I think I must have chosen all the easy ones first. I found it tricky to think of a country this week. But then N got all fancy last weekend and made aioli and there it was: a little bit in a dish left in the fridge crying out to be used up. France it was, then. Good excuse to invite J who's off to France for several months this Saturday. He'll at least be able to rescue us from N's extremely bad Franglais, surely.
I got into a bit of a dither what with Aged Parents arriving last minute yesterday and having to do a speed awareness training all morning today. Travelling Tuesdays takes a little longer than I had to prepare. Never fear - a supermarket is always near! I wandered in to a Waitrose down by where my course had been, looking for inspiration. And, joy oh joy, it has those things in packets which you can just chuck in the oven. I am sure that oven meals are depressing if you cook them all the time but on the odd occasion when I think I want to eat something decent but I do not want to prepare much they are soooooooo fab.
Moules - they even had moules already scrubbed and in a sauce! And a recipe card for a chicken dish involving 'moutarde aux grains'. And 'essential' branded creme brulee (the lack of accents in this post is bothering me. I like to add the correct accents. It's linked in a weird way to my wanting others to spell my name correctly. Don't ask me why. I can't figure out how to do it in Blogger. Arrrgh).
THE DISH
Entree (yes, it's France so 3 courses are compulsory) - Moules Mariniere.
OK, so I cheated. But here's the BBC food website version:
Ingredients
La plat principal - Chicken with warm bean salad with grain mustard
400g chicken breast chunks
2 sprigs rosemary, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
280g fine green beans, trimmed
400g can butter beans, drained and rinsed
2 tbsp wholegrain Mustard
1 tbsp clear honey
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
1 red onion, very thinly sliced
Sliced baguette, to serve
1 Toss together the chicken, rosemary, garlic and ½ tbsp of the olive oil. Heat a large non-stick frying pan and cook the chicken for 10 minutes until tender and golden brown.
2 Meanwhile, cook the green beans in a large pan of boiling water for 2 minutes, then add the butter beans and cook for a further 2 minutes until the green beans are tender and the butter beans are heated through. Drain well.
3 Whisk together the remaining 1½ tbsp oil, the mustard, honey and vinegar.
4 In a large serving bowl, mix together the warm chicken and beans, mustard dressing and red onions. Serve warm with slices of baguette.
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Actually I didn't really do this - I bought a poussin and roasted it with the rosemary, oil, vinegar, mustard, honey, garlic and onion all in. Then blanched the green beans and threw them in with the butter beans at the end with a slug (ha ha such 'recipe-speak'!) of white Bordeaux (trying to be true to the destination here. Though the beans were Moroccan. Ouch. And the rosemary from our garden. Does that make up for Moroccan beans?).
Deserts - Creme Brulee or chocolate eclairs (are they even French?*)
Sorry, cheated here too. (I may never look back having discovered the joys of Travelling Tuesdays 'ready meal style'). But creme brulee recipes abound. I have chosen a Nigella one here even though she winds me up. Was gonna do a Delia but she annoyingly tells me that the dish originated in Cambridge. How French is that?*
And don't even think about making chocolate eclairs, please. Well I expect home made ones are awesome. But really, who's got the time? Life's too short.
THE REACTION
There was a little dressing up in red, white and blue, and I even pushed the boat out and did a rather hasitly coloured in menu card in my best French. I found some good old accordian music but on reflection it would be great to do a bit more about the place too... Just a quick lesson on the Revolution or something. Mr M seemed very annoyed that he couldn't understand any of it and too hungry to have any patience waiting for a translation. I gave them a heads up on the mussels, as I was cooking them, carefully adding that it wasn't the whole meal and at least I hadn't bought snails. But even J looked a little worried, to be honest! To my amazement the Eldest wouldn't even try them. This is very unusual as she's by far the most adventurous of our Travelling Companions. I think it was linked to her vegetarianism. The mussels just looked too much like things that used to be alive. Equally to my amazement Mr Middle actually tried, not one, but two, mussels. This is also very unlike him. Defintely the James factor helped. (Apart from laughing a bit too much at the whining and complaints he was a great Tuesday guest in the general eat-your-food-encouragement department). I think he spat them out though, eventually. The Youngest made a great song and dance about his head wanting to try them but his body not letting him. Yeah right.
THE VERDICT
I don't think we'll be having moules again any time soon.
