of the set mousse the next day and put it onto a plate. Top with a proper glug of extra virgin olive oil and good quality flakey salt.

Enjoy! Love Fin :)

For my version, I’ve taken a small detour from tradition and swapped the pasta for chickpeas, giving the dish a different texture while keeping all the flavours that make Amatriciana so special.

Full video for reference on my Instagram:

FULL VIDEO

Ingredients (serves 3)

• Guanciale 200g

• Pecorino romano 180g

• Black peppercorns 1tsp

• Chilli flakes 1tbsp

• Bold bean co queen chickpeas (570g jar)

• Mutti tinned tomatoes

Method:

Guanciale

Cut your guanciale up into small chunks and put them into a cold pan. Turn the heat on to a medium level and gently cook the guanciale, rendering the fat so they slowly crisp up and caramelise. Releasing all their flavour in the process.

Once golden brown, remove from the pan and save for later. But do NOT throw away the remaining liquid and contents of the pan. This is flavour gold.

Peppercorns and chilli flakes

Throw the peppercorns and chilli flakes into a frying pan to toast until you can smell their aroma and are slightly smoking. Then grind them down into a coarse powder with a pestle and mortar.

The sauce

Using the same pan as the guanciale with all the leftover flavour and fat in, pour in your tinned tomatoes, squeezing them until pureed and into a smoothish sauce. Add in 3/4 of the guanciale. Season with the chilli and peppercorn mixture. Grate in some pecorino too.

Chickpeas

Empty all of the chickpeas into the sauce. Turn the heat right down and keep mixing. Mix until the sauce is all emulsified with the chickpeas. Adding pecorino, more chilli and pepper whilst stirring consistently.

Serve

Pour out onto a bowl or a plate and cover in more guanciale bits and pecorino. It’s such an easy recipe but so, so good.

Enjoy! Love Fin :)

Full video for reference on my Instagram:

FULL VIDEO

Ingredients (serves 3)

• Asparagus 4/5 stalks (1.5 pp)

• Pecorino romano 180g

• Black peppercorns

• Bold bean co white beans (570g jar)

  ---

Method:

Asparagus

Prep your asparagus by chopping the woody ends and then removing some of the leafy bits on the stem. You can even use a peeler to peel the bottom third of the stem. Slice into pieces with a diagonal edge for elegance. Maybe 4/5 pieces per whole asparagus.

Get a pot of boiling heavily salted water and once it’s on a rolling boil, cook the asparagus for no more than 20 seconds. Remove and put straight into a bowl of icey cold salted water. This preserves the greenness, keeps them fresh and immediately stops the cooking process.

Set aside for garnishing.

White beans

Remove the beans from the jar and set aside. Add some water into the jar and shake it so the contents form a starchy liquid like pasta water. This is the base of your sauce.

Toast off your black peppercorns in a pan before grinding with a pestle and mortar into a coarse powder. Grate a mountain of pecorino and set aside.

Then get a deep edge pan (ideally a saucier) and pour in a few tablespoons worth of the liquid. Gently simmer this with the pecorino rind and some black pepper to infuse it with. Once this has simmered for a few minutes add the white beans. Then bit by bit keep adding more of the liquid, more pecorino and more pepper. Until the consistency thickens into a beautiful sauce.

Make sure to do this gradually, so the cheese emulsifies into the liquid and the beans don’t burn or overcook and become mushy.

Serve

Pour the contents straight out of the pan into a shallow bowl and finish with the black pepper and asparagus slices.

This genuinely should take less than 10 minutes. It’s so easy but so rewarding.

Enjoy! Love Fin :)

This is how it should be done: a wall-to-wall pink, medium-rare fillet of beef with a punchy, rich peppercorn sauce, served with a seasonal twist, tempura asparagus.

