Egg Florentine

Egg Florentine is a delicious dish with an extraordinary taste when the additional ingredient of Dijon mustard is added! 

Egg Florentine serves 4

Ingrédients 

4 Large eggs

60g / 2oz butter

400g / 1lb baby spinach washed and dried 2 pinch of sugar

2tbsp white wine vinegar

Sauce Mornay (with mustard)

20g / 1oz butter

30g / 1,10oz plain flour 350ml / 1 1/2 cup milk

2 egg yolk

30ml / 2 tbsps of cream

60g / 2 oz Comté or Emmenthal cheese, grated

30g / 1 oz Comté or Emmenthal cheese, grated to finish 1 teaspoon of dijon mustard

Salt, papper and freshly grated nutmeg

Method

Make the sauce by melting the butter in a small pan over low heat, add the flour, stir with a whisk bringing  it to the boil over a medium heat - let it boil for 2 minutes. Pour in the cold milk and whisk it well over medium heat, and let it slowly cook for 5 minutes stirring constantly.

Mix the egg yolks and cream together and add to the sauce and warm it up for 30 sec.

Remove from the heat and add the grated cheese. Season with mustard, salt, pepper and nutmeg.

The Spinach;  melt half of the butter in a pan over high heat and let it foam sauté half of the spinach, sprinkle with salt and sugar and let it cook for a little minute , pour it into a colander and repeat the process with the remaining butter and spinach and into the colander .

Put the cream into the pan and add the spinach, flavour it with nutmeg and set aside in a warm place cover it with a lid.

Poaching the eggs by putting the water in a medium pan or pot add the vinegar and bring it up to the boil . Crack an egg into a small bowl and slowly pour it into the water and let it poach for 2-3 minutes. As soon as they are poached put them on a tea towel and and trim it so it's nice.

Preheat the top grill

Divide the spinach between warmed individual egg dishes. Place a poached egg in the middle of each dish, coat generously with mornay sauce and sprinkle with the 30g / 1oz grated cheese.Brown under the hot grill until a light brown colour, then serve immediately. 

Options; instead of spinach you can use mushrooms, you can also put a slice of smoked salmon on to the spinach and put the poached egg on top and then add the sauce. 

Duck & Rasberry Christmas salad

This is a delightful festive salad ideal for when you need to have something sophisticated yet very simple with a magical appearance! 

Ingredients 

4 duck legs (previously cooked and now cold)

Various salad ingredients from leftovers:

A finely cut slice of red cabbage and raw Brussel sprouts.

Lambs lettuce/rocket salad/ beetroot leaves.

1 pomegranate ( inside core of).

Dressing

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar 

1 teaspoon raspberry vinegar 

1 small spoon honey 

2 tablespoons fresh thyme 

Fresh raspberries 

Olive oil

Method 

Remove the meat from the duck bones and set aside. Mix the salad and add the duck meat. Make the dressing by adding the vinegars, honey, salt and pepper together; then adding the olive oil slowly to emulsify and finally adding the raspberries. 

 

Chorizo Pizza

Pizza dough

Ingredients makes 4 pizzas

200 gram / 7 oz Manitoba flour *

300 gram / 10.5 oz 00 type flour

    5 gram / 0.2 oz  fresh yeast or 2 gram / 1/2tsp dry yeast

  10 gram /  2 tsp fine salt

  35 gram / 2 tbsp olive oil

300 ml. / 1 1/4 cup of Lukewarm water

Staccapizza flour for the plates

Method :

Put the lukewarm water and the yeast into a food-processor.  Add the two types of flour and

mix well. Now add the salt and olive oil and mix well till the dough becomes homogeneous.

Transfer the dough to a bowl and cover it with clingfilm and let it rise and rest for about 2 hours  or until the dough has doubled in volume .

When the dough has doubled, cut it into 4 portions and roll it out into 4 pizza bases.

When the base has the desired shape place each  on a plate which has been sprinkled with plenty of 

Staccapizza flour - it makes it easier to transfer the pizza on the pizza stone for baking.

• If you don't have Manitoba flour you can use another strong gluten flour type 00. 

Ingredients for a typical topping:

Tomato sauce for the base

Then add whatever you like such as mushrooms, olives, chorizo , mozzarella and oregano. Don’t add to much tomato sauce and don’t overload the pizza as it will become soggy and difficult to remove from the oven. Keep then pizza oven hot (above 300c/570f for best results and turn down when pizzas are inside the oven (220c/428f). Practice and knowing your oven makes a master!!

Balles Boxty - Boxty Balls - Liathróidí Bacstaí

This is probably the simplest dish I have ever made! It is partly inspired by the Danish dish aebleskiver which I made yesterday! This is a savoury version! 

The very poor of Ireland relied upon one staple food in the 19th century and that was the humble potato or pratá as it was called. Whilst potatoes are very versatile you have to be extra imaginative if you eat them every day and so it’s no surprise that in the poorer counties of Ulster like Cavan and Fermanagh, bacstaí was born! 

