Parmesan Soufflé

There are days when you just need the warm aroma of baking parmesan and the fluffy texture of a soufflé! This dish is relatively easy but you do need to have everything ready at the last minute and to focus on the simple essential instructions! It never fails to impress! 

Omelet souffle with Parmesan serves 3-4

Ingredients 

4 Large Organic eggs

40 gram flour

25 cl. milk

60 gram butter ( 40 gram in the omelet - 20 gram in the pan) 100 gram parmesan ( 70 gram grated the rest as shavings

)

Salt and pepper

Method

Preheat the oven to 210 degrees C.

Heat the milk and the butter.

Break the eggs and separate yolks and whites in two bowls.

Mix the egg yolk with 2/3 of the flour. Add a little of the hot milk and butter, then the rest of the flour and at last add the rest of the milk.

Add the grated parmesan, with salt and pepper to taste.

Whisk the egg whites with a bit of salt, and mix it with the egg dough.

Heat a tefal pan (26 cm in diameter) melt the butter and pour the souffle on the pan, let it set.

Put the pan in the oven for 8 minutes, take it out when golden, sprinkle the rest of the parmesan on top, and serve straight away.

Wild Garlic Pesto

The beginning of spring is one of my favorite times of the year. To see nature come alive again after the dark cold winter months. Although our forest is still leaf free, the floor is alive with flowering anemone, primroses and daffodils. If your lucky you will also see wild garlic ( allium uranium) also called ransoms, now in season. The smell of garlic perfades the forest as wild garlic is very strong. So strong that you only use the leaves so don’t disturb the bulbs. 

The leaves can be used in many dishes and preserves but my preference is to make a wild garlic pesto which can then be used in so many ways including on salads, pasta dishes and stews.

Wild Garlic Pesto 350g

ingredients

2 tbsp sliced/crushed  almonds/ or pine nuts if preferred. 

5 tbsp of olive oil

350g fresh wild garlic leaves

100 g grated parmesan

salt & pepper to taste

Method

Roast the crushed almonds in the oven for 5 minutes until golden brown (280 degrees)   Blend the garlic leaves along with oiive oil  and almonds. Add the rest of Parmesan and  salt & pepper to taste, mix well and serve.

This can be served with pasta or salad. It will keep in the fridge for two weeks. If you wish to keep your garlic longer I would recommend you prepare the dish and then freeze immediately. One of my friends makes ice cubes with the pesto so he can drop one into a meal or a dish whenever he desires! 

Slow cooked lamb shank with Guinness and Picon

Slow cooked lamb shank is always a winner and particularly so in winter. When marinated overnight in the strong stout flavor of Guinness and the intense orange fragrance of Picon you have an exceptional dish. You can serve it in its own  jus reduction or with a delicious mushroom sauce along with mashed celeriac,  potatoes or flageolet beans.

Ingrédients (for braising in slow cooker)

4 lamb shanks pan fried and sealed

1litre home made chicken stock

2 parsnips  peeled and cut in quarters

2 carrots peeled and cut in quarters

2 celery stalks roughly chopped 

1 quart of celeriac roughly cut

1 leek roughly chopped 

2 heads of garlic horizontally cut in half

2 sprigs of thyme 

1 chili 

1 Rosemary sprig

2 bay leaves

2 bottles of Guinness stout 

1 shot of Picon

2 dried organic orange peels

Method:

Place all the above into a slow cooker and preferably just before you retire to bed! Next day it will be ready to serve. You may wish to strain and reduce the sauce further. 

Serve with the sauce of your choice ( or jus reduction). Below is our shank served in a creamy mushroom sauce:

Moules Frites- Mussels & Chips

Moules frites is one of the most popular dishes in Brittany. The mussels are served in a variety of sauces and if your lucky you will also be offered a delicious aioli with your chips. Here we offer you the recipes to do it all from your home kitchen: 

Ingrédients 

Mussels in saffron and chili

serves 4 ingredients

1 kg / 2.2 lb of fresh mussels 1/2 bottle of dry white wine

1 chopped shallot onions

1 small leek

1 clove garlic

1 sprig of thyme

1 bay leaf

10 black pepper corns Vegetable oil to fry

After the mussels are cooked 

sprinkle of saffron

1/2 cup of fresh cream bunch of chives

1 fresh not too strong chili pepper

Salt & pepper and lemon juice to taste

Method Cooking Mussels 

Rinse the mussels in cold water removing all beards and algae. Discard any lifeless mussels which refuse to close. Store in a cold place.

Chop up the onion, leeks and garlic.

In a large pot, heat vegetable oil and add all ingredients except wine and chives. Mix well and don't overheat. Add the white wine and mussels. Boil for 5 minutes or when the mussels have opened. Discard any which have not opened.

When the mussels have cooked, strain and put aside.

Reheat the stock and add saffron; reduce to the desired flavour.

Reintroduce the mussels to the stock and reheat, serve in 4 big deep plates and sprinkle the chives and chili over the top and serve with homemade chips and aioli.

