French Family cooking

Beef Stroganoff with croquette potatoes

2007-02-24T09:12:00.001Z

I'm a little behind with my posts, and am spending less time in the kitchen. Busy with a trip to England to prepare, Lizzy's birthday, weekend visits...

So this recipe is a couple of weeks old. The beef Stroganov owes the name to its creator, (and not Strogonov it would appear) and is of course a Russian classic. As for the croquette potatoes, they went down very well with the girls...

Preparation : 1 hour

Cooking : 3 minutes

Ingredients for 4

800 gr lean beef filet

2 tbsp oil

10 gr butter

1 chopped onion

1 tsp mild paprika

10 cl white wine

4 cl veal stock

1/2 tsp concentrated tomato puree

10 cl crème fraîche

Salt and pepper

Cut the beef into cubes of 1cm. Season with salt, pepper and paprika.
Heat the oil and butter in a frying pan, and sear the cubes of meat (with should remain rare.)
Drain,
Drain, and set aside the beef in a metal bowl.
Add the tomato concentrate to the veal stock.
Remove some of the oil from the frying pan, and add the chopped onion.
Soften for 1 or 2 minutes.
Deglaze with white wine, and leave to reduce.
Add the veal stock, and reduce once more.
Add the drained meat cubes.
Add the crème fraîche, and reduce for a further 3 minutes.

Croquettes potatoes

Preparation : 1 hour
Refridgerator : 1 hour
Cooking time : 2 minutes per pan
Ingredients
1 kg pototoes (ex. Bintje)
1 whole egg and 3 yolks
1 pinch of ground nutmeg
75 gr butter
100 gr golden breadcrumbs
Plain flour
Salt and pepper

Peel and wash the potatoes. Cut into small pieces and place in a saucepan of cold water.
Salt, and cook for 30 minutes on a high heat.
Drain the potatoes, and press through a mill. Return the mash to a saucepan on a moderate heat, stirring constantly, to evaporate some of the humidity.
Off the heat, mix in 75 gr of butter and 3 egg yolks to the hot puree, incorporating each one fully before adding the next.
Season with salt and pepper and the ground nutmeg. Spread the puree into a dish, and leave in the fridge for one hour. This will firm the potato making it easier to handle.
Flour a board and kneed the potato puree to make it smooth. Take one large spoonful of the mixture and mould it into a cylinder. Do the same with the remainder of the puree.
Place 100 gr of breadcrumbs onto a plate.
Beat the whole egg with a pinch of salt.
Dip each croquette into the beaten egg until completely coated, and then roll in the breadcrumbs.
Leave to rest for 10 minutes.
Heat a deep fryer to 170°c. Deep fry the croquettes in this hot but not smoking oil for around 2 minutes.
Drain the croquettes on absorbant paper.

Keep warm in the oven until serving.

Ideas for Aperitif n°2

2007-02-13T08:57:00.001Z

This week is Lizzy's birthday, and as a treat tomorrow we're going straight to the Paris horse show from the gates of school. They of course love horses, which is not excactly my case... And when I see Becky getting thrown off, my fear only increases...

After some quite heavy cooking these last few weeks, I'm trying to lighten things, hoping even to loose a few excess kilos before the end-of-year celebrations. Here are a few ideas to get into the a festive mood...

Parmesan Cornets

Preparation : 45 minutes

Cooking : 30 minutes

for around 30 Cornets

150 gr grated parmesan

150 gr ricotta

2 tbsp lemon juice

1/2 tbsp milk

2 tbsp freshly chopped chive

3 slices of proscuitto ham

2 fresh or dried figs

Preaheat the oven to 200° (mark 7).
Place 4 circles on a sheet of oven-proof paper.
Sprinkle 3 tsps of grated parmesan cheese evenly inside each of the circles.

Bake for 3 minutes, until the cheese melts and turns golden.
Use a spatula to remove each circle of cheese, and roll each around a cone made from cardboard or stiff paper. If the cheese hardens too quickly, return it to the oven for a few seconds.

Prepare the rest of the cornets using the same technique (4 cornets at a time).
Beat the ricotta with the lemon juice and the milk. Set aside in the fridge.
Brown the proscuitto ham slices slightly in a frying pan.
Dice into small pieces and add to the ricotta.
Fill each cornet with this mixture, and decorate with a slice of fig.

Mushrooms marinated in chilli pepper
Preparation : 20 minutes
Marinade : 30 minutes
700 gr of button mushrooms
25 cl olive oil
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 pressed garlic glove
1/4 tbsp sugar
1 chopped red chilli pepper
1 chopped green chilli pepper
1 tbsp freshly chopped de coriander
1 tbsp freshly chopped parsley

Wash the mushrooms thoroughly and place in a bowl.
Mix the oil, the lemon juice, garlic, sugar, herbs and the peppers.
Add the marinade to the mushrooms, cover, and leave for 30 minutes.

You can marinate the mushrooms up to one week beforehandand and store in the fridge.

Semi-dried tomatoes
Preparation : 10 minutes
Refridgerator : 24 heures
Cooking : 2 h 30

16 cherry tomatoes

3 tbsp freshly chopped thyme

2 tbsp olive oil

Salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 160 °C ( th2-3). Cut the tomatoes into 4. Place them skin-side up on a sheet of foil on a baking tray.

Sprinkle with a teaspoon of salt, and pepper, and the chopped thyme.
Cook for 2h30 in the oven.
Remove from the oven, add the olive oil, and leave to cool.
Store in a clean container in the fridge for at least 24 hours before serving.

These tomatoes will keep in a sealed container in the fridge for one week.

Pepper cigarettes
Preparation : 30 minutes
Refridgeration : 2 hours
Cooking : 10 minutes
20 pieces
1 red pepper
60 gr grated gruyère or cheddar cheese
30 gr grated parmesan
2 tbsp mayonnaise
2 tsp freshly chopped parsley
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp oregano
2 drops of tabasco sauce
10 slices of white bread
10 gr melted butter

Cut the pepper, remove the seeds, and place skin-side up under a hot grill until the skin blackens. Leave to cool in a plastic bag or in aluminium foil, and peel when cooled.
Chop into small pieces and place in a bowl with the cheeses, the mayonnaise, herbs, tabasco sauce, and season with salt and pepper.
Trim the sides of the bread slices, and flatten with a rolling pin.
Brush both sides with the melted butter.
Spread the pepper mix onto the bread, leaving a 1 cm border all around.
Roll up the bread, and attach with cocktail sticks.
Cover, and leave in the fridge for 2 hours.
Preheat the oven to 180° (mk 5).
Cut each roll into 2, and secure each one with a cocktail stick.
Bake for 10 minutes until crisp.

You can prepare the cigarettes the previous day before baking.

Idées "Apéritif" épisode 1

Salmon in spinach with pilaf rice

2007-01-30T09:08:00.000Z

This recipe is a much simplified version of a dish by the German chef Heinz Winkler. He dressed the dish with caviar...

Preparation : 20 minutes

Cooking time : 20 minutes + 20 minutes for the pilaf rice

Ingredients for 4

400 gr salmon filet

100 gr white fish flesh

1 egg

10 cl double cream

Ground nutmeg

30 large spinach leaves

Sauce :

20 cl fish stock

20 cl white wine

20 cl Noilly Prat (or similar dry Vermouth liqour)

1 shopped shallot

10 gr butter

Salt, pepper

Pilaf rice:

1 1/2 glasses long grain rice

20 gr butter

1 chopped onion

1 bouquet garni (parsley, thyme, bay-leaves wrapped together)

Pilaf rice

Softened the chopped onion in 10 gr of butter.
Add the rice, and heat for a few minutes without colouring the rice.
Add 1.5 l of boiling water, season with salt and pepper and add the bouquet garni.
Bring to the boil, cover with oven-proof paper, and a lid.
Cook in the oven at 200°c for between 16 and 18 minutes.
Remove from the oven, and let the rice rest and rise for a few minutes.
Place the rice in a metal bowl, add 10 gr of butter, and mix the rice with a fork.
Keep warm, covered with the oven-proof paper.

Salmon in spinach leaves

Divide the salmon into equal pieces of around 100 gr.
Remove the stalks from the spinach, and plunge into boiling water for 5 seconds. Drain, and spread onto a dry towel.
Cut the white fish flesh into small chunks, season with salt and pepper, and mix in a food processor.
Add the egg, the double cream and the ground nutmeg.
Spread a piece of plastic film onto a chopping board.
Lay out a rectangle of spinach leaves (two-layers thick).

Spread the fish mousse on top, about 1cm thick, using a spatula. Place the seasoned salmon filets on top.

Trim the plastic film, and wrap the spinach leaves over the top of the salmon.
Steam-cook for 10 minutes.

Noilly Prat sauce :

Place the Noilly Prat, white wine and chopped shallot in a saucepan and bring to the boil.
Add the fish stock, and reduce by one-third.
Add the butter, and simmer for 6 minutes.
Liquidiez the sauce, and then add in caviar or lumpfish eggs.

Slice the salmon, and dress the plate with the sauce.

Cabbage with duck fillet stuffing, Celery and apple brandade

2007-01-28T13:57:00.000Z

A recipe from the magazine Avantages. This is a recipe I often come back to, because it's simply my favourite amongst many. This is a recipe for a Sunday, quite long to prepare but fairly simple to execute. I also shorten it during the week, to use up left-over meat and vegetables.

I accompany here with a recipe for a brandade of celery and apple, which we discovered during a lesson from Charles Soussin in the Fraîch'attitude kitchen with fellow-bloggers Ester, Doriann, Marie-laure, Adèle, Requia, Muriel and Marie. A very useful lesson, which makes a good addition to the numerous cookery books...

And the girls were so pleased with their apple sauce...

Preparation : 1 h 30

Cooking : 45 minutes

Ingredients for 6

16 large cabbage leaves

250 gr finely chopped cooked ham

1 duck fillet confit

1 tbsp duck fat

125 gr diced bacon

250 gr onions

125 gr carrots

1 stick of celery

25 gr chopped parsley

1 mixed herb bouquet (2 twigs of thyme, 2 laurel leaves)

1 pressed garlic clove

1 shallot

24 slightly crushed juniper berries

1 pinch of ground nutmeg

50 gr chopped white bread + 50 gr chopped granary bread

10 cl sweet white wine

6 chopped plums

3 tbsp milk

2 eggs

Celery and apple Brandade (recipe by Charles Soussin) :

1/2 celeriac

1/2 lemon

4 apple

1/2 l milk

Cut the onions, shallot, carrots and celery into small cubes.
Melt the duck fat in a frying pan. Add the vegetables, the herb bouquet, and soften for 5 minutes, whilst stirring.

Add the garlic and white wine. Cover for 5 minutes, on a medium heat.
Add the diced bacon, uncover, and let the bacon cook. Remove from the heat, and discard the herb bouquet.
Add the chopped cooked ham, the chopped bread, the parsley and the juniper berries. Mix well.
Remove the skin and any bone from the duck fillet. Chop the meat very finely, add it into the frying pan, and add the milk.
Beat the eggs with a fork and add into the frying pan (still off the heat), mix well.
Preaheat the oven to mark 6 (200°). Half-fill a large dish with water and place in the oven.
Boil the cabbage leaves for 5 minutes in salted water. Drain, then place in cold water.
Trim the edges of the cabbage.

Line the serving dish with plastic film, and brush the lining with duck fat.
Layer the cabbage leaves to line the walls and bottom of the dish (let the leaves on the side overlap the outside of the dish.)

Pour in half of the stuffing, followed by half of the chopped plums.
Then cover with a layer of cabbage leaves, before filling the rest of the dish with the remaining stuffing and plums.

Fold the cabbage leaves lining the sides of the dish over the top to close the terrine.

Cover the whole dish with aluminium foil, and place in the oven in the bain-marie.
Bake for 40 minutes.
Before tuning out, turo the dish over a leave for a while to allow any condensation to run off.

Celery and apple Brandade :

Peel the celeriac with a knife, and pour a little lemon juice over.
Cut into small cubes.
Cover with milk in a saucepan, and cook for 30 minutes.
Mix into a purée with a liquidizer.
Boil the peeled and chopped apples in water (no sugar) into a compote, and mix into the celeriac puree.
Season with salt and pepper.

Serve the terrine warm with the celery purée, accompanied with roast chestnuts.

Salmon fishcakes

2007-01-25T13:10:00.000Z

A quick and easy recipe to prepare. The secret of good fishcakes is to use fresh fish, and home-made potato puree and breadcrumbs. Other white fish or even smoked haddock will work well with this recipe.

Preparation : 10 minutes
Cooking time : 15 minutes
Ingredients for 4

450 gr cooked salmon
450 gr potatoes (floury type) boiled and mashed
25 gr softened butter
2 tbsp mustard seeds

1 tbsp fresh dill
1 tbsp fresh flat leaf parsley
Juice of 1/2 lemon
15 gr plain white flour
1 beaten egg
150 gr of breadcrumbs
4 tbsp oil
Salt and white pepper

Crush the cooked salmon with a fork, making sure that no bones or skin remain.
Mix the salmon with the the boiled and coarsely mashed potatoes in a large bowl.
Add in the softened butter and mustard seeds. Mix well, then add in the dill, parsley and lemon juice. Season with salt and white pepper.
Divide the mixture into 8 parts, and with each, form into a ball and then flatten slightly into a disc.
Coat each disc first in flour, then beaten egg, and finally in breadcrumbs.
Warm the oil in a very hot frying pan.
Fry the fishcakes until golden brown.
Drain with absorbant paper, and serve hot.

Fishcakes served with a simple salad

Tournedos Rossini and braised endives

2007-01-23T08:01:00.000Z

This is a real French classic, "le tournedos Rossini", which legend has it the famous composer, who was rather a gourmet, passed on to the chef at the Café Anglais.

Preparation : 20 minutes

Cooking Time : 20 minutes

Ingredients for 4

4 beef tournedos cuts

4 slices of bread

100 gr of part-cooked foie gras

1 truffle

20 cl veal stock

10 cl Madera wine

140 gr butter

1 tbsp oil

Salt, pepper

As all the ingredients are cooked seperately, everything must be kept warm between hot plates.

Cut circles from the sliced bread the same diameter as the tournedos. Fry both sides until golden in a little butter.
Fry the tournedos in the oil with 20 gr of butter for 1 to 2 minutes each side. Season with salt and pepper, and keep warm.
Cut the foie gras into round discs of the same diameter as the tournedos. Warm them gently in the frying pan. Cut the truffle into 8 thin slices, and grate the remainder.
Place the bread circles onto the serving plates, with the tournedos placed on top, and finally followed by the foie gras. Keep warm.
Pour the madera wine into the same frying pan and leave to reduce. Add the veal stock, the truffle juice, along with the grated and sliced truffle. Reduce.
Off the heat, melt the remaining butter into the sauce.
Dress the tournedos with the sauce, and 2 slices of truffle per tournedos.

Braised endives from a recipe by Chef Eric Léautey.

Ingredients for 4
4 endives
1 lemon cut into slices
1 carrot
20 cl veal stock
1 onion
Thyme
50 gr butter

Wash, drain and chop the endives into 2 along the length, and remove the heart.
Place them in a saucepan with the butter, the lemon slices, salt, thyme, and cover with water.
Place a sheet of greaseproof paper with a hole cut in the centre over the top of the pan, and cook gently for 10 minutes.
Cut the onion and carrots into small cubes. Brown in a frying pan with a little butter. Season with salt and pepper.
Drain the endives, and place them with the onions and carrots in an oven dish.
Add the veal stock.
Braise in the oven with no lid on the dish for 30 minutes at 120° (mark 4).

Serve in the braising juices

Morello cherry chocolate tears

2007-01-22T07:03:00.000Z

Chocolate, cherries, and more chocolate...

