by Orlando Murrin
I like to tell readers that Knife Skills for Beginners includes five ‘killer’ recipes, but I don’t mean in the poisonous sense. According to the story, they’re excerpts from a celebrity chef’s journal, in which he records his best efforts. Having written six cookbooks, I chose my all-time favourite recipes to include in this, my debut novel, and they cleverly combine to form a dinner party menu. Here are three tasters.
Parmesan Bites
Process together into a dough 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour, 1 ¾ cups of grated parmesan and 1 ¼ sticks of chilled, cubed butter, 1 teaspoon black pepper (freshly ground), ½ teaspoon kosher salt, and a big pinch of cayenne.
Roll into two neat cylinders about an inch in diameter and chill until firm. Brush with beaten egg and roll in a mixture of seeds – for instance, sesame, nigella, and poppy seeds (about 2 tablespoons of each) – and chill again. Slice into thick coins and bake at 350F for 16 to 18 minutes until darkly golden.
Makes 50 to 60. They keep well in a plastic box. The key is not to add water to the dough and they taste better if you slightly overbake them.
Thunder and Lightning Cake
This is called Thunder and Lightning to celebrate the Cornish teatime treat – a Cornish split (bun) spread with clotted cream and drizzled with light treacle.
For the cake, cream ½ cup softened butter with ½ cup granulated sugar and 4 egg yolks, then beat in 1 teaspoon vanilla, 3 tablespoons milk, 1 cup all-purpose flour and 1 teaspoon baking powder just till mixed. Divide between two buttered 8 inch cake pans , base lined with baking parchment,and spread thinly and evenly.
Whisk 4 egg whites till frothy, then continue whipping, gradually adding ¾ cup granulated sugar, until thick and meringue-like. Spread evenly on top of cake batter and sprinkle each layer with 3 tablespoons toasted slivered almonds and 1/2 tablespoon turbinado or other brown sugar. (This will give the layers a nougatine topping.) Bake at 350F for about 30 minutes, till puffed and nuts are browned; the meringue will sink (it’s meant to).
To assemble, put one cake layer meringue-side up on your serving plate. Spread delicately with home-made or bought salted caramel frosting (about 1 cup) and the same of clotted cream. (don’t beat the cream or it’ll go runny). If you can’t get clotted cream – a speciality of the West Country – whip a cup of heavy cream and use that instead. Top with remaining layer. Finish with a sprinkling of chocolate curls and if you wish, edible gold leaf. Serves 8 to10.
Death by Rocky Road
Gently melt together 1 ¼ cups butter, 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons semi-sweet chocolate chips and 2 ½ tablespoons golden syrup. Stir in ¾ cup Graham Cracker or Animal Cracker crumbs then 1 cup mini-marshmallows. Turn into a 6 inch square shallow baking pan lined with baking parchment. Chill for 2 hours or longer. Cut into squares or rectangles–depending on size, anything from 12 to 20.
If you want to push the boat out, cover with a coating of melted dark chocolate, more marshmallows, swirls of white chocolate , a dusting of grated tonka, and crushed crystallized violets.
The Maid meets Knives Out with a dash of Top Chef in the debut locked room culinary mystery set in a London cooking school by MasterChef semi-finalist and cookbook writer Orlando Murrin.
“Some people are natural dancers, others marvelous in bed, but—not wishing to boast—I’m good with a knife. Most chefs are.”
The Chester Square Cookery School in the heart of London offers students a refined setting in which to master the fine art of choux pastry and hone their hollandaise. True, the ornate mansion doesn’t quite sparkle the way it used to—a feeling chef Paul Delamare is familiar with these days. Worn out and newly broke, he’d be tempted to turn down the request to fill in as teacher for a week-long residential course, if anyone other than Christian Wagner were asking.
Christian is one of Paul’s oldest friends, as well as the former recipient of two Michelin stars and host of Pass the Gravy! Thanks to a broken arm, he’s unable to teach the upcoming session himself, and recruits Paul as stand-in. The students are a motley crew, most of whom seem more interested in ogling the surroundings (including handsome Christian) than learning the best ways to temper chocolate.
Yet despite his misgivings, Paul starts to enjoy imparting his extensive knowledge to the recruits—until someone turns up dead, murdered with a cleaver Paul used earlier that day to prep a pair of squabs. Did one of his students take the lesson on knife techniques too much to heart, or was this the result of a long-simmering grudge? In between clearing his own name and teaching his class how to perfectly poach a chicken, he’ll have to figure out who’s the killer, and avoid being the next one to get butchered . . .
Jet Set to France