Ranch vegetables

I’m taking a break and visiting family in the USA.

One of the first meals I was given here consisted of a great lasagna, served with broccoli and baby carrots. It was very nice.

I was about to add some butter to my vegetables when I was asked if I would prefer a dressing?

To be honest I wasn’t too sure what they meant but just said “sure” (trying out my best American!!)

I admit I was surprised when a beautiful ranch salad dressing was produced and even more surprised when I tried it on the vegetables. It was fabulous.

Try it! I’ll see if I can prise out the recipe for the Ranch Dressing.

Balsamic Vinaigrette

I always make my own vinaigrette salad dressing, and I particularly like one made with Balsamic Vinegar.  I always use olive oil as it's by far the most healthy.

Balsamic Vinaigrette

mix 1 part water with 3 parts Balsamic Vinegar.

Add a clove of garlic, crushed and a teaspoon of herbs de Provence (Or mixed herbs)

Then add 5 parts of olive oil and shake vigorously until all the ingredients are blended.

This balsamic Vinaigrette will keep for a couple of weeks with no refrigeration.

The basic portions, 1 to 3 to 5 makes any vinaigrette.

Baked Beans

It's funny what you miss when you move to a new country.

7 years ago, when I decamped from the UK to come and live here in France I was asked the question many times. My answer was always the  same and, at the time I believed it to be honest, Family, Friends, those kind of close personal things.  However, now that I have lived here for 7 years I realise that was wrong.  Yes, I do miss my family, yes I do miss my friends, but  with the internet and a telephone those people are just a short call away.  I keep in touch with my Family almost weekly and with my friends often.   On top of that, both my family and friends have discovered that I now live in a gorgeous part of Europe and that they have an ideal excuse to come and make a holiday here.  I'm delighted to say that both family and friends often come to visit and possibly, I now see a little more of them than before I moved.

So what do I really miss?   BAKED BEANS!

When I lived in the UK, I didn't even consider Baked Beans as part of my stock cupboard.  True, there was always a tin in there, but hey, it got used from time to time to supplement a quick easy meal or simply as a toast topping for a light supper.   Once I moved here I quickly discovered that Baked Beans, rather than the throw away item in the UK had graduated to a Gourmet food shelf and were being sold at about eight times the price. 

End of desire to have an occasional tin in the cupboard

Except, it wasn't.  I still made those easy meals from time to time, and there was no doubt about it, Baked Beans certainly improved the meal.  I compensated by bringing a few tins back from my occasional visits to the UK, Stubbornly refusing to accept the attitude that they were now a gourmet item.

Then, ages ago now, Kate, from down under, gave me a recipe and told me to make my own.   I had never even thought of this simple solution.

I gave it try and made my first batch which were delicious.  I subsequently made them regularly and kept them in the freezer. ready for those snacks.  I've even had a guy from England tell me they were the best baked beans he had ever tasted!!

Here's the recipe she gave me, all those years ago, modified over time to reflect what I now do.

Ian's Baked Beans

Preparation     30 mins
Waiting           24 hours
Cooking           2 ½ hours

Ingredients

	A	2 cups haricot coco white beans
	B	3 large cloves of garlic 3 medium onions 1 small pork chop
	C	1 400g tin tomatoes 1 140g tin tomato paste 2 tbs brown sugar 1 tbs soy sauce 1 tsp Herb de Provence (or mixed herbs) (dried)

 

Method

A.     Cover the beans with cold water and soak for 24 hours in a large casserole
         Drain and recover with lightly salted water, bring to the boil and simmer for 1 ½ hours

B.     Peel and finely chop the garlic and onion. 
       Chop the pork into small cubes and then sauté them all in a little oil. 
        Include the pork chop bone

C.    Combine all ingredients at C and mix well.
       Let stand until beans are cooked

When beans are cooked, drain them and reserve the water. 
Add the cooked onion mixture (B) and the combined tomato mixture (C). 
Add 2 cupfuls of the reserved water.      Make up with hot water if needed. 
Add a good dash of Worcestershire sauce. 
Bring to the boil and simmer, uncovered, for one hour

 

Once cooled, the beans freeze well and keep for several months.

Although, to be honest, mine don't keep at all, they just get eaten!

Muesli

I love to have muesli for breakfast but prefer to make my own rather than use any factory produced blend.

I usually keep the muesli in a 2 litre Le Parfait storage jar (air tight).  I guess that is the equivalent of a half gallon mason jar.   I make it whenever I run out so that there is always a jar of it in the store cupboard.  I find it doesn't seem to suffer any storage problems although I've always eaten it long before it has time to go stale, usually in four to five weeks.  I do, however, keep it in my cool dark store cupboard.

