Valentine's Day Recipes from executive chef Sheriyar Rustom Dotivala of The Resort, Mumbai.
Slice-and-bake Valentine's biscuits
Ingredients:
- 300 gm plain flour + a little extra for dusting
- 200 gm salted butter, diced
- 120 gm golden castor sugar
- 2 large egg yolks
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ tsp rosewater or 25 gm freeze-dried raspberries, whizzed to a powder
- Red or pink food colouring
Method:
- Tip the flour and butter into a food processor and grind to fine crumbs. Add the sugar and yolks then mix to a smooth dough. Remove one-third of the dough, add vanilla to what's left and pulse to whizz in. Wrap this dough in cling film and leave at room temperature.
- Put the reserved dough back in the processor with the rosewater or dried raspberries, if using, and a drop of food colouring. Pulse and add more colouring to achieve an intense colour. If the dough has become too soft, pulse in a few spoonfuls more flour until a similar consistency to the vanilla dough. Put the dough in the fridge, remembering to remove it 30 mins before you need to roll it out.
- Thickly roll out the coloured dough between baking parchment. Use a small 3-4 cm heart cutter to stamp out hearts. Keep re-rolling and stamping until all the dough is used. Line up hearts on top of each other and press to form a cylinder, taking care to retain the heart shape. Wrap in cling film and freeze for 3 hours until solid.
- When the heart dough is hard, roll the vanilla dough, using your hands, into 3 cylinders (the length of the heart stack). Stick one to each side of the hearts, pat together to form a fat cylinder, then gently roll on your work surface until it completely encircles the coloured dough, with the frozen heart dough hidden in the center. Chill for 2 hours. Heat oven to 180°C.
- Use a sharp knife to slice the log into 1 cm thick discs. Place on trays lined with baking parchment, allowing space for spreading, and bake for 20 mins. Cool on wire racks. You can keep it for up to 4 days in an airtight container.
Jam Tart Hearts
Ingredients:
- 250 gm plain flour, plus extra for dusting
- 125 gm butter, chilled and diced, plus extra for the tin
- 1 medium egg
- 1 vanilla pod, seeds scraped (optional)
- 100 gm jam, fruit curd or marmalade of your choice
Method:
- Put the flour, butter and a pinch of salt in a bowl and rub them together with your fingertips (or you can pulse these ingredients together in a food processor if you have one). When the mixture looks and feels like fresh breadcrumbs, stir in the egg and vanilla seeds, if using, with a cutlery knife. Add 1 tbsp cold water, then start to bring the dough together in one lump with your hands -- try not to knead it too much. Add 1 more tbsp of water if it's not coming together, but try not to add more water. Wrap in cling film and chill in the fridge for 30 mins.
- Heat oven to 200°C butter in a 12-hole tart tin. Dust your work surface with flour. Unwrap and roll out the chilled pastry so it's about the thickness of a one rupee coin, then use a straight or fluted round cutter to cut out 12 circles, big enough to line the holes in the tin. Dollop 1-2 tsp of your chosen filling into each hole and, if you like, cut out little pastry hearts (perfect for Valentine's Day) and pop them on top. Bake for 15-18 mins or until golden and the filling is starting to bubble a little. Leave to cool in the tin for a few mins then carefully transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Dark chocolate pudding with malted cream
Ingredients:
For the pudding:
- 60 gm butter
- Butter + extra for the ramekins
- 2 tbsp cocoa powder
- 100 gm (70 per cent dark chocolate)
- Dark chocolate soup pots with double cream in spoons
- 2 eggs
- 100 gm castor sugar
- ½ tsp malt powder
For the cream:
- 100 ml double cream
- 2 tbsp Muscovado sugar
- 1 tbsp malt powder
To serve:
- 3 glace cherries, cut in half
- 1 tbsp chopped salted pistachios
Method:
- Butter three ramekins, dust with cocoa and set aside. Heat oven to 200°C. Melt the butter and chocolate in a bowl over a pan of simmering water. In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs and sugar until light and fluffy, then whisk in the chocolate mixture with the malt powder and a pinch of salt. Divide the mixture between the ramekins and bake for 14 mins until they are just cooked with a slight wobble in the middle to make a fondant, or 18 mins for a pudding. Remove from the oven, turn out and serve warm now, or leave to cool in their ramekins.
- Whisk the cream, sugar and malt powder together to soft peaks. Carefully turn the puddings out onto plates, cherries and pistachios, and serve with the malted cream.
