Buttery Biscuit Base

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMg3epr53Ns

OK- so I'm shamelessly piggy-backing on the hilarious Masterchef YouTube rap. But if you googled this and ended up here on my blog- don't go! Stay and read a few biscuit based recipes.

Today's blog is all about using up leftover biscuits, biscottes and crispbreads.

If, like me, you've returned from your holidays with packets of crisp toasts and pains grilles which seemed practical and delicious for breakfast in foreign parts, but just don't appeal quite so much when there is toast and Marmite, crumpets and other bready delights now that you're back home, then this is the blogpost for you.
Instead of letting them go stale and throwing them away- you can make a whole host of dishes (savoury and sweet) from them.

My leftover biscottes etc

The obvious thing to do is blitz them into fine breadcrumbs for storing in an airtight jar or in the freezer to make 'chapelure' for coating fish, rissoles, croquettes, etc (as in Aunty Liz's Crunchy Chicken).

http://lizsleftovers.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/week-40-crunchy.html

I'm going to do that with some, but I want to be a bit more creative with the rest.

First of all, I'm making a Battelmann (or Mendiant)- which is a dessert dish from Alsace. It is very similar to a bread pudding (spicy, sugary and dense)- but is lighter thanks to the use of biscottes (crispy French toasts).
Soak some sultanas (or traditionally cherries) in a litle rum (or kirsch for cherries).
Warm but don't quite boil 450ml of milk, 3 tbsp of sugar and add 125g of crushed biscottes. Work the mixture with a fork, then a wooden spoon, until you have a homogenous porridge-like consistency. (I know it doesn't sound or look great at this stage- but have faith!) Leave this to stand whilst you butter and line a 20cm cake tin with the above mentioned chapelure (finely blitzed biscotte crumbs).
Into the cake mixture, beat 2 large eggs, a teaspoon of mixed spice and a teaspoon of cinnamon.
Peel and thinly slice a dessert apple and add this plus the rum-soaked sultanas to the mix.
Pour the mixture into the cake tin, level the surface and sprinkle with a sachet of vanilla sugar.

Bake at 170 degrees for 50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.

Serve warm with cream, ice cream or custard.

Battelmann with apples and sultanas

Next, let's do a savoury dish- petits farcis- or stuffed summer vegetables. This has featured on the blog before, but this time instead of using breadcrumbs (or polenta crumbs) as previously, I'm using up leftover crisp rolls (Swedish ones- you know, that look like little dry baguettes).
When soaked in milk, they make excellent 'ballast' for stuffings, or to add to burgers and meatballs. Click on the link below the picture for the recipe- but substitute 5- 6 crisp rolls, crushed and soaked in milk for the breadcrumbs.

Petits farcis

http://lizsleftovers.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/week-30-last-of-summer-sun.html

Back to sweet things.
Speculoos are all the rage in France at the moment- though they are actually from Belgium ( a bit like Hercules Poirot, annoyed at having constantly to remind people that he is not a meddlesome Frenchman, he is a meddlesome Belgian!)
These biscuits aren't annoying at all- they are buttery, cinnamon flavoured spice biscuits which have numerous culinary uses. You can get them in Waitrose - or you can use good old Ginger Nuts if you prefer.

First of all, I'm making Cinnamon Cream Pots then a Speculoos Tiramisu.

For the cream pots- first make an egg custard or creme anglaise by whisking 2 eggs and 1 egg yolk together with 25g of sugar and a teaspoon of cornflour in a large bowl until light and frothy. Crush 1 packet (100g) of Speculoos and dissolve into 350ml of milk and add 1 teaspoon of cinnamon. Bring the milk to the boil and then pour over the egg mixture, bit by bit, whisking as you go. Pour the mixture back into the pan and heat, stirring all the time until it begins to thicken.
Pour into individual ramekins or coffee cups.
Place the cups into a large baking tray and half fill it with hot water.
Cook the puds in a low oven (100 degrees) for 45 minutes and then chill well before serving. (Note that the quantities above make 4 servings not 6 as in the picture).

Cream Pots ready for the oven

The Tiramisu is simplicity itself and can be made in a trifle dish or in individual glasses.

Soak Speculoos biscuits in rum or coffee liqueur and line your chosen dish with them. Next slather on a layer of whipped cream, then another layer of  rum-dipped biscuits, then a final layer of cream. Sprinkle the top with crushed biscuits.

Speculoos Tiramisu

Incidentally, Speculoos biscuits are good added to your fruit crumble topping or indeed crushed and mixed with melted butter to make a buttery biscuit base for cheesecake or key lime pie.

Chocolate cheesecake with Buttery Biscuit Base!

Hope you like these recipes- let me know if they need more oomph!

