Panfried red mullet, fennel and crab mayo

I found these beautiful blue Gien plates this morning, asking for seafood. 

Sardines? Out of season!

I scoured the freezer (red mullet!) and the larder (a fennel bulb!) and remembered a recipe from ateliersdeschefs.co.uk and looked it up. 

Found the required tin of crab meat and started. 

Mixed the crab with some mayo and parsley and put it in the fridge.

Then made the sauce with lemon juice and olive oil. A matter of tasting, not too oily, not to acid.  Still not satisfied I reduced some orange juice till sirupy, let it cool and added that. Perfect.

Then used the mandoline to slice a funnel bulb wafer thin. Marinated the fennel in some of the sauce.
Added chopped chives to the rest of the sauce and panfried the mullet in a slightly oiled pan.

Served as shown. Looking good and simple!

Follow me on Instagram @peterschoenmaker7 

and have a look at my book 'Breakfast in Gascony' on Amazon for your Kindle

Caramellised fennel

Ottolenghi today! Vegetarian!

Start by preparing the fennel bulbs. First, cut off the leafy fronds, keeping a bit aside for the garnish. Next, slice off the end of the root and remove the tough outer layers, making sure the base still holds everything together. Cut each bulb lengthwise into 1/2 in. thick slices.

Melt butter and olive oil in a large frying pan over high heat. When the butter starts to foam, add a layer of sliced fennel. Do not overcrowd the pan and don’t turn the fennel over or stir it around in the pan until one side has become light golden, which will take a few minutes. Using tongs, turn the slices over and cook for another few minutes. Remove from the pan, add a bit more olive oil and butter if needed and repeat the process with the remaining raw fennel.

Once all the fennel is done and removed from the pan, reduce the heat, then add t sugar, fennel seeds, and plenty of salt and pepper to the pan. Fry for 30 seconds, adding a little more oil or butter if needed, until the sugar is dissolved, then return all the fennel to the pan and caramelize them gently. Once the fennel is caramelized, coated with sauce and tender (say 5 minutes?), turn off the heat and add the garlic. Stir again to incorporate it.

To serve, toss the fennel in a bowl with the dill and lemon zest. Taste and adjust seasoning. Arrange on a serving plate, or serve on toast as an appetizer (you may want to cut them into slightly smaller pieces). Dot with spoonfuls of goat’s cheese and garnish with fennel fronds.

About it being advertised as vegetarian. It is, but if you take a closer look at the picture you can see that we couldn't resist adding a nice juicy leg of chicken. Sorry

Garlicky escargots, mushrooms

Slice half a shallot very finely and do the same with 3 cloves of garlic, sweat them in 50 gr of salted butter.
Add 4 tbsp chopped parsley. Mix with the garlic/shallot butter, off the heat. 

Clean some mushrooms, take out the stems and fry the hoods in butter

Then heat up snails from a tin in the garlic butter. Then put them in the upturned mushrooms. Add a slice of red pepper and a parsley leaf for colour and serve with fresh crusty bread. 

Pan seared sea trout,mash and pea/feta/mint pesto

Start with the 'pesto', boil a handful of frozen peas for 7 mins, drain. Use the stick blender to blitz them with olive oil, 2 tbsp of mint leaves  and 1 garlic clove till the right consistency.  Then crumble some feta cheese and mix that in as well.

Next: boil a few potatoes.

Then sear the fish (the recipe said sea bream, but I had sea trout) in a lightly oiled pan, skin side down. When the skin is nice and crisp, turn off the heat and turn the fish. It will be done in a minute.

In the meantime crush the potatoes with a fork and add some olive oil. The recipe also asked for some spring onions, but I didn't have any, so I finely cut half a shallot and sweated that for a minute and added to the mash. `For color I added some parsley as well.

Inspiration: atelierdeschefs.co.uk






PS Don't forget, like I did,  to serve with lemon wedges!

Creamy chicken and wholegrain mustard and mushroom sauce

To accompany 2 leftover chicken legs we made Ottolenghi's sauce :

1 tbsp sunflower oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
15g unsalted butter
1 large onion, peeled and finely diced
Some thyme sprigs from the garden
200g mushrooms, halved
1 tsp paprikapowder
200ml chicken stock from our freezer
2 tsp wholegrain mustard
80g double cream
8 small gherkins, cut in half lengthways
Some parsley leaves, roughly chopped
Some tarragon leaves, roughly chopped (in the garden they were frozen, so we used dry ones from a pot)

Put the oil in  a large sauté pan on medium heat. 