Preparation : 1 h 30

Ingredients for 22 chocolate tears

200 gr dark chocolate chopped into pieces

22 pitted and drained Morello cherries

Chocolate mousse

60 gr dark chocolate

1 tbsp single cream

1 egg yolk

1 egg white

1/2 tsp powdered gelatin

80 ml very cold single cream

Cut 22 3cm by 11cm rectangles from oven-proof paper.
Bring a saucepan of water to the boil, then off the heat, place a bowl containing the chocolate pieces into the hot water. Avoid the bowl touching the saucepan, and stir the chocolate as it melts.
Spread a thin layer of chocolate onto a paper rectangle using a spatula. Press the two ends together to form a tear-shape, and hold together. Place on a plate to cool, and repeat th operation with the other rectangles. If the chocolate begins to harden, place it back in the bain-marie, but always off the heat.

Place a small teaspoon of melted chocolate onto a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper, and place the chocolate tear on top, pressing gently. Repeat for each tear. Leave to harden completely, then trim each chocolate with a sharp knife.

Delicately lift each chocolate from the paper with a spatula.

Cut the morello cherries into two.
Chocolate mousse filling : Melt the chocolate in a bain-marie as above. Add one spoon of single cream and the egg yolk, and mix well.
Put the gelatin powder in 2 teaspoons of water in a bowl. Place this bowl in a bain-marie to dissolve the gelatin completely. Then add to the chocolate.
Whip the cold cream with a whisk, and add then mix it into the chocolate mousse.
Beat the egg white to snow, and fold it into the chocolate mousse.
Place a cherry into each chocolate tear, and then cover with the chocolate mousse. Fill each chocolate to the very top, as the mousse will tend to settle.

Leave in the fridge for one hour before serving.

White Chocolate and coconut Panna Cotta mango purée

2007-01-21T09:28:00.000Z

Inspired by this Panna Cotta recipe from Chef Scott feaured on Gordon Ramsey's "Hell's Kitchen" Fox TV series, I did reduce the sugar and gelatine a little...

Here's the video (recipe n° 8)

Preparation : 15 minutes

Refrigeration : 3 hours

Ingredients for 4 small glasses

25 cl coconut milk

100 gr grated white chocolate

2 gelatin leaves

50 gr sugar

1 mango

8 cl water

Soften the gelatin leaves in a bowl of cold water.
Bring the coconut milk and grated white chocolate to the boil in a small saucepan, stirring continuously.
Off the heat, fully melt in the softened gelatin leaves (drained and dried).
Filter the preparation with a chinois sieve.
Fill the glasses to 2/3 rds with the mixture, and leave in the fridge for 1 hour.
Mango Purée: Peel the mango, remove the stone, and chop into small cubes.
Mix the water and sugar in a saucepan, and bring to the boil.
Add the mango pieces and reduce to a jam-like consistency.
Liquidize in a mixer, and leave to cool for 15 minutes.
Add the mango puree to fill the glasses, and leav to cool for 2 hours before serving.

Salmon-trout crepinettes in Tarragon sauce

2007-01-07T11:27:00.000Z

The dish comes from the l'Hostellerie La Bonne Marmite in Pont-Saint-Pierre.

Preparation : 30 minutes

Cooking time : 10 minutes

Ingredients for 4

1 small fillet of salmon-trout

1 fillet of white fish (for the stuffing)

1/2 courgette

1/2 red pepper

1/2 carrot

1 tbsp creme fraîche

1 peeled and chopped tomato

10 cl fish stock

1 egg

Chives

Tarragon

10 cl single cream

10 gr butter

Salt, pepper

Chop the vegetables into small cubes.

Brown the vegetables in butter, and add the chives.
Reserve one spoonful of the vegetables to dress each plate.
Remove the bones from the salmon fillet, and slice into very thin escalopes.
Flatten the escalopes between two sheets of greaseproof paper. Season with salt and pepper. Reserve in the fridge.

Stuffing : Chop the white fish fillet and mix with the creme fraiche, egg and pepper.
Stir in the browned vegetables with a spatula.
Crépinettes : Place a tablespoon of stuffing in the middle of each salmon escalope, and wrap into a parcel, sealing each crepinette individually in cooking film.
Steam-cook the crepinettes for 3 to 4 minutes. Unwrap, and keep the crepinettes warm.
Sauce (to prepare whilst the crepinettes are cooking) : Reduce the fish stock in a small saucepan.
Add the single cream, and reduce again.
At the last moment, add in the finely chopped tarragon and diced tomato.

Serve the crepinettes dressed in the sauce and decorated with browned vegatables. I accompany the dish with a timbale of rice, and pleurotte mushrooms browned in butter.

Toffee treat by Stirway to Heaven

2006-11-05T13:38:00.000Z

I've spent quite some time in front of my computer these last three days, as the girls are ill(during the school holidays!) I discovered a great Dutch site called Stirway to heaven on my daily visit to Food Porn watch, (the English-language equivalent of blog appétit.) It's a treasure chest of sweet recipes, chocolate, cookies... I just had to try the Toffee Treat, one of the latest posts, and took the liberty of translating it to French for the Blog Apetit community. I also noted the recipe for "Sweet Pretzel"...

Normandy apple tart and honey ice cream

2006-11-03T09:27:00.000Z

The girls are on school holidays this week with a busy program in store : cinema, museums, bike rides, seeing friends,... and cooking with mum in the kitchen ! Here's a recipe to start with - apple tart and home-made honey ice cream from chef Jean-luc Tartarin.

Preparation : 50 minutes

Cooking time: 20 minutes

Ingredients for 4 :

5 apples

Pastry :

60 gr butter

60 gr icing sugar

2 egg yolks

150 gr plain flour

1 pinch of salt

Pralin :

100 gr sugar

50 gr flour

50 gr powdered almonds

1 tbsp cinnamon powder

50 gr softened butter

Honey ice cream :

50 cl half fat milk

4 egg yolks

200 gr honey

15 cl single cream

Pastry : Mix the icing sugar with the flour. Add the butter in lumps in the middle.
Crush the butter with the ends of your fingers, mixing in with the flour.
Beat the eggs with the salt, and add to the preceeding mixture.
Kneed the mixture together and into a ball with your hands. Flour the outside, and cool for an hour.
Honey ice cream : Bring the milk to the boil.
Beat the eggs and honey together in a bowl.
Pour the hot milk over the eggs and honey. Whisk together, and pass through a strainer.
Heat the mixture in a bain-marie on a medium heat until the mixture thickens stirring with a wooden spoon.
Take off the heat and leave to cool.
Mix in the single cream, and freeze the mixture using an ice-cream maker. Place in the freezer.
Pralin : Mix the sugar, flour, almond powder and cinnamon in a bowl.
Add the softened butter.
In a tart mould (or individual moulds) :
Roll out the pastry. Line the mould with ovenproof paper, or for individual moulds, I butter the inside and then use strips of paper, which help when turning out the tarts.

Apply the pastry base and prick with a fork.
Peel, core and cut the apples into small cubes of around 1cm.
Fill the tarts with apple, then cover the top with the pralin.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes.

Serve the tart warm with a spoon of ice cream and sprinkled with icing sugar.

Indian-style pork loin

2006-10-31T10:07:00.000Z

We've finally finished the apple harvest, they're much better than last year! Safely packed in cartons and filling the basement with their distinctive fragance, they should see us through part of the winter. So time to revisit some of the apple recipes...

La petite virée en Inde inspired me for this weekend's recipe.

Marinade preparation (previous day) : 20 minutes

Cooking : 1 h00

Ingredients for 4

1 pork loin (4 ribs)

4 large apples

30 gr butter

1 piece of fresh coconut

Salt

Marinade :

1 chopped shallot

1 pressed garlic glove

1 pinch of powdered ginger

1 pinch of chili powder

2 tbsp curry powder

1 tbsp cumin powder

1 pinch pepper

20 cl dry white wine

4 tbsp olive oil

The previous day, pour the olive oil and the white wine into a deep dish, add the chopped shallot, the pressed garlic and all the spices. Mix well.
Brush the pork loin with the marinade, then place it in the dish. Cover, and leave in the fridge for 12 hours, turning once.

Preaheat the oven to 180° (mk.6). Place the pork in an oven dish, season with salt and pepper.
Bake for 1 hour, basting from time to time with the marinade.
Wash the apples and cut into quarters.
Fry in butter for around 5 minutes until the apples become tender.
Cut the coconut into flakes.

Serve the pork hot accompanied by the apples, covered with cocunut flakes, and served for example with Roast Potatoes

Eggs meurette

2006-10-29T16:51:00.000Z

La Côte d'Or : a very colourful region of Burgundy, with seemingly everlasting vineyards and glazed rooftops, is beautiful to visit at this time of year, just after the grape harvest. A good chance to stock up with some fine wines... I first discovered this region around 15 years ago staying in a small hotel in Saulieu, directly opposite the famous restaurant of Bernard Loiseau.

We were dazzled by the quality of the local produce, cheeses such as Epoisse and Chaource, the speciality blackcurrant syrops, and the traditional dishes. This is a very typical example, les oeufs en meurette. I thought about trying Bernard Loiseau's own recipe, but it does involve setting light to around 1 litre of wine, and I retain a bad memory of this once as I nearly burnt down the kitchen. So, I just kept his idea for the addition of carrot purée in the sauce...

Preparation : 15 minutes

Cooking : 45 minutes

Ingredients for 6

6 large fresh eggs

3 slices of white bread

70 gr butter

2 tbsp oil

2 chopped onions

2 peeled and chopped carrots

2 pressed garlic gloves

1 bottle of red burgundy (Passetoutgrain)

1 herbal bouquet (thyme, laurel, parsley)

100 gr diced bacon

2 cloves

Salt, pepper

Melt 50gr of butter slowly in a bain-marie, and remove the white foam that forms as the butter gets hot with a spoon. This clarified butter will not turn brown when it cooks. See this link for pictures Chef Simon pour les images.
Fry the 2 chopped onions using the clarified butter.
Pour in the bottle of red wine, and season with pepper.
Add the pressed garlic, the herb bouquet and the 2 cloves. Cover, and leave to reduce for around 45 minutes.
Cook the carrots in boiling salted water for 8 minutes. Then press them into a purée, and add them into the sauce.
If the sauce tastes a little too acidic, add in one lump of sugar.

Croûtons : Trim the crusts, fry the bread slices in a little oil or clarified butter on a low heat, and then cut each slice into two triangles.
Rub the fried bread with the inside of a fresh garlic glove chopped in two if you want to heighten the garlic flavour.
Place the fried bread in a deep plate or soup dish ready for serving.

Poach the eggs in the wine sauce at the end of its cooking time : break the eggs one by one into a ladel, plunge into the hot sauce, and remove immediately from the heat.
Cover, and leave the eggs to poach for 3 minutes.
Remove the eggs with a perforated spoon and dry using absorbant paper.
Trim the egg white to form a regular shape.
Place the eggs on top of the fried bread slices.
Keep warm on the open oven door.
You can choose to strain the sauce (but I prefer to keep the onions).
You can also add 100gr of diced bacon, boiled for 5 minutes in water and then browned in a frying pan with butter, to the sauce.
Finally, melt 20gr of butter into the sauce, and then reduce on a low heat.

Pour the hot sauce over the eggs, and serve immediately.

Veal filet with parma ham and estragon

2006-10-25T12:12:00.000+01:00

Mamina's Italian themes haves been inspiring me over the last few weeks, giving me a sudden desire for "Prosciutto di Parma". This fine ham is often served thin-sliced with melon or fig, but it also goes perfectly with veal. A good opportunity to return to a recipe inspired by chef Manuel Martinez.

Preparation : 30 minutes
Cookign timeisson : 50 minutes

Ingredients for 4

1 veal fillet
4 slices of Parma ham
10 cl veal stock
10 gr butter
1/2 bunch freshly chopped estragon
10 cl white wine
10 cl crème fraîche

Gratin de macaroni :
10 cl crème fraîche

100 gr macaroni
10 cl veal stock
100 gr gruyère cheese
10 gr butter
Salt, pepper

Roll the parma ham around the veal fillet and attach with string.
Cook the macaroni in salted boiling water. Drain and rinse.
Reduce 10cl of veal stock in a saucepan and add in 10cl of crème fraîche.
Add the butter, and the macaroni. Mix well.
Pour into an oven dish and sprinkle with gruyère cheese.
Brown under the grill just before serving.
Cut the veal fillet into medallions.
Season with salt and pepper, and fry in a pan with a little butter.
Keep warm on one side.
Drain the oil from the frying pan.
Add the white wine, and scrape the bottom of the pan to loosen the caramelized juices.
Reduce, then add the veal stock.
Reduce once again.
Incorporate the crème fraîche and the chopped estragon.
Mix the sauce in a blender, and stir in a little butter.

Serve the veal medallions with the estragon cream suace and macaroni gratin. You could replace the pasta with a gratin of courgette and tomato with parsley.

Border Tart

2006-10-23T07:58:00.000+01:00

Our walnut harvest has been underway for a week or so now, and the girls are eager to help. They leave a little pile for the squirrels, not to be too selfish, and indeed the following day there's nothing left. Today we used some of the walnuts for this simple tart recipe, once again from Scotland, this time from the Borders.

Preparation : 20 minutes

Cooking : 30 minutes

Ingredients for 4

Sweet shortcrust pastry

150 gr butter

50 gr sugar

225 gr plain flour

1 egg

Filling

1 egg

75 gr brown sugar

50 gr melted butter

2 tbsp white wine vinegar

115 gr sultanas

25 gr chopped walnut

Sweet shortcrust pastry

Mix the butter and sugar in a food mixer, add the flour and the egg, to obtain a smooth paste.
Leave to cool in the fridge before use.

Filling

Preaheat the oven to 190° (mk.5).
Mix the egg, sugar and melted butter together.
Add the vinegar, sultanas and chopped nuts.

Roll out the pastry to fit a tart mould.
Spread the filling evenly over the pastry.
Bake for 30 minutes.
Leave to cool for 30 minutes before serving.

Serve the tart warm with crème fraîche, or cold.

Glazed scallop and ginger

2006-10-19T07:06:00.000+01:00

Here's my second scallop recipe this weekend! Patrick de chez cuisine de la mer inspired me serve up scallops, and so on saturday I tried this recipe with fresh ginger by chef Georges Paineau.

Preparation and cooking : 1 hour
Ingredients for 4

20 scallops
1 ginger root
150 gr butter
Salt, pepper

Fumet :

400 gr fish bones

60 gr butter

1 bunch of parsley

3 carrots

5 shallots

200 ml white wine

1.5 l water

Peel and chop the ginger into very thin strips (mine were too big!) and put them in water.
Prepare the fumet : melt the butter, add the fish bones, parsley, carrots and shallots.
Wet with the white wine and the water.
Simmer for 20 minutes.
Clean the scallops, then wash and drain them.
Slice them into thin circles, and lay out in large circles on oven-proof serving plates.
Season with salt and pepper, and add the ginger strips.
Strain the fumet, then reduce it by half.
Melt the butter into the remaining liquid.

Before serving

Cover each plate of scallops with the sauce, then brown under the grill, or use a browning torch or blowtorch to obtain a light golden glaze.

Prince Charlie's coffee and Malt whisky truffles

2006-10-18T08:55:00.000+01:00

Bonnie Prince Charlie, pretender to the throne of England and Scotland, passed on his recipe for Drambuie to the MacKinnon clan whilst in exile on the island of Skye.

These days the liquour finds its place in this luxurious after-dinner coffee, which I appropriately accompanied with whisky truffles. My husband was outraged that I'd used 3 tablespoons of his precious Lagavulin for the recipe, mind you, after a few truffles all was forgiven...

Malt whisky truffles

Ingredients for 25 to 30 truffles

200 gr dark chocolate

150 ml crème fraîche

3 tbsp malt whisky

115 gr icing sugar

Cocoa powder

Melt the chocolate in a bain-marie, and leave to cool.
Whip the crème fraîche with the whisky to obtain a thick cream.
Add the cooled chocolate and the icing sugar, and mix well.
Leave to cool in the fridge for one hour.
Pour the cocoa powder onto a plate, and dust over your hands.
Take a teaspoonful of the chocolate mixture and roll it into a ball, or square, and then roll it in the cocoa powder.
Leave the truffles in the fridge overnight.
They will keep fresh for 3 days in the fridge.

