Perch and Trout Ceviche

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.