A FEW THOUGHTS ON OUR TRIP TO USA

It is now two weeks since we returned from our trip to Florida. We thoroughly enjoyed it, saw some wonderful places, animals, birds, Weather was mostly very kind to us.
As I mostly write about food on this blog, I thought I would make a few observations on that aspect of our trip. Mostly we ate very well but my biggest gripe is the ridiculous amount of food you are served and how much food is binned! I heard on TV the other day the surprising fact that 20% of Americans are on the bread line. Judging by what we saw, a large amount of the remaining 80% eat far, far too much. Living here in France, when we go out for a meal, we will have 3 courses, or 4 if you have cheese, all nice small manageable sizes and you feel nicely full at the end. You rarely see any food left to be thrown away. In USA we could never manage more than 1 course. Even then, we often got so much we couldn't eat it. If we ordered a sandwich, we always seemed to get a pile of (unwanted) chips (fries) with them. With all the starving people in this world, it really something that needs to be addressed. Smaller servings = smaller prices too!

PASTRY LORES

They always say good pastry making is an art. My mother used to make good pastry. She never weighed her ingredients and always made it by hand. But her best plus was she always had cold hands! As someone who nearly always has warm hands, I always make it in my food processor, weigh all the ingredients out and it comes out OK but if I used Mum's way, it would be a disaster. In the 80's and 90's, Sainsbury's produced a series of cookery books by Josceline Dimbleby. I think I bought them all. She was amazingly ahead of her time with her inspiring recipes. One of the many things I liked was her idiotproof way of making pastry in a completely novel way. With her method, warm hands do not matter and there is no rolling out! I have selected two of her tarts, one savoury and one sweet.

SHALLOT & SPRING ONION TART

For the pastry
125g plain flour
125g fine semolina
1 tsp salt
125g butter
1 tbsp water
1 egg white

For the filling
750g shallots
2 tbsp olive oil
1 bunch spring onions
1 large egg
2 egg yolks
150ml double cream
2 tsp caster sugar
salt and pepper

Mix flour, semolina and salt in a bowl. Gently melt the butter with the water in a saucepan then pour on to flour, stirring until you have a soft dough. Press pieces of the dough over the bottom and sides of a 25cm loose bottomed flan tin, bringing the edge slightly up above the rim. Brush the pastry all over with egg white and refrigerate while you prepare the filling.
Peel the shallots and slice into thin rings. Put olive oil into a frying pan and cook shallots gently for about 15 mins , stirring often until really soft. Leave to cool a bit. Preheat oven to 220 degrees C. Peel and slice the spring onions into 5mm pieces. Whisk egg and egg whites then whisk in cream. Stir the shallots and onion into cream mixture. Pour into pastry case levelling the top. Sprinkle with the sugar. Cook for about 25 mins until filling is just set and small speckles of black have appeared on surface. Take care on removing from tart tin as pastry is very crumbly. It is better to leave on base. Serves 6.

TARTE MONTMARTRE

For the pastry
175g S.R.Flour
1 tbsp cocoa powder
75g icing sugar
100g butter
1 tbsp water

For the filling
3 eggs separated
1 tbsp caster sugar
juice of 2 lemons and finely grated rind of 1
4 tbsp cream
25g cornflour

For the icing
75g plain chocolate
4 tsp caster sugar
coarsely grated lemon rind or julienne strips of lemon rind

Sift the flour, cocoa and icing sugar. Melt butter with water then mix into the flour thoroughly with a spoon. Press the warm dough as evenly as you can over the base and sides of a 24cm loose bottomed flan tin. Neaten the edges with a rolling pin and press any scraps over pastry lining the base of the tin. Refrigerate for at least 30 mins.
Whisk egg yolks and sugar until pale and thickened. Gradually whisk in lemon juice and then cream. Whisk in cornflour and stir in lemon rind. Whisk the egg whites to soft peaks then fold gently into lemon batter. Pour into pastry case and bake in preheated oen 180 degree C for about 20-25 mins until golden brown.
Melt the chocolate and sugar with 1 1/2 tbs water over a very low heat. Stir until smooth then stir in another 2 tsp water. Pour over tart using a spoon to spread out to edges. Decorate with rind or julienne strips (perhaps blanched for several minutes in hot water). Serve cold but not straight from fridge. Serves 8.

