home made raspberry ice cream

Our raspberries are doing great things this year, and I can see I'll be making plenty of jam.  In the meantime we eat them every day for breakfast, and yesterday evening I even made some raspberry ice cream ... YUM!   summer in a bowl!

My favourite raspberry ripple recipe whisks me straight back to when as a girl, it was one of my favourite desserts.  Maybe because it is as pretty to look at, as it is delicious to eat.

The great things about this recipe is that you don't have to have a real ice cream maker.  It is quite happy to be popped into he freezer in a tub and given the occasional stir!

To make a large quantity - and frankly there is no point in making any less when a thing is this delicious! - you will need:

2 cups of raspberries, plus a few more for decoration

225g / 1.5 cups sugar

2 lage eggs and 4 extra yolks

600ml/  1 pint     double cream

First cook the raspberries and 2 tablespoons of sugar in a small pan,.  Cook until the sugar dissolves, then simmer for a few minutes until thickened.  It is preferable to push the fruit through a sieve to get rid of the tiny seeds, but this isn't obligatory.

Now you need to make a custard.  Combine the eggs, the egg yolks and the sugar in a mixing bowl and whisk until they are thick and pale.  Place the bowl over a pan of simmering water and stir continuously until the cream thickens.  Don't let it get too hot or the custard will turn, and you'll have to start over!  Let the custard  cool before moving on to the next step.

In a separate bowl whisk the cream until it thickens  enough to form soft peaks.  Fold the cream and the custard together, and pour into a shallow container that won't crack in the freezer.

Now you get to the pretty bit ... pour the raspberry coulis gently into the cream and custard mix, then swirl it around just enough to create some lovely pink lines, but not so much as to colour the whole thing pink.

If you wish you can drop a few whole raspberries into the mixture at this point, but I prefer to add them whole as I serve the scoops of pink and white ice cream into individual dishes.

Thank you to everyone who writes me to say that they made a recipe successfully, I love to hear how it went!

pictures thanks to google images

zucchini fritters - woud you share your recipe?

A couple of years ago, while holidaying on the beautiful island of Corsica, I had an epiphany!  It was all about food!

A  local restaurant was serving the best beignet de courgettes, or zucchini fritters that we have ever eaten: they were light and crispy, full of flavour and cooked to perfection, and served with a tiny bowl of grated parmeggiano, in case we wished to sprinkle.

After a meal one evening, the chef de cuisine came to chat at our table, and seeing the collective and evident enthusiasm over his fritters, and being the nice chap that he most certainly was, he gave us  his recipe.

Every summer since,  I have followed his recipe to the letter  .... and I have tried tweaking it - but to my great frustration,  my fritters have never come even close to his!

So ... I thought you may be able to help.  I'm sure that among all my very talented readers there is  someone or two with a good recipe.   Come on, I've shared a ton of my recipes with you, so surely you could share just one tiny little fritter recipe with me?!
 

I am looking for a recipe that uses grated zucchini, not sliced, but besides that condition  I'm willing to try any variant.

If you manage to make fritters that look as good as these pictures, that are cooked through perfectly, and that combine a delicious and light batter with the true flavour of the vegetable then I need to know about it.

Thank you so much,  I'll let you know how it goes!

both pictures via tumblr

summer pudding - divine summer eating!

We are in full strawberry season here, and the raspberries will soon be in, and because of the unclement weather the cherries are late ....  so what do I think of with all these red berries? ... summer pudding!

Summer pudding is divine!

There is simply no denying the fact.  And to make it even better, it is ridiculously easy to make, providing you remember to make it the day before you need to eat it.

There are many recipes out there, but this is how I make mine, working on a 2 pint or 1 litre pudding bowl or 8 individual moulds.

You need 800 grammes or nearly 2 pounds of mixed red fruit.   I like to use blackberries, redcurants, raspberries, redcurrants, cherries ...) When it is difficult to find everything fresh and ripe at the same time, it is OK to use some fresh and some frozen.  I actually freeze red fruit from the garden specifically for this recipe.

Put all the red fruit together in a pan, making sure there are no stalks left on the fruit.  Sprinkle about 200 grammes or 7 ounces of sugar over the fruit and heat gently until the juices of the fruit begin to run.  Heat gently until the fruit starts to simmer, let them simmer for a couple of minutes then turn off the heat and let the fruit cool down.  You only cook the fruit for it to be soft, you don't want it to taste 'cooked'.

