QUICK AND EASY LEMON MERINGUE PIE

Lemon meringue pie was a real treat when I was a child and my mum usually made it using a Green's pie filling mix.  I was reminded of this when reading a recent post in "Lavender and Lovage" about the Be-Ro recipe for it (see here).

Hence, on my recent trip to the UK I bought some of the packet mixes and I was keen to relive the memories.  Using ready made pastry it was done in no time at all and was exactly as I remembered it, especially as I made it in my ancient Pyrex pie dish, just like Mum would have done.

Of course, she always made her own pastry as I'm not sure there was any other option in the 50’s and 60’s and in any case, shop bought would have seemed far too extravagant!

It’s a delicious, quick and easy dessert and there was that glorious crunch when I cut the first slice - something that I always think of as a "Mary Berry moment"!

Ingredients 

1 pack of ready made, ready rolled shortcrust pastry

one sachet of Green's lemon pie filling (each pack contains two sachets)

2 medium eggs, separated

280ml (half a pint) cold water 

110g caster sugar

Method 

Remove the pastry from the fridge about 15 minutes before you start to bring it up to room temperature.

Preheat the oven to 200°C / 180° fan / gas mk 6.  Grease a 20cm pie dish and line it with the unrolled pastry.  Trim and crimp the edges then prick the base with a fork.  Line it with the baking parchment that comes with the pastry, fill with baking beans and blind bake for 15 minutes.

Reduce the oven temperature to 160°C / 140° fan / gas mk 3.

While the pastry case is baking, make the filling according to the packet instructions:  

Tip the sachet contents into a small saucepan and stir in the water until it's smooth.  Add the egg yolks and heat gently until it comes to the boil.  Cook for one more minute and allow to cool slightly.

Remove the pie dish from the oven, remove the baking paper and beans and pour in the lemon filling.

To make the meringue, put the egg whites into a clean bowl and whisk until stiff.  Add the sugar one spoon at a time and whisk again until stiff and glossy.

Spoon the meringue mixture over the lemon filling beginning at the edges.  Spread the meringue out to fill in the gaps and swirl to level and make a few peaks.

Bake for 25 minutes until the meringue is golden brown.  Allow to rest for 15 minutes before serving.

Serves 5-6 portions.

BEEF STROGANOFF

Back home in the UK for one of our regular visits, I met my brother at a quaint little Italian restaurant near Nottingham where I chose beef stroganoff from the menu.  I hadn’t had this for years and it was utterly delicious.  The steak was as tender as tender could be and the sauce rich and silky.  The restaurant owner said it’s not very Italian but when they try to take it off the menu people ask for it so they have to bring it back!

Back in France I was keen to recreate it for Nick and myself at home.  A short break in the current heatwave gave us a cooler evening when we could sit out in comfort and enjoy it.  Followed by cheese (using my new cheese plates) and plum and apple crumble using fruit from our own trees.  

I adapted this recipe from the Good Food website.  The break in the heat was all too brief and we were soon back to bbq and salad.

I found these cheese plates in a UK charity shop and acquired a second set so eight in total.  Perfect for a dinner party!

Determined to get them back to France I carried the boxes of them in my hand (under the seat in front) luggage and as predicted, they caused some confusion at the security scanner.  I suspect they might have looked like land mines!

Ingredients

1 tblsp olive oil

1 onion, sliced

1 clove of garlic, crushed or grated

1 large knob of butter

a handful of mushrooms, cleaned and sliced

1 tblsp plain flour

300g fillet steak or good quality frying steak, sliced

2 tblsp crème fraîche

1 tsp French mustard

100ml beef stock (or dry white wine) I used ½ a beef Oxo cube dissolved in boiling water

Method

Fry the onion in the olive oil on medium heat, until softened.  Add the garlic and fry briefly.

Add the butter to the pan then the mushrooms.  Fry until soft (about 5 minutes).  Tip everything out of the pan onto a plate or dish and set aside.

Put the flour into a dish and tip in the sliced steak, toss around to coat the steak.

Add a little more olive oil to the pan and fry the steak for 3-4 minutes until browned.  

Tip the onions and mushrooms back into the frying pan and add the crème fraîche, mustard and beef stock or white wine.  Stir and cook for another 5 minutes, season well and serve with chopped fresh parsley if you have any and an accompaniment of your choosing.  This could be rice, mashed potatoes, chips or pasta.  Anything goes.

Serves 2-3 portions. 

NOGGLE END TOMATO TARTS

Our tomatoes have started to ripen but although they taste delicious they would not win any beauty contest!  They are a bit "noggly" - lumpy and bumpy with the odd split.  With a pack of puff pastry in the freezer I decided to use some of them for little tarts.

There was also a selection of bits of cheese in the fridge - we call those "noggle ends" - bits you would put under the grill on toast or in a quiche.  I used Camembert and something called Tome aux Fleurs, a hard cheese with a crust of flower petals, which you can read about here.  Grated cheddar would have worked well.

