Leaving Uncle B

I have worked for a very special organisation for the last 5 years, where Uncle B has treated me unbelievably well. It was also under Uncle B that I really learnt about food and have been able to afford to eat very well, so I will eternally be grateful. However, I decided this year was the right time for me to move onto to do other things, and will be starting a strategy role within the restaurant business in the next month. I won't mention who they are here, but I will also stop blogging about them just to be objective (although some very honest blogs about these restaurants already appear here!!!).

But anyway, the real reason for posting is to give out my recipe for brownies. These are unbelievably good brownies, and it generally how I make friends (just ask Matthew). It is actually a Nigella recipe, and yes, even I am shocked at how much fat/sugar goes in it every time I make them.

Brownies (makes about 48 - they are so rich you will want to cut them quite small)

375g soft unsalted butter
375g dark chocolate (at least 70% cocoa)
6 large eggs
1 tbsp vanilla extract
500g caster sugar
225g plain flour
1 tsp salt (I sometimes just use salted butter and omit this)
300g chopped walnuts

1. Preheat the oven to 180C and line your brownie pan with some greaseproof paper. The pan I use is just larger than a A4 sheet of paper and about 2 inches deep.
2. Melt the butter and chocolate together (microwave is fine!) and allow to cool.
3. In a large bowl (enough to hold all the ingredients) beat the eggs with the vanilla and sugar.
4. Beat in the chocolate/butter mixture, then the nuts and flour. Beat to combine smoothly and scrape out into your brownie pan.
5. Bake for about 25 minutes - the trick is get it so that the top is dry, but the middle still looks quite undercooked - this will ensure that the final brownie is nice and dense and gooey inside.

Obviously you can omit the nuts and add in whatever you like - dried cherries in particular sound very nice. I also successfully managed to do a non-nutty version for Chris who is allergic in a little ramekin.

Apologies to the baymates who were in Newcastle and never got a taste! If you guys keep me on the bay mailing list, maybe I'll make them again soon :p