this week we are eating - individual fruit crumbles

Life feels fairly busy at the moment, with quite a lot of entertaining. The way we love it!

I'm always pleased to have a quick solution for a home made dessert, and recently I found a short cut (which has probably been used by millions of cooks for years except that I didn't know!).

Individual fruit crumbles provide  a dessert idea that really can be ready to go 

in a few minutes and cook happily in the oven while you enjoy the main course.

When I make a crumble, I always make extra crumble mix and keep it in a sealed box 

 in the fridge.  It keeps very well for up to two weeks.  You'll see from the recipe below that,

 besides the butter, it is only dry ingredients anyway.

So when I have a last minute dinner to cook for, I simply pull out some small moulds.  I fill the moulds to two thirds with fruit.  This can be apple or pear freshly peeled and diced and sprinkled with sugar, or possibly some red fruit mix (from the deep freeze) warmed through with sugar.

On top of the fruits I heap a couple of spoons of crumble mix and bake into the oven at 190° for about 15-20 minutes.  Voila!  This could not be easier, but being served in these little pots makes for faster cooking and maximum wow factor!

Look below the next picture for my crumble mixture recipe.

Bon appetit!

To make enough crumble for 12-16 individual moulds I whizz together in a mixer:

250 gr (1 good cup) cold butter

250 gr (2 cups) plain flour

125 gr (2/3 cup) sugar

125 gr (2/3 cup) ground almonds

pinch of salt

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strawberry and rhubarb tart

The first thing to push its way through the ground in our potager is the rhubarb.  Deep red stalks full of promise and abundance.

I love rhubarb compote but also tarts, and best of all when associated with strawberries, conveniently in season at the same time.

Here is a yummy and ridiculously easy recipe for a wonderful strawberry and rhubarb tart.

To make the tart or tarts you will need 

about 8 oz of fresh rhubarb, 

sugar to taste,

 1 lemon ,

 12 oz of strawberries and  

enough pastry for a tart mould or for 8 small moulds,

Buy or make your favourite sweet pastry and line the tart tin, either a long rectangular or round mould or several individual moulds.  Pre-bake the pastry, blind to begin with  (covered with parchment paper and weighted down)  then finished off for a few minutes to golden brown.

Make a rhubarb compote by cutting the rhubarb into small pieces and cooking with  sugar until soft.  Check the sweetness once cooled.  Rhubarb tends to need a lot of sugar but I can't give a precise quantity.  It's up to you to taste your rhubarb and find the sweetness you like best.

Wash and hull the srawberries then cut into long slices or into half.  Reseve a handful of strawberries and whizz them in your mixer with a little sugar and lemon juice.

When the pastry is cooked and cooled, lift it from it's baking tray onto the serving platter.  Gently spoon the rhubarb compote into the pastry case, but don't put in so much that it overflows.

Carefully position the strawberries all over the rhubarb in neat lines or circles and serve the tart with the pink red strawberry coulis in a small side bowl to accompany.  If you wish to add a little vanilla ice cream, it's good too.

This is a lovely fresh dessert, making use of fruit that is freshly picked and in season, so at its best.

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French orange season and my marmelade recipe

While down in the South of France, we couldn't help but notice all the orange and lemon trees laden down with heavy fruit. 

This is the time of year when I like to make marmelade.  We can't buy bitter oranges here so I make Three Fruit Marmelade using oranges, lemons and grapefruits.  If you would like to have a go, the recipe I use is pretty easy.

To make about 12 pots of jam I use 3 lemons; 3 oranges and 3 grapefruit.  I prefer to use organic because all the peel goes into the jam and I'm not wild about eating pesticides.

Cut the fruit into thin slices or even cubes.  What you do at this step really depends on whether you like large chunks of fruit in the marmelade, or tiny slithers of peel.  Any pips ( or seeds) should be reserved and tied into a loose muslin bag that goes into the pan with the fruit - you need the pectin they produce to make the marmelade set.

Put all the chopped fruit into a huge preserving saucepan and cover with three times the volume of water.  Leave to stand for a couple of hours, even overnight, then bring to the boil and simmer for 2 hours uncovered.  Remove the bag of pips.

Weigh the contents of the saucepan after cooking and add the equivalent weight of sugar or preserving sugar with some extra pectin (I know, that is a LOAD of sugar, but there's no way around it).  Bring back to the boil and cook vigourously for about 40 minutes until it starts to set.