Also lurking in the fridge was a small pack of cocktail frankfurters, purchased for some long forgotten event and never used but fortunately well within date. 

I used my free Yorkshire pudding tin (see here) to make four tarts but this time used a slightly bigger template to cut the pastry allowing me to crimp the edges more neatly.  (It's actually something I spotted in Ikea, is meant to be the base for one of those stainless steel kitchen tool holders and I had a hunch it would be just the right size.)

My pastry made four tarts and eight cocktail sausage rolls (recipe here) from the trimmings.  All fun to make and very tasty - a nice way to entertain children on a wet afternoon in the school holidays I think - they are very adaptable and bake in just the right amount of time to clear up then heat up a tin of baked beans!😋

Ingredients 

1 pack of ready made, ready rolled, oblong puff pastry

2 tsp French mustard (or brown sauce, onion chutney or ketchup if you prefer)

6 thick slices of tomato

Thin slices of any cheese you have (or grated cheddar if you prefer)

1 egg, beaten (optional but worth using if you are also making the sausage rolls)

Fresh or dried thyme

8 cocktail frankfurters (or one large frankfurter cut into bits or the filling from a sausage)

Method 

Preheat the oven to 200°C / 180° fan / gas mk6.  Grease the four holes of a Yorkshire pudding tin or four small tart tins (or use four ovenproof saucers placed on a baking sheet).

Allow the pastry to thaw and come up to room temperature.  Unroll and cut four circles about 2cm bigger than the holes using anything you have that’s the right size as a template.  Lay the pastry into the holes and crimp the edges.

Using the back of a teaspoon spread 1/2 tsp mustard over the base of each tart.  Add the slices of tomato, cutting to fill the pastry.  Arrange thin slices of cheese on top but leaving gaps as the cheese will melt and spread.

Brush the pastry edges with beaten egg (optional).  Sprinkle with fresh or dried thyme and bake for 20 minutes until the pastry is crisp and golden brown and the cheese has melted and bubbled.

Use the pastry trimmings to make little sausage rolls which can go into the oven at the same time.

Makes 4 tarts and 8 cocktail sausage rolls

APPLE CHUTNEY

Every year our apples fall from the tree too soon, heaps of them.  Most are unusable due to insect damage and end up in the compost but most years I manage to salvage some.  This year I decided to make some chutney.

I adapted a recipe on the Good Food website to what I had in stock, using Melfor vinegar instead of cider vinegar, demerara sugar instead of light muscovado and a mixture of raisins and sultanas.  You could also add other spices than just ginger: maybe cinnamon or even curry powder.

Peeling and chopping so many apples is not my favourite pastime so I've given it two stars for the amount of tedious work but it's a delicious chutney.  It goes well with our new favourite French cheese - Laguiole, which is not dissimilar to a strong cheddar and can usually be found amongst the Cantal cheeses as it’s from the same region of France.  

I'm sure it would go equally well with pork pie, sausage rolls and cold meats.

It’s ready for eating straight away but can be left to "mature" for a few weeks.

There was such a huge quantity of ingredients that I had to cook mine in two separate pans, dividing them equally between the two.  Interestingly, one lot cooked quicker than the other, the wider, flatter pan finishing first by several minutes!

I remembered a tip from, I think, a James Martin recipe on how to tell if your chutney is ready.  It should be nice and thick and when you drag your spoon through it there should be a clear trail which only fills with liquid very slowly.  If it refills immediately cook for longer, in five minutes intervals.

At the time of writing you can see the original recipe here.  The comments suggest it’s a very popular and successful recipe and there are interesting tips and ideas.

Ingredients 

1.5 kg cooking apples (prepared weight) I had about 1.7kg.

750g demerara sugar

500g mixed raisins and sultanas

2 medium white onions

2tsp mustard seeds

2tsp ground ginger

1tsp salt

700ml Melfor or cider vinegar 

Method

Put all of the ingredients into a large saucepan (or divide equally between two), bring to the boil gently then simmer uncovered for 30-40 minutes or until thick and ready (see picture above).  Stir frequently and adjust the heat so that that the chutney doesn’t catch on the bottom of the pan.

While the chutney is cooking sterilise eight suitable jars by washing in hot soapy water.  Rinse well and put jars and lids on a baking sheet in the oven set at 140°C for 20 minutes.

Allow the chutney to cool then fill your jars and seal tightly.  Once opened they should be kept in the fridge.

Makes 6-8 jars of chutney.

COLESLAW

Red cabbage and carrot slaw.

Coleslaw is a great accompaniment for a bbq, or with cold meats or quiche, but I sometimes find shop bought coleslaw disappointing; too sweet and runny with not enough crunch.  Some years ago I started making my own and have an easy recipe that can be adapted to your own taste.  The essential ingredients are hard cabbage, white and red, carrot and red onion.  I add a few sultanas for a hint of sweetness and occasionally some celery or celery seeds and chopped walnuts.