The chicken in mustard and honey, on reflection, seems a bit of a cheat. I am always torn between authenticity and cooking something I think the kids will at least attempt. What with all our cross-cultural eating and shrinking world it's quite complicated to find genuine recipes (see *) which are 100% from one country. I mean isn't fish and chips supposed to have been invented by a Jewish immigrant? Anyway, it went down OK. No great shakes to be honest. But pretty clean plates. Apart from Eldest's which had been graced by an extravagant 2 quorn fillets which she usually begs for. I think she's developing an annoying dislike (because I love it) for the sweet/meat combo. She just didn't really like the mustard/honey/wine vinegar thing going on. Damn. J and N at least ate it all with affirming noises required.
THE PUD
Oh la la (there was quite a lot of this. And absolutely no sign that J knows any French whatsoever. I am not holding my breath that this will have changed much when he returns from a few months with PGL). Both the boys complained a great deal that the pudding was made entirely of 'creme', as they imagined from the name. It's always easier to get them testing out puddings though and both thought the crunchy sugary topping pretty ace after N got out the blowtorch to create it. So they did finish one off between them. And then Youngest cried when (having not really liked the creme brulee) he realised that the chocolate eclairs also were stuffed with cream. What can you do? Eldest was at least happy. Cream Queen we call her. Suddenly had her appetite back having left one and a half quorn fillets.
.JPG)
I got into a bit of a dither what with Aged Parents arriving last minute yesterday and having to do a speed awareness training all morning today. Travelling Tuesdays takes a little longer than I had to prepare. Never fear - a supermarket is always near! I wandered in to a Waitrose down by where my course had been, looking for inspiration. And, joy oh joy, it has those things in packets which you can just chuck in the oven. I am sure that oven meals are depressing if you cook them all the time but on the odd occasion when I think I want to eat something decent but I do not want to prepare much they are soooooooo fab.Moules - they even had moules already scrubbed and in a sauce! And a recipe card for a chicken dish involving 'moutarde aux grains'. And 'essential' branded creme brulee (the lack of accents in this post is bothering me. I like to add the correct accents. It's linked in a weird way to my wanting others to spell my name correctly. Don't ask me why. I can't figure out how to do it in Blogger. Arrrgh).
THE DISH
Entree (yes, it's France so 3 courses are compulsory) - Moules Mariniere.
OK, so I cheated. But here's the BBC food website version:
Ingredients
- 1.75kg/4lb mussels
- 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
- 2 shallots, finely chopped
- 15g/½oz butter
- a bouquet garni of parsley, thyme and bay leaves
- 100ml/3½fl oz dry white wine or cider
- 120ml/4fl oz double cream
- handful of parsley leaves, coarsley chopped
- crusty bread, to serve
Preparation method
-
Wash the mussels under plenty of cold, running water. Discard any open ones that won't close when lightly squeezed.
-
Pull out the tough, fibrous beards protruding from
between the tightly closed shells and then knock off any barnacles with a
large knife. Give the mussels another quick rinse to remove any little
pieces of shell.
-
Soften the garlic and shallots in the butter with
the bouquet garni, in a large pan big enough to take all the mussels -
it should only be half full.
-
Add the mussels and wine or cider, turn up the
heat, then cover and steam them open in their own juices for 3-4
minutes. Give the pan a good shake every now and then.
-
Remove the bouquet garni, add the cream and chopped parsley and remove from the heat.
-
Spoon into four large warmed bowls and serve with lots of crusty bread.
La plat principal - Chicken with warm bean salad with grain mustard
400g chicken breast chunks
2 sprigs rosemary, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
280g fine green beans, trimmed
400g can butter beans, drained and rinsed
2 tbsp wholegrain Mustard
1 tbsp clear honey
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
1 red onion, very thinly sliced
Sliced baguette, to serve
1 Toss together the chicken, rosemary, garlic and ½ tbsp of the olive oil. Heat a large non-stick frying pan and cook the chicken for 10 minutes until tender and golden brown.
2 Meanwhile, cook the green beans in a large pan of boiling water for 2 minutes, then add the butter beans and cook for a further 2 minutes until the green beans are tender and the butter beans are heated through. Drain well.
3 Whisk together the remaining 1½ tbsp oil, the mustard, honey and vinegar.
4 In a large serving bowl, mix together the warm chicken and beans, mustard dressing and red onions. Serve warm with slices of baguette.
