Week 29- Farewell French Feast

The table set for farewll lunch

Another lovely summer draws to a close- the shops are full of pencil cases and calculators for la rentree- and my suitcase (and cool box) is filling up with caviare d'aubergine, cheese and wine, cream, meringues, sirop and all the French goodies I love to take home.
It's time to go- but not before we invite friends over for a last French feast.

On the menu- canapes and cocktails, tarte aux blettes and stuffed chicken breast wrapped in jambon fume with salads. There will of course (as this is France) be cheese as well. And dessert - in the modern French tradition- comes via the local patisserie.


The canapes are made from melon and mozzarella on sticks, dried apricots wrapped in Italian meats and blinis topped with creme fraiche and little red fish eggs. Simple to do- but very pleasing to the eye. (The recipe for blinis can be found on the blog 'Cooking for a Crowd' or click on blinis in the cloud above.)

blinis and canapes

The next course features blettes or Swiss Chard.

This vegetable is abundant in August here- everyone's garden is full of it. It's white stems are like celery- and make a lovely soup with garlic croutons and grated gruyere.

Soupe aux blettes

The dark green leaves can be used like spinach. In this case, we used the leaves to make a tart.

Bake a pastry case blind (see blog entry 'Who ate all the pies?' for a step-by-step instruction.) As the cooked case cools, sprinkle with a grating of parmesan along the base. This melts to form a seal so that any liquid which seeps from the chard won't give you a soggy bottom. (This is a tip from my French neighbour- one of the best things about cooking is sharing ideas with like-minded people. Blogging in a way has become the new 'chatting over the fence'. Still nice to do the real thing sometimes though).

Chop your chard with some spring onions. Steam very quickly to cook- then wrap in a tea towel and squeeze hard to remove as much moisture as you can. Mix with 2-3 eggs depending on the size of your tart case, a little extra milk and a heavy dose of salt, pepper and nutmeg (the secret ingredient). You can add bacon lardons if you wish and extra grated cheese to your taste.

Tarte aux blettes

Bake in a moderate oven (170 degrees) until firm to the touch. Serve at room temperature.

For the main course, I took chicken breasts and butterflied them (use a sharp knife to cut them almost in half lengthways and then open them out like a book). Stuffing was made from chopped sun dried tomatoes and two teaspoons per fillet of Boursin with herbs and garlic. Fold the chicken 'books' back together and wrap in a piece of jambon cru/fume/Parma ham.

Wrapping the chicken parcels

Secure the ends with a cocktail stick (but remove it before serving!). Place on a baking tray lightly greased with the oil from the sun dried tomatoes and bake in a moderate oven 170 degrees for 45 minutes. Allow to cool slightly before serving.

The juice from the chicken/Boursin should be drained off and served in a jug with the meal.

Stuffed chicken in jambon fume 

I served this with a rice salad, mixed with all the bountiful veg in the garden: tomatoes, cucumbers

And in the market

chives, mint and parsley, spring onions and big, yellow tomates ananas from the market.

Cucumbers in the garden

Pineapple tomatoes

Dress with a lemon vinaigrette and plenty of seasoning.

Rice salad with herbs

I'm not a great cheese eater- but there were plenty of people who were- so much was consumed.

In France these days, it has become increasingly rare for a host to make a dessert themselves. Guests arrive bearing boxes of goodies form the local patissier. This would seem a little odd in the UK- where we pride ourselves on so many delicious desserts and where show-stopping puddings have become very popular- but it is considered good form in France.

We went with the flow on this one.

It is tempting though when you look at all the goodies on display :

Le Patissier

All this feasting took many hours, and guests could do little more afterwards but loll on sunbeds and snooze whilst I wrapped up the leftovers.

What was left over?

Well, all the canapes were scoffed, the chicken made another meal with green beans and potatoes the next day, the tart packed up nicely for our picnic on the way up the motorway- and the cheese was wrapped in foil and braised on the barbecue to be served with toasts for an indulgent snack.

Braised camembert with toasts

So, it's au revoir Provence for another year.

Of course, there's the Auvergne to stop over on the way home and more cuisine to sample there and maybe even the fishy delights of Dieppe before we get on the ferry.

