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! 

Baked cod gratin with leeks potatoes and French whole grain mustard

This is an easy dish which will warm the cockles of your heart! Just great for an autumn lunch.

Ingredients ( for 2 people)

300g of fresh cod  cut into bite size slices.

Half a large leek (green end ) cut into thin slices.

3 large potatoes peeled and cut into 1cm cubes.

3 Tbsp French wholegrain mustard.

250ml of fresh cream.

Method

Boil the potatoes and set aside when cooked. Blanche the leek by putting in boiling water for 30 seconds and drain and set aside. Put the cream in a small saucepan and bring to the boil. Remove from heat and flavour the cream with the mustard. In a large oven dish place first the potatoes, then the leeks and on top the raw cod. Pour over all the mustard flavoured cream covering everything in the dish. Place in a hot oven of 220 degree C. for 15-20 minutes. Serve with a full bodied white wine such as a Sauvignon blanc. 

Apple Gratin with Almonds

It’s a simple classic dish which has proved such a success down the ages. Apple gratin with almonds. The smell of the gratin baking in the oven is absolutely devine. It resurrects memories from childhood when Mum often  baked with apple which was of course freely available from the orchard.   

Ingredients (8-10 persons)

1.3 kg of cooking apples

1 deseeded vanilla pod split lengthways

Splash of water

Sprinkle of lemon juice

For the Almond cream topping:

150g ground almonds

150g sugar

150g soft unsalted butter

2 egg yolks 

1 whole egg

25g almond flakes

Method

Peel the apple, cut into 6 segments and discard the core. Boil the apple along with a little water (half a small cup) along with the lemon juice and the vanilla pod.  When the apple pulp is soft, remove  the lid and gently boil the juice away and remove the vanilla pod. 

When the pulp is cold place it in a tart dish of 30 cm wide and 4-5 cm high.

To make the almond cream topping:

In a bowl mix well the almond flour and sugar. Add the soft butter and egg yoke  and finally the remaining whole egg.  Whip well and place directly on top of the apple pulp.  Decorate with almond flakes and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Bake in a hot oven at 220 degrees for 15-20 minuets or until it has a nice golden colour.

Serve with créme fraiche, clotted cream or ice cream. 

The Paris Burger

The Paris burger (Paris Bœuf) is generally unknown in France or Paris as it is a Danish classic lunchtime dish. However it’s far too delicious not to be outed and tasty at any time of the day or night so here is the recipe:

serves 4

ingredients

4 slices of toast bread 

600 gram / 1.5 pounds of freshly minced beef

1 large red onion finely chopped ( normal onion can be used as well )

3-4 slices of cooked beetroot , chopped

4 tablespoons of freshly grated horseradish 

4 tablespoons of capers

4 egg yolks

Salt & pepper (to taste)

Butter for frying 

Method

Cut the rind of the toast bread and butter it, make burgers of the mince and then place the raw burger on top of the bread. Press the burger around the bread but not underneath it . Use a knife and score the burger on top.  Repeat for the other three burgers . Salt and pepper to taste.

Have the red onion and beetroot chopped; horseradish grated and capers ready.

Have four egg yolks in half of their shells.

Use a frying pan big enough for the four burgers; melt the butter and start frying on the toast bread side for 5 minutes under medium heat. Turn them over and fry on the meat side for another two/three minutes or until desired cooking colour.  It can also be served pink.

Place the burgers on a warm plate and garnish with onion, capers, beetroot and horseradish. Place the egg yolk on top of each burger and serve immediately. In Denmark and Kerrouet this dish is served with a cold beer and a Danish potato snaps!!

Pickled Cucumber

We are all deluged with cucumbers this time of year and there is a limit to the number one can consume in a salad! There is nothing worse than finding a limp member in your fridge! You can’t even throw it at somebody! Time to get smart and start pickling. Pickled cucumbers are just amazing and are such a good compliment to all sorts of dishes from pâtes to cold meats as well as in roast dinners and sandwiches. They can last for months in the fridge so it’s a great way to keep your cucumbers ( and other vegetables) through the winter months. What’s more it is so easy to do and they make great gifts for neighbours and friends.

Ingredients 

 2 kg cucumbers 

 2 tsp.  salt

 1 l Apple cider vinegar

 500-600 g cane sugar

 2 tbsp.  yellow mustard seeds

 8 pcs.  star anise

 16-20 pcs.  black peppercorns

 

Method:

 First peel the cucumbers. 

