Apple-Pay

The crypto-currency of the Auvergne!




Sorry to go on about my glut of fruit and veg this year- but in addition to everything else, it has proved to have a surprisingly good exchange rate. Certainly a lot better than poor old sterling!

So far, I have exchanged my trays of excess fruit with friends and neighbours for : marrows, tomatoes, courgettes, blackberry cordial,  3 dozen eggs, two boxes of jam jars, eau de vie, more tomatoes and 5 tubs of donkey manure. Not to mention bringing a smile to the faces of our wood supplier, boiler service engineer and electrician when presented with gifts of jam.

Thanks for the poo Josephine!

Only a week left before we return to the UK so I will be looking for profitable transactions on my pears, cabbages, chard and potimarrons before I go.

However, I am still using up the fruit that wouldn't fit in the freezer- spreading it over the top of cheesecakes, baking cakes and clafoutis and making chutney.
Here are a few recipes to take you into October.

Apple Clafoutis

2 apples
100g flour
50g sugar
400ml milk
20g butter
1 sachet of vanilla sugar
pinch salt

1. Separate the eggs and beat the whites until they form soft peaks

Beat the egg whites to soft peaks

2. Beat the egg yolks with the sugar, milk and melted butter
3. Beat in the flour until you have a smooth batter
4. Pour half the mixture into a buttered oven dish
5. Add slices of peeled apple
6. Gently fold in the whites into the remaining batter and pile on top of the apple mixture

Mix the egg whites into the remaining batter

7. Bake at 180 degrees until risen and golden.

Apple Clafoutis

Chestnut and Cherry Bars

125g unsalted butter

175g sugar

1 egg

250 g crème de marron

1 tsp vanilla essence

375g plain flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

pinch salt

200ml  cherry jam 

150g roasted peanuts or hazelnuts, chopped

1. Preheat the oven to 160 degrees

2. Cream together the butter and sugar, then mix in the vanilla essence , egg and chestnut cream and beat with an electric mixer for 2 minutes

Cream the butter, sugar, eggs etc with an electric mixer

 3.Sift in the flour, baking powder and salt and mix until combined
4.Grease and line a baking tray or gratin dish and spread 2/3 of the dough along the bottom

Spread two thirds of the dough over the base of the lined dish

5. Spread the jam evenly over the dough
6. Drop blobs of the remaining dough randomly over the top

Spread with jam and the remaining dough in blobs

7. Sprinkle with the chopped peanuts and bake for 45 minutes until golden on top and cooked underneath.

8. Cut into slices when cool.

Chestnut and Cherry Bars

Jam Duffins

We made these little buns at Cookery Workshop this time. I have made them again at home using rice and cornflour mixed to make a gluten free version and they were just as good.
They are a cross between a doughnut and a muffin. What's not to like?

To make a dozen:

150g of flour
2 heaped tsp baking powder
1 pot natural yoghurt or milk
1 egg
40-50g sugar
75g melted butter
2 tsp vanilla essence
jam of choice

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees
2. Beat the egg and the sugar together

Beat the egg and sugar together

3. Add the yoghurt/milk, butter, flour and baking powder and beat well

Beat in the other ingredients

4. Add the vanilla
5. Butter the insides of a muffin tray and half fill the cups with the mixture

Half-fill the muffin cups with batter

6. Add 1 spoon of jam to each cup

Add 1 spoonful of jam

7. Cover  with the remainder of the mixture and bake for 15 minutes until (you guessed it) risen and golden.

Cover with the remainder of the mixture

8. Leave to cool before unmoulding so the jam can soak well into the cakes.

Jam Duffins

And so, if you are looking for a safe investment I can thoroughly recommend Auvergne Apple-Pay. It looks like the best bet at the moment!

Poor old Pound!

Boxing Day Bakes

26th December comes round again- and I have a few more ideas for your Christmas leftovers. Read on if you have parsnips, nuts, veg or chocolate to use up (and I know you do..)




If you've already made your turkey bones and leftover veg into soup- here are some tasty quick rolls ( no need for yeast or proving) to go with it- made with parsnips and chopped herbs:

Parsnip and Herby Rolls:

220g grated parsnips
275g flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp chopped herbs ( eg rosemary or thyme)
1 tsp salt
2 beaten eggs
2 tbsp milk or natural yoghurt






1. Mix all the dry ingredients together in a bowl and add the grated parsnips
2. Make a well in the centre and add the eggs and yoghurt or milk
3. Mix together with a knife and then tip the dough onto a floured board. Divide into 6-8 rolls and place on a greased or lined baking tray.
4. Bake for 25 minutes or so until golden.

