Toffee Fig Pie

I'm harvesting figs at the moment.  Lots of figs, every day.   Last year, when I collected the figs I ate most of them just using a few to make some delicious jam and bottled a few in the local "Monbazillac" white wine which I gave away as presents at Christmas.

So, as this year's crop is substantially heavier, I have been scouring the internet for different recipes.   Meals here are becoming a "Fig Feast".  Sunday lunch today was no exception.  I made a delicious starter of figs with little bits of goat cheese and ham, all marinated in my favourite balsamic vinaigrette.

The roast chicken remained "unfigged" although, I did toy with putting figs into the stuffing(seasoning)

 

I made these Toffee Fig Pies for dessert.    I more or less copied the recipe although my pastry skills are such that my own version was totally unphotographable, so, I've stolen the photo as well from the excellent recipe resource of BBC Food....

 

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2829/toffee-fig-pies

Baked Beans

There are a few British things that I love that are quite hard to get here in France.   Actually, to be honest, they are not particularly hard to get, as there are a plethora of specialist British shops around.  It's just that, being a bit stingy, I refuse to pay the price those shops are charging.

One such thing is baked beans.   In the UK, baked beans are available in every grocery shop and range in price from a few pence per can up to about £1.00 per can.  Sometimes, I can't even tell the difference between the cheap one and the expensive one.  However, here in France I can only buy a fairly middle of the road variety and that will cost me the equivalent of way in excess of £1.

Kate over in Tasmania, offered me a solution whilst she was here a few months ago and gave me an easy to make recipe.  Since then I have made it quite a few times and made subtle changes.  I always liked the recipe but now, I think it's just a bit better....

This recipe would probably serve 6 people, served with salad and home made bread.   The recipe freezes well and I usually make this amount and then freeze in small portions

	Preparation time:        a couple of days (see method) Cooking time               1 hour plus 1 hour
Ingredients 1 1/2 cups coco haricot beans a dash of salt	Method Soak the beans in water overnight. Drain and recover with water , add a dash of salt and simmer for one hour
2 large onions 4 or 5 cloves garlic 100gms smoked belly of pork	Coarsely chop the onions and thinly slice the garlic then fry in a little oil.  Meanwhile, slice the belly of pork into small cubes and add to the pan and fry until the meat and onion are lightly cooked
1 tin tomatoes 2 tbl tomato paste 2 tbl brown sugar 1 tbl dark soy sauce 1 tbl fresh basil 1 tsp herbes de Provence 1 tsp fresh thyme	Combine the tomatoes, paste, sugar, soy sauce and herbs. Drain the beans and reserve the water
reserved cooking water + hot water to make up 2 cups Worcestershire sauce	Make the reserved cooking water up to 2 cups, then add all the ingredients into a casserole and add the water and a large dash of Worcestershire sauce.   Bring to the boil and simmer uncovered for about an hour.  Add more water if needed to keep the consistency of a thick soup

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.  It makes a great side dish with grilled ham, or serve on thickly cut toast as a nutritious breakfast.

Coconut Macaroons

I made these for tonights barbecue...  They are very easy and very tasty.

Preparation time:            5 minutes
Cooking time:                15minutes
Temperature:                 180°C

 

Pre heat oven to 180°C Separate eggs, reserve the whites and give the yolks to a friend to make Mayonnaise

150gms sugar 200 gms dessicated coconut 3 egg whites 1 teaspoon vanilla essence 1/2 teaspoon of salt

sift sugar and coconut into a mixing bowl stir in salt, vanilla essence and egg whites and make sure thoroughly mixed drop large teaspoonfuls onto a greased baking sheet, ensuring that the macaroons are not touching.  They will spread, but only a little Bake in the middle of the oven (180°C) for about 15 minutes until just turning golden on top Remove from oven and let stand 2 or 3 minutes then carefully transfer to a wire rack to cool. If you have any, I didn't, dip the bases in melted chocolate

Tartar Sauce

Friday here is fish day and today was no exception.

