Among my birthday presents this year was a copy of Gordon Ramsay’s Recipes from a Three-Star Chef. Since then I’ve been sighing longingly over the pictures and only giving the merest of glances to the recipes in the second section of the book—the first half of the book is a photo-documentary of a day in the restaurant, packed with pictures and nuggets of information—as I assumed that everything would be beyond my level of skill.

It’s not often that a cookbook intimidates me, but this one really did. For a start it came complete with a protective silver slipcover, which sets the tone to “posh”. My only other cookbook to have been given such an accolade by its publisher is a hardback copy of Larousse Gastronomique, so I’m sure my brain made a mental association there. Secondly, this book is huge. Is there a category beyond over-size? It’s even bigger than Home Baking by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid, which is pretty damn huge. Alas, I fear the impractical size of the book may put many cooks off using it—who has sufficient counter space to leave this book open as they cook?

It is a shame that the book has this level of surface intimidation, as once you dig into it, it is surprisingly accessible. Yes, overall the recipes are complex. But that’s what you want, surely, if you’ve bought the book? This isn’t the Dummies Guide to Michelin Starred Cookery; this is the real deal. However, if you treat each recipe as a collection of smaller recipes—the babystep approach as Flylady would say—then you’ll get along just fine.

As I was so awe-struck with the Pineapple and Coconut soup we had at the restaurant, I decided to make that my first recipe re-creation from the book. I should point out that while the majority of the restaurant’s dishes are in the book, they will be subtly different from what was on the menu. In this case, Pineapple and Coconut soup in the restaurant, and Pineapple and chilli soup with fromage frais foam in the book.)

The soup was incredibly simple. Chunks of fresh pineapple were tossed with some sugar and quickly caramelised lightly in a frying pan. A quick blitz and strain, and there you had it… pineapple soup.

The coconut foam was slightly more involved, but the hardest thing was whisking it up to a foam when I was putting together the dessert. I couldn’t get it quite foamy enough by hand, so pulled out the electric whisk which worked a treat. A nitro siphon, as used in the restaurant, would have been fantastic and even more fun. I think I’d let the foam mixture set a little longer next time so that the structure is stronger when whisked, but I was rather rushed.

The soup really, really did taste like the real thing. The pineapple portion was deliciously sweet and zingy with the slight fizz from the sparkling wine and the much more dramatic snap-bang!-pop from the popping candy. The coconut foam had almost the correct taste and texture, but due to a couple of changes I’d made it wasn’t quite as luxurious as it could have been. I must say that I couldn’t pick out the chilli syrup, but then again… I couldn’t at Gordon’s either, so I was quite satisfied all in all.

Thoughts for next time…

Use full-fat fromage frais, even if it means shopping around. I could only get fat-free which tasted a bit thin. Similarly, coconut cream would be better than coconut milk. (These were my own changes to the recipe, so you can’t blame Gordon for that.)

I need to shop around and find some plain popping candy. The pack that I had—courtesy of my mother-in-law, who for some reason had a packet tucked away in the kitchen—was strawberry flavoured and you could taste that a little. Also, some of the pieces went a little soggy. Not a huge problem by any means… I just like to get things right.

I’ll definitely be making this recipe again and taking further forays into the book as a whole. Sure, there are some things that I’ll shy away from—there’s no way that I’d ever actually cook lobster at home, delicious as it is—but I really do feel that this is an accessible and achievable cookbook for the keen amateur home cook.

Pineapple and chilli soup with fromage frais foam

Source: Recipes From A 3-Star Chef by Gordon Ramsay
Serves 4-6

Pineapple soup:
1 large, ripe pineapple
50g caster sugar, or to taste
75ml Champagne or sparkling white wine
splash of pineapple juice, to taste

Chilli syrup (optional):
50ml stock syrup
pinch of chilli flakes

Fromage frais foam:
100g fromage frais
125ml full-fat foam
150ml stock syrup
juice of 2 lemons
2 sheets of leaf gelatine

To serve:
few pinches of stardust candy (optional)
1 dried chilli, deseeded and very finely chopped

For the pineapple soup, cut off the top and base of the pineapple. Stand it on a flat end and cut away the skin with a sharp knife, following the natural curve of the fruit. Prise out any remaining eyes with the tip of the knife.

Cut into quarters lengthwise and cut away the hard core from each piece and discard. Chop the fruit into rough chunks and toss with the sugar.

Place a large frying pan over a high heat and add the pineapple. Toss and fry for a few minutes until the chunks begin to soften slightly and caramelise.

Tip pineapple into a food processor or blender. Process to a puree. Push through a fine sieve into a bowl, using a ladle to extract all the juice. Discard solids. Taste and balance out the flavours using the Champagne and pineapple juice. Cover and chill thoroughly until needed.

For the chilli syrup, if using. Bring the stock syrup to the boil in a small pan and add the chilli flakes. Turn off the heat and leave to cool completely. Strain into a ramekin and chill until needed.

For the fromage frais foam, beat together the fromage frais and milk until smooth. Heat the stock syrup and lemon juice together in a small pan. Bring to a boil then bubble gently for 5 minutes to thicken slightly. Meanwhile, soak the leaf gelatine in a dish of cold water to bloom. Once gelatine is bloomed and syrup has simmered, squeeze excess water from the gelatine and stir into the hot syrup. Once dissolved, whisk the gelatine mixture into the fromage frais mixture.

Place the bowl of foam mixture into a slightly larger bowl of iced water and leave to cool, whisking occasionally. When softly set, cover and place in the fridge to set completely.

To serve, half-fill 4-6 champagne flutes with the pineapple soup and drizzle over a little chilli syrup if using.

Beat the fromage frais foam mixture with a balloon whisk until it is light, airy and holding bubbles. (This is way easier with an electric whisk, or a nitrous siphon as used in the restaurant.)

Place a large pinch of stardust/popping candy in each glass then spoon over the foam to fill the glass. Sprinkle over a tiny bit of chopped chilli and pop a long, wide straw into each glass.