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Prune and Almond Tart

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One of the more successful recipes from Rick Stein’s French Odyssey.

Planning

serves: 8
preparation time: 1 hr
cooking time: 1 hr

Ingredients

  • 225g plain flour, sifted
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 130g butter, chilled and diced
  • 1½ – 2 tbs cold water
  • 55g caster sugar
  • 300g mi-cuit (semi-dried) Agen prunes, stoned
  • 4 tbs Armagnac
  • 1 large egg, lightly beaten
  • 35g ground almonds
  • 55g caster sugar
  • 200ml crème fraîche
  • icing sugar (for dusting)
  • additional crème fraîche (for serving)

Method

First make the pastry. Put the flour and salt in a food processor or mixing bowl. Add the butter and work together to the fine breadcrumb stage. Stir in the water with a round-bladed knife until it comes together into a ball. Turn out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead briefly until smooth. Rest the pastry in a fridge for about 30 minutes before using.

Put the prunes into a bowl with the Armagnac and leave to soak for one hour, turning them occasionally to help them absorb the alcohol.

Roll out the pastry and use it to line a greased loose-bottomed flan tin (2½ cm deep, 24cm diameter). Prick the base all over and chill for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 200°C/gas 6. Blind bake the case for 15 minutes then remove the blind baking gubbins and bake the case for a further 5 minutes. Set the case aside and reduce the oven temperature to 190°C/gas 5.

Drain the prunes over a bowl to reserve the remaining Armagnac. Add the ground almonds, egg, sugar and crème fraîche to the Armagnac then beat together until smooth. Distribute the prunes over the base of the pastry case and pour over the almond mixture. Bake for 45 minutes or until golden brown and a skewer comes away clean.

Cool the tart before dusting with a little icing sugar. Serve with additional crème fraîche.


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Posted in Desserts Tagged with:

Poulet à la Crème

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This is a Normandy recipe taken from the Reader?s Digest Cookery Year . Being from Normandy, apples feature strongly. It is a very rich sauce which, being cream based and thickened with egg yolk, demands caution to avoid curdling.

Planning

serves: 4
preparation time: 15 mins
cooking time: 1¼ hrs

Ingredients

  • 1 chicken (3 – 4 lbs.)
  • 1 mild onion, finely chopped
  • 2 oz lean green bacon, diced
  • 2½ oz butter
  • 4 tbs calvados
  • 1 tbs celery leaves, chopped
  • 10 fl oz dry still cider
  • 2 large egg yolks
  • 5 fl oz double cream
  • salt and pepper

Method

Clean the chicken and season it inside and out with salt and pepper. Reserve the giblets if there are any.

Melt the butter over moderate heat and cook the onion until soft and translucent. Add the bacon and cook for a further 2 – 3 minutes. Remove the onion and bacon from the pan and reserve it while you lightly brown the chicken all over in the same pan. Return the onion and bacon mixture to the chicken and flame it all with the calvados. Add the chicken neck, gizzard and heart to the pan. (Be careful to omit the liver.) Sprinkle in the celery leaves and add the cider. Bring the liquid to the boil and simmer for a few minutes.

Turn the chicken on its side, cover the pan closely and cook over a very low heat for 20 – 25 minutes. Now turn the chicken onto its other side and cook for a further 20 – 25 minutes still covered. Finally, turn the chicken onto its back and cook covered for another 10 minutes.

Transfer the chicken to a serving dish and keep warm while you make the sauce. Strain the cooking liquid and reduce it slightly. Remove the pan from the heat. Beat the egg yolks into the cream and mix in a few spoonfuls of the warm cooking liquid. Whisk the egg and cream mixture into the cooking liquid and return the pan to a low heat. Stirring constantly, cook the sauce until it has thickened. Be very careful not to let it approach boiling as it will curdle.

A garnish of fried apple rings, about ¼ inch thick goes well with this.


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Posted in Poultry Tagged with:

Pork Sauerkraut

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This one is entirely down to me. It is an attempt to create something of the hearty, warming Germanic food to be found in the alpine huts of the Austrian ski resorts without going to the elaborate lengths of a full blown Choucroute Garni . This is a one pot meal that requires no accompaniment other than, perhaps, some chilled hefe weizen or riesling.

Planning

serves: 2
preparation time: 15 mins
cooking time: 45 mins

Ingredients

  • 1 tbs olive oil
  • 6 oz smoked bacon lardons
  • 2 pork chops
  • 1 large onion, halved and thinly sliced
  • 1 eating apple, cored, skinned and chopped
  • 8 juniper berries, crushed
  • salt and pepper
  • 1 tsp plain flour
  • 1 small wineglass dry white wine (preferably Riesling)
  • 1 “barrel” sauerkraut (approx 800g)

Method

Empty the sauerkraut into a colander. If you prefer a milder flavour, rinse it to remove excess vinegar and drain it briefly. (Don’t squeeze it, we want a little moisture.)