Finger on the pulse

We've just returned from a fab fortnight in the Auvergne (Central France). Despite the snobbery with which the food here is viewed in other parts of France ('peasant food' they say) well- call me a peasant but, reader, we ate really well.



The charcuterie served in the auberge on the plateau d'Ally was superb, their cheeses went down well with our group www.auberge-ally.com

and the vegetables everywhere were always prepared in the most delicious ways.

However, it was the Puy lentil which was the star of the show and this healthy little pulse is going to get a blogpost pretty much all of its own today.

A colleague at work asked me if I could feature some gluten-free recipes for her daughter who was recently diagnosed coeliac, and so, step into the spotlight please Mr Little Green Lentil.

Not only do these versatile little things make a lovely vegetable accompaniment or salad, they also grind down to make a gluten-free flour (similar to buckwheat in taste) so great for savoury pancakes and blinis.

Let's start with those crepes.
I got this recipe from the farmer at the local market in the village where we stayed. When I bought the flour from his stall he gave me a handmade recipe book, with his flour featured on each page. 

You can see more on his website: http://visite.ferme.blot.free.fr
Ingredients:
100g lentil flour
100g corn flour (maizena)
2 eggs
400 ml milk
generous pinch of salt

Mix all together and beat well with a balloon whisk.
Heat a frying pan until smoking with a very small amount of flavourless oil and fry thin crepes, turning once with a palette knife. Stack on a plate until ready to use.

Lentil flour crepes

These pancakes are good with savoury fillings like ham and cheese, or mixed with cooked lentils, chopped spring onion or sweetcorn to make savoury drop scones. As blinis they go well with salmon or with a poached quail's egg on top (same farmer at the market was selling these.)

They are also lovely served galette-style as here in the picture, spread with pesto, pine nuts, ham and tomato.

Cooked Puy lentils make a delicious salad. To add a bit of interest, and texture, try serving them in a basket (as in this pic).

The basket here is made from filo pastry (not gluten free)- but you can achieve the same effect using one of the crepes above moulded over a tin or bowl and baked in the oven for 8-10 minutes at 160 degrees.

Once cool, fill with cooked lentils chopped spring onion and some lemon creme fraiche mixed together.

And now for the leftover lentils.

I love them as an accompaniment to sausages- meaty Toulouse ones are good- or topped with a salmon fillet.

Lentils with sausages

Salmon with lentils

Soften some onion and garlic, stir in the cooked lentils, add a chopped and peeled tomato, plenty of salt and pepper and a cupful of stock (a dash of mustard or Worcester sauce is good too) and simmer until all the stock has been absorbed.


Incidentally, you could achieve the crepe recipe with chick pea (gram) flour if that is easier for you to get.
If using this, you might like to try a Southern french delicacy- panisse.

These are particularly good if you crave something a bit indulgent and fattening. (If, like my colleague's daughter, you have only recently converted to a gluten-free diet- the lack of doughnuts, cakes and biscuits may seem particularly harsh.)

This is basically a chickpea dough, cooled and rolled into a log then deep fried and seasoned with loads of salt and pepper. It doesn't have to be log shaped however- you can cool it in a loaf tin and slice it into fingers or slices.

• 1 litre water
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 3/4 teaspoon coarse salt
• 2 1/4 cups (285g) chickpea flour
• olive oil, for frying
• coarse salt and freshly-cracked pepper, for serving

1. Lightly oil a 9-inch (23 cm) square cake pan, or similar sized vessel.

2. Heat the water with the oil and salt in a saucepan. Once hot, but not boiling, whisk in the chickpea flour.

3. Whisk over medium heat until the mixture thickens, about three minutes.

4. Switch to a wooden spoon or heatproof spatula, and continue to cook, stirring constantly, for 10 minutes until very thick and the batter holds its shape.

5. Scrape into the oiled pan and let cool.

6. To fry the panisses, unmould the solidified mixture on a cutting board and slice into batons about as wide as your fourth finger and as long as your middle one.

7. In a heavy-duty frying pan, heat 1/4-1/2 inch (1-2 cm) of olive oil. When shimmering hot, fry the panisses in batches, not crowding them in the pan. Once the bottom is nicely browned and crisp, turn with tongs, frying the panisses until they are deep-golden brown on each side.

8. Remove from pan and drain on paper towels, sprinkling them very generously with salt and pepper. Don’t be stingy with either. Continue frying the rest, heating more oil in the pan as needed.

Thanks to David Lebovitz for this summary of the recipe.


Loads of other gluten-free ideas by the way on https://witness.theguardian.com/assignment/53d903dde4b0562e873aa1bf

In the meantime- let's hear it for the lentil!