Things I've seen, done and loved this week......


The pleasures of spring are upon us. The colours and textures of the season are celebrated here at Chateau Perroterie. The countryside has taken on a freshness of greens, & yellows, & as the days are about to become longer, there is so many jobs to do outdoors. The practical side of me, is making sure my spring cleaning continues at a pace, clutter will not be tolerated! The early warm sunshine boosts us in our endeavours, and of course, there is time to enjoy a glass of wine on the patio, ah! the sign of good things to come. 
Our chickens have ventured out & loving the open-air, & the bonus of organic fresh eggs is very welcome. I suppose I should be showcasing an egg dish, but the fact of the matter is my husband had a longing for shortbread, so that's what I baked.  

Beat 130g of softened butter with 60g of caster sugar in a food processor, add 130g of plain flour & 60g of rice flour, pinch of salt, use the pulse button to roughly mix. Tip the mix out into a large bowl & press the mixture together with your hands. Using a loose bottom cake tin (20cm) press the mix into the tin until it covers the base of the tin. Pop in the fridge for 30 minutes. Bake in a moderate oven 325f for 20-25 minutes till golden colour. With a sharp knife score the shortbread into wedges & sprinkle over caster sugar. Don't be tempted to eat a piece till it has cooled or indigestion may hit you! We Sat outside with a cup of tea & a slice of shortbread - parfait.

Excuse me while I catch my breathe, phew what a week we have had at Chateau Perroterie! We are very busy doing our pre-season jobs ahead of next month's opening Tai Chi retreat with Jason Chan. Palettes of new paving flags have arrived, we have decided to extend the front terrace outside the Guest House making it more spacious, its a very popular spot for outdoor dinning, & watching the awesome sunsets in the evenings, of course accompanied with the obligatory chilled glass of rose or icy beer. Yesterday we took delivery of an new ENORMOUS permanent sun cover, it will look fabulous, offering shade while dinning al fresco..

Our 6  new chickens have settled in nicely & laying 4 eggs a day, but they are currently refusing to leave their cosy hen house & play outside! 

Yesterday we visited our new "Shopping Experience" a huge new commercial centre just outside St Foy, 15 minutes from  here with a fabulous L'Clerc Hypermarket, cafe, shops & tons of car parking, its a great addition for our area, & one I am sure our clients will love visiting.

The enquiries for courses & self catering are continuing to pour in, apologies to the lovely course leaders who wanted to come this year & we couldn't  accommodate, hopefully we will see them in 2013,  already we have 3 confirmed weeks booked for next year, all wonderful news, our hard work is really paying off, we feel really blessed. I recommend you take a moment to scroll down to the bottom of our Home page, we have some very exciting retreats coming up & some have available places, click on them for more details.

 In the next two weeks I will post pictures of the finished works & maybe even a sighting of our shy chickens. In the meantime here's to another fun packed week

Its that time again when French pork is on promotion, every supermarket at the moment has really cheap pork chops & pork roast joints. The French housewives eagerly awaits this season, they fill their freezers with bargain pork meat. Why I hear you say is pork suddenly so cheap, & the answer is simple, like Spain, France loves their dried cured hams such as Jambon Sec. The pigs are reared almost exclusively for the curing of their back legs, the rest of the animal is then sold at a really discounted price. A little factoid is that the left back leg is almost always more expensive, pigs tend to lie on their left side & this helps to tenderize this leg! Strolling around the supermarket I came across pork cheeks, a part of the animal I have never tried before, but having heard the celebratory chefs on TV raving about this cut I thought I would try them out. I wasn't to be disappointed. The secret as with any muscle meat that is well exercised & of course the cheeks are the main chewing area, you must cook it slowly.Recipe is as follows:-

PORK CHEEKS IN RED WINE

Heat a medium to large frying pan with olive oil, season cheeks with salt & pepper, I allowed 3 per person. Sauté till brown, remove from the pan & keep warm. Add a mix of julienne carrots, onion, & celery, dash more oil & cook for 5 minutes. Meanwhile bring a 1/2 bottle of red wine & 250ml of chicken stock bubble away till reduced by 2/3rd In a casserole pot spoon in the vegetables place the cheeks on top, pour over the reduced liquid & season, place lid on top, bring to boil on the top of the cooker, then pop into a low oven 100-125c.or a slow cooker. Cook for 2-3 hours checking every hour, ensure there is plenty of liquid. Remove the cheeks & rest on a warm plate, return to the warm oven. Strain the juices & press the vegetables with the back of a ladle try to get as much juice out from the vegetables. Pour into a pan & reheat, add a tablespoon of redcurrant jelly if you like. I decided to fry some bacon rashers & add as a final piece of crunchy decoration. Serve with garlic mash & a selection of steamed root vegetables, cut each cheek on a diagonal (looks nice) then pour over the rich gravy. Et Viola!
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Spring has almost sprung!
What a difference 2 weeks makes, from minus10 degrees daytime temperatures,  to today's glorious 25 degrees full sunshine. 


Its been a very busy week at Chateau Perroterie, we open for business in 5 weeks time & I have made a start with my "spring cleaning". John my amazing DIY husband has been very busy fitting panelling & boxing pipes, & meter boxes. I love living in a large old property, but boy does it  require a huge commitment keeping up with all the day to day running repairs. The property looks even more beautiful this year than last, it just keeps maturing & blossoming. 

