Ground sweet almonds are especially useful ... Dishes described as ‘amandine’ are served with whole or split blanched almonds – trout amandine being a universal classic.

Cut in two or four as desired. Blanch the almonds in boiling water for 1-2 minutes, rub off the skins and chop them finely. Mix the dried fruit, nuts, ground almonds and grated orange and lemon rind.

For best results use blanched almonds and grind them yourself, but you can also buy ground almonds Claudia uses a few drops of almond essence to enhance the flavour of the almonds The eggs are ...

Preheat the oven to 150°C/Gas Mark 2. Line a 20.5cm x 30.5cm cake tin that is 5cm deep lined with parchment paper. Mum cooked this cake in an oval enamel tin with a lid. Blanch the whole almonds ...