Romesco Sauce

Angel Blogger

In August we were very busy catering for a lovely Dutch Yoga group. I made a refreshing Spanish salad with roasted peppers which I then stuffed. They sat proudly on a mound of lettuce leaves which I decorated with herb croutons, toasted almond. The Romesco sauce was drizzled over the leaves & the peppers had a silky garlic cream sauce, & a shaving of Parmesan cheese to top it all off.

Really yummy if I don't say so myself. It was a balmy evening so they ate on the west facing terrace, watching the sun set, can't ask for more really. I thought I 'd share the Romesco sauce recipe as it is so handy. I use it on vegetarian dishes like the above, but it is equally great on fish pork or chicken. Hope you like it, always good to hear your comments.

Serves 4

Handful of ideally fresh garden tomatoes, I used our cherry toms. Wash them throw them into a roasting tin, add a sliced red onion, garlic clove, small red chilli, good gringing of salt & pepper, glug of olive oil, then into a hot oven for 20 minutes. Let them cool, then simply puree in either a blender or food processor, press through a chinese sieve then freeze or use immediately for the sauce. Whisk in 1-2 tbsp sherry vinegar depending on taste, a couple of Tbsp olive oil, anchovy paste to taste or omit if vegetarian. There you have it really gorgeous tomato sauce perfect for almost any occasion.

Sunday game of Canasta

Angel Blogger reporting.

Today is the start of a big French weekend, the last of the summer holidays. Traditionally its a long weekend visiting friends & family & lots of eating & drinking. The annual summer holidays come to an end next week.

The weather today was supposed to be a very hot 31 c & full sun, however nature decided to change its mind at the last moment. Thunder, rain sticky humid heat but not an outdoor day. Some of my wonderful friends spontaneously arranged a lunch & Canasta, we all as always chipped in. I rummaged in the fridge & made some puff pastry & goat cheese tartlets. We had a fab duck curry with quite a kick to it. Meringues & fresh fruit, & lots of wine which everyone brought along. I sadly did not win at Canasta but thoroughly enjoyed a fun afternoon with good friends.

Goats cheese tartlets.

ready made puff pastry mine was a circle piece, I cut out 12 discs & with an oiled tart tin lined the pastry in place. Prick each pastry case with a fork, then pop into a moderate oven for 10 minutes, remove the tin & then push down the centre to make a hollow, I previously had gently sautéed a red onion after 10 minutes add a sprinkle of brown sugar & a dash of balsamic vinegar, this will caramelize in about 10 minutes, cool. Mash about 60g of goats cheese add a dash of cream & a small beaten egg, this will be mixed till blended. Add a spoon of onions into the tartlets then a spoonful of goat cream, a sprig of thyme on top. Pop into the moderate oven for 7-10 minutes.

Duras night market

Angel Blogger

I love our evening markets in July & August, its a time to meet with friends & enjoy some lovely food & wine. Each town host's their night market & there is lots of competition between between.

We went to Duras with friends, it was a beautiful balmy night. We decided to eat & drink at Molhiere's, a business run by 2 the brothers Blancheton. Patrick is the vine grower & makes some fantastic wines, one of their white wines is the house wine for the famous French restaurant La Gavrouche in London a Michelin star establishment. We happily can buy it for a fraction of the cost.

François the elder brother runs a very classy little shop & bar in Duras, he is the salesman. His wife Yannick is a beautiful cook, & she was cooking outside the shop on her Plancha. amazing giant Gambas cooked in whisky & cream. You may be a little surprised to hear that she used whisky, in fact the French are passionate about their whisky, they have been close amies with Scotland for centuries. There was a great band playing popular French music & people were singing & dancing, the atmosphere was really fun.

We are looking forward to our biggest day of the year tomorrow, our local wine festival with all the top local wine producers present, a day of wine tasting & sampling lots of our local produce, all under the roof of the ancient medieval Chateau.Watch this space for pictures & news.

Concert at Chateau Perroterie

Angel Blogger here!

