Feeling festive

It’s cold and frosty and I am feeling festive. La terrine de castanhas / chestnut paté makes a perfect seasonal starter. I boiled peeled chestnuts in salted water, then drained and liquidised them. Meanwhile, I softened chopped onions in a little oil, added chopped mushrooms with a little salt and continued to cook gently. I sprinkled with pepper, crushed juniper berries and nutmeg, and liquidised this mixture too. I combined the two purées plus some melted butter, and packed the resulting paté into a terrine. I smoothed the top and chilled.

Served on toast with a little red currant jelly

An unusual / useful garnish

Last night I cooked les champignons à l’étuvée / stewed mushrooms. I removed the stalks from some chestnut mushrooms and sliced them thinly. I added these to duck fat in a pan, along with sliced celery. I cooked this mixture until softened, then placed the mushroom caps on top. I poured in white wine and let it bubble for a couple of minutes. Finally, I added seasoning, covered the pan, and simmered till the liquid had been absorbed. The mushrooms were mellow and tender, while the celery was sharp with a little bite and, together, they went very well with a lovely sirloin steak.

A good combination

Cèpes go extraordinarily well with potatoes, which seems to take on the flavour of the mushrooms just as eggs do with truffles. This, however, is a more economical miracle; indeed you can adapt the following recipe to use just a few tinned or bottled cèpes, or any left over from another dish.
Jeanne Strang in Goose Fat & Garlic

And, Jeanne Strang also says that dried cèpes can be used too. So, as I had brought some back from France, I decided to cook les pommes de terre aux cèpes / potatoes and ceps. I parboiled some potatoes, sliced and fried them in goose fat with a little bacon, adding parsley and garlic. I soaked the mushrooms in water for an hour or so, patted them dry and added them to the dish along with some seasoning. Finally, I added the mushroom water, covered the dish and simmered for about 40 minutes. By the end, the potatoes were soft and full of mushroomy flavour.

Not the prettiest dish but, all the same, it tasted good!

Classy ceps

I was so pleased to spot some ceps in the Cahors market today. It’s been very hot and dry in the Lot, and not ideal for mushrooms. But these ones were from the Corrèze, the department north of here where it must have been wetter. This time I cooked les cèpes à la Gasconne / ceps from Gascony, and very nice it was too! I sliced the caps and cooked them in oil. Then I chopped the thick stalks with ham, parsley and garlic. I fried these, sprinkled with flour, and added some white wine and seasoning. I returned the caps to the mixture and continued cooking till the wine was absorbed, a bit like a risotto. The result made a super starter – we could have been in a classy restaurant!

The best gravy, ever

We had some truffle left over from our Christmas lunch and so I used it to make la sauce Périgueux / Périgueux truffle sauce. I softened chopped shallot in goose fat, turned up the heat, added white wine and armagnac, and set the pan alight. In another pan, I fried onions in goose fat till starting to colour. I added flour and cooked for a few minutes. Then, I poured in some strongly flavoured stock, mixing till smooth. I added this to the shallot mixture once the flames had died down (after quite a time!) and continued to simmer, very gently, for a couple of hours. I finished the sauce by straining it and adding some truffle shavings, simmering for a further 5 minutes for the flavours to infuse.

Truffle not turkey

It was just the two of us for Christmas lunch and I decided to spend my money on a truffle rather than a turkey. Our special meal was les oeufs brouillés aux truffes / scrambled eggs with truffles. My truffle arrived on Christmas eve by courier. I unwrapped it reverently and placed it with four eggs in a bowl with a close fitting lid. This was to infuse the eggs with the wonderful aroma. The next day, I sliced the truffle thinly and poached in a little water for 10 minutes – more lovely smells in the kitchen. I beat the eggs with cream and seasoning, adding the truffle and its reduced liquor. Then, I scrambled the mixture in the usual way. I served the eggs on top of sour dough bread toast, accompanied by salad and vinaigrette, smoked salmon and, of course, some special wine. Happy Christmas everyone!

Roast pork French-style

Roast pork and crackling is a quintessential traditional English dish, and it’s hard to imagine one without the other. But, according to Jeanne Strang in Goose Fat & Garlic, the French don’t know about crackling. They don’t waste the rind (called couenne), rather they use it to enrich stews, soups, pulses etc. So, for le rôti de porc du Sidobre / roast pork with ceps, I asked the butcher to remove the rind so I could keep it for future use. I put some lard in a roasting tin along with the bones, and placed the seasoned loin on top. I roasted the meat for one hour, basting from time to time. Then I removed the roast to a serving dish and left it in the oven at its lowest setting to rest for half an hour. Meanwhile, I cooked a chopped onion in a little lard. I removed the onion from the pan, added (dried/soaked) ceps and seasoning, and cooked for a further 20 minutes. Towards the end of the cooking time, I stirred in chopped garlic, parsley and the cooked onion. I served this tasty mixture around the pork with some carrots. “Delicious” said Ann and Andrew who joined us for supper!

A recipe from Sidobre – a strange outcrop of the Cévennes in the Tarn

French mushrooms

Having said there are no French cèpes, we found some at the market at Labastide-Murat. They were rather puny compared to the Spanish ones, but delicious nonetheless. I used them to make les cèpes à l’etuvée / ceps cooked in oil, which is similar to the previous recipe. I added the chopped cèpes, with garlic, parsley and seasoning, to hot oil in a pan. I gave everything a good stir, covered with a lid, reduced the heat and cooked for 10 minutes.

Spanish mushrooms

It’s the time of year for cèpes, also known as porcini mushrooms (Boletus edulis), but I haven’t seen any. However, while on holiday on the Canal du Midi, we called into the market at Narbonne, and there they were! The stall holder explained that they came from Spain because it’s been too dry in France, and these mushrooms need two weeks of rain to fruit. I bought three large specimens to make les cèpes à la Bordelaise / ceps as in Bordeaux. I trimmed the earthy ends off and wiped them clean. I cut the caps into thick slices and the bulbous stalks into rounds. I heated oil in a pan till smoking, then threw in the mushrooms, along with chopped shallots, garlic and parsley. I stirred well, reduced the heat to low, put a lid on, and simmered for 10 minutes. I added seasoning and served.

Welcome to France!

Friends, Tessa and Steve, have joined us for a short holiday. For our first evening together, I wanted to cook a seasonal recipe, something different, which could be made in advance. I chose le lapin en cocotte aux champignons / rabbit braised with mushrooms. I lined the bottom of a casserole with slices of bacon. On top, I placed the rabbit, which had been jointed and cut into eight pieces, including the liver, heart and kidneys. Then, I added cubed salt belly of pork, a scattering of button onions, bouquet garni and seasoning. I poured over dry white wine and eau-de-vie. I heated the casserole on the cooker top until bubbling fiercely, covered with a lid, and transferred to a moderate oven for 45 minutes. At this stage, I added dried ceps, which had been soaked in water, and continued cooking for another 45 minutes. The rabbit was soft and tender, and the sauce was full of flavour.