Tarragon chicken and a hankering for France

I may have mentioned before once or twice how much I love France.

Indeed there was a time as a post-grad law student when, unsure of my destiny and only certain that I had failed the land law component of the C.P.E. conversion course that non-law graduates had to sit, the only thing I could think of doing was to decamp to France and see what happened.

Fate intervened, I met the Husband and passed land law by the skin of my teeth (events related only by the fact that the Husband was in the same pub that I was celebrating the end - but not the results - of said exams), so my other life as an English woman in France never happened. May be, Sliding Doors-esque, my other self is currently sitting on the terrasse of a sprawling proprietee somewhere in the Midi, a herd of goats and some chickens milling around, while the Husband, assuming a slightly more unreliable "Kevin-Kline-in-French-Kiss" air about him than he currently sports, grows grapes and olives and the children run about tanned and bilingual...

I still have friends in France and we go back occasionally - we haven't been to my preferred corner of Languedoc for a few years, although we had a great holiday in Normandy last summer. I love French towns and cities as much as the countryside: Paris for sure, but also Lyon, Toulouse, Nantes, Aix en Provence, Carcassonne and my favourite of them all, Perpignan. I would gladly go back at any opportunity. May be next summer.

For now, I am compensating by cooking French. Tarragon is one of those classic tastes of France. My mother and I both have tarragon plants parented by a plant belonging to my French exchange's grandpere . Combine that with chicken and creme fraiche, a splash of white wine and some peas, and I could be sitting in a little bistro somewhere, the best memories I have of eating fabulous meals in France washing over me. The feel of the heat that hits you getting off the plane, the wonderful, clear light you get in the mountains, the sunsets over ancient fishing villages, the markets, the pains au chocolat, le Grand Bleu, Jean Reno, the cafe culture - all of it.

Sigh.

Tarragon Chicken
serves 4

8 chicken thighs (bone removed)
salt & pepper
olive oil
2 shallots, finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
100ml dry white wine
300ml chicken stock
2 tsp cornflour
fresh peas - a good couple of handfuls
3 tbsp creme fraiche
2 tbsp tarragon leaves, ripped

Season the chicken with salt and pepper and set aside.

Heat a tbsp of olive oil in a large  frying pan and fry the shallots gently until soft - about 5 minutes. Add the garlic at the end of the cooking time for a minute or so.

Add the chicken pieces to the pan and brown for 2-3 minutes, turning once. Increase teh heat, pour in the wine and let it bubble up then add the chicken stock and let everything simmer for 10 minutes.

While the chicken is simmering, mix the cornflour to a paste with 2 tsp water, then stir into the cookking liquid when the 10 minutes is up. Throw in the peas and keep simmering until the sauce thickens at which point stir in the creme fraiche and tarragon and serve with new potatoes.

Best eaten outside as the sun goes down with a glass of crisp white wine...

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This is a sponsored post on behalf of Superbreak

Is life to short to skin a broad bean?

Is life to short to skin a broad bean?

Not pod them. Of course you have to pod them. But once podded and steamed, do you then pop them out of their skins?

 
Opinion is divided but the general consensus among the cognoscenti would seem to be that yes you should skin them, and the older the bean, the more pressing the need to skin. Broad bean skins can be tough and bitter tasting, but never one to bow to pressure, I have tended to just steam them and serve them as they are, allowing any dissent from the ranks to roll off my back. I ADORE broad beans, and can be quite intolerant of those (i.e. my children) who dare to express anything other than enjoyment when faced with them on the plate...  


When we were on our camping trip the other weekend, though, my friend brought some of her veg box broads with her, for what was a delicious chorizo & couscous dish, and insisted that the beans were skinned. A revelation, mainly because Pink who has hitherto rejected broad beans pronounced them "Quite good, really". They are much more subtle as a flavour with the skins off, and yes, much less bitter, although any broad beans knocking around at the moment are going to be pretty young, and not really bitter at all.