I love fish and seafood in virtually any way that it arrives but I am particularly fond of traditional British Fried Fish and Chips.

However, those of you who know me, or who have seen my photo on the blogs, will know that fried fish and chips is not something I should be sampling every week.  My compromise comes in three forms: one - the fish I choose these days is coated in breadcrumbs and grilled, rather than coated in delicious succulent beer batter and deep fried to perfection... two - the chips I go for these days are lightly fried in oil, then frozen... then oven baked to serve.  Although they are still fried, they contain about 50% less fat than the traditional chip of potato, cut into slices, deep fried in animal fat, then, after the fat has been reheated, deep fried a second time until they are golden brown and crunchy.... three - well, the third compromise is to replace the tartar sauce with a slice or two of lemon.... but hey, lets stick to two compromises shall we?

I always make my own tartar sauce as part of preparing the meal and have developed an incredibly easy recipe which is fabulously tasty

Here it is:

Tartar Sauce

Ingredients:

3 or 4 small pickled gherkins
2 tablespoons of mayonnaise
1/2 teaspoon of Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon fresh dill
1/2 teaspoon of the pickling vinegar
a few capers (if liked)

Method

Finely chop the gherkins and put them in a ramekin.

Add the mayonnaise, mustard, fresh dill, vinegar and capers and blend together.  Chill for an hour or so.

This recipe makes a small serving suitable for a dinner for 4 (or me!!!)  It's incredible easiness, belies it's great taste.

Cherry Crumble

Oven	180° C
Preparation	15 minutes
Cooking time	15 + 20 minutes

 

I can't believe that another Sunday has arrived.

Recently, I've mentioned a few times that my orchard is laden with fruit this year and, at the moment, it's cherry time.

I have several cherry trees which produce fruit in a rather orderly succession.   I can't take any credit for this delightful fact though, as the trees were planted many years before I took over guardianship of this piece of land.

Today, for Sunday lunch I prepared a simple dinner of roast chicken with roast vegetables.  Potatoes, from the garden via the freezer, Fennel, picked this morning and an onion and carrots from the market.  I also made a traditional sage and onion stuffing.

For desert I decided that I had to use the delights of the orchard and eventually decided on Cherry Crumble.  As you can see, once it was made, it looked far too good to worry about taking photographs....

Here's what I did:

 

Cherry Crumble

 

 

A bowl full of freshly picked cherries
A few drops water
A knob of butter
A tablespoon of sugar

For The Crumble Topping

4oz butter
4oz demerara sugar
7oz Flour

It's simple 1:1:2 butter, sugar, flour crumble mix...... 
but I usually cut the flour back a bit and use demerara sugar....

Pre heat the oven to 180° C

Pick a bowl full of cherries.
Remove stalks and wash them
Destone the cherries and half fill an ovenproof dish

Once I have put the cherries in an oven proof dish.....oven to table dish...... I then sprinkle some sugar over them. The cherries will be wet from washing and destoning so I don’t add any further water.   Add a knob of butter and bake until the cherries are just cooked. (about 15 minutes)

Add the 1:1:2 crumble mixture on the top...not underneath or it gets messy...on top of the cherries and return to the oven for a bit longer.... About 20 minutes

When it's black, it's burnt..

Eat with lashings of a runny cream

Yorkshire Pudding

Back in the 15th century there were a series of wars in which England was involved.   Here in France, the 100  years war between France and  England was coming to a disastrous end after stewardship for that war was wrest from the successful Duke of York and handed to the non military Duke of Somerset, leading to numerous defeats until in 1451 Bordeaux and Gascony were lost to the French.... Of course, there are those locals who say that in the 21st Century, the British are winning back the territory by stealth!

About the same time, The Duke of York set himself against the Duke of Somerset, and with the various alliances, the wars between the houses of York and Lancaster were born.  The house of Lancaster wore a red rose , whilst the house of York wore a white one and so it was that this became known as the Wars of the Roses.

