We have a lovely new oven (four) courtesy of a Lapeyre sale. It's French. Imagine our surprise when on switching it on for the first time it welcomed us to KRONOS-3 PYRO and offered us a choice between Français and English. Hasty flipping through the manual revealed nothing whatsoever of this option. After a dignified pause the machine started to talk to us in French. As that is what we were expecting it to do, it’s not a problem, but it’s a little frustrating to be offered the choice! We have located tantalising hints on the internet. It's a bit of software that one would expect Electrolux to have used before or since, but apparently not, at least in this version! The Zanussi ZBP 1165 has similar functions, but it's not got the same buttons.
Back in my dear old days in IT, this sort of thing was known as "a feature". There's nothing about it in the manual, it's very useful, but don't rely on it because it might disappear with the next release.
Tuesday, 14 December 2010
Chair
When I studied French as a schoolgirl fortyharrrrumph years ago, I learned the word chair which means "flesh" - as opposed to "viande" which means "meat". There's a squishyness to "flesh", a sort of voluptuousness that isn't in "viande". Our butcher Laurent Poupeau sells what he calls chipolatas and are labelled saucisses maison. These are delicious bangers speckled with pork meat and herbs. He also sells chair - sausage meat. We buy this in bulk and stash it in the freezer in 250g packs. You can make all sorts of things with chair. Here's a couple to be going on with. Both go well with pasta, rice or a baked potato.
Chair meat balls
One pack, defrosted, makes a dozen tasty meatballs, just by splitting it into lumps the size of a walnut and rolling them into balls. Drop the balls into a boiling pan of your favourite sauce, home-made or out of a jar, and cook for about 20 minutes, turning them occasionally to make sure they're done on all sides.
Chilli con chair
This is just an adaptation of my favourite chilli recipe - actually vegetarian! Fry some chopped onions and garlic till soft. Add a tablespoon of ras al hanout* and a teaspoon or less of cayenne. Stir once, add the chair, break it up with the back of a spoon. Add a couple of chopped sticks of celery if you have them, a chopped red or green pepper and a tin of chopped tomatoes. Add a tin of red kidney beans, liquid and all, or the equivalent quantity of home cooked beans with their cooking liquid. Turn down the heat to a simmer, cover the pan and cook for an hour.
* If you don't have the North African spice mix ras al hanout, of which more in a later blog, use two teaspoons ground cumin, a teaspoon of ground coriander and a quarter teaspoon of turmeric. These along with chilli are Madhur Jaffrey's indispensible curry spices and also the main ingredients of yellow ras al hanout! There's a touch of a few other things which make ras al hanout special.
Chair meat balls
One pack, defrosted, makes a dozen tasty meatballs, just by splitting it into lumps the size of a walnut and rolling them into balls. Drop the balls into a boiling pan of your favourite sauce, home-made or out of a jar, and cook for about 20 minutes, turning them occasionally to make sure they're done on all sides.
Chilli con chair
This is just an adaptation of my favourite chilli recipe - actually vegetarian! Fry some chopped onions and garlic till soft. Add a tablespoon of ras al hanout* and a teaspoon or less of cayenne. Stir once, add the chair, break it up with the back of a spoon. Add a couple of chopped sticks of celery if you have them, a chopped red or green pepper and a tin of chopped tomatoes. Add a tin of red kidney beans, liquid and all, or the equivalent quantity of home cooked beans with their cooking liquid. Turn down the heat to a simmer, cover the pan and cook for an hour.
* If you don't have the North African spice mix ras al hanout, of which more in a later blog, use two teaspoons ground cumin, a teaspoon of ground coriander and a quarter teaspoon of turmeric. These along with chilli are Madhur Jaffrey's indispensible curry spices and also the main ingredients of yellow ras al hanout! There's a touch of a few other things which make ras al hanout special.
Tuesday, 7 December 2010
Home made yoghurt.... The Belgian way.
On the subject of the milk from La Borde... we make our own yoghurt using their milk and yoghurt.
When my mother passed on a couple of years back I retrieved, from the back of the cupboard under the sink a Belgian yoghurt maker of the 60's... The Yogomagic. Like the multi-pot ones that are on the market these days, this is basically a milk warmer. The difference is that this is a ONE pot version. It has a footprint the same size as a kettle... and makes a litre of yoghurt at a time.
The method is to put half a pot of La Borde yoghurt in the bottom of the container, followed by a little of the raw milk. Stir like crazy to mix up the yoghurt and milk, then pour on the rest, stirring all the time. Put lid on pot and screw home the retaining ring. Place pot in cyan blue warmer and plug it in. Eat rest of yoghurt in the starter pot.
You do not boil the milk, or use any additional powdered milk as some recipes require [I notice that even the La Borde yoghurt is made with some dried milk], there is no need.
After eight to twelve hours [depending on the ambient temperature of the room - longer at the moment] you have a pot of set yoghurt with a layer of Crème Fraiche on top. The Creme Fraiche can be rescued for other uses or served with the early helpings. The remaining yoghurt will keep for up to a fortnight in the fridge, the container fitting nicely in the fridge door.
All you need is some home made plum jam or bottled fruit and a healthy, home-made breakfast or pudding is on the table.
When my mother passed on a couple of years back I retrieved, from the back of the cupboard under the sink a Belgian yoghurt maker of the 60's... The Yogomagic. Like the multi-pot ones that are on the market these days, this is basically a milk warmer. The difference is that this is a ONE pot version. It has a footprint the same size as a kettle... and makes a litre of yoghurt at a time.
 |
| This is the Yogomagic. |
You do not boil the milk, or use any additional powdered milk as some recipes require [I notice that even the La Borde yoghurt is made with some dried milk], there is no need.
 |
| The Container for the yoghurt [I'll take another photo in daylight... no milk is this cream coloured... even Guernsey!] |
All you need is some home made plum jam or bottled fruit and a healthy, home-made breakfast or pudding is on the table.
 |
| Just the Caramel rice pot, the Confiture de Lait and the Crème Crue from our fridge. |
Can't give away walnuts!
Our walnut tree, which teeters on the edge of the millstream, gave us 10 kilos of nuts this year. Not a lot as walnut trees go, but plenty for our own use. We had to say "thanks but no thanks" to all those kind people who wanted to give us more walnuts!
We find a mole wrench works better than any nutcrackers to get at the meat inside. Today I made a Banana Date and Walnut cake to cheer myself up on a dreary drizzly afternoon. A little research told me that levure chimique is baking powder. One sachet contains two level teaspoons - perfect for this recipe.
Ingredients
180g whole dried dates, or 160g stoned dates
75 ml dark rum, or other alcoholic beverage of choice / what you have (I like Stroh rum best!)
175g plain flour
2 teaspoons baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda, 1/2 teaspoon salt
125g unsalted butter, softened (in the microwave, a blast of 30 seconds, beat thoroughly with a wooden spoon, give it a few more seconds if there are still lumps)
150g sugar
2 large eggs
4 small/2 large etc but about 300g without skin, VERY ripe bananas, mashed
60g walnuts (optional if you really are allergic)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Recipe
Prepare a 23x13x7cm (2lb) loaf tin, buttered & floured (or it won't come out!) or paper lined.
Stone and chop the dates to what ever size you like, put them in a small pan with the rum, and bring to the boil. Turn off the heat and leave for at least 1 hour, until all the liquid has been absorbed (otherwise the mixture curdles).
Set your oven to heat to Gas mark 3, 170C.
In a medium sized bowl or jug, thoroughly mix the flour, baking powder, bicarb, salt.
In a large bowl, beat the softened butter and sugar with a wooden spoon until blended. Sneaky tip - I microwaved the butter in this bowl, to save washing up / wasted butter! Beat in the eggs one at a time. Add the mashed banana.
Stir in dates, walnuts, vanilla extract. Add the flour mix, 1/3 at a time, stirring well after each addition. The resulting mixture is quite sloppy.
Pour/scrape the mixture into the prepared tin. Bake in the middle of the oven for 60 - 90 minutes, until a fine skewer or sharp knife comes out "cleanish". Leave the cake in its tin on a wire rack to cool before turning it out.
Enjoy!
This also makes a super winter dessert with crème crue and bottled cherries.
We find a mole wrench works better than any nutcrackers to get at the meat inside. Today I made a Banana Date and Walnut cake to cheer myself up on a dreary drizzly afternoon. A little research told me that levure chimique is baking powder. One sachet contains two level teaspoons - perfect for this recipe.
Ingredients
180g whole dried dates, or 160g stoned dates
75 ml dark rum, or other alcoholic beverage of choice / what you have (I like Stroh rum best!)
175g plain flour
2 teaspoons baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda, 1/2 teaspoon salt
125g unsalted butter, softened (in the microwave, a blast of 30 seconds, beat thoroughly with a wooden spoon, give it a few more seconds if there are still lumps)
150g sugar
2 large eggs
4 small/2 large etc but about 300g without skin, VERY ripe bananas, mashed
60g walnuts (optional if you really are allergic)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Recipe
Prepare a 23x13x7cm (2lb) loaf tin, buttered & floured (or it won't come out!) or paper lined.
Stone and chop the dates to what ever size you like, put them in a small pan with the rum, and bring to the boil. Turn off the heat and leave for at least 1 hour, until all the liquid has been absorbed (otherwise the mixture curdles).
Set your oven to heat to Gas mark 3, 170C.
In a medium sized bowl or jug, thoroughly mix the flour, baking powder, bicarb, salt.
In a large bowl, beat the softened butter and sugar with a wooden spoon until blended. Sneaky tip - I microwaved the butter in this bowl, to save washing up / wasted butter! Beat in the eggs one at a time. Add the mashed banana.
Stir in dates, walnuts, vanilla extract. Add the flour mix, 1/3 at a time, stirring well after each addition. The resulting mixture is quite sloppy.
Pour/scrape the mixture into the prepared tin. Bake in the middle of the oven for 60 - 90 minutes, until a fine skewer or sharp knife comes out "cleanish". Leave the cake in its tin on a wire rack to cool before turning it out.
Enjoy!
This also makes a super winter dessert with crème crue and bottled cherries.
Sunday, 5 December 2010
Porridge
Today we awoke to the sort of morning when the mind turns to porridge - a gusting wind whirling out of the southwest, hurling massive raindrops at the windows. At least the snow was starting to melt. The cats took one look and went back to bed - tempting to do the same. And what better breakfast for such a morning than a bowl of hot porridge oats, sweetened in Pauline's case and salty for Tim, but in both cases made with unpasteurised milk (lait cru fermier) from GAEC Lait Grand Cru at La Borde, a farm enterprise in le Grand Pressigny. This milk is the real thing - it comes in plastic pouches (ideal for freezing) which sit in a little plastic jug for pouring, but the cream rises to the top, just as it used to when I was a kid. We separate it into "entier" for coffee - and porridge - and "demi" for tea, and woe betide anyone who doesn't shake before using.
My childhood memory of 'top of the milk' was that largely the cat got it. Our family didn't even have a cat. It was just a neighbour's cat, visiting, and knowing a soft touch when it found one. We now know that cow's milk is bad for cats (sorry guys) so all the more for us!
At La Borde they also prepare crème crue, a natural cream so thick it grabs hold of the spoon, which keeps for ages. And delicious live natural yoghurt. And butter, stamped with designs. And soft cheese with garlic and herbs. And don't get me on to the rice pudding! Oh all right then. This is 1 euro 30 a jar, but the jars are identical with those supplied by Lakeland at 1 euro 20 each, and are ideal for home-made preserves - fruit jellies, lemon curd etc. One jar makes a rich dessert for two people or one gannet. You can buy La Borde products from the farm, or from the stall at Le Grand Pressigny market every thursday. The Spar in GP sells an increasing volume of La Borde milk at 80 cents a litre, and you can also find it in local supermarkets. The only way we could drink milk with a smaller burden of food miles is to have our own cow!
Easy microwave porridge for one
Weigh out 30g porridge oats in a polythene rice pudding pot. This is transparent, so you can mark the 30g level on the side, for next time. Put in a cereal bowl with 180ml milk. If you are Tim, add a pinch of salt. If you are a Scot, I apologise now. I set the microwave to medium (450 watts), cook the porridge for 2 minutes, stir it, then another 2 minutes at medium. Serve sprinkled with your sweetener of choice, or not as the case may be, and maybe a bit more milk if you like.
My childhood memory of 'top of the milk' was that largely the cat got it. Our family didn't even have a cat. It was just a neighbour's cat, visiting, and knowing a soft touch when it found one. We now know that cow's milk is bad for cats (sorry guys) so all the more for us!
At La Borde they also prepare crème crue, a natural cream so thick it grabs hold of the spoon, which keeps for ages. And delicious live natural yoghurt. And butter, stamped with designs. And soft cheese with garlic and herbs. And don't get me on to the rice pudding! Oh all right then. This is 1 euro 30 a jar, but the jars are identical with those supplied by Lakeland at 1 euro 20 each, and are ideal for home-made preserves - fruit jellies, lemon curd etc. One jar makes a rich dessert for two people or one gannet. You can buy La Borde products from the farm, or from the stall at Le Grand Pressigny market every thursday. The Spar in GP sells an increasing volume of La Borde milk at 80 cents a litre, and you can also find it in local supermarkets. The only way we could drink milk with a smaller burden of food miles is to have our own cow!
 |
| These are some of the La Borde products in our fridge. The jug was bought from Waitrose in Swaffham. |
Weigh out 30g porridge oats in a polythene rice pudding pot. This is transparent, so you can mark the 30g level on the side, for next time. Put in a cereal bowl with 180ml milk. If you are Tim, add a pinch of salt. If you are a Scot, I apologise now. I set the microwave to medium (450 watts), cook the porridge for 2 minutes, stir it, then another 2 minutes at medium. Serve sprinkled with your sweetener of choice, or not as the case may be, and maybe a bit more milk if you like.
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