Once the fruit is completely cool, line your pudding bowl with medium cut slices of white bread without the crusts.  I try to get a good quality loaf for this, it definitely makes a difference to the flavour, in fact I often make it with slices of brioche.

Overlap the slices slightly so the bowl is completely lined , pour the fruit into the centre, reserving about a cup of the deep red juice.  Cover the fruit with a 'lid' of bread, and place a clean saucer on the top.  Pop the bowl on a plate into the fridge, with a weight on the top.  You want the red juices to seep through the bread, so when it is turned out the next day, there is no white bread showing.

Leave this in a frideg overnight, and when you turn the pudding out to serve, remember you have that cup of juice to hand to 'colour' any little patches of bread.

Some people like to serve this dessert with cream, personally I prefer without, but that - I am sure - you will decide for yourselves!

And if you prefer to make individual puddings which always look so pretty on a plate, then just use the same method but in little ramekins instead of a larger bowl

Bon appetit and thank you for reading me!

Photos thanks to the Telegraph and to the BBC

the rhubarb pavlova

Our potager is overflowing with rhubarb at the moment, and I am always happy to come across a new recipe for eating the stuff!   We eat it in  crumbles, with a little added ginger (YUM!), simply stewed and served with fromage frais  SIGH .... and sometimes I blend the cooked rhubarb to make a fool  ...HAPPY DAYS.....

Recently I came across this recipe from an Aussie website, and have made it several times since with great success.

I am used to making raspberry pavlova, but this meringue recipe was slightly different and actually really foolproof - exactly what I needed!  The only thing I sometimes have to adjust is the sugar used with the fruit, depending on how sweet my rhubarb is.

2 teaspoons butter, melted

2 teaspoons cornflour 

5 egg whites

½ cup (110g) caster sugar

½ cup (110g) firmly packed brown sugar

1 tablespoon cornflour, extra

¾ cup (180ml) thickened cream, whipped

200g Greek-style yogurt

500g rhubarb, trimmed

¾ cup (165g) caster sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste

Wash the rhubarb stems thoroughly; cut into 1 inch pieces. Stir the sugar and rhubarb together in a medium bowl. Transfer the rhubarb mixture to a colander with the bowl underneath. Cover, refrigerate for 6 hours or overnight. Add the rhubarb, juices and vanilla bean paste to a heated medium frying pan, bring mixture to the boil. Simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes or until rhubarb is just tender.

Preheat the oven to 150°C (130°C fan-forced). Lightly grease a piece of waxed baking parchment with butter, and lay it on a baking tray. Sift the cornflour over the greased area.

Beat egg whites in a large bowl with an electric mixer until soft peaks form. Gradually add the caster sugar, beating until dissolved between additions. Gradually add the brown sugar, beating until dissolved between additions. Fold in the extra sifted cornflour.

Pile the meringue along the centre of the prepared plate. Use a metal spatula or the back of a spoon to spread the meringue over the greased area, making a shallow indentation along the centre.

Reduce the oven temperature to 100°C (80°C fan-forced). Bake the meringue in the lower half of the oven for 1½ hours or until dry and crisp. Turn off oven; cool in the oven with the door ajar, or overnight with the door closed.   The slower you cool the meringue, the less chance of it cracking.

Combine the whipped cream and yogurt in a medium bowl. Top the pavlova with cream mixture and half the rhubarb mixture. Serve with the remaining rhubarb mixture.

Photo and recipe thanks to Australian Womens Weekly

the strawberry millefeuilles

 It is Strawberry season here in France.  The sweetest for now coming from the Perigord in the centre of France, and in a few weeks time the Normandy production bringing up the rear .

When you love strawberries as much as this family does, it's good to find different ways to eat them.  Most often that is just in a bowl with a little sugar.  Sometimes though the occasion calls for something a little more spectacular - and that is the time to produce a strawberry mille feuilles.  The combination of caramelised puff pastry, fragrant crème patissière and fresh strawberries is just divine.

