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Homemade harissa and picnic mortification
I wouldn’t claim to be a perfect mother by any stretch of the imagination. The ability to discipline, for example, appears to be something that has completely passed me by; lack of motivation is almost certainly the cause because, unfortunately, mischief amuses me no end. I’m apparently known amongst Léo’s friends as a bit of a pushover and I have, no doubt, the same reputation amongst the animals. A healthy diet for my son though is something that I do usually manage quite well. I had to provide a picnic the other day as he was attending an all-day riding course. Picnics for Léo are an absolute minefield because he doesn’t do, amongst other things, warm cheese, soggy bread, raw vegetables, floppy salad, softened chocolate etc. In other words, he doesn’t really do picnics. He does, however, have a bit of a thing for ketchup so, in an attempt to dilute the menace of the healthier components of his sandwich, I applied liberally. More fool me. When I went to fetch him, he shouted (loudly) in front of over a dozen other people: ‘Maman, you totally ruined my sandwiches by drowning them in ketchup – they were inedible!’. I think in future he’ll either be getting a generous dollop of this eye-wateringly spicy harissa instead, or learning to make his own sandwiches!
Chili peppers contain capsaicin, which gives them their strong spicy pungent flavour. Capsaicin has antibacterial, anticarcinogenic, analgesic and antidiabetic properties. Fresh chilli peppers are also a rich source of vitamin C and contain other antioxidants such as vitamin A, lutein and beta carotene. They also provide reasonable quantities of minerals such as potassium, manganese, iron, and magnesium.
Ingredients
15 chili peppers, rinsed, topped and tailed
1 teaspoon caraway seeds
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon dried mint leaves
3 tablespoons olive oil plus extra for jar
1 teaspoon sea salt
5 cloves garlic
Juice of 1 lemon
Put the chilies into a bowl, cover with boiling water and leave to soak until softened (about 20 minutes). Heat the caraway, coriander, and cumin seeds in a frying pan over medium heat. Toast the spices for about four minutes until very fragrant. Drain the chilies and transfer to the bowl of a food processor with the spices, olive oil, salt, garlic and lemon juice. Purée, stopping occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl, until the paste is very smooth. Transfer to a sterilised glass jar and fill with oil until ingredients are submerged. Refrigerate, topping off with a little more oil after each use. -
Celeriac gratin and Hugo the sage
I’m thinking about leaving home. Bossy would obviously try to stop me because I’m quite a catch as dogs go. It’s not that I don’t like it here; the food’s not bad most of the time, the scenery is pretty enough, I’m more or less allowed to do whatever I like (except kill hens, which is very frustrating for me – to the point that I may even be psychologically damaged). I’m just getting a bit fed up of all the baby animals that keep popping up. There have been rabbits, kittens, hedgehogs, birds, foals and now a damned puppy of all things! I suppose I must have been a puppy once, but I’m sure that I would have been an extremely well-behaved one. It stands to reason. Secretly I have to admit that Java’s really rather sweet, but her shenanigans are beyond me. For example, why would you plunge into a ditch that you know you have absolutely no hope of getting out of on your own? It’s just silly of her to try to copy me because I have a magnificently muscular male physique and she is, frankly, just a silly slip of a girl. Maybe I’m going to have to stay after all because someone’s going to have to show her the ropes and I can just imagine the chaos if I leave it to Bossy. One thing is certain: Java’s not going to be helping me to write my column anytime soon because she doesn’t even know how to read and write yet!
Thank you Hugo! I very much hope you decide to stay.
Just as I make use of a large variety of grains, I also try to vary the root vegetables we eat as much as possible. We eat potatoes, for example, quite rarely as there are so many other things to chose from – sweet potatoes, swedes, turnips, parsnips and one of my favourites: celeriac.
Celeriac is very rich in antioxidants and a good source of vitamin K. It also provides essential minerals such as phosphorus, iron, calcium, copper and manganese, as well as B-complex vitamins.
This recipe is adapted from Jamie Oliver.