Add the butter, onion and thyme, and saute for five minutes, until softened. Add the mushrooms, cook for eight minutes, until they take on a little colour, then add the paprika, half a teaspoon of salt and a good grind of pepper. Stir, cook for a minute, then add the stock and mustard. Cook for five or so minutes, to thicken the sauce, stir through the cream and cook, uncovered, for 10 minutes more; if the sauce needs further thickening, reduce the sauce. 

Off the heat, stir in the gherkins, parsley and tarragon, and serve piping hot – mashed potato or plain boiled rice would make a very happy partner, but we didn't.

Follow me on Instagram: peterschoenmaker7 and have a look at my Kindle book

 'Breakfast in Gascony" on Amazon

Fresh lobster

Buy or catch a lobster. 

Fill pan with 4 liter water, half a bottle of white wine and 1 liter chicken stock, add 2 onions (halved), thyme, rosemary, 1 diced leek, 2 laurel leaves, 2 crushed garlic cloves. salt and pepper. Bring to the boil.

Put in the lobster, head first. Boiling time: 1 min per 100 grams.

Cut in half. Serve with mayo...

Don't forget to use the leftovers to make a delicious lobster stock!

Grilled pineapple, creme brûlée icecream

Slice a fresh pineapple lengthways. 

Put on BBQ sticks. Sprinkle with brown sugar.

Fry in butter in a griddle pan.

Cod, leek, red wine sauce

Start with the sauce: 

Sweat some shallot and a garlic clove in butter. Add 1/3 bottle of light red wine, some vegetal stock, tomato puree, salt, pepper and some herbs (rosemary, sage, laurel, parsley). When thickened use a sieve to get the solid parts out. Then whisk in some ice-cold butter to get a velvety sauce. Set aside to warm later.

Turn on the oven at 180 C.

Slice the white of a leek lengthwise, then cut into half rings. Sweat the leek in butter. In the meantime mix flour, salt and peper in a plastic bag. Put in two nice cod filets and shake to cover the fish.. 

Panfry the fish in butter and olive oil, about 3 mins each side.  Then put the pan in the oven for another 5 mins. 

Slice some more white of the leek very thinly. Heat some archaide oil in a saucepan and deep fry the leek.

Serve as shown.

Follow me on Instagram @peterschoenmaker7 and have a look at my book 'Breakfast in Gascony' on Amazon for your Kindle

My new book is out now. A recipe for living in France.

But sofar only in Dutch! However, while we are searching for a UK publisher, you can read some chapters here: http://www.thegoodlifefrance.com/tour-de-france-stops-for-no-one/
Subscribe to the TGLF newsletter to be notified about more chapters. Don't forget to like their Facebook page.

Vichysoise, crayfish

Cut 5 leeks (the white and very light green only) in rings, sweat in some butter with 2 crushed cloves of garlic and 2 chopped celery sticks. 

Add 2 potatoes (in small pieces) and 750 cl chicken stock . 

Simmer for 20 mins. 

Use the blender. Serve with some nice crayfish, pepper and olive oil.

Grilled... watermelon. Really?

Yes, really! 

Lightly oil both sides. Then in a smoking hot grill pan, 1 min per side. 

Serve with Spanish ham and some blue cheese.

Leeks, chicken liver, Camembert

Whenever we are in a French supermarket we buy a package of chicken liver confit. They have already been slow-cooked in duck fat, so at home all we have to do is to give them a nice tan in a dry, hot pan.

But you can use normal chicken livers of course. 

At the same time we soften, in butter,  the white of 4 big leeks and 1 onion, cut into rings. A round baking tin is covered with store-bought puff pastry. Then the pastry is covered with baking paper and held down with coins or beans and pre-baked for 10 mins in a 200° C oven. 

After removing the weights and the sulpherised paper the tin goes back in the oven for another 10 mins. Then lower the temperature to 185°.

Then the baked pastry is filled with the softened leeks and onion, chicken livers are put on top and last but not least slices of good Camembert are covering it. 

Finally beat 3 eggs with 250 cl crême fraiche and some black pepper. 

Pour the mixture in the quiche. Bake for another 30-35 mins till golden brown:

Red mullet, safran mash, sauce vierge

Start with the mash: boil 1 potato with some safran and a garlic clove in about 18 mins.

In the meantime brown a tsp of fennel seeds in a dry pan. Set apart.

For the sauce vierge: cut another garlic clove finely and brown in some olive oil. Add more oil, 2 tbsp soy sauce and a tbsp  Ricard. 

Add fennel seeds. Keep warm.

De-skin a tomato, remove the seeds and cut into small cubes.