The best way to check for setting point is to have a couple of saucers in your fridge.  Pour a little marmelade onto the saucer, let it cool for a couple of minutes then push gently with your finger, if the surface crinkles then you can stop cooking the marmelade.

I leave the marmelade to cool a little in the pan before ladling into pots, covering, labelling and putting away into my jam cupboard to enjoy throughout the year.   I love having a plentiful reserve of jams and preserves.  We eat a lot ourselves, and I find that a home made pot of jam or marmelade is useful for last minute hostess gifts.  French country style.

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a potato bake for the weekend and a giveaway winner

 Comfort food can be a good idea for this dreary end of winter season; a favourite comforter in our home is the traditional French Gratin Dauphinois.  Sliced potatoes in cream,  cooked long and slow in the oven until the cream is absorbed and the potatoes just melt in your mouth.

Another easy recipe, here the ingredients are for a good sized shallow oven dish.  Ostensibly for 8, but with the appetites around my table I reckon on 6 servings!

2kg or 5 pounds of potatoes

2/3 cloves of garlic

2 cups of cream or cream and milk mix

100 g butter

salt and pepper

grated nutmeg

  Peel and slice thinly the potatoes, but don't rinse them, the starch in the potatoes adds to the creaminess of the dish.

In a pan heat the cream or the cream and milk mix, drop in the potatoes slices and let them cook, very gently,  for less than 10 minutes.

Rub the garlic and part of the butter around your oven dish, then pour the potatoes and cream into the dish, making sure that there is enough cream to cover the potatoes.  Cut the remaining butter into little cubes and dot over the surface.  (I know, I know, I never said this was a slimming dish!)

 Bake in a preheated oven (180°, gas mark 4) for about an hour.  The top should be crispy golden brown, and the potatoes soft and creamy.  

This dish is perfect with red meat and a good side salad.

Finally, I am happy to announce that the winner of the Parisienne Farmgirl giveaway is Jeanne of I Dream Of.    If you don't know her lovely blog, then I invite you to pop over and say hello.   And Jeanne, if you want to email me with your address you'll receive your scented candle and the subscription to the Parisienne Farmgirl magazine!  Lucky girl!!

I hope you all have something wonderful planned for this weekend, thank you for reading me, à demain!

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french ladies who lunch AND my new favourite recipe

I'm not really a regular luncher because my days are pretty full, but now and again it's good to take a break with a couple of girlfriends.

That was the case yesterday.  Eight amies braved the icy roads to get here.  At -7° outside it wasn't the day to arrive in high heels but they still all looked lovely and were pleased to sit down in front of a roaring fire.

 This lovely white azalea was gifted in a basket, perfect.

I served them my new favourite dessert and thought you may like to try the recipe too.  I have made this twice this week but each time it disappears so fast that I still don't have a decent picture -  sorry!  you'll have to imagine it in your plate  :) 

 We call this our Fruit Crumble Cake, as with all my recipes it is really easy to make.  Good home cooking.

To make the cake you will need a deep 8" cake tin (not loose-bottomed) greaseproof/waxed paper, the oven preheated at 190°.

Ingredients are super simple

125gr  (2/3 cup) ground almonds

125 gr (2/3 cup) sugar

250 gr ( 1 good cup) very cold butter 

250gr (2 cups) plain flour

pinch of salt

3 apples peeled, cored and diced

cup of fresh/frozen raspberries or blackberries or blueberries

juice of a lemon

good sprinkling of sugar to taste

First of all, in a mixer blend together the cold butter and all other dry ingredients.  This must stay crumbly in texture not merge into a firm dough.  Very important!

Put the diced apple in a bowl  along with the lemon juice, sugar and red fruit of your choice.  I have tried blackberries, raspberries and blueberries - all delicious.  Toss them around in the bowl until well coated in lemon juice and sugar.

 Line the cake tin with two criss-cross , wide strips of waxed paper, these are vital for lifting the cake from the tin, so leave them long enough to hang over each side.

 Sprinkle half the mixture into the tin.  Do not push down or smooth, you want the mixture to stay as high and airy as possible.    Now simply tip the fruit in, then cover with the remaining crumble mix.  Again do not attempt to push down or smooth: it will work itself out while cooking.