Prince Charlie's coffee

Ingredients for a glass

30ml/2 tbsp Drambuie
2 ml/1 tbsp soft brown sugar
Black coffee
20 ml lightly whipped single cream

Pour the Drambuie into a 300 ml glass.
Add the brown sugar, and stir to dissolve the sugar in the alcohol.
Pour hot black coffee into the glass, and stir.
Pour the cream onto a teaspoon placed on the surface of the coffee.

Salmon and mushroon tart

2006-10-17T09:16:00.000+01:00

This typical dish from Auvergne is adapted from a recipe by Hélène Chazal of the "Poste et Champanne" restaurant in Brioude.

Preparation : 45 minutes

Cooking time : 30 minutes

Ingredients for 4

300 gr of puff pastry or 2 ready made rolls

60 gr of mushrooms (chanterelle or similar)

1 chopped shallot

10 gr butter

500 gr deboned skinless salmon fillet

4 tbsp thick cream

1 egg

Salt, pepper

Cottage cheese

Freshly chopped herbs (parsley, chives, flat-leaf parsley)

Cut two 22cm diameter pastry circles.
Clean the mushrooms, then lightly fry them in butter.
Add the chopped shallot and cook for 5 minutes.
Mince 200gr of the salmon with half of the mushroom preparation in a food processor.
In a bowl, mix the cream into the minced salmon.
Season with salt and pepper.
Peaheat the oven to 200°C(mark 7).
Cut the remaining salmon into thin strips.
Beat the egg with salt in a bowl.
Lay out one of the pastry circles into a pie dish, and prick the bottom with a fork.
First, lay out the minced salmon mixture, then add the remainder of the mushroom mixture, then add the strips of salmon fillet on top.
Cover the tart with the second layer of pastry, and press the edges together.
Make a chimney hole in the middle, and brush the top with the beaten egg.
Cook for 25 minutes.

I accompany the tart with a mixture of the cottage cheese and chopped herbs, with salt and pepper.

You can also accompany with a beurre blanc sauce.

Beurre blanc

Ingredients :

1 chopped shallot
4 tbsp white wine
15 cl single cream
200 gr butter
Freshly chopped herbs

Simmer the chopped shallot in the white wine. Season with salt and pepper.
Leave to reduce until the wine completely evaporates.
Add the cream, and reduce.
On a very low heat, add in the butter gradually, whilst stirring continually.
The sauce is ready once all the butter has melted.
Add the chopped herbs, and keep the sauce warm in a bain-marie.

Catalan chicken with fresh figs

2006-10-16T09:15:00.000+01:00

A very easy recipe! The sweet-sour mix of fruit and meat. I've seen so many great fig-based recipes recently, so I just had to join in...

Preparation and cooking time : 30 minutes

Infusion : 3 hours
Ingredients for 4

Fig preparation :
150 gr sugar
12 cl white wine vinegar
1 slice of lemon
1 stick of cinnamon
450 gr fresh figs

Chicken :
12 cl medium-dry white wine
Zest of 1/2 lemon
1 chicken cut into pieces
50 gr diced bacon
1 tbsp olive oil
50 ml chicken stock
Salt, pepper

Cook the sugar and vinegar with the lemon slice and cinnamon in 12cl of water for 5 minutes before adding the figs.
Cook for a further 10 minutes, then pour into a bowl and leave for 3 hours.
Preheat the oven to 180°c.
Drain the figs, and then add them to the white wine and lemon zest.
Season the chicken pieces with salt and pepper.
Brown the diced bacon in a frying pan, and then put it in a baking dish.
Brown the chicken in the same frying pan in the bacon fat with the olive oil added, and then reserve.
Strain the figs once again, then pour the white wine and lemon zest into the frying pan and bring to the boil.
Add the chicken, the figs, the chicken stock and the sauce to the diced bacon in the baking dish.
Cover with oven-proof paper and bake for 10 minutes.
Serve with a salad.

Hazelnut shortbread with caramelized apple

2006-10-15T14:17:00.000+01:00

I'd been taking it easy on sugar for the last couple of weeks, as three dessert recipes the previous week had left traces... After a few walks, a few lengths of the local pool, and an imaginary abdo workout, I was ready to return, with this recipe by Guy Guenego.

Preparation and cooking time : 1 h

Refrigerator : 1 hour

Ingredients for 4

100 gr butter

100 gr sugar

100 gr hazelnut powder

4 apples (golden delicious)

1 pinch of powdered cinnamon

Crème anglaise with praline :

1 vanilla bean

20 cl milk

2 egg yolks

60 gr sugar

30 gr praline

Soften 50 gr of butter at room temerature.
Mix the butter with 50 gr of sugar and the hazelnut powder.
Divide into 6cm-diameter moulds, and leave for 1 hour in the freezer.

For the creme anglaise, split open the vanilla bean and take out the seeds.
Mix the milk, praline and vanilla seeds in a saucepan.
Stir, and bring to the boil.
Beat the egg yolk and sugar in a bowl.
Pour the boiling milk over the egg yolk, whilst continuing to stir.
Cook in a bain-marie, stirring with a wooden spoon until the mixture thickens. The cream is ready once it coats the spoon. Leave to cool in the fridge.
Preheat the oven to 250° (mark 8)
Bake the shortbread for 10 minutes, then remove and leave to cool.
Peel the apples, and cut into thin slices.
Spread the sliced apple onto a buttered baking tray.
Distribute 50gr of butter over the apple, and sprinkle with the remaining sugar and the cinnamon powder.
Bake for 10 minutes.

Presentation

Turn out the shortbreads onto plates.
Decorate the top with the baked apple slices.
Dress with cold creme anglaise, and sprinkle a little hazelnut powder around the edges.

New England Clam Chowder

2006-10-14T16:23:00.000+01:00

Yesterday I felt like going on a nostaligic tour of the 'historic capital' of the US, Boston. So the large clams on sale at the local market spraked off an idea... Many of my memories of Boston relate to the restaurants, like the delicious clam chowder served in the The Union Oyster House, the oldest eating place in town...

Preparation and cooking : 50 minutes

Ingredients for 8

16 clams

600 gr potatoes

2 onions

170 gr diced bacon

1 tin, (410 gr) concentrated, unsweetened milk

50 cl milk

2 tbsp butter

1 tbsp corn flour

Persil (optional)

Salt, pepper

Clean the clams. Put them in a pan of cold water, and then bring to the boil.
Wait until the clams open.
Take them out of the saucepan, and retain the liquid.
Remove and retain the film (the skin which can be peeled easily) and seperate the flesh of the clams.
Cut the bacon into small cubes, and lightly cook in a frying pan.
In the same pan, brown the onions in the fat from the bacon.
Cut the potatoes into small cubes.
Mince the clam skin in a mixer.
Add this to the onions and bacon, add the potatoes, and cover these ingredients with the cooking liquid from the clams.
Cook for 10 minuutes on medium heat.
Cut the flesh part of the clams into 3, add, and cook for a further 5 minutes.
Pour in the concetrated milk.
Mix the corn flour in milk before adding it to the soup, along with the butter, and season with salt and pepper.
Stop cooking before the soup comes to the boil.
Leave the soup to rest for 2 hours before serving hot.

Steamed sea perch in Champigny sauce

2006-10-12T09:38:00.000+01:00

Friday is the day for our local market, and fresh fish... This time I was tempted by the sea perch. It's a fish rich in protein, iodine, iron and phosporus, fished in the Mediterrenean or the Atlantic. You have to be careful not to overcook the flesh, which can become pasty.

I had the perfect recipe from Georges PAINEAU to complement two fine fillets. He accompanies the fish with a tanin-rich Saumur-Champigny, an excellent wine for sauces which loses its acidity during cooking, whilst retaining all of its flavour.

Preparation and cooking : 1h10

Ingredients for 2 fillets

2 sea perch fillets (or sea bass)

60 gr butter

2 chopped shallots

3 carrots cut into cubes (mirepoix)

40 gr plain flour

1/2 bottle Saumur-Champigny

1 bunch of parsley

1 onion

1 clove

Thyme

Salt

Mixed pepper

Melt 20gr of butter in the bottom of a steamer. Sweat the chopped onions with the mirepoix carrots.
Sprinkle with flour, and then pour in 1/2 bottle of wine.
Add the parsley, thyme and the onion - pricked with the clove.

Cook for 35 minutes on a low heat.
Place the sea perch fillets in the upper part of the steamer.

Season with salt and the mixed pepper.
Cover, and steam over the wine for 10 minutes.
Strain the sauce, then put back on the heat to reduce, with a little meat stock added.
Check the seasoning, then melt in 20gr of butter off the heat.

Presentation

Lay out the fillets, and dress with the sauce.
Decorate with parsley leavess, and serve with a rice timbale.

Sea Bream with golden potato scales

2006-10-11T09:05:00.000+01:00

The only real difficulty in this recipe is in the cooking of the sea bream filets. I use oven-proof paper to help slide the fish into the frying pan. This idea comes from the renowned chefs Dominique TOULOUSY et Paul BOCUSE.

You can accompany the dish with spring onions caramelized in sugar, water and salt.

Preparation and cooking time : 1 h
Ingredients for 4

4 sea bream fillets
500 ml peanut oil
500 gr potatoes (BF15) of small size

1 beaten egg

Orange Sauce :
Juice of 2 oranges

2 tbsp crème fraiche

1 branch of rosemary

2 tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper

Peel the potatoes and cut them into thin round slices using a mandolin and a cutter.
Wash and drain the potato, then fry in hot (130°c) peanut oil.
Drain, and leave to cool.
Season the sea bream with salt and pepper.
Brush one side of the fillet with beaten egg.
Dress the potato onto the fillet, overlapping so as to resemble fish scales.
Boil the orange juice with the rosemary in a saucepan.
Reduce to obtain a syrup-like consistency.
Incorporate the cream, and leave again to reduce.
Season with salt and pepper, and keep the sauce warm in a bain-marie.
Place a piece of oven-proof paper underneath and on top of the bream fillets.
Heat the olive oil in a frying pan, and slide the fillets into the oil, with the potato-side cooking in the oil.
Cook for 7 minutes, without turning over.

Presentation

Place the fillet in the centre, scale-side up, and dress with the orange sauce, and chervil leaves for decoration.

Veal with olive and herbs

2006-10-10T09:01:00.000+01:00

A little busy this week, I need a recipe ready in less than an hour. I've had this one by Julie Andrieu in my files for some time now, and just before autumn sets in, it's time to make the most of the remaining garden herbs. And I just had to add some green olives...

Preparation and cooking time : 1 hour

Ingredients for 4

1 kg of diced veal or pork

1 chopped onion

Juice of 1/2 lemon

20 gr butter

10 cl crème fraîche

1 bunch of chopped parsley

1 bunch of chopped chives

1 bunch of chervil

6 tarragon leaves

15 cl white wine

Green olives

4 tbsp olive oil

Salt, pepper

Brown the meat in a large saucepan in the olive oil and butter.
Add the chopped onion and sweat for 3 minutes.
Pour in the white wine, the lemon juice, chopped herbs, and the green olives.
Season with salt and pepper, and mix well.
Cover, and cook for 45 minutes on a low heat, stirring from time to time.
Add the crème fraiche 10 minutes before the end of this cooking time.
Serve accompanied by rice.

Tuna and pistachio mousse

2006-10-09T10:36:00.000+01:00

Preparation : 15 minutes
Refrigeration : 1 hour

Ingredients for 6

400 gr tuna in oil (tinned)
2 eggs
150 gr ricotta
40 gr shelled pistachio nuts
2 tbsp cognac
Basil
Salt, pepper

Hard-boil the eggs for 10 minutes
Cool and shell the eggs
Drain the tuna, the mix in a food processor with the ricotta and the eggs
Season with salt and pepper
Add the cognac
Leave for 1 hour in the fridge
Mix in the pistachios before serving, and decorate with basil leaves.

Serve cold as an appetiser with crudité vegetables or crackers, or as a starter as stuffing for hollowed tomatoes or cucumber.

Chicken liver paté

2006-10-08T12:50:00.000+01:00

This recipe comes from Sel&Poivre by Jody Vassallo. It's simple, and according to the rest of the family, it tastes good as well. However, my first cold of the season prevents me from having any kind of opinion of what I'm eating...!

Tip : don't let the livers overcook to prevent them from becoming lumpy

Preparation and cooking : 20 minutes
Refrigerator : 4 hours

Ingredients for 6

100 gr butter
4 chopped shallot onions
500 gr of chicken livers
1 apple (peeled and grated)
2 tbsp baies roses
3 tbsp cognac
2 tbsp single cream

Melt 30 gr of butter in a frying pan and sweat the shallots for 3 minutes.
Add the apple, and cook for a further 3 minutes until tender.
Pour into a mixer.
Add another 30 gr butter to the frying pan, and cook the chicken livers, season with salt, pepper, and add the baies roses.
Cook for 2 minutes (the livers should be browned on the outside, and pink in the middle).
Pour over the cognac, and light the alcohol.
Add the livers to the mixer, add the cream, and mix to obtain a smooth paste.
Add in the remaining butter in small cubes, and mix again.
Divide into ramekins, and leave in the fridge for at least 4 hours.

Chocolate praline fondant

2006-10-01T18:25:00.000+01:00

This dessert should be prepared the preceeding evening.

As la turtle might say, this one is real "slaughter" - best to serve in small quantities! I don't know how I managed before with no praline in the cupboards... I guess I might be paying another visit to "G.Detou" sooner than I had thought...

Recipe by du chef Jean-Pierre GILLOT

Preparation and cooking time : 1 hour
Refrigeration : 15 hours
Ingredients for 4

4 tbsp very cold single cream
80 gr dark chocolate (minimum 55% cocoa)
2 egg yolks
20 gr sugar
40 gr butter
Pralin :
50 gr white chocolate
210 gr of praline cream
Chocolate decoration :
120 gr dark chocolate
Walnuts for decoration

Place an 18cm diamater circle, or a 14cm-wide square mould, or as I used, a series of small circles on a sheet of oven-proof paper on a baking tray.
Melt the white chocolate in a bain-marie, and mix in the praline cream off the heat.
Fill the chosen mould or moulds to one third of the height.
Leave for 2 hours in the fridge.
Beat the cold liquid cream in a bowl to obtain a firm whipped cream, and keep cool.
Melt the dark chocolate in a bain-marie.
Melt the butter, then leave to cool slightly.
Beat the egg yolks with the sugar until the mixture turns white.
Add the chocolate, and then the butter.
Let the preparation cool completely.
Add 4 tbsp of the whipped cream.
Add 4 tbsp of hot water, and whip to obtain a smooth paste.
Fill the moulds (once cooled) with this mixture, and leave for 12 hours in the fridge.

Chocolate triangles

See chef Simon's visual demonstration Like the chef, I would have liked to have add the marbled effect using white chocolate, but I had two little visitors to my kitchen at that point!

Presentation

Turn out the moulds with the aid of a sharp knife.
Dress the sides with chocolate triangles, and walnut on top.

Veal medallions with shrimp

2006-10-01T17:56:00.000+01:00

The colour and the quality of the ingredients attracted me to this recipe inspired by chef Dominique TOULOUSY, which can be made using any white meat.

Preparation and cooking time : 45 minutes
Ingredients for 4

16 jumbo shrimp
1 600 gr veal filet
1 chopped shallot onion
50 ml oil
100 ml veal stock
1 pinch of saffron
200 ml white vermouth
2 courgettes
2 carrots
30 gr butter
Salt, pepper

Poach the jumbo shrimp in a stock for 10 minutes.
Peel the shrimps.
Cut the veal filet into medaillons.
Fry the veal in oil, and reserve.
Drain the oil from the frying pan, and heat the chopped shallot.
Add the veal stock, and scrape the pan to loosen the residues from the veal. Reduce on a low heat.
Add the saffron, and the vermouth.
Reduce again on a low heat.
Strain the sauce, then stir in the butter off the heat.
Keep this sauce warm in a bain-marie.
Cut the courgette and carrot into thin strips, and poach in water.

Presentation

Lay out the veal medallions with the shrimp on top.
Add the courgette and carrot slices.
Replace the shrimp heads for decoration.
Complete the dish with the sauce.

