In the first of an occasional series Liz Coggins shares some celebrity food secrets, recipes and tips from Behind The Kitchen Door.

From food from the finest hotel kitchens, sandwiches from motorway service stations to baking his own chocolate brownies Joe McElderry enjoys a roller-coaster ride as far as food is concerned.

“I am very balanced in the way I eat as I am in the way I exercise – everything in moderation and it works for me” says the former 2009 X Factor winner who has since carved out a successful solo and musical theatre career.

“I work hard and I play hard and I admit I don’t eat salads for every meal. My favourite foods are home made Sunday roast dinners, pie and mash with lashings of gravy, home made chocolate brownies and Greek and Italian dishes” says Joe.

With his busy schedule and being ‘on tour or on the road’ as he puts it he doesn’t have much time for cooking but when he’s home he often makes a point of spending time in the kitchen something that stems back to his childhood days.

“My earliest memories of cooking was when I used to cook cakes with my auntie and grandma. Even though I was very young I used to love making beans on toast with cheese.”

Joe Admits: “I am a bit of a lazy cook as I have a short attention span and often get bored with what I am making – which is when things tend to go wrong but that’s not often” he hastens to add.

But when it does help is on hand for Joe from his Auntie “she always had magical tips on how to turn a bad cake into a good one”.

Joe has a reputation for his delicious cheesecakes and sumptuous chocolate brownies and I have it on good authority that he makes a mean pasta dish.

At the moment Joe is on a UK tour of Joseph and The Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat having made the transition from playing Joseph a decade ago to the completely different role of Pharaoh.

“Although I don’t appear until the second half and only for around 20 minutes – it’s a role that takes a lot of full on energy, says Joe

“To keep up my energy I start the day with my favourite meal - breakfast .It’s usually a full English with poached eggs on toast with smashed avocado”

“Whilst I am in the theatre on performance days, like most actors, I top up my energy levels with snacks or with a cheeky treat like a cup of tea and a piece of carrot cake!”

After the show Joe has his main meal of the day “I either have room service or a takeaway in my hotel or go out to a restaurant. That’s the good thing about being in a musical tour you are in a large town or city for a week or more and you get to know the best eating places in the area”.

“My eating pattern when I’m touring with a musical is so different to when I am touring with my own show. We are travelling most of the day from venue to venue and so rely on snacks from Greggs or burgers and sandwiches motorway service station.”

And finally here’s Joe’s favourite recipe for his chocolate brownies.

Ingredients:
185g unsalted butter; 185g best dark chocolate, 85g plain flour, 40g cocoa powder, 50g white chocolate, 50g, milk chocolate, 3 large eggs, 275g golden castor sugar.

Method:
Cut the unsalted butter into small cubes and put in a medium bowl. Break 185g dark chocolate into small pieces and drop into the bowl.

Fill a saucepan about a quarter full with hot water, then sit the bowl on top so its rests on the rim of the pan, not touching the water. Put over a low heat until the butter and chocolate have melted, stirring occasionally to mix them.

Remove the bowl from the pan. Alternatively, cover the bowl loosely with cling film and put in the microwave for two minutes on High. Leave the melted mixture to cool at room temperature.

While you wait for the chocolate to cool, position a shelf in the middle of your oven and turn the oven on to 180C/160Cfan/gas4

Using a shallow 20cm square tin cut out a square of kitchen foil (or non stick baking parchment) to line the base. Tip 85g of plain flour and 40g cocoa powder into a sieve held over a medium bowl. Tap and shake the sieve so they run through together and you get rid of any lumps.

Chop 50g white chocolate and 50g milk chocolate into chunks on a board.

Break 3 large eggs into a large bowl and tip in 275g golden caster sugar. With an electric mixer on maximum speed, whisk the eggs and sugar. They will look thick and creamy, like a milk shake. This can take 3-8 minutes depending on how powerful your mixer it. You’’ know its ready when the mixture becomes really pale and about double its original volume. Another check is to turn off the mixer, lift out the beaters and wiggle them from side to side. If the mixture that runs off the beaters leaves a trail on the surface of the mixture in the bowl for a second or two you are there.

Pour the cooled chocolate mixture over the eggy mouse, then gently fold together with a rubber spatula. Put the spatula in at one side, take it underneath and bring it up the opposite side and in again at the middle. Continue going under and over in a figure of eight moving the bowl round after each folding so you can get at it from all sides, until the two mixtures are one and mottled dark brown in colour. The idea is to marry them without knocking out the air, so be as gentle and slow as you like.

Hold the sieve over the bowl of eggy chocolate mixture and resift the coca and flour mixture shaking the sieve from side to side to cover the top evenly.

Gently fold in the powder using the same figure of eight action as before. The mixture will look dry and dusty at first, and a bit unpromising, but if you keep going very gently and patiently, it will end up looking gungy and fudgy. Stop just before you feel you should, as you don’t want to overdo this mixing.

Finally stir in the white and milk chocolate chunks until they are dotted throughout. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin. Ease the mixture into the corners of the tin and level off the top with a spatula.

Put in the oven for 25 minutes after which open the oven and pull the shelf out a bit and shake the tin gently. If the brownie wobbles in the middle, its not quite done, so slide it back in and bake for another five minutes until the top has a shiny, papery crust and the sides are just beginning to come away from the tin.

Take out of the oven and let it cool until completely cold. Then lift out the brownie on the foil or parchment. Cut into quarters, then cut each quarter into four squares and finally into triangles. This will keep for two weeks in an airtight container or in the freezer for up to a month.

Full Cast

Joe McElderry is touring in Joseph and The Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat to:

Leeds Grand Theatre 25-29 March

Blackpool Winter Gardens 9-13 April

Newcastle Theatre Royal 10-15 June