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Sardine pâté and then there were three…
I haven’t had much time to blog lately as I’ve spent much of the Summer slaving over a hot stove (real punishment in 40°c of heat), producing food for an abundance of hungry guests. The latest ‘feast’ was a three-day party to celebrate my husband’s birthday (a big one – the birthday, not the husband ;-)).
I reached a rather random conclusion as a result of these preparations: hens are far more intuitive and intelligent than we are led to believe. Their relatively tiny heads are deceptive; during the week preceding The Birthday Party, while I was in full-blown production mode, our TWO hens managed to produce THREE eggs between them every single day. While I am convinced that this was a gesture of female solidarity, my husband claims it was their birthday present to him. As the French say ‘Chacun voit midi à sa porte’ (literally: ‘Everyone sees noon from their own front door’, or simplifed I suppose ‘To each his own’).
One of the things I made as a starter was this deliciously healthy and refreshing sardine pâté, which is full of anti-oxidants and omegas 3 and 9.
Ingredients (serves 8)
270g of bonelesss sardines (2 tins)
2 tablespoons of butter
2 tablespoons of lemon juice
15 black olives, pitted
2 tablespoons of horseradish
2 tablespoons of Greek yoghurt
1 clove of garlic
1 red onion
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon paprika
black pepper and a pinch of salt to taste
Combine all the ingredients in a food processor until smooth. Chill for at least two hours and serve with either French bread or raw vegetables (carrots, celery, fennel…) -
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Nine-year-old boy logic and crab salad
This is a translation of a ‘phone conversation between my nine-year-old son and his friend :
Son : ‘Hi ‘Friend’, would you like to play tennis this morning?’
Friend: ‘Er, OK, but could we make it this afternoon?’
Son: ‘But it’s going to be too hot this afternoon – why can’t you make it this morning?’
Friend: ‘It’s just it seems a bit chilly* this morning and I’m wearing short sleeves’
*’chilly’ for a native of Southern France is anything under 25°C
My son applied his steadfast and infallible logic, advised his friend to dig out a sweater and off they went. Imagine though, the possibilites of this kind of rationale. ‘Inappropriate attire’ could become a valid excuse for getting out of just about everything – school, work, boring cocktail parties, cooking lunch, the possibilities are endless…
Unfortunately for me, I was dressed appropriately enough to make lunch and I produced this crab salad. To be consumed on a terrace in light attire:
Ingredients (serves four)
400g tinned crab
1 greek yoghurt
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, pressed
4 heaped tablespoons of chopped cucumber
A thumb of freshly grated ginger
1 tablespoon of raisins
1 tablespoon of sweet and sour chilli sauce
1/2 tsp chilli powder
seasalt and pepper to taste
Combine the onions, garlic, cucumber, raisins and ginger in a small mixing bowl. Add the drained crab and the sweet and sour sauce, mixing well. Add the Greek yoghurt and spices and mix with a spoon until the crab is entirely covered in the yoghurt mixture. Serve chilled. -
Basque Piperade and a disoriented white hen
When is an a tomato not a tomato? Answer: when it’s an egg…
The white hen has taken to laying her eggs amongst our tomato plants. I only realised the other day when I spotted several egg-coloured tomatoes. As hens tend to lay where there are, or have been, other eggs, I wondered whether she thought that the pepper tomatoes were green eggs. Which begs the question: are hens colour blind or just a few French fries short of a Happy Meal? Answers on a postcard please!
Of course the other explantion is that she’s a Basque hen gagging for some Piperade, no doubt one of the most renown Basque dishes.
Ingredients (serves four)
6 medium tomatoes
2 tablespoons olive oil
100g sliced Bayonne ham
3 cloves of garlic
2 onions
Chopped parsley, thyme, bay leaf
2 red bell peppers cut into strips
2 green bell peppers
2 teaspoons Espelette pepper (if you don’t have this, Paprika, chilli powder or Cayenne will do)
4 eggs
Blanche and skin the tomatoes. Add a tablespoon of olive oil to a medium frying pan and cook the ham until golden brown (about 7 minutes). Set aside. Cook the garlic and onion in two tablespoons of olive oil until golden brown. Add the herbs and peppers, Espelette pepper and seasalt to taste. Cover and leave to cook until the peppers soften (about 10 minutes). Stir in the tomatoes and browned ham and cook until the mixtures melds and juices slightly thicken. Beat the eggs and add over the heat to the tomato/pepper mixture, stirring until cooked. Serve immediately! -
Lentil dahl soup
Spicy lentil soup might seem a rather unexpected choice for the South of France in the middle of July, but I’m indulging the locals who, poor things, are at the end of their weather-tethers. It is unseasonably cool this Summer with many days not getting above the low 20s. Anything under 40°C in July and August in this region is unacceptable and strictly for namby-pambies (Parisians). It gives carte blanche for unrestricted and expansive whingeing, as well as countless visits to the doctor for weather-related complaints such as ‘chills’ and acute depression.
Puy lentils have a delicious earthy flavour and are packed full of goodness – protein in the form of amino acids and fibre. They are also an excellent source of iron and B vitamins. What better for a cold Summer day 😉
Ingredients (serves four)
200g Puy lentils
2 diced tomatoes
1 large onion
2 carrots, sliced
Tablespoon of olive oil
Tablespoon of coconut oil
6 cloves of garlic
fresh grated ginger
seasoning to taste (seasalt, freshly ground black pepper, cumin, tumeric)
Put the lentils, diced tomatoes, onion, carrots and seasoning into a large saucepan containing 2.5 litres of boiling water. Bring the water back to the boil and then simmer uncovered for about 45 minutes.
Five minutes before the soup is ready, heat the oils in a frying pan and gently fry the garlic and ginger until golden brown. Add to the soup, mix well and simmer for a few more minutes. Serve with chickpea pancakes which will be the subject of my next post… -
Ossau Iraty and black cherry chutney
I haven’t started talking in tongues; this is the name of a delicious cheese from the Basque region. So delicious, in fact, that it was named ‘Best Cheese in the World’ at the World Cheese Awards 2011. It is nicest served at room temperature with black cherry chutney.
I last enjoyed it just the other day, at the top of a mountain in 30 degree heat, surrounded by 30 ten-year-olds. And it was delicious nonetheless 😉 ! We were on a school trip to the pyrenees, a somewhat long but very enjoyable day. Well, apart from the bit where the coach had to reverse down a tiny mountain road, negociating no fewer than EIGHT hairpin bends backwards. I’m not that cool on tiny mountain roads in a car going forwards, so I’ll leave it to you to imagine the state I was in after this little escapade. There’s always a plus side though, and in this case it was that the children were actually SILENT for the time of the manoeuvre. They also derived much amusement from the fact that their teacher inadvertently let slip a four-letter word (or French equivalent thereof) in sheer terror.
As you can see, I didn’t take a photo of the cheese and chutney. But I did take one of a ‘typical Frenchman going for a picnic in the mountains’!
To make the black cherry chutney:
Ingredients
300g black cherries
1cm fresh grated ginger
Pinch of cinnamon
Black pepper
60g of cane sugar
2 tbls white vinegar
Heat the cherries and sugar in a casserole for just under five minutes. Add the ginger, cinnamon and black pepper and continue to heat for another five minutes. Add the vinegar and cook until the mixture starts to congeal. Leave to cool before serving. -
Fish curry (and absolutely not a hen in sight!)
I’m a great fan of spicy food in very hot weather. Actually I’m a fan of spicy food in cold weather too, but the arguments in favour are less convincing.
Spices help to kill bacteria that develops in hot weather when fridges are unavailable. Certain spices, such as chilli also help kill off intestinal parasites which tend to develop in warm weather. They also stimulate appetite and digestion, both of which become sluggish when it’s very hot. They make you sweat (although this may not really sound like a good thing), which is your body’s way of cooling down and as a final bonus spices boost serotonin levels which makes you happy 🙂
So even if it’s 10 degrees and cloudy with you today, you’ll find this easy, delicious and healthy.
Ingredients (serves 4)
4 filets of white fish (I used hake)
1 onion
2 cloves of garlic
Freshly grated ginger
2 tomatoes
1 cinnamon stick
1 cup of peas
Handful of cashew nuts
Handful of raisins
1 cup of coconut milk
Fresh mint
1 fresh chilli
1 tblsp coconut oil
2 cups of vegetable stock
Seasoning – curry powder, sea salt, pepper, cumin seeds
Melt the coconut oil in a frying pan and gently fry the onions and garlic until golden brown. Add the fish and the chopped tomatoes and keep frying gently for few minutes. Add the stock and then the spices, ginger, cinnamon stick, raisins, cashew nuts and peas. Bring back to a gentle simmer. Cook for about 15 minutes and then add the coconut milk and freshly chopped mint. Serve! -
Coronation chicken and adolescent hens
This was topical a week ago, but I’ve been rather over-stretched. Amongst other things, the horses flooded their barn (our mare enjoys turning on taps with her nose), and one of the hens is in the midst of a phanton pregnancy. Actually our mare’s passion for taps might be a blessing in disguise. The flooding reached the hens’ nest which meant that the phantom nester had to abandon ship (not without much cussing) and go back to being a hen that struts around (with wet feet!), as opposed to a hen that skulks in bed, hissing at anyone that approaches and only getting up once a day for food. This, I assume is the hen equivalent of a ‘fags and booze run’. Thinking about it, maybe she’s just hit adolescence and it’s not a phantom pregnancy at all…This coronation chicken is made with Greek yoghurt as opposed to mayonaise, which makes it a healthier option, without sacrificing any of the creamy taste or texture.
Ingredients (serves four)
4 chicken breasts
1 glass red wine
butter
bay leaves
2 greek yoghurts
2 tablespoons mango chutney
1 shallot
2 cloves garlic
fresh grated ginger
chopped cucumber
seasoning (salt, pepper, curry powder, cumin)
half a cup of sultanas
half a cup of chopped almonds
fresh mint
Poach the chicken breasts in the wine, a little water and melted butter (there should be enough liquid to just cover them), seasoning and bay leaves. Strain and put aside to cool.
Mix the yoghurt, mango chutney, chopped shallots, crushed garlic, grated ginger, seasoning (plenty of curry powder), sultanas, almonds and chopped cucumber and add the cooled poached chicken. Mix well and then chill for at least two hours. Add the fresh mint and serve. -
Navarin of chicken
I know that, strictly speaking, this should be navarin of lamb. I did briefly hover over the lamb counter, but before I’m ever able to pass from hover to purchase so many images of sweet, fluffy new-born lambs dancing in the long spring grass come to mind that I just can’t do it. Mind you, now that we have hens and I see them living their free-range lives, chicken will no doubt be off the menu soon too!
From an idealistic perspective I should probably be a vegetarian, but I remain entrenched in my conviction that we are meant to eat at least a small amount of meat. I’ve also seen too many miserable-looking vegetarians for it to be an attractive proposition; why is it that they so often look grey and dour?
The term ‘navarin’ is really a reference to the vegetable content of the dish and not the meat, so here is my Navarin for Sensitives Souls:
Ingredients (serves 4)
4 chicken wings and 4 legs
4 spring onions
10 baby carrots
4 baby leaks
6 new potatoes
4 baby turnips
1 courgette
cup of peas
olive oil
seasoning (salt, pepper, chicken stock)
bay leaf, rosemary, fresh mint
2 glasses of dry white wine
Slice the onions and gently brown in a casserole dish in the olive oil. Add the chicken pieces and seasoning and brown gently for a couple of minutes. Add the wine, chicken stock and herbs. Bring to a gentle simmer and add the carrots, leaks, turnips and potatoes. Place in a preheated oven (180°C) for an hour and then add the peas and sliced courgettes, making sure that the liquid level in the dish is still at least 3cms. Cook for a further 20 minutes and add the fresh chopped mint just before serving. -
Cod with basil and tomatoes
A lady fishmonger served me this morning and, instead of enquiring into the corpulence of the people I was going to cook for, took the time to explain this delicious recipe to me. There was a massive queue, but she certainly didn’t let this deter her from such minutiae as the exact size to cut the basil leaves and a description of the delectable aroma that would waft from the oven after about five minutes’ cooking. She even took the time to wish me a ‘bon appétit’ before turning to her line of, by this time, fuming but drooling clients. It’s a terrible cliché, I know, but I do maintain that one of the things I love most about the French is that they have their priorities well and truly in order.
Ingredients (serves four)
4 cod filets
12 cherry tomatoes
1 tbsp mustard
Olive oil
10 basil leaves
handfull of pinenuts
1 cup of wholemeal breadcrumbs
1 clove of garlic
sea salt and pepper
Preheat the oven to 200°C. Cover the cod filets with olive oil and place in an ovenproof dish. Season and then brush the filets with mustard before tossing them in the breadcrumbs and sliced basil leaves. Cover the tomatoes (cut in two) with breadcrumbs and then add to the dish. Sprinkle the chopped garlic and pinenuts over everything and cook for 15 minutes.
Bon appétit!
