Food Lovers in France

Food/Drink/Culinaria
41

Just because you are all being good, here is an excellent dessert to go with it:

Bakewell Tart

For the pastry
300g/10½oz plain flour, plus extra for dusting
125g/4½oz unsalted butter
30g/1oz sugar
1 free-range egg, plus 1 extra, beaten, to glaze
2 tbsp milk, to bind (if needed)


For the filling


225g/8oz butter, softened
225g/8oz sugar
225g/8oz ground almonds
3 free-range eggs
1 lemon, finely grated zest only
50g/2oz plain flour
jar cherry jam
flaked almonds, for sprinkling

Method

1. For the pastry, place the flour, butter, sugar and egg into a food processor and pulse to combine. If necessary, add a little milk to help bring the mixture together.


2. Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface and roll out until large enough to line a 26cm/10in tart tin. Carefully lift into the tin, then place into the fridge to chill for an hour.


3. Preheat the oven to 200C/gas 6.


4. Fill the tart case with a sheet of greaseproof paper weighed down with baking beans or rice. Bake the tart case blind in the oven for 15-20 minutes.


5. Remove the paper and beans and brush the pastry all over with beaten egg. Return to the oven for a further five minutes, until golden-brown. Remove from the oven and turn the oven temperature down to 180C/gas 4.


6. For the filling, beat the butter and sugar together in a bowl until pale and fluffy.


7. Mix in the ground almonds, then crack in the eggs one at a time, beating well between each addition - don't worry if the mixture begins to split, just add a little of the flour.


8. Fold in the lemon zest and the flour.


9. Spread some of the jam generously across the base of the pastry, leaving a 2.5cm/1in gap around the edge.


10. Spread the filling mixture over the jam and sprinkle over the flaked almonds.


11. Transfer to the oven and bake for 20 minutes, or until set and golden-brown. Allow to cool in the tin before serving in slices.

I usually make a non-egg vanilla custard (milk, cornflour (Maizena), sugar and vanilla essence type) to put on it.

Bakewell tart is from the town of Bakewell in the Derbyshire Peak District, but be warned it is one of those recipes that requires practice and experimenting to get perfect. I have been tweaking mine for about 30 years and hope to get it right soon ;-)

42

Sounds super Brian, will give it a go!

43

Here it is:

Cullen skink

500g undyed, smoked haddock with skin on (in a ideal world Finnon haddie)

1 bay leaf

1 generous knob of butter

1 onion, peeled and finely chopped

1 leek, washed, cut into chunks

2 medium sized potatoes, boiled, left unpeeled and cut into chunks

500ml of whole milk

generous bunch of chives, chopped

1. Put the fish into a large pan that holds it comfortably enough to cover with about 300ml of cold water. Add the bay leaf then bring it to the boil. By the time it comes to the boil, the fish should be just about cooked. If not, give it an extra minute or so but do not let the fish begin to disintegrate. Remove the pan from the heat, then take the fish from the pan but keep the liquor.

2. Melt the butter in another pan on a medium-low heat. Add the onion then leek. Cover and allow it to sweat for about 10 minutes until it is softened but without changing colour. Season with black pepper.

3. Add the potatoes and stir to coat with the butter. Do not remove the peel or mash the potatoes as many versions of this recipe now appear to do. Add the haddock cooking liquor and bay leaf then bring to a simmer but do not let it boil. Cook until the potato begins to fall apart.

4. Remove the skin and any bones from the haddock then break it into flakes.

5. Take out a generous spoonful of the potato and onion/leek and set aside. Use a slotted spoon so that the liquor drains back into the pan. Discard the bay leaf. Add the milk followed by half of the haddock to the pan and then mash or use a blender until it is not quite smooth.

6. Add seasoning then serve with a generous spoonful of the potato, onion/leek and haddock mixture in each bowl. Add chopped chives to serve.

Cullen skink is a traditional starter but with a good portion of bread it can be a more than adequate meal in itself. The recipe here is for four people however increasing proportionately for larger portions or more diners is easy enough.

The name derives from the small fishing town of Cullen in Morayshire which is in one of the most Nordic/Germanic parts of the Scots mainland. Thus ‘skink’ is easily identified as like ‘Schinken’ in modern German or ‘Skinke’ Norwegian which both mean ‘ham’ but in Scots have come to mean ‘soup’.

44

Cullen Skink, yummy! I met my Adored Husband - on his 50th birthday - at a Burns night party where, naturally the starter was Cullen Skink - I've always loved it, but now it holds a really special place in our affections! We toyed with the idea of that and haggis at our wedding but decided to play safe, with the very delicious confit de canard, dauphinois and red wine jus - yum... happy days...

Enjoy your Cullen Skink, and we'll be toasting it!

45

Sounds very curious Brian, can't wait!

46

One of my favourite starters Brian. We love it. My husband...who Ive said comes via Canada is actually part of a large clan in Scotland originally...the Norwells apparently owned a huge shoe factory/shops throughout the area. Nicks mum gave me loads of Scottish recipes...and Cullen Skink was one...fabulous...for the two of us I make large portions and we have it as mains.

47

Not a clue! Looking forward to finding out though :)

48

James has given us a good run of posts for World Baking Day today. Great stuff. By popular family request I am making Cullen skink tomorrow.

Do you all what it is? OK, let's get comparing recipes if you do. If you don't, then be patient and find out. Some of James' bread would go a treat with it too. No doubt we'll make some ourselves anyway.

49

Thanks Brian, I expect it will be trial and error but, with a bit of advice, hopefully not too many errors.

50

There's loads to do except eating them. Make lots of purée and jar it for making pie fillings, apple sauces and the like. Apple juice too, but I always found it hard getting the sugar right so takes practice. Chutney for sure, there are bound to be some quinces around, the two together are brill.

51

We have just moved into our house in Normandy and we have some apple trees which are covered in blossom at present. I am told that they are cider apples. Does anyone have any ideas about using them for anything other than cider? Maybe a chutney recipe........others must have trodden this path!

52

Try etorki one of the best Basque cheeses

53

I've not tried Ossau Iraty. I make kilos and kilos of fig jam (I am a fig 'addict') so sounds good.

54

Good choice Elaine :)

55

An excellent alternative to Manchego is any French brebis cheese from the Pays Basque such as Ossau Iraty. Available from a young, moist cheese up to a mature firm one. Especially delicious with fig or wild cherry jam.

56

Excellent...

There has been an executive decision not to make focaccia tomorrow but when we do in the next few days I'll photograph the process and put it up. I am trying to remind myself to make rye bread this week, so must remember to get some fresh yeast on Monday morning. I'll get one of the assistants to document that too. Everybody do the same. It is nice to see bread as each other makes it.

57

Yes Brian, I'll get some for you next time we go :)

Here are the photos http://www.survivefrance.com/profiles/blogs/homemade-bagels

58

Manchega! Bought in Spain perhaps? I like and have never found hereabouts. Post pictures as and when.

59

Bagels look fabulous James....and they are great fun to do...but yours look really professional, mine were lumpier than yours....... my OH loves them....healthy too.

60

Here's one I made earlier. Wholemeal bagel with bacon, pickles, English mustard and manchega.

The bagels are quite fun to make too! I'll post some pictures later if anyone's interested?