I made some today:  Here's my recipe

I start with the empty storage jar and about half fill it with rolled oats.

Then I add a good layer of desiccated coconut.

Next goes in the dried fruit.  I just throw in about a handful of each fruit, always raisins and golden sultanas, and anything to hand.

Next it's time for nuts.  I love whole almonds but only add about a half handful. I do know, however, that lots of people prefer sliced almonds.  Personally, I love the crunchy texture form using whole ones.   I also add a handful of salted peanuts.   Lots of people turn their noses up at salted peanuts, but I love them in the dish so I use them!  In fact, I use salted peanuts in all sorts of recipes and they are a basic in my kitchen.

The last thing to go in is about a half handful of sunflower seeds.  I use the hulled ones as I can't eat the dry husks.

And that's it, close the jar, give it a good shake, and put it away for a delicious and very healthy breakfast cereal

Today, I didn't have dried apricots, or indeed any other fruits so I just added a few whole prunes to the bowl.  I sometimes add dried banana or dried cranberries or any other dried fruit that catches my eye at the market.

I usually just serve it by pouring the mix into a bowl and adding milk.  Some days, if I'm feeling particularly wicked, I'll add half and half or make my own by mixing cream and milk.  At the same time, If I'm feeling I ought to be good, I replace half the milk with plain yogurt.  Actually, I'm increasingly serving it with a mixture of milk and yogurt and I find that I have really got to like that taste.

Sometimes, I will soak the muesli overnight in apple juice, then just add yogurt in the morning.

I do like muesli, so I don't restrict myself to having it just at breakfast either!    I often have a bowlful as my evening snack, when I have eaten our main meal of the day at lunch time.

Laying the table

Someone asked me recently how you lay a table for dinner, so here is my version!

 

What to do with half a chicken

Wednesday for me is a funny day for dinner.   It's the day I look in the fridge!!

What I mean is that once a week, usually about Wednesday, I check the fridge to see what has been put in there over the weekend and maybe needs to be dealt with.   Mostly it doesn't need to be eaten right away but it allows me to plan a meal in the next couple of days that will reduce my wastage by using up the left overs.

Some days I'm truly surprised at what I find.  Oh, sure, I can usually remember cooking it and know when it is from, but often I have completely forgotten about it's existence.

Today was just such a day.  This morning I dutifully checked the fridges.  For reasons I won't go into I have two fridges, one in the kitchen and another one in the utility room.  Today I found half a roast chicken.

I remember cooking roast chicken when a friend popped in at the weekend but I had completely forgotten that a whole half a chicken was residing in the cool spaces of my fridge.

and so the title emerged.  and to be honest I didn't really have a clue.  Oh, I know plenty of ways of using up chicken but nothing tempted my taste buds.

I didn't want to make a huge production but just do something different and, of course, tasty.

I considered the plethora of sauces that you can use to brighten up cooked chicken, but, to be honest, no, I just didn't want anything like that.

I turned to my even colder spaces and looked for inspiration in the freezer.  The freezer has a regime much like Fridge Wednesday... I really should start to do this on a Friday.  I like the idea of Fridge Friday! Anyway, the freezer regime is much less disciplined and I also realised that it too was due for a bit of a sort out.

There were, however, a few king prawns that needed using up in the next week or two.  I was supposd to be looking for inspiration and now I had just added king prawns to my.....

King Prawns and Chicken....    Paella

and so, just about an hour later I was on my way to the market to buy some more seafood.   I was feeling a bit lazy so I decided to buy a frozen mix of seafood and a few mussels.  I already had prawn and the king prawns and on checking in the fridge I had enough chorizo and some ham.   Most paella recipes call for some sort of bacon but I often substitute ham.

So with a few things from the freezer, and some stuff from the vegetable box I was on my way.

Here's the recipe for my paella.  It looks complicated but it's just a case of adding everything into the pan.

Paella

Ingredients

500 ml (1 pint) chicken stock 1/2 a cooked chicken, 110g/4oz chorizo, cut into thin slices 55g/2oz ham cut into small pieces 1 teaspoon of minced garlic 1 large onion, chopped fairly small 1 red pepper, chopped 1 tsp herbs de Provence ¼ tsp dried red chilli flakes 1 cup (250ml) short-grain rice 1 tsp paprika 1 small glass rose wine 150 g mussels 6 king prawns 450g/1lb bag of seafood cocktail 100g frozen prawns handful of frozen peas 2 large tomatoes, cut into small pieces Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preparation method

Put the chicken stock in a pan and heat gently

Strip the chicken from the carcase, roughly cutting it into chunks.  remove the joints and cut them into drumstick, thigh, wing etc.