.JPG)
Actually I didn't really do this - I bought a poussin and roasted it with the rosemary, oil, vinegar, mustard, honey, garlic and onion all in. Then blanched the green beans and threw them in with the butter beans at the end with a slug (ha ha such 'recipe-speak'!) of white Bordeaux (trying to be true to the destination here. Though the beans were Moroccan. Ouch. And the rosemary from our garden. Does that make up for Moroccan beans?).Deserts - Creme Brulee or chocolate eclairs (are they even French?*)
Sorry, cheated here too. (I may never look back having discovered the joys of Travelling Tuesdays 'ready meal style'). But creme brulee recipes abound. I have chosen a Nigella one here even though she winds me up. Was gonna do a Delia but she annoyingly tells me that the dish originated in Cambridge. How French is that?*
Ingredients
- 600 ml double cream
- 1 vanilla pod
- 8 large egg yolks
- 3 tablespoons caster sugar
- approx. 6 tablespoons demerara sugar
Method
- Put a pie dish of about 20cm diameter in the freezer for at least 20 minutes. Half-fill the sink with cold water. This is just a precaution in case the custard looks as if it's about to split, in which case you should plunge the pan into the water and whisk the custard. I'm not saying it will - with so many egg yolks in the rich cream, it thickens quickly and easily enough - but I always feel better if I've done this.
- Put the cream and vanilla pod into a saucepan and bring to boiling point, but do not let boil. Beat the eggs and caster sugar together in a bowl, and, still beating, pour the flavoured cream over it, pod and all. Rinse and dry the pan and pour the custard mix back in. Cook over medium heat (or low, if you're scared) until the custard thickens: about 10 minutes should do it. You do want this to be a good, voluptuous creme, so don't err on the side of runny caution. Remember, you've got your sinkful of cold water to plunge the pan into should it really look as if it's about to split.
- When the cream's thick enough, take out the vanilla pod, retrieve the pie dish and pour this creme into the severely chilled container. Leave to cool, then put in the fridge till truly cold. Sprinkle with demerara sugar, spoonful by spoonful, and burn with a blowtorch till you have a blistered tortoiseshell covering on top.
- Put back in the fridge if you want, but remember to take it out a good 20 minutes before serving. At which stage, put the bowl on the table and, with a large spoon and unchecked greed, crack through the sugary carapace and delve into the satin-velvet, vanilla-speckled cream beneath. No more talking: just eat.
And don't even think about making chocolate eclairs, please. Well I expect home made ones are awesome. But really, who's got the time? Life's too short.
THE REACTION
There was a little dressing up in red, white and blue, and I even pushed the boat out and did a rather hasitly coloured in menu card in my best French. I found some good old accordian music but on reflection it would be great to do a bit more about the place too... Just a quick lesson on the Revolution or something. Mr M seemed very annoyed that he couldn't understand any of it and too hungry to have any patience waiting for a translation. I gave them a heads up on the mussels, as I was cooking them, carefully adding that it wasn't the whole meal and at least I hadn't bought snails. But even J looked a little worried, to be honest! To my amazement the Eldest wouldn't even try them. This is very unusual as she's by far the most adventurous of our Travelling Companions. I think it was linked to her vegetarianism. The mussels just looked too much like things that used to be alive. Equally to my amazement Mr Middle actually tried, not one, but two, mussels. This is also very unlike him. Defintely the James factor helped. (Apart from laughing a bit too much at the whining and complaints he was a great Tuesday guest in the general eat-your-food-encouragement department). I think he spat them out though, eventually. The Youngest made a great song and dance about his head wanting to try them but his body not letting him. Yeah right.
THE VERDICT
I don't think we'll be having moules again any time soon.
The chicken in mustard and honey, on reflection, seems a bit of a cheat. I am always torn between authenticity and cooking something I think the kids will at least attempt. What with all our cross-cultural eating and shrinking world it's quite complicated to find genuine recipes (see *) which are 100% from one country. I mean isn't fish and chips supposed to have been invented by a Jewish immigrant? Anyway, it went down OK. No great shakes to be honest. But pretty clean plates. Apart from Eldest's which had been graced by an extravagant 2 quorn fillets which she usually begs for. I think she's developing an annoying dislike (because I love it) for the sweet/meat combo. She just didn't really like the mustard/honey/wine vinegar thing going on. Damn. J and N at least ate it all with affirming noises required.
THE PUD
Oh la la (there was quite a lot of this. And absolutely no sign that J knows any French whatsoever. I am not holding my breath that this will have changed much when he returns from a few months with PGL). Both the boys complained a great deal that the pudding was made entirely of 'creme', as they imagined from the name. It's always easier to get them testing out puddings though and both thought the crunchy sugary topping pretty ace after N got out the blowtorch to create it. So they did finish one off between them. And then Youngest cried when (having not really liked the creme brulee) he realised that the chocolate eclairs also were stuffed with cream. What can you do? Eldest was at least happy. Cream Queen we call her. Suddenly had her appetite back having left one and a half quorn fillets.
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