To make enough for four people you will need:

200g or 6 oz of fresh strawberries

100g or 3 oz of good quality puff pastry

20cl of milk

5 tablespoons of sugar

2 egg yolks

1 tablespoon flour

a little amaretto liqueur to flavour the cream (optional)

How you prefer your pastry depends on how you wish to present the dessert.   In my humble experience, slicing a large mille feuilles to serve is practically suicidal.  As you press down to cut through the pastry layers, you find cream and fruit squirting out the sides, it's a mess!

I prefer to prepare individual mille feuilles, that I am sure will arrive in each plate looking impeccable.  (The quantity of pastry in the recipe is for this individual serving manner.)

For this, I roll out the pastry and cut into strips measuring approx 6" x 1".  I sprinkle sugar over each strip, pressing it lightly into the pastry, then bake in a hot oven for about 15 mins.  As the pastry rises, the sugar caramelises.  Yum!

Meanwhile back at the ranch, I prepare the crème patissière for the filling.  In a deep bowl beat together the egg yolks, sugar and flour.   Boil the milk in a pan, and add to the egg mix.    Return to the heat in the pan and stir continually until thickened.  Remove from the heat and leave to cool.

If you wish to obtain a creamier, or amaretto perfumed version of this cream, then use a little more flour.   Once the cream is cool and firm, add some beaten fresh cream and a little amaretto.  Believe me, this is a decision you will not regret!

Now you simply need to cut the strawberries in to slices and toss in a little sugar.

Assemble your mille feuilles by layering pastry, cream and fruit in whichever order makes you happy.

As usual, serve with a smile and a bow to your ever-growing number of fans.  Sometimes it's easy to make everyone happy!

Bon appetit!

photos thanks to aufeminin and google images

white chocolate cheesecake with strawberries

The French strawberries are on the market stalls at the moment and nothing can replace their fragrance and natural sweetness.

Looking for a new dessert for a dinner with friends recently, I came across this recipe in an old magazine.  Served as individual portions, delicious, light and easy to prepare, it ticks all the boxes for me.  Let me know what you think ...

 To make four little cheesecakes you will need: 

10 ginger nut biscuits, finely crushed 

50ml (2 fl oz) melted butter 

75g  (1 cup) white chocolate chips 

250g ( 8oz) cream cheese 

4 tbsp double cream 

75g (1/2 cup)caster sugar 

1 medium egg 

200g  (7 oz) strawberries, hulled and sliced 

3 tbsp strawberry jam

Preheat the oven to 160°C (325°F, Gas 3). Grease four small, deep, loose-bottomed tart tins.

 Mix the crushed biscuits and melted butter,  spoon into the tins, pressing firmly. 

Tip the chocolate chips into a bowl, and set over a pan of simmering water, stir gently until melted. 

Beat together the cream cheese, the cream and sugar until smooth, then mix in the egg and the melted chocolate.  Stir well and spoon over the bases.  Bake in the oven for about 25 minutes or until set and lightly browned.

Leave the little cheesecakes to cool, then chill in the fridge before removing from their moulds.   Just before serving, remove carefully from the tins, and position on each plate.   Mix the sliced strawberries with a little strawberry jam (I like to add a drop or two of elderflower at this point), top each cheesecake with the strawberries and dust with icing sugar.  

 If you have a pink rose to hand, I think this dessert looks wonderful with a flower on the plate beside it.

 

first photo and recipe thanks to Country Living UK

a spinach tart

Quiches and tarts have always been my quick turn-to recipes, when there is an unexpected lunch or snack to prepare.

This tart is a winner in my house.  Delicious slightly warm and served with a mixed green salad.  Plus the advantage of only requiring ingredients that I generally have to hand.

To make this spinach and goats chesese tart for 4 - 6 people , I use

a roll of good ready made puff pastry, 

1 kg or 2 lbs of fresh spinach leaves (otherwise you can use 1 lb frozen)

120g or 4 oz of diced bacon

80 g or 3 oz of pine nuts

200g or 6 oz of goats cheese

1 egg

50cl of fresh cream

salt and pepper

Pre heat the oven to 210°C, gas 7

Line the baking mould with the flaky pastry and bake blind for 10 minutes.  I do this by covering the pastry with some baking paper and weighing it down with dried beans.  This takes about 10 minutes plus an extra three minutes with the paper and beans lifted off the pastry to let it turn a pale golden colour.