Dundee Beef Stew

2006-10-01T17:30:00.000+01:00

No hope for any more barbecues in this weather, so I've turned to the casserole dish for this Scottish dish, made with Marmelade, and named after the town famous for this ingredient, Dundee.

Preparation and cooking time: 3 hours

Ingredients for 4

900 gr stewing beef (paleron, rib or topside)

50 gr plain flour

1/2 tsp paprika

2 tbsp sunflower oil

225 gr chopped onion

50 gr butter

100 gr button mushrooms

1 tbsp Marmelade

300 ml red wine

150 ml beef stock or marmite

Salt, pepper.

Chop the beef into 2.5cm cubes. Sprinkle with flour, salt, pepper, paprika and mix.
Heat the oil and butter in a casserole dish.
Brown the onions in the oil, then add the beef.
Chop the mushrooms into quarters, and heat them seperately.
Add the mushrooms to the casserole, along with the marmelade, the red wine and the beef stock.
Cover, and leave to simmer on a low heat for 1h30 to 2h.

Serve with creamy mashed potatoes

Plum Cheesecake

2006-08-28T21:13:00.000+01:00

The winner of the last KKVKVK N°11, namely Ninnie de Mitaine Ecarlate chose cheesecake as the theme for the 12th edition. So this is my first real cheesecake (not the ready-mix sort!) Well it must have been alright, given the speed at which they disappeared, and the rest of the family seems to agree... As for the decoration, after 2 days of plum jam making, there could only be one possible choice!

Preparation : 1 hour
Refrigeration : 5 hours
Ingredients for 6/8

150 gr shortbread biscuits
80 gr butter
3 eggs
150 gr sugar
1 sachet vanilla sugar
350 gr coattge cheese
Juice of 1 lemon
4 gelatine leaves
20 cl single cream
Presentation :
3 plums
Mint leaves
Blackcurrant syrup

Mix the biscuits with the butter in a food processer.
Spread this paste over oven-proof paper to line the bottom of a mould, or 9 circles.
Leave to cool in the fridge.
Soften the gelatine leaves in cold water.
Mix the egg yolks with 100gr of sugar, and the vanilla sugar powder in a mixer.
When the mixture begins to froth, add in the drained cottage cheese.
Warm the lemon juice, then dissolve the gelatine into it.
Whip the cream until firm, and add to the cottage cheese.
Beat the egg whites with the 50gr of remaining sugar until firm.
Mix the egg whites and lemon juice into the cottage cheese preparation.
Fill the moulds and smooth the tops.
Leave in the fridge for 5 hours.

Presentation

Turn out the cheesecakes with the aide of a sharp knife.
Cut the plums into thin slices, and use to decorate the tops of the cheesecakes.
Add the mint leaves, and decorate the dish with blackcurrant juice.

Blackberry cakes

2006-08-27T10:36:00.000+01:00

I've been tempted by this recipe from Régis Marcon for some time now.

It's filled with memories, as a child I used to pick wild blackberries with my grandmother during the summer holidays. We would make them into jams together. So last time I was at my mother's, I brought back some of her blackberries. They smell so good!

Preparation and cooking time : 45 minutes

Ingredients for 4

6 egg whites

250 gr butter

100 gr plain flour

150 gr castor sugar

150 gr icing sugar

150 gr powdered almonds

300 gr wild blackberries

Preheat the oven to 180°C.
Butter a mould of around 30 cm in diameter, or 9 circles of 6cm.
Mix the flour, the sugars and the powdered almonds in a bowl.
Beat the egg whites until firm.
Heat the butter gently until it begins to colour. Add the egg whites and the butter to the flour mix.
Mix well.
Pour 3/4 of this preparation into the moulds, then add the blackberries in the center, and finally add the remainder of the preparation.
Bake a large tin for 30 minutes, or 20 minutes for the circles.
Blend the remaining blackberries into a liquid, to garnish the cakes once out of the oven.
Serve warm.

Salmon in goat's cheese with poached egg

2006-08-25T07:53:00.000+01:00

I came across this recipe in a woman's magazine in a dentist's waiting room. Well as the magazine was already in quite a poor state, I 'borrowed' the page. I guess the dentist won't mind... It's a recipe by Christophe Leroy du restaurant la table du Marché à Saint-Tropez. I added the poached egg to give the dish a little more colour.

Preparation : 25 minutes

Refrigeration : 1 hour

Ingredients for 4

4 very thin slices of raw salmon

200 gr fresh goat's cheese

1/2 bunch of chopped dill

1/2 bunch of chopped basil

1/2 bunch of chopped chives

juice of 2 lemons

7 tbsp olive oil

1 lettuce

Salt, pepper

Poached eggs :

4 eggs

1 tbsp vinegar

Mix 5 tbsp of olive oil, the lemon juice, and half of the dill and basil.
Marinate the salmon for 30 minutes in this sauce. Season with salt and pepper.
Drain the salmon, and keep the marinade juices.
Mix the goat's cheese with the rest of the olive oil, and add pepper.
Mix in the chopped chive with a fork.
Spread this mixture over the salmon slices.
Roll up the salmon slicesa and wrap in kitchen film. Leave for at least 30 minutes in the fridge for the slices to firm.

Poached eggs :

Bring the water to the boil with 1 tbsp vinegar added (but no salt).
Break each egg into a soup ladel, and then plunge them into the boiling water.
Remove the saucepan from the heat, and cover with a lid.
Leave the eggs to poach for 3 minutes : they are ready as soon as the yolks are covered with a fine translucent film.
Remove the eggs with a perforated spoon, and plunge them into cold water to stop the ccoking process.
Trim the whites to give a smooth outline.

Presentation

Lay out washed lettuce onto the plate.
Just before serving, slice the salmon roll into 2cm discs.
Place on the lettuce, and season with the marinade juices.
Finally add the poached egg, and serve.

Hot crab soufflés

2006-08-20T12:25:00.000+01:00

Before leaving for the Auvergne, I tested out this crab soufflé recipe on my mum. They're best served straight out of the oven.

Variation : Replace the crab with salmon or lobster. The fish should be cooked first seperately.

Preparation and cooking time : 35 minutes

Ingredients for 6

50 gr butter

3 tsp finely ground breadcrumbs

4 finely chopped spring onions

1 tsp madras curry powder

25 gr plain flour

7 tsp coconut milk (or ordinary milk)

150 ml whipped cream

4 egg yolks

4 egg whites

225 gr crab meat

1 drop of Tabasco

Salt and pepper

Butter 6 ramekins and sprinkle fine breadcrumbs to line the inside.
Shake off the excess breadcrumbs.
Preheat the oven to 200°C (mark 6).
Fry the onions in butter.
Add the curry powder, and stir on a low heat for 1 minute.
Add in the flour and cook for another minute.
Add the coconut milk and the whipped cream.
Cook to obtain a thick paste.
Off the heat, add in the egg yolks, and then the crab meat.
Season with salt and pepper, and add a drop of Tabasco.
Beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt until firm.
Use a metal spoon to add the whites to the crab mixture.
Bake for 8 minutes. The soufflés should be golden brown.
In a single large souffle dish, you would need between 15 and 20 minutes baking time.

Serve quickly before the soufflé deflates!

Cornets de Murat

2006-08-15T22:07:00.000+01:00

I made the most of the sunshine by collecting plums from the garden and making jams. The left-overs gave me an idea for a recipe tonight...

Preparation and cooking time : 1 hour
Ingredients for 4

Cornets de Murat :
2 eggs
120 gr sugar
120 gr plain flour
1 tbsp cane sugar
20 gr icing sugar

Chantilly cream :
50 cl cold single cream
1 tbsp cane suugar
Spicy plums :
450 gr plums
2 tbsp water
Mixed spices : pepper, nutmeg, cinnamon, clove
20 cl red wine

60 gr sugar

Cornets de Murat :

Preheat the oven to 180°(mk.6).
Beat the eggs and sugar together with a mixer.
Add in the flour and the cane sugar.
Make up cone shapes from firm paper or card.
From a sheet of oven-proof paper, cut out 10cm diameter circles with a pair of compasses.
Spread a thin layer of the mixture onto each circle.
Bake for 6 to 7 minutes.
Out of the oven, quickly turn over the circles, and roll them around the cones. You can do around 4 circles before they harden.
Leave the cornets to cool.

Spicy plums :

Clean the plums and remove the stones.
Heat them in a saucepan with 2 tbsp of water.
Off the heat, add in the sugar, the spices and the red wine.
Simmer for another 6 minutres, then leave to cool.

Chantilly cream:

Whip the very cold single cream in a mixer.
Add in the cane sugar.
Pour into the syphon and screw in a gas cartridge.
Shake vigorously 4 times, then remove the spent cartridge.
Leave the syphon on its side in the fridge.

Presentation :

Fill the cornets with the chantilly cream.
Sprinkle icing sugar over the cornets, alongside the plums.

Smoked Haddock flan

2006-08-14T16:17:00.000+01:00

A classic combination of smoked fish with potato in pastry, another recipe from the highlands. Once again, the whole family loved it...

Preparation : 1 hour

Cooking time : 40 Minutes

Ingredients for 4

Shortcrust pasty :

225 gr flour

1 pinch of salt

115 gr of softened butter

3 tbsp cold water

Flan :

200 gr smoked haddock

600 ml milk

Thyme

150 ml crème fraiche

2 eggs

200 gr potatoes

Pepper

Variation : you can add hard-boiled eggs cut into quarters before laying out the potato.

Pastry

Preheat the oven to 200° (mark 6).
Put all the pastry ingredients together in a mixer, or large salad bowl.
Mix together, then add the water to obtain a ball.
Kneed the dough (pressing it out in front of you with the palm of the hand) to equalize it.
Wrap in film and leave in the fridge for 30 minutes (where it will firm and loose its elasticity).
Roll out the dough, and place in a quiche dish ( I used only half of the dough at this stage).
Prick with a fork.
Place greaseproof paper over the pastry, and weigh down with beans or similar so as to prevent the pastry from rising.
Cook for 20 minutes.

Haddock Flan

Poach the haddock in a saucepan with the milk, pepper and the thyme for 10 minutes, then leave to cool.
Beat the eggs with the crème fraiche. Add the cooled liquid from the haddock poaching.
Remove the skin and the bones from the fish.
Peel and cut the potatoes into very thin slices.
Fill the pastry with the potato slices, then add the haddock.
Pour the cream mixture over the top.
Bake in the oven for 40 minutes.

Sea trout mousse

2006-08-10T21:52:00.000+01:00

For a Sunday picnic to go with some home-smoked salmon, I tried this Scottish recipe for trout mousse (you can also use salmon). Yet another mousse variation!

Preparation and cooking time: 30 minutes

Refrigerator: Overnight

Ingredients for 6

250 gr trout fillet

120 ml fish stock

2 leaves gelatine

Juice of 1/2 lemon

30 ml Sherry or Vermouth

2 tsp parmesan cheese

300 ml whipped cream

2 egg whites

15 ml sunflower oil

Salt and pepper

Poach the trout in a saucepan of boilig water for around 4 minutes.
Leave to cool.
Soak the gelatin leaves in cold water.
Warm the fish stock, and then off the heat add in the gelatine leaves (drained).
Stir, and then leave to one side.
Flake the flesh from the trout, taking care to remove the bones.
Mix the stock, the trout, the lemon juice, the sherry or vermouth and the parmesan in a mixer.
Wait until the preparation has fully cooled.
Add in the whipped cream, and chill until the mousse begins to set.
Beat the egg whites into snow, add a pinch of salt.
Delicately add the egg white to the trout mix.
Oil the ramekins with sunflower oil, and fill with the mousse.
Leave overnight in the fridge to obtain a very light mousse.

Rhubarb fool

2006-08-09T09:33:00.000+01:00

This is a really quick and simple dessert. You can also use apples, plums, or peaches, mango...

Preparation and cooking time: 25 minutes

Refrigerator: 1 hour

ingredients for 4

450 gr rhubarb

75 gr castor sugar

3 tbsp water

20 cl crème fraiche or greek yoghurt

20 cl crème anglaise

Honey

Peel the rhubarb and cut into small pieces.
Cook in a saucepan with the sugar and a little water whilst stirring for 10 minutes.
Leave to cool.
Mash the rhubarb into a paste with a fork.
Mix the crème fraiche (or greek youghurt) and the crème anglaise.
Add in the rhubarb, and mix. Leave in the fridge for an hour.

Serve topped with a little honey.

I served accompanied with Scottish Shortbread from Chez AnneE Station Gourmande.

Red mullet tian with spinach and tomato

2006-08-05T22:59:00.000+01:00

My garden looks a little more colourful this last week. It desperately needed some water, like most of France. My mother had advised me not to water the tomatoes... I thought she was mad! But, for once in my life, I listened, and in fact the tomatoes are great this year. I suppose the roots had had to extend further down to find a constant supply of water. Nature is surprising sometimes, though over the last few years has probably been troubled by frost and hail in April, heat waves in July. Next it'll be snow in August...

Anyway, here's a recipe to put those magnificent tomatoes to good use, along with of course, some of the herbs.

Preparation and cooking time: 1 hour

Ingredients for 4

8 red mullet fillets

800 gr fresh spinach

100 gr butter

5 tomatoes

1 chopped onion

Olive oil

Garlic

1 bouquet garni (bunch of various herbs, tied with string)

250 ml de fish stock

Thyme

Basil

Rosemary

Salt, pepper

Wash and cut the ends from the spinach. Boil them in salted water for 5 seconds. Drain well.
Fry in a little butter, and then keep to one side.
Blanch, peel and chop the tomatoes.
Sweat the onions in a little olive oil and butter.
Add the tomatoes, the bouquet garni, and season with salt and pepper. Cook for 7 minutes.
Reduce the diluted fish stock, then add in the tomatoes, the thyme and the basil.
Add in the butter, and stir to bind the sauce.
Butter the presentation circles, and place them onto greaseproof paper.
Cut the mullet fillets into thin strips.
Fill the circles with spinach, a spoonful of the tomato mixture (this is quite liquid), and the mullet strips (skin-side up) on top.
Brush with a little olive oil, and place some rosemary leaves on top.
Cook for 3 to 4 minutes in a hot oven.
Place the circles and the paper onto a plate, slide away the paper and remove the circle. The juice will then spread around the plate.

Serve immediately!

Melon with iced milk and white chocolate

2006-08-04T14:53:00.000+01:00

Melon, a starter or a dessert?

For this recipe inspired by Chef Jean-Paul Thibert, I opted for a slightly peppered dessert, and was pleasantly surprised! As for the iced milk, it couldn't be easier!

Preparation time: 45 minutes
Ingredients pour 4

1 or 2 melons
1 feuille de brick
20 gr melted butter
1 pinch of white pepper
Iced milk:
50 cl milk
200 gr white chocolate

Iced milk and white chocolate

Boil the milk in a saucepan.
Finely chop the white chocolate.
As soon as the milk boils, take it off the heat and skim the skin from the surface.
Add the white chocolate and stir to even the mixture.
Leave to cool completely, and then freeze with an ice-cream maker.
Leave in the freezer.
Cut the melons in two, and remove the seeds.
Confection small balls of melon with a spoon.
Preheat the oven to 150° (mark 5)
Make four small circles and four bowl-sized circles from the feuille de brick.
Butter on both sides.
For the larger discs, place them in a bowl, with a smaller bowl on top. Bake for 7 minutes. Turn the smaller discs over during the baking.
Remove from the oven and leave to cool.

Presentation

Season the melon balls with white pepper, and warm in a hot frying pan for 2 to 3 minutes.
Divide up into the baskets.
Confection the iced milk into quenelles and place over the melon.
Add the smaller discs.

Serve immediately

Smoked Haddock pâté

2006-08-02T21:56:00.000+01:00

On our visit to Stafford, I was delighted to meet up with an old friend, Marie and her husband Thierry, two French ex-pats in England. It's always nice to see each other around the dinner table.