Dwarf Hyacinth

In amongst the work we still make time to enjoy ourselves. I had my neighbour down for lunch on Friday, I decided I would make a chocolate mousse, I read recently that because chocolate melts at body temperature, it has been one of the deciding factors in chocolates success, we love the moment that it melts in our mouth releasing its seductive flavours. Chocolate mousse can be a tricky thing to make, but if you follow a few little rules I think its very easy.

Chocolate Mousse

Start with a pan of simmering water, place a bowl over the pan ensuring the bowl doesn't touch the water, break 100g chocolate into cubes & allow it to slowly melt, stirring from time to time. Meanwhile whisk 4 egg whites till stiff, add 2 tbsp castor sugar, continue to whisk till stiff & glossy. In a small pan slowly bring 6tbsp of heavy cream to the boil then remove from the heat. remove the bowl of chocolate & pour hot cream on top with a dash of rum if you like, now don't touch the mixture for 15 seconds, then swiftly stir the chocolate & cream together achieving a smooth glossy consistency. Then add a spoonful to the egg whites with a gentle turning action then add all the rest of the chocolate mix, never add the egg whites to the chocolate. Then simply spoon the mixture into 3 large glasses or 4 medium size, depending on how greedy you are feeling. Pop in the fridge immediately leave to chill for at least 2 hours. Naughty but nice.

Today has many different names, Shrove Tuesday, Fat Tuesday, Mardi Gras, a day we traditionally make pancakes for our family & friends. I have fond memories of one particular Year.

 I had just started working as a classroom assistant at a special needs school in Petersham Surrey. I was the new member of staff & more than a little nervous of my abilities to work with mentally ill & disabled children. At the morning staff meeting there was a very distressed head teacher, she had forgotten the packets of pancake mix, and the children were expecting to make pancakes & eat them at lunchtime. Much to my surprise non of the teachers knew how to make pancake batter from scratch. I said how easy they were to make and if they liked I was happy to make a batch for them. Before I knew what had hit me I was whisked (pardon the pun) off to the kitchen & presented with an apron, and asked what I required, I said it was simple a bag of flour, salt, eggs, & milk. 10 minutes later the first class arrived & we had a great time making & tossing about 12 pancakes, the children had a great time, in fact so much so the other 6 classes asked if they could make them too. I spent the entire day in the kitchen working with every class, I made over a hundred, & yes one did end up on the ceiling much to the delight of the kids.

 I walked home tired & smelling of sugar & treacle but elated, I had bonded with the kids & I loved this new job.

When my children & husband arrived home there were  cries of you are making pancakes tonight. So once again I found myself in the kitchen making stacks of pancakes, fresh lemon juice, maple syrup, caster sugar & bananas, what a day, and one I will never forget. 

Valentine's day is one of my favourite days of the year. Its a day where you make a special effort & tell the one you love how much they mean to you. Our 12 day of Arctic weather decided to thaw this morning, so I called one of my favourite restaurants Aux Fountaines in La Reole, they said they could fit us in. So booted & suited  we ventured out & fortunately the roads were much better. 

The Restaurant specialises in South West France cuisine, its delicacies are seasonal & hearty. I started with a Coupe of Champagne,  while trying to decide what to choose from the fabulous menu. We were in for a very special lunch. My starter was a Seafood Bouillabaisse with a cognac & cream foam, a delicate little salad of seafood & rocket, absolutely yummy full of big flavours. To follow a Cabbage parcel stuffed with fresh salmon & a smoked salmon mousse poached in a white wine & stock broth which was made into a cream sauce, this was sitting on a bed of sautéed mixed vegetables. Light delicate & full of flavour but not heavy in any way. To finish a chocolate mousse with white chocolate ice cream, very rich but hey chocolate & Valentine Day go hand in hand. Espresso coffee with handmade macaroons & little chocolate cakes. Feeling full, thoroughly spoilt & full of love. 

Carrying on the Lemon theme, I wanted to use up a few leftover goodies from this week. I decided to make this simple but yummy frozen dessert.

I used a 1 litre loaf tin, double lined it with Clingfilm making sure I had enough hanging over to fold over the top. I had some leftover Madeira cake, I sliced 3 1cm pieces & lined the base of the tin, I poured over some homemade Limoncello onto the sponge cake, you can of course use any liqueur you wish but I was looking for a lemon taste. I mixed 300ml of Mascarpone with 2 tablespoons of icing sugar in a bowl, you can use double cream whipped up with the icing sugar, but unfortunately I cannot get fresh double cream here in France. Please adjust the sweetness to your own preference. I added the juice of a lemon & its zest to keep the citrus theme going. Spread 2/3^rd of the cream over the sponge, on top of this I spread a generous layer of Lemon curd (look at my last Blog for recipe). I had 2 meringue shells needing used up, so I crumbled them over the lemon curd. Finally top it all off with the remaining cream. Use a skewer to swirl through the mix then fold over the overlapping Clingfilm & place in the freezer for 24 hours.

To serve turn the tin out onto a plate about 10 minutes before eating, remove the Clingfilm spoon over any fruit you have available – Bon Appetite