While that is happening, I pop the young spinach leaves into a large saucepan with a small cube of butter, as the leaves heat they will start to melt.  Once they are well cooked through, turn the heat up a little to evaporate any water remaining.    Lightly cook the diced bacon in a pan.

To assemble, mix the bacon, fresh cream,  the pine nuts, the egg and salt and pepper into the spinach.  Pour into the pastry base and cover the top with slices of goats cheese.  Pop back into the oven for about 15 minutes, serve warm.

picture thanks to marmiton.org

the perfect French fry

Hands up who doesn't like French Fries? .... No!  Really?  go on, I don't believe you!

I know no one who doesn't like French fries or "frites" [pronounced freet].  I'm not talking about the things your kids eat at McDonalds, or the oven ready fries you can buy from the supermarket -

 Non merci!

I am talking about the real thing, home-made,  'des bonnes frites maison'.  I made some for lunch today, but took too long to get my camera to the table, and by the time I thought about pictures the serving plate was empty!  That is the way things go here ... sigh!

There are as many recipes for home made fries, as there are shapes of potato; here is how I make mine, let me know what you think.

To make enough fries for a family lunch for 4 people, I peel a good kilo or 3 lbs of large potatoes.  I choose a variety that is slightly floury, slightly sweet in flavour.  New potatoes don't work for this.  Apparently if a potato has been too cold, then the starch content alters and it loses some of its sweetness.

Personally I wash the potatoes before cutting them into the long chip shape.  Most recipes tell you to wash them once they are cut, I find that simply blotting the raw chips with absorbent paper before cooking is sufficient.

I have a proper fryer with a drop in basket, but generally for small to medium quantities of chips I use a deep pan.

I heat up almost 2" deep of vegetable oil and some duck fat in the pan.   I like to use the duck fat for its flavour, and for that particular texture it gives the potato.

When the oil is bubbling hot, I drop one chip in to see if it starts 'singing' straight away.  If it does then I gently slide a couple of handfuls of chips in to the pan, make sure they are separated from each other and well spread out, then leave to bubble for about 6 minutes.  

The thinner the chip, the quicker they will be to cook - hum,  pretty obvious!

I am partisan to the twice-cooked frite.  That is to say that I half-cook all my frites, until they are just beginning to turn golden.  This allows me to cook them in batches.  As each batch begins to turn a little in colour, I lift the chips from the oil and put them in a heatproof dish to wait.

Just before we are ready to eat, once I've made sure that the oil is still bubbling hot (but not smoking) I put all the chips back into the oil, pushing them around gently so they are evenly distributed in the pan.  This second cooking is very quick to react, and they should be watched carefully until they get to the colour you prefer - light to mid-golden in this house.

Lift with a slotted spoon onto a plate with absorbent paper, then transfer onto a warm serving dish, bring to the table and be prepared to be worshipped -

home made frites ensure instant goddess status .....

and that's a promise!

Bon appetit!

Failing my own pics due to the frites being eaten way too fast, I thank  La Recette de Cuisine.com; Kirbie Cravings; Kitchy Kitchen and Maison & Demeure  for their excellent pictures.

a quick and french lunch for my girlfriends

In my experience some of the most memorable lunches and parties, are those that  happen spontaneously. 

But of course, spontaneous and last-minute is no good if you have nothing in the fridge!  I find I have my favourite turn-to ingredients, that I know I can rely on and that will adapt to many different recipes.  A pack of puff or flaky pastry is just such a thing.

With a pack of puff pastry, I can improvise a wafer thin french apple tart for dessert;  mini cheese straws for an appetizer with a glass of wine or this savoury tart for a first course or for a lunch with girlfriends.

To make this very simple but totally delicious tart, I pre-heat the oven to 180°C,  then roll out my pastry fairly thinly and pop it on a baking sheet lined with baking paper.  I like to pre-bake the pastry for a few minutes to ensure a crisp base.

While the pastry is in the oven, I whiz in my mixer, a few fresh basil leaves, a few leaves of roquette salad, some grated parmesan cheese, a  little fresh garlic and some pine nuts, along with some olive oil.  I aim to obtain an almost liquid paste.

