Pumpkin Soup

It’s Thanksgiving Day and what a great starter for your family dinner!

Pumpkin or Butternut squash  soup 

serves 6

800 gram of pumpkin, peeled de-seeded and cut into cubes

25 gram butter

1 clove of garlic crushed

1 large onion peeled and chopped

1.liter of chicken stock 

salt and pepper to taste

dash of lemon juice 

100 ml. of milk

150 ml. of dry white wine

Method

Glaze the onions in butter so they are soft, add the pumpkin, white wine and chicken stock, boil the ingredients till soft.

Blend the vegetables and stock, flavour with salt, pepper lemon juice and add milk to get the right

consistency , strain and whisk a bit of butter in the soup before serving.

Serve the soup with bread croutons. 

Lovely Gite to stay in for the cooking school

We have another lovely gite on our list for students on our cooking courses. It has two double bedrooms, two toilets/1 bathroom, lounge, kitchen and delightful garden. Here are some photos: 

The gite is four minutes drive from the cooking school in the village of St Gilles de Mené. 

Fresh Croissants

You have to be in the right mood to make croissants. Ideally 24 hours before you want to eat them! There is a bit of a routine to getting them just right so it’s good to be focused on what your up to. However follow a good recipe and a few good guidelines and you will be able to enjoy those croissants as much or even more than those you buy down the high street. 

For 20 croissants you will need:

Ingredients

625g Strong White Bread Flour 14g Fast Action Yeast

75g Caster Sugar

10g Salt

400g Butter

250 dl Water

Method

  1. Place the flour, yeast, sugar and salt in a bowl making sure the yeast doesn’t touch the salt straight away as it will kill it.

2. Slowly add the water until there is no mixture left at the bottom of the bowl.

3. Knead the dough for around 10 minutes until it is smooth and the ingredients are

evenly mixed in. I use my hands but you could use a food mixer. 

4. Place the dough back in the bowl and refrigerate. This will make it easier to work

with.

5. Weigh out the butter. Place in between two pieces of parchment paper and bash with

a rolling pin until it resembles a thin rectangle. The butter goes in the fridge to firm

up.

6. After the dough has rested, flour the work surface and roll out until it is wide enough

for the butter to be placed in the middle, once it is wide enough place the butter in the middle and fold the dough into the middle. Roll out the dough and fold into three. This needs to be done 3-5 times. Each time a turn is done, the dough must be placed in the fridge so the butter firms up. Leave overnight for the dough to rise.

7. Next day, line around 3-5 baking trays with parchment paper to avoid the dough sticking.

8. Cut the rested dough in half and roll on a lightly floured surface. Once it resembles a rectangle trim the edges. The Croissants can now be cut big or small.

9. Once cut, roll up tightly and slowly.

10. Repeat the process with the other half of the dough.

11. Place the croissants onto the baking tray well-spaced apart as they will otherwise stick together.

12. Cover with a cloth and leave to rise for around 1.5-2 hours.

13. Preheat the oven to 200 Celsius or 180 if using a fan oven.

14. Brush the risen croissants with egg and egg yolk, this helps form a lovely glaze once baked.

15. Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden brown.

Once baked, let them set for 10 minutes to cool. Put the coffee on and treat your self to the extraordinary experience of the croissant!

Bitter Sweet Orange

It takes at least two years to make this bitter sweet orange liqueur but the taste is so well worth it. The orange is from a small shrub like tree called Poncirus Trifoliatia or Japanese Bitter Orange tree and is most well known by architects and gardeners who proscribe it as the most effective legal shrub to deter unwanted intruders owing to its exceedingly thorny attributes! 

We are so very lucky to have a knowledgeable aboriculturist in our neighborhood who has a collection of rare and splendid trees in his collection. One of these trees is of the bitter orange variety and he recently presented me with a nice selection direct from his garden. Here they are:

You will see they are small and crab apple like with an intense smell. They are almost all pulp and could be most used in a marmalade recipe. However the orange liqueur is much more exciting and exotic. 

Ingredients

12 bitter oranges

200g white sugar 

1 litre white rum

Method

Bring a large pan of boiling water to boiling point. Clean the oranges and quickly blanch by placing them in the boiling water for 30 seconds. Remove from water and let cool. Stérilise a one litre bottle with wide screw top. Place the sugar in the bottle followed by the oranges and top up with enough rum to cover all the oranges. Screw the lid on tightly and shake vigorously at least every day for the next ten days. Store in a dark cupboard and forget all about it for two years. Check and shake occasionally when you come across it! Probably a good idea to label with date and contents!

So thank you Chris for your lovely bitter sweet oranges and fortunately always make two bottles because one is never enough. 

Serve as a liquor with chocolate orange cake or as an ingredient with sparkling wine to make a delicious cocktail.