Method  Home Made Chips

serves 4

1 kg 2.5 lp of big potatoes suitable for chips ( very important)

Vegetable oil preferably using a deep fat fryer

Method

Peel and cut the potatoes to preferred size. Next rinse the raw chips in plenty of cold water, 2-3 times to get the starch out. It can be done in the morning or the day before, but leave them in water until ready to use.

When ready to use heat up vegetable oil suitable for frying or use a deep fat fryer with a thermostat. Dry the potatos in a tea towel so when you put them in the hot oil it doesn’t burn you.

Heat up the fryer to 160C / 320F and cook the chips for 10-15 minutes; take them out of the oil and let them rest till the main dinner is ready. Switch off heat.

When ready to serve reheat the fryer to 180C / 350F and cook the chips again until golden brown. Sprinkle some salt over the chips and serve immediately.

TIP

Home cooked chips are absolutely delicious when prepared this way. Deep  fry outside if you don’t want the smell of cooking oil to linger inside your kitchen!

Method  Aioli Sauce  serves 4 persons

Ingredients 

2 cloves of garlic

2 egg yolks

250 ml / 1 cup of olive oil-not strong flavour or vegetable oil 1/2 a lemon

1/2 teaspoon of Dijon mustard

salt & pepper

Method

Crush the garlic and place in a bowl; add the egg yolks and mustard; whisk it all together. Add the juice from the 1/2 of lemon and then slowly add the oil and whisk it up like a normal mayonnaise. Flavour with salt and pepper as desired.

Tip. Fresh aioli is a treat used as a mayonnaise and will Ker for up to three days in a fridge. 

Recommend Wines;

Dry Muscadet, Chablis, Sancerre. 

Midwinter Breakfast

If breakfast is the most important meal of the day, then midwinter breakfast is critical for those of us living in the northern hemisphere! Looking back over the years I can relate to many breakfast recipes. As a child it was al always cooked porridge sometimes indulged with cornflakes if I got my way! As a student it was a coffee. As an employee I was lucky to have toast with that coffee. Occasionally I treated myself to the full Irish breakfast or at least a bacon sandwich on the hoof! Then for years it was simply a soft boiled egg with buttered toast. Today, in midwinter,  I have settled on a more healthy and dramatic start to the day. It still includes coffee but is accompanied with a freshly squeezed orange juice, a fruit and nut oatmeal muesli and a cup of delicious home made broth!

Ingredients for 2 persons

2 oranges freshly squeezed.

Muesli 

10g  porridge oats

10g muesli 

1 orange peeled/deseeded and cut into segments 

1 pear peeled/deseeded and cut into small segments 

6 walnuts 

6 dates cut into small segments 

Milk ( oatmeal) poured over the muesli once served (but you could use any type of milk or juice ( apple juice) as preferred). 

Broth

It was during a visit to the Asian market in Singapore that I first became acquainted with the practice of a morning broth! It is a great immune booster and you can feel your body craving for those nourishing ingredients.

I litre fresh chicken broth brought to boil.

1 clove garlic cut up very small

1 shallot cut up very small

1 chili cut up very small 

1 sprig fresh coriander ( finely chopped and served on top)

Simply boil up the broth in a saucepan. Finely chop the raw garlic, onion and chili adding it to the broth and  removing from heat. Serve in mugs with the coriander on top. I sometimes add ginger to this broth which adds an additional magic. Season with salt and pepper. 

Chocolate coated ginger candy

 

2-3 Fresh Ginger 

100g dark rich chocolate (over 50%)

200 gram of sugar 

200 ml water

Gin to marinate (optional)

Method

Peel the ginger ( with a tea spoon) and cut  up in short bite size pieces. 

Blanch the ginger in boiling water for a quick boil.

Separately boil up sugar and water in a saucepan, add the ginger into the sugar syrup and boil up: repeat this method by cooling and reheating the ginger for several hours - so the  ginger gets more clear. 

Remove the ginger from the syrup and dry them on a paper towel, toss them in sugar and let them dry. Finally melt the chocolate in a bain marie and dip the ginger coating completely. Leave to stand on grease proof paper and then store in an airtight jar. 

If you wish to infuse the ginger with gin do so for a week after boiling with sugar and before coating with chocolate!

Apple & Bacon

This time of year we often find we have a surplus of apples. This Apple and bacon dish is an absolute winner being both simple to make and surprisingly delicious. It is a novel way to serve up apple as a savoury dish.

What you need for 4 servings:

4 apples (sweet or cooking apples) peeled, cored and sliced. 

200g  bacon lardons. 

Bunch of fresh chives and parsley finely chopped.

Method

Fry the lardons using a large pan. Once they start cooking ( after two minutes) add the sliced apple. Allow to sauté for 5 minutes. Sprinkle the chives and parsley over the dish.  Serve immediately:

Serving suggestions: 

This dish can be served just as it is. In Ireland it is served on toasted brown bread. In Denmark it is served on rye bread as a luncheon dish. In Brittany we served it in a buckwheat pancake sometimes along with a glass of cider!