The word "slaw" means shredded cabbage so that's the basis of all variations.  Often I use simply red cabbage and carrot as the base.  The idea is to add ingredients, mix and taste continuously until it tastes as you like it.

It’s easy to make but make enough for just two days as it begins to lose its crunch after that.  Sometimes I chop, grate and shred by hand but admit that it’s quicker and has a more even texture if I use the slicing and grating disc on my food processor.  Quantities of ingredients are flexible and can be added to as you go along.

Ingredients 

1/4 each of a small red and white cabbage

1/2 a large red onion

1 large carrot

1 tsp French mustard 

A handful of sultanas

Salt and pepper

A splash of white wine vinegar (or cider vinegar)

Mayonnaise, low fat versions work well (see notes below)

Optional additions 

1 stick celery, wiped and sliced

Chopped spring onion

1 tblsp chopped walnuts

1 tsp celery seeds

Other seeds you might like such as pumpkin seeds

Lemon juice

Chopped apple

Anything else you fancy!

Method 

Remove the outer leaves and core of the cabbage and shred or chop finely (or use the fine slicing disc).  Make sure the strands are not too long as they can be awkward to serve and eat!

Peel and finely chop the onion (or use a grating disc).

Peel the carrot and grate or chop finely (or use the grating disc).

Tip everything into a large glass bowl, add the other ingredients and any extras and stir well.  

Now add mayonnaise one good squirt or tablespoon at a time, stirring every time, enough to coat the ingredients and bring it altogether but not so much as it pools or makes the slaw runny.  French mayonnaise often has mustard added already so you might not want to add extra.  Go steady with the vinegar or lemon juice as that can make it too sharp but if so, add a teaspoon of sugar to compensate.

Stir and taste, add more seasoning, mustard, vinegar and extras until it's as you like it.

Chill in the fridge until needed.

Makes roughly 8 small servings but there are people that would eat the whole lot if you don’t keep an eye on them!

SALMON KEBABS

We are having a more typical summer here in the middle of France so plenty of barbecues.  Much as I love a well cooked Toulouse sausage, the occasional steak and a good burger, I really fancied something lighter.  Looking at some twin packs of chunky salmon fillets I decided to go off piste.  Cooking fish on a bbq can be tricky.

The trick is to construct kebabs with chunkyish slices of courgette between the pieces of salmon so that the fish itself barely touches the grill because the courgette "wheels" raise it up.  Then the fish does not stick to the grill, you don’t have to scrape it off and it doesn't fall apart. Huzzah!!

The marinade is simple and the excess can be used for slices of aubergine or kebabs of courgette and tomato.  All very quick and easy to put together.

As an aside, we decided to go gas with our barbecue a few years ago, during lockdown in 2020 to be exact.  Cooped up in our little UK back garden during unusually good spring and summer weather (a saviour for our sanity that year) we lashed out on a reasonably priced one from Argos and it revolutionised our success rate with the food!  Predictable cooking times and no more burnt chicken!

We were so pleased with it that back in France the next summer (2021) we decided to get one there and ordered something that looked similar from Amazon.  It was more expensive but nowhere near as good, being flimsy, cheap looking and a self assembly nightmare.  We were very disappointed with it.  That’s the trouble with Amazon, you have no idea of the quality until you get it!  We repaired and repainted it each summer but when we wheeled it out of the barn in April this year we looked at the flaking paint and rust and decided it was time for a new one.  

Bricomarché had just set up their display of this year's barbecues so we swooped on a small Camping Gaz model, about the same price but infinitely more well made. Small but perfectly formed!  We're hoping it will last much longer! 

As a temporary measure we shoved the old one round the back of the house (where nobody sees it) until we feel up to heaving it into the trailer and taking it to the tip.  I hesitate to say it, but there seems something very "rural France" about that!

Ingredients

2 salmon fillets

2 tblsp olive oil

Zest and juice of 1 lemon

1tsp dried dill 

1 tsp dried parsley

Salt and pepper

1 courgette

½ a red pepper, deseeded

Method

To make the marinade mix the lemon, oil and herbs together in a medium sized bowl.

Remove any skin and bones from the salmon fillets and cut into large chunks.  Add to the marinade with salt and pepper to taste.  Stir well, cover with cling film or a lid and chill in the fridge until needed.

Wipe and thickly slice the courgette and pepper.  Assemble the kebabs by alternating salmon and courgette/pepper slices.  Pour residual marinade over the kebabs and grill on gentle heat, turning frequently until cooked through.  Check after about 5-6 minutes.

Any excess marinade can be used for aubergine slices or veg kebabs.

Serves 2.  