Ingredients (serves 4)
1 large celeriac, peeled and cut into 1cm slices
2 large potatoes, peeled and cut into 1cm slices
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 chilli pepper, finely sliced
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon paprika
400ml cream
200ml vegetable stock
4 anchovy filets
75g hard cheese (I used Comté), grated
Preheat the oven to 190°C. Place the celeriac, potatoes, garlic and chilli pepper in a large ovenproof dish and season. Add the cream, stock, anchovies and most of the cheese. Mix everything well and then sprinkle the remaining cheese on top. Bake in the preheated oven for 50 minutes until golden brown and bubbling on top. -
New potato oven raclette and a dog at the end of his tether
My patience has reached its limits, especially when it comes to pests with wings. I thought we’d seen the back of the tweeting squatter after I had explained (with my teeth showing) that she had delighted us long enough with her presence. I think that my natural assertiveness must be very intimidating because she flew off that very evening. I thought that was that; alas I was mistaken. She comes back at least once or twice every single day for a bellyful of couscous and special dove grains and a snooze. How can she possibly be so hungry and so tired? It’s not as if she has a proper job like me. What annoys me most is how pleased they always are to see her. She fascinates them so much (why?) that they sometimes forget to give me my camembert after lunch, which makes me feel unloved. And as if all this isn’t irritating and hurtful enough, a large bird with a long neck has also turned up. It’s called a heron apparently and thank goodness it doesn’t come into the house because it’s very big indeed. All in all, I’ve had it up to the back of my impressive canines with anything that flaps or chirps. This raclette dish isn’t my favourite, although they seemed to love it for some reason. The upside, however, is that it contains cheese, which is not at all good for birds, so that can only be a good thing.
Ingredients (serves 4)
225g new potatoes, cooked
1 tablespoon olive oil
100g raclette cheese, grated (although any hard cheese will work)
1 medium-sized onion, finely sliced
4 slices Bayonne ham, roughly cut into strips (or Parma ham)
Sea salt, freshly-ground black pepper
1 teaspoon paprika
4 or 5 leaves of fresh basil to garnish
Preheat the oven to 180°C. Prepare a medium-sized oven-proof dish by greasing with olive oil. Slice the potatoes into pieces roughly 3mm thick and create a layer on the bottom of the dish, sprinkle with cheese, add a few strips of ham and onion and continue layering until everything is used up. Make sure to save a bit of cheese to sprinkle on top along with the seasoning. Cook for 40 minutes, garnish with the basil leaves and serve with crisp green salad. And don’t listen to Hugo – it’s divine!
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Easy crab pâté and independence for bairns
Somewhat symbolically, on the day of the Scottish independence referendum, without so much as a by your leave, little turtle dove reclaimed her freedom. With an elegant and meticulously coordinated flap of her tiny, delicate wings, her bid for independence was successfully completed in under 20 seconds. Poor Alex Salmond’s rowdy, slightly blundering flapping has failed to achieve as much in years! She seemed to know exactly where she was going too: She headed straight for a mid-section branch of the tree where the local turtle dove community hangs out in the evening. I have a suspicion that she’d be planning this mission for a while as she’d been paying close attention to the comings and goings in the tree for the past few evenings. I like to think she was greeted with open wings – there was certainly a crescendo of chirping upon her arrival. In any case, she didn’t come back for the couscous that I had left out in a bowl on the terrace last night just in case. Turtle Dove: 1, Alex Salmond: 0.
