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.

A gastronomic week in Paris!

We have been running the legs of ourselves around Paris exploring some extraordinary restaurants and art galleries! 

It is what we do best and Paris never fails to deliver! 

The Michelin Chef William Ledeuil made us feel right at home and shared a few secrets of his amazingly creative Asian French cuisine fusions! He also gave us a few copies of his books and promised to visit us next time he headed west!! 

St Remy Chocolate Cake

Ingredients

250 g./ 9 oz sugar

250 g. / 9 oz dark chocolate 

180 g. / 6,50 oz butter

6 whole eggs

80g. / 3 oz flour 

Method

Over bain-marie melt chocolate and butter.

Whisk egg and sugar together and then add the flour.

Mix the melted chocolate and butter into the egg mix.

Fold baking paper in the baking tin greased with butter. Pour chocolate mixture into a baking tray and bake the cake for 45  minutes in the oven at 150C /  degrees .

When baked don’t store the cake in the fridge!

Serving suggestion: serve with buttermilk ice cream and raspberries 

Mushroom Risotto

Serves 4 persons as a main course

Ingrédients 

500-750 gram mixed wild mushrooms

1   liter of vegetable /  (or chicken stock)

1 finely chopped shallot onion

40 gram of butter

1 glass of dry white wine

320 gram risotto rice

60 gram freshly grated   parmesan cheese

4 slices of pancetta (optional)

Vegetable stock

1 leeks chopped

1 carrot  chopped

1 stick of celery chopped

bay leaf, parsley 

1 clove of garlic

Handful of chives finely chopped

salt

chicken cubes can be used as well

The vegetable stock simmer in 2 1/2 liter of water for 45 minutes, and afterwards strain it , ready to use

Rinse the wild mushrooms very carefully and them chop them up and fry them in a spoonful of  butter and olive oil.

Fry the onion in half of the butter but don’t give them color. Add the rice and let the rice soak up the butter, add the white wine and then slowly add the vegetable stock and boil and stir it  c 18. minutes. Finally 

add the fried mushrooms and the parmesan cheese. Place a grilled crispy slice of pancetta on top. Sprinkle the chives over all and serve immediately. 

Kerrouet at a glance!

Photographs John Flury