Chicken Pie, an ode to British Cuisine

Yes, I am the biggest fan of British cooking and here is the recipe for my chicken pie, covered with yet again, mashed potatoes.
Normally, it would be topped off with pastry (flaky, shortcrust or puff), but I didn't fancy making any, due to many other jobs that needed doing about the house.

Ingredients  This was plenty for at least 4 portions

• 3 chicken filets
• 2 ltr organic chicken stock
• 4 carrots, peeled and chopped into large chunks
• Florets of 1/2 brocolli and 1/3 cauliflower
• Frozen peas, 200 grs
• Butter 100 grs
• Flour 100 grs
• Tarragon, 1 tbsp
• 2 tbsp sour cream
• Seasoning to taste (salt, black pepper and nutmeg)

Preparation

• Put the chicken filets in a pan and cover with stock.
• Bring to the boil and cook for 2 minutes.
• Reduce heat and simmer for another 8 minutes.
• Take them out with slotted spoon and set aside.
• Bring the remaining stock back to the boil and add the carrots, cook al dente, drain and repeat with the cauliflower and brocolli.
• Cut the chicken in chunks of 2 cm, arrange in an oven proof dish.
• Add the vegetables and lastly the still frozen peas.
• The stock will be used for the sauce. At this point, while it is still hot, add the tarragon to the liquid.
• In a pan, melt the butter and stirr in the flour.
• Add  part of the stock and reduce heat.  Keep stirring to prevent lumps.
• Keep adding the stock and if the sauce gets too thick, you could add some extra milk or water.
• Bring to bubbling point for at least one minute and keep on stirrrrring.
• Stirr in the sourcream, season to taste.
• Distribute over the chicken and vegetables.
• After it has cooled down slightly, top off with a layer of mashed potatoes.
• Bake in the oven ( preheated 200 ° C) for 35 to 40 minutes approx.

Enjoy !
Patricia xxx...x

Pan-fried Cod, Mashed Potatoes, Sauteed Leeks and a Wannabe Beurre Blanc Sauce

Sharp flavours that make my taste buds tingle.
I used homegrown leeks, the size of spring onions, but that didn't take away from the taste.

ingredients for the leeks and sauce. (serves 2)

• 6 of the finest leeks (or 2 of a normal size)
• 30 gr butter
• 100 ml chicken stock
• 1 or 2 tbsp capers
• Juice of 1 lemon
• Seasoning : salt,black pepper and nutmeg

preparation

• Clean the leeks and slice in rings
• Sautee in a little of the butter
• Add the chicken stock and simmer for another minute or so.
• Scoop the leeks out of the stock (or drain them in a colander)
• Reduce te stock a bit more
• Add the lemon juice and capers.
• Take it off the heat and stirr in the rest of the cold butter, bit by bit.
• Add seasoning to taste

For the fish

• Use cod or other white fish filets from a sustainable source (+/-200 gr per person
• 1 tbsp plain flour
• Vegetable oil (I used Olive oil) and yet another knob of butter.

• Dry the fish thoroughly and coat with the flour.
• Season with salt and pepper
• In a pan heat the oil with the butter.
• Pan fry the fish for about 2 to 3 minutes on each side,depending on the thickness.

Scoop some mashed potatoes on your plate

Arrange the fish on top (that is something my husband will never understand)

The leeks (that you kept warm) can also be arranged in a delicate manner (or not)

Scoop some (a lot) of the sauce over the fish and let it drip onto the leeks.

Finish off with a good few turns of the pepper mill.

Let the taste buds tingle

Patricia xxx...x

A Springlike Day

After busying myself with some bookkeeping  this morning, I just had to join the dogs out in the garden and sniff the crisp springlike air.

Now, what mischief can we get into ?

Don't ask, it's just a piece of an old blanket.

Nice new hairstyle you've got going there, Sam.

And then I spotted the wood pigeons up in a nest in the tree.  Surely, that is way too early ?

