Since my last post, it would seem that I was a little hasty in my
panic about killing the neighbour’s beets – just yesterday, a few of the leaves
that have been lying seemingly lifeless
on the ground since Sunday, started standing up…..nature really is miraculous
and we do marvel every day at the wonderful life we’re surrounded with – every
day we walk past fields of corn and wheat and oats just getting on with growing
– it’s lovely to see everything so much bigger just in the short month that
we’ve been here. On the subject of new
life, the cows are also having babies and so literally we’ll walk past a field
of cows one day and the next there’ll be half a dozen calfs in the same field
(we do usually hear quite a lot of noise at night from the cows presumably
those giving birth which doesn’t sound like much fun at all and my friends who
are parents can probably sympathise!!).
So it is with great relief that I walked past the neighbour’s
house this morning and they asked after the beets and I was able to confidently
say that they were doing well – I did tell her that I’d been afraid to see her
as I thought I’d killed them all and she seemed completely unfazed when I
explained what had happened and indicated that what had transpired was to be
expected and she didn’t seem to understand why I wouldn’t have known this
(‘aaaah – les anglais’!).
It’s still phenomenally hot right now – getting close to 100
degrees every day – and today I thought
it would be a good idea to make the most of the sunshine and get out weeding in
my bikini – having come from the Caribbean I was confident I could deal with
the sunshine and so I’m ashamed to say that as I type this I’m quite sunburnt –
presumably this is why none of my neighbours are weeding in their bikinis – I
may have to invest in a French housecoat!
And so with this heat, I’m wondering if my plan for a traditional
English roast dinner for our French neighbours (2 couples, Michel & Simone
and Bernard & Claudie) is such a good idea – they’re fascinated about
trying a traditional English roast and the menu I’ve planned is roast chicken
with chestnut stuffing, roast potatoes and carrots – we’ll then be French by
having the cheese & salad course following the main course and finish with
cherry crumble and custard (‘crème anglaise’) with cherries from the
garden. I’m only concerned about heating
up the house by cooking most of the morning and then having a hot meal followed
by hot dessert but then as the last lunch with these particular neighbours did
go on for nearly 7 hours perhaps it’ll be cooler by the time we’re eating
dessert although it is quarter past 8 in the evening as I type this and the sun
is still quite high in the sky!
A couple more recipes to share with you – one is a lovely
courgette and garlic soup that my sister, Oona shared with me and works
beautifully, freezes well and can be eaten cold or hot. The other is a BBC Good Food Pork Rillettes
recipe – I have to say that the quality of the pork belly here in France is so
far superior to what is available in Cayman (i.e. there’s quite a lot of meat
on the pork belly – I have bought pork belly in Cayman that literally has no
meat on it at all) – and you will want to look for pork belly that has a decent
amount of meat on it – it will still work it will just be a lot fattier and you
will discard a lot of the juice.
Recipes below – Bon Apetit!
Roasted Courgette & Garlic Soup
(photo is of one I made and served with bacon bits and cream fraiche)
(photo is of one I made and served with bacon bits and cream fraiche)
Serves 4
Preparation Time: Approximately 5 minutes.
Cooking Time: Approximately 45-50
minutes.
2lb (900g) courgettes,
1 onion
3 garlic cloves
1 tbsp olive oil
2 pints vegetable stock
4 oz (125g) frozen petit pois (this is mostly for colour)
3 tbsp crème fraiche
black pepper to taste
Preheat the oven to gas mark 6, 200C
Cut the ends off the courgettes and thickly slice them into chunks.
Peel the onion and cut into eight wedges.
Put the courgettes, unpeeled garlic, onion and olive oil into a roasting
tin and roast for 30-35 minutes until golden and tender.
Pour the stock into a saucepan and bring to the boil. Add the petit pois to
the stock and bring back to the boil. Cook for a couple of minutes until the
peas are tender.
Take the roasted courgette and garlic out of the oven. Peel the garlic
cloves and place
them in a blender with the courgettes. Add the stock and petit pois and
blend until the
soup is smooth.
Then season with black pepper
Stir in the crème fraiche and heat gently.
Handy Hint: - This soup is lovely served with croutons. For something a
little different buy some black olive ciabatta and cut it into cubes. Place the
ciabatta cubes on a baking tray and toast in the oven for approximately 5
minutes until they are crisp and sprinkle on top of the soup.
Pork Rillettes
Serves 8
Preparation Time: 1 hour plus 2 hours chilling
Cooking Time: 3 hours
4 bay leaves
4 thyme sprigs
1kg/2lb 4oz rindless, boneless pork belly, cut into roughly walnut sized
cubes
5 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
10 juniper berries, roughly crushed (plus extra to decorate – optional)
¼ tsp chinese five spice powder (see youtube link below re spices – makes
me laugh!)
large splash of brandy or calvados
4 tbsp duck or goose fat (optional)
Reserve 1 bay leaf, then tip everything except th4e duck fat into a bowl
and season generously. If you have time,
cover and leave the meat to marinate overnight in the fridge – however this
isn’t essential.
Heat the oven to 140C/Gas mark 1.
Tip the meat and all the juices into a flameproof casserole dish with a
lid. Pour over 250ml of water, or enough
to just cover the meat, and place the pan on a low heat. As soon as it starts to bubble, pop on the
lid and put it in the oven for 2 ½ - 3 hrs, removing it once to give it a good
stir.
The meat should now be very tender.
Leave it to cool slightly in the pan, then drain over a bowl to catch
the fat and juices. Shred the pork by
hand (two forks work particularly well – you want it shredded but do not want
to work it into a paste). Taste, add
extra seasoning if needed, then press meat into 2 small or 1 large serving
dish, or pack into individual ramekins.
Pour the juices and the fat back over the meat and put in the fridge for
at least 2 hours for the fat to harden (if making this in Cayman you will only
pour about ½ of the juices and fat back in).
To keep the rillettes for a week or so, cover with a layer of duck fat, and
lay a bay leaf and a couple of juniper berries on top for decoration.)
Serve with sourdough toast and cornichons.
No comments:
Post a Comment