Heat the oil over medium heat in a suitable casserole (which should have a tight-fitting lid). Fry the bacon lardons until the fat begins to run. While the bacon is cooking, remove any rind and bone from the pork chops and cut them into ½ inch chunks. When the bacon is browned and has released most of its fat, remove it from the pan and set aside.

Now add the pork chunks to the casserole and brown them evenly over quite high heat. While the pork is browning, skin, core and finely chop the apple. When the pork is browned, remove it from the pan and set aside with the bacon.

Now add the onion to the pan with a little more olive oil if necessary and fry until soft and translucent. Stir the apple into the onion and cook for another couple of minutes before returning the bacon and pork chunks to the pan. Toss in the crushed juniper berries, add the flour and stir. When the flour is incorporated, stir in the white wine and bring to simmering point.

Now lower the heat and stir the sauerkraut into the pan. Season with freshly ground black pepper and stir all the ingredients together. Cover and cook over very low heat, stirring occasionally, for about 30 minutes. Adjust the seasoning – depending upon the bacon and the sauerkraut, you may or may not want to add a little salt.

Serve platefuls of this with glasses of hefe weizen.


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Posted in Meat Tagged with:

Pork Green Curry

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This is a variation on the Chicken Green Curry but needs longer cooking. Since I can’t stand referencing other recipes and piecing things together, I have documented this in its entirety separately. I’ve also written this one up using green beans, which resemble the commonly-used Thai long beans, as the vegetable content.

Planning

serves: 4
preparation time: 1 hr mins
cooking time: 45 mins

Ingredients

  • 4 fresh lemongrass stalks
  • 6 medium-hot green chillies
  • 3 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
  • 5 cm piece fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
  • 2 shallots, peeled and chopped
  • 4 tbs fresh coriander, chopped
  • 1 tsp ground cumin
  • 1 tsp ground coriander
  • zest and juice of 1 lime
  • 1 tbs Thai fish sauce
  • ½ tsp ground black pepper
  • 2 pork tenderloins
  • 3 tbs groundnut oil
  • 200g fine green beans
  • 400 ml tinned coconut milk
  • 400 ml home-made chicken stock
  • 8 lime leaves
  • 1 tbs Thai fish sauce
  • 1 tbs brined green peppercorns, drained
  • ~20g basil leaves, shredded
  • ~20g fresh coriander, chopped

Method

First, make the green curry paste. Slice the lemongrass as finely as you can. According to preference, with or without the seeds, chop the green chillies. Place the lemongrass and chillies, together with the other ingredients down to and including the black pepper, into a food processor. Blitz this lot together, scaping down the sides regularly, until you have a thick paste. (You can add a little water to help slacken it if necessary.) Cover and refrigerate this until you need it.

Split each tenderloin lengthwise. Wrap the halves in cling film allowing some space for expansion and flatten each with a steak mallet to a thickness of about ¾cm. Now cut each tenderloin piece into strips of about ¾cm across the grain. Lightly brown the pork in the groundnut oil, then drain and reserve.

Wash the green beans and cut them into approximately 3 cm lengths.

Add the coconut milk, stock, lime leaves, four heaped tablespoons of the chilli paste, fish sauce, peppercorns and half the chopped herbs. Bring to the boil then lower the heat and simmer for about 10 mins. Return the pork strips to the pan with the green beans, stir and simmer for a further 40 minutes stirring occasionally. Stir in the remaining herbs and serve with boiled Thai fragrant rice.


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Posted in Meat Tagged with: ,

Pork and Cider Hotpot

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This began life as a very basic but quite effective recipe by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall from Waitrose Food Illustrated. It is still a basic recipe but has a few personal modifications.

Firstly, good ol’ Hugh wasted the tasty browning bits from the pork by cooking it in a separate pan but who would want to do that? Secondly, I find the addition of lashings of celery combines well and adds umami, not to mantion a veggie unit.

Planning

serves: 2
preparation time: 10 mins
cooking time: 2½ hrs

Ingredients

  • 500g pork belly, skinned & cubed (2cm)
  • 1 large onion, peeled & chopped
  • ½ head celery, very finely sliced
  • 1 tbs plain flour
  • 1 tsp thyme leaves
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 500ml dry cider
  • 1½ tsp mustard
  • salt & pepper

Method

Preheat the oven to 150°C/gas 2.

Begin by browning the pork cubes in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil over medium-high heat. You will probably need to do this in two batches to avoid overcrowding the meat. Remove the pork and set aside.

