You can’t buy the KitchenAid 90 cookbook in the shops, you have to buy the iconic mixer and get it free. Not that you’d need much incentive to buy such a wonderful gadget. We have three recipes from the book to tempt you. Crab cakes with mango and sweetcorn salsa, Tortilla Pasqualina and Chocolate, apricot and Szechuan pepper tartlets
Don’t worry, you don’t need a KitchenAid to make these recipes, but it’s a lot more fun if you do!
CRAB CAKES WITH MANGO AND SWEETCORN SALSA
In many crab cakes recipes, the crabmeat is often combined with white fish, prawns or potatoes. Here, only white crabmeat is used in combination with fragrant herbs and spices.
Serves 4
Prep: 15 minutes
Chill: 30 Minutes
Cook: 10minutes
Ingredients
2 Spring onions
2 tbsp chopped coriander
2 tbsp fish sauce
1 red bird’s-eye chilli
2 lemongrass stalks
2.5 cm fresh ginger
1 large egg white
250 g fresh white crabmeat
1 beaten egg
3 tbsp dried breadcrumbs
3 tbsp desiccated coconut
Sunflower oil, for frying
Lime wedges, to serve
Salsa:
1 ripe but firm mango
2 plum tomatoes
150 g tinned sweetcorn
1 red onion
1 mild green chilli
Juice of 2 limes
2 tbsp finely chopped coriander
Method
Make the salsa first. Peel and stone the mango, then cut into 5mm dice. Deseed and cut the tomatoes in 5mm dice. Drain the sweetcorn. Finely chop the red onion. Deseed and finely chop the chilli. Mix all the ingredients for the salsa, cover and chill.
Place the first 7 ingredients for the crab cakes in the blender and process on stir/crush ice speed. Place the crabmeat, egg, breadcrumbs and coconut in the mixer bowl. Mix in the herb paste with the flat beater on speed 2. Chill for 30 minutes until firm.
Shape the crab mixture with wet hands into 8 medium-sized cakes (or 16small ones). Heat 1cm of sunflower oil in a heavy-based pan and cook the crab cakes for 2 minutes on each side (1 minute for the small ones) until golden brown and crispy. Serve immediately with the salsa lime wedges.
TORTA PASQUALINA
This savoury Italian Easter tart from Liguria features eggs, a potent Easter symbol. For a quicker and easier version, you could replace the pastry with puff pastry or even filo pastry.
Serves 10
Ingredients
Prep: 1 hour
Rest: 1 hour
Cook: 1 hour 20 minutes
500 g flour
1tbsp olive oil
approx 300 ml water
Spinach filling:
1 kg fresh spinach
2 tbsp olive oil
1 small red onion
1 bunch of marjoram
75 g toasted pine nuts
1 large stale ciabatta roll
100 ml milk
75 g Parmesan cheese
8 eggs
500 g ricotta
6 tbsp olive oil
50 g butter
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
Sieve the flour and salt into the mixer bowl. Mix with the dough hook on speed 1, then slowly add the olive oil and water until you obtain a smooth dough. Continue kneading on speed 2 for 3
minutes until the dough is very smooth and elastic. Divide into 12 pieces, shape into balls and place on a floured tea towel. Cover with a damp tea towel and leave for 1 hour.
Prepare the filling. Remove the stalks from the spinach and wash thoroughly. Cook the spinach in 1 tablespoon of olive oil until just wilted. Drain thoroughly and squeeze out any excess liquid, then chop. Finely chop the onion and sauté in 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Mix into the spinach with the finely chopped marjoram and the pine nuts. Cut the crusts off the bread and tear the bread into pieces. Pour over the milk and leave to soak.
Grate the Parmesan cheese into a small bowl with the fine shredding drum on the rotor vegetable slicer/shredder on speed 4. Break 2 eggs into the mixer bowl and mix with the flat beater on speed 4. Stir in 2 tablespoons of grated Parmesan. Squeeze out any excess moisture from the bread and mix into the eggs with the ricotta. Add the spinach on speed 4.
Preheat the oven to 200 °c /gas mark 6. Grease a deep 20-22 cm springform tin. Roll out one of the dough balls on a lightly floured surface, stretching the dough by hand in all directions like strudel pastry. Arrange in the base of the tin, so that the pastry hangs over the sides. Brush with olive oil. Repeat with the next 5 balls of pastry, brushing each layer with olive oil.
Spoon the filling into the tin, smooth the top and brush with olive oil. Make 6 indentations in the filling. Place a little butter in each and crack an egg on top; take care not to break the yolks. Season, then sprinkle the remaining Parmesan on top.
Roll out the remaining balls of pastry and arrange on top, brushing each layer with olive oil. Place the remaining butter around the edges, then fold over the overhanging pastry. Brush with olive oil and carefully pierce two or three times, so the steam can escape. Bake for 1 hour 15 minutes until golden brown.
CHOCOLATE, APRICOT AND SZECHUAN PEPPER TARLETS
Serves 8
Prep: 20 minutes
Chill: 1 hour
Cook: 30 minutes
Ingredients
100 g softened butter
100 g icing sugar
2 large egg yolks
225 g flour
25 g cocoa powder
A pinch of salt
Soured cream, to serve
Cocoa powder, for dusting
Chocolate filling:
300 g dried apricots
75 ml water
3 tbsp lemon juice
200 g good-quality milk chocolate
100 g dark chocolate (85%)
200 g butter
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
50 g sugar
1 ½ tsp freshly ground Szechuan pepper
Method
Cream the butter and sugar in the mixer bowl with the flat beater on speed 2 until pale and fluffy. Gradually beat in the egg yolks until well-blended. Mix in the flour, cocoa powder and salt on speed 4 until the pastry leaves the sides of the bowl. Wrap in clingfilm and chill for 30 minutes. Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface and line 8 x 8 cm greased tartlet tins. Prick the base with a fork and chill for 30 minute
Preheat the oven to 180 °C/gas mark 4. Line the tartlet cases with baking paper and fill with baking beans. Bake blind for 20 minutes. Remove the paper and beans and leave to cool.
Meanwhile, make the apricot puree. Finely chop the apricots and simmer for 5 minutes with the water. Mix in the blender on puree speed with the lemon juice until smooth. Spread the apricot puree in the cooled tartlet cases.
Melt the chocolate and butter together. Mix the eggs, egg yolks, sugar and Szechuan pepper in the mixer bowl with the wire whisk on speed 8 until pale and thick. Gently fold in the melted chocolate and spoon into the tartlet cases. Bake for 8 minutes at 180 °C/gas mark 4. The filling will not have set completely but will continue to set as it cools. Serve the tartlets warm or at room temperature with soured cream. Dust with cocoa powder before serving.