The garden is full of broad beans, there was fennel from the allotment and we had risotto - broad beans skinned. I think I have been converted.


I'm sure you don't need me to tell you how to make a risotto, and this evening's was a pretty unexact science. I should also say that I used fennel fronds from a golden fennel plant that is running rampant in the flower beds, because the Husband had trimmed the frondy bits off the actual fennel bulb before putting it in the fridge. The addition of the parsely and fennel fronds adds an extra flavour to the risotto, but you can leave it out.

Fennel & Broad Bean Risotto

olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1 clove of garlic, crushed
I stick of celery, finely chopped
1 fennel bulb, trimmed (save the frondy bits for chopping up as garnish) and finely sliced
200g risotto rice
'nearly a litre' (that's what it said on the tub I got out of the freezer) of chicken stock
a good handful of broad bean pods - probably about 20, podded
20g Grana Padano cheese, finely grated plus extra to serve
a good handful of parsley and the fennel fronds, finely chopped
salt & pepper

Heat a good lug of olive oil in a heavy based saucepan and add the onion garlic and celery. 

Fry gently for a few minutes then add the fennel and continue to cook gently till the fennel is softening.

Put the stock in a pan on the stove and warm gently.

Steam the broadbeans for a few minutes till the skins are starting to split, then remove from the heat. While you’re making the risotto, you can stir with one hand and pop the beans out of the skins with the other. Alternatively, if you are more organised than me, do this before you start making the risotto.

Add in the rice and stir for a minute or so to coat with the oil in the pan, then start adding the stock, a ladleful at a time, stirring as you go.

When the risotto rice is cooked through to the al dente point, remove from the heat. Taste first for seasoning and add salt and pepper as necessary, then stir in the skinned broad beans, the cheese and a knob or 2 of butter if you are feeling decadent. Put a lid on the pan and leave for a few minutes for the cheese and butter to melt.

Stir through the chopped herbs, and serve with more grated cheese.

Linking up to Herbs on Saturday/Cooking with Herbs  hosted by Karen at Lavender and Lovage

Camping food - Cheese & Marmite Pasties

We had another camping trip this weekend. A quick one in that we didn't head off till Saturday morning, and didn't go far - just to where we keep a sailing dinghy on Southampton Water. The view is not beautiful (Fawley oil refinery, although it does have a certain industrial beauty) but it's situated in a lovely country park, and there is a camping field attached to the club. Nothing grand, but a flat sheltered field - and frankly that's all you need.

Anyway, now we have Daisy the campervan, which is fully stocked and ready to go at a moment's notice from a 'kit' point of view, my main concern (well, isn't it always) is food. Clothes too, but I've long since learned that for a weekend trip, there's no point packing much in the way of 'changes of clothes'. I just try to make sure there's a jumper and some waterproofs, for any inclement weather that might be rude enough to strike, and appropriate easy access footwear (crocs or wellies). If you were looking for it, I can't really offer much more advice than that on the packing front as far as clothes are concerned. I also don't have a 'master camping list' to share with you - of a type which I once saw passed from one friend to another, kept as a reference document for future trips. As long as I know there's gin on board, I can live with out a dustpan and brush...

Not just gin, but treats. Some form of cake (this weekend, there was brownie). Bacon, for sandwiches on Sunday morning. Proper coffee (Daisy has her own stovetop coffee maker - yes, I know, proper coffee probably smacks more of glamping than camping, but I don't care - you can't beat an alfresco bacon buttie with a mug of proper coffee of a morning). This weekend, we also had cheese & marmite pasties.

Pasties are a great thing. What's more, I don't know a man who doesn't find his food infinitely more attractive if it's wrapped in pastry. I might try wrapping myself in pastry one of these days and see what reaction that provokes - or may be not.

Despite dashing the collective male hopes in the RJ household when the response to the question "Have they got meat in them?" garnered the response "No.  Well, they do have Marmite", the verdict was that they were pretty good.