PLUM (OR NECTARINE) TART (can be gluten free)

The nectarine version.

The recipe for this popped up in my FB feed and comes from one of Nancy Birtwhistle's books, the one about gardening.  

The plum version before baking.

There is no pastry involved so some would ask - how can it be a tart?   I spent a happy few minutes looking up the definitions of cake, tart, torte and gateau and came to the conclusion that although it was definitely not a cake, a flan or a pie I still had no idea!  In any case it went down well for dessert at a BBQ one very hot June evening.

The plum version when cooked.

The first time I made this it was definitely a bit overdone - the plums looked a bit crozzled and it was a devil to get out of the tin.  Only when I made it the second time did I realise that I had baked the first one at 160° fan instead of 160° C.  A casualty of the debilitating heat - it had reached 39°C during the day and my concentration withers exponentially over 30°C!

The nectarine version - much less crozzled.

For the second time I used nectarines, didn't cram quite as much fruit in, and kept the slices away from the sides of the tin, which definitely made it easier to turn out, baked it at the right temperature and kept my eye on it.  With its apricot glaze it had that patisserie glamour.  It tasted great too.

Stoning the fruit can be a bit fiddly.  An old fashioned grapefruit knife came in handy for getting the stone out of some of the firmer fruits.  Changing the ordinary flour for gluten free flour (e.g. Doves Farm) will make it a gluten free dessert and a handy recipe to have instead of pavlova.

Ingredients

For the cake base

zest of 1 lemon

2 tsp lemon juice

30ml whole milk

125g softened butter or baking spread (I used Le Fleurier)

125g caster sugar

1 egg

125g plain flour or gluten free flour

125g ground almonds (or half and half ground almonds and ground rice)

For the topping/fruit

10-12 ripe plums or 3 large nectarines

2 tblsp apricot jam

Method

Butter the base and sides of a 23cm loose bottomed tart tin.

Put the milk and lemon juice into a small bowl or jug, mix together and set aside

In a large bowl, cream together the butter, lemon zest and sugar.  Add the egg and beat well until well combined.

Fold in the ground almonds (or almonds and rice), then the flour followed by the thickened milk.

The mixture will be quite thick so transfer it to the prepared tin and level with the back of a spoon or small palette knife.  Smooth the surface as much as possible then put the tin in the freezer while you prepare the fruit.

Cut each plum or nectarine in half and remove the stone.  Cut into quarters and slice thinly.  Plums  should make 8 slices each, nectarines 12 slices.

Preheat the oven to 160°C / 140° fan / gas mk3.  

Remove the tart case from the freezer and arrange the slices of fruit neatly in circles on top of the cake base.

Stand the tart tin on a baking sheet and bake in the oven for about 1 hour.  The fruit should be tender and the cake base lightly golden and cooked.

Remove from the oven to cool slightly.  Remove the tart from the tin and place on a serving plate.

To make the glaze, warm the apricot jam in a saucepan with 1 tblsp water.  Brush over the fruit.

Serves 8-10.

This is my gluten free version, made with apricots.  The cake base is as per the recipe above but using half and half ground almonds and ground rice, plus gluten free flour.

LEMON DRIZZLE BUNS

For a friend's birthday I gave her a pretty tin of eight home made lemon drizzle buns.  She and her husband are not regular consumers of cake so lemon drizzle seemed like a safe option.  They could have a bun each for birthday tea and freeze the rest to be enjoyed later.

The fashion for cupcakes seems to have passed but these could easily be called cupcakes, or fairy cakes, and decorated with buttercream or icing and sprinkles if you like.  When I was a little girl my mum often made things like this and they were always called "buns".  She rarely had a lemon in the house, except at Christmas, so would have added a few chopped glacé cherries or currants - in which case they would have been called cherry buns or currant buns (sometimes called Queen cakes).  Even more occasionally she would have swirled some simple icing on the top and maybe a few hundreds and thousands left over from the Christmas trifle, especially if aunts and uncles (and assorted cousins) were coming to tea which would have warranted something a bit more fancy than usual.

My mixture actually made nine buns so one served as "quality control" and consequently I can confirm that they were lovely.  My friend sent me a message the next day to say she and her husband really enjoyed them and none of them made it to the freezer!

Simple buns never go out of fashion.

Ingredients

For the buns

115g baking spread or softened butter

115g caster sugar

2 eggs

115g self raising flour

½ tsp baking powder

zest of 1 lemon

For the drizzle 

juice of 1 lemon

2 tblsp granulated sugar

Method

Put 10 paper cake cases into a muffin tin.  Preheat the oven to 200° C / 180° fan / gas mk 6.

Put all of the cake ingredients into a medium sized bowl and beat well with a hand held electric whisk, or a wooden spoon, until well blended.

Divide the mixture evenly between the bun cases filling each one to about two thirds full.  Using an ice cream scoop with a lever action can help to make them all about the same.

Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden brown and springy.  While they are in the oven make the drizzle by mixing the sugar and lemon juice together.

While the buns are still warm, prick holes in the top and spoon the drizzle over.  Remove from the tin to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Makes 8-10 buns.

RHUBARB FOOL

This gorgeous old fashioned dessert has a wow factor well beyond its simplicity.

The recipe has its origins in a book by Simon Hopkinson called "roast chicken and other stories" and I found it on a blog called "The Rhubarb Fool". 

The simplicity lies in the cooking of the rhubarb which is just baked in the oven with sugar until tender and processed in a food processor to a slightly lumpy purée. This is swirled into softly whipped double cream to give a marbled effect rather than blended to a homogenous pink.

We were having six guests for dinner on a June evening and it was Nick's idea after he spotted red rhubarb in a local supermarket.  I normally balk at the price of shop bought rhubarb but it does look so pretty for a special occasion.  This rhubarb was mostly a deep red with a little green on the stems which produced a very soft pink colour when cooked.  There was plenty of it so I put a layer in the bottom of each glass before topping with the actual fool mixture.

I happened to have some vanilla sugar on the go, long forgotten at the back of the cupboard from the last time I used an actual vanilla pod, which was a few years ago.  Otherwise I might have stirred a teaspoon of vanilla extract into the rhubarb before baking, or might have used plain caster sugar.

The recipe suggests swirling the reserved juice into the cream along with the purée but instead I served it separately as I was also making a chocolate torte and thought it would also be nice drizzled over that.

I decorated each one with a tiny sprig of mint.

Ingredients 

1.3 kg rhubarb 

500ml double cream

350g vanilla sugar or caster sugar

Grated zest of 1 orange (optional)

small sprigs of mint for decoration (optional)

Method

Preheat the oven to 190°C / 170° fan / gas mk 5.

Wipe, trim and roughly chop the rhubarb.

Tip it into a baking dish or roasting tin, spreading out into an even layer.  Sprinkle over the sugar and orange zest and stir in.  Do not add any water and cover with foil so that it bakes and does not roast or become brown.

Bake for 40-45 minutes until soft and tender.  Drain through a colander over a jug to retain the juice.

Allow to cool before transferring to a food processor and blend to a slightly lumpy purée.

In a large bowl, whip the cream until softly thick, i.e. not stiff but holds its shape.

Spoon a layer of puréed rhubarb into the bottom of eight glass dishes.  Fold the remaining purée into the whipped cream to give a marbled swirl effect and divide this between the dishes.

Decorate with a small sprig of mint (optional) and chill on a tray in the fridge for at least two hours or until needed.  Serve the reserved juice alongside.

Serves 8

GAZPACHO SOUP and how to peel tomatoes

With Nick away for a week I was looking forward to catching up with spring cleaning and other jobs.  Unfortunately the weather had other ideas.   We are having a prolonged heatwave here in the middle of France.  It's debilitatingly hot so I got much less done but I did get several invitations to eat out. 😄 Some of the invites clashed but I accepted as many as were physically possible and on one day had lunch with a couple of friends and dinner with a large group of others celebrating a move of house.  (The term for this is apparently a "house cooling", which is ironic considering the extremely warm weather!)

At both of these the meal began with Gazpacho, something I have eaten often but never made and is perfect for the hot weather.  It’s delicious and refreshing.  With another invite on the cards and all the stars aligned I decided it was time to have a go at making it myself and offered to bring the starter.

There are dozens of recipes out there in the ether, and on my bookshelves, and I consulted several, including one by Mary Berry from "Mary Makes it Easy" and one by David Herbert from "The Really Useful Cookbook".  I also took on board my friend's adaptations for the soup she served at lunch.  

Of the two gazpachos I had in one day, one of them clearly had bread in it and the other not.  I thought my soup turned out a bit too thick so next time I would probably halve the amount of bread and see how it goes.  I might even leave it out altogether (but still add the water) and see which version I like the best.

Most of the recipes said that the tomatoes should be peeled.  I have never peeled a tomato in my life before and whilst it's not difficult, it's rather tedious and a bit fiddly.  Hence I've given the recipe two stars in how faffy it is!

This is how I made mine.

Ingredients

1kg tomatoes, the riper the better, or about 6 large tomatoes

½ a large cucumber (unpeeled)

1 red pepper, de-seeded

55g white bread, no crusts (see notes above and maybe try 30g or just a chunk)

250ml water

2 cloves of garlic, peeled (3 cloves if you like your soup very garlicky)

½ a red onion, peeled

2 tblsp good quality olive oil

2 tblsp balsamic vinegar

1 tblsp tomato purée

1 tsp sugar

salt and pepper

extra olive oil and chopped cucumber for serving

Method

Put the chunks of bread into a bowl with the water and set aside to soak while you deal with the veg.

