The Best Salted Caramel Recipe

You're off to dinner or to a baby shower or to any number of those occasions when the done thing is to bring 'just a little something'. Of course you could buy a bunch of gladioli that are cheap but look generous, or a suitable bottle of wine but why not spend fifteen minutes making your own little gift? Domestic goddess points will fly and the recipient will be more than grateful, I'm sure of it. 

Welcome to the recipe of the moment; salted caramel. Yes, we've all become fully accustomed to it appearing in ice cream or drizzled over a starbucks frappachino but did you know that it's remarkably good slathered on toast or simply eaten straight from the pot (especially at victorious moments like returning from a run - yes, that has just happened). 

All that is needed is sugar, water, salt and double cream and a brave, 'go as dark as you dare' attitude when it comes to the caramel. My recipe is below. Let me know how you get on! 

SALTED CARAMEL SAUCE

Makes 750ml

450g caster sugar

180ml water

600ml Double Cream

1 heaped tsp sea salt

1 In a medium, clean, saucepan heat the sugar and water, over a medium heat, for 2-3 minutes. The sugar will melt and small bubbles will start appearing. Don’t be tempted to stir, this can encourage the caramel to cyrstalise, just swill the pan round using the handle.

2 Once the sugar has started boiling, after about 5 minutes, it should be light brown in colour. Continue boiling until it has become medium brown in color. Remove the saucepan from the heat and pour the cream into the mixture. It will hiss and spit and seem to solidify but be patient and return to the heat for 2-3 minutes. Stir through the salt and transfer to a glass jar or bowl and let cool to room temperature or pop in the fridge for 20 minutes.

Quick Pea, Mozzarella & Lemon Tart

The forecast said sun has left the country for the next week so there's no option but to create our own. This is one of my favourite from the book. Cooking it is as easy as applying sunscreen. 

SPEEDY PEA MOZZARELLA

AND LEMON TART

Serves 4-6  – Prep time: 15 minutes Plus 10 minutes defrosting

cook time: 35 minutes

This is a real treat of a tart to come home to. Quite simply, peas, garlic and ricotta are slathered on puff pastry and cooked for a few minutes. Then, to give it a professional finish, all you need is a handful of cress, mint and lemon zest to garnish.

500g block of puff pastry

200g frozen peas, left to defrost for 10–15 minutes

3 garlic cloves

250g ricotta, strained of excess water

1 medium free-range egg

1 x 200g mozzarella ball, torn

salt and freshly ground black pepper

zest of 1 unwaxed lemon, to garnish

3 tablespoons freshly chopped mint, to garnish

cress, to garnish

1) Preheat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan/gas mark 6. Roll the puff pastry into a rectangle of 30 °— 25cm. Slide

the pastry onto a floured baking sheet and top with a second baking sheet (this acts as a weight while the pastry cooks and prevents it rising too much).

2) Bake the pastry for 20 minutes and remove from the oven. If the base has still puffed up despite the weight, then gently press the top baking sheet down to flatten the pastry. Allow to cool for a minute or two.

3)Tip three-quarters of the peas and garlic cloves and 1–2 tablespoons water into a blender and blitz until you have a lovely rough, bright green paste. In a separate bowl, mix the ricotta and egg. Add the green pea mixture to the fresh ricotta and mix very lightly so there are still visible pockets of green and white.

4) Dollop the combined mixture onto the tart base.Top with the remaining whole peas and torn mozzarella.

Season with salt and black pepper and bake for15 minutes, or until the ricotta has puffed slightly

and the edges are beginning to brown.

5) Remove from the oven and garnish with lemon zest, mint and cress. Serve immediately, in generous squares.

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