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Recipe Corner April 2012
Cleaning Out The Fridge
Sue's Monthly Recipe … April 2011
A Warming Recipe from Sue Jelfs: Pork chops & Puy Lentils
Cinnamon Carrot Cake
Whole wheat zucchini (courgette) bread
Salsa Cruda
Stuffed Cabbage from Magnat l'étrange
Gourmet Gourds
Winter Squash Gratin
Food for your soul (fondue)
Recipe Corner April 2012
Brown Bread Ice Cream
This is a marvellous ice-cream, easy to make and quick to freeze. It is one of my standards and surprises everyone when I tell them what’s in it:
75g brown breadcrumbs
75 g brown sugar
2 eggs, separated
1 tablespoon honey
400 ml double or whipping cream
Mix the breadcrumbs and sugar together and spread them out on a baking sheet. Bake until the sugar has melted (mark 5, 190°C) and the breadcrumbs have caramelised (like making praline). Let them cool completely.
Beat the egg yolks and honey in a large bowl. Next lightly whip the cream. Whisk the egg whites until they are firm but not dry. Fold the cream and egg whites together and then fold them carefully into the egg yolk and honey mixture. Stir in the caramelised breadcrumbs and freeze the mixture until firm. (This takes a few hours) About 20 minutes before serving, take the ice cream out of the freezer and stand it in the refrigerator so that it softens slightly.
Lovely with a fruit salad, fruit crumble or poached pears.
Cleaning Out The Fridge
This morning I cleaned out the fridge. Here that tends to mean, aside from wiping out the shelves and the trays, that I make spaghetti sauce and quiche …or pizza . They are great ways to use up the last bits of courgette, leeks, cheese, peppers, mushrooms, tomatoes, cooked sausage, etc., etc.
I had a very bland upbringing food wise. My father believed that supper/dinner was meat, potatoes and veg. BUT now I live in France the home of cordon bleu cooking and the ‘joys of the table’… It was very freeing once I realized that what I thought of as ‘quiche’ was not the ‘hallowed’, ‘gourmet’ fancy that I had first believed it to be. I’m not saying that you use dried out, furry bits and pieces from the refrigerator, but there is a great deal of potential there.
(…and no, I don’t make pie crust !) I always keep several rolls of the pate brisé, from the supermarket in the freezer, along with pizza crusts. So here is the basic recipe I use:
QUICHE:
Prick a pie crust and put it into a 350Ëš for 15 minutes
Meanwhile sauté some veg. (not tons; you are going to be covering the bottom of the pie crust…), e.g., onion or leeks, peppers, mushrooms, spinach, endive, asparagus, tomato…… clean out the fridge……
Whisk up 3 eggs in a bowl, and add about 10 oz. milk, a bit of nutmeg and some salt and pepper and some herbs.
Brush some of the egg mixture on to the partially cooked pie crust, and return the crust to the oven for 5 minutes. (This is supposed to stop a soggy pie crust).
Remove pie crust from the oven, and put the sautéed veg. and, if you like, any fish/shrimp/sausage/cheese in the bottom of the crust. I particularly like feta cheese and any of the blue cheeses.
**Before the next step, put the pie crust on a cookie (baking) sheet to move it about. I have several times slopped egg and milk on the floor trying to move an aluminium pie plate full of liquid.
Add the egg mixture, and put some fresh parsley on the top….or sliced tomatoes…. Or whatever,,,,,,,
Return to oven for 30 minutes , or until set.
(If you are using a wood fuelled oven, the times are only approximate and you should rotate the quiche at least once in each stage of its cooking times.)
The quiche will be different every time (different leftovers).
Sometimes the crust sticks to the pie dish. I have been known to use the baking paper that comes with the prepared pie crusts under the crust during cooking.
Bon appétit,
Gillian Webster
Sue's Monthly Recipe … April 2011
Potato, Celeriac and Apple Gratin
Serves 6
750gms potatoes (peeled), 500 gms celeriac (peeled, 300 mls double cream, 300 mls milk, 2 garlic cloves (more if you like), 2 eating apples (cored, sliced but not peeled) 15 gms + extra for greasing of butter, salt & freshly ground black pepper, pinch of ground nutmeg
Preheat oven 200°C, fan 180°C, Gas 6.
Very thinly slice potatoes and celeriac.
Put the cream, milk, garlic, nutmeg, salt & pepper into a non-stick pan, heat gently, add potatoes & celeriac & simmer for approx. 10 mins, gently stirring until tender.
