thermomix recipe – Dani Valent

Perfect Cheesecake’s Secret Ingredient

Life goes better with Basque cheesecake, a lockdown #2 love affair. I became obsessed with this cake about five years ago when I ate it in San Sebastian at La Viña pintxos bar. It was perilously wobbly and jiggly, somehow both light and rich, creamy white and custardy within but with a bitter edge from the dark, caramelised perimeter. I mumbled, “It’s a miracle,” and I meant it.

Dani interviews Israeli chef Eyal Shani

I was so happy that my work as a food journalist meant I was sent to interview Israeli chef Eyal Shani. This story first appeared in Good Food, and was swiftly followed by a crazy day shooting videos with Eyal. If you’re a Dani Valent Cooking subscriber, you can watch our Hummus adventures here. Meantime, enjoy my story about the man behind Miznon.

Blue Cheese & Cherry Bao – Adeline Grattard

French chef Adeline Grattard’s Blue Cheese & Cherry Bao is one of those mind-bending dishes that has captured the minds of culinary fans around the world. I first heard about it in the Netflix Chef’s Table documentary, which devotes an episode to the sensitive, passionate French chef and her Paris restaurant Yam’tcha, run with her Chinese husband Chi Wah Chan. Yam’tcha plucks from the French and Chinese canons to create a truly individual cuisine: fusion food is tricky to get right but it’s expressed so beautifully by Grattard and particularly in these buns. I was fortunate to visit Yam’tcha on a recent trip to Paris and you can see below how delighted I was to eat this concoction in situ.

Quinces on ABC Afternoons + Pot-roasted Spiced Quinces recipe

Quinces are just coming into season now: they are strange, hard, knobbly, furry fruits and rather unappealing at first glance. They do have a beautiful perfume though – and they’re cheap, around $3 a kilo. To me, they smell pink, which might sound strange, but makes more sense when they are cooked, because they turn from a pale yellowy green to a deep, glossy ruby. It’s the kind of alchemic kitchen magic that can make you fall in love with a fruit, and I am definitely in love with quinces.

1
© Dani Valent 2024