So much food, so little time....I'll just have to do my best.

Farewell French food!

Week 12- Ne'er cast a clout...

Kitten Wraps

Sigh... who remembers sunny days and warm evenings? In the UK, we haven't seen a dancing sunbeam or felt the warm rays on our backs for nearly a year.

I've been looking longingly at my summer clothes- and at summer recipes- and this week I cracked.

 I put on a skirt and let my legs see the fresh air ( this clout-casting lasted for about an hour before I shivered my way back into jeans) and I weakened and bought summery fruits and vegetables :
 melon, strawberries and courgettes.

Inevitably, I was disappointed. The ratatouille I made from the courgettes was OK- but made mainly from tins and jars so it had more of the feel of a storecupboard standby than a sunshine supplement. And the melon and strawberries looked and smelled good - but were flavourless to eat.

Good looking- shame about the taste!

Ratatouille with meatballs and chorizo

I was reminded of course that we buy in season for a reason. Two reasons really- price and taste.

So, lesson learned, what is in season in chilly British April? Well, lots of nice things. My rocket has started to grow again vigorously and is ready for picking. Rhubarb is now making its fragrant way into the shops and farm stalls. And lots of  shellfish and white fleshed fish are in the fishmongers.

Rocket springs up eternal

This week's menu then is a rocket and halloumi salad, followed by pan-fried fish wrapped in Parma ham with a lemon butter sauce and colcannon, and rhubarb and ginger muffins with rhubarb compote to finish. Yum!

If you've never cooked with halloumi- give it a try. This cypriot cheese is wonderful fried in a little oil and added to a salad as here: with a good balsamic vinaigrette and lots of fresh rocket leaves to complement it. Halloumi is salty and crispy - and the rocket is peppery- a perfect match.

Halloumi and rocket salad

Halloumi hallo's!

Fried halloumi is great with some spicy tomato relish and served on sticks as a canape too:





Coley, monkfish, plaice, pollock and John Dory are all in season too- so get yourselves some white fish fillets, wrap them in a slice of Parma ham and fry them in a little sunflower oil until the Parma ham is crispy all round and the fish is translucent and cooked through.

I served mine with colcannon made from mashed potato, combined with a head of chopped spring greens which had been steamed with a chopped spring onion and stirred together to make a savoury mash-cake.

I also made a lemon butter sauce- bring a very generous glass of dry white wine to the boil for 6 minutes to boil off the alcohol and reduce it a little. Whisk in some walnut-sized pieces of  unsalted butter one by one until the sauce begins to emulsify. When thickened and unctuous, add the grated zest and juice of a lemon and some chopped parsley and pour in a puddle around your mash and fish:

Parma wrapped fish with colcannon and lemon butter sauce

For the pudding, make a basic sponge mix with 125g self raising flour, 125 g of butter or marge and 125g of caster sugar and 2 eggs (usual mixing-in method- butter and sugar creamed  followed by beaten eggs and then flour). Chop 3 stems of rhubarb into 2cm chunks and place in a pan with a scant tablespoon of water and 100g of sugar or use 1 tablespoon of golden syrup and no water. (I prefer this as the rhubarb releases lots of juice).

Bring to a simmer and after 5-10 minutes the rhubarb will be completely tender.

Mix 2 teaspoons of ground ginger into the cake mix and then add 2-3 tablespoons of the rhubarb compote. (The rest will be served with the muffins, and the leftovers made into a crumble and/or pie).

Pour the mixture into prepared muffin cases- this will make 10-12. Sprinkle the tops with some sugar mixed with a teaspoon of ground ginger and bake at 190 degrees for 10 minutes or until risen and golden.

Serve with a compote of rhubarb on the side and some creme fraiche.

Rhubarb and ginger muffins with compote

The leftover rhubarb goes well in a crumble or pie - I add a tablespoon of polenta to my crumble mix to make it extra crunchy and to absorb any of the excess liquid from the rhubarb as it cooks in the oven.

Rhubarb with polenta crumble topping

So, as miserable March has given way to inauspicious April- I'm hoping that by the time May is out we can cast our clouts with abandon and look forward to asparagus, salads, new potatoes...and a warm garden to sit and eat them in!