Tag: french dining

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recipe

Tarte provençale with tapenade, goat cheese, roasted tomatoes and peppers

Tarte provençale with tapenade, goat cheese, roasted tomatoes and peppers

image of a piece of pie with roasted tomatoes, pepper and cheese on top, you can learn how to make this at the baking school Gourmandises Academie

Ingredients:

400 g roasted cherry tomatoes

1 red pepper

280 g of tapenade

One roll of puff pastry (try to purchase puff pastry entirely made with butter and not palm oil).

100 g goat cheese

Method:

You will need to have roasted your pepper and tomatoes first, and let them cool down before you start. I roast my tomatoes separately from the pepper with a drizzle of olive oil (it usually takes 30 minutes), in a hot oven at 180 ° C fan.

Once that’s done, put a baking tray in a pre-heated 180 ° C oven. This process will prevent the “soggy bottom” scenario.

Then start assembling your tart.

Roll out your pastry. Tip: I leave my pastry on the baking parchment it comes with. Then, I spread the tapenade evenly on top (Tapenade is very easy to make yourself you can find the recipe here), add your tomatoes and pepper (I sliced it into strips) and finish by adding bits of goat cheese on top. It is as simple as that. Then I take out my tray that has nicely been warming up in the oven and lift my tart onto the tray. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes until the edges are golden brown. Et voilà

P.S. If you are making your own tapenade, use good black olives, like kalamata. You can find these in the supermarket but also very good delis such as Burwash for example.

Corrine x

Categories
recipe

Roast chicken with orzo, chorizo and haricot verts

Roast chicken with orzo, chorizo and haricot verts

Ingredients:

For a family of four:

4 chicken legs

one onion roughly chopped

one punnet of cherry tomatoes

Fresh thyme

225 g of Spanish chorizo sliced

One glass of white wine

300 g of haricots verts (can be fresh or frozen)

400 g of Orzo

Pre-heat your oven at 180° C

Method:

Cook your orzo, using the same method for cooking pasta. Bring a pan of water to the boil and then add your orzo, let it cook for 12 to 15 minutes. Once cooked drain the water.

In an oven tray start by adding the thyme, onion, tomatoes, haricots verts and  chorizo, season your chicken with salt and pepper and place it on top. Then add one glass of white wine and one glass of water and place in the oven. Let it cook until the chicken starts getting brown but not completely brown. That should take 40 to 45 minutes depending on your oven. At that point, take your tray out of the oven, there should still be quite a bit of sauce , but that is fine. Take the chicken out of the tray, then add your orzo and mix in the sauce, put the chicken back on top and back in the oven for another 10 to 15 minutes, until your chicken is totally brown. Serve hot…

P.S if you don’t have orzo, you can use paella rice for this

Try to go for a very good quality chicken I get mine from either Burwash or Longhorn Farmshop

Corrine x

Categories
recipe

A mother’s day treat, vols au vent filled with a salmon mousse

A mother's day treat, vols au vent filled with a salmon mousse

A mother's day treat, vols au vent filled with a salmon mousse

Ingredients:

A roll of puff pastry

200 g of smoked salmon

Juice and zest of one lime

50 ml of double cream

One egg

Preparation:

Line a tray with baking paper. Pre-heat your oven at 180° C

Start by preparing your egg wash. Add 2 pinch of salt to your egg and mix. Leave to the side while you prepare your mousse.  This method will prevent your egg wash from being lumpy.

To make the vols au vent, you will need two round cookie cutters, one bigger than the other. Start by cutting with the big one, then using the small cutter cut into the middle of the one you’ve cut before as per picture below. Make sure not to go too dip the second time. Make as many as you can with your pastry. Brush them with your egg wash and pop them in the oven for 10 minutes, until golden brown on top. Once cooked, pop them onto a cooling rack.

 Now pop all your salmon into a food processor and mix until totally smooth in texture, then add your cream. Now, this is where you have to be super careful, mix again, but only for 2 seconds, it’s more a quick whisk than anything else. If you mix too much you won’t have a smooth mousse but a split like butter texture and you don’t want that. Poor into a bowl, add your lime juice and zest and mix.

Cut the top of your vols au vent and spoon your lovely salmon mousse into them, I tend to use a pipping bag at that stage, but if you don’t have one, spooning your mousse is fine. Et voilà.

I like to enjoy these with a glass of bubbly

If you’re looking for a Mother’s day treat, head over to Gourmandises

Or you might also be interested in my pâtisserie box or a cookery voucher, these are valid for a year.