I stand the cake tin on a tray and bake in a hot oven for about 50 minutes.   Ideally the cake should come out of the oven about 15 minutes before eating.  Let it stand a while then carefully lift out of the tin and onto a serving platter (4 hands needed here!), slide the paper strips out from beneath the cake,  carry to the table and bask happily in the limitless admiration of your diners.

We like to serve this with crème anglaise, but vanilla ice cream would be good too.

bon appetit et bon weekend!

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le chandeleur - this week we are eating crêpes suzette

If you would like to be very 'French' today, then make your family some crêpes for tea.  Today is le chandeleur, the catholic holiday of candlemas, and today we make crêpes or pancakes like there were no tomorrow!

My children love to make crêpes for themselves and for their friends, they are so easy to rustle up from scratch, and delicious with sugar, jam or nutella, although my favourite is sugar and lemon juice.

If you want a more grown up version you could try the delicious traditional French dessert crepes suzette, cooked in orange juice and flambéd au cointreau.

 Here is my favourite recipe,  I find it makes enough for 6 people.

ingredients

4oz  or just under 1 cup flour

pinch of salt

2 eggs

275ml/10fl oz milk 

50g/2oz butter

1 medium orange, grated zest only

1 tbsp caster sugar

150ml/5fl oz orange juice (from 3-4 medium oranges)

1 medium orange, grated zest only

1  small lemon, grated rind and juice

1 tbsp caster sugar

3 tbsp Grand Marnier, Cointreau or brandy

50g/2oz unsalted butter

a little extra Grand Marnier, for the fun bit

Sift the flour and salt into a large bowl, make a hollow in the centre and break the eggs into it.   Whisk the eggs well until all the flour is moistened.  Gradually add the milk, whisking all the time, until the batter is smooth and there is no more flour left around the edge of the bowl.  Now you can add the orange zest and sugar.

Melt the butter in the pan, and pour most of it into the batter mix.  Using a piece of kitchen paper, smear the remainding butter over the pan, you'll find it best to do this before each pancake.

To start cooking the pancakes, you'll need the pan to be very hot.  I always start with a mini pancake, one for the pan as my children say.  

Now ladle a small amount of batter into the pan, cook the first crêpe for less than a minute on each side.  You want them slightly tinged with golden brown, but not overcooked so they are too dry.  If you want to pick up speed it's easy to cook the crêpes in two pans simultaneously.  The crêpes should be very thin.  You should be able to make between 12 - 16 crepes.

It's better to keep the crêpes warm, I keep a plate on top of a saucepan of hot water and slide the pancakes onto the plate as each one is finished.  If you are making the crepes for a dinner, you can do this stage ahead of time, then just make the sauce at the last minute.

To make the sauce, mix the orange juice, lemon and orange zest, sugar and Grand Marnier.  Melt butter in the pan, then pour in the orange sauce to warm through.  Place the first crêpe into the butter and fold it in half then into quarters so it is a nice neat triangular shape.  You need a large pan for this step because you aim to end up with all the crepes folded in the sauce.

This is the moment to flambé the crêpes .  The easiest way is to pour some of the Grand Marnier or Cointreau into a metal ladle, and hold it for a short moment over a gas flame, when its really warm put a match to ignite it.  Pour the contents of the ladle over the crêpes and take the pan to the table to share between individual plates. 

Spectacular!!  - if this one doesn't earn you a round of applause, nothing will!

PS  Don't forget , last day for the Diane James Home giveaway!!

thanks to Delia for the recipe

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this week we are eating - poires au vin

Our local orchards pick their apples and pears in September and store the fruit through the winter, selling the different varieties in a certain order.   Some keep better than others, so we have to wait longer for them to be available.  We have just got to the Comice pears, my favourite!  Big, juicy with a wonderful flavour.

Here is a ridiculously easy recipe for pears cooked in wine, a perfect winter dessert, that can be prepared ahead, looks pretty and feels light!

To make my poires au vin, I normally cook 6 pears.  With them I'll need about half a bottle of white wine, about half a cup of sugar, the juice of a lemon  and a couple of spoons of home made orange marmalade.

First peel the pears and carefully cut out the cores from the base.  I leave the stalks but find that it's a good idea to cut the base flat so the pears will stand nicely in a serving dish.   

As each pear is peeled stand it in a saucepan and squeeze a little lemon juice over, to prevent  discolouring.   Once all the fruit is peeled and in the pan, pour in the white wine, this should come almost half way up the height of the pears.  I used a dry white wine, some may prefer a sweeter taste.