To peel the tomatoes

Cut a cross in the bottom of each one (i.e. the opposite end to the stalk) and put into a large Pyrex or similar bowl.  Cover with boiling water and leave for 45 seconds.  Transfer to a similar bowl containing cold water (tap water temperature is fine).  Using a small pointed knife such as a paring knife pick up the point of one section of the peel where you cut the cross in a tomato and drag the peel downwards away from the tomato to remove it.  

Prepare all the veg by washing or wiping, peeling where appropriate and chop medium small.

Put all the ingredients into a large bowl, including the soaked bread, and stir well.  Transfer in batches to a food processor or blender and blend until it's as smooth as you would like it.  (You could of course use a stick blender in a suitable container.)  Mine had tiny chunks of veg in it.  Other recipes say to keep going until the soup is smooth.  To quote James Martin "it's entirely up to you"!

Transfer the blended soup to a large jug or container and chill in the fridge for several hours.  I added a few ice cubes before serving to chill further.

The soup looks very nice served in a large glass jug at the table, pouring out into small soup bowls or glass bowls.  Add a drizzle of olive oil to each one and a few bits of veg, chopped small for garnish.  I added chopped cucumber but you could use green pepper, avocado, tomato or, as some recipes suggest, chopped hard boiled egg (this sounded a bit odd to me!).

Serves 8-10 small portions, 6-8 slightly larger.

(I brought the leftovers home with me and the soup was still good two days later, which suggests that it could easily be made and left chilling in the fridge the day before you need it.)

AMUSE BOUCHE

An amuse bouche is an appetiser served before a meal usually with a drink or apéritif.  Usually it would be  blinis, dips or toasts, but sometimes something in a small glass called a verrine.  These are often layered up with  cream cheese, chopped veg or salad, chilled soup or even a mini prawn cocktail.

Some friends served a delicious amuse bouche a while ago (in little plastic pots) that she had bought locally and ever since I have been on the lookout for the right kind of glass or verrine.  When I spotted these glass espresso cups on a stall at a brocante it occurred to me that they would be perfect for an amuse bouche.  With a full set of ten for 3€ they were a bargain.  They could even be used for actual espressos if I was entertaining quite a crowd!  You can of course use any kind of glass of the right size but preferably glass not china so that you can see all the layers.  Mismatched glasses look very pretty too.

My first experiment was layers of whipped goat's cheese with crème fraîche, topped with chopped cooked green asparagus and finally chopped dice of smoked salmon mixed with a little lime juice, decorated with some snipped chives and an asparagus tip. For the second attempt I swapped the asparagus for chopped cucumber and decorated with a slice of cherry tomato.  

They were not quite as refined as the shop bought alternatives - a little more rustic or homely looking - but delicious!

I think I could improve the look by whipping the cheese and crème fraîche to give it more volume and  make it lighter in texture.  Piping it into the glass would make it a bit tidier.  But there was nothing wrong with the taste.  The friends I used as guinea pigs were very "amused"!

Ingredients 

2 tblsp whipped goat's cheese or other cream cheese

2 tblsp crème fraîche

1 tbslp chopped cooked asparagus stems (or chopped cucumber)

1 tblsp chopped smoked salmon

1 tsp lime juice

snipped chives

asparagus tips or cherry tomato slices to decorate

Method

Beat together the whipped goat's cheese and crème fraîche and divide between the glasses.  Mix the smoked salmon and lime juice together.  Layer the asparagus and smoked salmon on top of the cheese mixture, snip some fresh chives over, add the decoration and chill in the fridge until ready to serve.

Serves 4.  Serve with a small teaspoon or coffee spoon alongside, small enough to get to the bottom of the glass!

For a very quick vegetarian amuse bouche, which came about because of a couple of nearly empty tubs of shop bought dips in the fridge:

Ingredients 

1 dessert spoon tzatziki (a cucumber dip)

1 dessert spoon ktipiti (a red pepper and feta dip)

1 dessert spoon natural Greek yoghurt 

Chopped cucumber

Chopped pepper (red or green)

1 cherry tomato or 1 red and 1 yellow (you will only need half of each)

Method 

Stir half of the yoghurt into each dip to loosen it.

Layer up with the cucumber and pepper into espresso glasses

Top with sliced tomato

Garnish with a sprig of mint or chopped chives if you like (I didn’t get that far)

Chill for 30 minutes before serving, if you can wait that long!

Serves 2.

SAUCY LEMON PUDDING

Don't be put off by the rather uninspiring photo! This pudding is delicious!

There are plenty of recipes on the internet for it and this one comes from the Olive Magazine website.  It popped up in my news feed at the right time when I needed a pudding and although easy is a little vague.  The instructions tell you to mix the batter in a food processor, to whisk the egg whites until firm but not stiff and fold the two mixtures.  You can (at the time of writing) see the recipe here.

