Recipes
Dishes to bluff with
Every recipe: little work, big effect. Pick your moment and impress.
Flemish beef stew
Looks like a day's work. It's one pan and a little patience.
Beef carpaccio with truffle mayo
Five minutes' work, but the plate looks like a fine-dining starter.
Burrata with roasted cherry tomatoes
One ball of burrata and a bit of colour — yet secretly the prettiest plate of the night.
Baked camembert with honey & walnut
A whole cheese into the oven — and at the table it oozes open, theatrically.
Seared scallops with pea purée
Ninety seconds a side — and still the most refined plate you've ever made.
Steak tartare
No cooking, pure plating — and it looks like the most expensive starter on the menu.
French onion soup, gratinéed
Cheap onions, plenty of patience — and a bubbling cheese crust that steals the show.
Whole roasted cauliflower
One whole head into the oven — and you put a vegetarian showpiece on the table.
Miso-honey salmon from the oven
Twelve minutes in the oven, a glaze that shines — and nobody's the wiser.
Ossobuco with gremolata
Braises itself tender — the fresh gremolata at the end steals the show.
Mushroom risotto
Looks like chef's work, is really just stirring and tasting.
Fresh ravioli with sage brown butter
Shop-bought ravioli, but a butter sauce that tastes like a restaurant's.
Gnocchi with sage brown butter & pancetta
Shop-bought gnocchi, nutty butter and crunch — done before you know it.
Crème brûlée
Made ahead, torched at the table — that crack is pure theatre.
Chocolate mousse with sea salt & olive oil
Few ingredients, but with a neat quenelle it looks expensive.
Panna cotta with red fruit coulis
Made ahead, turned out at the table — that wobble is half the work.