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Cheesy cornbread and downwardly mobile dogs
by Hugo,
Canine Correspondent
I’ve been chewing something over for a while now: Why are humans the only race that don’t automatically stretch when they get up? Dogs stretch, horses stretch, cats stretch and even hens who, let’s face it, aren’t the brightest, stretch. Humans like to think they rule the roost, but they’re not always very clever when it comes to basic body-maintenance. Bossy often complains (loudly and at length) about her hurt back and she sometimes goes to the bone doctor. What a lovely job that must be, specialising in bones. I must look into that – I’m sure it would be a good job for me.
Bossy has also taken to lying on a soft blue mat (which makes very satisfactory chewing material) and bending her body into most unhuman positions; she looks a bit silly actually. Apparently it’s called yoga. At first I thought it was just a phrase, but she does it quite regularly. When I have time, I show her how it should be done properly. Usually the Tall One or the Noisy One interrupts to try to talk to her and they get very short shrift indeed. I like to lie on the soft blue mat with her, but she doesn’t seem to like that either. All in all, she’s not very easy to please *desolate doggie sigh*.
Thank you Hugo, not only for writing today’s blog, but also for the invaluable ‘tips’. This cornbread is based on a Jamie Oliver recipe.
Ingredients (serves 10)
60g butter
2 onions, peeled and thinly sliced
1 small tin of sweetcorn, drained and rinsed
4 large free-range eggs, beaten
325g polenta (or cornmeal)
250ml full-fat milk
1 teaspoon baking powder
6 tablespoons spelt flour
sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper
1 teaspoon paprika
140g hard cheese (I used Cheddar and Parmesan), grated
Preheat the oven to 200°C and grease a 22cm cake tin with olive oil. Gently fry the onions in melted butter for about 15 minutes until golden and sticky. Add the sweetcorn and cook for a further five minutes. Remove from heat and set aside. Mix the eggs, polenta, milk, baking powder, flour and seasoning in a bowl. Add most of the grated cheese and mix well. Stir in the onion and corn. Pour the mixture into the cake tin. Bake for 35 minutes, remove from the oven and sprinkle the remaining grated cheese on top and return to the oven for ten minutes. Delicious served still warm from the oven or cold. -
Italian-style green beans and lace-chewing mini goats
Castaño, our most misbehaved horse, still attends the School for Exceedingly Naughty Horses a couple of times a week and Léo has taken to accompanying us. I’m not sure whether he comes because he’s looking for general naughtiness tips, or whether he’s fallen for the stable’s miniature goat. I suspect it’s the latter; my family and I have an immoderate fascination for mischievous animals and this little she-goat fits the bill very nicely. They spend an hour climbing trees, inspecting muddy ditches, making the horses spook and charging each other with imaginary horns. She invariably takes pleasure in undoing Léo’s shoe laces with her teeth and chewing them to bits. Is ‘chewing the lace’ a goat variation on ‘chewing the cud’ I wasn’t aware of? Anyway, as I appear to lack the foresight to buy several replacement pairs at once, I’ve spent much of the past month on a quest for flourescent green laces. Never let it be said that I don’t live life on the edge.
This dish makes a wonderful accompaniment to fish or meat, or it may be served as a light lunch or supper with a poached egg on top.
Ingredients (serves 6)
1kg green beans
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, peeled and chopped
1 red pepper, sliced
1 tomato, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
handful of pine nuts
12 black olives
6 anchovies
Sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper
1 teaspoon paprika, piment d’Espelette or chilli powder
10g Parmesan cheese, grated (optional)
Precook the beans until ‘al dente’, strain and set aside. Gently heat the olive oil in a large frying pan adding the onions and cooking for a few minutes. Add the sliced red pepper, tomato and garlic and continue to cook until the red pepper and tomato soften. Add the green beans, pine nuts, olives, anchovies and seasoning, gently combining and cook for a few more minutes. -
Cheese soufflé and tyrannical toasters
We seem to have inadvertently acquired a toaster with attitude. Big Attitude. To the extent that everyone, including Hugo, is in awe. It’s a mini dictator sitting in the middle of the kitchen snarling at anybody that dares approach. Worst of all though is its incontinence: It spurts and ejects things at random over the floor and countertop, even into the sink. On a bad day, you could be forgiven for imagining that it’s aiming straight at you. And from one day to the next, you don’t know if you’re going to be eating charcoal or still-frozen bread. I make sure to unplug it at night and, if it’s been particularly temperamental, lock the kitchen door because you just can’t be too careful.
I had never made soufflé before and had always imagined it would be a bit hit-and-miss, especially miss. Believe me though, soufflé has nothing on the toaster. In fact, it’s quick and easy to make as long as you stick to three main criteria: make sure the egg whites are properly whisked, use really good quality hard cheese — I used a combination of Parmesan and Comté — and choose timely, obedient guests (I was less successful in this respect and there was much shrill yelling). Soufflés do not take well to waiting around and collapse into an unattractive heap if not consumed immediately, a bit like the cook really.
This is based on a Delia Smith recipe.
Ingredients (serves 4)
3 large eggs, separated
75g grated hard cheese (I used a mixture of Parmesan and Comté)
150ml milk
25g butter
25g spelt flour (ordinary flour would be fine)
½ teaspoon paprika
½ teaspoon nutmeg
½ teaspoon mustard
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Preheat the oven to 190°C. Grease and prepare an 850ml soufflé dish. Place the milk, butter and flour in a saucepan over a medium heat and whisk until blended and thickened. Continue to cook over a low heat, still stirring, for a further couple of minutes. Add the mustard and seasoning and then leave the sauce to cool a little before stirring in the grated cheese. Beat the egg yolks and add them to the mixture. Next whisk the egg whites until stiff, then fold gently into the cheese sauce mixture, taking care to keep the structure of the whisked whites intact. Transfer to the prepared soufflé dish and place in the centre of the oven. Cook for 30-35 minutes. The centre should be cooked (i.e. not liquid) without being dry.
To be served with a crisp green salad and a gracious smile. 🙂 -
Sausage casserole and confusing coat conundrums
I have a new ski jacket. While I’m sure you’re over the moon for me, I admit that this is hardly groundbreaking news. It is, however, very confusing for Hugo. For him, the precursors to ‘walkies’ are: my digging around for an embarrassingly long time in a futile attempt to locate my mobile ‘phone, resorting to ringing it (of course it rings in my my pocket), locating vaguely matching left and right shoes and then, in Winter, putting on The Walking Jacket. My new jacket occasions a perplexed ‘head-tilt to one side’ look of utter bemusement, accompanied by a woefully despondent ‘maybe we’re not going for a walk after all’ sigh. He’d better get used to it though — with my matching left and right shoes and new jacket, there’s no stopping me; I’ve become a bit of a fashionista and may even upgrade again next year! 😉
There’s something in this sausage casserole for everyone: high-maintenance fashionistas, fussy children, finicky dogs and hens… It is adapted from a Tana Ramsay ‘Family Kitchen’ recipe.
Ingredients (serves 6)
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 large onion, peeled and sliced
2 cloves of garlic
6 mushrooms, peeled and sliced
6 Toulouse sausages
60g pancetta, sliced
1 leek, rinced and sliced
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon paprika
2 teaspoons Worcester sauce
1 litre chicken or vegetable stock
6 carrots, peeled and cut into 3cm pieces
6 small potatoes, peeled
200g, cannelloni beans, pre-cooked and drained
½ green cabbage, shredded
Gently heat the olive oil in a large casserole dish (Dutch oven), adding the sausages, onions mushrooms and garlic and fry until golden brown. Add the pancetta and leeks, continuing to brown. Then add the seasoning and stock, followed by the carrots, cabbage, potatoes and beans and bring to a boil. Leave to simmer for about 40 minutes. May be served alone or with bread, couscous, quinoa or basmati rice. -
2013 in review
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2013 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 34,000 times in 2013. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 13 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.
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Simple coconut chicken curry and a fine way to drive
No doubt in retribution for the gentle mockery in my last post, I received a speeding fine this morning in the post. Or to be precise, my husband received a speeding fine, which absolutely thrilled him. The irony is that I was flashed coming back from a very active skiing weekend and traffic cop-in-the-making, Léo, was fast asleep and not in a position to attend to his functions. Of course, the problem with radar tickets is that you can’tflirtnegotiate your way out of them. If I’m stopped by an actual live policeman, I play the ‘oh gosh I’m so sorry officer —it must have been a slip of the foot during a fleeting blonde moment’ card. Shiny grey metal boxes, however, are not nearly as indulgent with lame excuses.
I like my curry the way I like my driving: fast and hassle-free. It is none the less delicious for it though.
Ingredients (serves four)
1 tablespoon coconut oil
4 chicken breasts, cut into chunks
1 onion, thinly sliced
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
4 carrots, peeled and cut
2 green chillies, chopped
1 tablespoon of peeled, grated fresh ginger
1 kaffir lime leaf (or bay leaf)
1 cinnamon stick
½ teaspoon turmeric
3 teaspoons cumin seeds
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
100ml chicken stock
100ml coconut milk
Gently fry the onion, garlic and chicken in the coconut oil for a few minutes in a medium-size casserole dish. Add the seasoning and spices (cumin seeds, salt, pepper, ginger, turmeric, cinnamon stick…) and continue to brown, stirring frequently. Add the carrots and chillies and then the chicken stock and coconut milk. Simmer for about 20 minutes and then serve with basmati rice, naan bread, chickpea pancakes or just a green salad. -
Pot-au-feu (French beef stew) and disruptive mothers
Tennis tournament season is back and, once again, I’m in the market for a gag. If I don’t find one (and let’s face it, there seems to be a dearth of reasonably stylish ones), I’ll have to stop accompanying Léo to matches until I learn to control my gratuitous and unhelpful comment reflex, which never fails to kick in. I can only be thankful that the majority of the other spectators don’t understand English; I won’t go into details as I wouldn’t want to sully reputations, particularly mine. The strange thing is that neither Léo nor I are particularly competitive, but there’s something about people either criticising or applauding (I don’t know which is worse) my son’s ‘faults’ that brings out the devil in me.
This is a simple version of ‘pot-au-feu’, a traditional French dish which, strictly speaking, should include several different cuts of meat as well as oxtail. In any case, it is very comforting after a day spent in the cold having your nerves ripped to shreds! It used to be that the pot containing the stew would stay cooking over the fire nearly all winter, with bits and pieces being constantly replaced. Usually the ‘bouillon’ or sauce is eaten as soup and the vegetables and meat as a main course with mustard and pickles, although I like to eat the two together.
Ingredients (serves 4)
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 onions, sliced
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
Vegetable stock (roughly 500ml)
1kg stewing beef, cut into large cubes
4 leeks, washed and sliced
1 red pepper (optional), cut into slices
1 stick of celery, cut into four pieces
6 small carrots, cut into 3cm pieces
2 swedes or turnips, peeled and quartered
¼ white cabbage, sliced
4 small potatoes, peeled
Bouquet garni (parsely, thyme, bay)
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon piment d’espelette (or paprika)
Preheat the oven to 150°C. In a fairly large casserole dish (Dutch oven) brown the onions and garlic very briefly in the olive oil. Add the beef and continue to brown for a couple of minutes. Add all the vegetables (except the potatoes) and then enough vegetable stock to cover. Add the seasoning, herbs and spices and bring to a gentle boil. Transfer to the oven and cook for about three hours, checking from time-to-time that there is sufficient liquid (the vegetables should be covered). Add the potatoes and cook for a further hour. -
Leek crumble and Hugo’s story
by Hugo, Canine Correspondent
I’m not a naughty dog. I do have my limits though and when Bossy and Noisy recently loaded their bags into the car and made it clear that I wasn’t going to accompany them, I reached mine. I dragged my rug out to the car and made myself a little nest amongst the suitcases, but they ended up leaving without me all the same. The trouble is this: no Bossy, no proper meals! (He gets invited to eat with the neighbour). Worse still, no camembert at lunchtime (I have my own special supply). So I ran away. Actually I ran further than I meant to and ended up getting lost. Apparently I was about 6 kms away. A very nice lady found me and made me a big bowl of pasta — I must have looked very thin, sad and hungry, which was almost certainly due to ACD (acute cheese deprivation). 🙁 The kind lady also took lots and lots of photos of me and kept stroking me and saying how handsome I was. It took her quite a long time to track down Bossy’s husband, because I’d also lost my collar with my ‘phone number on it. Anyway, Bossy and Noisy reappeared quite soon after I had arrived back home and, going by the look on Bossy’s face, she’ll think twice before heartlessly abandoning me in a camembert-free environment again *manipulative snigger*.
This savoury crumble is an adaptation of a Marcus Wareing recipe. It’s a meal in itself really, although it could also be served as an accompaniment.
Ingredients (serves 4)
2 red onions, quartered
1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed
4 leeks, washed and sliced into 2 cm rounds
4 mushrooms, peeled and sliced
50g butter
50g spelt flour
200 ml chicken or vegetable stock
200ml milk
50g roquefort cheese, crumbled (any blue cheese will work)
1 tablespoon French mustard
Sea salt, freshly-ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon paprika
For the crumble topping:
100g spelt flour
75g chickpea flour
25g butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
100g comté cheese, grated (or another hard cheese)
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Preheat the oven to 180°C. Gently fry the onions, garlic, leeks and mushrooms until lightly cooked (about 5 minutes). Place in an ovenproof dish and set aside. Melt the butter in a medium-sized saucepan and then add the flour, combining well to form a paste. Gradually add the stock and then the milk, whisking well all then time to prevent lumps from forming. Continue to cook until,the sauce is quite thick and then add the mustard, seasoning and cheese. Mix well until the cheese has melted and pour over the vegetables.
To make the crumble topping, mix the flour and seasoning together and rub in the butter and then stir in the olive oil. Add the grated cheese, mixing well and spread over the leeks and sauce. Bake for about 25 minutes until the topping is golden brown. -
France : Chili Pepper Market in Basque Country ( 80 photos ).
I wanted to reblog this as it’s quite close to us and because I use ‘piment d’Espelette’ all the time.
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Sweden gets is right