Pour in the sugar, again the quantity is a question of taste, and more can be added later.  I also add a couple of spoons of marmalade, the orange flavour adds a little zing and the chunks of orange zest look pretty against the pale fruit.

Start warming the pan and let the pears come to the boil then simmer gently for about 20 minutes.  You want the fruit to be perfectly tender, but not to fall apart.  When the fruit is cooked through, remove from the pan onto a dish and turn the heat up to reduce the wine sauce.  You want to obtain a syrupy consistency, that will glaze the pears, but still liquid enough to give some sauce.

I serve the pears cold, but make a warm chocolate sauce to drizzle over by melting some good quality dark chocolate with a little water, sugar and rum.  Yum!   Hope you enjoy!

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this week we are eating ... French onion soup

The wind is howling outside here, rain is pouring down, the fire is lit and I find myself with the ideal conditions for serving a hot French onion soup.  Not a recipe to be rushed, this soup has to be planned, it will take about 2 hours to be ready - but oh!  it is SO worth it!  And it's fun because each person gets their own little soup, served piping hot, topped with bubbling cheese.  This is serious comfort food!

 To make an onion soup for 6- 8 people you will need:

8 large onions

olive oil or butter

 sugar and salt

about 2 pints (1.2 litres) good strong stock (chicken works, but beef is better)

glass of white wine

glug of something stronger (sherry or cognac)

a baguette

grated gruyere or emmenthal cheese

First cut up your onions into thin slices, mix with with a dash of salt and a little sugar and cook gently in butter or olive oil  (either are good, whichever you prefer).  Cook gently doesn't mean fry fast until sizzled around the edges; these onions need time to relax and melt then to caramelise;  personally  I allow at least 45 minutes.

Pour onto the onions your stock, add the wine.  The stock has to be good quality, preferably home made.  Some prefer chicken, I like beef for this recipe.  If all else fails you can use stock cubes but .....

You want the onions to bubble away in the stock and wine for an hour, over a very gently heat.     It's a shame to cook any less than that because this is when all the flavour comes through.  Add the sherry, pepper and more salt if required. All this can be done in advance.

When you're ready to serve,  make the croutons by slicing baguette thinly and baking the slices in the oven with a drizzle of olive oil until lightly toasted.  Make sure your soup is very hot, check the seasoning, then ladle into the individual pots, mugs, bowls, ramequins ... whatever  - as long as they are ovenproof. 

Lay several croutons on the surface of the soup and sprinkle grated cheese over the top then stand the bowls beneath the grill in your oven.   DON'T walk away at this point!!  You want the cheese bubbling but not burnt.

This soup is best when eaten very hot, straight from the over.  Oh yes,  don't expect much conversation from your guests, they'll be too involved in the amazing depth and flavour of this simple recipe!

Bon appetit! 

all photos found on google

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a christmas chestnut cream dessert

Yesterday afternoon,  my daughter Nina came home from school with her friend Laure-Anne.   After they came through the kitchen and said hello to me,   their conversation went a little like this

L-A:  "Nina, why does your mother cook with a camera in her hand?",
N: "Oh don't pay any attention, she's just a blogger!"

This, my friends, is an unavoidable fact  of my daily life and a sure sign of a busy blogger, the camera rarely leaves my side!

So yes, I made the Chestnut creams and yes, I took some pictures and yes it was time consuming but that didn't stop it being fun!

Seriously though, these desserts are a wonderful idea for the holidays.  They can be done days or even weeks in advance, they look good and taste better.

Here is how I make them, using a recipe from the cook book queen Delia Smith.  Here first of all is how her perfect versions turn out,

and here are mine.

Not perfect I know, but home made has its own charms don't you think?

To make eight small or six medium sized chestnut cream puddings you will need

3 oz (75g) good quality dark cooking chocolate

2 tablespoons rum

2 eggs

a 17oz (500g)  tin of chestnut purée (I'll tell you later where you can find that)

5 fl oz (150ml)whipping cream

10 fl oz (275ml) single cream 

2 oz (50 g) white chocolate

You will make the puddings in layers and freeze each layer as you go.  To serve the puddings are turned upside down, so the first layer into the mould becomes the top of the pudding, but I probably didn't need to tell you that!

Queen Delia (and no, I am not mocking, I love her recipes!)  recommends  using small tin moulds;  I do not possess those, so I use my regular ramequins which are slightly larger than ideal

To make the top chocolate layer, melt 75 g dark chocolate and 2 tablespoons of rum in a bain marie.  Careful not to let this overheat because the chocolate will go grainy and be spoilt.  When the mixture is perfectly melted and smooth, let it cool a little then add 2 egg yolks.    Beat one of the egg whites until firm and white, then gently fold it into the chocolate mix and spoon a little into the base of each mould.  Pop your moulds into the deep freeze.

At this point I digress from Delia's recommendations.  "Is this woman mad?!"  I can hear you cry, "how could she dare?!".  Mais que veux tu? I'm just naturally reckless....  Delia likes to finish her creams off with tiny chunks of candied chestnut.  I find it fun to create dark chocolate shapes/letters for mine.  If you want to do like me, this is a good moment to melt the chocolate gently and draw pretty shapes onto waxed paper. If also like me, some an alarming number of your shapes  go wrong, it's good to melt enough chocolate to make extra. Once you feel artistically satisfied,  put them into the fridge for several hours to harden.

After a little pause during which you can cook the kids' supper, do a little light gardening, or just have a drink, the time comes to make the next layer.

Couldn't be easier.   Put half of your pot of chestnut cream into a bowl and stir to soften, then whip the cream until slightly thick, mix with the chestnut cream.  Finally beat the remaining egg white until stiff and fold into the chestnut mixture.  Spoon carefully into the moulds, being sure to get the same amount in each.  We're nearly done ....


There's just time to have another drink and visit a few of your favourite blogs, before putting on the final layer, this is simply the chestnut puree, without anything added.  Thick enough to give a third stripe of contrasting colour when the creams are turned out.

The creams can now be left in your freezer until you are ready to bring them to your table.  If they are to wait longer than overnight, it's a good idea to cover them with clingfilm.

When the grand day arrives, you simply need to melt the white chocolate in the warmed single cream to provide the chocolate sauce, then decide how to serve them.  The most practical way is to present them on individual plates and place before each guest, but if you want some extra fun you could always group them on serving plates and spell out a seasonal message.

And finally, for those of you who have difficulty finding the tins of French chestnut cream, I would recommend popping over to Vicki Archer's new shop and browsing her Sweet Tooth shelves.  I've heard she has stocked up for Christmas!!

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this week we're eating - our favourite risotto

YUMMY!!!  I just adore this recipe, in fact everyone in this house feels the same.  For some unexplained reason we've always known about pumpkins but only recently discovered the star in that family, the butternut squash.  

We love it as a roasted vegetable, in a soup but our ALL TIME favourite is without doubt the squash risotto.

To this end, we have grown squash in the garden for the third year in a row and this week I started picking.

So, without further ado, to warm your autumn evenings and bring a glow of satisfaction to the cheeks of all who taste it, this is how we proceed to make a squash risotto. 

First of all I pour myself a glass of wine.  Are you like me?  I love a small glass of wine to hand while preparing dinner, even if I don't have wine with the meal.

Back to business:  I catch my squash and remove it's not-so-thick skin with a vegetable peeler.   Then I cut it into 2" cubes and drizzle a little olive oil over, crumble the odd sage leaf and some rock salt, before baking in a hot oven until the cubes begin to caramelise at the edges.

 Meantime, back at the ranch, I chop an onion fairly fine and cook it in a little olive oil, then add the arborio rice and stir until the rice becomes translucent.  While the rice does it's stuff I  dissolve a cube of chicken stock in a jug of boiling water.

Once the rice is translucent and the onion beginning to soften nicely, I turn up the heat then pour a glass of dry white wine (not mine!) into the pan.  This will evaporate quite quickly, but adds extra flavour to the risotto, I believe some cooks substitute vermouth for wine - and why not?!

I can now pour my chicken stock into the pan of rice, stirring well and adding more hot liquid as required.  Don't forget, the rice must be very tender, a risotto can never, ever be dry!  

When the rice is nearly ready I add my roasted squash, possibly with a little parmesan cheese, some salt and pepper.  Pop the lid on the pan, and let it relax for a few minutes, while I do the same, confident in the impending success of this humble dish.

To be enjoyed on its own or to accompany meat or fish.

Bon appetit and have a delicious weekend!

pictures with thanks here, here and here

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