On this rather special evening, I monopolised the kitchen to prepare some Scottish recipes. And for once, even my husband helped! Mind you, I spent an hour more than usual at the supermarket, it's difficult abroad to find the products you're looking for, or similar substitutes. This recipe for smoked haddock pâté is very quick and simple. I served Scottish oatcakes, a recipe for which you can find here Tuyau de Poêle, both with the starter and the cheese.

Preparation and cooking : 45 minutes
Ingredients pour 6 ramekins:

225 gr of raw smoked haddock
275 gr cottage cheese
3 eggs (beaten)

30 ml lemon juice

Remove the flesh from the haddock with a fork and put into a bowl.
Add the cottage cheese and mix.
Add the beaten eggs, the lemon juice and season with salt and pepper.
Butter the ramekins, and pour in the preparation.
Cook in the oven in a bain-maire for 30 minutes.
Leave to cool for a few minutes out of the oven before delicately turning out with the aid of a sharp knife.

For our cheese plate, we made a trip to the village of Hartington in Derbyshire, home of the famous Stilton.

Until our next dinner in December...

Scotch Fudge

2006-07-29T23:36:00.000+01:00

Scottish Whisky Fudge

Preparation and cooking: 30 minutes
Ingredients to fill a brownie mould:
1 kg sugar
25 cl concentrated milk
1 glass of milk
110 gr butter
1 small glass of whisky

Heat the sugar in a large saucepan.
Add the glass of milk, and dissolve all the sugar.
Add the butter and let it melt.
Add the concentrated milk the whisky.
Bring to the boil for 20 minutes, whilst stirring.
Take a small drop of the mixture and drop it into cold water. If it forms into a firm ball, then the mixture is ready to take off the heat.
Whisk off the heat to obtain a texture similar to whipped cream.
Butter a mould, a pour in the preparation.
Smooth the surface, and level the edges.
Leave to cool before cutting into squares.

Flavours of Scotland

2006-07-28T22:03:00.000+01:00

Holidays in Britain are over for this year. We were very lucky : no rain, no heatwave and no midges! Just magnificent scenery, moutains and lochs, where it seems that pollution is nowhere to be found. Alone amongst the sheep... We all needed the break!

Scottish cooking is often based on cereals (oats and barley), smoked fish, venison, Aberdeen Angus beef, and of course, whisky! Though we were a little disapointed to find that the price of the latter is exorbitant (due to a 65% tax), and it's much cheaper to buy in France.

The traditional dish is haggis. It's made up of sheep offal mixed with oats, onions, spices and pepper, and is traditionally boiled in a sheep's stomach. Although the description doesn't sound very appetising, it is in fact quite delicious.

I first tried haggis at this year's Burn's night supper, hosted by the Maule town twinning committee. This event, which is organised each 25th January to comemmerate the birth of the famous scottish poet Robert Burns, features traditional dancing and poetry readings.

On the Isle of Skye, we were lucky enough to stay at the Kinlock lodge, the seat of the Clan MacDonald. The owner is the famous chef Claire MacDonald. A dream hotel. Formerly a hunting lodge, the hotel on the edge of a loch extends a very warm welcome and a dinner menu in keeping with the quality of the location.

A brief glimpse of dinner :

Roast Butternut Squash soup

Isle of Skye scallops with sweet chili sauce and cream

Sesame roasted tuna on caramelised pears with spring onions and ginger sauce

Fillet of organic Skye salmon, chive hollandaise sauce

Roast fillet of Highland venison, sautéed mushroom cream sauce

Scottish raspberry and blackcurrant suedoise, whipped cream and sablé biscuit

Iced highland strawberry soufflé, with lemon and elderflower compote

... and for breakfast :

Scrambled eggs, bacon, white pudding...

... poached eggs, black pudding and local sausages,

or kippers!

All prepared from local seasonal products.

Holidays just go too quickly...

Crab Maraichere

2006-07-05T09:28:00.000+01:00

This is a recipe from the chef Louis Grondard who runs a famous Parisien restaurant called Le Drouant. It should be served fresh, and won't keep for more than 48 hours.

Ingredients pour 4

Preparation and cooking time : 1h20

1 leek chopped into small cubes

1 potato (preferably Roseval) chopped into small cubes

12 cherry tomatoes

50 cl olive oil

1 tbsp thyme

12 cl crème fraîche

1 bunch of fresh chives

400 gr crab meat

2 limes

1 bunch of dill

Boil the potato and leek cubes seperately in salted water for 6 minutes. Cool under running water.
Use boiling water to remove the tomato skins.
Cook the cherry tomatoes on a low heat in a pan of olive oil and thyme, then leave to cool.
Mix the potato and leek in a salad bowl, add the cream, and season with salt and pepper.
Season the crab meat with olive oil, chopped chive, salt and pepper.
Using circles (small metallic cylinders around 8 cm tall), half-fill with the potato and leek mixture, then fill to the top with the crab meat and smooth a little creme fraiche over the top.
Powder chopped chive over the top, and leave to cool in the fridge.
Prepare a vinegraitte dressing from olive oil, lime juice and salt and pepper.
To serve, dress the circle in the middle of the plate, and place the cherry tomatoes around the side. Add a little vinegraitte (not so much as to overpower the flavour of the crab), and decorate with sprigs of dill and chopped chive.

Serve cold!

Stuffed sole Italian style

2006-07-05T09:27:00.000+01:00

A simple little recipe of fish and tomato sauce from Sicily. A magnificent island, with it's Eolian islands and volcanoes. Although a little too hot for me around this time of year, it's ideal in May or September, and its fertile lands provide basil, oregano, olive oil, orange essence, lemons and capers.

Capers are gathered from the flower buds of the Capparis Spinosa plants by hand!

Ingredients pour 4

Preparation and cooking time : 45 minutes

4 sole fillets

6 tbsp olive oil

1 chopped garlic clove

50 gr breadcrumbs

2 tbsp capres, drained and finely chopped

10 basil leaves

4 tbsp lemon juice

Salt and pepper

Tomato Sauce:

2 tbsp olive oil

1 peeled and chopped garlic clove

1 chopped spring onion

400 gr peeled tomatoes

10 cl dry white wine

Salt, pepper

For the tomato sauce : fry the garlic in a pan with a little olive oil. When golden, remove and discard the garlic. Add the onion, the tomatoes and the white wine to the oil. Season with salt and pepper.
Cover and simmer for 15 minutes, then smooth in a blender.
For the stuffing : mix the olive oil and garlic, breadcrumbs, capers, basil and the lemon juice into a paste. Salt and pepper.
Place each sole fillet onto cooking film, and spread the paste over the top. Roll up the fillet in the plastic film tightly, the package must be closed.
Steam-cook in a steam cooker or over a pan of boiling water for around 5 minutes.
Dress with the tomato sauce and basil leaves.

Tomato Fondant with basil sauce

2006-07-01T09:09:00.000+01:00

Fondant de tomate au sauce Basilic:

For 6 people

Preparation time : 1h30 minutes
Refrigerator: 4 heures
1 kg tomatoes
1 stick of celery
1 crushed garlic clove
3 leaves or 6 gr gelatin
10 cl single liquid cream very cold
1 tbsp chopped tarragon

4 tbsp chopped basil
3 tbsp chives
6 saffron pistils
thyme
10 gr sugar
3 drops of Tabasco sauce
6 tbsp olive oil
Salt, pepper

Plunge the tomatoes into boiling water and then peel them, chop them into small cubes. Reserve 250 gr for the sauce.
Peel the celery stick , and chop into slices of around 1 cm.
Heat 3 tbsp of olive oil in a frying pan, add the tomatoes, celery, garlic, thyme and sugar. Season with salt and pepper.
Cook for 30 minutes on a medium heat, stirring occasionally.
Add the saffron 10 minutes from the end.
Soften the gelatin in cold water.
Filter the tomato mixture using a sieve. Warm the filtered sauce, before stirring in the gelatin off the heat.
Add 3 drops of tabasco sauce and the chopped tarragon and basil.
Whip the cold single cream. Add two tablespoons of cream to the warm tomato mixture, stir, and then add in the rest of the cream delicately.
Leave the mixture to set for 4 hours in the fridge in individual ramekins.
Prepare the sauce just before serving. Mix the remaining tomatoes in a blender, and season with salt and pepper. Add in 1 tablespoon of basil, and 3 tablespoons of olive oil, and mix.
Turn out the tomato fondants onto plates with the aid of a knife around the edges. Add the sauce, and decorate with basil leaves and chives.

Perch and Trout Ceviche

2006-06-26T08:36:00.000+01:00

I had set out to make a carpaccio, but I ended up with a refreshing dish looking more like a Ceviche, a south-American dish. The fresh fish cooks in the lime juice. Quick and simple!

Preparation time : 1h30 minutes
Ingredients pour 4 :

2 Perch fillets

1 Salmon trout fillet
300 ml extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp red pepper

1 tbsp lumpfish caviar (or Beluga..!)
Juice of 2 limes

Season the perch and trout fillets with salt and pepper
Place the trout between the two perch fillets, and roll into a long roll.
Wrap up tightly in clear film, and leave in the freezer for 12 minutes.
Mix the olive oil and the red pepper with a pinch of salt in a blender. Add the lime juice.
Cut the fish roll into thin slices.
Cover the slices with the olive oil mixture on a plate, and leave to "cook" for an hour.
Serve accompanied with the lumpfish caviar.

Chocolate fraîcheur

2006-06-25T08:21:00.000+01:00

A recipe by Pierre Hermé, found in a book by la fondation Auguste Escoffier, collected by Paule Neyrat.

I almost threw away my first attempt at this recipe!

But I had resolved to never again abandon, ever since my first attempt at pâté, (which came out of the oven extremely liquid, and thinking it was ruined, it went straight to the wastebin. It turns out that this is more or less normal...)

In any case, this dessert came out fairly well. In retrospect, I should have put locks on the kitchen doors, where Becky's rabbit stands guard. Because when each one of the family comes in, one after the other, to help themselves and recount their life history, I just listen. The recipe suffers, as I empty the chocolate cream into the wrong mould... I corrected the error, and wreaked my wrath on all those in near vicinity. But they forgave me in the end...

Ingredients for 8 :

Biscuit "Brownie style":

125 gr of butter cut into small pieces

80 gr of dark chocolate

2 eggs

150 gr de castor sugar

60 gr of sieved flour

Optional 100 gr pecan nuts or walnuts

Chocolate cream :

250 ml milk

250 gr liquid single cream

6 eggs yolks

50 gr castor sugar

185 gr chopped fine dark chocolate

3 leaves of gelatin

Ganache :

100 gr of crème fraîche

100 gr chocolate

Confection the biscuit : beat the butter at high speed in a mixer, and then add the chocolate, already melted in a bain-marie, in 3 steps, without stopping the mixer.
Whip the sugar and eggs together, then add them to the mixer.
Add in the flour and the nuts.
Line a cake mould with greaseproof paper, add the biscuit mix and bake for 20 minutes in an oven at 170°c.
After cooking, leave to cool entirely before removing the biscuit with the aid of a sharp knife around the edges.
For the chocolate cream, prepare a crème anglaise : heat the milk and cream in a saucepan. Beat the sugar and eggs together, and once the milk is hot (but it must not boil), pour it over the sugar and eggs. Mix, and then pour back into the saucepan. Leave on a low heat, stirring with a wooden spoon, until the cream begins to thicken.
Add the chocolate in 3 steps, beating vigorously to create a light emulsion, which should lead to a lighter cream.
Add the melted gelatin to the hot cream.
Clean the baking mould, replace the biscuit layer, and pour the hot chocolate cream over the top.
Leave to cool for 6 to 8 hours in the fridgen or 2 hours in the freezer.
The ganache : boil the cream in a saucepan. Add the chocolate, and stir with a whisk as it dissolves. As the mixture congeals, smoothen it with the whisk.
Final presentation : Turn out the cake with the aid of a sharp knife, and spread the ganache over the top and sides, smoothing with a spatula.
Leave to cool in the fridge.

Take a 2-hour nap to recover, and then serve.

Penne alla Puttanesca

2006-06-23T20:24:00.000+01:00

Or "Prostitutes Penne"...

Gracianne's Italian excursion to Porta Portese gave me the idea for this recipe, which I found in a book by Sophia Loren (no longer in print). Apparently, in between films she found time for cooking like the rest of us mere mortels...

"This dish owes it's name to it's such short preparation time that a lady of the night (or day) could make it between two appointments".

In any case, it's a delicious dish...

Preparation : 25 minutes

Ingredients for 4

400 gr of penne (bucatini or spaghetti can also be used)

4 tinned anchovy fillets

2 garlic cloves

2 tbsp olive oil

60 gr butter

4 large peeled and chopped tomatoes

70 gr pitted olives

1 tbsp capers

4 tbsp flat parsley (chopped)

Parmesan flakes

Mix the anchovies and garlic with a pestle and mortar.
Heat the oil and butter in a frying pan, add the anchovy and leave to sizzle for 1 or 2 minutes.
Add the tomatoes, the olives and the capers. Leave to cook on a medium heat for 15 minutes.
Cook the penne al dente, drain and serve with the sauce, cover with the flakes of parmesan and chopped parsley.

Tomato and fresh anchovy tarts

2006-06-22T12:57:00.000+01:00

There are certain products I just love like tomatoes or apple, and never tire of cooking them in a multitude of different ways. Especially tomato, the closer we get to the season, the more impatient I get. We will get the right weather this year? Will the plants be hit by disease? (of course, 'natural untreated' tomatoes are more susceptible...) Awaiting the answers to these questions, tomatoes from the local market will have to substitute for this recipe.

Preparation : 15 minutes

Ingredients :

1 roll of puff pastry

220 gr of tomatoes

4 tbsp chopped chive

1 chopped shallot onion

Around 15 fresh (not salted) marinated anchovies

3 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp balsamic vinegar

Salt, pepper.

Plunge the tomatoes into boiling water and then peel them. Cut into 4 and remove then insides, then cut into small cubes.
Mix the shallot onion, the chives with the tomatoes. Add the olive oil, and season with salt and pepper.
Layer a tart mould with the puff pastry.
Preheat the oven to mark 7 (210°).
Fill each tart with the tomato mixture, and bake for 10 minutes.
Remove from the oven and add the fresh anchovies.
Sprinkle over with balsamic vinegar.
Bake for a further 3 minutes and serve warm.

Goats cheese, mint and salmon

2006-06-21T08:00:00.000+01:00

A quick starter made from a cheese that I adore, le Crottin de Chavignol. My grandmother Emma used to make these little cheeses from milk from her own goats. I'll never forget struggling to milk certain of the more stubborn beasts, and the fun we had tasting these delights at the end of the cellar, spread on traditional wholewheat bread.

Ingredients pour 4 :

6 crottins de Chavignol (or similar firm goat's cheese)

20 cl olive oil

10 fresh mint leaves

250 gr smoked salmon

Lettuce leaves

Walnuts

Vinaigrette:

1 tbsp honey

6 tsp walnut oil

2 tsp xérès red vinegar

1 tsp balsamic vinegar

Juice of half a lemon

Salt, pepper

Crush the cheese with a fork or in a mixer.
Add the olive oil to obtain a firm paste.
Add the finely chopped mint, and the smoked salmon cut into small cubes.
Prepare a bed of lettuce on the plates.
Using two spoons warmed in hot water, form oval balls or quenelles from the mixture.
Add the walnuts, the vinaigrette and the walnut oil.

Peach Mousse

2006-06-20T08:28:00.000+01:00

A mousse recipe using nicely ripened peaches! I accompany this dessert with Gavotte biscuits, which Becky and Liz just love! In fact I had to hide the tin out of their reach, to shamefully keep them for myself...

Preparation : 15 minutes

Ingredients pour 4.

3 large peaches

1 tbsp orange juice

2 egg whites

75 gr granulated sugar

20 cl cold single cream

2 tbsp almond powder

Plunge the peaches into boiling water for 40 seconds, then place them in cold water. Peel and remove the stones.
Beat the cream until firm.
Mix the peaches, the sugar and the orange juice in a mixer to obtain a smooth paste.
Add the almond powder and the whipped cream. Mix with a whisk.
Beat the egg whites until firm, and incoporate them delicately to the mixture.
Put the mousse in cups or glasses, and leave to cool in the fridge for 30 minutes before serving, with gavotte biscuits, or macaroons.
You can simply use peach syrup to replace the peaches and the sugar.