Patricia xxx...x

Scorzoneras or Black Salsify

It conjures up sweet memories of childhood.
My parents owned a shop of electrical appliances in the sixties and first part of the seventies. Behind the shop was my father's workshop where he did repairs, and going through the hallway at the back of the house was a large kitchen, which was my mother's domain.
It was there that she used to prepare the scorzoneras, while I often sat in the sittingroom upstairs, already hooked on TV.  No, I wasn't hooked on TV, there was no broadcasting around the clock as there is today and my father wouldn't have allowed it.  Probably I was just playing with my dolls, reading or drawing. 
Anyway, I digress.
I remember the almost, coal black roots that my mother peeled, to uncover a lovely, ivory coloured spear.  Her hands became very sticky and black (or that is how I remembered it) and I had a fascination for this vegetable, because of it.

She cut them into 3 cm pieces, cooked them in boiling water and served them with a bechamel sauce, seasoned with freshly grated nutmeg, pepper and some salt.
I loved their nutty flavour.
They must have gone out of fashion as time went by, because you could hardly find them in their fresh state at the grocer's or supermarkets anymore.  Unless, you went for the jarred version . 
It's what I usually do, to my shame. I have jars of scorzoneras in my pantry, as an emergency standby.
Now, I have thought of having them in the garden, but they have a long growing season and consequently occupy their space for good part of the year. I am about to order seeds and I'll make some  space to home these lovely winter vegeables.
Luck would have it that since living not far from my cousin, she and her husband sometimes supply us with homegrown produce and a while back she gave me some fresh scorzoneras.  Lovely.

I prepared them very simple by peeling, boiling for 10 minutes or so till al dente, then sautee in a knob of butter, dress with a splash of lemon juice, seasoning and chopped fresh parsley.

Sit them in cold water with some lemon juice when peeled, they will discolour otherwise.

How wonderfully tasty

Thank you for reading.
Patricia xxx...x

Evelyn's Balloons

It was early in the week that I spotted some balloons high up in one of the oak trees at the edge of our property.

This afternoon, while adding a bit of height to our fence to keep our escape-artiste, Millie, at home, I found the postal card lying in the long grass.

Birthday Balloons from a girl, named Evelyn, who lives in Karben.  I looked it up and it is a small town near Frankfurt in Germany.
The card will be send back to Evelyn and I will write down the link to this post, so she can see her balloons once more.

I found this such a feel-good story that I thought of sharing this with you.

Patricia xxx...x

You can take a peek in my cupboard

To any Domestic Goddess, my home must look like a tip.  
Frankly, these days I just cannot, for the life of me, get a grip on the mess that is invading our space.
I say invading, but it has been here for just over two years (it moved in at the same time we did) and it has been plotting this coup,  from the basement of the house upward, all this time.
How does one start on a Herculean task ?
It keeps me occupied......thinking about a strategy to fight back, but it also paralyses me and I lose sight of what I should tackle first.  So, I make lists.  At least then it is out of my head for a couple of days. That's when I start hearing the bulging noice of clutter, plotting again.

I have never been good with laundry, much to Bert's despair, and mine, because let's face it, after the wardrobe is empty, with just two lonesome items of clothing left, then the choice of what you'll wear that day is pretty grim.
Oh, I will have washed a couple of loads, but that would be left in the laundry basket, nicely folded..... crumpled, more likely. 
Yes, my mother has told me many times that I should keep the laundry under controle and get into a routine, and fold it straight away, when it comes out of the tumble dryer or of the washing line. It makes it easier to iron, that I also should keep on top off. Then when everything is folded and ironed it should be put in the wardrobes pronto. 
Well, I know what I should do, but at the ripe old age of 48 it's never going to happen, is it ?

Or maybe it will.  Never have I been the proud owner of a proper wardrobe or dressing that is suitable for modern day life. I love our antique wardrobe, it is beautiful, so is the dresser with mirror,  but only a small percentage of our clothing fits in there and it just isn't very practical.
We have recently decorated the bedroom and landing, I might even post some pictures at a later stage. Off the landing there is to one side a rather small (think 'very' small) storage space under the sloping ceiling - well that is where our miniature dressing room is being made.  We can just about stand upright, if we don't venture to far in, but it will work with careful planning.
The antique wardrobe and it's cousin, the dresser, will still be used, albeit in a different way.
And the laundry ? I made a start and will continue to take pleasure and also a bit of pride in ironing, folding and putting everything in it's proper place.

The sensible thing to do now is slay one dragon at a time, tidy one room at a time, tackle one thing at a time.


Now would you like to take a peek in my cupboard ?  It has been surprisingly tidy for a long long time.

Thanks for reading
Patricia xxx...x

Homemade Crusty Baguette

For 2 baguettes of 350 gr. each
Preheat oven to 240°C - 220°C (fan) and bake for 25 to 30 minutes
This bread should be eaten on the same day, preferably still warm with a knob of salted butter.

ingredients

• 15 gr fresh yeast (or equivalent in dried yeast)
• 40 ml tepid water
• 500 gr strong white flour
• 270  ml tepid water
• 10 gr salt

preparation

• In a small bowl mix yeast with the 40 ml of tepid water and set aside for 20 minutes.
• In the bowl of  your food mixer, add the flour that you bring together with some of the water (the amount of water can be rectified at a later stage as it depends on how much or little moisture your flour contains)
• Add the yeast mixture.
• Knead well for a couple of minutes, adding more water when needed.
• Add the salt and knead for another 10 minutes
• The dough should be pliable, but not stick to the hands.

• Leave to prove, in the bowl, covered with a clean kitchen towel for about 45 minutes.

• When the dough has doubled in size, put it on the flour-dusted worktop.
• With the ball of your hand, gently press it out into a sheet of 1 to 2 cm thickness.



• Lift one corner and roll the dough onto itself diagonally, to a sausage or baguette shape
• Place seam side down on a baking tray that you lined with baking paper.

• Cover with clean kitchen towel and leave to rise for 30 minutes to 1 hour (this depends, obviously, on the room temperature)
• Make two cuts into the bread diagonally of approx 0,5 cm deep


• Bake for 30 minutes

Fish and Chips, Tartare Sauce and Mushy Peas

I sometimes forget  that we once ran a Fish and Chips shop in Ireland (for about three months, ahum)
How did that come about ?
Well, there was this chippy in our village that only opened during the summer months as the owner was a teacher and lived in Dublin, so he would spend his holidays in Sneem, frying up bucket loads of fish.
We came to an agreement that we would keep it open during the winter on the weekends (Friday, Saturday and Sunday).  We were full of good intentions and I would make lovely fresh foods.  He warned me, did John, that most people would not appreciate good food when they stumbled out of the pub after closing time.  How right was he !
There would be a trickle of appreciative punters coming early on in the evenings, but between 11 pm and 1 am it was mahem.
Sorry to say this, good people of Sneem, but when you're drunk, you suck.  
I'll leave it at that, because we are hoping to return one day ;-) and it was an experience that I don't regret.
Anyway, we soon figured out that it wasn't the most fulfilling job in the world.  We washed the pots, drained the fryers, locked the door and returned the keys.

Recipes

Fish in Beer Batter

ingredients

• 4 x 175 gr fish filet (haddock, cod, halibut... from a sustainable source)
• 2 tbsp corn flour
• 225 gr self raising flour
• 1 tsp paprika powder
• 250 ml cold beer
• 100 ml cold water
• 2 liters vegetable oil (I use sunflower oil) It might seem like a waste of oil, but when cooled, I drain and store it for later use - just label it ie. 'fishy oil'