Add the onions and celery to the pan, lower the heat a little and gently cook the vegetables, stirring frequently, until soft but not brown (about 15 mins). Sprinkle in, say, 1 tablespoon flour for thickening and stir well. Return the pork to the pan, together with any accumulated juices and stir well again. Finally add the thyme, bay leaf and enough cider to just cover the meat and veggies. Bring to a simmer before covering the casserole and transfering it to the oven. Cook it for 2 hours.

Taste the juices, stir in the mustard and season to taste. Serve with mashed potato to soak up the juices.


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Posted in Meat Tagged with:

Petit Salé

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This is not a recipe to eat but a recipe to make a facsimile of a French ingredient – lightly salted belly pork. The result is something milder and more pork-like than green streaky bacon, which is probably the closest regularly available (in the UK) substitute. Once cured, it is used in a variety of traditional French dishes such as Cassoulet and Petit Salé aux Lentilles .

Planning

serves: depends
preparation time: 7 days
cooking time: n/a

Ingredients

  • 30g caster sugar
  • 5g sodium nitrite (optional – cosmetic)
  • 15g juniper berries
  • 8 allspice berries
  • 1 tsp peppercorns
  • 1 tsp dried oregano
  • 6 cloves
  • 5 dried bay leaves
  • 500g salt
  • 2 kg belly pork

Method

Sterilize your hands, the work surface and a container (large enough to hold your pork) before proceeding. (Apparently, Milton Fluid works nicely.)

Put everything down to but not including the salt into a spice grinder or food processor and blitz it all together to a powder. If you started in a spice grinder, transfer now to a food processot, add the salt and blitz for another 30 seconds. You now have Sel Aromatisé .

Cover the bottom of your sterilized container with a layer of the Sel Aromatisé . Rub as much Sel Aromatisé into the piece of pork belly as you can then place it skin-side on top of the layer of Sel Aromatisé in the container. Pour the remaining Sel Aromatisé over it and cover with a lid or cling film. Refrigerate for 7 days then rinse and soak in clean, cold water for 24 hours to desalinate. Change the water 4 times.

Refrigerated, it will apparently keep for about 2 weeks but personally, I’d set about making a cassoulet almost immediately (assuming, of course, that I also had some Duck Confit ).


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Posted in Meat Tagged with:

Pâte Sucrée

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This is a transcription of a recipe from The French Cookery School published years ago in parts in The Observer Magazine from Anne Willan of La Varenne, in Paris.

Planning

serves:  
preparation time: 10 mins
cooking time:  

Ingredients

  • 8 oz flour
  • large pinch salt
  • 3½ oz caster sugar
  • 4 egg yolks
  • 1 tsp vanilla essence
  • 4 oz butter

Method

Sift the flour onto a marble slab or board and make a well in the centre. Put the salt, sugar, egg yolks and vanilla in th ewelland mix them with your fingers until the sugar dissolves. Pound the butter to soften it slightly, add it to the well and quickly work it with the other ingredients, using your fingertips to pull the dough into large crumbs.

To mix the dough thoroughly, work it in a few batches by pushing it on the working surface away from you with the heel of the hand and gathering it up with a dough scraper until smooth and pliable. Press the dough into a ball, roll lightly in flour to smooth it and wrap in non-stick parchment, foil, plastic wrap or a plastic bag. Chill for at least 30 mins or until firm. The dough can be stored, tightly warpped, in the refrigerator for up to 3 days, or frozen.


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Posted in Basics Tagged with:

Pâte Brisée

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This is a transcription of a recipe from The French Cookery School published years ago in parts in The Observer Magazine from Anne Willan of La Varenne, in Paris.

Planning

serves:  
preparation time: 10 mins
cooking time:  

Ingredients

  • 8 oz flour
  • 4 oz butter
  • 2 egg yolks
  • level tsp salt
  • 3½ – 4 tbs cold water

Method

Sift the flour onto a marble slab or board and make a well in the centre. Pound the butter to soften it slightly. Place the butter, egg yolks, salt and a smaller amount of water in the well and work together with the fingertips until partly mixed. Gradually work in the flour, using the fingertips to pull the dough into large crumbs. If the crumbs are dry, sprinkle over a tablespoon more water. Press the dough firmly together; it should be soft but not sticky.

To mix the dough thoroughly, work it in a few batches by pushing it on the working surface away from you with the heel of the hand and gathering it up with a dough scraper until smooth and pliable. Press the dough into a ball, roll lightly in flour to smooth it and wrap in non-stick parchment, foil, plastic wrap or a plastic bag. Chill for at least 30 mins or until firm. The dough can be stored, tightly warpped, in the refrigerator for up to 3 days, or frozen.


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Posted in Basics Tagged with:

Partridge with Orange and Vermouth Sauce

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This recipe is from Supercook . Partridge are great roasted with sage and pancetta. Here, to give some variety, they are sautéed and served with this splendid orange and vermouth sauce.

Planning

serves: 4
preparation time: 15 mins
cooking time: 40 mins

Ingredients

  • 4 partridge, halved
  • 2 oz unsalted butter
  • 4 shallots, finely chopped (alternatively 1 medium onion)
  • 6 fl oz chicken stock
  • 4 fl oz dry vermouth
  • 4 fl oz fresh orange juice
  • 5 fl oz double cream
  • 1 tbs chopped chives
  • 1 tbs beurre manié
  • salt and pepper

Method

Clean and dry the partridge halves and sprinkle them on both sides with a little salt and pepper. Melt the butter in a large sauté pan (with a lid available). Add the partridge halves and cook them for 6 to 8 minutes until they are lightly browned. Now cover the pan, reduce the heat to low and cook them for a further 10 to 12 minutes (or until tender) on each side. Transfer the partridges to a serving dish, cover and keep warm while you make the sauce. Retain the juices from the sauté pan but discard all but a tablespoon of fat.

In the retained fat, cook the chopped shallots until soft and translucent (not brown). Pour in the chicken stock and vermouth, raise the heat to high and reduce the liquid by about one third. Reduce the heat to moderate and add the orange juice, double cream and chives. While heating the sauce for a further 2 to 3 minutes, stir constantly and incorporate beurre manié until the sauce is thick and smooth. Do not let it boil.


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Posted in Game Tagged with:

Paella

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Since paella recipes vary depending upon what might be available, this should be treated as a guideline. Apparently some people get upset with chorizo in a paella but if you don’t call it Paella Valenciana, you might get away with it. I like it and it seems very Spanish though to be authentic, you should probably omit it.

This recipe, with a combination of meat and seafood, would be a paella mixta and it is how I like to make it for a dinner party. As a daily dinner, I make it simply with chicken, chorizo and prawns. Naturally, you can change the green vegetable – fine beans, halved, for example.

When adjusting the quantities for a different number, keep the total liquid quantity twice that of the rice.

Planning

serves: 6
preparation time: 30 mins
cooking time: 60 mins

Ingredients

  • 4-6 langoustines (1 each – or large crevettes)
  • 2 tbs olive oil
  • 1 small chicken (~2 lbs)
  • 1 chorizo sausage, chunked
  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 1 red pepper, seeded & chopped
  • 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
  • 3 large tomatoes, blanched, peeled, seeded and chopped
  • 1 tsp salt
  • ½ tsp pepper
  • 1 tsp paprika
  • 12 oz paella (bomba) rice
  • 30 fl oz water
  • juice of 1 lemon
  • pinch saffron threads soaked in another 6 fl oz warm water
  • 8 oz peas, shelled
  • 6 oz large prawns
  • 1 net mussels
  • 1 tbs chopped fresh parsley

Method

Scrub, de-beard and steam the mussels until only just opened. Remove most of the mussels from their shells but keep a few whole for decoration, if you like. Cut the chicken up into large-bite-size chunks. Bone the leg meat but joint the wings and leave the wing bones in.

In a large, deep frying pan (a paella pan if you happen to have one), heat the olive oil over moderate heat. Add the chicken and chorizo chunks and fry them for about 10 minutes until the chicken is brown. Remove the chicken and chorizo from the pan. The chorizo should have flavoured and coloured the olive oil beautifully.

Add the onion and red pepper to the pan and fry for 5-10 mins until the onion is soft and translucent but not brown. Add the garlic and cook for a further minute. Add salt, pepper and paprika stir in, then add the tomatoes and cook for 10 minutes or so until the tomatoes turn to pulp and the mixture thickens a little.

Add the rice to the pan and, stirring frequently, cook it for 3 mins until the grains become a little transparent. Add the water, lemon juice and the saffron mixture and bring to the boil. Return the chicken and chorizo to the pan and add the shelled peas. Lower the heat and simmer gently for 20 mins or so, stirring occasionally, until the liquid is almost all absorbed. Stir in the prawns and shelled mussels and cook for another few mins until just done – about 5 minutes. If you want the bottom of the rice toasted, as the Spanish do, do this last bit over higher heat.

Meanwhile, either cook (if raw) or reheat (if precooked) the langoustines/crevettes. Either way, 1 minute in boiling water should suffice.

Remove the pan from the heat and decorate with the langoustines and mussels in their shells. Sprinkle over the chopped parsley and serve immediately with copious quantities of dry white Spanish wine.


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Posted in Seafood Tagged with: