Tag Archives: recipes

My granddaughter doesn’t like mushrooms!

September 3, 2012 needarecipe Leave a comment

M-D and I had our two French grandadaughters, Clémence and Eléonore, stay with us last week. It was the final week of the school holidays so our last chance for a while to have them stay. While they were here, we ate Veal and Creamed Mushrooms. The recipe on the site uses regular mushrooms (out of a tin even), but we are so lucky in France to have an excellent supply of gastronomic mushrooms readily available (at a price!). When we are on The Isle of Man, we are somewhat limited in our choice, so we make the best of it when we are here.

Chanterelle Mushrooms On this occasion there was a fresh supply of Chanterelles (known in France as Girolles) in the local supermarket so we waded in and chose the best before anyone else could get near them (yes, I know, we’re not very polite are we!). However, we made allowances for nine-year-old Eléonore who decided a long time ago that she didn’t like mushrooms, and we bought some fresh asparagus for her.

So, as I began to prepare the meal, I thought I would just verify that she was okay with asparagus (she’s not particularly fussy, but it’s always as well to check!). She asked what we were having and I told her – Girolles – and she decided that maybe she like those and that the asparagus could wait (kids!!). Okay, fair enough, we’d taken more than enough Chanterelles for three, so spreading them amongst four wouldn’t hurt! Well, not much anyway!

Now, I beg you, if you can get hold of veal and Chanterelle mushrooms, try this recipe because it’s just so darn easy, but it’s food fit for a King.

Trim the ends off the mushroom stems, cut any oversize ones in two, then wash them well. Drain and add to a large frying pan with a tablespoon of duck (or goose) fat in the bottom. Season with salt and freshly-ground black pepper and cook gently for 10-15 minutes until tender (you’ll need to drain off the excess liquid as they cook, since they give off quite a lot).

When the mushrooms are nearly cooked, heat another frying pan, add a very small amount of fat, just to grease the pan, season the veal scallops and toss them into the hot pan. Depending on the thickness of the veal and the way you like it, you’ll need to cook them for between 3-4 minutes on each side. Once cooked, remove the scallops from the pan and keep them warm on top of the mushrooms. Add a couple of tablespoons of white wine to the pan in which the veal was cooked and, with a wooden spoon or spatula, scrape the pan to collect the meat juices from the veal. Bring the wine up to simmering and add a couple of tablespoons of thick cream or crême fraiche. Stir well without letting the mixture boil then add the veal and mushrooms and coat with the sauce. Place the veal onto serving plates and spoon the mushroom and cream mixture over the top… Mmmmm

And now for a confession (but don’t tell my granddaughetrs!)… it was so good, we had it again last night!

Morel Mushrooms So be on the lookout for “unusual” mushrooms. We particularly like Chanterelle (as you may have gathered!), Cèpes and Morels. The Morel (shown on the right) is from the mushroom family “Morchella” and is closely related to anatomically simpler cup fungi. These distinctive mushrooms appear honeycomb-like in that the upper portion is composed of a network of ridges with pits between them.

Prized by gourmet cooks, Morels are hunted by thousands of people every year simply for their taste and the joy of the “hunt”. They have been called by many local names; some of the more colorful include dryland fish, merkels, molly moochers or sponge mushrooms. They are truly an excellent mushroom that you can eat with Duck Confit, for example. Just take care to wash them well, because they are often quite sandy.

Cèpe Mushrooms (Boletes) Cèpes is the local name (in France) for one of the Boletes group of edible mushrooms (of which there are over 100 species!). Probably the most common is the Boletus Edulis, commonly known as penny bun, porcino or even cep (in English). Commonly prepared and eaten in soups, pasta, or risotto, the mushroom is low in fat and digestible carbohydrates, and high in protein, vitamins, minerals and dietary fibre. It’s also very, very good (again) with such as Duck Confit. Because the cap holds quite a lot of moisture, you do need to fry Cèpes for longer than regular mushrooms (but not so much that they dry out and go hard).