Palmiers, ham and sage roll

2006-06-18T10:57:00.000+01:00

Perfect with an aperitif! As for the anchovy paste, I tested Chantal's recipe and there's no doubt - it's a delicious mix of green olives, balsamic vinegar and whipped cream.

Palmiers with anchovy paste

Ingredients :
1 roll of puff pastry
3 tbsp anchovy paste
Simple Anchovy paste :
1/2 glass anchovies
2 pressed garlic cloves
10 cl olive oil
Pepper

For the anchovy paste, desalinate the anchovies for 30 minutes in cold water. Then mix them with the garlic, and add the oil slowly whilst stirring. Season with pepper, and leave to cool in the fridge.

Goes well with cold meats, fish, or on toasted wholemeal bread.

Roll the pastry into a large rectangle.
Spread with anchovy paste.
Fold over the two long sides, making them join along the middle of the rectangle.
Spread a little more ancovy paste on the surface, and fold along the join to make a long roll. Leave to chill.
Cut the roll into thin slices, to be placed on a greased baking tray.
Bake for 10 minutes at 220°C.
Turn the palmiers over a cook for another 3 minutes until golden.
Serve cool.

Ham and Sage roll

Ingredients :
50 gr raisins or sultanas
4 tbsp Marsala or Port
4 thin pork escalopes
4 thin slices of parma ham
16 sage leaves
120 gr of mozzarella, cut into thin slices
Olive oil

Soak the raisins in the marsala for an hour. Then drain and dry them.
Beat the pork escalopes flat, and trim the sides to form a rectangle.
Onto each escalope, place a slice of ham, 4 sage leaves, some of the raisins, and one or two slices of mozzarella. Add pepper.
Roll into a long thin roll, and secure with a few cocktail sticks.
Fry the rolls in olive oil, turning often so as to brown them equally.
Remove from the frying pan and leave to cool.
Remove the cocktail sticks and cut into slices.

Strawberry tarts

2006-06-17T10:49:00.000+01:00

It's not so sohisticated or innovative, but at least thanks to the syphon the caramel chantilly cream does liven up the dish. I based this on a recipe by Chef Guy Guenego. I must admit that the original looks much better! It uses Périgord strawberry ice cream, but still waiting for my replacement blade from Kenwood, I replaced the ice cream with chantilly.

Ingredients :

A roll of puff pastry

Strawberries

Icing sugar

Butter

20 cl of liquid single cream

4 spoons of caramel

Mint leaves

Lay out the puff pastry and cut into circles around 10 cm in diameter (according to the moulds you want to use). Leave in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Preaheat the oven to 250°c (mark 8).
Pour the cream and caramel toghether in the syphon, or simply beat the two together with a mixer.
Cook the pastry dics for 8 to 10 minutes.
Wash and cut the strawberry into long thin slices.
Butter the baking moulds, and line the bottom with strawberry slices. Powder with icing sugar.
Bake for 4 minutes, then after removing from the oven, place the pastry discs over the top of each mould.
Turn out the tarts straight away, like a 'tarte tatin'.
With the syphon or a piping nozzle, add the cream, and a few mint leaves to decorate.

Avocado and orange salad

2006-06-16T09:59:00.000+01:00

Ingredients for 4 :

2 oranges

2 tomatoes

2 avocados

4 spoons olive oil

2 spoons lemon juice

1 spoon chopped parsley

1 small fresh onion sliced into thin circles

Salt, pepper

25 gr almond flakes

Black olives for decoration

Peel the oranges and cut them into thick slices
Plunge the tomatoes in boiling water for 30 seconds and then peel them. Remove the insides, and chop into small pieces.
Cut the avocados in 2, and remove the stone and the skin. Chop into small pieces.
Mix the olive oil, the lemon juice, parsley, and season with salt and pepper.
Add half of this sauce to the tomatoes and avocados, and mix.
Lay out the orange slices, with the onion rings on top.
Pour on the remainder of the oil, add the avocados and tomatoes, the flaked almonds and olives to decorate.

Vegetable mousse

2006-06-15T18:55:00.000+01:00

Ingredients for 8 :

1 aubergine cut into discs

2 courgettes cut into discs

3 red peppers

125 ml virgin olive oil

2 cloves of garlic finely sliced

2 cherry tomatoes

200 g artichoke hearts

7 gr oregano leaves

250 gr ricotta

45 gr black olives sliced

Salt, pepper

Put the aubergine and courgette in salt to soak for 15 minutes.
Cut the peppers into flat slices, and remove the partitions and seeds.
Grill the peppers, skin side up, until they blacken. Leave to cool in a plastic bag, and then peel.
Keep a quarter pepper for the decoration, and put the rest in a bowl (not metallic).
Pour half of the oil into a bowl, add the garlic, the salt and mix.
Rinse the aubergine and courgette, and dry them thoroughly.
Place the aubergine on oven-proof paper on a baking tray, and brush with oil.
Cook for 5 minutes each side until golden under a hot grill, then leave to cool.
Prepare the courgettes in the same way. After cooling, add to the peppers.
Slice the tomatoes, coat them in oil and grill them under a lower heat. Add to the other vegetables.
Cut the artichoke hearts into quarters, and add them. Mix in the garlic and oil, the rest of the olive oil and the oregano. Cover, and leave in the fridge for at least an hour.
Drain the vegetables, then put them through an electric mixer. Add the ricotta and the olives (keep a spoonfull for the decoration,) and mix a second time.
For the decoration, cut the pepper into thin slices and lay onto the mousse with the olives.

Chicken stuffed with trout

2006-06-14T07:36:00.000+01:00

The combination of tastes from the chicken and the trout is quite surprising, they complement each other well. For the sauce, instead of cress you can use flat-leaf parsley. Also if you can't steam cook, you can simply poach the chicken in water with a little chicken stock.

Preparation : 35 minutes

Ingredients pour 4

4 chicken breasts

1 bouquet of cress of flat-leaf parsley

2 shallot onions

100 gr of butter

150 gr double cream

1 chicken stock cube or 100 ml of stock

1 trout fillet, or salmon or crayfish tails

Salt and pepper

Cut into the sides of the chicken breast and open and flatten them. They must be thin.
Remove the skin from the trout, and cut into slices to be placed in the centre of the chicken. Season with salt and pepper.
Fold over to close the chicken, and wrap up in film so as to ensure that no humidity will enter the parcels during cooking.
Steam cook or poach the chicken for around 8 minutes.
Peel and finely chop the shallot onions, and sweat them in butter.
Add the double cream, salt and leave to reduce on a low heat.
Boil 100ml of chicken stock, and poach the cress (or parsley) in it. Mix with a mixer.
Add this liquid to the onion and cream preparation, and reduce. Then off the heat, melt in the butter.
Serve the sliced chicken covered in the sauce, decorate with herbs, accompanied for example by rice or broccoli.

Polpettes

2006-06-13T09:45:00.000+01:00

In this kind of heat it's difficult to find the right potato recipes. But here's one... Greek potato cakes, with dill and lemon. If found this in "Goûts et saveurs de Méditerranée" au Edition Manise.

Ingredients pour 4 :

500 gr of potatoes

115 gr feta cheese

4 chopped white onions

3 spoons fresh chopped dill

1 egg (beaten)

1 spoon lemon juice

Salt, pepper

Plain flour

3 spoons olive oil

Boil the potatoes in salted water, then mash them.
Add the feta broken into small pieces, add the onion, dill, egg, lemon juice, salt (bear in mind the feta is naturally salty), and pepper. Mix well.
Leave the mixture to cool so that it will become firmer.
Flour your hands, and forms small balls from the mixture. Flatten them slightly.
Powder the tops with flour, and fry in a frying pan with a little olive oil.
Serve with a salad.

Mousse with Bailey's

2006-06-11T22:10:00.000+01:00

Just like Audrey, I found myself tempted by an Isi Syphon from Metro. In a desperate search for recipes, I came across this book, la magie du Whip ISI, from the le site le meilleur du chef. I also got myself a ravioli mould which I hadn't been able to find anywhere else. Sunday night, we tried the mousse with Baileys.

Ingredients for a 0.5L syphon:

175 gr white chocolate

250 ml double cream

50 ml Bailey's

1 egg

2 egg yolks

Beat the melted chocolate with the eggs in a bain-marie to obtain a light mousse.
Add in the double cream and the Baileys.
Rince the syphon with cold water (for cold preparations).
Pour the chocolate sauce into the syphon once cooled (important).
Close the lid tightly.
Screw in a gas cartridge completely.
Shake strongly 4 times.
Unscrew the gas cartridge.
Leave horizontal in the fridge for an hour.

Prosciutto ham bites

2006-06-11T08:12:00.000+01:00

Is greed a sin? My daughters adore nutella, their father loves cakes, and I can't resist proscuitto ham. These little bite-sized starters with peppers and fromage frais are great with the aperitif...

Pour 40 pieces

Preparation : 30 minutes

Ingredients :

1 red pepper

1 green pepper

1 yellow pepper

125 gr fromage frais

25 gr grated parmesan

2 chopped spring onions

1 tbsp chopped oregano

1 spoon capers, drained and chopped

1 spoon chopped pine nuts

12 thin slices of prosciutto ham

Cut the peppers into four, remove the seeds and white.
Cook under a grill, skin-side up, until the skin blackens and cracks.
Leave to cool, before peeling the peppers.
Mix the fromage frais, the parmesan, the onions, oregano, capers and pine nuts.
Place the pepper slices over the proscuitto ham slices. Cut the peppers to the same size as the ham slice.
Take off the peppers, and paste the ham slice with the fromage frais mixture. Replace the pepper slice.
Roll up the ham tightly along the widest edge.
Cover, and leave in the fridge for 1 hour. This will make it easier to slice into disks, 1cm thick. Fix each slice with a cocktail stick.

Gourmandise, paresse, luxure : ce sont les trois vertus cardinales, les vertus de la Fête. Le Paradis sur terre".
[Jean-Louis Bory], Extrait de Ma moitié d'orange

Peaches and mascarpone

2006-06-10T09:39:00.000+01:00

For this dessert, I needed crushed macaroons. There was nothing at the local supermarket, and they seemed too expensive from the local bakery, just to end up as crumbs in a recipe... So I followed the guide, "comment ne pas rater les macarons", but once again, unlucky with patiserrie, my macaroons end up looking like meringues! Too expanded, and not smooth on top. Well, next time I'll visit chez Mercotte and Lorette to find how it's done right...

Ingredients :

4 to 6 peaches according to size, cut in halves

40 gr crushed macaroons

2 spoons ground almonds

3 spoons icing sugar

15 cl of sweet (liqour) wine

1 spoon cocoa powder

25 gr butter

Mascarpone cream :

2 spoons icing sugar

3 egg yolks

1 spoon sweet liqour wine

225 gr mascarpone

15 cl double cream

Preheat the oven to 200°c. Use a spoon to remove the peach stones. Take a little of the flesh from around the hole, and keep it to one side.
Mix the macaroons, the almond powder, the sugar, cocoa and the peach flesh.
Add the wine to obtain a thick paste.
Place the peaches in a buttered baking dish, and fill the centres with the paste.
Place a little butter over each peach half, and pour the remainder of the wine into the baking dish.
Bake for 35 minutes.

For the mascarpone cream:

Whisk the sugar and the egg yolks.
Add the wine, followed by the mascarpone.
Beat the double cream before incorporating into the mascarpone.
Remove the peaches from the oven and let them cool.
Serve accompanied with the mascarpone cream.

The mascarpone (an Italian cottage cheese) also goes perfectly with fresh fruit.

Grilled pepper salad

2006-06-09T12:50:00.000+01:00

A very colourful salad, ideal to accompany cold meats.

Ingredients :

3 red peppers
2 yellow or orange peppers
2 green peppers
1/2 pot sundried tomatoes in oil
1 clove of garlic
2 spoons balsamic vinegar
5 spoons olive oil
A few drops of tabasco sauce
4 artichoke hearts, chopped, fresh or tinned
Salt, pepper

Basil, pine nuts for decoration

Preheat the oven to 200°c. Oil a baking tray covered with aluminium foil, and place the peppers on top.
Bake for 45 minutes.
On taking out of the oven, cover with a cloth, and leave to cool for 5 minutes.
Cut the dried tomatoes into long thin slices, and press or finely chop the garlic.
Mix the vinegar, oil and tabasco sauce. Season with salt and pepper.
Peel and slice the peppers, add the artichoke hearts, the dried tomatoes and the garlic.
Pour the vinaigrette over the salad, and decorate with basil leaves and pine nuts.

Italian shrimp brochettes

2006-06-08T09:05:00.000+01:00

This is a very simple shrimp recipe from the Amalfi region of Italy.

Preparation : 10 min (+1 hr marinate)
Ingredients pour 4 people

800 gr of raw peeled jumbo shrimp
4 spoons olive oil
3 spoons vegetable oil
70 gr breadcrumbs
1 pressed garlic clove
1 spoon chopped parsley
Salt, pepper
Lemon

Make an incision into the back of the shrimp, remove the black vein and rince.
Pour the oils into a bowl, and add the shrimp. Then add the breadcrumbs, the garlic and the parsley and season with salt and pepper.
Gently mix, cover, and leave to marinate for an hour.
Skewer the shrimps, and brown under a grill or over a barbecue for 1 or 2 minutes each side.

Serve garnished with lemon quarters

Fresh cod parsley and onion puree

2006-06-07T12:02:00.000+01:00

This recipe is the creation of a Belgain chef, Guy Van Cauteren, of the T'LAURIERBLAD restaurant at Berlare in Belgium. It uses Gand mustard and Belgian beer, more precisely la bière blanche de Hoegaarden, which I must admit to drinking quite freely, very cold with a slice of lemon. Quite by chance there was enough left to prepare this recipe!

Preparation : 30 minutes

Ingredients for 4 people

4 large fresh cod fillets

1 spoon Gant mustard

Oil

2 spanish white onions

200 gr butter

250 ml of Hoegaarden light beer

Pinch of ground nutmeg

Pinch of icing sugar

Salt, Pepper

Topping :

100 gr of breadcrumbs

1 spoon finely chopped parsley

2 shallot onions

Salt and pepper the fresh cod fillets and paste the tops with Gant mustard.
Mix the breadcrumbs, the parsley and chopped shallots and layer over the mustard.
Fry with a little oil on one side only for around 10 minutes, and finsh cooking under the grill to brown the breadcrumbs.
Peel and finely chop the spanish onions.
Sweat the onions in a little butter in a saucepan.
Add the beer, salt, pepper, add the nutmeg and lastly the icing sugar to counter the acrid taste of the onion. Cook for 10 minutes, and then put the mixture through the mixer.
Add the butter to the onion puree, and melt in.
Serve with the cod fillet over the onion.

Stilton shortbread

2006-06-06T16:24:00.000+01:00

These shortbread biscuits are great with cheese. They will keep fresh for up to 3 days in a airtight container. I didn't know how to finish the walnuts from the garden, which we always have left over from last year around now.
Stilton, a fabulous English blue cheese, is creamy and has an unmistakable taste. One of my favorite cheeses, but you could also replace with Rocquefort.

Preparation : 20 minutes

Ingredients pour 20 biscuits

125 gr stilton cheese
100 gr of butter
250 gr of plain flour
250 gr of ground walnuts
2 ripe pears
125 ml double cream

Preheat the oven to 180°C (mark 4).
Beat the cheese and butter in a bowl with an electric mixer for 2 or 3 minutes.
Add the flour, the walnuts, salt and pepper.
Mix together into a firm paste, and place on a floured surface.
Roll out the pastry to around 1/2 cm, and cut into shape using a pastry cutter or the edge of a glass.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until golden, and leave to cool.
Peel and cut the pears into four, core, and then cut into thin slices. Cover with lemon juice to avoid discoloration.
Spread a little cream, then stilton cheese over the biscuits, and finally add the pear slices and serve.

