A Basque flavour 1: Poulet Basquaise

We spent quite a while in the Pays Basque these holidays, revisiting the ancestral home of my mother's family and reconnecting with many of my aunts, uncles and cousins there. And eating lovely Basque food of course!
The cornerstones of savoury Basque cuisine are red and green capsicums/bell peppers, as well as the long 'sweet peppers'; tomatoes; onions and garlic; and of course the lovely chilli powder known as 'piment d'Espelette', which is made from the long peppers grown there and which has a lovely sweet yet spicy flavour--something in between paprika and hot chilli. Added to dishes during cooking, it really gives a great spicy tingle; sprinkled on afterwards, you get the fruity flavour but it's less 'hot'. Whatever, it's used on everything there--eggs, meat, fish, even occasionally sweets! You can order it in Australia, here and here for instance, but if you can't find it, you can try substituting a hot paprika(not quite as good, as paprika is ground much finer than piment d'Espelette--the latter is quite coarse, which gives it more flavour. )
I'm posting on this blog a couple of recipes that are absolute Basque classics and quite easy to make. This one is for Poulet basquaise , or Basque-style chicken, and in the next one I will republish David's great recipe for a simple Gateau Basque, THE Basque cake par excellence!

Poulet basquaise

Ingredients: (for 4 people)

1 kg chicken pieces, diced--or a whole chicken, cut into pieces

4 good truss tomatoes(or use a can of tomatoes)

1 large onion

2 capsicums--1 green, 1 red

2 cloves garlic

1 bay leaf, pinch thyme, parsley

salt

piment d' Espelette powder --or if you don't have any, a hot paprika powder can substitute

salt and pepper to taste

olive oil for frying

Chop the onion and fry it and the crushed garlic in the olive oil. Separately, saute the chicken pieces in some more olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste(don't add too much pepper, as the piment/paprika powder will be added later) . 

Add the chopped capsicums to the onion and garlic mix, sit well, then add the herbs, and stir a little more. Now add the tomatoes, and cook till the sauce is nice and thick.

Add the sauce to the cooked chicken pieces, sprinkle in some paprika/piment powder, and simmer for about half an hour, till the chicken is completely cooked through. If the saice starts sticking, add a little water, just enough to deglaze the bottom.

Serve with extra chopped parsley and paprika/piment powder on top. Goes well with rice.

Easy yoghurt

The yoghurt in process of setting.

We have made our own yoghurt for years and it's excellent, much cheaper than the store-bought variety, and very easy to make. And you need no special equipment. I've been asked to put up the recipe(which is David's invention!)so here it is. We only ever use full cream milk for it as it's such a much better taste; you can experiment with skim but it doesn't set as well, I believe.

David's yoghurt

Ingredients: 1 litre UHT full cream milk, 3 spoonfuls powdered full cream milk, 1 spoonful live yoghurt culture(we use Greek-style yogurt--must be full cream milk yoghurt). Once you have made this once, you just keep back one spoonful from your own yoghurt to make the next batch.

Mix the UHT milk, powdered milk and spoonful of yogurt till well-combined. Heat the mixture to blood temperature(ie the temp of a baby's bottle). Pour into lidded icecream container or similar, and keep at a constant temperature--either in a foam esky or in the linen cupboard or similar.It needs to sit a few hours like that. If you make this in the morning you can then, at end of day, take it out of wherever it's been sitting, and put it in fridge. The next morning, it'll be set and ready to eat!

Visit to a goat farm in southern France

I am back in my sister's home region of the Aude in southern France and last night had some excellent goat cheeses made by a local producer, Xavier Tissot; Two years ago, when we were here, we went to his farm open day, which was very interesting, so today I thought I would republish the article I wrote then about it!