Baked rolls

They freeze well too.


The baking powder bread mix is excellent for a quick pizza base too. I make a frying pan version- just roll out your dough to fit your frying pan, fry on one side and then flip it over to fry the other.

Frying pan pizza

Cover with a topping of your choice and bake.


If all yesterday's rich food leaves you craving a vegetarian main dish, which is super-quick to prepare ( and a bit of a cheat- but so what?) then look no further than my Not-Pot.
The cheat's ingredient is tinned (yes tinned) Potato Dauphinoise. This is readily available in Lidl in France (and widely served up in restaurants masquerading as home made!) - but might be harder to source in the UK. Of course you don't have to use tinned- you can make your own (!) or use another supermarket version.

Not-Pot

Just rub a clove of garlic around a buttered gratin dish and layer up potato dauphinoise, cooked leeks or onions and/or any other cooked veg you want to use up- I used chard and Jerusalem artichokes (as I grow them) but parsnips, kohl rabi, carrots, squash  etc will be just as nice. Pour on 1/2 cup of stock. Sprinkle with grated cheese and breadcrumbs (you can mix in leftover bread sauce if you have some) and bake in a hot oven until golden.

Not-Pot

If you still have cooked parsnips to use up- try them in this savoury loaf. We had it as an accompaniment to the turkey on Christmas Day, then sliced with a salad another day and then hot with a spicy tomato sauce as a vegetarian main the following day!

 Parsnip and Chestnut Loaf

Serves 6 (with accompaniments)

2 large parsnips

Oil, to grease 1 small savoy cabbage, 4–6 outer leaves only  150g hazelnuts 40g butter or oil 1 red onion, finely chopped 150g chestnut mushrooms, finely chopped 100g cooked chestnuts, roughly chopped 100g cheese, crumbled
100g brown breadcrumbs 2 tsp fresh or dried mixed herbs 1 egg, beaten

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180C. Peel and quarter the parsnips, and cook in boiling, salted water until tender, drain well.

2. Grease a loaf tin approximately 20cm x 10cm x 7cm, then line with foil, and grease this generously. Blanch 6 savoy cabbage leaves in boiling, salted water for 2 minutes: you'll need enough to line the tin with overlapping leaves, but how many depends on the size of your cabbage, so make sure you have enough before you tip away the water. Lay on a tea towel to dry (and snip out the hard central rib)

3. Toast the hazelnuts in a frying pan over a high heat until starting to colour, then set aside. Turn the heat down to medium, add the butter and chopped onion and cook for 5 minutes. Add the mushrooms and cook for another 7 minutes until nicely softened. Blitz in a food processor along with the parsnips.

4. Blitz the hazelnuts and put them in a large bowl along with the chopped chestnuts, crumbled stilton, breadcrumbs and chopped sage. Add the parsnip, onion and mushroom mix followed by the beaten egg. Season and stir together well.

Mix all together in a bowl

5. Line the prepared tin with overlapping cabbage leaves,  

Line the loaf tin with leaves

leaving any excess hanging over the sides, then spoon in the mixture, pressing it down well, and fold any overhanging cabbage leaves back over the top. Cover tightly with foil and bake for 45 minutes. (Alternatively, you can keep it in the fridge for a day or so before baking.)

6. Remove the foil from the top and put the loaf back in the oven for another 15 minutes, then take out of the oven, trim off any singed cabbage leaves and put a large serving plate over the top of the tin. Holding the tin with oven gloves, turn the plate over so the loaf inverts on to the plate.

Turn the loaf out onto a plate

7. Cut into slices to serve.

Parsnip and Chestnut Loaf

Finally for something sweet.

I am grateful to Yvette for cooking this up at our Atelier de Cuisine. The recipe is hers.

Speedy Choco-Mint Cake

In a 2 litre measuring jug, pour in 125g flour, 2 tsp baking powder, 75g icing sugar, 100g melted chocolate, 1 pinch of salt, 3 eggs and  100ml of oil or melted butter. Mix well.
Pour into a greased 23cm cake tin or mould and bake for 35 minutes at 180 degrees.

Mix well and pour into mould

Allow to cool.

Chocolate cake ready for icing

For the chocolate mint topping, melt 100g of chocolate with 25ml of crème de menthe or peppermint essence ( or melt 100g of chocolate mints) either in the microwave or in a bowl over a simmering pan of water.

Pour on the icing

Spread over the cake - et voilà...super speedy.

Speedy Choco-Mint Cake

Christmas over, Boxing Day sorted. Time to veg out in front of the telly.