SECRET SURPRISE BUNS

This is a guest post by my daughter Kerry.

This recipe was inspired by my youngest son Jem, who saw me filling butterfly cakes with mascarpone icing one day and asked me not to cut the lid into wings, but to replace it just as it was so his dad would'nt know there was a surprise within. I added the ganache topping to cover our tracks. These have now become legendary in our house although I daren't make them too often as I cannot leave them alone!

For the buns
50g cocoa powder
240ml boiling water
110g butter, softened
100g caster sugar
2 eggs
175g plain flour
1 or 2 tsp vanilla extract (optional)
2 tsp baking powder

For the filling
150g mascarpone
4tbsp icing sugar

For the ganache
100g dark chocolate brokem up
100ml double cream

Heat the oven to 190 degrees C and place 16 muffin cases into muffin tins.

Put the cocoa into a small bowl, add the boiling water and stir until smooth. In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy, then add 1 egg and beat until combined, adding a tbsp of flour to stop it splitting. Repeat with 2nd egg and stir in vanilla extract if using. Add rest of flour and baking powder stirring well together before adding the cocoa mixture. Fill each case about 2 thirds full and bake for 16 to 20 minutes until springy to the touch. Leave to cool.
Beat together the mascarpone and icing sugar until smooth. Melt chocolate and stir in cream.

When the buns are cool, use a sharp knife to cut a 2cm deep circle out of the top of each bun, taking care to leave about 1cm rim around the cut. Trim off about half of the underside of each lid and discard. Fill the hole in each bun with 1 tsp of the mascarpone mixture, replace the lids then top with a dollop of ganache to disguise the joins!

Back to Julie

I made these last night. I halved the recipe but still got 9 buns. I had some squishy raspberries from the garden so added some to the mascarpone filling. Or some lemon curd would be nice. They were delicious.

GARLIC AND GINGER VEGETABLE GRATIN

I do love a gratin. I try not to eat them very often as they are not too good for the waistline! I spotted this unusual one in a Delicious magazine. I have tweaked it a bit. I made it last Sunday and it was yummy! You needn't be too precise with the ingredients. For two people, I put a crushed garlic clove, a knob of grated ginger, about 100ml milk and 150ml of cream in a pan with a parsnip, 2 carrots and 1 raw beetroot. all very finely sliced(best done on a mandoline if possible). Season well, bring just to the boil and simmer very gently for about 5 minutes. Spoon into a baking dish and cook in a 160 degree oven for about 45 mins or until tender.Because the veg used are all quite naturally sweet, it does taste quite sweet which some people may not like.

I also like a bargain! I had bought a piece of pork on the bone for the princely sum of 4 euros. I cooked it very slowly in the oven on a bed of onions which caramelised and made the basis for a delish gravy. It was so tender. I had the gratin with it. Next day we had cold pork with saute potatoes, freshly cooked beetroot from the garden and salad which took me straight back to my childhood. We always had the remains of the Sunday roast cold on Monday though always with mash, the only way Mum knew with potatoes! There was still plenty of pork left the next day so I minced it up with some fried onion and red pepper, an egg and a couple of teaspoons of some chilli jam I had made.(find recipe at www.joannasfood.blogspot.com/2005/11/chilli-jam.html ) I made 4 patties and fried them in a little oil. A very good 4 euros worth especially as all the veg came from the garden.

FRUITY TEACAKE AND RASPBERRY ALMOND BITES

My daughter-in-law is arriving this afternoon with two grandsons, Aiden and Alex. I thought I would do some baking to stock up the goody tin!
I do like a nice teabread. I have made several versions in the past but this sounded nice with the orange in.