Bacstaí or boxty in English was traditionally cooked on a hot griddle over the turf fire but it could also be boiled or baked depending upon one’s taste and circumstances. Here I make Boxty balls - the simplest and tastiest of dishes!

Ingredients ( to make 20 boxty balls):

12 medium size potatoes

100ml of milk

Knob of butter

Salt & pepper to taste.

First peel all the potatoes. Set 6 aside in cold water. 

Cut up six potatoes and make mash. Set aside and allow to cool. 

For the remaining potatoes remove from water and dry. Grate each raw potato into a clean cloth. When completed twist the grated potato removing all the water out of it. Leave aside for 20 minutes. 

In a large bowl, combine the cooked mashed potato with the raw grated potato. Add a little salt and pepper to taste. When mixed, take a tablespoon of the mixture and using your hands make each into a small ball shape. Heat a hot pan and place each ball on the pan to fry. Use a teaspoon to shape and turn each ball cooking slowly. When cooked, serve immediately or keep warm until ready to serve. 

Sprinkle with parsley or chives as desired. 

Æbleskiver or apple dough balls

Æbleskiver or in English apple dough balls

( 6 persons)

Ingrédients 

300 ml  / 1.3 cup of luke-warm milk

225 gram / 8 oz plain flour 

   3 large eggs 

150 gram / 5.3 oz of slightly melted soft butter

    1 tbsp of sugar

    1 pinch of salt

Optional : Æbleskive means a slice of apple and you can put some chopped apples into the dough when you bake it in the right pan

Method :

In a large bowl pour the lukewarm milk and whisk the flour into it the milk

Then add sugar and the soft butter, whisk it so the batter is nice and smooth.

Separate the eggs.  Add the egg-yolks one by one into the batter.

Whisk the eggs whites with a pinch of salt till nice and stiff and fold the batter into the 

egg whites. 

Bake them in a special danish pan called Aebleskive pan; if you don’t have one or can’t get one try a waffle pan; I think it might work.

In Denmark you will see Christmas stalls selling them with a glass of mulled wine.

But kids love them any time of the year - adults too.

Often served with powdered sugar, jams and ice creams.

Kerrouet Christmas Cake

Once every  year we are obliged to bake our unique Kerrouet Christmas cake. This is one you need to start a year in advance and then over a six week period before Christmas!

If you can’t wait, simply buy a bottle of plum eau de vie..  So planning is involved but otherwise it’s not very difficult. It is also one of the best Christmas cakes known to man or beast!! 

One year in advance:

Collect 20 

fresh plums. Wash and discard the stones. Place all the plums in a litre jar and fill with rum and 50g of sugar. Move to a cold dark place and forget about it for a year!

One day before you wish to bake the Christmas cake ( 6 weeks before 24 December):

In a large bowl mix the following ingredients together:

110g glazed cherries 

55g whole almonds

50g almond flour 

300g sultanas 

300g currents 

110g raisins

100g cranberries 

50g fresh dates

100g candied orange peel

I apple grated

Pour 200ml of the one year old home made plum rum brandy over all the ingredients and mix well. Macerate the fruit overnight or at least 12 hours.

Stage 3 Making the base:

Ingrédients 

50ml of plum brandy

290g white flour

230g butter

220 brown sugar

6 eggs

1 teaspoon mixed spice

Method

Preheat oven to 160 degrees C/350d F

In the mixer add the butter and sugar. Whisk the eggs and add to the mix. Mix the spice and flour and add gradually to the mix. Add the fruit to the mix. Place all into a greased cake tin , cover with foil ( with holes) and bake for 3 hours until fully cooked! 

Voila: now just pour a small glass of plum eau de vie over the cake once per week and store in a sealed container. 

 

Serve with a Christmas punch, buttermilk ice cream or just on its own with tea or coffee. 

Roast saddle of Lamb

French Dining School

Roast saddle of Lamb

Serves 6

Saddle of Lamb deboned

150 gram of minced, lamb, chicken, veal or rabbit

Can be mixed with

Truffle or 

1 teaspoon of espilette chilli 

2 cloves of garlic roughly chopped

Rosemary, or sage,  a big stalk, needles stripe off and roughly chopped

Olive oil

Method

Debone the rack of lamb, and sprinkle it with spices, regarding the mince, you can use light coloured

meat and mince it in a food processor or a mincer, spice the mince with the herbs you have and fill it in the rack of lamb where the bone was. Roll it up ( add the sage on the outside too)  and but strings around it to hold it all together .

Fry it on a pan for a few minutes and then in the hot 220C/ 440F oven and fry it for 15-20 minutes, take it out and let it rest for 15 minutes and then in the oven for another 15-20 minutes, let it rest for 5 minutes and then carve - take the string off.

Serve it with a tarragon, basil, chervil or mint sauce with seasonal vegetable.