They started out as  Good Food recipe, but frankly, I am always suspicious of pasty filling quantity these days, having over produced on several occasions, despite having followed filling to pastry ratios in a number of recipes to the letter. So I reduced the filling ingredients to something I thought more likely, and added in a good handful of chopped parsley.

Cheese & Marmite Pasties

Made 7 decent sized pasties and a small one.


500g shortcrust pastry
350g peeled, grated potato
100g grated cheddar
60g fresh breadcrumbs
4 spring onions, finely chopped
1 large handful of flat leaf pastry, finely chopped
1 large & 1 medium egg
salt & pepper
1 good tablepoon of Marmite Line a baking sheet with greaseproof paper.

Pre-heat the oven to 160C/140 fan, and line a baking sheet with greaseproof paper.

Mix together the grated potato, cheese, breadcrumbs, spring onions and chopped parsley with the large egg and a good grind of salt and pepper.

Roll out the pastry on a floury worktop and cut out 16-17cm circles of pastry (our cereal bowls are the right size) - as many as you can: hopefully you'll get about 7.

Melt the Marmite in a saucepan with a splash of water, and brush onto the pastry rounds, leaving a border all the way round of about 1-2 cm. Divide the filling between the pastry circles, placing in the middle of the rounds. Beat the remaining egg, brush lightly around the border of each circle, then draw up the sides and squeeze together to make your pasties. Brush with the remaining beaten egg*, then place on a lined baking sheet and bake for between 50-60 minutes (mine took 55) till golden brown.

In an effort to come over all vintage picnic chic, I packed my pasties in my favourite cake tin, lined with a tea towel. Wrapped in foil, or in a plastic bag would do just fine.

I'm linking up to a new blog challenge - Four Seasons Food, which looks like fun!


Four Seasons Food hosted by Delicieux and Chezfoti




*The original recipe states that these can be frozen once the pasties are formed but before you brush them with the beaten egg, and then baked from frozen till the centres are piping hot. I didn't but it's a top tip, guaranteed to elevate you in the pasty queen stakes...

Pork Fillet & Coriander - and some Ginger Wine

So the veg box arrived on Tuesday and I checked out the contents and my list of likely meals culled from various sources in order to put together a meal plan and finalise the rest of the shopping requirements. I was still feeling uninspired and I won't lie that it was a chore, despite being faced with the kind of fresh and delicious vegetables that would normally make my heart sing.

Among other things, there was a small bunch of asparagus - such a treat, but not more than one serving's worth, so I supplemented with the final spears poking up from the garden and made a quiche on Wednesday.

A huge bag of spinach. Always tricky - I love it, kids don't.

A big bag of a herb that I knew I knew, but I couldn't identify.  How embarrassing.

Turned out it was coriander. Aromatic and fresh, but loads of it and I wasn't fancying carrot and coriander soup, despite the bunch of carrots. Curry? No. Pesto? No.


In the end I reached for Sarah Raven (she of the velvet gardening coat and close personal friendship with Emma Bridgewater - not that I'm jealous or anything). Her Garden Cookbook is a real winner if you have more than a passing relationship with vegetables. The book isn't a vegetarian cook book, but there are loads of good recipes, divided loosely into seasons and by different veggies, which is a Godsend when you have a glut - or a lack of inner inspiration.

 
One thing, they can often be quite fiddly, so that even 'simple' meals turn out to be quite task intensive. She also often uses some less common additional ingredients. Thanks to my foray into the pages earlier in the week, I am now the proud owner of a bottle of ginger wine. I suspect that sherry or marsala (for all Nigella fans) would work equally well here.

Pork Fillet with Coriander

Serves 4

450g piece of pork tenderloin, cut into 2-3 cm thick medallions
1 red onion, finely sliced
30g unsalted butter
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp coriander seeds, crushed
3 large mushrooms, quite thickly sliced
1 large clove of garlic, crushed
70ml ginger wine
2 heaped teaspoon soft brown sugar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
200ml creme fraiche
large bunch of fresh coriander, finely chopped


Melt the butter with the oil in a frying pan, then add the sliced onion and crushed coriander seeds, and cook gently for a few minutes till the onion is soft. Remove from the pan with a slotted spoon and set aside.

