Goat Milk

Treat yourself to a Persian feast with this chorizo and goats’ cheese filo pie.

This wonderful combination of smoky, spiced chorizo and cumin-spiked, creamy goat’s cheese is a winner. Nigella seeds are used all around the world but are originally from Southern Asia. Widely used in Indian and Middle Eastern cookery, they have a bitter and peppery taste and are often used in savoury breads.

Chorizo really is such a fantastic ingredient and its capability to deliver bags of flavour to anything it comes into contact with always makes it a crowd-pleaser.

The recipe requires less than 30 mins Preparation time, 1 to 2 hours Cooking time, Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

• 2 tsp cumin seeds (toasted)
• 2 x 200g/7oz cured chorizo sausages (not cooking chorizo), skinned and cut into chunks
• 350g/12fl oz rindless soft goats’ cheese, broken into pieces
• vegetable oil, for oiling
• 6 sheets filo pastry (each about 48 x 25cm/19 x10in)
• 1 tbsp full-fat milk or water
• 1 free-range egg, beaten, to glaze
• 1 tsp nigella seeds

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 200C/180C Fan/Gas 6.
• Dry fry the cumin seeds in a frying pan until aromatic. Remove from the heat.
• Put the chunks of chorizo into a food processor and process until they are minced as finely as possible. Transfer to a mixing bowl, add the cooled cumin seeds and goats’ cheese and mix together until evenly combined.
• Brush the base of a 24cm/9½in round ovenproof dish or cake tin with a little vegetable oil. Lay a pastry sheet lengthways in the dish or tin with the ends overhanging the sides, then lay another pastry sheet widthways in the same way.
• Divide the chorizo filling in half. Add one half to the filo base and smooth it right to the edges to cover the base evenly.
• Fold another pastry sheet in half to create a double thickness and lay it over the filling, then repeat with a second pastry sheet to form a thick pastry layer.
• Brush the pastry with the milk or water, then top with the remaining filling, pushing and patting it into place to evenly coat the pastry layer. Fold the overhanging pastry into the centre, then gently crumple up the remaining 2 pastry sheets and arrange them on top.
• Brush all the exposed pastry and edges with beaten egg and sprinkle over the nigella seeds. Bake for 25–30 minutes, or until deep golden-brown. Serve the borek immediately.

Enjoy this royal favourite biscuit cake Jubilee, this summer.

The recipe requires over 2 hours Preparation time, No cooking required, Serves 8-10

Equipment and Preparation: You will need three 15cm/6in diameter tall cake tins and a cake board. You can use one tin, but you will need to allow extra time for each layer to firm up before assembly.

Ingredients:
For the dark chocolate layer

• 100g/3½oz unsalted butter, softened
• 50g/1¾oz unrefined caster sugar
• 50g/1¾oz golden syrup
• 25ml/¾fl oz warm water
• ½ tsp sea salt
• 125g/4½oz dark chocolate, in pieces
• 60g/2¼oz tea biscuits (such as Rich Tea)
• 60g/2¼oz digestive biscuits

For the milk chocolate layer

• 80g/2¾oz unsalted butter, softened
• 185g/6½ oz sweetened condensed milk
• ½ tsp sea salt
• 300g/10½oz milk chocolate, in pieces
• 150g/5½oz chocolate sandwich biscuits (such as Bourbon biscuits)

For the white chocolate layer

• 225g/8oz white chocolate, in pieces
• 100g/3½oz unsalted butter, softened
• 75g/2½oz sweetened condensed milk
• 25g/1oz golden syrup
• 1 tbsp hot water
• 150g/5½oz pink or chocolate wafer biscuits
• ½ tsp sea salt

To assemble

• 50g/1¾oz melted milk, white or dark chocolate

For the ganache

• 150ml/5fl oz double cream
• 100g/3½oz dark chocolate
• 50g/1¾oz milk chocolate
• sprinkles, flags, biscuits and any Jubilee-themed decorations

Directions:

• For the dark chocolate layer, line a 15cm/6in diameter tall cake tin with baking paper.
• Put the butter, caster sugar, golden syrup, water and sea salt together in a pan over a low heat. Bring to a simmer, then take off the heat and stir to dissolve the sugar. Add the chocolate and stir until smooth.
• Break the biscuits up into chunky pieces and mix them into the chocolate mixture.
• Spoon the mixture into the tin and level off. Refrigerate for one hour.
• Remove from the fridge, carefully remove from the tin and peel off the baking paper.
• For the milk chocolate layer, line another 15cm/6in diameter tall cake tin with baking paper. Combine the butter, condensed milk and sea salt in a pan and place on a low heat. Once melted, take off the heat, add the chocolate and stir until smooth.
• Break the biscuits up into chunky pieces and mix into the chocolate mixture.
• Spoon the mixture into the tin and level off. Refrigerate for one hour. Remove from the fridge, carefully remove from the tin and peel off the baking paper.
• For the white chocolate layer, line a 15cm/6in diameter tall cake tin with baking paper. Put the butter, golden syrup, condensed milk, water and sea salt in a pan and melt over a low heat. Remove from the heat. Add the white chocolate and stir until smooth.
• Chop the biscuits up into chunky pieces and stir them into the chocolate mixture.
• Spoon the mixture into the tin and level off. Refrigerate for one hour.
• Remove from the fridge, carefully remove the cake from the tin and peel off the baking paper.
• To assemble the cake, place the dark chocolate layer of cake onto a cake board. Spread one dessertspoon of the melted chocolate onto the dark layer.
• Place the milk chocolate layer on top and press firmly so that it bonds to the dark chocolate layer.
• Repeat this with the melted chocolate and white chocolate layer so that you now have a layered cake with white chocolate at the top, milk chocolate in the centre and dark chocolate at the bottom.
• For the ganache, chop both the types of chocolates into small pieces. Bring the cream to a simmer in a pan and pour onto the chocolate, whisking well until glossy and smooth.
• Allow the ganache to cool at room temperature, but not to go fully cold as it will be too thick to spread.
• Spread the ganache evenly over the sides and top of the cake making sure that you are generous with the ganache on the top of the cake. Do not worry if the ganache is not perfectly even or flat, it doesn’t need to be.
• Refrigerate for 15 minutes to set the ganache.
• To serve, use a sharp knife to cut into wedges. This cake must be served at room temperature (It will keep in an airtight container for 5 days or the individual layers of biscuit cake will keep for two weeks.) Enjoy!