SALTED CHOCOLATE CRÈME BRULEE

I was outraged this week to hear crème brulee described as 'a little eighties.' I resort to verbatim because, as any aspiring Elle Woods's will know, your case needs evidence to stand up in a court of law.

My distress here is twofold: firstly, tarnishing anything with the glittery, permed brush of 'eighties' will do it no favours. And secondly, what's so bad about the eighties anyway? Photographic evidence suggests that my dad wore some oversized specs that would go down very well in East London these days, and I know few people of good taste who would turn down Tiramisu or a Black Forest Gateaux. Case closed.

If you're wary of brulee, please don't be. It's so delicious and you don't need to buy a blowtorch either which, unless you've got a spot of welding that needs doing, is a big tick in my book.

The chocolate was inspired by a version at my favourite splurge-spot, Bob Bob Ricard. An unoriginal choice I know but what can I say, I'm a sucker for novelty buttons and a good namesake (Bob has twice the shares, in case you were wondering).

My recipe is adapted from this version by delicious. magazine. You'll need to use a heavyweight dark chocolate for this one, and I found that Green&Blacks 80% cocoa was just the ticket.

 THE INGREDIENTS

100g Green&Blacks 80% dark chocolate

400ml double cream

4 egg yolks

1 tsp fine sea salt

25g caster sugar

 caster sugar & sea salt to finish

THE RECIPE

Begin by chopping your chocolate into small pieces, and setting aside in a large bowl. Put the cream in a saucepan, and gently bring to the boil. Allow it to bubble for a few seconds, then remove from the heat and pour over the chocolate. Stir the ganache until the mixture is smooth, and all the chocolate has melted.

Separately, whisk the yolks, sugar and salt until pale and slightly foamy. Add to the chocolate mixture, then return to a clean pan and heat through for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Pour into small pots, teacups or ramekins and leave to cook in the fridge.

When you're ready to serve them, make a caramel with 100g caster sugar and a generous pinch of sea salt. Gently heat until the sugat has melted and the caramel is golden brown. Gently and carefully pour a layer of caramel over each brulee, and allow to harden before serving.