Cut in half and deseed using a spoon. 

Cut the cucumbers into small strips. Cover thoroughly in salt using your hands and place in the refrigerator until next day. 



Next day make the apple cider vinegar mixture. All the ingredients for the vinegar  are boiled up in a pan. 

The cucumbers are rinsed in ice-cold water and put in a scalded sterilised  top glass jar. 



The vinegar is poured over the cucumbers boiling hot so take care. Then close and seal the jars for storage in a dark cool place.

 If sealed jars are used, the cucumbers  can be kept for a minimum of ½-1 year; otherwise they should preferably be left in the fridge and eaten within a few months.

Don’t forget to date and label your pickled cucumbers. You might also like to pickle walnuts and any vegetable that takes your fancy! 

A gourmet treat!

I recently saw a review from Trip Adviser informing us of a restaurant in Brittany which had won the extraordinary accolade of being the second best restaurant in the world! I had to investigate further and on checking the restaurant called La Ville Blanche discovered that it was only ninety minutes drive away. It also held a Michelin star with its young chef Yvann Guglielmetti. 

So last Thursday we dined for lunch. The restaurant itself was bright and neutral. Our tables were well placed for social distancing and the front of house team were polite, courteous and informative.

We went for the Plaisir Menu dégustation with four glasses of paired wines for the price of €121 each.

Our appetiser was a sensational  original dish of lightly pickled  tomato with cucumber. It was one of the best dishes in fact! 

This was followed by a delicious seafood selection of langoustine, oysters and crab. One  oyster was cooked in buttermilk and served with crunchy roasted onions which slightly overwhelmed the oyster itself but I enjoyed the buttermilk combination with the warm oyster. 

Our next dish was turbot with stuffed (ratatouille) courgette flower along with smoked aubergine with tomato purée and turbot sauce reduction. A Loire Sauvignon from Quincy was paired which worked well. 

This was followed by a tasty foie gras and Camus artichoke served with polenta. It tasted great and surprisingly paired with an unsweetened Bourgogne Chardonnay which was delicious. 

Our main dish was a menunière fried sweetbread in a deluge of carrot. Unfortunately the carrot overwhelmed the flavours of this dish completely disguising the ginger, rhubarb and veal stock reduction contained within. 

This was followed by a nice cheeseboard. 

A delicious combination of garden fruits were served for dessert with a fromage blanc sorbet and crispy Breton gavotte. 

A refreshing Jurançon was paired which was great. 

Our second dessert was an almond soufflé with a lime and limoncello sorbet. It was, as it should be, light fluffy and absolutely delicious. 

We had our coffees in the garden. Appropriately served with a wonderful crispy Breton kouign-amann and a symphony of melon infused with lemon verbena tea. 

Our verdict 8 out of 10. We enjoyed our lunch but felt some of the dishes were lacking that wow factor. The addition of salt and pepper shakers on the tables would have helped. 

A summer cocktail- elderberry

Elderberry has many culinary uses ( my favorite is elderberry panna cotta) but can also be used to make delicious cocktails too. So it is well worth collecting the berries which come into season around August. Take care when collecting as they can make an indelible stain on your clothes and don’t eat them raw as they apparently contain a sugar producing cyanide which is made inactive once boiled!

Collecting the berries

Simply break the stems and remove the whole branch with berries into your large shopping bag. I find that 20 stems will make a litre of elderberry juice. Once home, use a fork to remove the berries into a bowl. Discard the stems. Wash with cold water. 

To make 1 litre of plain elderberry juice:

Ingredients 

Fresh elderberries from 20 stems washed.

Method

Add the elderberries to a large pan of water and bring to the boil. Simmer for 10 minutes then allow to cool.

Using a muslin bag and pasta colander, carefully drain the juice from the boiled berries into another pan. Allow to cool and keep refrigerated. This is your elderberry gold juice which can be added to cocktails or used to enhance the colour and flavour of many culinary delights.

For the G&T elderberry cocktail you simply measure out in your glass as follows:

1 shot of gin

1 shot of elderberry juice

1 measure of tonic to fill the glass 

1 slice of lemon or two

3 Ice cubes 

Enjoy!! 

Ps To make elderberry cordial you follow the same method as above but when boiling the berries you add the same weight in sugar as well as 1 lemon. Then once cool you store in a sterilised bottle for up to six months. The cordial can be used for cocktails and culinary dishes too. 

To see the elderberry panna cotta recipe just check a previous blog below: