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French lentil salad with egg and Feta and big noisy puddles
by Hugo, Canine Correspondent
Yesterday we went to visit a huge, noisy puddle. I don’t totally understand how the puddle came about as it hasn’t rained very much recently. Still, I’m only a dog – I can’t be expected to understand everything. They sometimes visit the puddle without me after the first time when I refused to get out of the car. Obviously I wasn’t frightened or anything (I’m a big black scary dog after all), but I didn’t see what there was to get excited about and I’m not a fan of loud noises.
Here is a photo of me in front of the puddle (if I look a bit sad it’s because I had just been told off for spraying sand into their lunch). I wanted to swim but, unlike the puddles near the house, this one moves too much and I find that annoying – it should decide where it wants to be and stick to it. I had great fun chasing away all the noisy white hens though (I assume they were hens – they made an awful racket)…
Everyone seemed to find this lentil salad delicious, although it’s not my bag at all. If dogs were meant to eat lentils they’d be born with big floppy ears and a fluffy tail.
Ingredients (serves 4)
250g Puy lentils, cooked according to instructions
2 tablespoon virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 red onion, finely diced
1 carrot, finely diced
8 cherry tomatoes, halved
1 stalk celery, finely diced
2 tablespoons of diced cucumber
100g feta cheese, crumbled
4 free-range organic eggs, softly boiled
4 anchovies
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
½ teaspoon paprika
Place the cooked, drained lentils into a salad bowl with the onion, carrot, tomatoes, celery and cucumber. Add the olive oil, lemon juice and salt and pepper and toss well. Crumble the Feta cheese over the top, followed by the halved eggs and anchovies. Sprinkle with paprika and serve. -
Crab, chilli and grapefruit salad and unfortunate associations
I used to hate grapefruit until my friend, Lucie, recently put me straight. One of the things I love about Lucie is her enormously resolute talent for ‘putting people straight’; now I’m Team Grapefruit, especially if served with crab. Crab and grapefruit is a marriage made in heaven, even more so with a bit of chilli for ‘zing’. I am big on harmonious combinations and for me one of the biggest culinary sins is the confounding Surf ‘n’ Turf. When I’m trying to decide if two ingredients will go together, I think about their natural habitats and how far-fetched it would seem for them to find themselves on the same plate. Lobster and beef? I don’t think so. As we plunge headlong into cep (porcini) season, I find myself once again skating on thin ice. Given the chance, my reckless anarchist of a husband will happily add ceps to absolutely everything. I sometimes have to resort to my ‘Flavour Thesaurus‘ to convince him that ceps and chocolate, coconut or crab do not, in fact, make for a palatable union.
Crab is a healthy source of protein, calcium, magnesium and selenium and grapefruit is rich in vitamins A and C. This fresh and fragrant salad is adapted from a Jamie Oliver recipe.
Ingredients (serves 4)
2 pink grapefruits
200 g white crabmeat (I used tinned)
1 tomato, chopped
2 fresh red chillies, deseeded and finely chopped
6 fresh basil leaves, torn into pieces
extra virgin olive oil
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 handfuls crispy green salad
Carefully peel and segment the grapefruits. Place the crabmeat in a bowl with a tablespoon of grapefruit juice, the chopped chilli, basil leaves, salt and pepper and olive oil. Mix well. Add the salad and tomato to the bowl with the grapefruit segments, add a little more olive oil and salt and pepper, tossing well. Arrange the mixed salad and grapefruit segments in a bowl with the crab over the top. Sprinkle the remaining basil leaves and serve.
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Sardine and tomato tart and terribly vain dogs
We recently bought Hugo a new collar and since, he has become more conscious of his appearance than might normally be expected of a dog. He keeps creeping upstairs, which is not really allowed. At first I thought he was coming to remind me to take him for a walk, but quickly realised that he wasn’t looking for me at all; he was looking for the big handsome dog in the mirror at the end of the upstairs hallway. Who knew that a new collar and a mirror could provide so much entertainment? I must hide my camera from him or he’ll be doing ‘selfies’ next! 😉
We still have a steady supply of tomatoes and this was a delicious way to use some up.
Ingredients (serves 6)
Pastry
80g spelt flour
50g chickpea flour
50g butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
Pinch of sea salt
Roughly 6 tablespoons of cold water
Filling
150ml fresh tomato sauce (recipe here)
1 onion (sweet if possible), peeled and sliced
2 tomatoes, sliced
2 cloves of garlic, finely sliced
6 sardine filets
6 anchovy filets
Freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon paprika
15g parmesan, grated
Fresh rosemary to garnish
To make the pastry, begin by cutting the butter into small cubes. Sift the flours and a pinch of salt together into in a mixing bowl, also adding the cubes of butter. Rub in and blend by hand until the mixture becomes crumbly. Add the olive oil, combining well and then 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 or some cling film 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 and line a tart tin . The pastry will be quite crumbly so you’ll need to be gentle and patch up the holes. Blind bake the pastry for 12 minutes and then fill with the fresh tomato sauce, onions and sliced tomatoes. Add the sardine filets and anchovies on top. Finally sprinkle with the parmesan, black pepper and paprika and and bake for about 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and add a little fresh rosemary. Serve hot. -
Cream of cauliflower and walnut soup and karmic boomerangs
Hugo has fallen victim to the karmic boomerang and he’s not a happy bunny. His great pleasure in September is to run wild in the corn fields lifting pheasant (and anything else that might be in his wake; he’s not fussy). Of course pheasant and big black monster dogs appearing out of nowhere terrify the horses who carelessly deposit their cargo on the ground and make a run for it, but Hugo doesn’t let this bother him. His latest lifting episode was frenetic enough to cause him what I can only describe as groin strain (I’m assuming that dogs have groins?), poor thing. The good news though is that he’s now housebound for the time being and banned from ‘lifting’, which increases our chances of staying in the saddle for at least the next week or so.