Chocolate cream and mint sauce

2006-06-05T16:12:00.000+01:00

Sometimes when you follow a recipe to the letter, the end result is not quite what you expected. When I attempt patisserie, this happens one time in three! But this time, to my great surprise, my 'parfait au chocolat' looks more interesting than the one my recipe book, by some molecular magistry, it turns out half mousse - half 'parfait'. What happened... I think I didn't mix quite long enough, but as it turns out, a happy mistake!

Preparation : 40 minutes

Ingredients pour 6 people

1/4 litre of milk

175 gr of fine dark chocolat broken into pieces

4 egg yolks

80 gr of sugar

3 leaves of gelatin

30 cl double cream (very cold)

Mint Sauce:

1/4 litre of milk

50 gr of sugar

3 egg yolks

5 cl of mint syrup or

a bouquet of mint leaves

green food colouring

Soften the gelatin leaves in cold water.
Boil the milk in a saucepan, then off the heat, add the chocolate pieces, and mix.
Mix the egg yolks and sugar together in a bowl.
Add the milk and chocolate to this mixture.
Pour back into the saucepan, and warm on a low heat, whilst constantly stirring with a whisk.
Just as it comes to the boil, (the chocolate must be completely melted), pour into a bowl, and add the gelatin leaves (drained first).
Stir the mixture frequently whilst it cools.
Beat the cream (very cold) with a whisk until it firms.
Once the chocolate mixture has cooled, add the cream and mix with a wooden spoon (this is the part where I think I went wrong).
Pour the mixture into a mould, and leave in the fridge for at least 4 hours.
To turn out, first place the mould in hot water for a few moments, then free the edges with a sharp knife.

Mint Sauce

In a bowl, mix the egg yolks with the sugar, and then add boiling milk. Add the bouquet of mint leaves, if you don't want to use mint syrup.
Cook on a low heat whilst constantly stirring. The liquid must not boil.
Let the sauce thicken slightly before taking of the heat. Finally add the food coloring, or the mint syrup.
Leave to cool in the fridge.

Pork filet with figs

2006-06-04T17:53:00.001+01:00

The sun has finally arrived. Sunset near to Paris brings out the colours of the season. For this week's menus, I wanted to concentrate on the Mediterean style, Greece, Italy, or this recipe which comes from Spain, or more precisely from Catalonia.

Ingredients:

4 spoons olive oil

1 chopped onion

2 chopped garlic cloves

8 chopped black or green olives

4 dried chopped figs

3 slices of bread for breadcrumbs

25 gr chopped almonds

1 spoon lemon juice

1 spoon chopped parsley

1 egg yolk

900 gr deboned pork filet

Salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 200°c.
Sweat the onion and the garlic with 3 spoons of hot olive oil.
Take off the heat, and add the breadcrumbs, figs, olives, almonds, lemon juice, parsley and the egg yolk. Season with salt and pepper.
Remove the string from the pork filet and unroll. Spread half of the stuffing over the pork, then roll up the roast, starting with the thicker end.

Replace the string.
Add the rest of the oil to a baking tray, and roast the pork for an hour.
Use the remainder of the stuffing to roll into balls, and add to the roast to cook for the final 15 minutes.
Out of the oven, leave the pork to rest for 10 minutes before slicing.
Serve with the stuffing balls, and covered in the roasting juices.

Can also be served cold.

DSC00571_01
Originally uploaded by hberthone.

Scotch Eggs

2006-06-04T17:53:00.000+01:00

With the aperitif last night, I served this scottish recipe for the first time with quails eggs, wrapped in ginger flavored chicken. Very handy for picnics, and the eggs will keep in the fridge for up to 3 days.

Ingredients :

24 quail's eggs

600 gr grilled chicken breast

2 spoons grated fresh ginger or powder

2 spoons fresh chopped chives

2 spoons string mustard

60 gr flour

2 eggs (beaten)

100 gr breadcrumbs

Hard-boil the eggs on medium heat, stirring the eggs gently so as to keep the yolks in the middle.
Cook for five minutes after the water boils, and then put in a bowl of cold water to finsh the cooking.
Mince the grilled chicken, the ginger the chives and the mustard together in a bowl.
Shell the eggs, and roll them in flour.
Moisten your hands, and cover each egg with a layer of the chicken mix, keeping the oval shape.
Cover with beaten egg, and then coat with breadcrumbs.
Preheat a deep fryer to 180°c
Fry the eggs until golden, and drain.

I accompany the recipe with a spicy apple chutney:

Ingredients:

60 gr double cream
125 gr natural yoghurt
70 gr of spicy apple chutney (ready made)
1 spoon maple syrup
Salt, pepper

Beat the cream, the yoghurt, chutney and maple syrup together into a smooth sauce. Season with salt and pepper, and leave to cool for an hour.

Aubergine with tomato and mozarella

2006-05-30T08:49:00.000+01:00

A little Italian recipe...

Ingredients:

2 large aubergines
220 gr mozzarella cheese
2 tomatoes
Basil leaves
Pine nuts

Vinaigrette:
4 spoons olive oil
1 spoon balsamic vinegar
1 spoon tomato paste
1 spoon lemon juice

Cut the aubergines into long slices about 1/2 cm thick. Plunge the aubergines into boiling salted water for 2 minutes. Drain and dry them. Cut the mozerralla into slices, and the tomatoes. Take 2 slices of aubergine a place in the form of a cross. Place a slice of tomato in the center, season with salt and pepper, add a basil leaf and a slice of mozarella. Fold over the aubergine to make a small parcel. Leave to cool for 25 minutes. For the vinaigrette, mix the ingredients together. Preheat the grill. Brush the aubergines with oil, and brown under the grill for 5 minutes each side. Serve hot with the sauce, and decorate with basil leaves and pine nuts.

Delights from Turkey

2006-05-29T21:24:00.000+01:00

Izmir is the capital of the western province of Turkey. It's a very pleasant, modern city situated on the magnificent gulf of Izmir, one of the finest the Agean has to offer. A quick culinary tour of Turkey...

Cooking that for me is similar to greek, based on cereales, fruits, vegetables and fish. But let's start with the Raki, it's the national aperitif, known as 'lion's milk'. With a strong liqourice flavour, it's served diluted in water, to accompany the 'mezze' dishes. The glass is placed in a ice block to keep it cool, ingenious!

hors-d'oeuvres or "Meseler"

Seeweed salad, stuffed mussels, calamars à la tomate, aubergine caviar, tatziki, fried shrimps, white beans in oil.

Large choice of olives...

Fried shrimp with red peppers, calamar skewer kebab

Kûblysta

Grilled sea-bass with liver skewerChoice of fresh fish

Desserts "tatlilar" and Fruit "meyvalar", and of course the famous Turkish coffee, accompanied by the 'lukum'

The short trip over, and soon heading home...

Three-layer fish mousse

2006-05-26T11:34:00.000+01:00

This terrine can be served hot or cold. You can replace the hake with any white fish of your choice. Can be accompanied by a dill or whisky sauce.

Ingredients:

Green layer:
300 gr hake filet
30 gr fresh chopped parsley
1 egg white
120 gr double cream

White layer: :
300 gr hake filet
3 cl white vermouth
150 gr de double cream

Pink layer :
200 gr hake filet
150 gr salmon filet
2 egg whites
120 gr double cream

Prepare the fish : finely mince the fish seperately with a mixer. Season with salt and pepper, and add the parsley for the green layer, the vermouth for the white layer and the salmon for the pink layer. Stir in the egg whites progressively. Finally, add in the double cream. Line a baking tin with a plastic film. First add the green layer, and smooth the surface. Cover with the white, and finally the pink layer. Cover with aluminium foil buttered on the inside. Cook in the oven in a bain-marie, at 110°c or mark 3 or 4. Leave to cool for 12 hours in the fridge before turning out to serve.

Dill Sauce:

20 cl cottage cheese

Chopped dill

1 chopped spring onion

100 gr mayonnaise

2 spoons lemon juice

Salt, pepper.

Mix all the ingredients together to obtain a smooth sauce.

Whisky Sauce:

200 gr mayonnaise

1 pot of plain yoghurt

3 drops of Tabasco sauce

2 spoons of tomato ketchup

1 spoon of concentrated tomato paste

Whisky (to taste...)

150 gr of whipped cream

Salt, pepper.

Whisk the cream, and add delicately the other ingredients. Cool.

Pork filet in traditional mustard sauce

2006-05-26T11:32:00.000+01:00

This is more of an autumn recipe, but the weather at the moment doesn't lend itself to spring dishes yet... and the garden is in a bit of a mess. But the sage goes perfectly with this pork filet...

Ingredients:

1 pork filet
Sage leaves
50 gr of butter
1 spoon traditional grain mustard
10 cl white wine
60 cl meat stock
2 spoons double cream
1 spoon raspberry vinegar
Salt, Pepper.

Season the pork filet with salt and pepper. Sprinkle the sage leaves on top. Cook on a hot flame in a frying pan with a little butter. Remove the filet and discard the oil. Deglaze the frying pan with white wine and mustard. Reduce, then add the meat stock and reduce again. Finally add the cream, and reduce for a further 2 minutes. Add the vinegar, and then stir in the butter off the heat. Season the sauce with salt and pepper. Cut the filet into slices, and cover with the hot sauce.

Aubergine pastries

2006-05-21T17:51:00.000+01:00

"Crete is a continent, not just an island". Jacques Lacarrière.

The famous cooking from the mediterrean island of Crete has been strongly influenced by gastronomy from around the world, including that of Venice.

I changed this recipe slightly, notably by adding a square of pastry! The book "Le régime crétois" de Jacques Fricker, is full of quick recipes based on cereals, fruits, fresh and dried vegetables, cheeses, youghurts and olives.

Ingredients:

2 aubergines

3 tomatoes

1 chopped onion

100 gr of féta or pécorino cheese

Olive oil

5 basil leaves

5 leaves of parsley

Salt, pepper

4 squares of puff pastry

Boil the tomatoes in order to peel them, and chop them in two. Press, cut out the insides, and then cut into squares. Peel the aubergines and chop them into small cubes. Cut the cheese into cubes.

In a saucepan, soften the onions. Add the aubergines, the diced tomato and the parsley. Season with salt and pepper, and leave to cook on a low heat for 10 minutes. Uncover half-way through to evaporate excess liquid.

Pour this preparation into a bowl and mix with a fork. Add the chopped basil leaves. Preheat the oven to thermostat 6. Add the cheese to the mixture. Fill the middle of the pastry squares, and fold the corners to the centre. Bake for 20 minutes and serve hot.

Crème soufflée au chocolat

2006-05-21T10:14:00.000+01:00

A quick look around the chocolate and dessert section of blog appétit soon got my mouth watering... I chose the recipe for a chocolate soufflé, served with ice-cream.

Ingredients:

100 gr of dark chocolate
30 g of cocoa powder
60 gr butter
2 egg yolks
4 egg whites
100 gr sugar
50 gr icing sugar
1/4 lt vanilla ice cream

Melt the chocolate in a bain-marie. Add the butter, and smooth with a whisk. Powder the cocoa into the mix, then whisk in the egg yolks. Preheat the oven to 210° (th7). Whip the egg whites until firm, adding the sugar towards the end. Incorporate the egg white delicately into the chocolate mixture. Half-fill 4 individual cake tins with this mixture, and powder the icing sugar over the top. Bake for 8 minutes. Serve hot topped with a little ice cream.

Chocolate Cookies

2006-05-21T09:31:00.000+01:00

Chocolate Cookies from the book 'Cookies, Muffins and Co' by Pascale Weeks.

Ingredients:
100 gr fine dark chocolate
125 gr half-salted butter
50 gr of sugar
75 gr of brown sugar
1 spoon of vanilla flavouring
1 egg
175 gr of flour
1 spoon of yeast
Pinch of salt

Chop the chocolate into small pieces using a very sharp knife. Mix the sugar and butter in a bowl to obtain a creamy mixture. Add the egg, the vanilla flavoring, and mix. Add the flour, yeast, and chocolate, and mix to into a smooth, soft paste. Roll the mixture into a sausage shape to the desired diameter of the cookies. Leave to cool in the fridge for an hour or so.
Cut into cookie-slices, and cook in the oven for 10 minutes at 180°c. The cookies should be white, and still soft. Take out of the oven, and leave to cool on a tray. The cookies will keep for up to 2 days in a airtight container.

Tuna tart

2006-05-16T17:14:00.000+01:00

This evening, it's tart with tuna. The children love this one!

Ingredients:

1 roll of short crust pastry
Tinned tuna
2 Tomatoes
Mustard
Fresh cream
Anchovy
Chopped basil

Spread the pastry into a baking dish. Prick the pastry, and spread mustard over the surface. Add the tuna, and the sliced tomato. Add just a little fresh cream and anchovy on each tomato. Strew with basil. Cook in a medium oven for 25 minutes. Easy!

Lemon cream by Mercotte

2006-05-14T10:27:00.000+01:00

Yesterday morning, I delved deeply into the blog 'la cuisine de Mercotte', and was full of admiration for the 'in-a-glass' recipes... After doing 1001 chores, if finally locked myself in the kitchen, put up a 'Do not Disturb' on the door, and set about testing for myself, the les verres crème citron , and les verrines multicolores.

Result: Brilliant, inspired recipe. I'll do better next time with the presentation. And maybe a little less lemon juice (of course, I short-cut on weighing the lemon-juice, even though I know that as far as patissery is concerned the 'approximate' is just not good enough!). Anyhow, the mix of the lemon and the fruit syrup was delicious.

For the starters, apart from my slightly oversized glasses, it was perfect. What a wonderful mixture of flavours!

Caviar d'aubergine, oeufs brouillés

Tapenade, tomates concassées, oeufs mimosas.

Smoked salmon steak

2006-05-13T09:04:00.000+01:00

A recipe from Léa Linster, the first female prize winner of the “Bocuse d'Or”, one of the world's highest distinctions (finally a woman, there are so few!). I sometimes do this recipe without smoking the fish.

Ingredients:

2 salmon steaks

2 slices of smoked bacon

2 potatoes

Salt, Chives

Vinaigrette:

1 leek

1 shallot

2 tomatoes

Tarragon

1 spoon of mustard

20 ml of white wine vinegar

Salt, pepper

20 ml of peanut oil

Capers

Salt and pepper the salmon steaks. Steam-cook the potatoes in their skins. Cut the bacon into small cubes, and roast in a frying pan. Smoke the salmon for 3 minutes in a cold smoker, then cook in the oven for 8 minutes at 150°C. For vinaigrette, dice the leeks, the shallot, the tomatoes, and chop the tarragon. Whip the mustard together with the vinegar, salt and pepper. Add the oil and capers, and the brunoise of vegetables and tarragon. Peel and slice the potatoes. Lay out the potato slices in the center of the plate, add the bacon, then place the smoked salmon steaks on top. Cover with the vinaigrette, and decorate with a little chopped chives.

Finally the trees are in flower! The Polonia is my favorite, with its little bell-shaped violet flowers...

Quick chocolate mousse with caramel

2006-05-08T18:06:00.000+01:00

My receipt for chocolate mousse is very fast. I accompany it here with a caramel sauce.

Ingredients:

200 gr fine dark chocolate

4 eggs, (separate whites from yollks)

15 cl of fresh cream

Grated chocolate for decoration
Variant:

Add 4 spoons of rum, or mix in the juice and zest of half an orange...

Sauce caramel:
50 gr sugar
1 little water
10 to 15 Cl of liquid cream

Dissolve the chocolate slowly in a bain-marie (with the rum or orange if you like). Take off the heat and mix in the egg yolks one by one. Whip the cream unitl firm and to incorporate in the chocolate mixture. Beat the egg whites until very firm, with a pinch of salt added. Mix the egg white delicately without breaking into the preparation. Leave to cool in the refridgerator.

Sauce caramel: prepare at the last moment. Put sugar with water in a pan. Bring to the boil, and reduce. Watch carefully for the syrup to begin to colour to a light brown. Take off the heat, add the liquid cream, then back on the heat whip vigorously until the sauce is homogenous.