Visit to a local goat farm
We had a very interesting afternoon the other day visiting a local farm, Bourdichou, which specialises in one hundred percent organic goat cheese produced using traditional methods with goats fed entirely off the organic feed produced on the farm itself. Lucky goats--they get not only the usual kind of feed of barley, grass and sainfoin(a coarse hay type feed) but also high quality green lentils produced on the farm, of the Puy variety, of which the farm produces about 6 tonnes. (The lentils are also sold to humans and are delicious!)
As well as buying some excellent cheese and having a bit of a tour of the 30-strong goat herd, who were all very bright-eyed and bushy tailed and very friendly as they are handled a lot, we were also treated to a very interesting free 45 minute slide presentation by owner Xavier Tissot, who explained everything about the farm, how it's run, what crops are grown, what the programme of each day is, etc. This is an added bonus of a visit to the farm to buy cheese--call ahead of time and you can also assist at one of these presentations(best done in a group or family). By the way they have an excellent  and informative website with all contact details and info on how to get there, http://www.aude-chevrerie.com/
The Bourdichou farm is situated in gorgeous rolling countryside in the Aude region, and consists of 102 hectares, supporting 30 high-yielding goats in constant milking. From those 30 goats, milked twice a day, the Tissots get 22,500 litres of milk per year, which converts into 34,700 cheeses a year, or around 120 a day. From the milk, the Tissots make only cheese, in different varieties: plain, flavoured with onions or rosemary, or oregano or thyme or lavender, and also rolled in pepper. (They also sell honey from their own hives as well as lentils). It's plain to see the goats are thriving; they are all extremely healthy, bright and curious and very productive. They also each have a name, as they are very much a part of the family and Xavier Tissot speaks of them with great affection and humour--one funny observation he made was, 'Goats are rather like adolescents; they can veer from endearing to very annoying in record time!' The goats are out in the fields grazing half the day (where they have to be watched)and half the day in their comfortable shed where they are given their hay, grain and lentils.
Of course it's a huge amount of work for the family for it is a never ending cycle. Market days are particularly heavy for the milking has to start at 4.30 am and does not finish till 7pm! Days where markets aren't happening are slightly less heavy--they get an extra hour's sleep and don't have to get up till 5.30 am! Then of course there is the crop work, which they do get outside help with, but still do most of it themselves.
The Tissots only do direct sales--from the farm gate, at local markets where they go several days a week, at special fairs and gastronomic events and occasionally from people who have been to the farm before ordering over the phone or online. They don't sell to restaurants, and most of their sales  are at markets. But if you are travelling in the region, I would urge you to go and visit the farm directly, for not only do you get the chance to buy the products at the very spot where they are made, but you also get an absorbing insight into how the life of a farm.
And the cheese? We bought a platter of it, about six or seven cheeses, in different varieties and it was all absolutely delightful, fresh, tasty and very very more-ish, with the platter being demolished very rapidly. And it was only 10 euros for the whole lot--an absolute steal! Highly recommended.

Pippa's delicious salmon gravlax revisited

Today I thought I'd republish my daughter Pippa's recipe for a spectacular salmon gravlax, which I first published on this blog back in 2011. She'd made it for Christmas--but it's something that can be enjoyed at any time of the year, for any special occasion!


Cured in salt, sugar, fresh grated beetroot and orange juice, it looks and tastes fantastic, and is prepared in minutes(though you need to leave it for 24 hours to cure before serving).

Here's her recipe, with quantities suitable for a half-side of fresh salmon, skin off.  (Just modify quantities depending on how much salmon you have)


You need three grated beetroots and 3 juiced and zested oranges. Mix together with some sprigs of dill and pop it in a long china or glass dish big enough to hold the salmon. Then mix 100 g of sea salt(coarse)and 3/4 caster(fine) sugar and coat fish in it, pressing it in on both sides. Then put salmon on top of beet/orange mixture, cover with plastic wrap and keep in the fridge for 24 hours. The next day, take it out, wipe off any excess salt/sugar with a cloth , take the salmon out of the dish and slice it thinly to serve. Serve it with sliced Spanish onions, thinly sliced cucumber, and a cream cheese and caper mix on the side.

A simple and tasty autumn meal

In autumn, I crave foods that are not quite so hearty as in winter but are still warmly satisfying; colourful too with a nod back towards summer yet reinvented for the season. Simple to prepare, yet satisfyingly pretty. A meal such as the one I made the other day.

It started with an entree of avocado and roasted tomatoes on roasted bread. The tomatoes and the bread with both brushed with olive oil and roasted at high heat for only a short while, till the tomatoes were cooked and the bread crisp and golden. Then I sliced an avocado, laid it on the roasted bread, topped it with the tomatoes, salt, pepper, and chopped sage. Totally delicious!

