RHUBARB GALETTE Chez Panisse

 

One lovely warm evening last summer we were invited out to dinner by some Irish friends.  For dessert they served "rhubarb galette Chez Panisse", a recipe from a famous restaurant in California that I had never previously heard of.  It was utterly divine, in a very rustic looking way, and I knew that one day I would have a go at making it myself.  

We have been unable to grow our own rhubarb in France but our friends who live only a few kilometres away have two thriving plants so I cadged some of theirs to make the galette.  The rhubarb plant we have in the UK does really well in the much cooler and damper climate so whenever we make the trip there we bring some back for the freezer.  A bundle of rhubarb has caused our cabin bag to fail the scanner test at the airport more than once and produced a few raised eyebrows amongst security staff and fellow passengers!

The recipe comes from a book by Rick Stein called "the road to Mexico".  I found a copy in a local charity shop but you can also see the recipe online here.

I don't often make my own pastry these days.  

I used my measuring mat to roll it out to a reasonably shaped circle.

The next step was to arrange pieces of rhubarb in the right pattern on the pastry.

The edges are then folded over and crimped.

Mine didn't look quite as neat and tidy as the picture in the book.

However, it tasted delicious and I would definitely make it again.

A word of warning though.  Rhubarb produces quite a lot of liquid when cooked.  My largest baking sheet, just big enough to accommodate the tart, was very flat and it warped slightly in the oven.  Rhubarb juice was running off the tart onto the oven floor for a while before I realised what was happening, producing one heck of a sticky mess.  I put a roasting tin on the shelf below to catch any further drips but not soon enough to prevent a serious oven cleaning session the next day.  Oh well, the tart was worth it and the oven was ready for a clean!

Next time I will be aware of this and maybe make a smaller tart that fits onto a baking sheet with more of a lip, such as a pizza baking tray.

*I had a mishap when making the glaze, took my eye off the ball and ended up with unusable solid caramel.  So, I drizzled some golden syrup over the tart instead!  Next time I might miss this step out completely as I suspect the tart would be plenty sweet enough without it.  I shall report back!

Ingredients

For the pastry

225g plain flour

pinch of salt

170g cold unsalted butter, cubed

80ml ice cold water

For the filling

500g rhubarb, washed and cut into 6cm (4") batons (keep the trimmings)

zest of 1 orange

200g granulated sugar

pinch of salt

1 tbslp dessert wine (I used sherry)

juice of 1/2 an orange

30g unsalted butter, melted

30g caster sugar

For the glaze*

75ml water

2 tblsp granulated sugar

the rhubarb trimmings, chopped

Method

In a food processor, pulse the flour and salt for a few seconds.  Add the butter and process briefly.  Add the water and process until the pastry just comes together.

Transfer the pastry to a floured work surface and knead briefly.  Pat into a disc then place it on a sheet of lightly floured baking parchment.  Roll it out into circle measuring 35cm and 4-5mm thick.  Lift the paper onto a suitable baking sheet (see my note above) and chill in the fridge while you prepare the rhubarb.

Put the orange juice, zest, granulated sugar and wine into a bowl and mix together.  Add the rhubarb pieces and toss around so that they are well coated.  

Preheat the oven to 220°C / 200° fan.

Remove the pastry from the fridge and arrange the rhubarb pieces on top as in the picture, leaving a border of 5-6 cm around the edge.  Trim the fruit as necessary to fit and save the trimmings.  Sprinkle any residual sugar mixture on top.  Fold the pastry border over the rhubarb and crimp the edge.

Brush the fruit with about 1/3 of the melted butter and sprinkle over about 1/3 of the caster sugar.  Repeat twice so all the butter and sugar are used up.  (I misread this step and used all of the butter and sugar in one go.  I'm not sure it made a significant difference.)

Bake the galette for 10 minutes then lower the oven temperature by 20° to 200°C / 180°fan.  Bake for a further 30-35 minutes until the pastry is golden brown.  Keep your eye on it and don't let it brown too much.

When the galette is cooked, remove from the oven and leave to cool while you make the glaze.

Put the rhubarb trimmings into a small pan and cook until soft with the water.  Lift out and discard the rhubarb and add the sugar.  Continue cooking until the liquid is reduced to a thick syrup and brush it over the rhubarb.  (See my notes above*.)

Serves 8.

