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Author: Corinne

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recipe

Padrón peppers, chorizo and poached eggs

Padrón peppers, chorizo and poached eggs

This is a recipe you could easily have at lunch time or even as part of a brunch: padrón peppers, chorizo and poached eggs. As some of you may know, I spent my childhood in the South of France. My dad used to have an allotment. He grew all kinds of peppers, padrón, being his favourite. I remember spending a lot of time with him, picking them. My mum used to make this at lunch time quite a lot. She didn't actually use chorizo but anchovies instead. I didn't have any in my cupboard, so went for chorizo and it tasted great. It's super easy to do. So what's not to like?

Ingredients:

Padrón peppers (about 4 to 6 per person)

Chorizo ( you don’t need a lot, about 50 g or so cut into cubes)

1 or 2 poached eggs per person

Your favourite slice of bread

A non stick pan

One tbsp of olive oil

Method:

Start by poaching your eggs. While they are poaching, in a pan, fry the padrón peppers until they become soft and a bit char on top. Then, add your chorizo and lightly fry for a minute or so.

For this recipe I like to use either a piece of sourdough or a chunky piece of multi-seed loaf that I toast.

I don’t butter my toast, that’s just me but please feel free to do so. Place your padrón peppers on top first then the poached eggs and the pieces of chorizo.

P.S: you can replace the chorizo with cottage cheese or even a beautiful goat cheese, if you are vegetarian. Also, if you don’t have padrón, you can use normal peppers sliced in quarters.

Bakeries: Cambridge is lucky to have a good variety of bakeries, here are some that I use, Balzano’s, Stir and Burwash Larder.

Bon appétit!⠀

Corrine x

Categories
recipe

Avocado and prawn croustade

Avocado and prawn croustade

If you are looking for something delicious and easy to make for mothering Sunday you will enjoy my avocado and prawn croustade. I made this as little starters during my last bistrot, and I thought to myself, these would be perfect on mother's day.

Ingredients:

An 8″ tin

A roll of shortcrust pastry

3 avocados

150 g of cooked prawns (king prawns preferably)

Parsley for the finishing touch

The zest and juice of one lime

Salt and pepper

3 spring onions

Method:

Pre-heat your oven to 170°c

Start by lining your tin with your pastry. Prick the bottom with a fork and then place your pastry in the freezer for 5 mns. After 5 mns, bake your pastry for a good 20 minutes, until golden brown. Let it cool on a rack.

Then, chop your spring onions finely, cut your avocado into quarters and slice them. Finely chop your parsley. In a bowl mix your avocado, prawns and spring onions, and add the zest and juice of the lemon, season with salt and pepper.

Once your pastry is completely cool, top it with the avocado mix and sprinkle with parsley for the finishing touch.

Tip: you can replace the prawns with cooked mussels or feta cheese

Bon appétit!⠀

Corrine x

Categories
recipe

Perfect winter warmer: broccoli soup topped with chorizo and camembert

Perfect winter warmer: broccoli soup topped with chorizo and camembert

Coming from the tropics, I used to dread cold winter days. Over the years, I have learned to embrace them. This morning when I woke-up, there was a dust of snow in my garden. It was just beautiful and soothing at the same time. You can barely hear the birds singing, it's just blissfully peaceful and relaxing. Curled-up in my blanket, with a bowl of warm and comforting soup, I can spend hours watching the time go by. So if you're feeling cold and dare I say a bit under the weather, I have the perfect winter warmer: broccoli soup topped with chorizo and camembert.

Ingredients (serves 4) :

One bag of frozen broccoli (1 kg bag) or you can use fresh as well ( a stock cube, I am not a big fan of stock cube, so I always freeze left over gravy, so I tend to use that instead, but use stock cube if you haven’t got any leftover gravy).

Two potatoes peeled and chopped

Camembert (you will need two slices of camembert for each bowl)

Chorizo ( you will need 4 slices of chorizo per bowl)

A bit of salt and pepper, not too much salt as you already have some in your stock

Method:

In a cooking pot, poor your bag of broccoli and sliced potatoes and cover with water. Bring everything to the boil and then add your stock, salt and pepper and stir. Let everything boil until the potatoes are cooked, (this should take around 10 minutes).  Using a hand mixer, blend everything until you have a smooth consistency with no bits of broccoli or potatoes. Pour your soup into individual bowls. Add 4 slices of chorizo on top and then your two slices of camembert. Put your bowls under the grill until the camembert has melted.