Once the pastry round is just turning golden, I take it out of the oven, and at this point I turn up the oven to 210 C.   Next, I smear the pastry all over with my pesto mix, then add a thin layer of tomato slices.   Sprinkle with salt and pepper and a little more parmesan; I pour a tiny bit of olive oil over the tomatoes, then pop back into the oven for 20 minutes.

You can serve with a side salad, but I think it looks prettiest with some roquette leaves strewn over the tart.

A girls' lunch.  Quick, easy to put together and totally yummy!

French tarragon chicken - a family favourite

The very first time I tasted French tarragon chicken, I was a student in the South of France.   A family I knew there invited me for Sunday lunch, and after delicious appetizers and a light first course, Madame brought in a large plate of 'poulet à l'estragon' .... mmmm!   The perfume wafting up from the dish was extraordinary, and after the meal she kindly shared her recipe with me.

The next morning I was out to market and bought my first ever pot of tarragon, which grew happily on my small terrace and provided me with leaves for this recipe and many others during my whole student year there.  To this day, I have kept the habit of having fresh herbs to hand all through the year.

 Tarragon chicken is served with a creamy sauce.  Some people like to add mushrooms to the sauce, I am happy to let the flavour of the tarragon dominate.

Inevitably for such a traditional dish, each family has their own way of preparing the chicken.  Many people use chicken pieces, or even diced chicken breasts.  I like to stick to Madame's recipe, using the whole chicken, which gives a much deeper flavour.

To make a Poulet à l'Estragon for four to six people you will need :

one good sized chicken, preferably with the liver

a large bunch of tarragon

100grams or 3 oz of ground almonds

2 shallot onions

1 glass of white wine

half cube of chicken stock

i cup of thick fresh cream

40grams or 1 oz butter

salt and pepper

Rince the tarragon and dry carefully.  Peel and chop the shallot onions.  Mix the chicken liver with about 20 tarragon leaves, salt and pepper, and use to stuff the inside of the chicken.

If you are lucky enough to own a big le Creuset casserole oven dish, then this is the moment to use it!

Heat half of the butter in a deep ovenproof pan and gently cook the shallot onions, stirring until they are transparent.  Remove from the pan.  Use the rest of the butter in the pan to gently brown the chicken on all sides.

Pour in the white wine, and a small cup of water.  Add the shallots, the chicken stock cube, a couple of branches of tarragon and  salt and pepper.    Cover the pot and leave to cook over a gentle heat for a good hour, depending on the size of the chicken.

Once cooked, remove the chicken from the pot, leave to rest for a few minutes before cutting up.  Be sure to keep the chicken warm while you make the sauce.

Collect any juices that have come from the chicken as you cut it up.  Add to the cooking pan, along with the ground almonds, and the fresh cream.  Cook briskly for about 3 minutes, stirring all the time.  Add the remainder of the tarragon, cut finely.

Pour your beautiful sauce over the chicken and serve at the table.  This dish is often accompanied by rice, in this house the preference goes to tiny sauté potatoes and a good green salad.

Hope you enjoy!

Thank you for reading me.

all photos thanks to google images

eating cheese gougères

Here is a quick recipe to serve with an aperitif before dinner.  Everybody loves theses little bite size cheese pastries, that smell divine as they come out of the oven and generally disappear before they have even had time to cool down!

Gougères (pronounced gooshair) are actually little choux pastries, the same as you'd make for chocolate eclairs.  But for gougères they are savoury and cheese flavoured.

To make a baking tray full, sufficient for a few people with drinks, you will need:

125g/1 cup/4.5 oz flour

80 g / 1/3 cup /  3 oz butter

1/4 litre water
4 eggs

pinch of salt, pepper, some grated nutmeg

150 g / 2 cups/  5 oz grated cheese (I use emmenthal or parmesan or a mix of each)

fresh thyme or rosemary is optional

Making choux pastry for the first time can be a little daunting, but actually if you follow the recipe it is quite quick and simple.

Heat your oven to 200°C, 400°F or gas mark 6.   In a saucepan, heat the water , the butter and the salt.  When it comes to the boil take it off the heat and slide the flour into the water in one go. 

Stir very vigorously with a wooden spoon, the mixture will gradually come together and you will end up with a ball of dough in the pan.

Put the pan back to a gentle heat and continue to stir the dough around the pan.  You are aiming to dry out some of the moisture.  When the dough starts to come away from the side of the pan, take it off the heat and let it cool down till hardly warm.

Mix in the eggs one by one.  Stirring well in between each egg.  Add the grated cheese.

If you would like to flavour some of the gougères with a little thyme or rosemary, this is the time to add some finely cut leaves.

If you are happy using a piping bag with a wide tip, you can put all the dough into the bag and pipe it into little mounds on your pre-greased baking tray.  Otherwise spoonfuls of the mix work well too.  You are aiming for smaller than golf ball size.

At this point, you could freeze the little balls of dough and pop them into a bag once they are frozen through.  They'll be ready to use when you are!

If you want to eat them straight away, then pop them into your oven for about 25 minutes.  Try to time this well, you really want to serve these still warm, soooo delicious!

Voila, I hope you have fun in your kitchen this week.

all photos thank to google images

lemon curd tarts!

Lemon curd is yummy.  There is no way around this one.  Make it in the winter and you feel like a saint as the house fills with its delicious perfume.

Serve it to girlfriends with a pretty cup of tea and a biscuit or two and they will be talking about your culinary skills for weeks - instant goddess status guaranteed.

There really is nothing to it, and as those handy cookbooks like to say, " you can make this several days ahead"!

Basically you need to make lemon curd, and if you would like to serve mini lemon curd tarts, then simply spoon the delicious curd into your perfect mini-tart shells!

If you enjoy making the curd (or if you need to ask a favour of your mother in law), then make a little extra and pour it into a jam jar , tie a ribbon around the lid and hey presto, the perfect gift!  Martha Stewart would be proud of you!

To make enough for tea and a little more to put in a pot, you will need

juice of 2-3 lemons

100 grams/half cup/ 3.5oz butter
250 grams/a cup and a bit/8 oz sugar

3 eggs

grated rind of two lemons (I prefer to use organic)

Simply pop the juice, sugar, butter into a  saucepan (the posh recipes say you have to use a bain-marie, personally I find I can make it quite easily in a pan, providing I watch it like a hawk and don't over-heat!)  and heat gently until the butter has just melted.  Beat the eggs in a bowl and add to the lemon mixture.  Beat and stir continuously until the curd has thickened and turned a beautiful smooth pale yellow colour.  This really takes just a couple of minutes.

As soon as it is thick enough, take it off the heat and if you wish, pop the pan into a bowl of cold water or ice cubes to stop it cooking any further.  I find it easier to pour into jars while still warm, then wait until it is cool before covering. Keep the jars  in your fridge until you feel the urge to gift a pot or garnish a tart!

"But wait!"  I can hear you say, "these tarts don't look home made!", and you'd be right!

 This recipe left me longing for a lemon tartlet, but having made the curd, I didn't have the time yesterday to make those little pastry shells, so I cheated and ran down to my village store to purchase these delicious little tarte aux citrons by the wonderfully French company Bonne Maman!

so, with a mouthful of lemon curd tart, I wish you bon appetit!

tea time at my french country home

Few things speak better to me of a caring family life than the smell of home baked goodies at tea time.    This weekend,  the snow was falling hard, and my youngest invited friends here for sledging, snowballing and general fun.

I quickly make up batches of muffins, served with hot chocolate or glasses of milk.  The most difficult part of the exercise was getting these pictures taken!  Once the boys knew that the goods were ready the whole lot disappeared in a flash.

And that's a good thing, because we all know who finishes up the left overs - yup, yours truly, and believe me I really don't need any extra calories right now.

By the kitchen clock, these muffins took less than half an hour, from getting the ingredients out of the cupboards to being laid out on the table.  Some stuff is just too easy and too quick not to do!

Every family has their favourite muffin and brownie recipes, but I thought you may like to try mine.

Each recipe is for about a dozen muffins, and the oven was preheated to 180°, on fan heat so I could cook both trays together.