Corrine x

Categories
recipe

Turkey roasted in a rich turmeric sauce

Turkey roasted in a rich turmeric sauce

Turkey roasted in a rich turmeric sauce

Ingredients:

Turkey leg and thigh

Salt and pepper

Thyme

500 g of Brussels sprouts (if you’re not a big fan, you can also use French beans instead)

4 carrots roughly sliced

one onion

Half a tsp of turmeric

Oven pre-heated at 160º C

A large roasting pan that can go over the stove 

Method:

Start by rubbing salt and pepper on the turkey, I tend to use rock salt as it’s more flavoursome.

In a roasting pan add two tbsp of vegetable oil, and over the stove start colouring both sides of your turkey until golden brown, add the onion and thyme and let them cook for a minute, then add the turmeric and stir it well into the pan. Off the stove pour 250 ml of boiling water and pop your turkey into the oven and let it slow cook for a good 3 hours. Half way through the cooking time add your carrots and Brussels sprouts (At that point you may need to top up with a bit more boiling water, no more that a 100 ml). Once cooked, your turkey will literally fall off the bone and your sauce should be velvety (a thick gravy like appearance).

And that is it! Enjoy with roast potatoes.

Tip: use a good free range turkey for this. Leech and Sons at Burwash Manor provide the most amazing meat for example. 

Corrine x

Categories
recipe

Quick and simple Christmas canape of tapenade and roasted peppers

Quick and simple Christmas canape of tapenade and roasted peppers

Quick and simple Christmas canape of tapenade and roasted peppers

Ingredients:

300 g of kalamata olives

A jar of roasted peppers or if you choose to make your own, pop some yellow and red peppers in a 200º C oven drizzle with olive oil and a bit of salt. Let them cook for 30 minutes, until they are charcoaled. Remove the charcoal skin.

2 cloves of garlic crushed

A good pinch of fresh thyme

The juice of half a lemon

Your favourite bread cut into small pieces and toasted

2 table spoons of olive oil

Method:

In a food processor add the olives, thyme, garlic and olive oil and mix until you have a paste. That delicious paste is called “tapenade”

Pour the mixture into a jar, add the lemon juice and mix. If you are no using it straight away, this tapenade will keep for a good week or two in the fridge. Pour some olive oil to cover the top of your paste, this will help to keep it longer.

Now to make the canape, spread a bit of your tapenade onto your toast (I personally use ciabatta, but any bread will do) then add some strings of pepper on top and drizzle your canapes with a bit of olive oil.

Tip: when you are mixing everything in the food processor add a tin of anchovies and that will give you an “anchoiaide” it’s delicious too 

P.S. if you are not using kalamata olives try to use some good quality ones for this recipe, it does make a difference in taste. There are plenty of good delis in Cambridge to get them from such as Burwash and Balzanos or even your local supermarket.

Corrine x

Categories
recipe

Quick tagliatelle in a prawn, chorizo, leek and white wine sauce

Quick tagliatelle in a prawn, chorizo, leek and white wine sauce

Quick tagliatelle in a prawn, chorizo, leek and white wine sauce

Ingredients:

500 g of fresh prawns preferably

100 g of chorizo cut into cubes

one leek (chopped finely)

One glass of white wine

One tbsp of mascarpone

Half a glass of double cream

Parsley

Method:

Boil a pan of water for your tagliatelle, once boil add your pasta

Start by frying your prawns in a little bit of olive oil, when they start turning red take them off the pan and put them aside. Add the chorizo and leek to the pan, let it cook for about 3 minutes until the leeks have gone soft. At that point, add your wine. Let it boil for a minute and then add your mascarpone and the cream and let it simmer for 5 minutes.  Add your parsley and prawns, by now your tagliatelle should be cooked, add them to the sauce, sprinkle a bit more parsley on top. Et voilà

If you are interested in more sweet recipes, have a browse here

For more information about my classes click here   

Corrine x

Categories
recipe

Mushroom beignets with a soy, black pepper and parsley batter

Mushroom beignets with a soy, black pepper and parsley batter

Mushroom beignets with a soy, black pepper and parsley batter

Ingredients:

A punnet of mushrooms

200 g of self raising flour

1 large egg

3 tbsp of light soy sauce

1/2 tsp black pepper

As much or as little parsley as you like (finely chopped)

A bit of water

Vegetable oil

A non stick pan

Kitchen towels

Method:

In a bowl, mix your flour, egg, soy, black pepper and parsley and slowly add a little bit of water, until you reach a thick batter. If you’ve ever made Yorkshire pudding that’s the consistency you want to get.

Finely chop your mushrooms, add them to your batter and stir.

Place some kitchen towels in a plate or even better a tray.

In your pan, add about a 1 cm deep of oil, and heat it up. Add spoonfuls of your mushroom mix to the hot oil. Once cooked place them on the kitchen towels to soak-up the excess oil. And repeat this process until you have no batter left.

