Lobster, asparagus, mayo, ginger/lemon jelly

To make the jelly start with 1 cup hot water with chunks of ginger left to soak in it for as long as your like - the longer the stronger the taste.
Mix 2 leaves of gelatine with the cooled ginger liquid.

When the gelatine is dissolved add 2 cups of hot water, the juice of a lemon and a tsp sugar.

Pour into a  glass container and place in the fridge to set.

Cedo"s sweetbread

Years ago we loved to go to Konoba, a small then Yugoslavian (now it would be Croatian) restaurant run by chef Cedo and with Neven as front of house. There was no menu. You had to go into the tiny kitchen where Cedo let you inspect his pots and fridge, all the while explaining what he could do. His sweetbread was legendary. So when I could buy some yesterday I posted a message on his Facebook page and he emailed this recipe from Croatia:

'Zwezerik moet zijn uit omgeving van het hart...dan is hij wat rond...op en diepe bord zeten en dan  flinke gewicht erop...bijvoorbeld smale pan met water...dit laten in koelkast overnachten bedekt met plastiek folie...

andere dag...pan water met wat zout...als water kokend is afgedroogde zwezerik dompelen en laten 2 min schriken...uit halen en dan onder de stromend water laten afkoelen...vervolgens met klein mes vliesjes en restjes van vet eraf snijden...neem scherp mes in je hand en zwezerik vorzichtig snijden in dunne plakjes...op en bord plat laten ligen...zout en peper er op bijde kanten...

voorbereiding...drie diepe borden...en met bloem tweede met opgekloetse ei...en laatste met paneermeel...

inhoud van de tweede bord...en of twee opgekloetste eireen...fijn gesniperde knoflook...fijn gesniperde rosemarijn...zout en peper...

zwezerik door bloem wentelen...dan door eieren mengsel...en dan door paneer meel...

kort bruin baken...en op de keukenpapier, welke ligt op en warme bord bakvet uit korst van zwezerik laten opzuigen...

opdienen met zeer dun sneetje citroen, zonder schil, op elk plakje zwezerik...

voor het eten even met de plate kant van vork citroen zacht opdruken...

om de smaak van de zwezerik voledig tot je laten komen raad erbij aleen rucola zonder dressig te eten...

noot...rest van bloem, eieren en kruimels samen voegen dan met paar drupels olijfolie samen kneden en en plate panenkoek maken...baken aan twee kanten snijden in zeer dune repjes...en bij rucola toevoegen...'

Salmon, eggwhite, beetroot and horseradish 'snow'.

Place 400g salmon fillet flesh up on a double sheet of foil. Sprinkle 2 tbsp salt, 1 tbsp sugar, 1/2 tsp toasted fennel seeds and 1/2 tsp lemon zest over. Pour on 2 tbsp  Pernod (if using) and close the foil. Place in the fridge for at least 24 hours.

Rinse off the marinade under cold water then pat dry the salmon. Cut 2 beetroots into 5mm dice. Peel a boiled egg. Separate the white from the yolk, then chop the whites.

Slice the salmon very finely across the fillet, line the slices up nicely on plates and arrange the beetroot on top. Sprinkle on the chopped egg whites then arrange some picked dill all over. Finish with a drizzle of olive oil and a little grated, frozen horseradish "snow".

(Here the original Bruno Loubet recipe)

Slow cooked guinea fowl

A simplfied recipe by Ash Mair. 

Buy a whole guinea fowl in order to have the carcass as well, to make a nice stock that then can be used for a tasty sauce. Buy a pigs trotter as well. Do this the day before. 

Remove the breasts and the legs. Put the rest with the pigs trotter in an ovendish and almost burn it at 300C (about 15 mins). In the meantime brown 2 sliced carrots, 1 garlic clove and a bay leaf in some olive oil. Add 50 ml fino sherry and 50 ml port and reduce till the liquid becomes sticky. Add 1 liter of chicken stock, 2 onions cut in half (incl the skin!), one or two tomatoes, some thyme, a bayleaf, 8 crushed black peppercorns, 2 celery stalks incl the leaves, a tbsp tomato paste. Add the carcass and pigs trotter and bring to the boil, then simmer for at least half a day.

The next day take out the vegetables and meat and strain the liquid trough a fine sieve. Then reduce till you end up with a nice thick sauce. Discard the vegetables, give the meat from the trotter do the dogs and dicard the bone. But keep the guinea fowl carcass.