Ingredients
10g butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium cauliflower, trimed and broken into pieces
1 onion, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
3 tablespoons walnuts, broken into pieces
500ml organic vegetable stock
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon paprika
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
30g cream cheese (such as Boursin)
Parsley and chopped walnuts to garnish
Fry the onions in butter and olive oil in a medium casserole. Add the cauliflower, carrots and walnuts and fry gently for a few more minutes. Add the stock and seasoning and simmer for about 25 minutes or until the vegetables are tender. Add the cream cheese and then purée until smooth. -
Sweet onion and tomato tart and horses in custody
Owning our horses is, I would imagine, similar to parenting four high-spirited and obstreperous teenagers. I’m always expecting the ‘gendarmes’ to roll up to inform us that they’ve been detained for questioning and would we like to come and bail them out (I’d have to think about that one ;-)). Our neighbour invited them to graze on her field recently to keep the grass down. In the middle of the field is (or was) an impeccable grange full of hay. Obviously I’m not a horse, but given the choice, I would think that fresh green grass would trump dusty, year-old hay any day. Apparently not so; by yesterday evening one of them (I’m not naming names) had head butted the door to the grange (it boasted a horse’s head-shaped hole) and was calmly helping himself to the meticuously stacked hay inside. Oh the shame!
Ingredients (serves 6)
Pastry
80g spelt flour
50g chickpea flour
50g butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
Pinch of sea salt
Roughly 6 tablespoons of cold water
Filling
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 leek, washed and chopped
1 small courgette, peeled and chopped
5 onions (sweet if possible), peeled and sliced
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
2 teaspoons of honey
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon paprika
2 tomatoes, sliced
6 slices of goat’s cheese
8 leaves of fresh basil to decorate
To make the pastry, begin by cutting the butter into small cubes. Sift the flours and a pinch of salt together into in a mixing bowl, also adding the cubes of butter. Rub in and blend by hand until the mixture becomes crumbly. Add the olive oil, combining well and then 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 or some cling film 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. Fry the leek, onions, garlic and courgette in the olive oil until soft (about 15 minutes). Add the seasoning and honey and set aside. Roll out the pastry and line a tart tin . The pastry will be quite crumbly so you’ll need to be gentle and patch up the holes (I’ve become quite an expert ;-)). Blind bake the pastry for 12 minutes and then fill with the onion mixture, adding the sliced tomatoes, goat’s cheese and basil on top. Sprinkle the top with black pepper and little more paprika and bake for about 20 minutes. Serve hot. -
Courgette and cheese paschtida and seared taste buds
This recipe is courtesy of Lora who came to stay recently (thanks Lora! :-)). It meant welcome respite from kitchen duties for me, but also respite for everyone elses’ taste buds which had been viciously incinerated by my tandoori chicken seasoned with copious amounts of very hot chilli powder. According to Léo, I had applied the spices with ‘unusually frenzied enthusiasm’. He confiscated my chilli stockpile as, apparently, I am no longer to be trusted. Whatever — if it means delicacies such as these, I’m trying to think up other ways to cause grevious bodily harm to my guests ;-).
Ingredients
750g courgettes, cut into cubes
3 eggs
3 tablespoons spelt flour
175g Feta cheese, cut into cubes
100g Comté (or other hard cheese), grated
1 tablespoon cream
salt, pepper, nutmegPreheat the oven to 180°C. Cook the courgettes in boiling water until tender. Blot the excess water and set aside. Beat the eggs and gradually add the flour, mixing well. Incorporate the courgettes, egg mixture, cheeses and seasoning and transfer the mixture to a buttered cake tin or individual muffin moulds (as I did). Cook for 45 minutes until golden brown. Serve hot with a crisp green salad. -
10 Reasons to Include Buckwheat In Your Diet Plans
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Roasted summer vegetable soup and fried brains
We’ve been seeing some pretty strange behaviour here over the past few days – perhaps the effect of the sudden inferno-style heat? First I caught my husband chatting to one of the hens: ‘hello gorgeous, how are you today?’. I thought initially, rather immodestly, that he was talking to me, but quickly deduced he wasn’t when he went on to ask: ‘have you laid an egg today sweetheart?’. Since this blatant come-on, she’s hardly left his side (does this mean he has a chick on the side ;-)); I found her perched on a chair in the kitchen this morning while he ate breakfast.