Heat some olive oil in a large heavy-based frying pan. Add the chorizo, ham and dried garlic and fry until meat is crispy.

Next add the onion and pepper and further cook for a couple of minutes.

Add the herbs de provence, chilli flakes and short grain rice, and stir well, coating everything in the juices.

Add the paprika and wine and leave a minute or so and then pour in the hot chicken stock, add the cooked chicken and cook for 5-10 minutes.

Add the mussels into the dish and then add the frozen seafood.   Sprinkle in the peas and chopped tomatoes and continue to cook gently for another 10 minutes stirring from time to time.

Add salt and pepper to taste

I served the dish with a hot baguette.

The Ultimate Indulgence

This is a recipe for a very rich and delicious chocolate fudge cake that is so easy to make it's hard to believe.

What's more, you can make this cake as often as you like and still stay healthy.  You just must NEVER eat it!

The recipe was given to me by a friend ages ago and I make it from time to time.  It freezes well.

Chocolate Fudge Cake

Bake at     180 - 200°C
Makes 1 large square cake. Very soft and delicious.

1 2/3 cups plain flour
1 cups sugar
1 cup 32% Drinking Chocolate powder
1 cup milk
1/2 cup butter
1 1/2 tsp. carb. soda
1 tsp. salt
2 eggs
1 carton Yogurt 125ml
1 tsp. vanilla

Put all the ingredients in a blender and whiz on low speed for 1 min. then turn the speed up to high and whiz for a further 3 mins.

Put into a lined cake tin and
bake  at 190°C (375°F)  50 - 55 mins.

May be iced and split with cream , cocoa and icing sugar.

 

Note 32% chocolate powder is a drinking chocolate not cocoa

A  US cup is 250 ml

Scones

I love scones for afternoon tea.  Scones served warm with butter and jam.... Delicious

Here's a very simple recipe which makes the best, yes, the best scones.

You can substitute the flour and baking powder for 3 1/2 cups self-raising flour if you want

Makes 12 scones

Ingredients

3 1/2 cups Plain Flour
7 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup lemonade
200ml single cream

1 cup sultanas (optional)

Method

If using dried fruit, soak in the cup of lemonade

Sift together the flour and baking powder.

Add liquid, (and sultanas)

Mix as little as possible just until it comes into a rough ball. Press out
on a floured bench to about an inch thick  and cut with scone cutter.

Dab tops with milk
Bake at 180C for about 15 mins

Red Lentil Burgers

A lovely recipe for a tasty vegetarian burger.  I love these and often serve them at barbecues for my vegetarian friends

 

Simmer 1/2 cup of red lentils and 1 bay leaf in water for 15 - 30 min

Saute gently, 2 finely chopped onions and 2 cloves of garlic, sliced.

add parsley, basil, marjoram, and thyme to the pan

Add in the lentils, drained.

Tip into a bowl and add 1/2 cup fresj wholemeal bread crumbs, 2 eggs, beaten, 1/2 cup of flour, 4 table[spoons of tomato paste and stir it all together.  If it's too wet add extra bread crumbs

Form into small balls and then flatten and fry in olive or sunflower  oil.

Traditional Burgers (Ian’s Recipe)

 

Serves 4

500gms minced (ground) beef
2 medium Onions
2 good tablespoons of rolled oats
1 Tbls worcestershire sauce 
2 Tbls of Tomato Ketchup
I Tbls Olive oil
a dash of sea salt
a medium egg

Method    In a food processor, mince the onion then add the Worcestershire sauce, tomato ketchup, sea salt and olive oil and mix a little more
Add the beef, oats and egg and whiz a little more to mix thoroughly.
Adjust the consistency by adding more oats if it's too wet

Take a small ball of the mixture and squeeze tight to compress the mixture together.  Flatten with a spatula and fry gently in a little olive oil
Serve immediately
Or allow to cool and freeze until needed

White Fish in a Creamy Sauce

(Cabillaud sauce crémeuse au Vin Rosé)

This is a delicious sauce to use with any white fish or maybe even gammon using 1/3 bottle of Rosé wine. Great with a vegetable such as haricot vert or haricot beurré
The original French recipe, as the name implies, calls for cod…. But any white fish would be excellent.