So here you have it, my perfect winter warmer: broccoli soup topped with chorizo and camembert

Serve with a delicious slice of sourdough. You can get delicious sourdough at Burwash Larder, Stir Cambridge, Balzano’s, just to name a few.

P.S: if you are vegetarian, you can take out the chorizo and use only the camembert with a veggie stock cube, it is delicious too.

Bon appétit!⠀

Corrine x

Categories
recipe

Perfect comfort food: my mediterranean style chicken

Perfect comfort food: my mediterranean style chicken

This week has been pretty cold. I don't know about you, but personally when it's like that I need to feed my soul with good, comforting food. I have the perfect comfort food: my mediterranean chicken, to share with you.

Ingredients:

4 chicken thighs with the skin

100 g of chorizo sliced

100 g of black olives

300 g of green beans sliced, either fresh or frozen

One TBSP of tomatoe puree

Parsley

1 onion, sliced finely

4 cloves of garlic, crushed

1 TBSP of olive oil

1 tsp of oregano

Method:

In a non stick pan with one TBSP of olive oil, start frying your chicken, the skin side first then turn them around until nice and brown. Chicken thighs tend to release quite a bit of fat, so once your pieces of chicken are brown, take them out of the pan and then get rid of the excess fat. Put the pan back on the stove. Then, add your onion, let them cook 2 to 3 minutes until soft. Then add your chorizo slices, fry them for a minute. Add garlic and stir for 40 to 50 seconds, add your chicken thighs, beans, tomatoe puree, olives and a tsp of oregano, give everything a good stir. Pour some boiling water to cover the chicken, turn the heat down, and let all this cook for 30 to 40 minutes until your chicken is completely cooked and your sauce has thickened. Add some parsley before serving.

Serving suggestion: with mash potatoes or rice

Bon appétit!⠀

Corrine x

Categories
recipe

Quick lunch of cannellini beans and spinach

Quick Lunch of Cannellini beans and spinach

January, the start of a new year, but also the start of "diet craze". I personally believe in balance. As far as I'm concerned it's about eating a bit of everything with moderation. By that I mean, no snacking in between meals and the one and only religious three meals a day breakfast, lunch and dinner. Oh! And I forgot, none of this fizzy drink craziness either. I also believe in taking time to enjoy your meal, whether it's a moment to yourself or one spent with your family or friends. Switch off your phone for example or turn off those notifications. You don't need to spend hours in the kitchen to have a healthy, tasty and balance meal. My quick lunch of cannellini beans and spinach does exactly that. Try it, it's delicious.

Ingredients:

A tin of cannellini beans in water

A bag of fresh spinach

A table spoon of your favourite chilli sauce or paste

An Egg

A frying pan (I prefer to use a frying pan instead of a normal pan, as it allows the egg to spread and cook evenly)

Method:

This is so simple to make I tell you. Pour your tin of cannellini beans into your pan, bring to the boil and add a table spoon of your favourite chilli sauce, then add the bag of spinach. When the spinach have wilted add an egg on top, and let everything simmer until your egg is cooked.

Et voilà! Serve with a piece of your favourite bread. 

Bon appétit!⠀

Corrine x

Categories
Masterclass

Behind the scene: macarons masterclass

Behind the scene: macarons masterclass

It’s been a couple of months now since I launched Gourmandises Académie. I thought it might be a good idea to give you a little bit of behind the scene of one of our classes.

It can be tricky to bake macarons. So many of you often think that making them is too complicated and  out of reach .

The Académie is about busting all these myths. If I can do it you can too. That’s exactly what one of our guests did.

Shirly is a real foodie. She particular enjoys the sweet stuff. She wanted to learn how to make macarons but couldn’t find the right course.

The Académie is not about who’s the best at baking or cooking, it’s about sharing a passion in a relaxed atmosphere and that’s what Shirly was looking for.

I don’t think she was completely convinced that she would be able to make her own macarons though.

I just showed her all the key steps from making a meringue, macaronnage , drying and cooking them to perfection.

 

 

She then learned how to make her own fillings.

And went back with a box of her own creations. Shirly was a delight to work with, she arrived at the Académie with very low expectations and went back with her heart content.

If you’d like to learn how to make your own macarons we are running another workshop on 19th January 2019, also a perfect Christmas present, book your place here.