Salad, Pasta, and a Mousse

I have been on a huge Rachel Allen kick recently. For some reason, in the past I had somehow skipped over her shows in favor of other, flashier newer programs. I had seen Rachel present some recipes on Market Kitchen before and really liked them, but for some reason just never was all that intrigued by her shows. Well, luckily for me, I finally did give her more recent programs a closer look and I was delighted...and ended up buying every set of DVDs currently available, as well as every cookbook. I am such a fan I even bought her 2009 Diary for the smattering of recipes in the calender.

I decided it would be fitting to start with three of the recipes from Rachel's first book, Rachel's Favourite Food, all of which were aired in her first episode of the series as well.

Salad of Goat's Cheese with Rocket & Honey (page 17)

This looked way too simple on the tv show, but I gave it a go anyway. And wow... I was very pleasantly surprised. The honey and the crushed black pepper really worked so well together and for something so very simple, it really did have a lot of flavor. I used, as Rachel did on her tv show, Maldon sea salt flakes - they really are quite an addictive taste. I think nuts could take the place of the cheese in this easily. I would love to try some roasted whole pecans or perhaps some candied walnuts. This was so good, I ate it two nights in a row.

Pasta with Spicy Sausage & Cream (page18)

This was really quite good and fast. I used double cream this time, next time I see no reason at all to not use single cream instead. The rosemary was fresh from my garden and was a nice addition, athough I tend to like rosemary in my pasta sauces normally anyway. My chorizo was not overly spicy, and I really didn't mind. This is the sort of recipe you could easily use any flavorful firm sausage in, hot or mild.

Chocolate Mousse (page23)

This was very quick and easy. I used some really lovely Buford Brown eggs in this. I once again wasn't clear on whether or not to use single or double cream in this, and went with the double. It was a bit too rich for me, almost buttery. I would try this again with single cream and see if I like it better. For the chocolate I used Lindt 70% dark and I left out the optional liquor.

All photos are taken by me, copyrighted by me.