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Vagrant rhubarb cake
We have a garden full of nomadic rhubarb. Originally I had inadvertantly planted it over our sewage system, so my husband moved it and it randomly became the ‘pièce de resistance’ by the edge of the pool; I don’t know what that was all about. As much as I love rhubarb, it isn’t the plant of exceptional beauty that you might expect to see in such a prime location, so it was moved again – to the vegetable patch, oddly enough. This time, the dog took exception to its location and dug it up in a fit of frenetic hysteria one night when we weren’t looking. I decided enough was enough and maybe rhubarb just wasn’t meant to be in our garden and chucked it unceremoniously onto the compost heap, where it took root of its own accord and has prospered ever since.
Rhubarb is a little tart (particularly ours, as it gets around so much!) and really needs more sugar than I’m willing to use. I get around this by stewing it with yacon syrup, which has a low GI and deliciously fragrent caramel taste. Made from the roots of the yacon plant which is indigenous to the Andes, it is used throughout South America for its nutritional properties; it is said to help diabetes as well as renal and digestive problems.
Ingredients
Stewed rhubarb:
4 stalks of rhubarb
2 tbsp yacon syrup
1 cup of water
stem ginger, chopped
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup of raisins
Cake:
1/4 cup of butter
1/4 cup of coconut oil
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
a pinch of salt
2 tbsp yucon syrup
1 cup of chickpea flour
1 cup self-raising flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 cup milk
Start by stewing the rhubarb. Peel the stalks and cut into pieces of approximately 2cm. Add the yucon syrup, ginger, cinnamon and about a cup of water. Gently braise for about 20 minutes or until the rhubarb forms a runny jam-like consistency.
Prepare the cake mix by creaming the warmed coconut oil and butter until light and fluffy. Add the yucon syrip until the mixture is blended. Next beat in the egg and vanilla. Sift together the flour, salt and bicarbonate of soda and combine with the milk. Add little by little to the egg/fat mixture until well blended. Finally fold in the stewed rhubarb and spoon into a greased cake tin. Bake in a preheated oven for about 40 minutes at 180°C. -
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. -
Almond chocolate cake
You may have noticed that I never use normal flour in my recipes. This isn’t only because eating refined wheat flour is about as nutritious as snacking on yesterday’s newspaper, but because I’m wheat-intolerant. It’s not something I harp on about a) because it’s boring and b) because I’ve noticed that not ‘tolerating’ is something that brings out the devil in a lot of people. I’ve lost count of the number of times people have offered me something that is quite patently going to have me doubled up in agony within the next twelve hours and refused to take no for an answer when I decline: ‘Oh go on, I’ve just made it, a little bit won’t hurt, surely…’ It’s as if I’m saying no to be awkward, or to be interesting or different. Err no, if I wanted to be awkward I’d ask you to serve it to me sprinkled with powdered rhino horn, and if I wanted to be interesting or different I’d dye my hair indigo and take up mud pit belly flopping.
This cake, regardless of your ‘wheat status’, is divine. It will leave you wondering why you ever made chocolate cakes with wheat flour. The fact that it uses powdered almonds means that, for a chocolate cake, its GI is quite low and that it contains valuable nutrients. It also has a fairly low sugar content.
Ingredients
5 eggs
130g cane sugar
140g powdered almonds
60g butter
60g coconut oil
125g dark chocolate (preferably 90% coco)
pinch of bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp baking powder
Preheat the oven to 150°C. Melt the chocolate with the butter and coconut oil. Once melted, add to the sugar, egg yolks, almonds, bicarbonate of soda and baking powder. Whisk the egg whites until stiff. Fold the egg whites into the chocolate mixture and pour into a 20cm cake tin. Bake for 45 minutes.
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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! -
Cod in chickpea batter (gf)
Cod in chickpea batter When I asked for cod filet for three this morning, the fishmonger asked if it was for three normal people, or three rugbymen. I had replied that it was for three normal people and then wondered if this wasn’t perhaps stretching the truth a bit.
In southwestern France, we live amongst constant reminders of the rugby-playing heritage. Many refer to the region as l’Ovalie, which means the land of the oval ball, and one Landaise priest has even dedicated his chapel, Notre Dame du Rugby, to his passion! Towns and villages are deserted whenever there’s a match on, and weekends in hospital emergency rooms are not for the faint-hearted; they’re bursting with sights of broken and bloody noses, limbs and assorted extremities and sounds of blubbering girlfriends.
Back to my normal fish. Delicious as it is, cod can be a bit bland. Although that could be due to my overextended tastebuds which are singed on a regular basis by very spicy food. This chickpea batter is both healthy and delicious and an excellent vehicle for herbs and spices. Chickpea flour is far healthier than refined wheat flour as it’s packed with vitamins (particularly folic acid), minerals and protein-building amino acids. It also has a very low GI and is very tasty.