We keep a few jars of Cèpes in oil in our food cupboard (they are easily available in the supermarket here). If you want some mailed to you, try our favourite gourmet supplier, Godard where you can also get dried Morels (look for Morilles Séchées Extra)

So be on the lookout for good gourmet mushrooms. The different flavours are something you need to experience if you have not already done so. And finally, thank you to our granddaughter, Eléonore, for eating some of the Chanterelles intended for our plates… it simply meant we bought even more of them after she had gone home!!

Lamb

Back on ‘The Rock’ but not before a special feast of lamb

February 14, 2012 needarecipe Leave a comment

So here we are again, on The Isle of Man. We regularly move between France and “The Rock” and now it’s “The Rock’s” turn to enjoy our company! However, just before leaving France we went down to Orleans where Muriel (M-D’s daughter) and her family live. Last Saturday was Clémence’s 14th birthday (she’s Muriel’s and Vincent’s elder daughter) and Muriel was entertaining 11 people – their own family of four, the two sets of grandparents and some friends with their 14-year-old daughter.

Five Hour Confit of Lamb Now when you are cooking for eleven, it’s essential to reduce the level of complexity to a minimum and Muriel had done exactly that. Her starter course was foie gras which is, of course, pre-packed and just needs slicing. Her dessert was a chocolate brownie cake that Clémence had made, and her main course, and pièce de résistance, was Five Hour Confit of Lamb. This delightful creation left her free to totally chill out and hands-free to do whatever it is women do for hours on end in a bathroom before their guests arrive.

I love recipes that look after themselves. There’s nothing worse when you are hosting a dinner party and you have to keep going to the kichen preparing and checking on stuff. So when Muriel told me she had prepared the main course mid-afternoon and it was slowly cooking without any input from her, I raised my hat to her – particularly when I tasted the result!

Five Hour Confit of Lamb does, genuinely, take five hours to cook, but at a very low heat, and slow cooking is an excellent way to render all the fat out of the meat. The result was a lamb that was so tender, it was like cutting butter. And because all of us round the table are garlic affectionados, Muriel had split 4 full heads (bulbs) of garlic horizontally (still with the skins on), added them to the pot, and simply served these with the meat. Naturally, the lamb was fairly heavily infused with garlic – which suited us all and left us fighting over the garlic that was soft and juicy!

I guess the fact that we helped it all down with a couple of bottles of 1976 Chateau de Cayrou didn’t do any harm, but I genuinely believe that the recipe will “stand on its own two feet” even if you wash it down with Coke or antiseptic mouthwash!

The other benefit of Five Hour Confit of Lamb is that the potatoes are cooked along with the meat. Simply drop everything into a Dutch Oven (a cast iron cooking pot) along with a mixture of common herbs and spices and, five hours later, you have a meal fit for a Prince. Meanwhile, you can catch up on your beauty sleep!

So, after a bit of arm-twisting, Muriel agreed to add the recipe to the site so we can all share. You don’t have to go beserk with the garlic like she did, because six or seven cloves will be enough to infuse a gentle garlic taste that most people will appreciate.

Anyway, now we are back on “The Rock” I may just practise Five Hour Confit of Lamb on some of our buddies! Then I can catch up on my beauty sleep too… after all, I need it more than my daughter-in-law!

Italian Food, Risotto, Veal

Restaurant L’Ostéria for a classy lunch

February 3, 2012 needarecipe Leave a comment

Restaurant L'Ostéria Restaurant L’Ostéria was our rendevous with M-D’s former boss and his wife. Jean-Pierre had been the head of the Belgium office when Marie-Danielle had worked there a few years ago and now, like M-D, had returned to France.

From time to time, the four of us meet up and dine somewhere nice and, since they live about an hour and a half’s drive away, we take it in turns to go to them or they come to us. This time, they came to us, so we decided to try a restaurant that is only about 3 miles from where we live and is situated right in the middle of the Forest of St Germain.