preparation

• Prepare the batter by sieving the self raising flour and paprika into a bowl.
• Pour in the water and beer.
• Mix well and put in the fridge for half an hour.
• Pour the oil in a deep cooking pot (or use deep-fat fryer) and heat to about 180° c (I have a special frying pot for the hob, that I keep for frying anything but chips) I check the heat of the oil by dropping in a small piece of bread, when it starts to colour golden brown, I know it is hot enough.
• Dry the fish filets thoroughly with kitchen paper and cover with the corn flour.  Shake of the excess.
• Then dip the fish into the batter (that you have stirred a little after its rest in the fridge).
• Carefully sink the fish into the hot oil and fry until golden brown. You may have to turn it halfway through the cooking time, so that it colours nicely on both sides.
• Scoop out the fish with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper.

Chips
We love a good quantity of chips, because we are greedy, so the amount of potatoes you use is entirely up to you.
I double fry them, we all do in Belgium.  The first fry you can do well in advance, so you can let the chips cool down completely, gives better results (apparently), but it is not a necessity.
Use floury potatoes, they brown nicely and don't go limp like their waxy relative.  Now, when I am in the mood for chips, any old potato will do.

ingredients

• 2 large potatoes per  person
• vegetable oil (I use sunflower oil - about 3 liters in my deep fat fryer)
• sea salt

preparation

• Heat the oil in the fryer to 120° c
• Peel the potatoes and wash them in  cold water.
• Dry them well in a clean kitchen towel.
• First cut them in 1 cm thick sliced and then cut them into chips - work lengthways for longer ones. I cut them in the towel and dry them very well
• Put a good handfull of chips into  the frying basket. Fry them for about 5 minutes. Don't overload  or they will be soggy from the word go.
• When they become more transluscent, lift them out and drain on kitchen paper in a tray. Spread them out to speed up the cooling process.
• Do the rest of the potaoes the same way.
• For the second frying, heat the oil to 195° c.
• Cook the chips in somewhat larger batches than the frist time.  They will only need a minute till they are golden.
• Drain them again on kitchen paper and add salt straight away. Serve.

Mushy Peas
No, this isn't a recipe for a sluggish grey - green mush, neither is it going to turn out electric green.  Just a fresh tasting, slightly sweet and minty dollop of peas.
This was originally made with dried peas, which are always a good pantry item to have as they are full of goodness.... but I used frozen - it is quicker.

ingredients

• 400 gr frozen garden peas
• 1 knob of butter
• a good few mint leaves ( you can cheat and use a tsp of mint sauce, but hey ho,  only if you don't have fresh mint at hand)
• Salt and black pepper

preparation

• On the hob, melt the butter in a pan.
• Pour in the frozen peas
• Leave to simmer on a low heat, with lid on until tender, stirring occasionally.
• Take a spoonful of peas out and set aside.
• Use a handheld blender to puree the peas, add seasoning and the chopped mint.  Stirr in the whole peas.
• They can be reheated just before serving.

Tartare Sauce
Lots of recipes around, and even I have many variations.  This is the recipe of a very basic tartare sauce.

ingredients

• 2 large gherkins
• 1 small onion, peeled
• 1 tbsp capers
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
• 3 tbsp mayonnaise

preparation

• finely chop the gherkins and onions  (or grate them - don't be a wuss) and chop the capers
• mix into the mayonnaise together with the parsley. 

How easy was that !

Lemon Posset

I love desserts that require minimum effort, but give you maximum satisfaction, in the words of Gino D'Acampo .
Lemon Posset is one of these desserts, terrifyingly easy to make, with only 3 ingredients and you have to do it well in advance for it to set, so you can forget about it whilst having your dinner party and whip it out of the fridge the moment you want to serve.

At the end of November we had a get-together with the choir.  Cheese and wine, bread and fruits to dip into. Some of the choir members took care of the desserts and I made Lemon Posset - 40 of them. 
They were a hit, as I expected.

I use Nigel Slater's recipe  as a guidance, but add lemon zest to the cream, and strain it out afterwards.