Then cut 2 onions finely. Sweat them in a knob of butter in a sauce pan. Add a (beer)bottle of sweet cider, some salt and pepper and bring to the boil. Continue on a low heat till the onions are soft and the cider all but evaporated. Use the blender to make a puree. You can do this in advance and warm it later in the microwave.

Heat the oven at 200C. Peel a potato per person and grate them. Then leave the stuff in warm salted water for 10 mins.  Clarify 50 gr of butter.  Squeeze the potatoes as dry as possible and cover in butter. Put loosely in a couple of baking cases. Bake in the oven at 180°C for about 30 mins or untill golden brown and crispy.

Now open a second bottle of cider and pour in a second saucepan with 1/2 liter chicken stock, bring to the boil and put the legs in, remove to a very low flame and simmer for half an hour till well done. Keep apart and warm in alufoil..

Time for the breasts. Wrap them in thinly sliced Serano ham and then wrap each one in clingfilm. Reheat the cider, add the breasts and simmer for 20 mins.

We are getting there. Remove the clingfilm and dry breasts and legs on kitchen paper.

Slice 1/4 of a Savoye cabbage, slice 2 small leeks, Boil them for about 4 mins.  Peel an apple and cut in pieces of 1/2 cm. Add to the greens and boil for another minute.Then drain.

Put 2 frying pans on the cooker. One to fry the breasts and legs till the skin of the legs and the ham of the breasts is crisp. This will take about 5 mins. The other to reheat the cabbage and apple. Add a small handfull of frozen peas and small carrots. Just  a minute or two will do.

Warm the sauce and the onion puree. Cut the breasts in half and the legs at the knee. (If you only serve 2 people keep the rest in the fridge). Plate as shown

After lunch or dinner take the meat from the carcass. In the next couple of days day use the leftovers to make this. Boil a potato and mash. Mix with the leftover veggies. Fill a serving ring with mix. Top with the meat. Pour over the leaftover sauce.

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Leek and potato soup, smoked salmon

Slice 1 small onion and 4 small leeks. Peel 2 small potatoes and cut them into small cubes.
Sweat onion and leeks in 25 gr butter. Add potatoes and 3/4 liter chicken stock. 

Boil softly for 20 mins. Add a good glug of cream. Blitz. Taste. Add water if too thick. Taste. Add pepper and salt to ones liking. 

Serve lukewarm with slivers of smoked salmon

Lentils, beetroot, mozzarella, mushrooms

Having parttime vegetarian F. for lunch I looked for inspiration in Maria Elia's The Modern Vegetarian and made this version: rinse 200 gr lentils and soak them for an hour. Then boil  a couple of small beetroots ( ca 250 gr) which will take just under an hour as well.

In the meantime start with the dressing, with 2 tsp grated ginger, 2 grated cloves of garlic, 2 tbsp Dyon mustard, 1 tbsp lemonjuice, 30 cl sherry vinegar, 70 cl sesame oil, 1 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tbsp sugar (make sure everything is at room temperature!).

After soaking the lentils cut 1 big or 2 small onions finely, do the same with 2 cloves of garlic. Soften them in some oil then add the lentils and 2 bay leaves. Cover (just) with water and cook for about 25 mins. Peel the beetroots and cut into wedges.

Cut a buffalo mozzarella in pieces. Slice 8 mushrooms and fry them quickly on both sides. They should still have a bite.

Serve as shown, with the dressing added and some rocket and coriander leaves.

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Spinach salad, blue cheese, figs and pear

Add some thinly sliced red onion for a crunch. 

With a dressing of balsamico and nut-oil

< Serve with for instance with a nice cheesy quiche lorraine

Smoked eel, cauliflower mousse

Fry 150 gr cauliflower softly in 25 gr butter. 

Add 100 ml chicken stock and boil softly till done. 

Add 50 ml cream, simmer for another 5 mins. In the meantime soak 2 gelatine leaves  in cold water.

Take the cauliflower from the heat and dissolve the gelatine. Then use the blender to liquidise.

Fry some Spanish ham in a dry pan. 

Liquidise some parsley with some olive-oil, don't forget a bit of salt to minimise the bitterness. 

Serve the cauliflower mousse in a ring of smoked eel.  

Or like this:

Red fruit salad with mascarpone

Mix 2 eggyolks and 100 gr sugar. Whisk and whisk and whisk again till the yellow becomes white. 

Mix with the contents of a 250 gr. tub of Mascarpone. Whisk till nice and smooth. 

