Spending more time at home has turned many of us into pretty proficient bakers and cooks.
It also helps that some of our favourite culinary stars have taken to social media and Youtube to conduct cooking lessons and tutorials that are relatively easy to follow.
If you’re in the mood for whipping up some homemade goodness this weekend, we’ve compiled a list of delicious celebrity chef recipes that you can easily replicate in your own kitchen. From French pâtissier Pierre Hermé’s chocolate cake to decadent lardon-speckled salmon with lentils by chef Eric Ripert (of three-Michelin-starred restaurant Le Bernardin in New York), these recipes are perfect for any home chef.
Dominique Ansel’s classic French yogurt cake
The beauty of this cake recipe from Dominique Ansel is that the main measuring tool is a simple yogurt cup. Yogurt cake was his first foray into the world of baking, thanks to its easy-to-remember ratio of one-two-one: One single-serve yogurt cup, to two cups of flour, one cup sugar. “Growing up in France, every kid learned how to make this easy yogurt cake,” Ansel writes. “All you need is a container of yogurt and a few pantry staples, and you use the yogurt container as a measuring cup for the other ingredients.
It’s a classic, no-fail recipe that makes for a great weekend project with the kids. Ansel is best known as the inventor of the croissant-donut mash-up and for his flowering hot chocolates. The yogurt cake recipe is featured in his cookbook “Everyone Can Bake,” which launched in the US in April.
Here’s what you’ll need:
Ingredients
– 1 container (7oz/ 200ml) yogurt (plain full fat or Greek yogurt)
– 2 containers flour
– 1 container sugar
– 1/2 container olive oil or vegetable oil
– 3 eggs
– 1/2 tsp baking soda
– 1 tsp vanilla
– 1 tsp salt Tools
– Large mixing bowl
– Wooden spoon or spatula
– Round cake pan or loaf pan
Method
1. Preheat your oven to 360F (180 degrees Celsius)
2. Butter and flour your cake/ loaf pan (you can also use cooking spray)
3. Combine all ingredients except the eggs and vanilla in a large mixing bowl. Stir with a spatula until smooth and free of any lumps. Add the eggs and vanilla in stir until combined.
4. Pour the batter into the prepared cake/loaf pan. Bake for 25-35 minutes or until the top is golden brown and a paring knife/cake tester comes out clean. Once baked, let cool for 5-10 minutes before removing from the pan.
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by dominiqueansel (@dominiqueansel) on
Pierre Hermé’s five-ingredient chocolate cake
French macaron maestro Pierre Hermé has shared the secrets to his “mi-cuit” or half-baked chocolate cake on Instagram.
The secret, it seems, is using high quality chocolate. His recipe calls for Guanaja chocolate from the French brand Valrhona, a premium chocolate manufacturer.
Otherwise, the recipe is a simple, five-ingredient chocolate cake that is pantry and quarantine-friendly — no exotic ingredients or fancy professional baking tools required. If you don’t have gourmet chocolate in your cupboard, use what you have.
Here’s the recipe:
Ingredients
– 250g of soft butter at room temperature
– 180g of sugar
– 200g eggs
– 70g sifted flour
– 250g melted chocolate
Method
1. Mix the ingredients in the order of appearance and pour into a buttered and floured cake tin.
2. Bake in the oven at 180 degrees Celsius for 30 to 35 minutes and leave to cool.
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Maison Pierre Hermé Paris (@pierrehermeofficial) on
Rachael Ray’s ham and lamb menu
In a five-minute Instagram video, TV chef-turned-talk show host Rachael Ray teaches viewers how to prepare a quarantine-friendly lunch or dinner meal that features both smoked ham and mustard glaze, along with lamb paired with French mint sauce. Sides include a vegetable medley and crispy lemon potatoes.
Longtime fans of Ray may be reminded of her old Food Network show 30 Minute Meals, in which the chatty host talked viewers through easy, accessible and affordable at-home recipe ideas that made three-course meals look easy.
Here’s what you’ll need:
Smoked ham
– Defrosted smoked ham or lamb — she got hers from Oscar’s Smokehouse
Mustard glaze for ham
– Orange marmalade
– Balsamic vinegar
– Grainy Dijon mustard
– Herbs: Rosemary and thyme (fresh or dried)
Fresh mint sauce for ham
– Equal parts flat leaf parsley and mint
– Shallots
– Garlic
– Water /white wine vinegar /white distilled vinegar
– Sugar
Spring vegetable medley
– Defrosted or fresh vegetables
– Blanched carrots, leeks, snap peas, green beans (any vegetables you have on hand — onions, shallots, broccolini, cauliflowers, shelled peas, etc)
– Herbs: Dill, chives, tarragon (fresh or dried)
– Chicken stock/ vegetable broth
Crispy lemon potatoes
– Parboiled potatoes
– Lemon
– Butter
Watch the video below for more instructions:
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Rachael Ray (@rachaelray) on
Eric Ripert’s salmon with lentils
The king of haute seafood, chef Eric Ripert of the triple Michelin-starred restaurant Le Bernardin in New York has shared a simple dinner idea that makes salmon the star of the show.
It’s a classic French family dinner: Pan-roasted salmon sitting on a bed of lentils. The secret to pimping out plain old lentils? Sautéed lardons (diced or cut-up bacon).
If you don’t have access to fresh salmon, the lentils can serve as a standalone meal, Ripert suggests. “You can cook the lentils and eat them on their own or w[ith] another fish, meat etc,” he wrote. Take out the bacon and the lentil recipe becomes vegetarian.
Here’s the recipe:
– Sauté a few lardons with a bit of oil, one diced carrot, five garlic cloves and one small onion for 5 minutes on medium heat.
– Add 1 pound (450g) of lentils and 2 quarts water (chicken stock optional).
– Simmer for around 30 minutes or until lentils become soft with a bit of liquid left for moisture.
– Season salmon with salt and pepper on both sides and fry in hot, non-stick pan with vegetable oil on medium heat until coloured (around 2 minutes).
– Turn the salmon to the other side for 2 more minutes for medium rare.
– Plate the lentils, add a bit of broth and top with the salmon.
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Eric Ripert (@ericripert) on
DoubleTree by Hilton’s signature chocolate chip cookies
They’re not the brainchild of a celebrity chef, but Doubletree by Hilton’s signature chocolate chip cookies are very much stars in their own right. If you’ve ever stayed at a DoubleTree by Hilton hotel, you will know that the first thing to greet you, before even nearing the staff at the front desk, is the smell of these freshly baked cookies.
It’s the chain’s signature move: Every guest who arrives at the hotel is offered a warm chocolate chip cookie. These sweet treats have become so popular that the DoubleTree cookie was the first food to be baked in orbit during experiments aboard the International Space Station.
As the saying goes, extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures — which is why DoubleTree by Hilton has revealed the secret recipe for its cookies. “We know this is an anxious time for everyone,” said Shawn McAteer, senior vice president and global head, DoubleTree by Hilton in a press release. “A warm chocolate chip cookie can’t solve everything, but it can bring a moment of comfort and happiness.
Here’s the recipe, which makes 26 cookies:
Ingredients
– 1/2 pound (227g) butter, softened (2 sticks)
– 3/4 cup + 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
– 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
– 2 large eggs
– 1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract
– 1/4 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
– 2 1/4 cups flour
– 1/2 cup rolled oats
– 1 teaspoon baking soda
– 1 teaspoon salt
– Pinch cinnamon
– 2 2/3 cups Nestle Tollhouse semi-sweet chips chocolate chips
– 1 3/4 cups chopped walnuts
Method
1. Cream butter, sugar and brown sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer on medium speed for about 2 minutes.
2. Add eggs, vanilla and lemon juice, blending with mixer on low speed for 30 seconds, then medium speed for about 2 minutes, or until light and fluffy, scraping down bowl.
3. With mixer on low speed, add flour, oats, baking soda, salt and cinnamon, blending for about 45 seconds. Don’t overmix.
4. Remove bowl from mixer and stir in chocolate chips and walnuts.
5. Portion dough with a scoop (about 3 tablespoons) onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper about 2 inches apart.
6. Preheat oven to 300°F (150 degrees Celsius). Bake for 20 to 23 minutes, or until edges are golden brown and center is still soft.
7. Remove from oven and cool on baking sheet for about 1 hour.
8. Cook’s note: You can freeze the unbaked cookies, and there’s no need to thaw. Preheat oven to 300°F (150 degrees Celsius) and place frozen cookies on parchment paper-lined baking sheet about 2 inches apart. Bake until edges are golden brown and center is still soft.
