Lush Late Summer

Processing our garden produce is often accompanied by serenading insects. Their captivating chorus drifts through the open kitchen windows as I rinse, chop, simmer, and sieve. Their identity? Doubt they are the beloved cigales of southeast France. Or grasshoppers. My bet is the chirping being given freely as August heat envelops and dusk closes in belongs to crickets. In the last two weeks, thirty-six kilograms/eighty pounds of tomatoes have been turned into concentrate and sauce. I no longer skin tomatoes for sauce because after several hours of simmering they cleave off the tomatoes on their own accord. I just pick them out once the sauce is cooled. To make around 3 litres, in a large, non-reactive pot like stainless steel or enamelled, saute in a little olive oil 4 Toulouse sausages (Italian sweet can be substituted) which have been removed from their casings. Breaking up the meat with a wooden spoon, stir for a few minutes, and then add 4-5 crushed, large garlic cloves. Keeping the heat low, rinse and quarter 7 kilograms/15 pounds of tomatoes. Add them to the pot as you work. Toss in 1 tablespoon of dried basil, several bay leaves, and a few scrubbed Parmesan rinds. Simmer, partially covered, for 3-4 hours or until the sauce is thick and luscious. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste. Cool. Scoop out those skins. Portion. Freeze.

Though the tomato harvest is well past its peak, there are still quite a lot in the process of ripening on the vines.

When romas are ripe, they are fully and deeply red.

I quarter the romas. The crickets sing.

I have been meaning to get some Opinel knives for many a year which I finally have done so.  Only a French knife could boast of a denture velours (velvet teeth). It slices through food effortlessly.

Thinly sliced tomatoes? Some mozzarella remaining from making lasagna? Potted basil waving at you from a sunny window sill? It's a cinch to make caprese salad. Layer tomatoes and cheese. Sprinkle with olive oil and vinegar. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Top with chiffonade of basil.

Now that I am somewhat on top of tomato processing, it's the peaches' turn, and then the plums'.

There still are strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries here and there which get sugared and topped with cream whipped by The Calm One.

Though my focus is on preserving the bounty of peaches of which I am guessing will amount to about twenty-two kilograms/fifty pounds, we still make room for fresh ones which are pitted, sliced, and topped with whipped cream.

The Calm One's social creativity is always a delight: suggesting that his sibling reunion take place in the large garden of the Huddersfield home in which they all grew up (across the street where the familial dwelling of James Mason once was) though the house now belongs to strangers (who would be invited, of course); getting our niece and nephew to go racing out on our balcony to see who would be the first to spot the faint footprint of the international space station slowly padding its way across the night sky; most recently, his listening intently with a thoughtful facial expression as I announced the passing of some hot air balloons, and then his softly saying, lets photograph the universe in a glass against the backdrop of the balloons. 

The universe in his hand

À la prochaine!

Tuna Cakes with Gooseberry/Sage Sauce

Gooseberries, informally known as goosegogs, enhance desserts with their tart freshness. They also do the same for savoury dishes, especially those featuring pork or fatty fish.

Gooseberry/Sage Sauce
makes 8 T (freezes well so extra can be made)

• Gooseberries, a couple of handfuls
• Sugar to taste
• Sage, a minced fresh leaf or two/pinch of dried

Put berries along with a tablespoon of water and a good sprinkling of sugar in a pot. Since the sauce will be sieved, there's no need to remove their pesky tops and tails.

Bring to a simmer. Cook gently while stirring here and there for about ten minutes until mushy. Add sage and more sugar if desired.  Sieve via a mesh strainer or a food mill. Refrigerate (best if left overnight) or freeze.

Delectable! And made with gooseberries & sage from our potager

Tuna Cakes
makes three 10 cm/4-inch rounds (can be doubled & quadrupled, but use no more than 2 eggs)

• Tuna, canned, drained, 100 grams/3.5 dry ounces
• Egg, 1
• Parmesan cheese, 2 T
• Breadcrumbs, preferably homemade, 4 T
• Onion, finely minced, 1 heaping T
• Freshly ground black pepper
• Lemon juice, 1 tsp
• Vegetable oil (I used sunflower) for frying
• Fresh sage leaves for garnishing

Breadcrumbs are easy to make and so much better than store-bought. Tear bread (I used a baguette), stale or fresh, into small pieces, spread evenly on a shallow pan, and bake at degrees 120 degrees C/250 degrees F for about thirty minutes or till golden and crunchy. Stirring the crumbs a couple of times while baking helps the process.  Cool. Crush with a rolling pin, or in my case, roll them with the jar that eventually stored the crumbs! They will keep for several months either in the cupboard (if weather is not humid) or in the fridge.

Beat the egg and lemon juice together. Add the Parmesan and crumbs. Mix to get a pasty texture.

Stir in carefully the onions, tuna, and freshly ground black pepper.

The consistency needs to be moist but still a bit crumbly. Divide mixture into thirds. Form three balls and then flatten out to about an inch/2.5 cm thickness, patting and shaping for cohesion. Reserve on a plate.

Since The Calm One and I are both thrilled with our ceramic knives, we got a ceramic frypan to see if the thrill continues. It does. He also found an one-piece spatula that is versatile, sturdy, and flexible. It can scrape the film that scrambled eggs leave, handle plus cut sticky, no-knead bread dough, and flips with uncanny accuracy. Lovely thing.