QUICHE OF THE DAY - LEEK, BACON AND ASPARAGUS

The asparagus season is well under way and I bought a large bundle on the market.  I added sliced leek, chunky smoked lardons and a sprinkling of Emmental cheese for a delicious and filling quiche.

The circles of ready made, ready rolled pastry here in France is large enough to allow an overlap of my 20cm tart tin.  This prevents the pastry from shrinking away from the edge during blind baking.

Sitting the tart tin on a baking sheet avoids accidents where the loose bottom of the tin is pushed up through the pastry when lifting it in and out of the oven.

It has happened to me!

The quiche puffed up during baking but sank back down again as it cooled.

Ingredients

 

1 ready made pack of shortcrust pastry

8 sticks of asparagus, trimmed and halved

1 pack of smoked lardons

1 large leek, trimmed, cleaned and sliced thinly

4 eggs

2 tblsp cream or crème fraîche

about 200ml milk

a handful of Emmental cheese

Method

Preheat the oven to 200°C / 180° fan / gas mk 6.  Grease the base and sides of a 20cm loose bottomed tart tin.

Allow the pastry to come up to room temperature to avoid it cracking when you unroll it.  Line the tin with the excess draped over the edge, line with baking paper and fill with baking beans.  Blind bake for 15 minutes.

While the pastry is baking, cook the lardons in a frying pan on gentle heat.  There should be sufficient fat on them but add a little oil if necessary.  Add the sliced leeks and cook until almost tender.

Cook the asparagus spears in a little boiling water for a few minutes until just tender.

Remove the tart from the oven and lift out the paper and beans.  If the pastry looks damp, return to the oven for another five minutes.

Beat the eggs in a measuring jug with the cream or crème fraîche and make up to 400ml with the milk.  Season with pepper but go easy on the salt as the lardons will be salty.

Spread the leek and lardons mixture over the pastry case then arrange the asparagus on top.  Pour the egg mixture over but don't over fill.  Liquid spilling over the top of the case will cause the pastry to stick to the tin like glue!  

Sprinkle with the grated cheese and return to the oven.  Reduce the temperature by 20° to 180°C / 160° fan and bake for around 30 minutes until lightly browned and set.  There should be a slight wobble but no liquid in the middle.  

Remove from the oven and whilst still warm trim off the excess pastry with a small sharp knife before turning out onto a plate.

Serve warm or at room temperature.

Cuts into 6 slices.

FRIDGE BOTTOM FRITTATA

As time goes by we have become more adept at using up what we have in stock rather than shop for more food.  There are several reasons for this.  

The first is probably because we have more time to cook.

The second is that in France we live a good distance from any shops.  There is a village shop which sells a limited range of basics about 3km away but a supermarket selling everything is at least a twenty minute drive away.  We therefore shop less frequently and make sure we use everything up.

The third is that out here in rural France fresh produce does not seem to keep as long as stuff that we used to get from say Tesco or Sainsbury's.  I don't know why that is but we find ways to use up leftovers and veg before they become too tired.

The fourth is thrift.  Now that we are retired we have to be a bit more careful.  We enjoy eating out and balance the cost of that with sensible shopping.

The fifth is to avoid waste, for all the reasons above.

 

There are several ways to use up random leftovers of cooked or raw food.  You can make them into soup, into a quiche, in a salad, a gratin, or one of our favourites, a frittata.

This one had in it leeks, broccoli (stalks and florets) cherry tomatoes, courgettes and cooked brussels sprouts plus leftover bbq bits and pieces including smoked sausage and baby potatoes. You could add any herbs or spices, fresh or dried, or chilli flakes.

As a friend of mine used to say, if you have eggs, you have dinner!

Ingredients

1 leek, trimmed and sliced thinly

a few cherry tomatoes, halved

a handful of broccoli florets and the stalk, trimmed and sliced

a piece of cooked sausage

1 courgette, washed and sliced

a few cooked leftover sprouts, halved

4 eggs beaten

1 tblsp crème fraîche or cream

Herbs, fresh or dried

Method

Preheat the oven to 200C / 180 fan.

Cook the broccoli in boiling water for a few minutes until tender.

Heat a little oil in a frying pan with an ovenproof handle.  Cook the leeks and courgette until tender. 

Add the tomatoes, potatoes, sprouts, broccoli and sausage and stir into the pan.

Beat the eggs with the crème fraîche.  Season with salt and pepper and add a few chopped herbs, fresh or dried if you like.