L'Osteria interior Restaurant L’Ostéria is a former hunting lodge with a huge fireplace that gives the dining area a wonderful atmosphere. It is open 7 days a week, which is not so common around Paris. The service and welcome were excellent and the wine list was original and unusually wide. There’s a large terrace but January weather is not ideal for eating outside (though it should be great in the summer) so we snuggled at a table near the log fire and enjoyed some of the best that France has to offer (even if it was Italian!)

The food was more than good enough to rate this as a true Osteria in the best Italian traditions (establishments serving wine and simple food with menus that tend to emphasize local specialities such as pasta, grilled meat and fish). Often, when visiting Italian restaurants we are disappointed because they are nothing more than slightly upmarket pizza parlours. At L’Ostéria we tasted the true stuff of Italian cuisine (they even speak Italian if you want them to).

M-D and I both started with baby squid salad in a tomato and basil sauce… delicious. When, for the main course, M-D and Jean-Pierre moved on to Foie de veau vénitienne (veal liver, Venetian style), Janine (Jean-Pierre’s wife) chose a Filet de bar de pêche au champagne (fillet of bass with champagne) and I settled for a delicious Risotto coquilles Saint Jacques (Risotto with scallops and asparagus tips). It was simple but excellent and I rate it amongst the best risottos I’ve ever had (and I’ve had a few!). Wonderfully smooth and creamy with the delightful taste of fresh scallops and tender asparagus and just a hint of the onion, garlic and olive oil that the rice had been coated in prior to cooking.

We helped our food down with a rather splendid bottle of Menetou-Salon. Menetou-Salon is an ancient wine-producing area with documented vinyards dating back to 1063. It produces both white and red wines and we chose a red which was light and refreshing and perfect when diners eat varied foods (me with my risotto, M-D and Jean-Pierre both with their veal liver and Janine with her fish). Desserts, coffee and good conversation topped off a perfect lunch (well, it was almost 5pm when we walked out of there!).

Tomorrow (Saturday) we have a former work colleague of M-D’s coming to lunch at our place and I’m doing Filet Mignon with Sage and Rosemary. I’ve done it a few times before and it’s stunning, yet very, very simple… looking forward to it!

And then it will be back to the diet! I’ve lost 20kg (44lb) in the last four months so, when I eat well, I have to pay for it for the rest of the week. Ah well, life’s pleasures should never be simple – otherwise they probably wouldn’t be such great pleasures!

Oysters, Salmon

Oysters, Cucumber, Smoked Salmon Sandwiches and a smile!

January 22, 2012 needarecipe Leave a comment

I just opened a couple of dozen oysters, which is one of our frequent Sunday evening treats when we’re in France (they’re too darn expensive in UK!) and, while I was doing so, I was smiling to myself about some fond memories of my childhood and, in particular, my mother. Before going into the kitchen to open the oysters, I had added a menu to NeedARecipe for Smoked Salmon and Herb Sandwiches. Okay, I know it doesn’t sound like a recipe but, as far as I’m concerned, anything that involves the preparation of food is fair game to be added to the site since I try to cater for absolute beginners as well as more seasoned cooks.

As I was writing the Smoked Salmon and Herb Sandwiches recipe, I pointed out how I had been raised in a vicarage so knew all about the famous cucumber sandwiches (yes, they really did exist!). I also pointed out that, since the art of food is as much presentation as it is taste, it was important to remove the crusts and cut the sandwiches into diagonals.

I remember as a child, the Mothers Union (or whatever they were) would gather once a week in the vicarage (a huge, draughty place that was knocked down after we left the parish!) for hymn-singing and sandwiches. The area was desperately poor so, for many, the temptation was probably more the sandwiches than the hope of redemption!

And my parents were far from wealthy, so the sandwiches really were filled with cucumber. However, my mother always made a point of trimming off the crusts and cutting them diagonally into four. The ladies of the parish (who were used to making great doorsteps for their men who worked in the nearby factories) were convinced they were being treated like royalty, even though they were only eating cucumber!