FRUITY TEACAKE
300g mixed dried fruit
225ml hot tea
juice 1 orange plus zest
50g butter
100g soft brown sugar
1 egg
222g self raising flour
4 tbsp demerara sugar ( I used 2)

Place the dried fruits in a bowl and pour over the hot tea, orange juice and zest. Cover and leave for at least 4 hours or better, overnight.
Heat the oven to 180C/160Cfan. Grease and line a loaf tin. Beat together the butter and sugar until creamy then beat in egg followed by flour. Stir in fruit. Spoon the mixture into the tin and smooth the surface. Sprinkle all over with the demerara sugar.
Bake for 1 hour until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Cool in tin then turn out. This cake keeps really well.

RASPBERRY ALMOND BITES
2 large egg whites
150g icing sugar
pink food colouring- optional
70g ground almonds
mascarpone
raspberry jam

Whisk egg whites until soft peaks form. Gradually whisk in sugar. Add colouring if used. Fold in ground almonds. Cover 2 baking sheets with baking parchment, using a dab of the mixture to secure corners. Use spoon to make circles about 5cm wide. Leave for about 10 minutes until a skin starts to form.
Heat oven to 180C/160Cfan. Place baking sheets in oven leaving door ajar to allow steam to escape and cook for 20 mins until just crisp. ( I forgot to leave oven ajar and my oven would keep peeping anyway!and they
were OK.) Leave to cool. Ease off the paper. Spread half the biscuits with jam and the other half with the mascarpone and sandwich together.

OATY SODA BREAD

I was in Geant Casino yesterday and was looking at their fresh cakes. As I do not like creme patisserie, I was looking at the list of ingredients to see if they did contain some apart from the ordinary cream. I was horrified by the number of ingredients, a lot of which I had never heard of. They seemed very simple cakes!! It reminded me of one time my son was here and brought some packets of tortillas with him not knowing you can buy them here. They are just a form of flat bread and I was looking at the list of ingredients wondering if they were easy to make and again, I was horrified at all the e-numbers and countless unknown additives. So I decided to post a recipe for some soda bread. Since I found this recipe, I have regularly made it as I find it is delicious, good for you, and unlike a lot of Irish soda breads, keeps quite well for a few days. And no e-numbers or additives!!

OATY SODA BREAD

100g porridge oats
250ml water
30g butter
300g wholemeal flour (I use flour with seeds)
1.5 level tsp bicarbonate of soda
.75 level tsp salt
1.5 level tbsp brown sugar
100ml yoghurt/fromage frais

Bring oats, water and butter to the boil and leave to cool. In a bowl mix the rest of the ingredients. Add the oats and mix well, adding more water if necessary to obtain a dropping consistency. Grease a 18-20cm square tin and line the base with baking parchment. Add mixture , cover with foil and bake at 200 degrees for 45minutes, removing foil after 30 minutes.

A GOOD RECIPE FOR COURGETTES

After all my good intentions starting my blog entries again, I find it has been more than 2 weeks since my last post, I have had a lot of problems the last couple of days being able to access my blog.

A massive hail storm last week played havoc in my vegetable garden. The leaves of the chard, rhubarb, squash, melon and haricot beans have been shredded. Most of the skins of the tomatoes, butternuts, melons and cougettes have been damaged which means they will gradually rot and insects etc get in the damaged areas and nibble away! In desperation to save my 4 melons and 4 butternuts, I have painted the damaged bits of skin with clear nail varnish to keep the pests out. I have no idea if it will work!

I still have loads of courgettes from my 2 plants if a bit damaged and I dug out this recipe from a Good Housekeeping vegetarian cookbook I have had for years. I have made this recipe loads of times before but when it's been a while since I made it, its always a nice surprise how good it is, especially the sauce, which I could just eat by the spoonful!!

LASAGNETTE WITH COURGETTES AND SUN-DRIED TOMATOES Serves 4

250g dried lasagnette/tagliatelli/linguini
6 small thin courgettes
1 tbsp olive oil
8 sun-dried tomatoes in oil, cut into strips
zest of 1 lemon
6 large basil leaves shredded

SAUCE
50g sun-dried tomatoes in oil
1 tomato
2 crushed garlic cloves
50g pine nuts
50g freshly grated parmesan
2 tbsp olive oil
juice 1 lemon
2 tsp grated horseradish (I use creamed horseradish from a jar, Aldi sell it)
1-2 tsp soft brown sugar
2 tbsp water

Pare the courgettes into long ribbons using a swivel vegetable peeler. To make the sauce, drain the sun-dried tomatos reserving 2 tbsp of the oil. Place in a blender or food processor with the fresh tomato and garlic and work to a puree. Add the remaining ingredients until blended. Season to taste.
Cook the chosen pasta until al dente. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a frying pan and quickly stir fry the courgettes in batches for 2-3 minutes until al dente. Remove from heat and add the chopped sun-dried tomatoes and lemon zest.
Drain the pasta well and toss with the cougettes and basil. Serve with the delicious sauce spooned over.

CATCHING UP

After not posting anything for one and a half years, I have been persuaded to resume. Most of my posts will be recipes, which gives me a good excuse to go through my many cookbooks seeking out some old favourites. But hope to find some other topics to write about too!

We went to a BBQ at friends Isabel and Brians on Sunday, good company, good food and good weather, a winning combination. I took along a dessert which seemed to be popular so am making the recipe for that my 1st post. It came from the July issue of Good Food but I tweaked it a bit. The original used blueberries but as I have loads in the garden right now, I used raspberries.

ICED RASPBERRY & LIME CHEESECAKE
Serves at least 12

3 limes
50g caster sugar
250g raspberries
FOR THE CHEESECAKE
3 egg whites
140g icing sugar
250g mascarpone
1/2 tsp vanilla extract (optional-I don't like it!)
300ml double cream
FOR THE BASE
250g box soft amaretti biscuits
50g butter

Line the base of a large cake tin with cling film. Finely grate the rind from limes. Sqeeze the juice and put into pan with sugar. Heat gently to dissolve the sugar then boil until syrupy. Fold in the raspberries and spoon into tin. Whisk egg whites until stiff, then gradually whisk in the icing sugar. Beat the mascarpone with zest and vanilla. Whip the cream until it just holds its shape then fold into marscapone. Fold in meringue using the whisk blades. Spoon into tin, using the back of a spoon to level the top. Break up the amaretti biscuits into crumbs. Melt butter and add to crumbs then spoon over mixture in tin, pressing lighly with your hands. Freeze the cheesecake for at least 4 hours or overnight is better. Transfer the cheesecake to the fridge for 30 mins. Turn out on to a flat serving dish and remove the cling film.

If anybody makes any of my posted recipes, I would love to hear your comments!

A Boozy night out

Des has recently joined a local walking group. Most members are 60ish. Every Thursday afternoon, they meet up at 1.30pm then mostly drive to a nearby village to begin their walk of about 12 km. They always end up at someone's house afterwards for a glass or three!They love it if it someone's birthday, an excuse for an even better celebration. Last week Bernard was celebrating his 60th so they all went there after the walk. Non-walking partners were also invited along for the evening. After a lot of aperitifs and nibbles. all 20 of us sat down at a long table in the huge garage. We had a delicious fondue vigneron (you cook your delicious cubes of beef steak in boiling red wine flavoured with vegetables and herbs- definately my favourite fondue!) Much red wine kept flowing. Later the massive cheese board arrived. Finally a huge,delicious, chocolatey birthday cake appeared and of course champagne to drink with it. It was a great evening with much singing, joking and hilarity.
Although I didn't drink too much, I did suffer with a bad headache the next morning but then I always get one if I eat cheese at night or drink sparkling wine like champagne or cremant late, but I had such a good time I am not complaining!