Prepare a red fruit coulis with some creme de cassis. Serve as shown. 

Use a small kitchen burner to burn the mascarpone a bit

Fish soup

The trick here is to come prepared. Each time I buy a whole fish I keep the head and the bones in the freezer for a while. And when we eat nice fat grilled gamba's, with garlic, parsley and olive-oil I keep the heads. 

When I think there is enough, i take the frozen fish bits from the freezer. Bring 2 liters of water to the boil and add the fish and gamba bits, with some onions, celery stalks, carrots, bay leaf, thyme and crushed peppercorns. An hour later I take everything out and strain the fishstock trough a sieve and reduce it till only a 1/2 liter is left. Which gets in the freezer.

The moment we expect guests I buy 12 big juicy Spanish mussels, a handful of vongole, some salmon and 4 juicy gamba's. Plus my secret ingredient: a jar of 'Soupe de Homard a la Bretagne'.

Readymade lobstersoup, yes. But which still need my concentrated fish stock from the freezer to become perfect. So I combine the two an heat them up slowly. I steam the mussels and vongole. Fry the gamba's and cut the fresh salmon.

The salmon cubes go raw in the plates and will be

slightly cooked when I pour over the soup.

The mussels and vongole follow as do the prawns.

Served with bread and a very garlicky rouille

(which comes for free with de soupe).

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Gambas a la plancha

Don't try to save a few quid, go for the juicy big ones, 13/15 in a 800 gram box. With lots of garlic, olive oil and parsley. 

Use French bread to sop up the juices and just use your fingers, of course

Keep the heads and peel in the freezer to make stock later on.

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Melon, strawberries, raspberries, grape, mint

Scrambled eggs in a pocket of ham.

Scramble eggs. Serve on a thick slice of ham. Fold the ham as shown. Decorate with chive. Serve with toast and butter.  

Good morning!

Seafood

Mango salad and red snapper

Mix cubes of fresh mango and avocado plus some red onion, red chili, a couple of shrimps and coriander Sprinkle with lemon juice and olive oil. 

Fry the fillets of red snapper, skin side down, for about 5 mins. 
Then the other side for a minute or 2.

For decoration I added some cubes of beetroot.

Inspired by good old Rick Stein

Our version of Pytt i Panna

Apart from Macaroni Ketjap I once in a while I crave this dish from Sweden, discovered when we visited an IKEA for the very first time. In Goteborg. But then with their famous meatballs and without the mayo. 

Here we go. The beetroot takes the longest : boil for 50 mins.

In the meantime peel a big potato and cut into small cubes. Boil water and cook the cubes for just over 4 mins. 

Fry the sausages. 

Chop an onion. 

Fry the potato cubes in duckfat, but add some butter to get a better colour. 

Fry 2 eggs. 

Peel and dice the beetroot.
Plate and add a nice dollop of Hellman's mayonaise.

Not shown: at the table I cut the sausage in small pieces, then mix everything thoroughly, so everything is covered in eggyolk, mayo or both. Disgusting but... delicious!  

Here with fennel and a crispy potato pancake from the oven.....

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Guinea fowl and red fruit sauce

As I could not buy 2 pigeons yesterday I went for a nice plump guinea fowl, but yes, the recipe is basically the same as you saw earlier for a pigeon.

Start a day in advance by with preparing a hot oven, 250 C is what we need. In the meantime remove both legs and breasts from the bird. Put the carcass in the oven till almost burned, about 10- 15 mins should do it. 

Take out and turn the heat to 80° C.

Hack the carcass in 4 or 5 pieces and add them to a liter and half of cold water, in a big pan.
The add 2 bayleaves, 2 halved onions (skin on, to colour the stock), 2 halved tomatoes, 2 carrots sliced into chunks, some thyme and a clove of garlic. Simmer for 6 to 12 hours.

Put the legs in a ovenproof saucepan, not too big, they should just fit. Cover with duck- or goosefat and put them in the cooled-down ( 80C) oven for about 3 to 4 hours to make a confit.
The breasts, in clingfilm,are left in the fridge

Overnight leave the legs in the fat.

The next day strain the stock trough a fine sieve, discard the rest (or take the meat and skin from the bones and give it to your dog). Reduce the stock till syropy. Our supermarket sells a nice readymade coulis of red fruits which I use as a secret ingredient to sweeten the sauce. But you can make your own coulis or use 1 or 2 tbsp of jam.