Ingredients (serves 6)
400g white crabmeat (I used tinned, in which case make sure it is well drained)
2 tablespoons of Greek Yoghurt
20g butter, melted
1 clove garlic, peeled
2 tablespoons of horseradish
Juice of 1 lemon
1 fresh chilli pepper
1 teaspoons of paprika
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Combine all the ingredients in a food processor until smooth. Chill for at least two hours and serve with either bread or raw vegetables (carrots, celery, fennel…) and a slice of lemon. -
Lamb, fresh fig and almond tagine and fledgling couscous enthusiasts
We have a young turtle dove in temporary residence at the moment. At least I think it’s temporary. Léo found her nestling in a hole at the bottom of an oak tree and brought her into the house, claiming that she’d fallen from the nest and didn’t know how to fly. He then went on to explain that the hens are ‘blood-thirsty and vicious she-devils’ and Hugo is an ‘irresponsible nutter’ and that she couldn’t possibly be left to fend for herself. In the face of this irrefutable logic, how could I refuse? At first Léo had to feed her himself, but after about a week she learned to peck and developed an absolute passion for couscous seasoned with Ras el Hanout. A neighbour told us that there are lots of Moroccan turtle doves that have settled in the area, which would explain her exotic tastes. This recipe is the result of my searches for ‘things to serve with couscous’ because, gorgeous as she is, I draw the line at cooking separate dishes for a month-old bird. Léo is coaching her in her valiant efforts to fly, and she now executes perfect sorties from her box to the water jug and back (photo below). And she’s apparently a lot more fun than toy helicopters because you ‘don’t have to recharge her batteries’. The jury’s still out though as to which is harder work; you don’t have to clear up helicopter mess innumerable times a day… I’m not altogether convinced that her plan is to put her flying skills to the ultimate test and up and leave, as I suspect she’ll have a bit of a hard time finding Ras el Hanout-flavoured couscous in the forest around here.
Ingredients (serves 4)
85g almonds
1kg lamb, cut into 3cm cubes
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 medium onions, finely sliced
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
3 carrots, peeled and cut into thumb-size pieces
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
1 cinnamon stick
1 tablespoon cumin seeds
2 teaspoons ground paprika
I teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon saffron threads
2 tablespoons honey
6 fresh figs, cut in half
Fresh coriander, chopped, to serve
Toast the almonds for about 15 minutes in a small frying pan. Chop and set aside. In a medium-sized tagine or covered casserole dish (dutch oven), combine the lamb, olive oil, onions, garlic, carrots and spices, tossing well to combine. Add two cups of water, cover and gently simmer for an hour. Add the honey and figs and simmer for a further 30 minutes, checking from time-to-time that there is still some liquid (add more water if necessary). The tagine is ready once the lamb is tender and most of the liquid has evaporated. Sprinkle with almonds and coriander and serve with couscous or rice (couscous is you have an epicurean turtle dove at the table). -
Salmon with red onion, figs and honey and persecution by toothbrush
I have become victim to relentless persecution by small electronic devices. I was awoken at 4am yesterday morning by the fire alarm helpfully informing me: ‘ba-tt-er-y lowwww, ba-tt-er-y lowwww, please replace the ba-tt-er-y’ (and repeat). After three years’ blissfully silent cooperation, could the battery not have waited another couple of hours? Try finding batteries while you’re half asleep and can’t turn on the lights for fear of waking everyone up and also being attacked by unusually pugnacious mosquitos. This morning, Léo’s electric toothbrush sprung into vigorous and totally unsolicited action at 5am. It vibrated itself off the edge of the sink only to jaunt across the tiled floor towards the bedroom; pure evil (at such an antisocial hour) and hyperactive to boot. I lay in bed fuming, planning ever-spriralling retribution (leaving it to rot in a large glass of substandard cola, tearing out its bristles one-by-one, throwing it against the wall…) while it gained ground. I ended up having to go outside to dispose of it in a dustbin in the grange because it just wouldn’t pipe down. How mad is that? Resorting to moonlit dustbin visits because a toothbrush has got the better of you. And as if alarm and toothbrush angst aren’t enough, my ipad spent the day randomly blurting music from the ’70s. I think I’m going to have to apply myself to that problem though because I’m not throwing my ipad in the bin.
Ingredients (serves 4)
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 salmon filets (about 180g each)
1 small red onion, finely sliced
I chilli pepper, sliced (optional)
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 fresh figs, sliced
1 tablespoon honey
Preheat the oven to 200°C. Drizzle the olive oil into a shallow baking dish, coating the salmon on both sides and place the filets skin side down in the dish. Add the sliced red onion, chilli pepper and Worcestershire sauce and season to taste. Finally place the sliced figs over the filets and spoon the honey over the top. Cook for 12 minutes, or until the salmon is cooked in the middle. Delicious served with perhaps green beans or a salad, but definitely with all small electronic devices in the ‘off’ position. -
Ode to a pea
I eat my peas with honey;I’ve done it all my life.
It makes the peas taste funny,
But it keeps them on the knife.