Membrillo or Quince Jelly

I have been really remiss lately, this is the first post for ages. Sorry, will endeavour to be more productive from now on.

I tasted some membrillo recently for the first time and really liked it. As quinces are really plentiful here in France in autumn, in fact loads of people are trying to give them away to all and sundry, I thought I would try and make some.

I searched the internet for a recipe and eventually chose this one as it wasn't as sweet as a lot. Pushing the mixture through the sieve was hard work, so I helped matters a bit by putting the mixture in my mixer to break it down more before sieving it. Also within minutes of starting to cook the puree with the sugar, it had started to catch on the bottom of the pan. Luckily I had a brand new non stick wok so I finished the cooking in that. I was really pleased with result. it is delicious sliced with cheese, game or pate or just eaten on it's own.

MEMBRILLO

1.5kg Quinces

approx. 750g Sugar per litre of puree

Wash all the fur from the quinces then chop up - there is no need to peel or core them. Just cover with water and simmer until flesh is really soft and collapsing - about 1 hour. Break down a bit more in a mixer before pushing through a sieve with the back of a wooden spoon. Measure the puree, there should be about a litre.

Put the puree into the pan with the appropriate quantity of sugar, bring to the boil and cook gently for about 45 - 60 minutes until the mixture is so thick that drawing a wooden spoon through it, the puree parts and leaves a line at the bottom of the pan. You must stir often as the thicker it gets, the more it can stick and burn.

Either pot in clean sterilised pots or put into a lightly oiled roasting tin. When it is cold, it can be cut up into squares then wrapped in clingfilm. It will store in the fridge for 6 months.

FLOWER STORIES



The public flower displays in our area are always marvellous but this year has been exceptional. The designers seem to have made a big effort to introduce different and unusual plants as well as the more usual ones like pelagoniums and trailing petunias. I took the photos today so it is really at the end of the season, they will all be changed to the autumn displays at the beginning of October, but I think they still look great. These photos were taken at at a small town just a couple of kilometres away from our village. It's population is only about 5500 and yet it is full of displays.


These leads me to a story about flowers when we first lived in France many years ago. At the supermarket which I use a lot, there appeared in the carpark a large marquee. When it had been erected, there then appeared a big banner saying " The chrysanthamums are coming" (This took place about the 22/23 October. I was completely mystified by this and later that evening, told my husband about it but he couldn't come up with any possible explanation. A couple of days later, I found that the marquee was full of hundreds of chrysanthamum plants, all colours and absolutely covered in flowers. They were not expensive and I think I bought a white plant to have indoors. We found out a week later that the 1st of November is a big holiday in France, called Toussaint (allsaints day in UK) and everybody buys the plants to put on their relatives graves on that day. They do not have the plants indoors, especially the white ones as they are put on children's graves.

HONEYCOMB ICE CREAM

Every year when various grandchildren come to stay, there are always certain things that they want to do or places to visit. It becomes an annual ritual. For my grand daughters who have just been staying here, they always have to visit a local honey farm and stock up on honey and honey sweets. There is a small departmental store in our nearest town where they like to go and stock up on pencils, pens, rubbers etc.etc. for going back to school. I know they can buy all these things at home and probably cheaper this year with the exchange rate as it is but again, it is a ritual! And we have to make honeycomb ice cream! I make it once a year because I know it must have lots of calories! I have had the recipe so long that I do not know where it came from! It's delicious, once a year!

5 tbsp white sugar

2 tbsp golden sugar

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

500ml/1 pint whipping cream

1 tin condensed milk

Start by making the honeycomb. Place the sugar and syrup in a saucepan and cook over a low heat until the sugar melts. Boil rapidly until the caramel is a mid-gold in colour. Remove from heat and sift the bicarb over it. Stir the frothy mixture then pour on to a greased baking sheet. Allow to cool then break into smallish chunks.

