Our catering business is doing rather well. This weekend we did another curry tiffin event, this time in Paris.

The chicken curry turned out particularly well:
– make a spice mixture in a small blender. I used freshly ground cardamom, cloves and cinnamon blended together into a paste with fresh lemon grass, a hot chili pepper, a bunch of coriander, lime juice, honey, garlic and ginger.

– fry some onions until translucent, add chopped chicken breast and sliced courgette, cook for 5 minutes.
– add spice paste and continue to stir fry for 1 minute, add coconut milk and simmer on a low heat for 5 minutes or more (until the chicken and vegetables are cooked through, and this depends on how small you have chopped them).
– Serve with rice and garnish with coriander.

In the photo you can see freshly made cucumber raita (strained cucumber, yoghurt, mint and ground cumin), mango chutney, lime pickle and Indian Naan bread (supplied by my dear friend Mark ‘N’ Spencer)

Very successful crop of chard from the garden this year. This wonderful vegetable is sometimes known as “Swiss Chard” and goes under the latin name Beta Vulgaris from which its French name of “Bettes” is derived.

You can eat the leaves and the stalks. I made the following tart with just the leaves:
– fry some onions and the chopped chard leaves, lower the heat and cook for 10 minutes.
– roll out a pastry base and line the pie tin. Prick pastry with a fork and heat oven to 200°.
– whisk together two eggs, some milk, some cream and a little cornflour. Add salt, pepper and nutmeg.
– Place the cooked chard on the pastry, add some pine kernels, a pinch of cumin seeds, and pour over egg mixture. Cover with grated cheese.
– Cook in the oven for 30 minutes.

The tastiest way to prepare the white stalks is to steam them for 20 minutes and then finish them off in a hot oven covered with a cheesy bechamel sauce.

There is that scene in the movie Ratatouille where the food critic zaps back in time to remember the taste of his grandmothers ratatouille when he was a boy. I felt a bit like that when I made this Toad in the Hole – we used to eat this dish regularly when I was young and I had not made it for years and years.
– Make the batter with 285ml of milk, 115g of sieved flour, 3 eggs and a pinch of salt. Leave to stand for a while. You can also make it a few hours in advance and leave it in the fridge.
– Heat the oven until very hot (250°) and lightly brown some sausages in a deep ovenproof dish with some dripping (I use a mix of duck fat and sunflower oil).
– Make sure the fat is sizzling and pour the batter over the sausages.
– Close the oven door quickly (and keep it shut) and cook for 20-25 minutes until the batter had risen and golden.
– For the onion gravy, fry some chopped onions. Add some honey and vinegar and reduce. Add some stock and a little Madeira or Sherry.

A lot of people for dinner again:

Mise en bouche – appetizer – Spicy pea soup with fresh goats cheese and toast

Main course – Indian and Indonesian Curry Tiffin buffet

Saag Gosht

A medium hot lamb curry cooked with freshly ground spices, tomatoes, spinach and yoghurt with grilled almonds. North Indian speciality

 Kaeng Khieu Wan Kai (Thai Green Curry)
Chicken and vegetables cooked in coconut milk and basil. Extremely spicy and guaranteed to transform any night into an unforgettable event (just don’t ask why!)

Dahl
Coral lentils cooked to a purée with fresh chillies. Typical daily dish eaten throughout the Indian sub-continent, medium spicy stodge designed to prepare the stomach for the gastronomic onslaught to come

Vegetable Biryani
Basmati rice and vegetables cooked with spices, eggs, herbs and nuts. A variation of the traditional dish prepared for weddings and feasts through Southern Asia. Essential for calming down the ardour evoked by the other dishes.

Indonesian beef salad
Grilled beef marinated in lime, fish sauce, spices and fresh herbs. Extremely spicy but nevertheless an excellent antidote for cooling down the passion evoked by the previous dish. Separate bedrooms should still be kept as an option and recommended emergency backup plan.

Gado Gado
Cucumber and cooked vegetables in a salad with peanut sauce. Misleadingly cool and refreshing as the delayed action peanut chillie dressing bites into your taste buds and explodes into an unforgettable orgasmic experience.

Condiments (home-made) (well mostly) –

– Lime Pickles
– Green tomato Chutney
– Fresh tomato, coriander and onion Chutney
– Fresh Banana and coconut Chutney – Cucumber Raita – Fig Chutney

Green salad

Musical interlude

Verrines with fruit compote and chocolate
Birthday cake

Musical interlude

Cheese platter

After……..

It’s that time of year again. The chillies have been very successful this year.
We did Espelette, of course, but also some very hot and tasty long peppers which I used to make a Thai Green Curry paste.
– Just put the following ingredients into a food processor:
» fresh chillies
» garlic
» a large bunch of coriander, stalks and all
» a little kapi (Thai shrimp paste)
» honey or sugar
» a dash of sesame oil
» vegetable oil
» crushed lemon grass
» light soy sauce
» lime juice

Fry this paste in the wok with your curry ingredients, add coconut milk.

We discovered this restaurant in the beautiful town of Condom in Gascony.

The chef, Éric Sampietro, has taken the risk of proposing an all-vegetarian menu which, actually, was better than the fish and meat menu, at least to our liking (we tried both menus).
You can find his website here: http://www.latabledescordeliers.com.

Guess which restaurant we’ve been to…again.

This pizza is inspired by Tony, the chef at Teatro in Dubai, who makes the most delicious lemon grass, chilli and gorgonzola pizzas. This takes just a few minutes to make.
– Heat the top grill in the oven.
– Blend chopped lemon grass, fresh chillies, mozzarella cheese, blue cheese and a cherry tomato in an electric mixer. It should be a paste consistency.
– Spread the paste onto tortilla wraps or any kind of flat bread.
– Cook under a hot grill until browned and bubbling.

Fennel is a very under-estimated vegetable. It is very tasty, both cooked and raw. Here is a salad recipe which, I confess, is an adaptation of a Jamie Oliver recipe.
– Trim the dirty leaves off the outside of the fennel.
– Cut the fennel bulb into four pieces and put through the slicer of a food processor. It needs to be shredded finely but not “pulp”. You can keep the fine spidery leaves on the fennel they add flavor.
– Wash a bunch of radishes, break off the dirty outer leaves but leave the others leaves. You need fresh, crisp radishes, if they are a little soft, plunge them into iced water and soak for 30 minutes.
– Put the bunch of radishes, leaves side down, through the slicer.
– Mix together with the sliced fennel.
– Add salt, pepper, crushed garlic, olive oil and a lot of lemon juice.
I add some baby spinach shoots or a lot of parsley to add some colour.

This is a dead easy Thai fried noodles dish and quite delicious. Contributed by the lovely Laure Martin.
You do need some special ingredients but these can all be found in most oriental food shops.
– First make some Pad Thai sauce, you can actually buy this ready-made but if you want to make it yourself just mix some tamarind paste (or lime juice if you can’t find it), crushed chilli pepper, some fresh ginger, brown sugar, Thai fish sauce, sweet soy sauce and a little lemon grass in an electric mixer (use the soft centre of the lemon grass, not the hard outer skin).
– Put some rice noodles to soak in some hot water, for 10 minutes or more, do not cook them.
– Fry some shredded chicken and chopped spring onions in a wok.
– Add some cooked baby peeled shrimp, some beansprouts, the Pad Thai sauce and the drained noodles.
– Cook through tossing the wok constantly.
– Serve decorated with crushed peanuts and fresh coriander.

There are many variations of this dish, adding whole large shrimps and tofu to the stir fry is the most frequently seen version. You can also add some eggs to the wok to make some scrambled eggs before adding the noodles and the beansroouts.

I cooked this variation of a classic English dish in my woodstove.
– Fry some chopped onions
– Add some bite-sized chunks of stewing beef and some chopped kidneys (clean them first).
– When brown add some cinnamon, mild paprika (or black pepper) and a little flour.
– Add tomato paste and red wine and keep stirring until the sauce starts to thicken.
– Put into a casserole dish and add more red wine or stock to nearly cover the meat. Cover and cook in a medium oven for an hour and a half or more.
– Mix some flour, butter and a little grated blue cheese until you get a crumbly mixture.
– Remove the casserole dish from the oven. Mix in some chopped mushrooms and cover with the crumble mixture.
– Put back into the oven (this time without the lid) for about 30 minutes until the crumble is brown.

I went up to the top of the Pyrenees to a most beautiful region called Cerdagne. This trip back down in deep snow (we had snow chains on the car fortunately) was scary but beautiful.
I discovered this Catalan meatball recipe which I adapted with my Stuffed Cabbage recipe below. If you want to do the original Catalan recipe, just leave out the cabbage.
– Boil some cabbage leaves just for a few minutes (“blanching”)
– Choose the biggest leaves to be stuffed.
– Mix together some sausage meat and minced beef (50/50), parsley, garlic, breadcrumbs, chili pepper, and two eggs.
– Put some flour on your hands and make some golfball sized meatballs.
– Fry the meatballs until brown on all sides.
– Stuff two cabbage leaves with the sausage meat mixture and roll up into little packets, if you’re doing my version, if not just place the fried meatballs in an ovenproof dish.
– place in an ovenproof dish and set aside.
– Fry an onion and a few chopped carrots. Season well and add some chopped tomatoes or some tomato paste, and plenty of stock.
– Pour the sauce over the meatballs (or cabbage packets) until nearly covered.
– Add some olives
– cook for 45 minutes or more (check carrots are cooked through) in a moderate oven
– Serve with a baked potato.

This is so easy and quite delicious.
– Boil some cabbage leaves just for a few minutes (“blanching”)
– Choose the biggest leaves to be stuffed and chop the remainder.
– Mix together some sausage meat, the chopped cabbage, and two eggs.
– Add some flavoring, I use garlic and a lot of sage but you can use your imagination, ginger and chili works well, mustard too.
– stuff two cabbage leaves with the sausage meat mixture
– roll up into little packets
– place in an ovenproof dish and half fill with white wine or stock
– cook for 30 minutes in a moderate oven

You can cook almost anything with this method, it’s rather fun.
– Baste some chicken breasts in a mixture of lemon juice, honey, soy sauce, chilli pepper and olive oil. Leave to marinate for a while.
– Line the bottom of a heavy wok with a double layer of aluminum foil.
– Place a mixture of tea leaves, rice, sugar, mixed whole chinese spice, a cinnamon stick and place on the heat. Because of the smoke, it’s best to do this recipe outside if possible, otherwise make sure you put the kitchen fan on. Place a grill in the wok over the dry ingredients and cover.
– When the wok starts smoking, place the chicken breasts on the grill, cover and leave for 30 minutes. If there is too much smoke, lower the heat.
– Serve hot or cold with a salad.

Try smoking fish in this way, or sliced dick breast. Use just tea leaves and sugar to make the smoke if you want a more delicate flavor.

– fry some chopped smokey bacon or lardons
– add some chopped onions and carrots
– add a little red wine and some crushed tomatoes
– add a tin or two of cooked beans (depending on how many people you are cooking for)
– add some sage, rosemary and parsley, season and simmer for ten minutes
– place everything in an ovenproof dish and add sausages and some chunks of bread (diced)
– cook in the oven (200 degrees C) for an hour
– remove from oven and add spinach shoots, mix well before serving, the spinach gets cooked with the heat from the bean dish

Very successful New Year’s Dinner, here’s the menu:

Pims number one cocktail with cucumber and strawberries	Oysters with lemon and grilled with garlic, a drop of white wine, breadcrumbs and parsley
Home-made foie gras mi-cuit with pain d’épices and fresh pear chutney
Pork fillet stuffed with apples and black horn of plenty mushrooms served with a sweet potato and broccoli flan, roast potatoes and cranberry/madeira sauce	Trilogy of Desserts: chocolate mousse, lime sorbet and meringue nests with raspberries and cream

I’m surprised I haven’t already posted this recipe, it’s one of my favorite left over Christmas turkey dishes.

– Fry some chopped almonds in some butter and oil until they start to brown
– Add some flour and cook for a few minutes stirring all the time
– Add some milk and water and cook until the sauce starts to thicken
– Add some grated cheese and keep stirring until it has melted
– Pour the almond cheese sauce over the turkey and cook in the oven until brown

I’ve been cooking brussel sprouts like this for years and I was shocked to see Jamie Oliver cooking them in a similar way, as shown on his recent Christmas Special on British television. I wonder now where this recipe actually came from.

To be fair to Jamie, our recipes do differ slightly – he adds an enormous amount of Worcestershire sauce at the end, where I added Chili and Mango hot sauce from Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (or cream for a milder dish – see 3rd November 2011 post). Otherwise the recipes are identical and it is an ideal way to cook sprouts without going to the bother of trimming them and making a cross in the stem so they cook through properly when boiled or steamed in the traditional way.

– Clean the sprouts and take off the dirty outer leaves
– Shred in a kitchen robot machine or slice very finely
– Fry some chopped smoky bacon in a little olive oil and butter until crispy
– Add chopped sprouts and a little water and cover for 5 minutes
– Add some hot sauce (or in Jamie’s version a lot of Worcestershire sauce and some chopped herbs, especially sage if available). No need for salt as the seasoning comes from the bacon.

This worked out as a very light starter for our Christmas lunch

From left to right clockwise:

– Pea soup
you can see the recipe here on 27th November post. Add a few cooked peas for decoration
– Prawns in satay sauce
make a “quick” satay sauce in the blender with crunchy peanut butter, soy sauce, a crushed chilli pepper (or two), lemon juice and honey, pour over some cooked prawns and heat in hot oven for a few minutes until bubbling
– Smoked salmon verrine
Grate some cucumber, add salt and dry with kitchen roll to extract as much of their water as possible. Grate some radishes. Mix smoked salmon, fromage blanc and a little horseradish in the blender. Put a layer of each in a small glass, decorate with a ribbon of salmon.
– Foie Gras
– Pear chutney
Cook some chopped pear with sugar, vinegar and spices (star aniseed, cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg). Boil on a high heat until thick and syrupy like jam. Allow to cool. Serve with Foie Gras
– Tomato and mozzarella sticks
There are endless combinations of little cocktail stick brochettes like this. I used cherry tomatoes, mozzarella cheese and a dried apricots. Drizzle with a little balsamic vinegar and olive oil.