Pour the egg mixture over the veg mixture and heat gently until the bottom is cooked but the top still liquid.  

Transfer the pan to the oven and cook for 20-25 minutes or until the eggs are set.  If you don't have a frying pan with a metal/ovenproof handle, you can cook the whole thing in the oven, just tip the veg etc into a baking dish or tray, pour the egg mixture over and cook in the oven for a little longer.

Serve hot with salad or other veg.  Also good cold.

Serves 2-3, depending on what you serve with it.

BANANA AND CARAMEL MUFFINS

 

With some bananas going past their best in the fruit bowl I looked for something different from my usual cake recipes to make use of them.

I settled on a recipe in one of my favourite books, a W.I. publication called "cakes" by Liz Herbert where they are called "Banana Banoffee Muffins".

I would normally have used some Bonne Maman caramel but have recently had trouble getting hold of it.  The French supermarkets I usually frequent no longer seem to stock it.

I mostly use it for baking - for example see here.

Consequently I have bought other brands instead.

They are not quite the same!

The caramel did sink to the bottom of the muffins as warned in the recipe!

They were however, utterly delicious!  Dead easy to make, wickedly sweet and very bananary, they were a hit with all who tried them and I still have four in the freezer for a future treat.  Yum !!!

Ingredients

225g plain flour

1½ tsp baking powder

½ tsp bicarbonate of soda

150g golden caster sugar

2 medium ripe bananas, peeled and mashed

2 eggs, beaten

4 tblsp sour cream or crème fraîche

½ tsp vanilla extract

80g butter, melted and cooled

10 tsp caramel spread/jam or tinned caramel

Method

First, have the butter melted and set aside to cool.

Preheat the oven to 190°C / 170° fan /gas mk 5.  Put 10 muffin cases into a muffin tin.  (My mixture actually made 11.)

Sift the flour, BP and bicarb into a large bowl.  Stir in the sugar.

Make a well in the centre and add the bananas, eggs, crème fraîche, butter and vanilla.  Fold or mix together until just combined.

Spoon the mixture equally into the muffin cases.  Make a depression in the top of each one with a spoon and drop a teaspoon of caramel into each one.

Bake for 20-25 minutes until firm and golden.  Remove from the tin to a wire rack to cool.

Makes 10 - 11 muffins.

STRAWBERRY UPSIDE DOWN CAKE

The minute I saw Dom's post about an upside down Victoria sponge (see here), I knew I had to bake one as soon as possible!  

In the end I used my usual all-in-one sponge cake recipe from Mary Berry and constructed the cake slightly differently but it looked stunning and tasted delicious!  I took it to a friend's house for a birthday dinner and it went down very well.

I was pleased with the cream filling.  Whipping up French cream to a suitable stiffness can be a challenge but combining it with cream cheese made a difference.  For once it all stayed in the cake and didn’t run out of the middle!

The second time I made the cake I used a slightly smaller tin and the ingredients for a three egg sponge (175g each of flour, fat and sugar).  I had half as many strawberries so they went into one sponge tin.  I filled the cake with a good layer of strawberry jam and about two thirds of the quantity of cream filling.  I took it to an afternoon tea where it was declared a hit and there was only one slice left.

The plate is one of a number of pretty plates that over the years I have snaffled from the "help yourself" table at the local déchetterie (tip/recycling centre).  I have a stack of free or charity shop plates that I can leave the with the host, which saves any scrambling to deal with leftovers in order to give the plate back.  

Ingredients 

For the sponges

225g each of self raising flour

                      caster sugar

                      spreadable butter, baking spread or softened butter

1 level tsp baking powder

4 eggs

a splash of milk

400g strawberries, trimmed and quartered

1 tblsp granulated sugar

For the filling

150ml double cream

100g cream cheese

1 tblsp icing sugar

Method

First of all, put the strawberries into a bowl with the granulated sugar, stir to ensure all the fruit gets a good coating and set aside while you make the cake mixture.

Preheat the oven to 180°C / 160° fan / gas mk 4.  Grease and line the base of two 20cm sandwich tins.

Put all the cake ingredients into a large bowl and beat with a hand held electric whisk (or a wooden spoon) until smooth and well combined, adding enough milk to loosen the mixture if it is very stiff.

Divide the strawberries between the two tins in an even layer and spoon the sponge mixture on the top.  Spread out carefully so as not to disturb the strawberries too much.  Level the tops and bake for about 25 minutes until done.

Leave in the tin for a few minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool.  Remember to remove the paper lining!  Be gentle as the sponges are quite delicate and may split.

To make the filling, put all the ingredients into a medium bowl and beat together until smooth.

When the sponges are completely cold, put one onto a serving plate or cake stand, strawberry side up.  Spread the cream filling over the top.

If you feel brave, flip the other sponge and place on top of the cream, strawberry side down as per Dom's recipe.  Otherwise, place it on top strawberry side up like mine.

Dust with icing sugar before serving.

Cuts into 10 slices

EGGS BENEDICT

There is a salon de thé called the "Pink and Cosy" in La Roche-Posay where they serve excellent salads, cakes and light meals.  We usually go for the eggs Benedict as the eggs are always perfect and the Hollandaise sauce delicious.  

English muffins are readily available in French supermarkets so I bought a pack and decided to have a go at making eggs Benedict myself.  I used a Jamie Oliver recipe here for the Hollandaise sauce.  (This was my first time at making my own as previously I have used a packet mix.)

It took two of us to make the whole dish.  Getting the muffins toasted in the toaster, the bacon cooked in the air fryer and the eggs poached at the same time as making the sauce seemed to be a two person job.  The sauce requires the full attention of one person and the rest is a juggling act that requires a bit more practice.  Either that or two pairs of hands and eyes in the back of your head!!   However, they were utterly delicious and well worth the effort.

You can poach the eggs in advance, plunging them into cold water when just done, then reheating in simmering water for a couple of minutes.  You can even do them the day before and keep them in the fridge overnight.  

Jamie Oliver says that the way to keep your Hollandaise sauce warm is to pour it into a vacuum flask, warming it first by rinsing out with boiling water.  Or you can try keeping it warm in your bowl over simmering water by stirring every so often until you need to serve it.

Ingredients for the sauce

150g unsalted butter

2 large egg yolks

1 dessertspoon white wine vinegar

a splash of lemon juice (I used Jif lemon)

Method

Put the butter into a small saucepan and melt over gentle heat.  Set aside.

Put the egg yolks into a heatproof bowl over a saucepan containing just simmering water.  Choose a bowl that sits firmly on the rim of the pan without rocking about and make sure that it doesn’t touch the surface of the water.  Break the egg yolks with a whisk and begin whisking.  Whisk in the vinegar.

Dribble the melted butter into the eggs and continue whisking until you have a thick, glossy sauce.  Season lightly with salt and pepper.

Serve immediately or keep warm.

For the eggs Benedict 

2 English muffins 

4 eggs

4 rashers of bacon.

 Method 

Split the muffins and lightly toast both sides.

Grill or fry the bacon until as cooked or crisp as you like it.  (I did mine in the air fryer.)

Poach the eggs to your liking (see method here).

Place a split, toasted muffin on each plate.  Top each half with a rasher of bacon then a poached egg and spoon over the Hollandaise sauce.

Serves 2.

A CHICKEN STIR FRY TRAY BAKE

 

I spotted a recipe on FB that looked really easy, quick and very tasty.

The ingredients of a stir fry but baked in the oven.

We had a couple of small chicken fillets in the fridge and all the other ingredients in stock.

We were good to go.  

The recipe included some chilli but we avoid chilli so left it out.

It was still very tasty.

We had ours with plain boiled rice.

It was very tasty, filling, quick and easy.  A perfect weekday dinner.

Ingredients

1 large skinless chicken breast

1/2 a red pepper, seeds removed 

1 small red onion 

1/2 a head of broccoli

1 200g can beansprouts, drained

1 tblsp runny honey

1 tblsp olive oil or a few squirts low cal spray

1 - 2 tsp soy sauce 

1 tsp smoked paprika

Method 

Preheat the oven to 200°C / 180° fan.

Slice the chicken and all the veg into bite sized pieces.  

Tip into an ovenproof dish and drizzle over the soy sauce and honey.  Spray with oil spray or drizzle with the olive oil.

Sprinkle over the paprika and season with salt and pepper.

Toss everything around to coat with the flavourings and bake for 20 minutes, stirring half way through, or until the chicken is cooked and the veg tender.  

(I suppose that if your air fryer basket is big enough, or if cooking for one and you halve the ingredients, you could cook this in your air fryer.)

Serves 2

AIR FRYER HERBY POTATOES and home made one-cal spray oil

When it was a really nice day recently we decided to abandon all plans for chores, gardening and DIY and have a late lunch bbq.

It being still only March we didn't quite feel like wheeling the gas bbq out of the barn and setting it all up which would have taken quite a while.  However, last year we bought a small electric bbq at a brocante for 8€ which has been a huge success so we used that instead.

We did some of our chicken, lemon and thyme kebabs (see here), a carrot and red cabbage coleslaw (see here) and some air fryer herby mini potatoes.  When the gas barbecue comes out for the year we will do our potatoes on that instead as the process is just the same (cooking the potatoes in a foil tray on the bbq) but on this occasion the air fryer came into its own and lunch was on the table (outdoors in the early spring sunshine) within half an hour.

Another thing I have started using recently is home made one-cal oil spray.  This is a tip from Nancy Birtwhistle and it works really well, makes spray oil without any additives cheaply and easily.  I bought a glass spray bottle from Amazon that has liquid measurements on the side and which makes the job of making the oil so easy.

We have found our tiny Instant Pot air fryer very useful for lots of things but wouldn't claim that we can cook everything in it.  We still use our main oven a lot.  I don't subscribe to the theory that if you have an air fryer you can do away with the oven any more than you could manage with just a microwave, or slow cooker.  I have found that different kitchen gadgets are ideal for different things but I certainly don't regret getting the air fryer.  I'm not sure I would attempt to bake a cake in it.  If there are two items that need cooking in the oven we would use that instead of the air fryer.  Horses for courses.

Do you have one and what do you use it for?

Some of the things we find it ideal for are:

Chicken fillets

Salmon fillets

Fish fillets

Sausages, bacon and black pudding

Croutons

Frozen oven chips or sauté potatoes

Baked potatoes

Baked apples 

Frozen croissants

Fish fingers

Roasted vegetables

Refreshing yesterday's baguette

Ingredients for the herby potatoes

2 handfuls of baby potatoes or any small, firm potato, washed and cut evenly to size.

spray oil

salt and pepper

dried herbs of your choice

Method

Parboil the potatoes for 5 minutes.  Drain and tip into the air fryer basket.

Spray with a few squirts of oil (or drizzle with sunflower or olive oil)  

Season with salt and pepper and sprinkle over a teaspoon or so of herbs to taste.

Shake the pan a few times then cook at 180C for 8-10 minutes until knife-tip tender.  Shake the pan a few times during the cooking time.

Serves 2.

To make the spray oil

50ml sunflower oil (or other oil of your choice)

15ml cooled boiled water from the kettle

5ml vodka

Measure the ingredients into your oil sprayer and give it a good shake before each use as the oil and water will separate.  Keep in a cool cupboard, not the fridge.

CELERIAC AND POTATO GRATIN

This is a very easy and tasty accompaniment to serve with any meat, chicken or casserole.  It’s fairly rich but a real treat.  I served mine with my version of coq au vin blanc (see here).

There are numerous recipes for it online and I adapted a Jamie Oliver recipe that you can see here because it looked simple.  I put the dish on the table for people to serve themselves as per Jamie's suggestion.  

It was absolutely delicious and there were plenty of leftovers which I reheated by covering with foil and baking at 180° fan for 15 minutes.

Ingredients 

4-6 medium potatoes 

half a large celeriac 

1 large onion 

2 cloves of garlic 

600ml double cream

75g cheddar cheese, grated

Method 

Preheat the oven to 200°C / 180°fan.

Peel and slice the potatoes into roughly 5mm slices. Put them into a large bowl of cold water to prevent discolouration.

Peel and slice the celeriac, garlic and onion.  Drain the potatoes and put everything into the bowl.  Add about half of the grated cheese to the bowl and mix everything together. 

Transfer the mixture into a gratin or ovenproof dish in layers and pour the cream over.  Sprinkle the remaining cheese over the top and bake for 50 minutes to one hour until the veg are soft (test with the tip of a knife) and the sauce bubbling.

Sprinkle with chopped parsley if you like before serving.

Serves 6-8 generous portions.

LEMON POSSET

We had dinner at a friend’s house one autumn evening last year and for dessert she served lemon posset, something I had never made or eaten before.  It was utterly divine and she served it in pretty stemmed champagne coupes.  

She and her husband are renovating one of those drop dead gorgeous French houses known as a "maison du maître" with large airy rooms, tall, draughty windows and high ceilings.  They still have plenty of work to do!  But the previous owner left behind a vast quantity of old furniture, linens, china and glassware, including the coupes.  Some of it was not to her taste but much of it was real treasure.

This is in sharp contrast to the unattractive furniture and other stuff that the owner of our first French house wanted to sell us.  We were mightily relieved to find it had all gone when we finally got the keys!  The difference is that our friend's house had been a well loved home whereas ours had been a holiday home for generations of a Parisian family who just descended on the place for six weeks every summer!  You can read a bit about that here.

Anyway, at the first opportunity, the next time we had guests for lunch, I decided to make lemon posset myself.  I served it in a hotchpotch of china cups and glasses and it went down a treat.  I adapted a Mary Berry recipe which was a doddle to make and I shall add it to my repertoire of favourite desserts.  It was luscious yet light and very lemony!  It's also ideal for a dinner party as it can be made the day before.

Ingredients

600ml double cream

15og caster sugar

3 lemons, zest and juice

a handful of fresh raspberries for decoration

strips of lemon zest for decoration (optional)

Method

Put the cream, sugar and lemon zest into a wide saucepan.  Bring to the boil over low heat and simmer gently for 3 minutes, stirring all the time.

Remove from the heat and allow to cool until lukewarm.

Stir the lemon juice into the cooled cream mixture and pour into 8 small ramekins, cups or glasses.

Chill in the fridge for at least two hours until set or overnight.

Just before serving, decorate with the fresh raspberries and strips of lemon zest.

Serves 8 portions.

PARSNIP AND ARTICHOKE SOUP (soup maker recipe)

 

As we enjoyed the carrot and artichoke soup so much, I decided to make it again.  That's when I noticed the one large parsnip in the veg drawer and wondered how it would turn out if I used that instead of carrots.

In France there is a chain of greengrocer shops called "Terre Y Fruits".  They sell excellent seasonal fruit and veg, plus some meat and dairy products and other groceries, much of it local.  There I spotted some Jerusalem artichokes that were a much more user friendly shape to peel so I bought some.

It turned out to be a delicious combination.  The soup was a lovely creamy colour and the flavour more delicate than the carrot version.  I will definitely be making this again!

I served mine with some home made air fryer croutons, made from the previous day's baguette.  You can see the recipe/instructions for those in this post here.

Ingredients

1 large onion

1 stick celery 

sufficient Jerusalem artichokes and parsnips to fill the machine to the bottom line, about half and half of each

1 vegetable stock pot 

1 good squirt garlic paste or purée 

1 tblsp dry sherry

1/2 tsp grated nutmeg 

Method

Peel and roughly chop the onion.  Clean and roughly chop the celery.  Add both to the soup maker.

Peel and roughly chop the parsnips and artichokes and add enough to fill the soup maker to the bottom line.  You can vary the proportions depending on how many of each you have but I used half and half.

Add the stock pot, garlic paste and enough water to fill to the top line.  Season well with salt and pepper.

Cook on smooth.

When done, check the seasoning and stir in the sherry and nutmeg.

A tip for grating nutmeg: grate the amount you want onto a chopping board or plate then tip it into the soup. This saves having to go fishing in the soup for the nutmeg when you drop it!

Makes 4 generous servings.  Would serve 6 as a starter.

CARROT AND ARTICHOKE SOUP (soup maker recipe)

Topinambours, the French word for Jerusalem artichokes, are in plentiful supply at the moment and I couldn’t resist a bagful when we breezed through the market in the wintry drizzle the other week. I have made Palestine soup many times (see here) but decided to have a look in my soup book for an alternative recipe.

This book was a charity shop purchase a couple of years ago and appeared to be brand new.  It’s crammed with excellent recipes for delicious soups, most of which can be adapted for the soup maker.  This time added my "secret ingredient" which is a splash of dry sherry and a good grating of nutmeg - a tip I learned from Nigella Lawson's recipe for vegetable soup in her book "How to Eat" (see here).  I have found it enhances the flavour of most vegetable soups!

A carrot and just one knobbly artichoke!

Next time I think I would hand pick my own artichokes.  Those I got from the market were very knobbly and the devil’s own job to peel!

My Morphy Richards soup maker, which apparently "died" in the middle of last year is now working perfectly!  Why that happened is a mystery but I'm happy for now that it’s still going strong!

Ingredients

1 large onion

1 stick celery 

sufficient Jerusalem artichokes and carrots to fill the machine to the bottom line, about half and half of each

1 vegetable stock pot 

1 good squirt garlic paste or purée 

1 tblsp dry sherry

1/2 tsp grated nutmeg 

Method

Peel and roughly chop the onion.  Clean and roughly chop the celery.  Add both to the soup maker.

Peel and roughly chop the carrots and artichokes and add enough to fill the soup maker to the bottom line.  You can vary the proportions depending on how many of each you have but I used half and half.

Add the stock pot, garlic paste and enough water to fill to the top line.  Season well with salt and pepper.

Cook on smooth.

When done, check the seasoning and stir in the sherry and nutmeg.

A tip for grating nutmeg: grate the amount you want onto a chopping board or plate then tip it into the soup. This saves having to go fishing in the soup for the nutmeg when you drop it!

Makes 4 generous servings.  Would serve 6 as a starter.

A PINK CASTLE BIRTHDAY CAKE

A few months ago a friend asked me if I would make a cake for her granddaughter’s fourth birthday.  I sent along some pictures from a book I've had for ages, hoping that something simple like a rabbit or cat shaped cake would be chosen.  The message came back that the pink fairytale castle was the favourite.  Having never, ever made anything like it before I had to put my thinking cap on!

The cake chosen from the book!

I did a mock up of the design using the cookbook as a guide.  Creating the turrets seemed to be the tricky bit.  There were lots of ideas on the internet suggesting using cardboard tubes covered in fondant icing for the turrets but I rejected that idea.  What little girl wants to cut into a cake and find it’s made of cardboard?

My first idea was to bake the turrets in two rings joined together with foil but decided that might not work if they came apart as the sponge mixture rose.  The next idea was to use small pilchard tins but what to do with all those pilchards?! In the end I opted for joining the sponges together with buttercream.  They were then covered in pink fondant icing which more or less concealed any bumps or wonkiness.

The base was a 15cm madeira cake plus a little mixture used for a smaller one for the top .  The turrets were made using a basic four egg sponge recipe that came with the pack of 2” cake rings. As a precaution I used some of that mixture to make some mini madeleines and in the final design one of those was used for the top turret to display the pink number 4 candle.  

The turret roofs were ice cream cones brushed with warmed apricot jam then sprinkled with pink glimmer sugar.  The base cake was covered in a generous amount of pink buttercream, reserving plenty for fixing decorations to the cake.  The turrets were secured to the base with cocktail sticks and after that it was just a matter of chucking as many decorations at it as we dared !!

It was enormous fun to make and took the three of us two hours to decorate!  

BUBBLE AND SQUEAK TWO WAYS

 

Oh, the joy of leftovers!

The first version is simply leftover mashed potatoes and green veg, mashed together.

The mixture was piled into a well greased muffin tin and baked in the oven at 180° fan for about twenty minutes then sprinkled with grated cheese before returning to the oven to finish cooking.  After another ten minutes the cheese was melted.  We had ours with baked beans.  Yum!

For the egg version I used all the leftover veg we had, including carrot and half of a small tin of sweetcorn.  I added some fried chopped onions and leftover spaghetti.  I mixed in a tablespoon of panko breadcrumbs for a bit of texture.

I made depressions in the mixture ready to receive the eggs and baked it for 20 minutes at 180° fan  before dropping an egg into each well.

It was then finished off in the oven at 180° fan for around 10 minutes more until the eggs were cooked but the yolks still runny.  Double yum!

BRIOCHE PLUM PUDDING and is the British pudding becoming extinct?

What do you do when you have over purchased on bakery products?  

You turn them into a pudding!

This "tear and share" style brioche was surplus to requirements but luckily we had friends coming round for dinner so I turned it into a version of bread and butter pudding.

It looks like a batch of cinnamon rolls but is actually fluffy and light brioche dough filled with a vanilla custard.  I was slightly stumped as to what to do with it so as a guide used Mary Berry's recipe which you can see here.  Using a filled kind of brioche bread I decided against buttering the rolls but added some fruit by tucking some of my cinnamon baked plums in between the pieces.  You can see that recipe here.

Another challenge was timing its cooking so as to have it ready to serve warm at the right stage in the meal.  Bread and butter pudding can become a bit stodgy when it's gone cold.  To achieve this I sliced and arranged the brioche in the dish, and whisked up the custard, well in advance, keeping the liquid in the fridge until it was needed.  I did the soaking stage just before serving the starter and had the kettle full and ready for the bain marie, and put it in the oven to bake just as the main course was served.

In France it is traditional to have the cheese course before dessert so it came out of the oven at that point and was still warm and fluffy when it was served.  Result!

It did look alarmingly like toad in the hole when it arrived at the table but in fact was delicious and everyone loved it.  Brioche certainly makes a light pudding and it was so good that I would definitely do it again!

I'm not sure I have seen the exact same brioche product in the UK but if you refer to Mary's recipe you will see that you can simply use buttered slices of a normal brioche loaf.

As it happens, there was a little of the custard mixture left over after filling the dish so I kept it in the fridge for a couple of days and then baked it by itself in a small buttered dish for about 30 minutes at 150° fan.  An added bonus of a baked egg custard!

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As an aside, in the news a while ago there was a report of research by English Heritage which showed that only 2% of British households regularly eat a home made pudding as a dessert. Blogger Karen at Lavender and Lovage also posted about this here.

This got me thinking.  Often we have a yoghurt at lunchtime and no dessert in the evening but at least once a week we will have some kind of baked pudding, often just a humble crumble.  We're most likely to have a pudding if we have friends round for lunch or dinner, in which case I nearly always make two different ones so that people have a choice and we have leftovers to enjoy later!  

The writer of the article baked and reviewed ten of the puddings allegedly under threat of becoming extinct and which were:

Jam roly poly, Sussex pond pudding, bread and butter pudding, queen of puddings, treacle sponge pudding, Malvern pudding, flummery, spotted dick, cabinet pudding and rice pudding.  

He reckoned the only one worth saving was the Malvern pudding.  Queen of puddings is something I make occasionally, bread and butter pudding regularly in some form or other and rice pudding is a very special treat.

I have never made or knowingly eaten a flummery, Sussex pond, cabinet or Malvern pudding and it’s a long time since I made a steamed or suet pudding of any kind.  These were served frequently when I was at school and when the school had a real kitchen.  Spotted dick always had the boys sniggering and had a bad press but I loved it and seconds were in high demand at school dinner.  My mum used to make steamed sponge puddings regularly, steaming it for hours on a Sunday morning.  I still remember the sense of anticipation and excitement as the kitchen filled up with steam!  A treacle sponge with Birds custard for "afters" was such a joy!  I think I would be more likely to make a microwave version these days.  

What the article doesn’t make clear is whether most households are skipping dessert altogether or serving shop bought ones.  "Ready meal" versions of numerous old fashioned puddings seem to be in plentiful supply in UK supermarkets; clearly still very much in demand even if people can’t find the time to make them for themselves.  They are also frequently on the menu in our favourite UK restaurants, so they’re not really becoming extinct, just not made at home as often.

Of course, in France the situation is very different. The average boulangerie will have a range of delicious tarts and pastries available every day.  Very tempting and if you turn up in the late afternoon the choice will be limited so that’s clearly the dessert solution in French households!

Personally I feel there is no risk of baked puddings becoming extinct in this house, nor in most where we are lucky enough to be invited elsewhere!  The English, or at least certainly the British ex-pat, love a nice pudding!  The French are fascinated by them too and are always keen to try one!

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Ingredients

1 brioche "tear and share" loaf 

150g cooked plums

3 tblsp demerara sugar

3 eggs

75g caster sugar

150ml double cream

600ml full fat milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

zest of 1 small lemon

Method

Butter a large baking dish.  Cut each roll from the loaf in half horizontally and arrange them in a spiral in the dish.  Tuck the plums between the slices.

For the custard, put the eggs, cream, milk, vanilla and lemon zest into a bowl and whisk together.  Pour this mixture over the brioche and press down with the back of a spoon.  Sprinkle the demerara sugar over and leave to stand for 30 minutes.

Heat the oven to 180°C / 160° fan / gas mk 4.  Stand the dish in a large roasting tin and pour in boiling water to about half full.  This is called a bain marie.  

Bake for 40 minutes until the brioche is golden brown and puffed up.  It will shrink back down a little.

Serve warm with cream.

Serves 6 generous portions.