Serves 4

INGREDIENTS

4 good sized pieces of white fish
2 Onions
3 garlic cloves
250ml Vin Rosé
250ml single cream
Butter
Salt and ground black pepper to taste

METHOD

Cut the fish into large pieces (2”)
Coarsely chop the onions and thinly slice the garlic and then fry in a large frying pan with a knob of butter until the onion is translucent
Lay the fish (upside down) in the frying pan (in amongst the onion and garlic) and cook for a minute or two on a low heat.
Carefully turn the fish over and add the wine.
Reduce the mixture.
Add the cream, salt and pepper and mix gently.
Thicken over a low heat (takes about 4 - 5 minutes)
Serve with broccoli, haricot vert or haricot beurre
.
Enjoy

Oh Dear!

I should have thrown it away and had cheese.

The weather here suddenly changed overnight.

After weeks of temperatures around 30°C (upper 80's F), last night the rain came in and temperatures dropped by about 10°C.   I have to say, going out to the market in the rain this morning it felt more like they had dropped by about 110°C....  but maybe that was just me.   I'm not a great fan of rainy, cold weather!

Walking around a very quiet Villereal, passing large expanses of naked street where normally there would have been all the supporting traders that summer brings, I began to think about lunch.  The cold weather, well, it was about 18°C, led me to thinking about a bowl of soup.

About a week or so ago I defrosted my big freezer....  I have a big old chest freezer and a much smaller combination fridge freezer.   Defrosting is something I should do every year....but I don't and when I finally get down to it I am always amazed at the assembled detritus collecting in the frozen depths.

This session had been no different, turning up a couple of bags of forgotten fruit, some completely lost minced steak and a couple of odd tubs of my home made soup, a true French potage made with whatever vegetables were available at the time I made it.   I had no idea what these soups were as the tubs had lost their labels which, interestingly, were not even still in the freezer!!!   I studied the frozen contents.... both tubs were a small portion of soup, one a simple potage and the other, what appeared to be a potage that had been blended to make it smooth.

I decide that on return home, I would mix the two soups and eat it with some crusty French bread.  Anticipating my delicious lunch I plodded round the half empty, very wet market in somewhat better spirits.

I didn't linger long, collecting the various bits of shopping I needed and popping into my favourite bar for a quick coffee, before heading off to the car park and back home.

It didn't take me long to find the two tubs of soup and, in order to speed things up, I gently warmed them before emptying the still frozen contents into a pan with a little water and started to heat them gently.

By the time I had put the greengrocery away my soup had defrosted and was beginning to warm up.  It smelt delicious as I cleared the kitchen table and got out a bowl and bread basket and, yes, why not, the butter dish!

I turned to stir the soup regularly as the big lumps of frozen goo gradually broke up and eventually, I became able to stir a warm liquid.  Habits are hard things to break and one of mine is to taste everything...taste, taste and taste again.  So I stuck my spoon into the now lukewarm soup to taste.... and was very surprised.

Delicious is not exactly the word....   no....   It was sweet, very sweet.  I could see the vegetables from the potage clearly now but, my guess was the blended "soup" was actually stewed apple.

Now, I should have binned the lot, cut myself some tasty French cheese and eaten it with the bread...  I really should have done that.  But I don't like to be defeated.  I'm nothing if not persistent.... some call me stubborn!   So, I decided to rescue the soup.

There were some nice vegetables in the vegetable rack....  There were one or two rather tired vegetables in the same rack... so I started adding bits...  I had the heart of a celery that had gone a bit limp, I had a couple of potatoes that had started sprouting, I had an onion that had split... and quickly I had a collection of vegetables prepared and boiling into the mixture.  Taste, taste and taste again...  It really was very sweet.   A couple more small potatoes, a tiny bit of salt, some fresh herbs, the end of a Belgian endive all were added to the pan, and finally it started to taste acceptable....

Oh, by now I had also realised that the stewed apple which had caused the problem in the first place, was actually the much sweeter stewed plums!!!

And so, my quick lunch was ready.  It had taken about an hour and a half against my anticipated 10 minutes.  It tasted very nice but not great, it was still quite sweet.  But, it had cleared out two old unidentified tubs of frozen food, a collection of tired vegetables, the remainder of last weeks vegetables and I had not used anything from today's shop.... well, except for the bread!

Like I said, I should have thrown it away and had cheese!

Beef Bourgignon with a few carrots

The French have a gorgeous traditional beef dish from Burgundy, Boeuf Bourgignon.    I've put my own slant on it here to make it "Traditional English cooking in France".  The wine really should be a bottle of Burgundy red..... but I tend to use any good full bodied red wine.

This recipe is so incredibly easy,  and relies on a slow cooker to gently simmer everything for about 12 hours.

