A spectacular lunch

Can’t resist posting a picture of this rather spectacular dish I enjoyed during the recent visit South – an unusual blue-black risotto made with squid ink, with grilled, very tender slices of squid (I suspect not from the same animal!) on top,  garnished with crispy butterfly wings of spicy, biscuity batter, a few dots of red pepper and parsley, and a good artistic splodge of a bright mussel and saffron  sauce. 

I am so fond of risottos in winter, particularly if I don’t have to stand around tending them. This presentation is very impressive to a rural harvester, but it somehow promises a little more than it delivers.

 

Urban Harvest, Riviera Style

 

The harvesters were delighted to find oranges ripening on the streets of several resorts on the South coast of France – but uncertain of local protocol with regard to “urban harvesting”, so left these beautiful fruit on their trees.  Other missed opportunities were prickly pears,which grow wild in many places, lemons and rosemary.

Mimosalia

A lovely memory of recent trip to the South of France to hold on to while we are battling our way out of the current blanket of snow. The mimosa is actually an Australian export which blooms January to February in the Northern hemisphere. Grows very well in sheltered and warm areas, not only on the French Riviera but also in parts of the UK. I once foolishly gave my mother (in Devon) a small specimen 18 inches high, which in no time at all grew into a monster (for her small garden) and had to be severely hacked back at regular intervals.

The blossoming branches can be cut for flower arrangements as here, adding a vibrant canary yellow explosion to homes, but don’t last very long at all – we were advised to plunge  ours into hot water (50 degrees Celsius to give them a better start. Bormes, like several other Riviera towns, always out to attract the well-heeled migrant and extend the hotel season, associates itself with the mimosa tree, which lines the streets and enlivens gardens, and celebrates winter with a gardening festival.

Tiny knitting

A quick look at this week’s knitting project. The exhibit with red needles was found in a church bazaar a couple of months ago, and, I thought, even I can do the same. My prototype is the purple one. Dab a bit of PVA on the more lethal ends of  a couple of cocktail sticks, push a bead on and leave to dry. The sticks may need a little scrub with sandpaper if they are not smooth enough. Do the knitting in embroidery thread (all 6 strands) or similar, on short, thin needles (mine were size 13s).  I suppose if you are really clever you could put initials/designs etc on the knitting as well. Transfer the knitting to one cocktail stick for the last row, and fasten the other cocktail stick on by winding round some thread. Sew a brooch fastening or a small safety pin on the reverse side with the embroidery thread and fasten off loose threads securely.

You may wish to ensure the pointy ends of the sticks are blunted, and don’t give to small children! It took me about half an hour to do one, but I’m so clumsy with tiny things. Ideal gifts for your friends and knitting buddies!

Burns night – and the morning after.

I have to say straight away that the Harvesters have not a scrap of Scottish blood, but music (even bagpipes) , poetry and of course food are vital parts of our lives. When Burns Night comes round, we like to celebrate in our own mild way, of course with a haggis (which may be a home made vegan recipe or, as last night, an unprepossessing commercial thing in a plastic casing). Pipe it in with the cheesiest Scottish bagpipe CD from a charity shop, address the beast in the traditional manner (our Scottish accents are dreadful), plunge sharp knife in and serve up with healthy boiled swede and mashed potatoes.

To finish off, a healthy version of crannachan as follows: a pot of Greek-style yoghurt (in honour of the Athens of the North), some pinhead oats, toasted in a dry frying pan and sieved (about 25g per person should do it), some raspberries (alas, frozen at this time of year) and, perhaps, a wee dram of whisky if your guests don’t mind. A 15 year old malt is not absolutely necessary, unless that’s all you have. Mix it all together and put into verrines, if you are being elegant, or small dessert bowls if you are still hungry after all that haggis. Some of the unsievable oats can be sprinkled on top, and any remaining goes in the morning porridge. This dessert can be made in advance and refrigerated until required. The longer you leave it, however, the mushier the raspberries.

The “morning after” version can have a larger quantity of oats and, waiter, hold the whisky.

 

 

 

 

A cold windy day

Fine but bitterly cold – comfort food beckons, and since Sourdough has been doing nothing much for a week or so, it’s time to haul her out of the fridge, use her and rejuvenate her. A plateful of mini pancakes is now ready to freeze, but of course first of all they need to be tested! Could be smoked salmon and cream cheese, mashed avocado and tomato, Marmite…or just a dollop of home made strawberry jammmmmmmmmm!

Eating our greens

It may look luxuriant but actually this winter’s veg patch is not a success; sprouts the size of peas, early purple sprouting broccoli which was neither early, nor sprouting nor purple, feeble curly kale….a dry summer and a niggardly gardener to blame. However, it’s all green, crunchy and edible, it’s all been going in the pot together, and last Sunday’s Observer had a particularly welcome risotto recipe by Nigel Slater, which I adapted for tea tonight.

A selection of garden leaves (broccoli leaves, kale, spinach, sprouts and chard), carefully washed and chopped up, particularly the stalks. Note secret ingredient – a dollop of Noilly Prat.

 While the haddock simmers gently in milk, we start off the risotto, mixing the greens in with the first lot of fish stock.

 

 

 

 

The milk from the haddock goes in as well, and results in a savoury, warming, creamy risotto (and definitely not a fishy rice pudding), no extra salt required.

NB Nigel Slater’s quantities of 250g rice and 450g fish for two servings seems enormous – my usual guidelines would be 60g rice and 100g of fish per serving – in fact if you up the veg a bit (his baby spinach wouldn’t count much to your five a day), you could cut the fish to 100g for two…

POST SCRIPT: The cat was offered the haddock skins, but declined to partake thereof.

Holy sheet!

In the interests of the three Rs (reduce, reuse, recycle) and because my time is of no value to anyone except myself at present, I’ve been trying to turn a sheet. For anyone under the age of 75, this means giving worn out flat sheets a new lease of life by cutting the sheet in half down the middle, top to bottom, and joining the former outer edges in a flat seam. So the worn middle moves to the outside edge, and the relatively unworn edges are brought to the middle. This gives your sheet a few extra years of life, but of course makes it a couple of inches narrower with the join, which may be a problem if they were fitted, or ungenerously cut to start with. Took me a couple of hours since I’m so cack-handed, but was surprisingly easy, particularly with these cotton sheets with conveniently placed stripes. Incidentally I have owned these sheets for over 20 years, and they weren’t new when I got them….

A somewhat pathetic start to the New Year after a productive December

Harvesting, typing, and a number of other activities have been rather perfunctory recently, due to a worsening tennis (or perhaps jam-maker’s) elbow. Hopefully the course of exercises advised by the physiotherapist will get us back to normal soon.

Meanwhile,  a fond glance at recent experiments:

Firstly, an addition to the repertoire on behalf of our local pub – red onion marmalade – our own thyme, but unfortunately home grown onions and home-brewed vinegar were too precious to send away.

And secondly, an unsettling view of the jelly making process:

resulting in a beautifully clear sloe jelly just right for roast game…

The day of reckoning

Sainte Barbe would be pleased, I think. The wheat has grown splendidly, promising a prosperous New Year, and I’ll plant it out after Epiphany to see what it does in the garden…..

Meanwhile, today’s project was chicken liver pâté and sloe jelly for the first course…

 The apples and sloes cooking down nicely…

The new jelly stand is a somewhat unprepossessing addition to the batterie de cuisine, but it does work better than the previous improvised sieve arrangements…

And the finished article with toast and a glass of sherry by the fire, with this evening’s batch of dried apples on the go. Christmas starts here!