Spoon half potato and celeriac into greased ovenproof dish, arrange apples on top and top with remaining potatoes & celeriac, dot with butter and bake for approx. 30 – 35 mins.
Should be golden, bubbling and potatoes and celeriac cooked.
This is an excellent recipe with all meats especially pork or as a vegetarian dish.
A Warming Recipe from Sue Jelfs: Pork chops & Puy Lentils
Olive oil,
Pork chops (at least 1 per person)
100 gms lardons fume
1 large onion
4 cloves garlic
300 gms Puy lentils
400 gms can chopped tomatoes
900 mls vegetable stock (hot)
salt & freshly ground pepper
2 tablesp parsley
Pre heat oven to 180°C
Put olive oil in large pan that can go into the oven to finish cooking (eg meat tin)
Gently fry onions & garlic until soft & golden, add lardons, fry for 2 mins
Add lentils, tomatoes & stir, add stock, salt & pepper (be careful with the salt as lardons can be salty)
Continue to cook on hob until it begins to thicken, place pork chops on top of mixture and put in the oven for about 30 – 40 mins. Pork chops should be browned & cooked & mixture thick and deep in flavour.
Sprinkle with freshly chopped parsley and serve with mashed potato & carrots. Works well with chicken too!
Bon appétit …
Cinnamon Carrot Cake
Thoughts and recipes from the kitchen of Gillian Webster who is both Canadian and British and living in France …
Since coming to France recipes have become more like suggestions (O.K….not so much with baking !!)
In this recipe you could use apricots instead of raisins, and use your favourite ‘sprinkle topping’.
I like recipes with ‘redeeming features’ that make you feel a bit ‘pure’ when eating…..and this tastes fabulous !!
Ingredients
1 cup (250 ml. ) raisins 3/4 (175 ml) cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup (175ml) whole wheat flour 2 tsp (10 ml) cinnamon
1 tsp (5 ml) ginger 1/2 tsp (2 ml) nutmeg
1 tsp (5 ml) baking soda 1 tsp ( 5 ml) baking powder
1/4 tsp (1 ml) salt 1 egg
3 tbsp (45 ml) vegetable oil 3/4 cup (175 ml) low fat yogurt
1/2 cup (125 ml) packed brown sugar 1 tsp (5 ml) vanilla
1 cup (250 ml) finely shredded carrot
Topping
1 tsp (15 ml) rolled oats** 1 tsp (15 ml) oat bran (or more rolled oats or …..muesli…or ‘whatever’
**”l’avoine” in French
Preheat oven to 350ËšF (180Ëš C)
Instructions
1. Pour boiling water over raisins and let stand 5 minutes; drain thoroughly.
2. Combine all-purpose and whole wheat flours, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and raisins; set aside.
3. In a large bowl, beat egg until fluffy; beat in oil. Mix in yogurt, sugar and vanilla; stir in carrot. Add flour mixture; stir until combined. Pour into greased and foil or waxed paper lined 8 X 4 inch (1.5 L.) loaf pan.
4. TOPPING: Combine rolled oats and oat bran
5. Bske in the oven for 50 to 55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.
6. Let stand in pan for 5 minutes.
7. Remove from pan and let cool before slicing.
Yield: One loaf of about 13 slices (except in my house)
It’s easy to double this one!!
Whole wheat zucchini (courgette) bread
Thoughts and recipes from the kitchen of Gillian Webster who is both Canadian and British and living in France …
This is basically a variation of the recipe above, and gives a solution to what to do with all those courgettes that the neighbours will bring you !!
Sorry, in Canada, we have a large number of Italian immigrants so these vegetables are called ‘zucchini’
** Both these recipes freeze well.
Ingredients
1 1/2 (375 ml) cup all-purpose flour 1 1/2 cup (375ml) whole wheat flour
1 tbsp (15 ml) cinnamon 1 tsp (5 ml) nutmeg
1 tsp (5 ml) baking soda 1 tsp ( 5 ml) baking powder
1/2 tsp salt 3/4 cup (175 ml) raisins
2 eggs 1/3 cup (75 ml) vegetable oil
3/4 cup (175 ml) low fat yogurt 1/4 cup (50 ml) milk
1 cup (250 ml) packed brown sugar 2 tsp (10 ml) vanilla
2 cups finely shredded zucchini (courgettes)
Preheat oven to 350Ëš/180ËšC
Instructions
1. In a bowl, combine all-purpose flour and whole-wheat flours, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, baking powder, salt and raisins.
2. In a large bowl, beat eggs until foamy; beat in oil, yogurt, milk, sugar, and vanilla. Stir in zucchini/courgettes. Add flour mixture and stir until combined.
3. Pour into 2 well-greased 8 x 4 inch (1.5 L.) loaf pans.
4. Bake in oven for 55 minutes or until toothpick inserted in centre comes out clean.
5. Remove from pans and let cool thoroughly before slicing.
Yield: 2 loaves of about 13 slices each
Salsa Cruda (fresh salsa)
Thoughts and recipes from the kitchen of Gillian Webster who is both Canadian and British and living in France …
Spice up your spring with this bright and fiery dish!
4 large ripe plum tomatoes
¼ cup chopped shallots
¼ cup chopped coriander
1 tbsp fresh oregano
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tsp minced jalapeno pepper, or to taste
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp fresh lime juice
Salt and ground black pepper to taste
Cut the tomatoes in half lengthwise and remove the seeds. Cut the halves into quarters and dice. Place in a medium size bowl. Add the remaining ingredients to the bowl. Let sit, loosely covered, at room temperature for the flavours to blend. Serve immediately or refrigerate and serve within 4 hours. Salsa is so versatile and can be used with any course apart from desert!
Ideal for nachos, chicken, fish, vegetables, or anytime you need a sauce with a kick, this will do the trick!
If you can’t get hold of any jalapenos then use a fresh chilli sold in French supermarkets. Fresh coriander is also available in the same section as the bagged salad.
I do always try and feature recipes in which I feel confident that the ingredients can be bought easily in this area of France. What would be the point of going on about galangal root or lemon grass when I wouldn’t actually know where to buy it apart from on the internet! And believe me I know what’s available. I actually enjoy food shopping and spending ages in the isles. I’m always on the look out for new stuff and as a veggie in France in the 90’s you HAD to learn how to cook, so it’s best to try and enjoy it and make the most of what’s available. In my quest for choice and quality, I should make a point of going to the outdoor markets more often, but with the little one I just don’t have the time and end up doing all my shopping in one go at one of the big stores. So no excuses not to try this fab tomato salsa, to nibble away at while the barbeque is warming up (sorry all this sunshine makes me feel prematurely summery.)
Stuffed Cabbage from Magnat l’Etrange
A well-known Creusois recipe from a French reader
Ingredients:
1 cabbage from Magnat
300g of sausage meat or minced meat
1 carrot
2 onions
1 whole egg
3 slices of stale bread
40g of bacon pieces (lardons)
4 soupspoons of milk
1 teaspoon of olive oil
Salt and pepper
Preparation:
Pull off the cabbage leaves
Take out the large centre ribs and blanch the leaves
Stuffing:
Brown separately the onions, sausage meat or minced steak and the lardons
Soak the stale bread in the milk and the crumble it
Mix all the ingredients together
Add salt, pepper and olive oil
Add the carrot cut into small pieces and the egg
Mix well to make the stuffing
Flatten out a cabbage leaf, put the stuffing on the leaf and tie it up
Brown the leaves in a casserole
Then cook them in an oven on a low heat (thermostat 4 – 5) during 45 minutes
Events at Magnat l’Etrange – (a village in the South of the Creuse not too far from Crocq)
Plant Festival every year in May
King of Cabbages Competition every year in October
Gourmet Gourds
This is the time of year, when pumpkins or anything that looks like one, are taking over the veg counters with their bright colours. Most French people use them in soups adding sugar to bring out the sweet flavour. I’ve tasted some soups that are almost like warm sorbet they’re so sweet. So what’s the difference between Citrouille and potiron? Well, a citrouille or cucurbita pepo is translated as a pumpkin, a potiron (cucurbita maxima) being winter squash.
“Citrouille” being more common in North America and “Potiron” in Europe. Other vegetables from the “gourd” family were used for different purposes from up to 10000 years ago, for making musical instruments for example or as recipients. They are also full of nutrients, oligo elements and vitamins A, B1, B2, B3, C, D, E, F.
Winter Squash Gratin with Comté Cheese
Serves 4
1 kilo 200 grs of Squash
4 eggs
5 cl of Crème fraiche
150 grs of Comté cheese.
Salt
Pepper
Nutmeg
Chop the skin off the squash and cut the squash into cubes .Boil the cubes in 1 litre of salted water for about 10 minutes.
While the squash is cooking, beat the eggs like you would for an omelette.