Serve warm with a sweet chilli sauce.

If you want to make this recipe vegan, you can easily do so by removing the egg.

If you would like to attend one of our cooking classes, have a browse here

Corrine x

Categories
Supper club

Le Bistrot Clandestin: The food of Reunion Island, saveurs indiennes

Le Bistrot Clandestin: The food of Reunion Island, saveurs indiennes

Last Saturday, I hosted my third Bistrot. The focus this time, was on the amazing heritage the first Hindus of the Pondichery region left on Reunion Island food and its culture. 16 guests, locals of the Cambridge area and some as far as Surrey and Yorkshire, gathered around my table for this very special culinary experience.

 

The Bistrot so far, has been focusing on my culinary background with the cuisine of Reunion Island, where I was born. The island is not very well known here in the UK, nor is its food. Nestled in the middle of the Indian Ocean, near Mauritius, Reunion island food is a melting pot of Chinese, African, Indian, French and creole.

A little bit of history:

On Saturday, my guests were treated to yet another beautiful meal with a focus on the Indian influence “saveurs indiennes”. The Hindus of Reunion arrived on the island in the 17th century. They came as slaves. The Governor at the time, was particularly interested in their carpentry and building skills. After the abolition of slavery, they stayed on the island and built very prolific businesses. Today they are just an integral part of who we are as Reunionnais. We don’t think of them as people from India nor do they. But, the influence they left on our food is immense. Saturday was a celebration of this.

Apéritif créole:

Every meal in Reunion, like in France starts with a little nibble, “apéritif”. Typically, it is a glass of “rhum arrangé” (Rhum flavoured with local fruits) and savoury nibbles. Guests were welcomed with a glass of rhum flavoured with coconut water and grape fruit. They also enjoyed a “samoussa cari poulet” . The samossa was filled with the traditional reunionnais chicken cari, pieces of chicken slowly cooked in turmeric.

Let’s start:

For Starter, I served a street food favourite “achards de légumes”. If you go to Reunion these would be served in baguettes in street food vans or as a side dish. This one is definitely packed with Indian flavours. A mix of fresh vegetables, green beans, white cabbage and carrots, cooked with turmeric and ginger. It was served on a shortcrust pastry base called croustade.

Le plat de résistance:

As main, I wanted my guests to experience a traditional Reunionnais curry, and surprise them with how different it would taste, “looks like a curry but doesn’t taste like what I know at all” kind of thing. I did exactly that with my “agneau massalé” , a slow cooked lamb in massala spices (but not the massala served here, a very special creole blend), served with rice, beans and a tomatoe rougail. In Reunion, this dish is actually made with goat, but I didn’t know how adventurous my guests would be, so kept it safe. When I told them, they all asked to have it served at my next Bistrot.

The star of the show:

Dessert was not quite what you’d see in Reunion, but the flavours were: an entremet with a mango and chocolate mousse on a coconut biscuits, served with a fresh mango coulis.

Miniardises:

Go on, say it, that was a meal and a half! But oh! no, of course it didn’t finish there. Each time, I like to finish the meal with either coffee or tea and a little treat. This time to keep-up with the Indian theme, there were cardamon and mint truffles.

 

 

I thoroughly enjoyed the evening and I can say my guests did too.

If you’d like to attend the next supper club, just email me contact@gourmandises.co.uk and I will add you to my mailing list.

You can find more information about Reunion Island food here.

Categories
recipe

Delicious Easter petits fours

Delicious Easter Petits Fours

Ingredients:

  • You will need a cupcake tray buttered. With the quantities in this recipe you will be able to make 24 petits fours.
  • Chocolate mini eggs
  • A star nozzle
  • A piping bag
  • 200 g dark chocolate
  • 200 ml double cream
  • Set your oven at 170º C (static oven) 160º C (fan oven)

Method:

For the frangipane:

  • You can get the frangipane recipe here. The only difference from the original recipe is that I added a table spoon of cocoa powder to the mix.
  • Add one tsp of the frangipane mix in each of your cupcakes base and cook for 15 minutes. Once out of the oven, take your frangipane cups out of the tray and let them cool on a rack.

For the ganache:

Bring your double cream to the boil, leave it to cool for 2 to 3 minutes then add your chocolate and stir until completely melted. Put your ganache in the fridge for a good hour and a half. Take it out of the fridge and bring it back to room temperature by stirring it vigorously. Transfer your ganache in a piping bag with a star nozzle.

Decorate your frangiane cups with the ganache, try to make a twirl shape. Add the mini eggs for the finishing touch.

P.S : These will keep for a good week in an airtight container, as the ganache has been pasteurised by boiling the double cream.

If you enjoy baking, I have a range of courses for you to try, check them out here. 

Corrine x