By now, I'm sure many of you are wondering why on earth this is all relevant to Ian's French Kitchen??

Well, to understand a bit more you need another piece of information..... and that is that Ian was actually born in Lancashire.... and now, here I am living not that far from Bordeaux....

We British tend to take our heritage quite seriously and so, all my life my family have jokingly set themselves against the Yorkists.  As it happens, my family hails from the borders between Yorkshire and Lancashire so, in fact, there are just as many Yorkshire men as Lancastrians in it.

However, one thing I have learned over the years is that there are some things that the Yorkists certainly got right.  One of those things is Yorkshire Pudding.    I'm not sure how familiar people outside the UK are with Yorkshire Pudding so I'll explain that, despite it's name, it is not a dessert.  It's a savoury batter dish which was served to help fill you up during times of hardship and is usually served with Beef, although, today, it has found many fans who eat it with all sorts of savoury fillings.  Yorkshire pudding itself, apparently, dates back to the mid 18th century and is a truly delicious accompaniment to beef gravy

So, enough waffle, here is an easy recipe made in a food processor.  There are as many Yorkshire Pudding recipes as there are Yorkshire housewives, but this is a Lancastrian's version!

Try Yorkshire pudding cold with honey too, if you have any left over!

YORKSHIRE PUDDING

Preheat oven to 220°C 

Preparation 10 minutes plus 30 waiting
Cooking time – 1 hour

Serves 4

125gms Plain Flour 
½  teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon Baking Powder
1 large egg
300ml milk
1 tbs oil

In a food processor
Sift together the salt, baking powder and flour
Mix in the egg with half of the milk and beat for a couple of minutes until the batter is bubbly
Stir in remaining milk
Cover and set aside for 30 minutes
Heat the oil, in an ovenproof dish until very hot, then pour in the batter
Place in the centre of the oven and bake for one hour .

The pudding should be golden brown and have risen nicely.  When cut it should not be wet inside.

 

The hot oven is essential.as is the hard beating to get lots of air into the mixture

Clafoutis

My orchard is bursting with cherries at the moment.   The other day, I picked about 8 kgs and now, the next tree is ready to harvest with similar numbers.  At this time of year, I'm looking for things to do with cherries but I often freeze a lot for later use

However, this year I have decided to try my hand at a fairly local dish, a cherry dessert, Clafoutis

Clafoutis is a delicious cherry batter pudding from Limousin, a region just to the north of Ian's French Kitchen… Imagine a pancake batter, laden with cherries, and you're getting close

So here is my recipe....

Preparation time  15 minutes
Cooking time – 40 minutes
Serves – about 6

Ingredients 4 cups ripe cherries (washed) 3 eggs  4 heaped tablespoons plain flour 1 teaspoon baking powder pinch of salt 2 tablespoons sugar 300ml milk ½ teaspoon vanilla extract Cherry brandy 2 tablespoons melted butter

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C
In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, then blend in the sugar.
Sift in the four and baking powder and add the salt.  Continue beating
Warm the milk and vanilla extract and slowly add it, whilst continuing to beat.
Add a small slug of cherry brandy and then whisk in the melted butter.
Cover the bottom of a well greased oven proof dish with a single layer of whole cherries
Gently pour the batter over them until the cherries are barely covered
Bake in the middle of the oven for 30 to 40 minutes.
The clafoutis should look like a delicious golden pancake with cherries Rest for about 10 minutes.  The clafoutis will sink a little, whilst resting

Tip:

Lots of recipes call for the cherries to be pitted.  If you do this it IS much easier to eat….  But ALL my French friends insist it should be made with unpitted cherries as otherwise the colour from the cherries stains the batter distracting from the look of the dessert.

The batter can easily be made in a food processor.  I start with the eggs, then, with the machine running slowly I add the sugar until it's smooth.  Next add the salt, vanilla extract and milk and allow to beat a little more.  Finally, sift in the flour and baking powder and beat for one minute.