[Joepicalli]

Nice work, Joe. Me and Mr Alderson just enjoyed being very lucky boys whilst having a 3 day quick skiing mission in France. The half metre of fresh powder aside, all the hotels in Flaine were fully booked so we had to stay in a small hotel 15 minutes down the hill - owned by a lovely couple whose gourmet restaurent would almost certainly be in the offing for a Michelin star if it was in this country.....

The menu ( http://news.lacroixdesavoie.fr/lacroixdesavoie/uk/carte.asp ) contained stella examples of the local specialities, and was matched in its extent and quality by the wine list. All in all highly recommended, and had me and Grom pontificating long into the night about fine food and wine - me punching way above my weight - could have been the cognac.....

Now I'm off to find a recipe for Farcement that I can adapt to include apricots and Marc de Savoie - just like the one that had us in raptures the other day. Incidentally, anybody who hasn't made a Tartiflette yet needs to find a good cheese shop with unpasturised Reblochon and a recipe. Fine winter food if ever there was an example.

Sweet!

[Percy B]

Oh, and on your recommendation we had a very pleasant bottle of Vaquerayas to wash down my Tartiflette and Graemes rack of lamb. Most enjoyable! I'll have to get Grom to fill you in on the other delights of the wine list - Wednesday nights desert wine was awesome! It name now escapes me, strangely.....

[Joepicalli]

You and Lucy will have to come over for a bite sometime, pity 'bout luce not being able to drink at the mo.....NOT

[LucyB]

You and Lucy will have to come over for a bite sometime, pity 'bout luce not being able to drink at the mo.....NOT

Yeah, and no unpastuerised cheese (Reblochon out, then); no blue cheese which I 'm really craving; no parma ham or salami...

Do pregnant ladies in France get the same advice about these things, or is it just traditional British over-cautiousness?

[Houdini]

We're very for zee trad here in zee Reich, and it's Easter, so after scoffing we eat the Russian dessert, Pascha (made & modelled by Papa-fraudini)



For 10 people.

1.25kg Magerquark (curd)
0.5L Süße sahne (sweet cream - single)
6 Eigelb (egg yolks)
125g Butter
125g Zucker (sugar)
0.5-1 teaspoon vanilla (fresh ground)
200g Rosinen (raisins)
200g Abgezogene gehackte Mandeln (sliced blanced almonds)

1 Mix quark/curd and cream.

2 Eggyolks, butter, sugar, and vanille - mix till they fluff-up.

3 Mix the products of 1 and 2 together very carefully.  Fold it together.

4 Add raisins and almonds, again fold in carefully.

5 Take one plant pot or similar (think a bowl w/ a hole in the centre) c.3L capacity.  Lay one towel or cheesecloth over.  Add the mix to the bowl over the cloth.  Fold the cloth over.  Add a plate smaller in diameter than the bowl to the top of the mix in the cloth and weight down with a bag of sugar, for example.  leave for 12 hours minimum.  Ensuring all the liquid in the towel drains out through the hole in the plantpot.  Do this in a cool place such as a cellar. 

When ready to serve, unwrap, transfer to plate.  Eat, have gastro-orgasm, die.

It's fucking  b o s s !

[Jaspersharpe]

Wow. That looks like proper heart attack material. Drool.

[Jaspersharpe]

Do pregnant ladies in France get the same advice about these things, or is it just traditional British over-cautiousness?

The latter.

[robertostallioni]

Put me down for a big slice. I would like to eat it spoon free, but I think you might as well smear it all over your arse as that's where its going anyway.

[fatdoc]

You and Lucy will have to come over for a bite sometime, pity 'bout luce not being able to drink at the mo.....NOT

Yeah, and no unpastuerised cheese (Reblochon out, then); no blue cheese which I 'm really craving; no parma ham or salami...

Do pregnant ladies in France get the same advice about these things, or is it just traditional British over-cautiousness?

IMO after the 1st trimester it's your normal diet sod it. however that's a fatherhood family type lifestyle opinion ( wife not on the cheese, but is on the salami - no not in that way), and not one of a UK medical practioner...

[fatdoc]

quote box gone all funny, sorry... on the father in law's laptop after a PERFECT day out on lakes lime esoterica... dry, cold (not too) and as expected clean infrequently climbed rough limestone!!!

however, this PC has firefox, and all sorts of weird things are going on...

BTW, best sausage in the UK is in brougton - in - furness... I'll be bringing 5 big rings back at least i'm sure 

[Houdini]

Blumenthal & Little Chef revival plan

[Joepicalli]

Houdini's strained quark pascha reminds me of the infinitely sex Indian dessert shrikhand :
900g plain yogurt
180g caster sugar
1tsp cardamon seeds(crush)
1tsp pistachio nuts (crush)
300g tinned mandrarins
Strain the yogurt through a muslin cloth into a bowl over night (see the connection with Houdini's dad-in-law's dish?)
add the sugar and stir in, leave for 1/2 hr
beat in the mix until light and smooth (by hand, use a spoon rather than a whisk)
Add 1/2 the cardamon and the fruit and mix them in gently
refrigerate
add the rest of the cardamon and the pistachios to the individual portions before serving

[Joepicalli]

Wild Garlic update.
Been plundering the huge patch in my wood.
And fuckin' with it:
Upshot:
Buck rabbit with wild garlic:
2 ways:
First catch your wild garlic, chop until dead.
Make a really thick roux in one pan
reduce 200ml of good honest ale (brown around 4.2-6%) by abt 1/3 in another
add 1 shit load of cheddar to the roux
while adding the cheddar add the reduced beer. Keep the whole thing just flowing.
add heaped tablespoon of wholegrain mustard.
add the wild garlic
toast one side of the bread
flip the bread.
dollop on the rabbit
add some worcestershire sauce
grill till bubbling.
Second way: (more authentic but trickier)
instead of making a roux and adding the cheese- warm a small amount of milk in the pan and add the cheese. It will string up and look really gackky (kind of curdled, but this is good) but keep adding cheese and a bit of milk as necessary and you end up with a lumppy deliciousness to which you add the beer slowly and more cheese, keeping the consistency like a badly made fondue (which is what you are trying to get actually).
Do the rest as above.
It is a brilliant showcase for wild garlic.
 
