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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. 🙂 -
Thank you honey !
2014 is the year of the bee as far as I’m concerned (thank you to Léo for the drawing). I’ve just finished reading a book that has convinced me that the value of honey goes far beyond those mentioned in my previous honey post. The book is called The Honey Diet and is written by a Scottish chemist, Mike McInnes. It is touted as a diet book, which I think rather belittling. This is really is so much more. Not only does it contain fascinating information, it is also groundbreaking, agenda-free science combined with good common sense.
Mike McInnes describes in detail the benefits of eating raw honey and clearly explains the way the body metabolises it, which is very different from the way other sugars are metabolised. Honey has a perfect fructose/glucose balance, easily assimilated by the liver where it is then used as a necessary and convenient source of fuel. This easy assimilation also means that honey does not cause damaging insulin spikes.
To put it another way, when you eat a spoonful of honey your body says: ‘Excellent! This is high-quality fuel that I can put to good use so I’ll start using it straight away.’ When you consume a spoonful of sugar or other refined sweeteners it says: ‘What on earth is this and what am I supposed to do with it? I have absolutely no idea so I’ll stock it away as fat until I’ve figured something out’.
Taking a spoonful of honey before bed ensures deeper and more restorative sleep as it effectively feeds the liver overnight, allowing it to carry out the numerous tasks it undertakes while the body is asleep. Like most things, the body can’t operate without effective fuel, which means that having to deal with an unwelcome diet of artificial foods prevents it from being able to carry out even the most basic maintenance work. Properly fuelled up, the body will burn more calories overnight than would be burned during a 10km run and it will do this without having to send ‘help! I need more fuel’ distress signals, which invariably prevent you from sleeping properly.
If you look into the intelligent and efficient way that bees operate, it’s hardly surprising that they create such perfect nourishment. They are the earth’s hardest working creatures and models of efficiency and cooperation.
They have developed a complex communication system to impart information to other bees regarding sources of nectar. They do a little dance to indicate the direction in which the food source may be found in relation to the position of the sun. The amount of waggling involved in their dance indicates the distance of the food from the hive and then a wing-fanning display gives information as to the richness of the source.
Bees give a whole new meaning to multi-tasking! -
French custard tart (Far Breton) and discombobulated headmasters
Yesterday afternoon, equipped with wetsuit and flippers (I won’t harp on about the weather — let’s just say that we’re in no imminent danger of drought), I sailed through white water torrents to fetch Léo. Upon arrival in front of the school, the car, possibly rebelling at being mistaken for a catamaran, spluttered and died. I had to comandeer several classmates and their mothers to help move the catamaran/car out of the way, the aim being that we would push while Léo steered to a less hazardous spot. So much for my theory; what actually happened is that he somehow managed to jump start the wretched thing, leaving us ‘pushers’ face-down in a puddle, our arms stretched out in front of us. I thought it probably best to avoid convoluted explanations with the headmaster who was looking, quite frankly, more than a little bewildered by the sight of one of his eleven-year-old pupils driving around the school car park with his squealing, hand-flapping, mud-speckled mother in wet pursuit…
This ‘Breton Far’ originated in Brittany in the 18th century, when it was served as a savoury accompaniment made with buckwheat flour. Today it has become a traditional dessert and is often filled with dried fruit such as raisins or prunes. The sweet version is usually now made with plain flour and white sugar, but I have made my own version, which is just as good, if not better and certainly far healthier. The combination of whole flours, eggs and honey makes for a low GI dessert.
If you replace sugar with honey in a recipe you should halve the quantity as honey has double the sweetening power. Because honey is metabolised differently from sugar in the body and, as such, does not cause insulin spikes, it can be enjoyed in moderation without any of the downsides of other sweeteners and all of the upsides of eating honey. You should also slightly lower the cooking temperature when cooking with honey as it ‘browns’ more quickly than sugar.
Ingredients (serves 6-8)
60g buckwheat flour
60g whole spelt flour
4 free-range eggs, beaten
65g honey
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons rum (optional)
500ml organic milk
120g dried, stoned prunes
Grease a rectangular oven-proof dish (roughly 22cm) and preheat the oven to 180°C. Pour the eggs, honey, vanilla, rum and flours into a large mixing bowl and beat well for about five minutes. Add the milk and beat for a a few minutes more. Garnish the bottom of the dish with the prunes and then pour in the mixture. Bake for about 40 minutes, or until the mixture is no longer runny (or squelchy!). You may have to pierce the ‘skin’ after about 30 minutes. Best served chilled.
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Spicy coral lentil soup and a baguette of dubious provenance
I have been trying to convince myself that when Hugo helped himself to a baguette off the kitchen counter of the friends we were visiting last Sunday, it was his contribution towards dinner; a welcome accompaniment for the soup I’d made. And then I pulled my head out of the sand, removed my rose-tinted glasses and woke up and smelt the coffee: with no end of previous convictions to his name (including the time he stole no fewer than eight baguettes from a friend’s car), he’s nothing but a pathologically incorrigible food pilferer and I couldn’t be more embarrassed.
Ingredients (serves 6-8)
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 large onion, sliced
2 leeks, washed and sliced
3 cloves of garlic
2 red peppers
2 carrots, peeled and sliced
2 teaspoons’ freshly grated ginger
1 teaspoon paprika (or piment d’Espelette)
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
250g coral lentils
1.5 litres organic vegetable stock
Gently fry the onions, leeks and garlic in olive oil for a few minutes. Once golden brown, add the peppers, carrots, ginger and seasoning. Then add the lentils and pour the stock over the top. Simmer for 30 minutes and then purée. Serve with crispy baguette, if at all possible free of doggie dribble. -
Spice bread and watching a white hen unravel
Have you ever seen a hen unravel? I hadn’t, but I have now. A friend (I use the term loosely in hindsight) gave us four hens last week. When I say hens, obviously I mean butch, feathered, street-wise ladettes hell-bent on stealing the others’ food, staying up all night and generally causing mayhen (sorry!). Our white ‘head’ hen was not amused by their arrival and ‘greeted’ them with firmly-closed wings. As soon as she caught sight of them, she strutted purposefully over to the kitchen, squawking loudly until I opened the window. When I explained that it was OK, they had been invited, she wandered off for a mad, muttering walk on her own in the woods, head between wings. Even now, a week later, she comes to check with me everyday that these ruffians are still welcome and spends more time than usual on her perch, disdainfully looking down at them.
This spice bread is deliciously soothing, which is useful when you’re trying to console a hen with a grievance.
Ingredients
500g raw honey
250g spelt flour
2 teaspoons active dry yeast
½ teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon ginger
½ teaspoon nutmeg
½ teaspoon coriander
½ teaspoon cardammon seeds
Zest of 1 lemon
2 free-range eggs, beaten
100ml milk
Preheat the oven to 220°C. Dissolve the yeast in two tablespoons of lukewarm water and set aside. Gently warm the honey, spices and zest until very runny (about 3 minutes). Place the flour in a mixing bowl, leaving a well in the middle. Add the yeast and then the beaten eggs and milk to the well, followed by the honey and spice mixture. Beat until you obtain a smooth, liquid dough. Transfer to a 1kg greased loaf tin and cook for 1 hour 15 mins. Cover the tin with aluminium foil once it is golden brown. It is best to leave the bread in a tin to rest at room temperature for at least three days before eating. -
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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Spelt yule log (bûche de Noel) and an unidentified thigh thief
I can’t believe I’m admitting to this, but our Christmas lunch was stolen by an unidentified creature. We had put the guinea fowl, which had been slaughtered, plucked and frozen by our neighbour in November, to defrost on top of a very tall fridge in the grange. At the time, it was the proud owner of two wings and two thighs. Anyway, bad plan because when I went to get it the next morning it was minus a thigh. As we don’t have a cat, I can’t imagine what sort of animal could have climbed a slippery surface that high; it definitely wasn’t Hugo because he suffers from vertigo. My money’s on a carnivorous giraffe. Admittedly there aren’t many in Southwestern France, but it’s the only thing that makes sense. Luc, my husband, was all for cooking and serving it as an amputee delicacy, claiming that the cooking process would kill any lingering giraffe germs, but I put my foot down and we located a beautifully intact capon in a shop in the village, conveniently open on the 25th December no doubt in case of such incidents.
This ‘bûche de Noel’, which is similar to a roulade, is the traditional French Christmas dessert. It should be kept under lock and key IN THE HOUSE until you’re ready to eat it!
For the sponge:
Ingredients
4 free-range eggs
180g cane sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
160g spelt flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
Raspberry jam to fill
Preheat the oven to 200°C and prepare a Swiss roll tin by lightly greasing and lining the base and sides with a large sheet of greaseproof paper, pushing it into the corners. Beat the eggs, vanilla extract and sugar together until thick and creamy and then add the spelt flour and baking powder, incorporating well. Spoon the mixture into the tin and bake in the preheated oven for nine minutes. Once baked, remove from the oven and immediately roll into a spiral on a floured-surface. Unroll and spread generously with raspberry jam. Roll again and set aside.
For the butterceam icing:
Ingredients
125g butter, softened
60g cane sugar
2 egg yolks
2 teaspoons of coffee powder, diluted in two teaspoons of water
Pour the sugar into a saucepan, lightly moisten with a few drops of water and cook for about six minutes, stirring constantly. Stop just before the mixture caramelises. Beat the egg yolks and add the hot sugar little by little until the mixture whitens. Beat the butter well and gradually add the egg yolk/sugar mixture. Finally, add the coffee, incorporating well. Cover the rolled cake with the buttercream, spreading with a spatula, decorate with walnuts and glazed cherries and leave to cool for at least an hour in the fridge before serving. -
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. -
Rum and raisin carrot cake (gf) and frustrated traffic wardens
Word is out that I’m a bit of a rebel behind the wheel. Unfortunately I’m also married to, as my father puts it, a ‘repressed traffic warden’. He does have a point — how many people do you know that tell their guests to go and repark their cars within the confines of meticulously-placed traffic cones? (I blush to admit that we own traffic cones.) After our trip to San Sebastian, where I received more than one dressing-down for my mutinous driving, in particular U-turning, I’m now getting reflections from Léo’s friends. I drove one of them to his music lesson the other day and, in the time it took to drive about half a kilometre, he gleefully pointed out that I had entered the car park ‘the wrong way’, driven too close to the pavement and stopped in a disabled parking space. What can I say?
This carrot cake, although healthy and no-doubt sickeningly law-abiding, is deliciously moist and fragrant.
Ingredients
3 eggs
100g coconut sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
200g ground almonds
100g dessicated coconut
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons freshly grated ginger
100g walnuts, roughly chopped
100g raisins
2 tablespoons rum
70g coconut butter, melted
70g butter, melted
200g carrots, grated
Preheat the oven to 140°C and prepare a 24cm cake tin. Place the raisins in a small saucepan and cook in the rum for about five minutes. Break the eggs into a mixing bowl, add the coconut sugar and vanilla extract and beat well. Add the ground almonds, coconut and spices, combining well. Stir in the melted butter and coconut oil, the walnuts and the raisin/rum mixture. Finally add the carrots and mix until everything is well combined. Transfer the mixture to the cake tin and cook for between 50 and 60 minutes (a fork should come out clean once cooked).