An unknown rabbit gave birth to five babies in the horses’ hay a few days ago – luckily we realised before they got pitch-forked. Don’t rabbits have tunnels or dens or something to use as maternity units? Or is this the equivalent of giving birth on the hard shoulder of the motorway? Maybe she was caught short. Now of course I have to keep rushing over every half hour to check they haven’t been terrorised by our psychotic mare (she has rabbit issues).
And then last night, just to tip me over the edge and despite lengthy negotiation, Hugo steadfastly refused to go to bed, preferring to sleep on the electric cables under my desk. I obviously haven’t escaped the brain-melt either though because I made this piping hot soup for dinner the other evening when the temperature hadn’t dipped below 35°C all day.
Ingredients (serves 8)
1 sweet potato, peeled
1 red pepper
2 onions
2 courgettes
4 tomatoes
3 cloves of garlic
4 tablespoons of olive oil
1 teaspoon paprika (or piment d’Espelette)
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 sprigs of rosemary
1.5 litres organic vegetable stock
5 fresh basil leaves
Chop the vegetables into chunks (leaving the cloves of garlic whole), toss in the olive oil and arrange on a roasting tray. Add the seasoning and rosemary sprigs and roast in an oven preheated to 180°C for about 30 minutes. Once roasted, transfer to a large saucepan/casserole dish, add the stock and bring to the boil. Cook for a further five minutes, add the basil and purée. -
Sweet potato crab cakes and lettuce pilfering
Not only is this recipe extremely appetising, it also has the advantage of being very nutritious: sweet potatoes are bursting with vitamin C and are also high in calcium, folate, potassium and beta-carotene. They have a low glycemic index, far lower than that of regular potatoes. Crab meat is high in protein and Omega 3, as well as being a potent source of vitamins and minerals.
Young delinquent horses, on the other hand, are less beneficial from a nutritional standpoint, particularly if they break into your vegetable garden and steal all your salad while you’re out to lunch. In an ideal world (a world in which horses do not kick down fences), a crisp green salad makes a delicious accompaniment, but they may also be served alone with a spicy chilli sauce.
Ingredients (serves 4)
350g sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
¼ red pepper, diced
2 cloves of garlic, peeled
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
olive oil
350g crabmeat (I used tinned)
1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped
2 spring onions, chopped
Flour for coating the ‘cakes’ (I used quinoa flour)
2 tablespoons peanut oil for frying
Place the sweet potatoes, red pepper and garlic cloves on a roasting tray and douse with olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast in an oven preheated to 180°C for about 25 minutes. Mash the vegetables with a potato masher until you obtain a rough purée. Add the crabmeat, parsley and chopped onions, mixing well. Shape into individual cakes (roughly 8 cakes 5cm in diameter) and coat with flour. Fry in peanut oil (you could use another oil but I find peanut oil gives a lovely crisp result) until golden brown on both sides (roughly 4 minutes on each side). Serve with or without salad, depending on your animals’ disposition. 😉 -
Curried prawns in agar agar and how to pluck a hen
by Hugo, Canine Correspondent
I’ve had quite a relaxing week because The Noisy One has been away on a sailing trip. I expect he’ll be quite hoarse by the time he gets home from barking orders at adjacent boats (did you like my animal imagery there?). Anyway, it’s nice to have some time off from being shot at and tackled to the ground. There has been one thing that’s been bothering me a bit though: two of the hens are nesting (and very unpleasant they’re being about it too), which leaves one hen wandering around alone looking a bit pathetic; even more so than usual ;-). I’ve been trying to keep her spirits up by grabbing her for a cuddle and an affectionate chew of her wings, but I just get yelled at by old Bossy Boots. Life can be very complicated sometimes *doggie sigh*.
Ingredients (makes 6 mini terrines)
250g frozen prawns
juice of half a lemon
25g butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
150ml fish stock
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 shallot, chopped
1 bay leaf
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons curry powder
1 tablespoon mango chutney
4 fresh basil leaves
4g Agar-Agar powder
Place the prawns steeped in lemon juice in a frying pan and add the olive oil and butter. Fry gently, gradually adding all the other ingredients with the exception of the Agar-Agar and basil leaves. Simmer for about 10 minutes, until the prawns are cooked through and the liquid partly evaporated. Once cooked, add the basil, blend briefly in a food processor and set aside. Dissolve the Agar-Agar in a small amount of water and bring to the boil (according to the instructions on the packet). Once boiled, add to the prawn mixture and distribute into moulds (I used silicon muffin moulds). Compact the mixture well. Refrigerate for at least a couple of hours and serve chilled.
Health benefits of agar agar
Agar is a good source of calcium and iron, and is very high in fiber. It is an excellent aid in digestion and weight loss and also carries toxic waste out of the body. Other benefits include its ability to reduce inflammation, calm the liver, and benefit the lungs.