I dutifully processed the batter in my Magimix, whisked the egg whites separately and…..then what?  I thought tipping the egg whites into the food processor would beat all of the air out of them so I spooned the batter mixture into the egg whites instead.  That seemed like use of a food processor for its own sake and it would have made more sense to mix the batter in a bowl by hand or with an electric whisk then fold in the egg whites.  Then , when I went back and looked at the videoclip in the recipe ……. that's exactly what was shown! 😁 The written recipe did not match the video instructions which made a lot more sense!

If you serve the pudding more or less straight from the oven you get a sponge with a runny custard underneath it.  If you serve it a bit later the custard sets the way custard does but it’s no less delicious for that and perfect with a little cream (or ice cream).  The next time I make it I would use a different dish and take a better photo.  Watch this space!

Ingredients

200g golden caster sugar (or white)

50g butter

zest of 1 lemon

juice of 1 lemon plus extra to make up to 100ml

50g plain flour

3 eggs, separated

250ml milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

Method

Butter a baking dish or soufflé dish.  Preheat the oven to 180C / 160 fan / gas mk 4.

Put the egg whites into a medium bowl and beat with an electric hand held whisk until firm but not completely stiff.

Put the butter, sugar and lemon zest into a large bowl.  Beat with the whisk until paler and creamy.   Add all the other ingredients and beat until you have a smooth batter.

Gently fold in the egg whites with a metal spoon until well combined then pour the mixture into your baking dish. 

Sit the dish in an oven tray half filled with hot water and bake for 40-50 minutes until set and a light golden brown.  

Dust with icing sugar and serve hot so that the sauce underneath is runny.  It will set as the pudding cools but is equally delicious.

Serves 4.

VEG DRAWER SOUP and the death of a soup maker

This very basic vegetable soup has always been one of my favourites.  It uses all the bits and pieces in the veg drawer that could very easily be destined for the compost heap but instead you get a very tasty virtually free lunch.  You can use more or less any veg you have as long as it has something that will thicken the soup such as potatoes or any root veg.  My selection is influenced by the very first vegetable soup I ever made, years ago, to a recipe by Nigella Lawson.

Unfortunately during the cooking programme my soup maker seems to have died.  When it got to the blending stage there was just a weak humming noise.  😞

I bought both of my soup makers in 2021, firstly a Morphy Richards in the UK just after Christmas then one in France a few months later, almost identical but quite a bit cheaper in a sale.  The French one has been used a lot over the years so I suppose for what it cost I've had my money's worth.

When we next go to the UK by car I will probably bring the Morphy Richards one back to France as it doesn't get used very often, only a handful of times per year.  In the meantime, I can use the broken French one on the "chunky" function, mainly used for soups like minestrone, which cooks the soup just the same but doesn't finish it off by blending.  On this occasion I just fished my stick blender out of the depths of the kitchen drawer and used that to finish the soup.  The deep shape of the machine made the blending very easy, probably easier than in a saucepan which would be wider, and much easier than transferring to a separate blender or food processor.  Just one extra piece of washing up, the stick blender wand, so it will do for now.

I notice that I can get a very similar new one for about 50€ on Amazon but would rather not spend the extra money as long as the heating element is still working and cooking the soup.

Update  I made a red pepper and tomato soup yesterday on chunky, got my stick blender ready, and thought I would try the "blender only" function on the soup maker, just in case.  It worked!  Maybe it just needed a rest!

Ingredients

4 small carrots

2 small potatoes

1 leek

a handful of radishes

1 large tomato

1 stick celery

1 chunk of cauliflower

3 broccoli stalks, woody outer layer removed

dry sherry and grated nutmeg (optional)

cream or crème fraîche for serving (optional)

Method

Wash, trim and roughly chop enough veg to fill the soup maker to the bottom line.

Add 1 vegetable stock pot and water to the top line.  Cook on smooth (or cook on chunky and finish with a stick blender).

Stir in a splash of dry sherry and a sprinkle of nutmeg before serving, and a swirl of cream in the bowl.

Makes 4 generous bowls of soup.

BANANA CAKE with walnuts

Using up fruit and veg so as not to waste any is a challenge.  This includes bananas and I'm not always ready to make a cake so lately I have been freezing them at the point where they are just over but still firm enough to peel easily.  I just peel them and pop them in a plastic bag, two at a time, draining off any excess liquid when thawed.  Hence this cake came about because I needed freezer space, we were on a mission to use up frozen food and friends were coming round for apéros.  Why not give them cake as well as savoury nibbles?!

I have made a lot of different banana cakes over the years and there have been some really stunning ones.  In fact the only failure was a recipe using Trex which was, truthfully, grim!  (See here.)  However, I've had my eye on this recipe for a while and decided to give it a go.  The only issue was that it required "4 tablespoons of melted butter" and I wasn't quite sure how to do that - melt some butter and measure out 4 tablespoons - what would you do if there wasn't enough or too much?  Or soften some butter and scoop out 4 tablespoons before melting it?  My butter was quite hard so I googled it and the consensus was that 4 tablespoons was 60 grams so that's what I weighed out and melted and it produced exactly the right amount!