I also got to thinking about my mother and smoked salmon (the sandwiches were the link!)…

As my mother aged, she was less able to look after herself. Fiercly independent right to the end, she hated the idea of going into a retirement home but it was clear she was having problems coping. In particular, she was eating very little because, due to a heart condition, the effort of preparing food was just too much for her. At the time, I was working throughout Europe as Business Analyst for a US Corporation but I was earning more than my salary from the internet. So I talked with M-D (my very understanding wife) and decided to finish with my job and spend time helping my Mum. So I commuted on an almost monthly basis between France and The Isle of Man (a few weeks in France then a few weeks on The Isle of Man).

That’s the background!

One fine day, while I was on The Isle of Man, I collapsed and was rushed to hospital with pneumonia. A few days later, M-D came over from France and, because she’s a doctor, the hospital let me out into her care. So we went back “home” (my mother’s house) and settled in for a few days before returning to France to allow me to convalese.

When I had been whisked away, I knew more or less what was in the fridge. When I got back, the only thing to have been touched was some smoked salmon (now you see the link). And only one slice was missing, which meant that, during five days, other than some toast for breakfast, all my mother had eaten was a slice of smoked salmon. I guess you can understand why we felt she needed some help!

But here’s the rub… my mother had always said she didn’t like smoked salmon! So when I asked her about it, she replied that she thought she would try it out… but she still didn’t like it! Fine except that, the following morning, the whole pack was gone. The empty package was in the trash, but no sign of the salmon. So again I asked mother what had happened. “Oh,” she said, happy as anything, “I fed it to the seagulls!”

We couldn’t help laughing. In fact, we were convinced after that that there were even more seagulls than usual perched on the fence waiting to be fed. It must have seemed like a 5-star hotel to them!

What was the point of the story? None at all… just a memory that made me smile while I was opening oysters! Funny how food does that to you!!

Veal, Vegetables

2011 ends on Oysters, Veal and Christmas Pudding – sounds good to me!

January 2, 2012 needarecipe Leave a comment

On New Years Eve, M-D (my wife), her sister their two cousins and their partners (and myself) sat down to a typical French evening meal (started at 8pm and finished at 3am!) and, somewhere along the way (after the oysters and smoked salmon) we ate Cubes of Veal with Spicebread Sauce accompanied by Cauliflower Cheese and Purple Majesty potatoes. And it was truly delicious.

The sauce relies on the addition of Pain d’Épice (Spice Bread). You can use my own recipe for the Pain d’Épice (Spice Bread) or, if you don’t want to go to the trouble of making it yourself, you can use ready made Jamaica Ginger Cake or Ginger Loaf Cake. Your own home-made tastes much better but sometimes you must trade convenience for taste!

One of the secrets of cooking to entertain guests is to do as much preparation as possible beforehand. For the oysters, it was no problem, I simply opened them (60 of them!) half an hour before the meal. This works perfectly because they are best left for a little while to produce more water. It adds to their flavour. The smoked salmon and jumbo prawns came from a specialist shop just down the road, where they smoke their own produce, so the quality was truly excellent (good, firm, Scottish salmon). Naturally, cold seafood requires no further preparation… only a nice presentation and a good bottle of dry white wine (like the Bel Air Quincy that we served).

So the main course needed to be something that took very little cooking and that could mostly be prepared in advance. The veal cooked while we ate the oysters and the sauce was prepared before our guests arrived, so Cubes of Veal with Spicebread Sauce is an ideal dish for entertaining.

After half an hour of madness with New Year party poppers and various other lunatic activities, we cleared the rubbish off the table and sat down to fresh salad leaves in a vinagrette and a great selection of French cheeses, including one of my favourites – Langres from the east of France. We continued with the red wine we had served with the main course (a Samur Champigny from Domaine des Roches Neuves)

And then came our “pièce de résistance” … Christmas Pudding flamed in Brandy (well, Cognac, actually!!). A “pièce de résistance” is defined as a creation that defies orthodox or common conventions and practices, thereby making it unique and special. So you may be wondering what gives me the right to refer to a common or garden Christmas Pudding from our local supermarket on The Isle of Man as a “pièce de résistance”. Well, quite simply, we have fun serving our French family and friends with typical British dishes that they have probably never tasted before, just as we have fun serving typically French food to our friends and family on The isle of Man. It’s easy for us since we travel backwards and forwards between the two quite frequently, and can bring food products with us as we travel.

Just as we introduced our French family to Haggis, Neeps and Tatties a few days ago, and then came up with traditional Christmas Cake the following day, so we introduced M-D’s sister and cousins to Christmas Pudding about which they had heard and read a lot of rubbish. In fact, in small portions, Christmas Pud is an excellent dessert, served either with custard or cream. The “problem” in Britain is that, on Christmas Day, folk heap their plates with turkey, chipolatas, stuffing, carrots, spouts, peas, three sorts of potatoes, Yorkshire pudding and gravy, then immediately force down a huge helping of Christmas Pudding – and all in the space of one hour. Following French tradition, we served smaller courses, interspersed with convivial conversation (and some excellent wines) and the Christmas Pudding was served (in smaller portions) at about 1:00a.m. – five hours after we started on our oysters. So the body has plenty of time to digest the food before loading up with more!

And so impressed were M-D’s cousins with the Christmas Pudding that one pair asked if they could take home what was left for the following day! Now that’s what you call ‘seeing the light’! No more talk of crap British food from that quarter! I love it when a plan comes together!

And finally, just a little footnote, having mentioned Haggis, Neeps and Tatties, if you read my post of 25th December, you’ll see that we brought a little sunshine into the lives of my daughter-in-law and her husband by serving this traditional Scottish dish to them… and they loved it. In fact, so much so that we plan going to their home this coming weekend to celebrate a birthday (no, I’m NOT going to tell you how young I am!!). Muriel (my daughter-in-law) has asked me to bring the haggis that she knows is living in our freezer, so she can serve Haggis, Neeps and tatties as a starter too! Again, it’s a St. Paul on the road to Damascus moment!

Have a GREAT 2012!

Eggs, Fish

Eggs-actly!

November 10, 2011 needarecipe Leave a comment

Last night, we invited over some friends for dinner. Ron has been a friend of mine (and the whole family) since my childhood, and his wife, Chrissy, is probably the smiliest person I know. We were also joined by Jeanette, my sister-in-law so, along with M-D and myself, there were five of us round the table.

Normally, when we are entertaining, it is me that does the cooking. However, Ron is not hugely keen on certain meats, so we decided to start with Monk Fish Delight (fish and eggs) and then, for a main course, Piperade (onions, peppers, ham and eggs), which is one of our regular favourites. Both of these are dishes at which M-D excels, so this time it was she who spent some time in the kitchen (though most of this meal can be prepared in advance).

Piperade (see photo on the right) is a traditional dish from the Basque region of France (South West). The recipe on the web site uses Parma Ham because the ham that is more traditionally used – Jambon de Bayonne – is not usually available other than in France.

Fortunately, being forward-thinking people, we had brought over a large Jambon de Bayonne with us when we came from France a month ago, so we were able to offer the authentic taste of the Basque region (and the ham is so much better than Parma ham, for this particular recipe).

We kept it simple and served the Piperade with a a few salad leaves in a vinagrette. It’s enough because the flavours blend so well that this is one of those dishes where more is less!

The Monk Fish Delight (see the photo alongside) is just that… a real delight. Is very easy to make and can be prepared hours in advance, to make your entertaining easy.

The version in the photo has been cooked in an oblong tin and decorated with prawns, tomato and egg. However, we tend to use a circular ring pan, about 10″ (25cm) in diameter and about 2 – 2½” (5-6 cm) high – they come in different sizes, but this is the most common. The pan is completely rounded, like a half cylinder that has been wrapped around to make a ring shape. So, when we turn the terrine out onto a plate, we end up with a 10″ “doughnut” of fish and eggs. Then all we do is decorate with a little parsley and place a bowl of mayonnaise in the middle, and the job is done!

So it was eggs followed by eggs, and all gently washed down with a few glasses of chilled Terres Ocrées Côtes de Provence (a delightfully light rosé wine). Then we finished off with a Tarte aux Fruits and coffee – and everybody was happy! And who says that France can’t come to The Isle of Man!!

Seafood, Wine

Zee best in zee world

September 20, 2011 needarecipe Leave a comment

Earlier this year we spent a few days in Brittany with our two French grandchildren. During the trip, we visited Cancale, which lies along the coast to the east of Saint-Malo. It is a picturesque fishing village popular with visitors, many of whom are drawn by its reputation as the “oyster capital” of Brittany. On the sea front there are many stalls selling crustaceans of all types – all fresh out of the sea. I’ve never seen so many oysters of so many different shapes, colours and sizes.

While we were there, we went into a shop owned by one of life’s “characters”! Everything we looked at was ‘the best in the world’… “Ah, zat box of snail shells, ‘ee iz zee best in zee world!” (Actually the guy was speaking French, but I’m sure you get the gist!!)

Well, it seems to have worked because we walked out clutching a bag of ‘goodies’ and were about 100 euros lighter in our pockets! However, one of the things we came away with was a small packet of Court Bouillon Marin (marine fish stock – and that’s a very loose translation!). I used it once and it was truly excellent, it really does add all the flavours of the sea to the fish. According to the packet, all it contains is sea salt, seaweed and herbs, but I can promise you, it really is “zee best in zee world”.

If your French is good enough, you can order this Court Bouillon Marin from the family that makes it… http://www.lehomedys.com/saveur.php. It’s perfect for (as the name implies) a court bouillon, but also for mussels, fish soup, or any sort of fish or crustacean.

So, tonight, we’re going to be eating halibut, cooked in Court Bouillon Marin, and I’m really looking forward to it. However, we also bought some samphire (one of the salicornia species, also known as glasswort or pickleweed). If you’re not familiar with samphire, it is a succulent, salt tolerant plant that grows in salt marshes, on beaches, and among mangroves. Salicornia species can generally tolerate immersion in salt water and it is highly edible, either cooked or raw. Due to its high salt content, it must be cooked without any salt added, in plenty of water. It has a hard stringy core, and after cooking, the edible flesh is pulled off from the core. This flesh, after cooking, resembles seaweed in color, and the flavor and texture are like young spinach stems or asparagus… truly worth looking forward to with a nice crisp Chablis!

Cheese, Duck, Quail, Wine

La Petite Rôtisserie

September 17, 2011 needarecipe Leave a comment

So – was it Salade des Gourmets or not???

Well, believe it or not, I was able to resist and, for a starter, I went for the Salade de Caille et Magret de Canard (Salad of Quail and Lean Duck Breast). Deeee-licious! Now I have two favourites to choose from! What’s a man to do, I ask?

La Petite Rôtisserie is living up to its reputation. The food, the service and the wines were just perfect. Starting with a little apperitif (M-D takes an Americano and I take a Cocktail Maison), diners are given plenty of time to study the menu and the wine list before having to choose. As a main course, M-D took Rognons de Veau (Veal Kidneys) which were cooked to perfection. I took a fillet steak, rare, with a sauce of Bleu d’Auvergne (a blue cheese from the Auvergne region of France). These were accompanied simply by a few sautéed potatoes and mushrooms… very simple but very effective.

We followed up with cheese from the amazing selection that they keep here. I took some Pont-l’Évêque, some Chaource and some Bleu d’Auvergne (yeah, I know, I’d already had that with my steak!). Nadine (the restaurant owner) keeps her cheese in perfect condition and the Chaource just melted on my plate (as, indeed, it should!).

Dessert (which follows the cheese in France) was, for me, an aumônière which, literally translated means a purse or sack. In fact, it’s ice cream wrapped in a crèpe (thin pancake) and tied with a strip of orange peel, the whole thing sitting on a bed of thick chocolate sauce, sprinkled with crushed almonds. Ooooo – I can still taste it!

And all of this was washed down with a 2001 St Julien. The wines of St Julien are the epitome of Bordeaux. Sandwiched as it is between Pauillac to the north, and Margaux to the south, this small commune still makes a huge contribution to the wines of Bordeaux, with a distinctive and elegant style and the promise of consistency which is perhaps unrivalled by its neighbours.

Well – we enjoyed it anyway!!

Duck, Salads

Confit for all

September 16, 2011 needarecipe Leave a comment

I just finished posting Confit de Canard (Duck Confit) to the site and it reminds me how lucky we are to spend six months of the year in France. You see, we can get tins of confit from the local shops without having to go through the arduous process of making it. In fact, it’s so common that you can get it in most restaurants without paying the earth. Mind you, the prices can vary quite a lot because there’s quite a difference between the mass-produced commercial production and the more intimate ‘artisan’ producers. For that reason, we buy ours by mail order from Godard in Gourdon in the south-west of the country… and it is quite delicious.

Whenever we travel back to the Isle of Man by car (usually once a year) we always take back a supply of stuff (like confit) that we can’t get in Britain. We also have a habit of weighing the car down with wine, since it is so much cheaper (and better selection) in France. We will be going to the local wine fayre in a couple of weeks. That’s always good fun… it’s an evening of tasting of up to about 100 different wines, and the sellers are all determined that you should taste their wine, so there’s no ducking out after 10 or so! Must remember to book the taxi!

And talking of wine, M-D and I were just deciding what to pull out of the cellar for her daughter’s 40th birthday (coming soon). I noticed we had several bottles of Cote de Beaune Villages 1971, Chateau La Fleur 1975, and an absolutely stunning deep red wine called Chateau de Cayrou (1989 and 1990).

Maybe it’s time to pull out the Cote de Beaune Villages 1971 … same year as my daughter-in-law! It should be ready for drinking any time soon!

Anyway, it’s La Petite Rôtisserie tomorrow night. Let’s see if I can resist the temptation to take Salade Gourmet as a starter. There are so many good things on the menu, it seems a shame not to work my way through the whole list!

Chicken, Salads, Salmon, Vegetables

The End of Summer

September 13, 2011 needarecipe Leave a comment

While the UK (and the poor old Isle of Man) is suffering from 80mph (130kph) winds and floods, here in France, the weather is a very pleasant 27C with just a gentle cooling breeze to take the edge off the heat. But even so, I sense that the summer is coming to an end. The birds are circling and the fields are being harvested (us country folk know about things like that!)

Meanwhile we’re making the best of what good weather we still have. We’re eating salads like Caesar Salad or Salade Niçoise at lunch time and simple fayre in the evenings like Chicken and Ham Soup or Leek and Smoked Salmon Rolls

Often the simplest of meals are the most satisfying. M-D and I have just had a salad that was nothing more than a cooked chicken breast and Marinated Carrot Salad.Simple, yet tasty and filling (and very few of those nasty calories!). I just finished adding a recipe to the site for Roast Belly Pork Dinner. Now that’s serious comfort food! But maybe I can wait till those dark winter evenings!

M-D is busy planning for our return to the Isle of Man in about 3 weeks. She’s digging out all sorts of stuff that we have duplicated here in France (like a wok, for example) and creating a “heap” for us to take with us. We’ll be going by car this time, so we can carry lots of stuff (including the obligatory cases of wine!).

Until August we lived in a small apartment when we were on the Isle of Man. However, we decided that we needed somewhere bigger since our families are always made welcome. Within six weeks we had found the right house, bought it, moved in and rented out the apartment! But it took a bit of a toll on us physically and mentally so we came back to France for a rest.

Now it’s time to go back and sort out everything we didn’t manage to get done before – like a couple of extensions to the phone line and a desk each and…. a wok, it seems!

Need A Recipe