No posts for a while now, this can be explained by a mixture of laziness and too many things to do in the build up to the festive season. The builder is still here, in fact we will probably have him for Christmas lunch today – the frost has caused endless delays to the terrace work.

In an attempt to cook something light but tasty and special for Christmas Eve dinner, I came up with the following which was a great success.

– fry some chopped onion and peppers (red or yellow are best) in a little oil
– add some crushed garlic and a tin of coconut milk, simmer for a few minutes
– peel some shrimps and add these to the sauce, if ready cooked shrimps they just need to be heated through, if they are fresh and uncooked put up the heat and cook them in the sauce until they are pink and cooked through
– garnish with fresh coriander and serve with roast vegetables (recipe here) and a mesclun salad with balasmic vinegar and olive oil dressing.

Now I have to go and start preparing the turkey. Happy Christmas everyone!

This whole vegetable gratin business is getting out of hand. I am seriously thinking of registering courgettegratin.com or vegetablegratin.com.

This little film (see right) has been sent in by my fan, you need a Quicktime plug in to view it. It demonstrates the version made with smoked salmon and ravioles, which are tiny French raviolis stuffed with cheese and herbs, made in Alsace or somewhere over there near Switzerland.

I went to Switzerland many years ago, the father of a friend of ours had a vineyard up near Vevey. I recall drinking vast amounts of his white wine and then going up into the snowy hills for a snowball fight and fried perch fillets and chips. The restaurant broke a hole in the ice over the frozen lake next door, threw in some explosives and picked up the fresh stunned/dead perch out the hole. It was one of these “as much as you can eat places” – the restaurant must be closed down by now, and catching fish like that must have been banned at least a decade ago (we are talking about Switzerland here). Great day and wonderful memories.

Back here in reality, the builders are moving forward very slowly, I always knew that paying them on a daily basis was a bad idea.

The builders are here, the banging starts at 8am. Today, in an attempt to motivate them (and avoid their usual 4 hour lunch break), I cooked a gourmet lunch for them. Greatly appreciated despite some of the dishes being extremely spicy. Eating lunch outside on December 5th was very decadent (talk about climate change), we christened our “new” and not-quite-finished terrace. The previously mentioned roast vegetables recipe was part of this meal.

method:
– cut potatoes, sweet potatoes, turnips, carrots and parsnips (or any selection thereof) into large chunks
– boil or steam until cooked but still firm (about 6 minutes)
– melt some duck fat in an overproof dish, add some ground rosemary, rock salt and cumin seeds and toss the strained vegetables in this mixture until well coated
– place in a hot oven until the vegetables are cooked through and lightly browned (about 30-40 minutes depending on the oven)

Terrible week in Paris, it was grey and everything is so complicated these days. Good food though, an especially memorable Indian lunch where the bindi bhaji were very very good and the chicken tikka masala very spicy HOT (as requested) for once.

One of my (numerous) fans who uses the highly dubious name of “benquicky” has sent me a photo of the now evidently famous courgette gratin recipe in the process of being cooked. She further promises photos of a dish in various stages of its elaboration as well as a critics appraisal of the recipe. Can’t wait!

Orignal recipe can be found herebelow on 23rd October or on this link.

This vegetable gratin thing now has so many variations we could almost write a whole book about the method. The goats cheese and tomato layer version is having particular sucess amongst those who don’t eat cream and are looking after their figures, it even works without the pasta (or ravioles). Anyway I am thing of starting a separate blog all about “gratins” – if anyone thinks this is a good idea please let me know and support the plan….

Benquicky reports disturbing flatulence problems following the digestion of vast quantities of courgette and salmon version of the famous gratin dish. Be warned.

More gory details of benquicky’s condition can be found here http://www.myspace.com/benquicky.

Today’s lunch is veal blanquette with carrots, served with roast parsnips and sweet potatoes. Time allowing, the recipes might be posted tomorrow.