 

[fatdoc]

read a Jamie recipe.... then sort of made this up..

Wild Boar.... cube it... fry it off in onion and garlic.... use a lot of rosemary and thyme with plum tomatoes........ half bottle Chianti.. lowest simmer in the world for hrs....


Chuck in some cooked well posh big pasta and hard cheese of your choice.....liberal amounts of chopped rosemary et voila!


it's really really good....

[Fatleg]

Sounds good. Where's the boar from - your estate???+

[GraemeA]

I'll have to get Graeme to fill you in on the other delights of the wine list - Wednesday nights desert wine was awesome!

It was a Jurancon, can't remember the name of the Domaine but I have a bottle or 2 of it in my cellar (by lucky chance) - it's available from the Wine Society

[fatdoc]

Sounds good. Where's the boar from - your estate???+

Boldocks in woodseats... it's from a farm near chesser, recommended by nick buckingham (owns the restaurant with one table.... very cool place)

[Percy B]

Just been given a large piece of topside of beef (about 1.5 kg piece) from a very guilty local farmer who lost our cat from his cattery whilst we were away in France, (no worries though as The Reverend (as he's known) quested home on his tod, over the course of 4 days! At least he's lost a bit of weight...)

Anybody have any interesting recipe ideas (for the beef, NOT the cat), other than the obvious option of just having a slap-up roast dinner.

[Houdini]

The half metre of fresh powder aside...

Man, that is a lot of coke!  You must've been sky high! 

[slackline]

Just been given a large piece of topside of beef (about 1.5 kg piece) from a very guilty local farmer who lost our cat from his cattery whilst we were away in France, (no worries though as The Reverend (as he's known) quested home on his tod, over the course of 4 days! At least he's lost a bit of weight...)

Anybody have any interesting recipe ideas (for the beef, NOT the cat), other than the obvious option of just having a slap-up roast dinner.

Sounds like a good candidate for beef wellington.  Never cooked it myself though, so don't have a recipe to share, sorry.

[Nibile]

this is just to let bonjoy know that yesterday night i cooked and ate (with friend andrea) one kg of tripes with onion and tomato sauce.

[Houdini]

  That is a lot of tripes, Nibs!

[Bonjoy]

Nice! I'd like to have been at that dinner table.

Tesco on Abbeydale road are selling packs of 12 whole frozen Langoustine for £2. Very nice to find a UK supermarket selling them whole rather than covered in cheap bread crumbs. Have had two meals with these now. I'd recomend one pack per person. You don't get a lot of meat out of each one, but you do get a lot of flavour out of the heads, shells and claws. Both times I make a pasta sauce by reducing the wine stock I had cooked them in and adding lots of garlic lightly cooked in a liberal amount of olive oil. Other ingredients: Saffron, Bay, a little cream, half a small red chilli, half a small onion cut into fine half rings and some thinly sliced courgette (add late so it stays crisp). It's important to crack the shells and squeeze out the heads to get the most flavour.

Also of note for the gourmandes. We are presently in the very short Morel season. Keep your eyes out on mulched bed, dying ash/apple trees, sites of forest fires, especially on sandy chalk soils. I got me my annual harvest last week and made a gratin with potatoes, cream and pancetta, m m mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

[fatdoc]

Nice! I'd like to have been at that dinner table.

Tesco on Abbeydale road are selling packs of 12 whole frozen Langoustine for £2. Very nice to find a UK supermarket selling them whole rather than covered in cheap bread crumbs. Have had two meals with these now. I'd recomend one pack per person. You don't get a lot of meat out of each one, but you do get a lot of flavour out of the heads, shells and claws. Both times I make a pasta sauce by reducing the wine stock I had cooked them in and adding lots of garlic lightly cooked in a liberal amount of olive oil. Other ingredients: Saffron, Bay, a little cream, half a small red chilli, half a small onion cut into fine half rings and some thinly sliced courgette (add late so it stays crisp). It's important to crack the shells and squeeze out the heads to get the most flavour.

Also of note for the gourmandes. We are presently in the very short Morel season. Keep your eyes out on mulched bed, dying ash/apple trees, sites of forest fires, especially on sandy chalk soils. I got me my annual harvest last week and made a gratin with potatoes, cream and pancetta, m m mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

quality bonjoy..

i'll be off to tescos then...

[Houdini]

I'm a constant curry experimenter; mostly vegetarian.

Can anyone provide any recipes?  Mostly looking @ different spice combo's; at the mo' cardomon and coriander are favoured.

Meanwhile in the kitchen cooks a potato, carrot, red onion and brown mushroom curry in a plum tomato and Oz shiraz sauce.  It's spiced with 2 chopped lemongrass sticks, 3 tiny fierce fresh chillies, whole cumin and black onion seeds, 6 green cardomon pods (minus pods, so all is easily edible) a tsp of tumeric, salt and finally garam masala.   No idea what it will turn out like; as JR is fond of saying: doubt is important part of any meaningful exercise.

Fraudini will prepare a strawberry, mango and fresh coriander chutney this evening to accompany it.