Then prepare whatever you want to serve with the bird. Today I used some beetroot, carrot, haricots vert and butter beans. Plus some leftover gratin dauphinois from the freezer.

Remove the legs from the duckfat and put them under a hot grill till the skin is crisp. Finally fry the breasts, about 6 mins on each side, and season with salt and pepper.

If you have guests it is quite simple to cut the legs at the 'knee' in two and cut the fillets in two as well and still having plenty. Decorate with some blackberries

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Steak Tartare

Go to the best butcher in town and ask for his best cut of tenderloin/fillet (220g), nicely marbled with some fat. Then ask him for a sliver to taste and keep one eye on the other customers. See them taking a step back when they see you eating raw meat!

Back home use your sharpest knife to slice the beef very thinly. Then the slices into strips and finally the strips into very small cubes. Mix all ingredients

1 tbsp shallot, finely chopped
1 tbsp capers
1 tbsp gherkins, finely chopped
1 tbsp Dyon mustard
1 tbsp ketchup

1 tbsp chopped parsley

1 tbsp mayo
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp Tabasco
2 tsp   Worcester sauce

Taste and add salt and pepper. Use a serving ring to plate and finish with egg yolks (from very fresh eggs)

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Haddock, leek, herb-mayonaise

Sea Bass with Orange and Ginger Butter

Start with the sauce. Bring  40 cl  orange juice to the boil after adding 1 tsp of gingerpowder. Reduce and  thicken  to about 20 cl. Add 5 cl cream and boil again. Then, on a very low heat whisk in 100 gr cold butter in small cubes, one at the time. Reheat later.

Put a tomato 20 sec in boiling water then cool under the cold tap, take off the skin, remove the seeds and dice the rest

Put 1/2 a paprika under the grill till blackend. Take off the skin. Cut into strips. 

Wash a cucumber. Cut 5cm off, remove the skin and slice the flesh (but not the seedcore) in 'matchsticks'. 

Do the same with the green skin of a courgette. Put the courgette matchsticks on a shallow plate and cover with olive oil to keep crisp. 

Cut a thin slice of mango into matchsticks. Do the same with 1/2 red onion.

Fry the fish, I used red snapper (the recipe from Bernard Bach was for red mullet, but in my opInion any nice fish will do) skin side first till crisp then turn for another minute. Warm the sauce.

Plating: start with the the onion, the paprika, mango, cucumber,courgette and some coriander leaves. Fish on top, skin sid up. Then some sauce, in which you sprinkle the diced tomatoes. 

Bit of paprika powder will add some colour.

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 'Breakfast in Gascony" on Amazon

Strawberry soup with lime sorbet

Use the blender to pulp 500 gr of strawberries with some sugar, a squeeze of lemon juice (to preserve the colour) and a gluck of creme de cassis. 

Add some pieces of strawberry and keep in the fridge for at least 6 hours. 

Serve with a scoop of lime sorbet and a sprig of mint. 

One or two turns of the pepper mill will enhance the flavour. 

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Roast chicken for 3 days

In the past few weeks we read several times about  the recipe for roast chicken from Thomas Kellers. When  Felicity Cloak mentioned it again in the Guardian, where she always compares '5 ways to cook the perfect .....' I decided to try it myself. The main idea is to use a very hot oven and no liquid. At all.

So I rinsed the chicken inside and out. Dried it with kitchen paper. Trussed tightly with kitchen twine (important) . Waited till the oven was 230C. Added salt and pepper, put it in the oven for 40 mins and waited.
Took it out and let it rest for 15 mins
Felicity was a bit disappointed that, although the skin was indeed very crisp, the meat was a bit dry. Well this one was perfect. I put some thyme on it and served the breasts with the juices, a bit of butter, some mustard and a simple salad. Delicious.



But that is not the end of it. We still have the thighs for another meal. And the carcass, still full of juicy bits. Which we used for fajitas, with avocado, red onion and bell pepers

  Last but not least we used the carcass to
  make a rich chicken stock.
  Reduced it and used an icecube form to freeze
  for later use. 
           
  So the one chicken gives you 3 lovely 
  meals and homemade chickenstock
  for sauces

Instead of fajitas you can make nems:

Before using the carcass to make stock, take off all the meat. Cut the meat finely. Cut the white of a lemongrass finely, grate a tsp ginger. Mix with a teaspoon of soy-sauce, tsp of oyster sauce, tsp of caster sugar with a tbsp white wine vinegar. Marinate the meat in it for half a day or longer. Divide a celery stalk in 4 cm parts and cut these lengthwise  finely in strips. Do the same with a piece of paprika (bell pepper). 