Full video for reference on my instagram:

FULL VIDEO

Ingredients:

• Fillet of beef 180-200g

• Fresh thyme

• Fresh rosemary

• Fresh chives

• 50g cold butter

• 3 garlic cloves

• 2 shallots

• 5 spears of asparagus

• 3 tbsp plain flour

• 1/2 tbsp cornflour

• 1 bottle of sparkling water

• Maldon Salt (good flakey salt)

• Green peppercorns in brine

• Black peppercorns

• 3 frozen bone broth cubes from Borough Broth

• 50ml double cream

• 50ml brandy

Method:

Steak

First things first make sure your steak is at room temp. So take it out of the fridge at least half an hour before cooking. Pat dry and season liberally with ground down peppercorns and good quality flakey salt.

Optional step but with a fillet, I like to tie string or butchers twine around the outside to keep the steak fairly circular and in shape whilst cooking.

You want to approach this cook slightly differently to the way you would cook a sirloin or a ribeye. So pre heat your pan as normal, add your oil and let that heat up too. Then sear (ideally with a steak weight) but not as hard as you’d sear a sirloin or a ribeye.

Do this for 2 minutes before 5-8 seconds on the outer sides of the steak. Then flip and cook the other side, before adding thyme, rosemary, garlic cloves and shallots. Baste consistently for another 2 minutes with the butter ensuring it’s foaming and the bubbles are coating the steak with each baste.

For medium rare you want to aim for an internal temp of 48c. When it hits that, take it out of the pan and rest on a wire rack. Pour over the cooking juices, butter and herbs and let rest. It’ll rise to 51c whilst resting.

Do not cut the steak, you want to rest it for at least double even triple the amount of time it took to cook. This ensures an evenly cooked centre and also a more tender bite.

Sauce

Using the fond from the pan that the steak has been seared in add a bit of olive oil, diced shallots, diced garlic, green peppercorns and some brine from the peppercorns. Using the back of a wooden spoon (I use stainless steel pans so can use metal spoons - just use whatever suits your pan) gradually scrape the fond off before de glazing with a good few glugs of brandy.

Flambé and reduce before adding beef stock. I used the frozen beef broth cubes from borough broth. 3 of them. Reduce before adding double cream, freshly chopped chives and seasoning again with salt and pepper to taste.

Asparagus

Prep your asparagus by taking the woody ends off and then peeling down from half way mark of the stem. Make sure they’re dry before lightly coating in flour.

Mix flour, cornflour and salt lightly. Before adding really cold sparkling water. Stir whilst adding the water using chopsticks or a fork. Make sure to not overstep as the tempura batter should have lumps in it.

Have the oil already hot in a shallow frying pan. This all needs to be done quickly for the perfect tempura. So into the flour, then into the wet batter and then straight into the oil.

Fry until golden brown. You may need to flip them too so both sides are coated and fried.

Optional step but you can do the same thing with the peeled asparagus skin for some crispy little bits.

Time to dig in, enjoy!

Love Fin :)

Full video for reference on my Instagram:

FULL VIDEO

Before you get started you’re going to need some ramekins. There isn’t a specific size that you need, as long as they look something like this:

Obviously, the size of your ramekins will affect how many you get from this recipe. Just make the batch and fill as many as you can — I managed three crème caramels with mine.

Ingredients:

• 250g caster sugar

• 1 vanilla pod

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• 200g whole milk

• 100g double cream

• 2 whole eggs

• 3 egg yolks

• Pinch of good salt

• Ramekins

Method:

Custard

In a large bowl, crack in 2 whole eggs and 3 egg yolks. Add 50g of the sugar and stir until smooth and the sugar has dissolved.

In a deep saucepan, gently heat the milk and cream. Split the vanilla pod, scrape out the seeds, and add both the seeds and pod to the pan along with the vanilla extract.

Warm gently to infuse — don’t let it boil. Once warmed through, remove the vanilla pod and slowly pour the mixture through a sieve into the eggs and sugar, whisking constantly.

It’s important to add the hot mixture little by little while whisking to avoid scrambling the eggs.

Stir in a small pinch of salt and set the custard aside.

Caramel

Add the remaining sugar to a cold, dry saucepan. Place over medium heat and leave it alone — don’t stir. As the sugar melts, it will start to turn golden and then amber.

