Before anything else: this cake is not a pretty one. It is at its most basic a recipe for chocolate mousse that you stick in a tin and bake in an oven. But oh my, if you like chocolate, this tastes amazing. It’s light and melts in your mouth, yet is impossibly rich. And because you bake it in a water bath (essentially steaming it), it’s incredibly moist.

The recipe is from Nigella’s How to be a Domestic Goddess, and for a while it’s the only recipe I made from the book- over and over again. The truth is, I think this one recipe will turn you into a Goddess, domestic or otherwise, in anyone’s eyes. Make it for the chocoholic in your life- if that’s you, so much the better.

Nigella’s Chocolate Mousse Cake

300g best dark chocolate (bittersweet is best here)
50g best milk chocolate
175g unsalted butter
8 large eggs, separated
100g light brown sugar
100g caster sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
pinch of salt

25cm springform tin
tin foil

Preheat the oven to gas mark 4/180°C and put the kettle on to boil. Line the inside of the springform with foil, making sure you press the foil well into the sides and bottom of the tin to make a smooth surface.

Melt chocolate and butter in a double boiler or microwave, let it cool.

In another bowl beat the egg yolks and sugars until pale and really thick, like mayonnaise.

Whisk the egg whites in a large bowl until soft peaks form then fold gently into the chocolate mixture. Pour the cake batter into the foil-lined springform which you have placed in a large roasting tin.

Add the hot water from the kettle to come about half way up the sides of the tin and put into the oven.

Bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour. The inside of the cake will be damp and mousse-like but the top should look cooked and dry.

Let it cool completely on a cooling rack before releasing from the tin. Now peel the foil gently away from the sides.

I like to sift some powdered sugar over it when we have company- but it really doesn’t need it.

Learn from the best TV celebrity chefs. This celebrity chef blog has recipes (from the highly intricate steak tartare of Anthony Bourdain to the simple home cooking of Mario Batali); tips; quotes and interviews; even scandals.

The British chef held nothing back in his culinary segment on Late Night with Conan O’Brien, as usual for the curse-happy Hell’s Kitchen host.  When O’Brien began struggling a bit with his task of making pasta, he stopped his work to call a grumbling Ramsay a ‘bastard,’ to which the chef retorted ‘You f**ker,’ to which an offended O’Brien stated, “We don’t swear in this country; not on TV.”
 
But, of course chef Ramsay never let up saying, “God, you’re f**king useless,” as O’Brien made a stab at making tortellini under Ramsay’s tutelage.

Red-face but equipped with humor & irony, Canadian funnyman Conan led a soccer chant “USA, USA…” whilst pointing at the chef.

{Source} 

Ingredients:

• 4 plum tomatoes
• 2 garlic cloves
• 2 tablespoon capers
• 3 tablespoon black olives
• 3 tablespoon arugula leaves
• 3 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 11 oz spaghetti

Cut the tomatoes in half. Squeeze out excess juice and seeds, and chop the flesh coarsely. Peel the garlic and squash with 1 tsp sea salt. Crumble the chile. Rinse the capers, and pit the olives. Roughly chop the arugula.

Combine the tomatoes, garlic, chile, capers, and olives. Season generously, add the olive oil, and put aside for 30 minutes.

Cook the spaghetti in boiling salted water until al dente. Drain, and stir the pasta into the tomatoes. Add the arugula. Toss to coat each strand. Season with black pepper.

Serve with olive oil.

Note: Plum tomatoes are fleshy and easy to peel and have hardly any juice or seeds, which makes them ideal for rich, thick tomato sauces. This raw sauce should only be made in the summer, when you can buy sun-ripened plum tomatoes that are really sweet.

Eat well & Laugh often!

Italian Two Easy is the second volume of “simple & delicious” Italian recipes by Rogers & Gray.  The two sought inspiration for the second cookbook while visiting Puglia, Italy; but you will find your taste buds enjoying recipes from Verona to Tuscany.

The “simple and delicious” philosophy of cooking is seen in their five former cookbooks, all best-sellers.

Rogers shared a few recipes from Italian Two Easy this morning in the final segment of The Early Show’s weeklong series, “Culinary Inspirations” in which chefs have been dishing it up for summer meal ideas.   

Stay tuned for Ruth Roger’s Spaghetti, Raw tomato, Arugula recipe post coming soon.

Eat well & Laugh often!