I hope you love it as much as I do

Beef Bourgignon

1 tbsp duck fat (use olive oil if you don't have duck fat)
600g beef shin, cut into large chunks
100g smoked streaky bacon, chopped  (Lardon)
2 onions, peeled and chopped
3 carrots peeled and sliced 
4 garlic cloves crushed, peeled and sliced
2 heaped tablespoons Herbes de Provence
1 small can tomato purée
1 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
750ml bottle red wine, Burgundy is good 
A glass of water

200gms mushrooms, sliced into largish chinks

In the Slow Cooker
Heat the duck fat in a frying pan and brown the beef for about 3 minutes a side.  (cook the beef in batches)  Toss the browned beef in flour then add to slow cooker.   After frying the beef, fry the bacon, onions and garlic in the same pan, adding a little more goose fat if needed.  Add to slow cooker

Rinse out the pan with a little red wine, making sure to get all the lovely juices and add this to the pot.

Reserve out the Mushrooms and put the rest of the ingredients into the slow cooker.  Give everything a good stir

Cook for 4 hours on the high setting and then a further 8 hours on low.

Add the mushrooms 2 or 3 hours before finishing.  (after about 9 hours cooking)

From time to time check the mixture for liquid and give a stir.  If the liquid gets a bit low, just add a bit of water

Oh, one last little thing, I have a friend who lives just down the road from here and owns and runs a "Restaurant Gastronomique". He hails from Burgundy and makes, what I believe is the best Boeuf Bourgignon in South West France.... Please, please, please, I want you all to promise not to mention this cheating recipe of mine, I'm sure he would seriously disapprove! Hervé, I apologise.

Shrove Tuesday, Mardi Gras, Fat Tuesday..

I love Pancake Day, the local name for today.

Almost without fail, my evening meal is constructed to make provision for the main event... Beautiful pancakes doused in Maple syrup, or hiding sultanas.... or both!!

Here is my own Pancake Recipe, yried, tested and developed ove many years of celebrating this special day in this traditional way...

 

Basic Pancake Batter

(makes eight) except it only really made 5 or 6

75g/3oz plain flour

Pinch of salt

2 large fresh eggs

150ml/1/4pt milk

a dash of water

A little oil for frying

Mix the water and milk and beat in the eggs.   Place the flour and salt in a large bowl, then add half the milk. Whisk until the mixture is lump-free. Add the remaining milk and whisk again until smooth. If you prefer place all the ingredients together in a food processor and blend until smooth, Pour the batter into a jug. The batter can be made in advance and chilled for up to eight hours before use.   I think it improves if left to stand and usually leave it about 30 minutes or so

Heat a 20cm/8in diameter non-stick frying pan until hot, drizzle a little oil over the centre and wipe it around with a piece of kitchen paper. Now pour a little of the batter into the pan and immediately tilt the pan to spread the batter thinly and evenly over the base. Cook for two minutes or until the top is set and the base golden. Turn the pancake over with a spatula or if you are feeling brave, flip the pancake!

Cook for a further one to two minutes or until the base is golden. Transfer to a plate and interleave with greaseproof paper, keep warm. Use the batter and a little more oil to make a further seven pancakes in the same way. Serve simply with lemon and sugar or try them in the following recipe ideas.

French Mushroom, Ham & Goats Cheese Crepe

Fill the pancakes with sliced mushrooms sauteed in oil, a slice of ham, then top with thinly sliced goats cheese. Fold up to enclose the filling then pop under a hot grill until the cheese begins to melt. Serve scattered with flat parsley.

 

Redcurrant and apple

cook the basic pancake and just before serving add a mixture of stewed redcurrants and apple, then roll and serve immediately.

 

Or, simply add a handful of golden sultanas to the pan immediately before adding the batter.    These are great served with Maple syrup.

Ian's Shortbread Biscuits

I regularly make these delicious Shortbread Biscuits.  They are really easy to make and are very much appreciated by my French neighbours.

They are really my version of Scottish Shortbread and are best eaten as soon as they have cooled although they do keep well in an airtight tin.

I understand that they are also delicious coated with chocolate, but I rarely do that!!!!! Well, maybe sometimes!

On this recipe you should use either imperial OR metric measurements.  They make slightly different amounts

Preparation time Cooking time Eating time

10 minutes 30 minutes Not Long

Makes enough for a small cookie tray - I usually double the recipe.

INGREDIENTS	METHOD
200gms (6ozs)  Butter 100gms (3ozs) Castor Sugar 225gms (7ozs) Plain Flour 60gms (2ozs) Cornflour	Preheat the oven to 160C (320F) Mix the flour, cornflour and sugar together. Cut the butter into cubes and then rub into the mixture. Press firmly onto a cookie sheet about 5mm (1/4 inch) thick and prick all over with a fork. Bake in the centre of the oven for 30 minutes Dust with caster sugar and cut into bicuits Leave to cool before removing from tray