I just thought I’d share supper tonight with you because I was pretty pleased with myself as it all came from making it up as I went along.
First stop, ruelle de porc. This is a really cheap cut of meat that needs slow cooking.
I browned an onion then browned the pork, poured in several slugs of white wine and, while it was sizzling, cut up a bunch of carrots and some cherry tomatoes that were going wrinkled. I added several cloves of garlic, chopped, and some herbs from the garden - thyme, chives, sage, and put in the oven 180°C for a couple of hours. I added some water at the end.
Then I made a kind of ratatouille - browned the aubergine chunks, then added chopped onion, slices of courgette and later some chopped tomato. I threw in a rosemary twig from the garden, loads more garlic, and parsley and let it simmer but not so it all disintegrated.
Finally mashed spuds with olive oil instead of butter, some milk and a teaspoon of mustard, and I must say, it was MEGA yummy. All the flavours went marvellously together and the pork just melted off the bone.
Thanks! I will paste it as a blog post, and then add it to the SF Recipe Book. It looks yummy! It will help with our French too.
Mine too - Max had milk direct from the cow as we lived next door to a farm in Brittany at the time!
Hi, here’s a great tarte recipe that uses pears which are in season now.
Sorry, it’s in French, but that won’t be a problem for any of you. ENJOY!!
- 5 poires
- 200g de chocolat noir
- 1 pâte brisée
- 200 g de sucre
- 3 oeufs entiers
- 20 cl de crème liquide
- 1 cuillère à soupe d’extrait de vanille
PREPARATION
1 - Laver, éplucher, couper les poires en lamelles ou en cubes
- Briser le chocolat en petits morceaux
- Dérouler et piquer la pâte, y déposer les poires et le chocolat
- Préchauffer le four à 200°C
2
Préparation de l’appareil : - mélanger le sucre et les oeufs, puis y ajouter la crème et l’extrait de vanille
3
Cuire au four à 200°C environ 35-40 minutes.
I read something about it on here, I think Jason posted it - something to do with a possibility of a dangerous bacterium in it.
Have a look on his page to find it, or else the internet.
To put your mind at rest, my mother was told to feed my sister with softly coddled egg yolks. When I was hard up I fed Holly on cow’s milk much younger than was recommended. I am happy to report that both are still alive and well.
So why is it that health visitors tell you not to fed it to small children? Don’t get me wrong - I always thought that was b****cks and much better for children to eat something natural than be fed ‘follow on milk’ with a nice dose of chemical additives in it…
Don’t think so. I know honey is the one natural food that keeps forever even if it changes it’s texture it never goes off.
Will try. I think it gets damp, but sugar doesn’t really go off does it?
Yes, I’ve whizzed sugar in my blender before now to get rid of lumps or reduce the consistency. Works ok.
I have some unrefined icing sugar and it’s gone a bit lumpy. Any suggestions to solve this? It won’t go through a sieve. I thought to whizz it up in the food processor.
Lemon cake
150g Sugar
250g Plain flour
3 Eggs
100g Butter
1 Sachet of yeast
125g Icing Sugar
2 Lemons
Mix the 3 eggs and the sugar together
Add the flour and mix
Melt the butter and then add it to the mix
Once it’s all mixed in well add a sachet of yeast
Grate the zest of a lemon and squeeze the juice of the lemon
Add the lemon into the mixture and mix well
If the mixture is too liquid add a little more flour
Preheat the oven to 170˚
Line the cake dish with butter so the cake doesn’t stick
Bake at 170˚ for 30 mins (when the 30 mins are up, stick a knife in the centre, if it comes out clean then it is fully cooked, if not then it needs a little longer)
Once cooled add the icing and leave to cool/set in the fridge
For the icing:
Make up the icing as normal, following instructions on the packaging then grate a lemon and add the zest to the icing sugar.
Lamb meatballs
450g minced lamb
4 slices of wholemeal bread (crusts cut off)
1 onion (grated)
1 clove of garlic (chopped)
2 tablespoons sundried tomatoes (chopped)
rosemary
parsley
Soak the bread slices in a bit of water for about 5 minutes and then squeeze away the excess water.
Add the bread, garlic, sundried tomatoes, onion, rosemary and parsley to the lamb mince and mix together. (Get your hands in there - it’s easier and more fun)!
Form into balls and then place on a slightly oiled baking tray in the oven for about 15 minutes (time will vary depending on size of meatballs).
To make a basic tomato sauce mix together a tin of chopped tomatoes, chopped onion, chopped garlic, oregano and a teaspoon of sugar.
Add the meatballs and sauce to some spaghetti and serve.
Yum!
Tomato Sauce.
I tin of tomatoes chopped if poss.
I OR 2 Cloves of Garlic
A teaspoon of sugar
Salt to taste.
Olive oil
Method
Slowly heat olive oil in a wide pan, or frying pan.
Gently fry the crushed garlic, but do not allow to brown.
Add the tinned tomatoes - if they are whole use a scissors inside the tin to chop them up small
Add sugar, salt and a dash of pepper if you like it.
Be careful when adding the tomatoes to the oil as they will spatter everywhere.
Gently simmer to reduce the liquid for about 30-40 minutes.
The amounts can be increased, but use a maximum of 4 cans of toms, as it will take and age to reduce otherwise.
Fresh tomatoes can be used instead
If the recipe is increased, DO NOT increase the salt, sugar and garlic in the same proportion, otherwise the flavours will overpower the sauce. Increase them by half as much again.
Stir in your beans, or use it as a pasta sauce base.
Abergine & Lentil Curry.
This one was off the top of my head last Monday when I suddenly went from 3 for dinner to 9!
Again I’m not good at giving quantities
Oil
Onion
Garlic
Fresh Ginger Goodly sized piece
Ground Tumeric (1 tspn-ish)
Ground Cumin (half tspn-ish)
Curry Powder (1 tspn-ish)
Chilli
Cornflour (1 dsrtspn-ish)
Salt
Loads of Black Pepper
2 - 3 knobs of brown sugar
Tin of Puy Lentils
Water
Chop & fry Onions in the oil, add : crushed garlic, finely chopped ginger - cook off for a few mins.
Add all the spices and seasonings and cook off.
Put these aside in a dish to add back to the pan later.
Bit more oil in the pan and add chunked Aubergines and cook through.
Coat with the cornflour and cook a bit.
Add the Onion, garlic, ginger mix followed by the lentils and enough water and the sugar to make up the sauce.
This worked well as an accompaniment but guess it could be the star turn in a veggie meal with perhaps the addition of another texture potatoes perhaps???
It’s a bit like that during August when everyone has their tomato crop - so many tomatoes, and so little time to prep them at their best.
Er, no. That quantity would take over my house!
Oh dear, yes it does. It should read 600g. My apologies for that, I hope you haven’t raced out to the supermarket to get them yet!
600 tomatoes?
Gosh! Sounds like a couple of barrels full!
I follow (often loosely depending on what’s available from the garden) the ratatouille recipe in “The French Kitchen” by Joanne Harris & Fran Wardle. It’s a simple easy recipe to make. I’m happy to share the recipe but can’t find a link online and didn’t want to break any copyright rules by posting it here :).
Just noticed a small error in the first line, and I can’t quite figure out how to edit it. I think that you will still be able to perfectly recreate the dish though.