Fry the fillets of mullet, skin side down till crisp. Turn the heat off and then turn the fish for another 2 mins.

In the meantime finish the mash with some olive oil and cream.

Serve as shown, the green is tarragon.

Follow me on Instagram: peterschoenmaker7

Summer Chicken

Cut 2 chicken breasts into strips. 

Cut 2 slices of bacon into matchsticks. 

Fry chicken and bacon. 

Add sliced courgettes and cherry tomatoes. 

Stir fry for another 5 mins. 

Add some chicken stock and a tbsp of lemon juice. 

Simmer for another 3 mins. 

Decorate with fresh basil.

Inspiration: Gourmet magazine

Nougat icecream, raspberry coulis

Take a mix of 150 gr. hazelnuts, almonds and pistachios, fry them lightly in a dry pan and let them cool. 

Separate 3 eggs, whisk the whites. In a small pan mix 100 gr honey with 4 tbsp of Canderel 100% sucralose and 3 tbsp water and bring to the boil till 120C (use a thermometer). 

Then mix this syrup with the eggwhites and fold it till cooled. 

Then add 25 cl whipped cream, the nuts, 50 gr white raisins and 150 gr raspberries.

Pour into a cake mold lined with cling film. Freeze for 12 hours.

Use a stick blender  to make the coulis from 150 gr raspberries, juice of 1/2 a lemon and 2 tbsp sugar

From Gourmet magazine.

Follow me on Instagram @peterschoenmaker7 

and have a look at my book 'Breakfast in Gascony' on Amazon for your Kindle

Snow peas, beetroot, apple, goats cheese

We got the last of the beetroots and snow peas from our garden. 

Started with the dressing by bringing 3 tablespoons of port, 1tblspoon of red wine vinegar, 2 tablespoons of mustard, 1 tablespoon of sugar and a finely chopped shallot to the boil, for 2 mins. 

When it was cooled again we added some fresh thyme leaves, pepper and salt and whisked in some olive oil. 

Boiled the beetroots for 45 mins and the peas for 4 mins. Diced the beetroots and half a Granny Smith. Mixed beetroot, apple and dressing. 

Served as shown, with some goat's cheese on top. Nice for a summer lunch...

Goat's cheese salad

Start by putting a red bell pepper under the hot grill, till blackened. Take of the skin, then cut into strips. 

Prepare a dressing from Dyon mustard, walnut oil, - vinegar, running honey, salt, pepper and then olive oil. 

Toast the bread. Divide a soft goat's cheese over the bread, drip some honey over it and put under the grill. 

In the meantime toast pine nuts in a dry pan. Peel and cut a Granny Smith.

Serve as shown.

Smoked duckbreast and goat's cheese salad

Start with the dressing. 

Mix walnut oil, - vinager, mustard, cherry jam, salt and pepper, then add olive oil. 

Roast some pine nuts in a dry pan. 

Mix salad leaves, green beans, black tomatoes. Add slices of smoked duck breast , soft goat's cheese and the warm pine nuts

Follow me on Instagram @peterschoenmaker7 

and have a look at my book 'Breakfast in Gascony' on Amazon for your Kindle

Red mullet, puff pastry, bell pepper and more

Start early with a red bell pepper. Put under a hot grill till the skin turns black. Remove the skin, then put the paprika in a blender with some oil to make a coulis.

Defrost some puff pastry and cut out discs, about 4 cm diameter. Brush with beaten egg and grate Parmesan cheese over  the discs, put them in a 210°C oven for about 15 mins. 

In the meantime remove the skin and seeds of 2 ripe tomatoes, slice them finely and mix with  diced shallot to make a concassé. 

Put the red mullet fillets in a plastic bag with some flour, shake the bag till the fish is just covered. 

Fry the fish, skin side down for 3 mins, then turn over for another minute or two. 

Mix a handful of rucola with some peppery olive oil, the arrange the salad around a service ring. Put the tomato concassé in the middle, then the fish and the puff pastry on top. Finish with drops of bell pepper mousse. 

Enjoy!

Follow me on Instagram: peterschoenmaker7

Sticky sweet and sour chicken

Put 6 chicken thighs in a casserole dish.

< Add half a pot (170 g) of (homemade if possible) chutney and 1/2 red pepper

Now put in a pre heated 180°C oven, for 50 mins

The last 15 mins add 125 g cherry tomatoes, 

< Done. Simple. Delicious. 

Serve with  2 quartered limes (as they were used by Madame for her G&T I had to use lemons),  coriander and naan bread to mop up the juices

Follow me on Instagram: peterschoenmaker7