Whip the cream until floppy then beat in the condensed milk. Continue beating until the mixture is quite stiff. Fold in the honeycomb and any crumbs. put into a freezer proof container and freeze for about 8 hours or overnight. It does not require any stirring.

LEMON CHEESECAKE

My grand daughter Kiera yesterday asked if she could make a lemon cheesescake for dessert. I sorted out a recipe but had to change the ingredients somewhat as I didn't have all the things. It turned out delicious so here is the recipe. I did'nt use the sugar as the biscuits I used were already sweet enough.

Sian, my other grand daughter wanted to also do some cooking so she made a Thai green chicken curry for dinner with just a little bit of help from me.

Quick Lemon cheesecake

About 10 digestives or 15 plain smaller biscuits

60g butter melted

1 teaspoon soft brown sugar (optional)

1/2 tsp ground ginger

125 g cream cheese

225g mascarpone

60g caster sugar

150ml thick creme fraiche or whipped double cream

Grated ring and juice of 2 lemons

2 egg yolks
3 sheets leaf gelatine

Lightly oil a 20cm flan tin with a loose base. Combine the melted butter, crushed biscuit crumbs, ginger and optional sugar. Press into tin.

Blend egg yolks, sugar, cream cheese, mascarpone and lemon rind in a electric mixer bowl, together with thick creme fraiche or cream. Soak the gelatine sheets in cold water for about 5 minutes. Heat the lemon juice to nearly boiling point, add the squeezed gelatine and stir until melted. Leave to cool then add to the mixture and blend again. Pour into tin and leave to set for about 3 hours.

MOSAICS

I have my eldest son and his 3 daughters staying this week. The eldest Kiera,who is 16 and the youngest Sian, who is 12 wanted to make a mosaic. I had the tiles so I just had to buy some squares of MDF called medium in french. I had a book on mosaics and they based their squares on a design from this book but changed a lot and I think produced some really good work for two complete beginners. All their own work!

BOTTLING TOMATOES

I have so many tomatoes! One of the easiest ways to preserve them is just to freeze them whole. When you want to use them, put them for a few seconds under the hot tap while they are still frozen and the skin peels off so easily. The tomatoes I froze last year lasted all through the winter with no signs of deterioration. However my freezer is full so I have started bottling them again. It's quite easy here in France to find preserving jars very cheap at brocantes (Junk /car boot sales), you just must remember to replace the rubber rings each time you use them. Here is the method I use which always seems to work.

Cover the tomatoes with boiling water for about one minute then remove the skins. Roughly cut up the tomatoes and place in the jars, pressing the fruit down. You will find by the time you have reached the top of the jars that there is enough juice to just cover the fruit. I usually do about 4 jars at a time, each one a 500g jar. Close the lids lightly without doing up the clip. Cook for about 1 hour in the oven at 150 degrees. As soon as they come out of the oven, do up the clip. Leave to get completely cold. Then test the seal by opening the clip. If the lids remain closed, all is well and you can reclip them and store. Otherwise you will have to use the tomatoes up quite quickly.

PEACHES ETC

This has been a fabulous year for fruit due to the very good spring weatherwise with no late frosts to damage the blossom. I have been struggling to deal with all the gluts of cherries, plums, blackberries and early yellow peaches. Now the white peaches are ready. All the branches are weighed down with fruit. If Mr O had'nt propped most of them up, most branches would have broken by now! Last year There were 6 peaches on the tree! I have made a start with a simple recipe for a summer dessert.

PEACHES IN FRUIT SYRUP

Put 15o ml /1/4 pint of water into a saucepan with the thinly peeled rind of 1 orange and 1 lemon. (Use a potato peeler for this) Add 115g caster sugar. Heat slowly until the sugar has dissolved, then boil quickly for 5 minutes. Strain. Skin and slice 3 or 4 peaches. Put them in a bowl. Pour over the syrup and the juice of 1 lemon. Cool and chill before serving.