Cod in chive cream sauce

2006-05-07T15:36:00.000+01:00

The sun is back, and I hope it holds out until the weekend. I will be able to do a little to work in the garden, (the grass is growing so quickly!)
In this weather, I just want fish! At the market, I chose some fresh cod and small raw shrimps. Moreover, I still have some asparagus left over at home... I found a recipe by the famous chef Emile Tabourdiau. I interpreted it as best I could with the products and the time that I had!

Ingredients:

2 cod filets

1 clove of garlic

Raw shrimps or crawfish

30 gr butter

Fresh Asparagus

150 ml of fresh cream

1 1/2 lemon

Chives

Olive oil

60 gr chopped shallot

100 gr. of peeled tomato, chopped into small squares

Crushed coriander

Salt, Pepper

Peel the shrimps and cook them quickly in butter with garlic. Wash and peel the asparagus, and plunge in boiling salted water for around 4 minutes. Drain and cool immediately with cold water. Steam-cook the cod filets for 2-3 min on an aluminum sheet.
In a pan, to reduce the cream, season with salt and pepper, and add a the juice of half a lemon, addding the chopped chives at the last moment.
For the vinaigrette, mix the olive oil with the rest of the lemon juice, the chopped shallots, an little chopped chives, the diced tomato, the coriander, and salt and pepper.
Serve with the cod filets placed over the asparagus, covered with the cream sauce. Finally add the shrimps and the vinaigrette.
The cream with chives is very light...

Fried potato slices

2006-05-07T15:33:00.000+01:00

Yesterday, I went to Métro with a ravioli mould in mind. I came home with a mandoline (see below), and so needed to find a recipe with something to grate... Moreover, I still haven't got my mould!

My choice of recipe fell on the 'crique Ardéchoise' from Régis Marcon, master chef at the auberge des sommets at Saint-Bonnet-Le-Froid in the wonderful Ardeche region of France near to Valence.
My mum used to call these 'rapés', and she often served these fried potato slices with a small salad on a Sunday evening, after the gargantuesque lunch at my grandmother's...

Ingredients:

500 gr potatoes
4 eggs
4 cl of fresh cream
Herbs:
Chives, chervil, flat parsley,
1 finely chopped onion
100 gr. of melted butter or olive oil
8 shrimp or crawfish tails
2 cloves of garlic
Salad

Peel the potatoes and grate them to obtain 450 gr. of grated pulp and press to dry.
Mix the cream and eggs, incorporate the potato, the herbs and the onion, add salt and pepper.
In a hot frying pan, add the melted butter and spoon the mixture into 1cm-thick circles. Fry until golden.
In another frying pan, cook the crawfish tails on a low heat with a little butter and garlic.

Serve hot, pour the shrimps and their juice over the potato cakes, and serve with a salad, or why not with a little asparagus!

Home-made strawberry ice cream

2006-05-07T15:30:00.000+01:00

For the dessert, I planned some home-made ice cream, even in spite of the rain! Coming in from the garden with some fresh mint, I find that the ice-cream mixer blade has broken in the process. It is not my day! I'll be having a discussion with after-sales service to replace it... That's for Tuesday, but for the moment, I'll have some of this ice-cream to cheer me up...

Ingredients:

400 gr. of strawberries
50 caster sugar gr.
15 ml of thick fresh cream
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Raspberries for decoration

Reduce the strawberries to a pulp in the mixer. Mix together the sugar, the cream and the lemon juice, and add to the strawberries. Chill in the refridgerator for an hour or so. Pour into the ice-cream maker and mix until the mixture stiffens to a whipped cream-like texture. I serve immediately, decorated with mint and raspberries, or you can leave in the freezer.

Tomato and Mozarella Pastries

2006-05-07T15:27:00.000+01:00

Happy birthday Grandad

A light tart to cheer me up. It's raining ..... I had planned a barbecue, but that's not going to happen. I have tomatoes, the mozzarella, and a roll of puff pastry. Here we go!

Ingredients:

5 tomatoes

Mozzarella cheese

Puff pastry

Olive oil

Salt, pepper

Basil & chives (from the garden!)

Peel the tomatoes (plunge in hot water for a minute or so) and clean the insides. Drain them well. Cut into four, and cook for 10 min with the oven at 220°C. Season with olive oil and salt, and let them cool. Cut the mozzarella into slices. Fill individual biscuit moulds first with the crystallized tomato, then a slice of mozzarella, basil and then another layer of tomato.
Using the puff pastry roll, cut out circles of the same diameter as the biscuit moulds. Place the circle of pastry on top of the tomato. Cook for 15 min in the oven. Leave to cool a little, and then turn our and decorate with chives.

Mystery

2006-05-07T15:25:00.000+01:00

This very quick recipe of ice cream, praline and caramel comes from mum!

Prepare the previous day.

Ingredients:
4 eggs

20 cl of thick cream

150gr Pralin mix

2 large meringues

80gr of sugar

sugar syrup dressing

Separate the white from the egg yolks. Whip the yellows together with the sugar. Add the fresh cream and coarsely crushed meringues. Beat the whites until firm and incorporate them.

Pour the caramel in a cake tin and to add the pralin mix. Finally, add the cream / meringue mixture and leave in the freezer overnight. Remove 15 minutes before serving, and turn out onto a serving dish.

Blinis

2006-05-07T15:18:00.000+01:00

Another way of serving the smoked salmon...

Ingredients for 6 people:

300 gr. of flour

50 cl milk

20 gr baker's yeast (or brewers' yeast)

4 eggs

In a salad bowl, mix the yeast with 10cl of hot milk and 100 gr of flour. Mix, cover the bowl with a cloth and leave in a warm place to double in volume after around an hour.

Next, prepare the rest of the mixture. Separate 2 egg yolks from the whites. Beat the whites until moderately firm.

In another bowl, mix the remaining flour with a little sugar. Make a well in the center, and pour in the yeast mix, the remaing 2 eggs, the 2 yolks and the remainder of the milk. Mix well. Then fold in the beaten egg whites carefully with a spatula. Leave to rise for a further 2 hours.

In a hot frying pan with a little oil, cook the small pancakes around 30 seconds on each side.
The blinis freeze well in aluminum foil. They should be defrosted 24 hours before being re-heated.

Smoked salmon and scrambled eggs

2006-05-07T15:15:00.000+01:00

To accompany my smoked salmon, I serve with simple scrambled eggs and chives.

Ingredients:

3 eggs
1 shallot
Chopped fresh chives
3 spoons with soup of thick cream
Knob of butter
Salt, pepper

Melt the butter in a pan, and add the finely-chopped shallot and leave it to soften. Break the eggs, and add the cream in a bain-marie, stir vigorously for around 10 min. Take off the heat and mix in the butter, add the shallots, salt, pepper and chopped chives. Makes a wonderful smoked salmon breakfast!

Salmon smoked house

2006-05-07T15:11:00.000+01:00

We've been dreaming for a while of having an unlimited supply of smoked salmon... But how? A small stainless steel smoker as a birthday present and a good book, along with a little practice of fileting, salting and smoking. We just need to find some good salmon.
Unfortunately, it's difficult to find good salmon in France, even at the fishmongers. The farmed (mostly norwegian) salmon here is a little fatty. After 2 years of practice though, we're beginning to mater the art of smoking, even if in our basement, the odor of smoked beechwood is omnipresent.

In brief:

Cut into filets and remove the bones. Salt with course salt for 4 hours (depending on the thickness of the filet, then rinse, and leave to cure for 8 hours.

Then we cold-smoke for between 30 minutes and 1 hour (according to the desired flavour), before leaving to cool in the fridge before slicing.

Tian de Provence

2006-05-07T15:08:00.000+01:00

We adore this receipt, it's great with fish. At last I can use some of the fine herbs from the garden!

Ingredients:

4 potatoes

4 tomatos

1 aubergine

3 green peppers

2 onions

2 cloves of garlic

Thyme, bay leaves, rosemary

olive oil
Grated Gruyere cheese

Salt, pepper

Preheat the oven to 210° (th7). Slice the potatoes and onions in 1/2cm thick circles. Slice the tomatoes, aubergine and sweet peppers in a similar fashion. Oil the baking dish and place the slices alternating the tomato, potatoes, sweet pepper, aubergine and onion. Add salt & pepper, pressed (or chopped) garlic and aromatic herbs. Cover with grated cheese. I cover with aluminum foil during the first 10 min of cooking, and then cook for another 15 min uncovered. Ready to eat!

Potato and bacon pie

2006-05-07T15:06:00.000+01:00

This receipt comes from the Auvergne region in the heart of France.

Ingredients:

2 rolls of puff or short-crust pastry

5 potatoes

100 gr. of diced bacon

20 cl of liquid cream

Chopped flat parsley

Milk

Layout the pastry and prick with a fork. Layer the finely sliced potatoes with the diced bacon, and season with parsley, salt & pepper. Add the top layer of pastry, and press down the edges of the pie. Make a chimney in the middle, and pour the liquid cream inside. Brush with milk. Cook for around 45 min at thermostat 7, and serve with a salad.

Chicken with herbs and port glaze

2006-05-07T15:00:00.000+01:00

Ingredients:

2 breasts of chicken

6 smoked bacon strips

1 chopped shallot

20 cl of Port

40 gr butter

50 gr chopped bacon shoulder

Sage leaves

Flatten the chicken breasts and place the sage leaves on top, then roll up the chicken, and wrap the bacon strips around. Secure the roll with cocktail sticks. Melt half of the butter in a casserole dish, and brown the chicken on each side. Then add the chopped shallots and the diced bacon shoulder. After 2 minutes, add the port. Cover and leave to simmer for 7 min. Then remove the chicken, discard the cocktail sticks and cut into slices. Finally to bind the sauce, remove from the heat and stir in the remaining butter.
Serve the chicken slices on a plate, dressed with the sauce.

Veal roast with spring onions

2006-05-07T14:45:00.000+01:00

I always choose a piece of shoulder without the central bone and avoid a small roast. The smaller it is, and the more it tends to dry with cooking. I ask my butcher not to bard it.

Ingredients:

1.4kg veal roast

2 spoons of olive oil

20 gr butter

3 peeled tomatos, cut into quarters

6 peeled garlic cloves

4 new onions

100 ml dry white wine

Sage leaves

Salt, Pepper

In a casserole dish , sear the veal roast in very hot oil, 2 min on each side. Remove the oil, and slice the butter on top of the roast. Once it has melted, add the onions and the garlic to the casserole. Let it brown on medium heat. Pour in the white wine and wait 5 min for the liquid to partially evaporate, then add the tomato quarters and sage leaves. Salt, cover cook in a hot oven for 30 min. Turn the roast every 10 min and to baste with its juices. Remove from the oven and leave for 10 min for the meat to rest before serving. I accompany it with peas or broad beans and carrots.

Shrimp butter with chives

2006-05-07T14:43:00.000+01:00

I often serve this paté on hot crostinis with an aperitif. It's simple and quick.

Ingredients:

220 gr cooked and peeled shrimps

1 anchovy (tinned)

30 gr softened butter

1 spoon of lemon juice

1 spoon of chopped flat parsley

Pepper

Wholemeal bread

Finely chop the shrimps and anchovies (or use a mixer). Mix the softened butter (leave the butter at room temperature for an hour) with the shrimp to obtain a smooth paste, adding the lemon juice, parsley, and pepper. Preheat the oven to 200°C. Bake the bread slices for 8 to 10 minutes until golden. Spread the shrimp paste over the toast and decorate with parsley. The butter can be kept for up to 2 days in the fridge.

Fish Dishes

2006-05-07T14:41:00.000+01:00

Cod with parsley and onion puree
Cod in chive cream sauce
Crab Maraichere
Home-smoked Salmon
Perch and Trout Ceviche
Red mullets in citrus sauce
Red mullet tian with spinach and tomato
Salmon-trout crepinettes in Tarragon sauce
Sea Bream with golden potato scales
Sea perch in Chamipgny sauce
Sea trout mousse
Smoked salmon steak
Stuffed Sole Italian-style
Three-layer fish mousse

Vegetable and Pasta Dishes

2006-05-07T14:40:00.000+01:00

Aubergine pastries
Aubergine with tomato and mozarella
Fried potato slices
Ginger salmon with chinese cabbage
Penne alla puttanesca
Polpettes
Tian de Provence
Vegetable mousse

Dessert

2006-05-07T14:39:00.000+01:00

Blackberry cakes
Chocolate cookies
Chocolate cream and mint sauce
Chocolate Fraicheur
Chocolate mousse
Chocolate praline fondant
Chocolate soufflé
Cornets de Murat
Hazelnut shortbread with caramelized apple
Home-made strawberry ice cream
Lemon cream
Melon with Iced milk and white chocolate
Mousse with Baileys
Mystery ice cream
Peaches and mascarpone
Peach Mousse
Plum Cheesecake
Ricotta cake
Rhubarb fool
Scotch Fudge
Strawberry tarts

Mediterrean Salad

2006-05-07T14:35:00.000+01:00

Ingredients:

1 courgette
1 carrot
1/2 chopped lettuce
100 gr. of feta cheese
Croutons

Vinaigrette:
1 spoon cumin seeds or powder
2 spoon of colza oil
1 spoon of white wine vinegar
Salt, Pepper

Wash the courgette and chop them into small cubes, peel and chop the carrot. Cook for 5 minutes in boiling salted water, and drain. Cut the feta in cubes, and wash the salad. Prepare the vinaigrette, then assemble all the ingredients in a large salad bowl.

Sauces

2006-05-07T14:34:00.001+01:00

Pesto sauce
Quick tomato sauce for pasta

Onion Tart

2006-05-07T14:31:00.000+01:00

This tart is delicious and very quick to prepare.

Ingredients:

1 roll of short-crust pastry (no time this evening to make it!)
4 onions
2 eggs
200 ml of liquid cream
200 ml of milk
2 spoons of olive oil
Ground Nutmeg
Salt, Pepper

Peel and chop the onions. In a frying pan, soften the onions in oil on a low heat for 20 minutes without letting them colour. Add a little water, if need be. Preheat the oven to thermostat 7 (210°C). Place the pastry into a baking tin. Then cover the pastry with greaseproof paper, and pour dry beans, or lentils, into the tin - this is to weigh down the pastry and prevent it from rising whilst you pre-cook it for 10 mn. Then discard the paper and dry beans.
In a salad bowl, mix the cream, eggs, milk, nutmeg, salt, pepper. Add the onions and mix well. Add this preparation to the pastry, and cook for 40 mn.

Sweet peppers

2006-05-07T14:22:00.001+01:00

We discovered this recipe for sweet peppers accompanied with cured ham and goat's cheese in the picturesque fishing village of Torri del Benaco on the shores of Italy's lake Garda.

Ingredients:

1 red pepper

1 yellow pepper

2 spoons of olive oil

1 spoon of sugar

4 slices of cured smoked ham (uncooked)

2 spoons of lemon juice

Fresh soft goat's cheese

Chives, pepper

Cut the peppers into small cubes. Put in a frying pan with the olive oil. Add the sugar and cook on a very low heat until the peppers soften and begin to caramelise after 20 min. Mix the goat's cheese, lemon juice, a little olive oil, chives and pepper well with a fork. Take a spoonful of the cheese mix, and wrap it into a slice of the smoked ham. Present on a plate accompanied by the sweet peppers.

Starters

2006-05-07T14:22:00.000+01:00

Chicken liver paté
Eggs meurette
Goat's cheese, mint and salmon quenelles
Ham and Madeira savoury pastry
Hot crab soufflés
Italian shrimp brochettes
New England clam chowder
Onion tart
Potato and bacon pie
Salmon in goat's cheese with poached egg
Scrambled egg and chives
Smoked haddock flan
Smoked haddock pâté
Sweet peppers
Tomato & mozarella pastries
Tomato fondant with basil sauce
Tuna and pistachio mousse
Tuna tart

Meat Dishes

2006-05-07T14:21:00.000+01:00

Chicken with herbs and port glaze
Chicken stuffed with trout
Dundee Beef Stew
Indian-style pork loin
Milanese veal escalopes
Pork Filet with Figs
Pork Filet in mustard sauce
Veal with olive and herbs
Veal roast with spring onions
Veal medallions with shrimp