The main course was a home-made version of that pub favourite, crumbed lamb cutlets. Nice little chops brushed with egg then rolled in seasoned breadcrumbs, pan-fried, then served with chopped coriander, garlic, and home-made preserved lemons. Accompanying them was couscous, cooked in herby stock, and fresh home-grown spinach. very satisfying indeed!

And to finish(but not illustrated), meringues and cream!

Pippa's pumpkin risotto

We've got a lot of pumpkins at the moment--our own nameless variety, cross bred accidentally one year between a Golden Nugget and a Queensland Blue pumpkin and which we now grow every year. They have a lovely, meltingly sweet rich flavour and a bright orange skin which is tough to cut but which roasts to a deliciously nutty softness.
My daughter Pippa, who's a fantastic cook, gave me her favourite recipe pumpkin risotto recipe and I made it the other day. It's just the perfect dish to bring out the flavour and colour of these lovely pumpkins. But any good-flavoured pumpkin would work with it. A great colourful rib-sticker on cold grey days!

Pippa's Pumpkin Risotto

1 Pumpkin, cut in 1-2cm dice pieces and roasted in the oven with olive oil and some chilli flakes (salt and pepper too, of course)

1 cup risotto rice

2L chicken stock, warmed

Leek or onion

Butter

Parmesan, about ½ cup grated

Basil, torn

After pumpkin is roasted, you will need to start on the risotto. Cook the finely sliced leek or onion in oil till soft and then add raw risotto rice stirring until it starts to look a little translucent. Then add one ladle a time of the warmed chicken stock until absorbed and rice is al dente. Take off the stove top, add about 25g butter diced along with cheese and stir through, then add pumpkin and basil, stir through and then serve!

It’s best if you use a heavy based saucepan.

A menu from a great Jules Verne adventure novel, Mikhail Strogoff

I've been really busy in the last few weeks with work on a crowdfunding campaign for a great new project I'm involved with: bringing back to English speaking readers a wonderful Jules Verne adventure classic, Mikhail Strogoff(first published in French in 1876). I'm part of the publishing team at Eagle Books, an imprint of Christmas Press, which will be publishing the first new English translation in over a hundred years of this rip-roaring adventure tale, set in pre-Revolutionary Russia. Stephanie Smee, who has already authored several bestselling translations of other French classics, will be creating the translation. We are running the crowdfunding campaign to fund production of a celebratory beautiful illustrated limited edition of the novel, and invite you to join us in this wonderful publishing event here.

And to whet your appetite, here's an extract from the book where Mikhail Strogoff, the hero of the story, puts up for the night at an inn in Nizhny Novgorod. As this is a food blog, I thought it appropriate that the extract features the meal he eats!

Translation copyright Stephanie Smee. Edition copyright Eagle Books. 

 

And thus Mikhail Strogoff found himself wandering through the town, not unduly troubled, on the lookout for some form of accommodation where he might spend the night. But he was not trying very hard and, had it not been for his gnawing hunger, he would probably have wandered the streets of Nizhny Novgorod until morning. For he was more interested in a meal than a bed. And he found both under the shingle of the Town of Constantinople.

The innkeeper there offered him a perfectly satisfactory room, sparsely furnished, but equipped with both an image of the Virgin and portraits of various saints, for which some golden fabric served as frames. He was promptly served up some duck stuffed with spiced mince, drowning in a heavy cream sauce, some barley bread, some curds, some cinnamon-flavoured sugar and a mug of kvass – a type of beer very common in Russia. He would have been satisfied with less. So, he ate his fill; more so than his neighbour at the dining table, who, being an adherent of the ‘Old Believers’ movement of the Raskolniks and having taken a vow of abstinence, left the potatoes on his plate and was careful not to add sugar to his tea.

Having finished his supper, instead of going up to his room, Mikhail Strogoff headed automatically back out to resume his walk around town. But though the long twilight was still drawing on, the crowd was already dissipating, and little by little the streets were emptying as everybody headed for home.

old photo of government building in Nizhny Novgorod, circa 1900