For the chocolate muffins, I actually use  a brownie recipe:

first I melt together in the micro wave or in a pan

5 oz dark chocolate

5 oz butter

10 oz sugar

Add to the above, 

4 well-beaten eggs, 

5 oz flour

a gloop of vanilla essence and a pinch of salt

Simply pour into the muffin pans and cook for less than 10 minutes, if you overcook they'll be dry, and you certainly don't want that!  If you want to make them a little more special then you can push a square of chocolate into the middle of the muffin as you put them into the oven.

To make the apple and raisin muffins,  

heat in a pan or in the microwave

150 grams of butter

2 cups milk

2 cups sugar

Add to the above

3 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

good pinch of salt

a good handful of raisins

two small apples, peeled and diced

a teaspoon of allspice

Both batches of mufins are baked in about 10 minutes.  I got the chocolate ones out first and released them from their moulds, while the apple and raisin batch finished turning golden brown.

Hope you're enjoying some seasonal baking too

Thank you for reading me!

parsnip soup for a cold cold day

The temperature is below zero here and snow is falling outside my window as I type this post.   After a short but quite exciting ride around the forest this morning -  nothing like freezing cold weather for getting horses to behave badly! - I returned them to their field with a double ration of hay and hurried back down to the house muttering "soup, soup, soup".

There are indeed days when only soup will hit the spot, and today I longed for parsnip soup.

The French don't really get parsnips, and when we first came to Normandy, they only way I could eat them, would be if I grew them myself.  Today, their qualities remain fairly confidential but at least they are to be found in small quantities in our local supermarket.

When I buy parsnips in the store, I am quite often asked by other shoppers what they are, and how to cook them!  I answer that they are wonderful creamed, fantastic roasted and divine in a soup!  Many French remain unconvinced, but I don't mind, that just leaves  more for me!

To make my favourite soup I use:  

1 large leek/onion

4 garlic cloves

100g butter

1 large potato

8 parsnips

chicken stock 

seasoning 

 Making soup is so easy, there's really no excuse for buying ready made.  Most vegetables can be made into delicious soup using this same recipe.

Finely cut the leek/onion and garlic and pop them into a saucepan with a cube of butter.  Let them cook slowly for about 5 minutes, making sure they don't brown.  In the meantime peel and cut up the potato and the parsnips.  If the parsnips seem to have a tough core then cut that out too.  Add this to the pan and cook slowly for another five minutes.

When the vegetables are beginning to smell good then cover them with light chicken or vegetable stock.  Bring to the boil, then turn down the heat and leave to simmer gently for about half an hour.  I leave the lid on while they are simmering.

Test the parsnips with a knife, they should be soft, but not falling apart.  Add seasoning, salt and freshly ground pepper definitely, and if you wish a small teaspoon of curry powder.

I either blend in the blender, or sometimes for smaller quantities with a hand held blender that stands up in the pan.  The result should be thick and creamy, but if it looks too thick then a little extra stock can be added.

To serve the soup, it is nice to have a contrasting colour sprinkled over the top, I like little  pieces of crispy chorizo, but it's also very good with parsnip slices or more simply with some chopped chives.

So tell me, what is your favourite  soup to warm you if you're in the winter like me, or for those of you in the southern hemisphere what are you making to cool you down?

all photos thanks to google images

my favourite christmas gift and why our food is round!

So what was your favourite gift among the goodies I'm sure you received for Christmas? 

 Mine was small, shiny and round with a hole in the middle

 .... and no, I don't mean a diamond ring ...

Among the gifts in my stocking this year were these baking moulds, and ever since nearly everything that we eat is ... round!

I am experimenting rather than following recipes, and this week we have eaten individual potato bakes - yummy! 

individual apple and almond crumbles (so sorry about the dreadful picture, they disappeared so fast that I couldn't even get the camera focussed!!)

the most delicious blueberry cheesecakes AH!  to die for - really!!!.   I simply broke spicy almond biscuits over the base of the mould, then sprinkled some frozen blueberries, then covered the base with my normal cheesecake mix

for lunch today I made some courgette or zucchini bakes

and finally some little tiramisu, not yet un-moulded,  and decorated with Y-U-M-M-Y .... hey, this is the country, we get our kicks where and when we can!

 so that is what is happening in this house as the christmas school break draws to a close. 

 I love school holidays, always have done, and baking for the family is just a natural part of the fun. 

But now its your turn to tell ... what was your favourite gift, and what have you been cooking?!