5oo ml double cream
150g caster sugar
75ml lemon juice

Put the cream and caster sugar in a saucepan and bring to the boil, stirring occasionally to dissolve the sugar. Lower the heat and leave to bubble for about 3 minutes, stirring from time to time. Reduce the heat so that the mixture doesn't boil over, and let it bubble enthusiastically for about 3 minutes, stirring regularly.

Remove from the heat, stir in the lemon juice and leave to settle. Pour into four small wine glasses or cups and leave to cool. Refrigerate for a couple of hours before serving

  
    

                                     

  

Nederlands
Lemon Posset voor 4 glaasjes

Ingrediënten

                    500 ml volle room (35 à 40%
                    150 gr witte suiker (gries of kristal)
                     75 ml citroensap  en 1 schijfje schil van onbespoten citroen

Werkwijze

          Op het vuur breng room met suiker aan de kook
          Regelmatig roeren zodat de suiker oplost
          Vuur lager zetten en 3 minuten zachtjes laten pruttelen
          dan 3 minuten enthusiast laten bubbelen(voorzichtig voor overkoken)
          Van het vuur nemen en citroensap door roeren
          Laat de grootste hitte afkoelen, neem het schijfje schil eruit en schenk            het mengsel in glaasjes
          Laat verder afkoelen en zet in koelkast tot gebruik
          Zeker een dag op voorhand maken dat het voldoende kan opstijven

Season's Greetings

ChristmasTraditions and Rituals

As I am not religious, I have always thought I didn't have Christmas Rituals and I don't, not for the 25th December persé, but somewhere around that time I do celebrate Winter Solstice and I must admit that I have very pinickity rituals for the decorations.

Every year around September I say that I won't put up any decorations, much to Bert's delight, little does he know what goes on in my head (probably he does, but doesn't want to jinx or provoke))

By the time November arrives, I have changed my mind umpteen times.

The weekend after December 6th, Bert and I will go out to buy a christmas tree, me prodding him on.

He will say "Let's get a fake one, eh"  I will ignore or pretend I didn't hear that. or if I am in awful mood (it happens) I will give him a mouthful of mild abuse.

He knows what is coming. I am very, very peculiar in choosing a tree : as large as we can fit into the sitting room, a perfect shape, beautiful branches, no spruce, but a noble fir or something like that. It means I have handled almost every tree that is for sale and if I cannot find it in one place, we'll be off to the next. Meanwhile I'll ask Bert to hold the tree upright, turning it, so I can see from a little distance if it will do.

The man who sells the trees is already scratching his head and tuttuting loudly.

I complain that the tall trees don't have roots on them.

When I have finaly found one, it is loaded onto the roof rack of the car and off we go.

We get home, we haul the tree inside, try to fit it into place, propping it up, tying it to whatever. Is it facing the right way ? etc, etc. By that time dear Bert is really fed up with all that pallaver and he lets me unpack all the christmas decorations. Ooooh, I have about 20 sets of fairy lights, all tangled up, only 2 working. I only like white lights,the non blinking ones. The last task I can make Bert do is untangle the fairy lights and then I'm on my own. I lovingly decorate the tree, the first christmas CD of the year playing, a glass of port, or two. I am so shattered at the end of it. I'll tidy up tomorrow.Gradually I will add more greenery and foliage to the house and then it's christmas.Lovely

We've always had people around for the festive season : friends, relatives, volunteers (wwoofers). A full house means a lot of cooking and do I love anything better than feeding people ?

This year it will be different. 

After 22 years with Bert I have finally succumbed to an artificial christmas tree and isn't it a beauty !?

I won't be cooking for hours (days) on end to get the perfect meal, in stead we have been invited to friends for christmas dinner. 

I will put up my feet and have the most relaxed festive season,  EVER !

Ding Dong

Well, coming back to edit this post and scrap the last line.

Looks like I will be cooking afterall, for 8 people (of which 3 vegetarians) on the 26th.  Better start planning the menu, methinks. 1o days to go !

The Ding Dong still stands.