Drain the squash and dry it out in a preheated oven for 5 minutes, before mashing it in a pan, adding the crème fraiche, the eggs, the grated nutmeg and pepper.
Cook over a low heat until the mixture becomes a thick puree.
Grate the cheese and add 2/3 to the puree, add more salt and pepper if needed.
Spoon into an oven dish, cover with the rest of the cheese and cook in oven at 200° until the cheese is slightly brown.
Food for your soul
I can’t think of anything more soothing and satisfying than a Fondue (cheesy preferably) although there is the fondue bourguignon which is dipping chunks of meat in boiling oil or how’s about a Chinese fondue? But really this is the time of the year, when the colder weather is setting in that just calls for a bubbling cauldron of cheese with potato, bread or chips to gloriously dip in. Melting gooey fondue does something that a wedge of brie can’t.
Although only introduced to America and the UK in the mid-sixties, the French, Germans and Swiss have been eating it since before the 18th century. The fondue originated in Switzerland, as a meal for the poor. When the isolated small villages had nothing to eat but old bread, which was so hard it had to be sliced with an axe and cheese left over from the summer. Some ingenious chap decided to try melting the cheese over the fire and discovered that it was more palatable to eat this way. News travelled fast and it became a ritual to slurp up the runny cheese with a hunk of stale bread from the specially designed pot called a caquelon.The earliest record of a fondue is in Homer’s Iliad when a recipe for Pramnos wine, goat’s cheese and flour is cited.
The term fondue is derived from the French verb Fondre(to melt) in the past participle Fondu (melted) and combines two or more cheeses and almost always dry white wine. In the 20th century, as Switzerland industrialised, wine and cheese producers encouraged the dish’s popularity. Each canton lay claim to their own version using the cheese made in that particular region. The classic Swiss fondue combines Gruyere and Emmental (or Vacherin) where as the French version (fondue savoyarde) uses Comté and Beaufort cheeses.
There are many different types of fondue. There’s even a fondue creusois, quite a speciality, to be found in many a restaurant all over the region, where homemade chips (if you’re lucky) are used instead of bread cubes. As with other communal dishes and because it’s been around for several hundred years many “rules of etiquette” have been created to keep the fondue sacred!
Here are a few, along with some tips:
- No double dipping
- Don’ t use cheap wine in the preparation. A decent white sauvignon should do the trick.
- Don’t mix water into fondue to thin it out: add more wine. Too thin: add more cornstarch and cheese.
- More than six people around a fondue pot is a disaster.
- The thin crust at the bottom of the caquelon is called la Religieuseand to be broken up and shared at the end of the meal.
- Temperature is very important and should be held at warm enough to keep the fondue smooth and liquid.
- There are many traditions surrounding what happens if your bread falls into the pot, some include buying a bottle of wine or for a woman she must kiss the man on her left.
Recipes:
Fondue Creusois
The fondue creusois is really simple and some of the hardcore fondue fans will say it’s just melted camembert. In this recipe it uses a mature regional cows’ milk cheese but this can be replaced by a ripe unpasteurised camembert.
Serves 4
1 tsp Butter
¼ l of single cream
10 cl of water
1 Soup spoon of flour
250 g of creusois cows milk cheese
Take the rind off the cheese and slice into slivers. Bring the water to boiling point in a pan and melt the cheese in the water, stirring frequently. Add the cream. In a separate pan, mix together the butter and flour and incorporate into the cheese mixture with the help of a whisk. Continually stir until you obtain a smooth texture. Let it cook for 5 minutes then use a sieve to get rid of any lumps. Season and serve with chips.
Fondue Savoyarde
Serves 6
400g of Comté
400g of Beaufort
200g of Emmental
30 cl of dry white wine
1 tsp of ground nutmeg
1 tsp of corn flour
1 small liquor glass of Kirsch
1 garlic clove
Pinch of pepper
1 egg yolk
Cut all the cheese into small cubes. Rub the insides of the pan with the garlic clove, then leave it in the pan. Heat 25 cl of the wine in the pan and with the 5cl left, mix together in a separate bowl with the corn flour and the nutmeg and save for later. When the wine reaches boiling point add the cheese cubes, a handful at a time and stir continually over a low/medium heat.
When the cheese has melted, add the wine, cornflour and nutmeg mixture and continue to stir gently. When the fondue is rich and slightly frothy you can add the glass of kirsch and the pinch of pepper. The egg yolk is to break into the bottom of the pan or caquelon at the end, to help unstick the layer of cheese left there.
Bon appétit !