Add the mushrooms & garlic to the pan and cook for 2-3 minutes then add to the onions.

Add a little more oil to the pan if necessary and then turn the pork slices in the butter and oil in the pan for 3-4 minutes, before putting the onions and mushrooms back in the pan.

Add the ginger wine, sugar and lemon juice to the pan, turn up the heat a little and allow everything to cook and bubble to become syrupy.

Add the creme fraiche, salt and pepper and then stir in the chopped coriander and serve.

As Sarah suggested, it was delicious with her Spinach with Puy Lentils (my way), thus killing the spinach bird at the same time, but I have to confess that I also cooked some pasta for the kids. The creamy sauce went down very well whether it was lentils or pasta - and to give them their due, both kids ate the small amount of the lentils & spinach I gave them. 

I can feel my mojo very slowly returning...

Linking up to Herbs on Saturday hosted by Karen at Lavender and Lovage with the beautiful coriander that went into the dish.

You shall have a fishy...Smoked Mackerel Salad with Yoghurt, Horseradish & Dill Dressing

I'm not a great charity shop shopper. I do go in and buy things - I've found our local Hospice shop to be a great source of hardly worn Boden clothes, for one thing, but I'm not one of those passionate thrift shoppers. The Husband loves nothing more than spending hours mooching round second hand shops and antique markets, but it's not my thing. 

However, recently, I have been pleased to discover a few lovely things for the kitchen (or rather, the table) in the same hospice shop I mentioned just before. Don't panic, this is not suddenly going to morph into a blog about 'old tat' shops, but isn't this serving plate lovely?

So far, I've used it for cheese and also for a cake (I mean once the cake was on the plate, you couldn't see the fish), but the other evening, I made a smoked mackerel salad and for once, I felt like not only was the food lovely, but I had absolutely the right thing to serve it on. 

Doesn't happen to me often.

This started off life as a Good Food lunchbox idea but as the Husband mused when he read the recipe after we'd eaten "You changed it?". But of course.

 
Smoked Mackerel Salad with yoghurt, horseradish & dill dressing

8 spears of long 'tender stem' brocoli
200g sugar snap peas (cringe, they had been imported from a long way) 
3/4 bag of watercress, rocket and spinach salad
2 smoked mackerel fillets, skinned

150ml low fat natural yoghurt
2 tsps horseradish sauce
juice of half a lemon
about a tablespoon of finely chopped dill

Quickly steam the brocoli and peas till they are cooked but still have bite. It really won't take long. Run them under the cold tap quickly to refresh.

Spread your salad leaves over a beautiful, thriftily sourced, serving dish (or on individual plates), then artfully arrange the cooked brocoli and peas around ad through the leaves, Flake over the smoked mackerel.

Make up the dressing by mixing together the yoghurt, horseradish and lemon juice, and stir through most of the dill. Drizzle this over your plateful of salad, and scatter the remaining dill over the top. 

   

The dill gave the dressing a lovely flavour so I am also entering this into Karen's lovely Herbs on Saturday challenge, hosted this month on Bangers & Mash

 

Things to do with Cabbage & Gourmet Garden Herbs 2: Stir fried Savoy cabbage with chilli and ginger

I hadn't intended entering 2 cabbage dishes in the Gourmet Garden Blog Off/Cook Off, but hot on the heels of Red Cabbage Winter Salad, I was looking for something to serve with a delicious oriental style steak dish we had this evening.A savoy cabbage in the fridge provided exactly what I needed.