If needed, you can add a tiny splash of water to loosen it, but be careful as it will bubble aggressively.

Have your ramekins ready, as caramel sets quickly once off the heat.

Pour a thin layer into each ramekin, just enough to lightly coat the base (around 0.5cm or less). Carefully pour the custard on top, leaving about 1cm space from the rim.

Bain Marie

A bain-marie is simply a water bath. It’s a gentle cooking method where the ramekins sit in hot water so the custard cooks evenly without splitting.

Place the filled ramekins into a deep baking tray. Pour in hot water until it comes about two-thirds of the way up the sides of the ramekins.

Use a blowtorch to remove any of those air bubbles on the surface you can see in the photo above (I forgot lol). Bake gently at 90°C for about 45 minutes. The custard should be just set with a slight wobble in the centre.

To serve

Once baked, carefully remove the ramekins from the bain-marie. While still warm, run a palette knife gently around the edge of each custard, going all the way down to the base to loosen it.

Place a small plate over the ramekin, then flip it quickly so the plate is underneath. Give it a gentle shake and the crème caramel should slide out, with the caramel flowing over the top.

And voilà — a perfectly set, silky crème caramel.

Enjoy! Love Fin :)

I especially love serving it at a barbecue — it complements those smoky, cooked-over-fire flavours beautifully. Paired with some zingy, roasted vegetables and you’ve got a combination that feels effortless but complete.

My version is rich, smooth, and creamy, topped with crispy shallots, pomegranate, and sesame seeds. It’s made for dunking — especially with warm pita bread.

Full video for reference on my Instagram:

FULL VIDEO

Ingredients:

Serves 2-3

• 1 jar of Queen Chickpeas from bold bean co

• 2 shallots

• 3 cloves of garlic

• 1 lemon freshly squeezed

• 2 tbsp tahini

• 3/4 ice cubes

• Sesame oil

• Olive oil

• Neutral oil for emulsifying

• Flakey salt (to finish)

• Sesame seeds (to finish)

• Pomegranate seeds (to finish)

Method:

Chickpeas

Now, there are two ways of doing this. I dry my chickpeas out and peel away as many skins as possible. I then season with olive oil and salt and roast in the oven at 200c for about 30 minutes. This is to intensify the flavour, but it does make it harder to get the smooth texture as the chickpeas harden when roasted.

I’d recommend skipping this step to ease the faff. Instead pour them into a blender with half the jars liquid and blitz until smooth. Add the juice of a whole lemon, grate in 3 garlic cloves, 2 tbsp of tahini and a drizzle of both sesame and olive oil. Season with salt. Carry on blending.

The consistency should be fairly smooth at this point but and not too thick. With consistency think: Too loose, add more dry and too dry add more wet. So you can add more chickpeas and tahini to thicken or add a splash of water to loosen.

Emulsify

Slowly drizzle in a neutral oil (vegetable oil) whilst blending, simultaneously. This emulsifies the fats and water into a beautiful hummus. At this stage, I like to add 3/4 cubes of ice. It helps to achieve that light and fluffy texture whilst making it creamier too.

Set aside whilst you prep the toppings.

Shallots

I carefully use a mandolin to slice the shallots into perfect circles for frying. This is dangerous and only recommended to those that know how to use one properly! I then submerge them into a saucepan of hot neutral oil to gently fry until golden brown.

Make sure the oil isn’t too hot as the shallots will burn quickly.

Serve

I always use a piping bag as you get this nice effect when squeezing out the hummus. Almost like a tower of hummusy goodness to present your dip. Generously cover in your crispy shallots, pomegranate and sesame seeds.

Finish with a drizzle of good quality olive oil and flakey salt. A lashing of grated parmesan works wonderfully here too.

Dig in!

Enjoy. Love Fin :)

I’ve had people commenting things like “I thought it was garlic!” or “Looks like gnocchi.” But, they are in fact, butter beans.

Through pure technique and principle this recipe works. It has the same viscosity and mouthfeel as a carbonara, whilst also delivering flavour profile wise. Plus you get the health benefits of a nutritionally denser meal than your typical carbonara, with lots of fibre and protein from the beans. What’s not to love?

So, here it is…

Full video for reference on my Instagram:

FULL VIDEO

Ingredients:

(Serves 3/4)

• 1 whole egg

• 3 egg yolks

• A load of pecorino (200g)

• Large handful of peppercorns

• 570g jar of Bold Bean Co’s butter beans

• 250g Guanciale

• If you can’t get guanciale, get the best quality bacon lardons you can find!

Method:

Eggs, cheese and black peppercorns.

Crack 4 eggs into a bowl, using one whole egg and 3 yolks. Whisk until smooth. Then, grate in the majority of your pecorino, about 50 grams at a time. Whisking with a fork as you go and ensuring the mixture is as smooth as can be.

Now set this aside until the next crucial step. Take a large handful of peppercorns and put them into a frying pan. Toast gently over a medium heat until you can start to smell the peppery aroma.

Pour into a pestle and mortar and grind it down. Not to a smooth powder. You still want some bite from the slightly cracked peppercorns. So aim for a coarse texture here.

Guanciale

Slice your guanciale into strips about an inch long and a cm wide. Doesn’t have to be this specific to be honest, it’s just how I like mine. Just keep in mind they will reduce in size once rendered down.

Take a cold pan and put your sliced guanciale in. No oil. Turn the heat on and slowly render the fat from the guanciale. Do this over a low/medium flame. You want to get as much flavour as possible from these porky bits of goodness without burning them. So low and slow is the trick.

Once golden in colour and the fat has been sucked out from the heat, take your guanciale out, but keep all the oil/residue left in the pan. Set the guanciale aside and pour the remnants of oil into the cheesy egg mixture. Whisking quickly and constantly so it doesn’t scramble the eggs. To stop it from scrambling, i’d wait for the oil to cool down a touch before pouring it in and add it little by little.

Butter beans

Bold Bean Co beans are brilliant. They are all cooked in the jar which means the liquid remaining in the jar is basically a wonderfully delicious stock. The bean liquid equivalent of liquid gold. Strain the beans into a sieve over a bowl to catch the liquid. Then add some water into the jar and shake with the lid on (just as you would with a jar of tomatoes) and pour that into the bowl too.

The contents of the bowl is key in getting the right texture and viscosity of the sauce, so mix it together with a spoon and set aside ready for use.

Now with the beans, empty them from the sieve into a saucier pan/frying pan with deeper sides. Honestly if you haven’t got those, a saucepan works. Add 3/4 tbsp’s of the bean liquid and gently simmer. Don’t stir too much with a utensil, instead just move the pan in a circular motion so the beans move without needing to break them up at all with a spoon for example. You want to keep them intact.

Now here comes the egg mixture. Once the beans have been simmering for 3/4 mins, gradually spoon in the eggy cheesy mixture and stir, stir, stir. Keep the heat low and keep it moving. You can also add bits of the bean liquid to loosen it up. Then add more of the egg and cheese mix, and more of the liquid.

Add a handful of guanciale and a pinch of the ground down peppercorns and keep stirring. You should have the consistency of a carbonara at this point. A beautifully emulsified, eggy, cheesy peppery mixture. Rich and creamy with a sauce that isn’t scrambled but silky and glossy.

This bit is the crucial bit. It’s basically what makes or breaks the dish. Remember, the bean liquid can be used to help rescue the dish if the sauce is too thick or scrambling. Just add more liquid and keep stirring to emulsify and reduce.

Finishing touches

Pour out onto a bowl/plate, top with the guanciale, black pepper and loads more grated pecorino.

Enjoy. Love Fin :)

I’ve got a constant urge to experiment with fusing the cuisines I love, so I leaned into the sweet heat of Korean street food — using gochujang to jazz these up.

Nduja and mozzarella-filled arancini, served with a gochujang, lemon and parsley aioli. Finished with lashings of parmesan and fresh lemon zest.

These are an absolute dream.

Full video for reference on my instagram:

FULL VIDEO

Ingredients:

Risotto

• 300g risotto rice

• 1 large glass white wine

• 1 tbsp tomato puree

• 1 heaped tbsp nduja paste

• 1 shallot

• 2 garlic cloves

• Veg or chicken stock

• Parmigiano reggiano

• Butter

• Salt and pepper

Aioli

• 2 egg yolks

• 1 tbsp gochujang

• 1 tsp dijon mustard

• 1 tsp white wine vinegar

• Half a lemon squeezed + zest

• Salt and pepper

• 1 grated garlic clove

• Handful of chopped fresh parsley

• Neutral oil to emulsify

Pané, fry + finish

• Plain flour

• 2 whole eggs for egg wash

• Panko breadcrumbs

• Salt and pepper

• Vegetable oil to deep fry

• Lemon zest and parmigiano to finish

Method:

Risotto

Finely dice your shallot and garlic cloves. Set a large frying pan to medium heat and pour in a healthy amount of olive oil. Fry your diced shallot for 3/4 minutes before adding in the garlic and seasoning with salt. Fry for a further 3/4 minutes.

In the same pan , pour in the risotto rice. Mix well and add a little more olive oil if needed. Toast this gently for 2/3 mins. Make a well in the centre and add the nduja and tomato puree. Let both of these cook down in the centre and add a little olive oil to help break them down. Then stir well until all the nduja and tomato puree has mixed in and melted into the rice, covering it all.

Pour a large glass of white wine, taste it for good measure and pour the rest into the pan to de glaze. Let this simmer for a 8-10 seconds before stirring well and getting any fond from the bottom of the pan. Then gradually add your stock of choice. Little by little, constantly stirring and moving the pan. Se

You want your rice to have the tiniest bit of bite, al dente if you will, before adding in your cubes of cold butter and a generous amount of parmesan right at the end of the cooking process. Season with salt and pepper here too. In all, a perfect risotto should be cooked in about 20 minutes. It requires patience and attention. So keep the pan moving, never let it dry out and keep gradually adding increments of stock little by little.

Once cooked, lay out onto a baking tray and spread thinly. Let get to room temperature before refrigerating whilst you prepare the next steps.

Aioli

Add the egg yolks, gochujang and mustard into a bowl and mix well until combined. Then add the vinegar, squeeze in your lemon juice and add the lemon zest. Season with salt and pepper. Next grate in a clove of garlic. Whisk well until combined. Slowly trickle in a neutral oil whilst constantly whisking to emulsify the fats and liquid into an aioli.

If someone can help you drizzle in the oil whilst you whisk that can help haha. Even better if you have a blender you with an open top to save your arm from aching.

When you have achieved the desired aioli texture, add in your parsley and mix in. Taste for seasoning and add if necessary.

Pané + frying

Slice mozzarella into cubes. Prepare your pané station with flour, egg wash and panko. Take your risotto out of the fridge and form into balls with your hands. Wet hands can help stop the rice from sticking to your fingers/hands. But not too wet.

You want to make half a curve of the ball of arancini in the palm of your hand, with a little divot to add the mozzarella before sealing tightly together and forming a ball. Then go flour, egg wash, panko. Touching them as little as possible on each step. Make sure they’re tightly sealed. The best step to check this is after they have been panko’d, gently squeezing them in your hands and compressing the coating.

Heat up a saucepan or heavy bottomed dutch oven with vegetable oil. Test if hot enough by putting a wooden spoon in or a skewer and if little bubbles appear around it, you’re good to go.

Deep fry until golden brown. Keep the temperature controlled, as you want to give the mozzarella filling inside enough time to melt so you get that ever so satisfying cheese pull.

If you have a thermometer or temp gun then great. I’d aim to get the oil around the 175c mark and fry for 4-6 mins. It’s dependent on the size of your pan, but i’d only fry 2 or maximum 3 arancini at the same time. You don’t want to overcrowd the pan as this will affect the oils temperature and it also gives each arancini space to cook properly.

Pro tip: once all arancini have been fried for 4-6 mins and have been allowed to cool slightly. I’d fry them gently again for a further minute or so just to get that inside molten and gooey. Provided the outer shell isn’t burnt! So be careful.

Finishing touches

I like to put the aioli into a squeeze bottle so I can carefully squirt portions of the sauce onto the plate or on top of the arancini. But to be honest, half the time it’s not worth the effort.

Spoon down some dollops of the aioli and place your golden brown arancini on top. Generously grate lashings of parmesan over them and sprinkle on some lemon zest too.

Enjoy. love Fin :)

I love a burnt Basque cheesecake and in my opinion, it’s definitely the best type of cheesecake. Contrary to my recipes already posted, I don’t have much of a sweet tooth and usually opt for the classic vanilla burnt Basque cheesecake. So this is way out of my own personal taste preference haha.

The idea came about after having a surplus of Easter Eggs — But as you know from reading, I haven’t got a massive sweet tooth! I obviously didn’t want to waste the eggs, so this was the birth of this creation of mine.

Full video on my Instagram: @finleyrichards for reference.

Ingredients:

• 5 whole large eggs

• 750g cream cheese (Philadelphia’s best)

• 170g caster sugar

• 380g double cream

• 45g sour cream

• 10g creme fraiche

• 45g plain all-purpose flour

• 200g 85% dark chocolate

• 80g double cream (for the ganache)

• Parchment paper

• Butter for lining tin

• Spring form tin 9.5/10 inch

Method:

Cheesecake

Beat the eggs until fully combined, smooth, and slightly airy. Set aside.

In a large bowl, add the room-temperature cream cheese and caster sugar. Mix until completely smooth and glossy with no lumps. (Tip: If the cream cheese is too firm from being in the fridge, just microwave it in a bowl until soft for 30-45 secs).

Pour in the 380g double cream and whisk until the mixture loosens and becomes silky. Add the beaten eggs and mix again until fully incorporated.

Stir in the sour cream and crème fraîche, mixing gently until smooth.

(Optional) For an extra smooth texture, briefly use a stick blender. Don’t over-blend as this can introduce too much air.

Sift in the flour and fold carefully into the mixture until just combined. For the smoothest finish, briefly blend again if needed, then pass the mixture through a sieve.

(WAIT UNTIL THE GANACHE IS ADDED TO THE MIXTURE BEFORE POURING THE MIXTURE THROUGH THE SIEVE)

Line a 9.5 or 10 inch springform tin with parchment paper, using butter to help the paper stick and hold its shape. Pour in the batter and gently tap the tin to release any trapped air.

Use more paper than you think you’ll need and make sure it’s hanging over the edge of the tin before putting the mixture in!! This gives it the same aesthetic effect of the cheesecakes you get in the Basque region, but it also helps the outer crust form that crispy rustic edge too.

Ganache

Roughly chop the dark chocolate into small shards.

Gently heat the 80g double cream in a stainless steel bowl until just steaming over a bain-marie (saucepan with boiling water and the bowl resting on top) then pour in the dark chocolate.

DON’T STIR IMMEDIATELY! Leave for one minute, and then stir until smooth and glossy.

*IF* the chocolate mixture goes grainy — Don’t panic. Just slowly add boiling water in small increments and keep whisking. Keep doing this until the mixture becomes smooth and glossy again.

Add this entire ganache mixture to the bowl of all the other contents that has been mixed already (cream cheese, cream, eggs, flour etc).

If you’d like chocolate ganache to finish the cheesecake like I did, just repeat the ganache process using a smaller amount of chocolate and cream. This can also be done with butter.

Bake

Preheat the oven to 250°C.

Bake for 21 minutes exactly. The top should be deeply caramelised while the centre still has a noticeable wobble.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool at room temperature, then transfer to the fridge and chill, ideally overnight.

To Serve

Allow the cheesecake to come back to room temperature before slicing.

Use a warm knife for clean, sharp cuts.

Serve with an extra helping of chocolate sauce and a generous sprinkle of Maldon flakey sea salt.

Enjoy. Love Fin :)

This is the dessert that I made on MasterChef 2025, which was served to 3 previous winners Shelina Permalloo, Jane Devonshire and Irini Tzortzoglou. It also helped me secure a place in the Quarter Finals of the competition.

So here is how I did it.

Ingredients:

The pudding:

• 250g pitted medjool dates

• 175ml boiling water to soak the dates

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• 175g plain flour

• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

• 1 tsp baking powder

• 2 whole eggs

• 85g softened butter

• 140g demerara sugar

• 2 tbsp black treacle syrup

• 100ml semi skimmed milk

• The Toffee Sauce:

• 175g demerara sugar

• 50g butter

• 225ml double cream

• 2 tbsp black treacle syrup

Toffee Sauce:

• 175g demerara sugar

• 50g butter

• 225ml double cream

• 2 tbsp black treacle syrup

Vanilla Ice Cream:

• 220ml full fat milk

• 150g granulated sugar

• 450ml double cream

• 1tbsp vanilla extract

• 1 vanilla pod

Method:

I use a Ninja Creami, but don’t worry if you don’t—just grab a good-quality vanilla ice cream from Tesco and you’ll be absolutely fine.

Ice Cream (if making your own)

Measure out the ingredients above and combine them in a saucepan. Heat gently, stirring as you go—don’t let it boil. You’re just looking to warm it enough for the vanilla to properly infuse into the milk and cream.

Once infused, strain the mixture to remove the vanilla pod, but keep all those lovely seeds.

Pudding

Pit and roughly chop your dates, then cover them with boiling water and leave them to soften.

While they’re soaking, weigh out the rest of your ingredients.

Cream together the butter and sugar until well combined, then add the eggs and mix through. Sieve in the flour, bicarbonate of soda, and baking powder, then pour in the milk. Mix until smooth.

Stir in the black treacle.

Mash the softened dates—I like to leave a bit of texture rather than making them completely smooth—and fold them into the batter.

Grease your ramekins with butter and fill them, leaving about an inch at the top to allow the puddings to rise.

Bake at 180°C for 20–25 minutes. To check if they’re done, insert a knife or skewer—if it comes out clean, they’re ready.

Toffee Sauce

Combine the butter, sugar, cream, and treacle in a saucepan. Heat gently, whisking until smooth, glossy, and fully combined. Don’t let it boil—low and slow is the key here.

To Serve

Turn the puddings out of their ramekins, pour over the warm toffee sauce, and finish with a scoop of ice cream.

Enjoy—it’s properly indulgent. Love Fin :)

Please subscribe for more!

I’ve had thousands of comments for this recipe, literally. So here it is.

Ingredients:

• 5 large whole eggs

• 750g cream cheese

• 200g caster sugar

• 445 double cream

• 45g sour cream

• 10g creme fraiche

• 35g plain all-purpose flour

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• 2 vanilla pods

Method:

Beat 5 eggs well until fully mixed and smooth and set aside.

Add 750g of cream cheese. Not straight from the fridge. Let it get to room temp (softer) it’s easier to mix and stops lumps. Pour in 200g of caster sugar and mix well.

Keep mixing until all smooth and combined.

This is optional but add the vanilla beans from one vanilla pod and a tsp of vanilla extract.

Then pour in 445g of double cream and whisk again until combined and smooth. Then add your eggs. Give things another mix until fully incorporated.

Add the sour cream 45g and crème fraiche 10g and mix again.

Optional step, use a stick blender blend the mix. But don’t over blend. It can cause air bubbles. This is purely to get a smoother mixture.

Sift in the 35g flour and fold into the mixture. You can blend again and then pass through a sieve into the parchment paper lined and greased cake tin. Use the butter to stick the paper down.

A spring form tin works best for this.

Pre heat the oven to 250c and bake for 21 mins exactly. Take out. Rest. Then put into fridge ideally over night. Before eating allow cake to come back up to room temp and cut with a warm knife.

More recipes coming soon, so subscribe and all that other good stuff.

Enjoy! Love Fin :)