Recipe for cod in chickpea batter (for 4 normal people)- 4 cod filets
- 50g chickpea flour
- 1 cup of water
- 1 garlic clove
- olive oil and coconut oil
- seasoning (salt pepper, paprika)
- pinch of bicarbonate of soda
Combine the chickpea flour and bicarbonate of soda with enough water (roughly a cup) to make a batter similar to a pancake batter. Add the seasoning and crushed garlic clove, then dip the cod filets in the batter, making sure they are covered all over. Cook in about half a centimetre of olive and coconut oils on a medium hob (cooking oil should never smoke) for about five minutes on each side. The end result should be golden brown and crisp!
Cod in chickpea batter -
Salt and Pepper
We have two hens called Sel and Poivre (Salt and Pepper). We bought them in the hope of being able to teach Hugo, our dog, that chickens are to be admired from a respectable distance and not eye-balled viciously, whilst sinking sharp canine teeth into their necks. He had taken to sloping off to the neighbouring farms to ‘play’ with their hens in a way that would have earned him an ASBO if he lived in the UK.
Six weeks on and the hens are still alive, which is nothing short of miraculous when I think back to the way he greeted their arrival. But the hens’ biggest passion is the horses; they preach at the alter of all things equine. If the horses are lying down in the sun, so are they; if the horses are eating hay in the grange, the hens will be pecking away next to them. And when the horses gallop around the field, they follow as fast as their little legs will carry them.
Anyway, we moved the horses down the road a couple of days ago to ‘mow’ a neighbouring field, and the hens (who live in the horses’ stabling) went into a sharp decline. To such an extent that one of them (Salt) stopped laying. I’m not quite sure how that works, but I’ve been assured by People Who Know that hens, contrary to appearances, are really quite emotional beings. We brought the horses back this evening (I was getting hungry!) and they were met by two very very happy ladies. They’re cuddling up as I type.
The original aim of this post was actually to point out the fact that eggs are Very Good News from a nutritional point of view, and not go into our poultry’s state of heart in such detail. So, eggs contain substantial quantities of high-quality protein and most vitamins (with the exception of vitamin C) and minerals; valuable components in a healthy diet. From a culinary point of view, as well as being healthy and delicious, they are incredibly versatile – they can be boiled, poached, fried, scrambled or made into omelette, quiche, tarts, sauces, mousses…
From your point of view as well as the hens’, please buy free-range. -
Tunisian meatloaf
Although I never let slip a chance to take a cheap pop at vegetarians (our horses, for example – how could anyone in their right mind just eat grass all day?), I’m not exactly a flesh-ripping carnivore myself. In fact, the better meat is disguised, the happier I am.
It’s complicated serving meat in this house. My husband and son, in true French male style, get inconsolably hysterical if they think it’s overcooked and I ‘come over queer’ if it’s underdone. Hugo, the labrador, is extremely conciliatory (or greedy?) and eats it either way.
This fragrent meatloaf ticks all the boxes; vegetables for me so that I forget I’m eating meat, and just enough meat for my carnivourous husband and son to satisfy their Neanderthal instincts.
Ingredients (serves six to eight)
2 onions
3 carrots
1 aubergine
2 garlic cloves
3 medium tomatoes
Olive oil
200g pre-cooked chickpeas
300g minced beef or lamb
3 eggs
1 tbsp Lee and Perrins sauce
Parsley
Rosemary
Bay leaf
50ml tomato ketchup
seasoning to taste (seasalt, pepper, cumin, coriander, cayenne pepper)
Cut the aubergine into slices and leave to ‘sweat’ out the moisture with seasalt. Brown the vegetables (including the aubergine) in olive oil in a large frying pan cooking over a medium heat for about 20 minutes. Add the rosemary and seasoning and set aside. Combine the meat, beaten eggs, Lee and Perrins sauce and ketchup in another bowl. Roughly blend the vegetable mixture, chickpeas and fresh parsely until it forms a lumpy paste (ie not blended too much) and add it to the meat mixture. Spoon the combined mixture into a loaf tin and cook for about an hour and a half in a medium oven (180°C). Leave to sit for ten minutes before slicing.
May be served hot with couscous cooked with mint, sultanas and peas and a hot tomato sauce, or cold with crisp green salad and gherkins.
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Basque Chicken
Our multi-talented Spanish carpenter, who my husband disparagingly refers to as the ‘poet’ (as in Real Men Don’t Do Poetry), gave us several jars of his home-made spicy tomato sauce, which my son then referred to as ‘ketchup in a jar’. Between them, husband and son make quite sure that neither carpenter nor tomato sauce get too up themselves.
Poulet Basquaise should really be made with Espelette pepper, which is a cross between paprika and chilli pepper, and is a speciality of the village of Espelette in the Basque country.
Ingredients (serves 4)
4 chicken thighs and 4 legs
1 tin of peeled tomatoes (or homemade if possible)
1 tin of white beans
4 cloves of garlic
1 onion
5 mushrooms, sliced
1 bell pepper
1 cup of black olives
olive oil
sprig of rosemary
1 glass of white wine
seasoning to taste (salt, pepper, paprika, chilli powder or if possible Espelette pepper)
Chop the onions, garlic and mushrooms and add to the olive oil in an oven-proof casserole dish. Cook until golden and then add the chicken pieces, which should also be cooked until golden-brown on both sides. Add the wine, herbs and seasoning and cook for about 2 minutes so that the chicken can absorb the wine. Add the tomatoes and heat until simmering. Lastly add the beans and olives and cook in a medium oven (150°C) until the tomatoes begin to caramalise (just under two hours).
Poulet Basquaise is usually served with sauté potatoes or rice, although I often serve it with polenta and a crisp green salad. -
Salmon and quinoa
It actually stopped raining for the first time in over three weeks this morning and I was able to walk the (by now totally manic) dog without coming back absolutely soaked to the core. I even caught a glimpse of a rather strange, bright yellow ball of fire in the sky – I wonder what that could have been?
My meteorological ponderings and canine therapy took longer than expected, so I wanted to do something quick for lunch. And this is it. If you use frozen salmon, make sure it’s thoroughly defrosted before you cook it; cooking from frozen causing a thermal shock which tends to make the fish (or meat) tougher. Obviously it’s best if you can get fresh salmon (and preferably Scottish 😉
Ingredients (serves 4)
4 salmon filets
2 spring onions (or shallots)
olive oil
Lee and Perrins or soya sauce
seasoning (salt, pepper, chilli flakes)
1 tsp brown sugar
1 cup of quinoa
1 cup of peas
handful of fresh basil
chopped tomato
chopped garlic
Put the salmon filets in an ovenproof dish, coating fairly generously with olive oil on either side. Rock salt and pepper to taste and then I added some chilli peppers (not for the children though), spring onions and dried seaweed (OK for the children as long as you don’t actually utter the word ‘seaweed’). Also a dash of Lee and Perrins. This should be cooked in a very very hot oven for 12 minutes. I know this sounds OCD, but it really must be 12 minutes; 11 too few, 13 too many!
Use organic quinoa if possible cooked with a handful of peas. Don’t overcook or it will become a slimy mess (losing many valuable nutrients along the way). Once cooked, run under cold water or it will continue to cook, drain thoroughly and then mix with chopped garlic, fresh basil (ripped into small pieces,) and nice juicy chopped tomatoes. Season with rock salt, pepper, balsamic vinegar and olive oil.
I also served it with a few white aspargus, of which we have an absolute glut at the moment (life can be very hard).
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Chicken in the pot
This dish is traditional Sunday fare in Aquitaine. It was made popular by Henri IV who declared his hope to be that France would become peaceful and prosperous enough for every family to be able to enjoy ‘poule au pot’ every Sunday. This is obviously my ‘take’ on the dish; I don’t think that French families had access to Lee and Perrins sauce in Henri IV’s day.
Today is election day. Here’s to hoping that our next president will bear Henri’s good intentions for peace and prosperity in mind…
Ingredients (serves 6)
1 chicken
1 onion
1 leek
3 cloves of garlic
3 medium carrots
1 cup of peas
5 mushrooms (sliced)
1 courgette
rosemary, bayleaf
olive oil
glass of white wine
Lee and Perrins sauce
2 tablespoons of redcurrant jelly
seasoning to taste (sea salt, pepper and paprika)
Lightly brown the onion, garlic and mushrooms in the olive oil in a casserole dish. Add the chicken and brown on both sides. Add a good slug of Lee and Perrins and the redcurrant jelly and continue heating. Add the sliced carrots, rosemary and bayleaf and turn chicken right-side-up. Season generously and add the glass of white wine. If you don’t have any wine open, you can use apple juice for a sweeter taste, or just water with a tiny bit of chicken stock.
Put the lid on the casserole and cook in a medium oven (150°C) for about an hour and a half. You should check half way through that there is still some liquid left in the bottom of the casserole (a couple of centimetres is ideal). If there is too much liquid you could take the lid off for the last 15 minutes. The peas and sliced courgettes should be added about 20 minutes before serving so that they stay firm.
This is lovely served with mashed potato any green vegetable.
