Salted Almond and Chocolate Soup

A friend gave me The Flavour Thesaurus (Niki Segnit, Bloomsbury) for my birthday last year which is a book based on a flavour wheel that pairs flavours, just how a colour wheel sets colours next to each other that go well together. It puts flavours together in often unusual combinations such as chocolate and bacon. I was only on page 13 when there was a recipe that perked my taste buds up:  Chocolate Soup with Salted Almonds by Christopher Tan. Chocolate, tick, as a soup, mmmm! Salted almonds, tick, tick. So here it is. I found the fantastic fabric in the photos at The Cloth House on Berwick Street, W1F. I used very rich chocolate (85% cocoa) and I think I reached a chocolate high after the soup, it felt like the chocolate was pumping through my veins. Any chocolate around 65% cocoa would be a good and less intense idea!

I suggest this amount to serve 4 people.

What you need:

25g butter

45g flaked almonds

250ml water

100ml single cream

25g caster sugar

40g cocoa powder

100g dark chocolate, broken into pieces

What you need to do:

1. Melt the butter in a pan and lightly fry the flaked almonds until they turn brown. Watch them as one moment they can still be pale and the next, dark brown turning burnt black.

2. In another pan whisk together the water, cream, cocoa powder and sugar.

3. Cook on a medium heat whilst stirring until the sugar has melted. Then let it bubble for a minute or two.

4. Add the pieces of chocolate and stir them in so they melt.

5. Serve with the almonds and flakes of salt sprinkled on top.