Our singing group who were with us this week did a little concert last night for us & some of our friends. They came on a singing holiday to learn more about music & their voice. The week is to help them have more confidence in themselves climaxing in a performance. They really sang their hearts out, some were better than others but they all were so brave to get up & sing to a group of strangers. We wish them a safe journey back to the UK & thank them for bringing music & song to our space here in France.

Restoration of our ancient kitchen

Angel Blogger here.

My husband & I recently finished creating a stone circle for ourselves & for our guests. It was only completed 2 weeks ago & already is a great success with our friends & clients, children are particularly attracted to it. Not content with this achievement, my husband John has just started work on trying to rescue our ancient outdoor kitchen which is perilously getting ready to collapse. Parts of it are 6th century & the oven ceiling is amazing, the idea is to first prop up the old lintels, repairing the crumbling stone work around the lintels with a view of removing the roof & eventually re roofing to protect the inner parts of the building. The end of the kitchen has a small circular space which was a monk's cell, I would love to convert this into a meditation star chamber with a small fire in the centre. One day we hope to have it working as an extension to our kitchen with a pizza oven BBQ & bar for eating & drinking al fresco style. I will keep you posted as to its recovery fingers crossed it will survive. Its also the height of our season & to be starting this type of venture is probably madness, but that's very much our style. Watch this space!

Quiche Lorraine

Hi all Angel Blogger here.

Its been an intensive cooking period for me with lots of courses coming soon. The hardest part for me is getting confirmation of everyone's dietary requirements, not an easy ask, but the last thing I need is someone turning up with a peculiar diet or allergy. Here in France it is very difficult to get vegetarian alternatives, & as for Vegan well that is really tricky. I have slowly developed a great vegetarian collection of recipes tried & tested, even slowly getting my head around gluten free recipes. When I am in full culinary flight I even dream about cooking, in fact a lot of my best ideas come when I am asleep!

Today is a Quiche Lorraine event & is a real French favourite, with my guests. I hope you like this old favourite too.

Serves 6

250g Packet of good quality shortcrust pastry, unroll immediately from the fridge & line a large loose bottom flan tin. Cover with greaseproof paper, I don't bother weighting it down with rice, dried beans etc. Pop into a moderate oven 350, about 20 minutes then remove paper & bake another 5 minutes. Sprinkle 200g grated cheese of choice over the base, then top with 2 sliced tomatoes, a grinding of black pepper, then sprinkle200g of bacon lardons (which you have previously cooked) on top, if vegetarian leave out. whisk 6 eggs in a bowl, then in a jug measure 1/4 litre cream & 1/4 litre milk, add to the eggs, 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme, pour over the quiche, place back into the oven about 25-30 minutes till set. This quiche freezes well & is great for picnics or serve warm for a quick easy lunch with salad on the side. Bon Appetite!

Pavlova

Friends of ours who live in the grounds of Duras Chateau very kindly hosted a big charity lunch yesterday, my contribution was a raspberry Pavlova. The day raised hundred of Euros & the weather was perfect. There was over 130 guests attending & a fantastic jazz band.

I wanted to share a few tips on how to make the perfect Pavlova. I am lucky enough to have a Aga cooker which makes fabulous meringues, however any oven will do the job almost as well.

Serves 8

I use room temperature eggs separate the whites & save the yolks ( use for lemon curd or creme brulee). Place 6 egg whites into a scrupulously clean bowl ( I use my Kenwood mixer for speed) add 2 Tbsp of caster sugar per egg white, here I used 12 Tbsp. Mix on a medium speed till the whites become stiff meringue & you can turn upside down & it won't move. Spoon onto a baking sheet lined with Parchment paper or a silicon liner shape into a round, hollow the centre a little. Place in your oven on the lowest setting you can, leave for 3 hours till it is completely dry. You can switch the oven off & leave in the oven overnight. When the Pavlova is cool top with double cream & fruit of choice, decorate with mint leaves.