This was an excellent banana cake with a lovely texture and a glossy top.  Very easy to make and definitely a winner. At the time of writing you can see the recipe here and I decorated mine with some walnut halves and banana chips.

Ingredients 

350g peeled ripe bananas, thawed if frozen

180g plain flour

2½ tsp baking powder

60g butter, melted (4 tblsp)

160g soft light brown sugar

2 eggs, beaten

50g walnuts, roughly chopped

walnut halves and banana chips to decorate (optional)

Method

Preheat the oven to 190°C / 170° fan / gas mk 5.  Butter a 2lb (900g) loaf tin or use a paper liner.

Mash 2/3 of the bananas to a pulp in a bowl, add the remaining bananas and mash roughly so that you have a few lumps.

Put the eggs, melted butter and sugar into a large bowl and beat with a hand held electric whisk, or a wooden spoon, until pale and creamy.  Sift in the flour and baking powder, add the bananas and fold in until well combined.  Stir in the chopped walnuts evenly.

Spoon into the prepared tin and bake for about an hour.  Cover loosely with foil after 30 minutes to prevent scorching.

Cool in the tin for 10 minutes then turn out onto a wire rack to finish cooling.

Cuts into 10 slices.

ASPARAGUS, CHEESE AND LEEK QUICHE

A change in the weather here in the middle of France has seen us cooking less wintry food; barbecues, quiche and salads.  It makes a welcome change from soups and stews.  We had a whole week of nice warm days and well appreciated it was.

This is a version of a recipe that popped up in my news feed, an extract from a recent Hairy Bikers cookbook.  We don't buy the white asparagus that is piled high in supermarkets and on market stalls, preferring the green stuff which is sold in bundles and always a joy to cook.  This recipe uses just a few stems, so about half a bundle.

I used a pack of pastry which had been brought to France from the UK at Christmas and then frozen.  This might seem a bizarre thing to do, especially as there is no shortage of pastry in the shops here (and I could always make my own).  In my defence, the oblong packs of pastry fit my large English oblong quiche tin, which feeds quite a crowd, perfectly, and shortcrust is only available in circles here, which means a lot of trimming and patching to fit an oblong tin, with a strong risk of leakage, unless I do have the time to make my own.  Consequently I took the opportunity to stock up on oblong pastry when travelling to and from the UK by car, which is only at Christmas nowadays.

Mind you, I usually give the pastry an extra roll to increase the size a bit.  This allows it to be draped over the edge of the tin and prevents it from shrinking back during the blind baking.

It was a very tasty quiche and we served it with small potatoes and a large salad, followed by a lemon pudding.  Spring food at last.

Ingredients 

A pack of ready made, ready rolled shortcrust pastry.

2 medium leeks, white part only

Half a bundle, about eight stalks, of asparagus

4 eggs

250 ml double cream

2 tblsp crème fraîche or milk

A large chunk of gruyère cheese (or cheddar)

A few halved cherry tomatoes for decoration (optional)

Method 

Allow the pastry to reach room temperature before unrolling to avoid it developing small cracks.

Preheat the oven to 180°C / 160° fan / gas mk 4.  Grease a suitable tart/quiche/flan tin or dish.

Line the tin with the pastry, allowing a little excess to drape over the edges to avoid shrinkage.  Prick the pastry, line with baking paper, fill with baking beans and blind bake for 15 minutes.  If using a loose based tin, standing it on a baking sheet makes it easier to lift in and out of the oven without the risk of accidentally pushing up the loose base and damaging the pastry case. 

While the pastry is cooking, wipe, wash and trim the leeks and cut into slim rounds.  Fry gently in a little butter until softened but not browned.

Trim and wash the asparagus stalks.  Cut into short lengths, say 5cm, and cook in boiling water for a few minutes until just tender.

Remove the paper and beans from the tart and return to the oven for a couple of minutes to dry the pastry.

Arrange the leeks and asparagus over the pastry and cover with a good sprinkling of grated cheese.

Whisk the eggs and cream together in a measuring jug and make up to 450ml with extra cream, crème fraîche or milk.  Pour this gently over the filling but don't overfill; stop just short of the top.  Dot with cherry tomatoes if using.

Reduce the oven temperature to 160° C / 140° fan / gas mk3 and return the quiche to bake for around 30 minutes or until it is nicely browned with a slight wobble.  Don’t leave it in there until it's solid. Leave to cool a bit to allow for setting before removing from a loose based tin. Trim off the overhanging pastry with a sharp knife.

Serve warm or cool with potatoes and salad.

Makes 6 generous portions.