Anon.
Hugo doesn’t like peas one little bit. In fact, he has a very finely-tuned pea radar in case they have the vulgar indecency to end up in his bowl. Once detected, he takes them in his mouth and spits them onto the floor with OCD-style assiduousness and much disdain. More fool Hugo because the unpresuming garden pea is in fact an exceedingly rich source of nutrition: Just one serving contains as much vitamin C as two apples, more thiamine than a pint of milk and at least half of your daily needs of vitamin K.
Green peas are a member of the legume family and, as such, are a rich and excellent source of protein. They are also particularly high in folic acid as well as other essential B-complex vitamins such as pantothenic acid, niacin, thiamin, and pyridoxine. They also contain many minerals – calcium, magnesium, iron, copper, zinc and manganese.
The antioxidants to be found in peas help reduce free radical damage, which in turn slows down the ageing process. Added to this, their anti-inflammatory agents (including Omega 3 in the form of alpha-linolenic acid) keep your body healthy and reduce the risk of cancer, heart disease and diabetes (type 2). Their low glycemic index makes them a good insulin-stabiliser.
Lastly, they contain a compound called genistein which has significant cancer-fighting properties and an effective anti-coagulant action, aiding in the prevention of heart attacks and strokes.
So now I’ve convinced you that you can’t live without them, how best to consume these little gems? Peas are so versatile that they may be mushed, mashed, puréed, added to soups, pestos, risottos, pasta dishes, salads and muffins. They make a tasty addition to casserole or curry dishes or eaten as an accompanying vegetable seasoned with a few leaves of fresh mint. The less water you use when cooking peas, the less vitamin C is lost; steaming helps to conserve the vitamins. Just don’t bother cooking an extra portion for your dog – it’s highly unlikely he’ll ever appreciate them! -
Sea bass in oatmeal with courgette and anchovy purée
Fishmongers in France are always keen to advise on inventive ways to prepare their produce. My favourite one writes his recipes down for me, correctly assuming that I’m only half listening and will never remember unless he does. This morning he was absent and when I asked his replacement for suggestions on how to cook sea bass, she curtly replied that I could ‘fry it, braise it, BBQ it, steam it, grill it or bake it.’ Her jaded gallic shrug after this exhaustive list seemed to imply that her final unspoken suggestion might be that I should ‘stick it’. Who knew sea bass was so versatile?
However prepared, sea bass is delicious and an abundant source of omega 3 fatty acids, iron, vitamins and minerals.
Ingredients (serves 4)
750g sea bass
1 egg, beaten
150g rolled oats (oat flakes)
20g butter
2 courgettes, peeled and sliced
1 medium-sized potato
10g parmesan cheese, grated
4 anchovies
sea salt, ground black pepper, Espelette pepper
8 black olives, chopped
olive oil
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 sprig of thyme
4 slices of lemon
Coat the fish with the beaten egg and then cover with rolled oats and set aside. Boil the potato and courgettes, drain well and purée. Add the grated cheese, anchovies, seasoning, black olives, olive oil and garlic and mix well over a very gentle heat for a few minutes or until the cheese is melted.
Melt the butter in a large frying pan with a sprig of thyme. Shallow fry the fish for about five minutes on each side and serve with the warm purée and a slice of lemon.
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Cabbage and blue cheese mini quiches and human straitjackets
Unsurprisingly, Hugo’s annual visit to the vet is not something I particularly look forward to. I wouldn’t wish to shame my faithful friend (especially in view of our slightly volatile working relationship), but I suspect the vet might share my feelings. In a nutshell (nut being the operative word), during his last visit, he took out a cat, threw himself at a plasterboard wall leaving a significant hole and broke a table leg. He also refused to lie on the floor, preferring instead to avail himself of the chairs. I can’t even blame his appalling behaviour on white coat hypertension – the vet is always rewarded with huge, slobbery kisses for her courageous attempts to calm and vaccinate him (from Hugo, not me). I think it’s a simple case of overexcitement at the idea of being in an enclosed space with so much potential chase fodder. This time, as it was impossible to hold him on his lead (his brute force would be a match for a prize bull), bad mother and even worse pet owner that I am, I resorted to using Léo as a human straitjacket. It wasn’t ideal (I had to haul them both out from under the reception desk), but at least there was no structural damage to the surgery, which can only be a good thing. I do realise that I’m setting the bar pretty low in terms of canine obedience, but everyone has to start somewhere. In our case that appears to be rock bottom.
White cabbage and blue cheese complement each other beautifully. Cabbage has the highest amount of some of the most powerful antioxidants found in cruciferous vegetables, which stimulate detoxifying enzymes. It is rich in vitamin K, which is important for bone metabolism and for preventing neuronal damage in the brain. Cabbage is also an excellent source of fibre, vitamin C and the B vitamins and also provides iron, manganese, magnesium, phosphorus, calcium and potassium.
Ingredients (serves 6-8)
Pastry:
100g spelt flour
80g buckwheat flour
60g butter
30g virgin coconut oil
Roughly 6 tablespoons of cold water
Filling:
250g washed and shredded white cabbage
1 chicken or vegetable stock cube
2 shallots, sliced
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1 egg
150 ml double cream
100mg blue cheese (I used Roquefort), crumbled
To make the pastry, begin by cutting the butter and coconut oil into small cubes. Add to the flours in a mixing bowl and add a pinch of sea salt. Blend by hand until the mixture becomes crumbly. Add the cold water, mixing rapidly with a spoon. Remove the mixture from the bowl onto a lightly floured surface. Knead until you obtain a ball of pastry (if the mixture isn’t ‘sticky’ enough to form a ball, you may need a drop more water). Wrap in a clean cotton tea towel and leave to ‘rest’ in the fridge for about two hours. This relaxes the dough and makes it easier to use.
Preheat the oven to 180°C. Roll out the pastry on a clean, lightly floured surface and fill the tart tin or tins. As this pastry contains buckwheat flour, which contains no gluten, it will be quite fragile. You’ll find that you have to treat it delicately and possibly fill in the cracks with remaining bits of pastry by pressing gently. I use individual tart tins. Precook the pastry for 12 minutes.
For the filling, cook the shredded cabbage for about 15 minutes in boiling water, to which you have added the stock cube. Once cooked, drain well and set aside. Break the egg into a small bowl and add the cream and seasoning (salt, pepper, paprika). Beat well to form a homogenous mixture. Assemble the tarts by filling about ¾ full with cabbage, covering with crumbled blue cheese and then pouring the egg/cream mixture over the top. Cook at 180°C for 18 minutes. -
The perfect chip and a proxy papa
As the idea of me in charge of a vat of boiling duck fat is too harrowing to contemplate, my husband makes the chips in our house. I’m happy to report that my competence does however run to eating them. My husband is away for a few days this week and, last night, Hugo pussyfooted (sorry Hugo – I know that’s not very flattering) upstairs to Léo’s room to dispense a big slobbery goodnight kiss. He has never done this before and probably won’t do it again as, having woken Léo up, he got very short shrift (there was a burst of shouting and Hugo reappeared downstairs looking decidedly dejected, his tail between his legs). I realised that he obviously considers himself to be a stand-in papa, so now I’m wondering if he could bring the wood in for the hot-water boiler, take out the dustbins and then make me a big bowl of chips…
Chips, or French fries, cooked in duck fat are a speciality of Southwestern France. Duck fat is high in monounsaturated fats, which make up 50 percent of its total fat content, with saturated fat making up just 14 percent (much less than butter). Most of that fat is linoleic acid, an essential fatty acid that helps maintain healthy cells, muscles and nervous system. It also boosts calcium absorption and aids in kidney function. From a nutritional point of view, duck fat is comparable to olive oil.
Ingredients (serves 6)
2 kg floury potatoes
2 litres duck or goose fat
Sea salt
Peel the potatoes and cut into medium-sized chips (roughly 6cm long, 4mm thick). Rince and dry in a clean tea towel. Place the fat in a deep frying or chip pan and heat to 150°C. Plunge half of the potatoes into the hot fat for four minutes, remove, drain and set aside. Repeat with the second half. Then recook the first batch for a further four minutes until golden brown. Remove, drain well, season and serve. Repeat with the second half.