Stir fried Savoy Cabbage with Chilli and Ginger

serves 2 as a side dish

1 tbsp vegetable oil1 tsp toasted sesame oil
1/2 tsp Gourmet Garden Chilli
1tsp Gourmet Garden Ginger
6-8 leaves of savoy cabbage, stripped from the stalks and finely shredded
splash of soy sauce
sprinkling of sesame seeds


Heat the oils in a frying pan or wok, Add in the chilli and ginger, quickly followed by the cabbage, and stir, cooking for 2-3 minutes, splashing in the soy sauce as you cook. Sprinkle the sesame seeds over the top and serve.

Things to do with Cabbage & Gourmet Garden Herbs 1: Red Cabbage Winter Salad

A couple of last minute entries here in the Gourmet Garden Blog Off/Cook Off competition - 2 recipes for cabbage (of all things!).

Red Cabbage Winter Salad

for the dressing:

1tbsp lemon juice
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp dijon mustard
1/2 tsp Gourmet Garden Garlic
pinch of caster sugar
salt & pepper

for the salad:

1/2 red cabbage, finely sliced/shredded
2 big carrots, coarsley grated
5 spring onions, halved and finely sliced lengthways
1tbsp lemon juice
 2 apples
75g cashew nuts

Make up the dressing by mixing all the ingredients together in a bowl, or putting them all in a jam jar, securing the lid and shaking.

Make up the salad - in a large bowl, mix together the cabbage, carrots and spring onions. Slice the apples finely, and toss in the lemon juice before adding to the salad (this will stop them turning brown). Add any left over lemon juice to the dressing, mix the apples and cashews into the salad, then pour of the dressing and gently combine.

The other cabbage recipe - stir fried savoy cabbage with chilli and garlic - is here

Thai noodle soup with pork patties

Another speedy entry in the Gourmet Garden Blog Off/Cook Off competition. You don't want to know about my day anyway - it started off with me smashing a jar of (beautiful, homemade) marmalade all over the kitchen floor then cutting my thumb on the glass, and has got worse. Putting Optrex drops into the (very reluctant) dog's eyes to try and avoid another vet bill has been a high point, I tell you.

So, without further ado, I bring you, hot on the heels of the Coriander & Chilli Eggs:

Thai Noodle Soup with Pork Patties

serves 4

450g minced pork
2 tsp Gourmet Garden Chopped Coriander
1 tsp Gourmet Garden Crushed Garlic
1 medium egg, beaten (you may not need all of it)
good grind of salt and pepper

2 strips of noodles
1 tbsp sunflower oil
1 or 2 tsp toasted sesame oil
1/2 red pepper, thinly sliced
6 spring onion, halved then finely sliced lengthways
4 chestnut mushrooms, wiped clean and sliced
3 tsp Gourmet Garden Crushed Thai Spices
500ml chicken stock
1 can coconut milk
salt & pepper




First make the patties.Put the pork, Coriander and Garlic into a bowl with a good grind of salt and pepper, and mix together with a fork, adding the egg to bind as necessary. Form into small meatballs/patties - you should get about 12. Put on a plate, cover and put in the fridge to firm up until you need them..

To make the soup, cook the noodles according to the packet instructions, refresh in cold water and set aside. To stop them clumping together, you can stir through a tsp of sesame oil. 

When you're pretty much ready to eat, firstly, brown the pork patties in a non stick frying pan. I am lucky enough to own a pan that didn't need any oil for this - but if you need to use some oil, use as little as possible. Set aside the browned patties and keep warm.

In a large pan, heat the sunflower oil and 1 tsp sesame oil, and add the spring onions and peppers, stir for a minute or 2, then add in the mushrooms, stir, pour in the coconut milk, then the stock, using the stock to clean out the coconut milk tin, then stir through the Thai Spices, grind in some pepper, and bring to a simmer.

Add the patties, and cook, at a simmer for 5-10 minutes or until the pork is cooked. You can fish out one of the patties and slice it in half to check if necessary. They don't take long.

Divide the noodles between soup plates, and top with the spicy soup and the patties.