At dinnertime mix the meat with the veggies. Dip a sheet of rice 'paper' in hot (not boiling water. Dripdry. Put some coriander leaves on it. Wet a second sheet and use it to cover the first. 

Put 2 tbsp of the meatmix on one half of the ricepaper.Roll it as tight as possible for a bit. Then fold the sides inwards and continue rolling.

Boil some water and get a bamboo steaming basket. Steam for about 5 mins. Serve with sweet&sour chili sauce.

< And finally we had the thighs with some spicy nasi goreng. I'm sure you can Google that recipe.

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Gravad Lax

If you do not have IKEA near you, go out and buy 2 nice thick (as they will lose 40% height) pieces of salmon (about 500 gr each), skin on. You will also need coarse sea-salt, caster sugar, white pepper and  lots of dill.                                                                            
                                                                          

                                                                      Make sure there are no bones left. Chop 
lots of dill, mix with 75 gr seasalt, 50 gr 
caster sugar, 2 tbsp crushed white 
peppercorns. Put one salmon fillet skin
side down. Cover with the mix. Place the
other fillet on top, skin side up.
Wrap in cling film. Put in a soup plate (it will lose lots of liquid). Put something heavy on top to flatten the fish. Leave in the fridge for 2 days or up to a week.
Turn twice per day.


You van make a classic sweet dill mustard sauce (like you can buy at IKEA) but we prefer this less sweet one: mix 2 tsp horseradish (from a jar) with 2 tsp finely grated onion, 2 tsp Dyon mustard, 2 tbsp white vinegar, 1 tsp caster sugar, bit of salt and 120 ml crême fraiche. Add 2 tbsp finely cut dill.

When it's time to serve, remove the cling film 
and the salty dill-mix. We even rinsed the
cured salmon and dried it with kitchen paper
to make it less salty.
Serve thin slices on a bed of salsify. Add the sauce.
Some capers, finely chopped onion and coarse brown bread
can be added as well.

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 'Breakfast in Gascony" on Amazon

Alternative presentation for round plates:

Porc fillet, polenta,ratatouille, broad beans, tomatoes confit

If you have finished a nice beefstew there often is some very tasty thick liquid left in the pot. Which we decided to use as a sauce. In the fridge were some ratatouille, broad beans and haricots verts left and we also had some oven dried tomatoes. We only had to buy a pork fillet and could start cooking.

(If you like it: put the oven on 80C. Boil some water and drop 2 tomatoes in for 30 seconds. Get them out with a slotted spoon (keep the water) and hold them under cold running water to stop cooking. Remove the skin and cut into 4 parts. Remove the seeds. Put in a small oven dish, sprinle with sea salt and thyme leaves, Add olive oil till almost covered and 2 garlic cloves (in their skin). Put in the oven for 3 hours.) 

For the rice bring 4 small  cups of water to the boil and put in a small cup (it will increase in volume!) of polenta. Keep stirring on a low heat for about 3-4 mins. Pour into a shallow plate and see how it swells up while it cools.

Go and find something else to do.

After 150 mins. shell the broad beans.

Cut the polenta into 'fishfingers'. 

Fry the fillet in some oil and a dash of butter till nice and brown on all sides, turn down the heat and let them cook for about 20 mins. The inside should not be raw, but can stay pink.

After 10 mins add 1 or 2 polenta fingers to brown

Boil the tomato water again and cook the haricots verts for 5 mins. After 4 mins add the broad beans.

Warm the left over stew-liquid (and ratatouille if you have some).

Let the meat rest a bit and cut the fillet in 4 parts.

Serve as shown above. The oil from the tomatoes is now garlicky, so keep in a jar for later use

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Apricot and pancetta salad

 

This morning they were caressed by the first sun, still ripening on their tree. At

7 am they were carefully picked by a farmer and at three hours later we bought them at the local market. The fist delicious apricots of the season (which is rather short).

Most of the work is taking the skin of. Unless you dip them a couple of seconds in boiling water, like a tomato. Then cut them in 6 parts.

Start the dressing with 2 tsp mustard and 2 heaped tsp apricot jam, mix with 2 tbsp wallnut vinegar. Add about 6 tbsp olive oil. Whisk.

Then fry some pancetta (or Serano) in a dry pan till crisp.

Enjoy the first bites of summer

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