Both utensils are from Lidl. Don't have one in your quartier? Consider moving near one!

Pour a thin film of oil and heat for a minute or two till sizzling hot. Add the cakes. Brown over moderate flame about three minutes on each side.

Great ceramic skillet! No sticking and easy to clean.

How to get a nice crusty outside? Just include some breadcrumbs in the mixture! So more simple then coating the actual patties with the stuff. Cover with sauce and serve any extra on the side. 

Pairing fish and gooseberries turned out sublime

À la prochaine!

Oh my, it's 2016!

The arrow of time knows no slowing down, unlike you and me, who most likely are feeling sluggish, what with all those leftovers! Our holiday rack of pork roast was exceedingly succulent. Why? Rubbing it with olive oil and roasting first at a higher temperature for about ten minutes, and then lowering it for the remaining time helped, but the most significant reason is that my life-long programming to overcook pork is dismantled for once and all. If when the roast is pricked, the juice runs out slightly pink, that beauty is taken out of the oven right away. Another way of moisturising it further: wipe clean with a damp paper-towel several large mushrooms, break off their stems at the base and reserve, place the caps stem-end in a skillet with a tablespoon or so of butter, cover and simmer over moderate heat for five minutes, turn them over, put a bit of butter and thyme in every cap, cover, and braise for another five minutes. Each cap which would work also as a first course will have a luscious puddle of mushroom liquor, butter, and thyme. Flip one onto a pile of sliced pork, and voilà, 'instant' gravy!

Roast pork, braised mushroom cap, potatoes dauphinoise & Brussels sprouts

The meaty pork bones along with a bouquet garni, black peppercorns, mushroom stems, the rest of the Medoc wine, and onions were simmered for a few hours. The strained, reduced broth, now frozen, is ready for when a bowl of it, with added garlic, ginger, red pepper flakes, broken linguine, pork slivers, and a poached egg would be the perfect way to warm oneself on a wintry night.

The pork broth can be mixed with homemade chicken broth

We, indeed, had the planned apple pie; hefty slices pitched-hit for breakfast the next few days. My favourite part of the preparation is tossing the sugar, freshly grated nutmeg, cinnamon, salt, and a bit of flour into the sliced apples. Ah, the fragrance of apples and spice! Recipe is here. (For the crust, omit the cheddar and add a few tablespoons of sugar.)

Smaller bowl holds the sugar/spice mixture & the larger one, sliced apples

What a lovely baking accessory is our new non-stick silicone mat! If flouring is necessary at all, it is only a tiny bit hence there isn't the usual farinaceous mound up to my ankles. Also, the mat stays put when kneading or rolling dough. Since measurements for various diameters are right on it, rolling out the correctly sized dough becomes a cinch. The dough along with the mat can be rolled, and then unrolled right over the pie plate. After use, a dunk in soapy water is all that is needed. I see way more baking in the future!

The mat can be stored wrapped around the rolling pin so it always will be handy

Several tablespoons of sugar were added to the dough making the crust more tender than flaky and very nicely browned.

What to do with that gorgeous sticky juice that oozes all around the baking dish? Before it stiffens, spoon it into the crust's slits.

Choosing accompaniments for the pie, we dutifully followed Julia Child's dictum, if you're afraid of butter, use cream—billows of whipped cream, rivulets of liquid cream, and mounds of coffee ice cream.

What! Plain pie? Yes, but there is a lot of cream in the coffee

The garden is brightened with orange-red hips which makes me glad that I didn't dead-head all the roses.

Eight of the eleven annual veggie beds are spaded and mulched with oak leaves. If the remaining three get done before the nursery order arrives which will be in a few weeks, I'll be chuffed.

A nearby copse of mostly oak trees provide leaves that will become leaf mould in a year

Dirac the Young Cat was very happy that holiday cooking involved a lot of cream of which some wound up in his bowl.

À la prochaine!

What to Do With 'Les Restes'?

In France, frugality is well appreciated in the kitchen, and there are traditional ways of handling leftovers, or les restes*.  Hachis Parmentier* is such a dish.  Any extra meat from a roasted joint can be used, but because I recently pot roasted a leg of lamb and because we both love the British dish, Shepherd's pie, minced lamb then it will be.

Antoine-Augustin Parmentier revolutionised the eating habits of the French by cleverly convincing them that potatoes were a palatable comestible though at that time it was considered as food fit for hogs:

...surrounding his potato patch at Sablons with armed guards to suggest valuable goods — then instructed them to accept any and all bribes from civilians and withdrawing them at night so the greedy crowd could "steal" the potatoes.

Parmentier simply means topped with browned mashed potatoes.  The only differences I can see between Hachis Parmentier and Shepherd's Pie are different flavourings, and for the meatier Parmentier, the mashed potatoes often get sprinkled with bread crumbs while vegetables like carrots and peas stretch out the meat in Shepherd's Pie.  My recipe is a cross between the two approaches.

With the remaining leftovers of the pot-roasted leg of lamb which consisted of some meaty bones, I made Scotch Broth.

Oven casseroles and hearty soups with their comforting warmth and appetising fragrance lend a cosy, satisfying feel to any home.  Chez nous, Dayo contributes to this sentiment by snuggling contentedly into an exceedingly fluffy duvet.

These are both easy and simple dishes to make, but also nourishing and very tasty.  For the Shepherd's Pie, the first thing to do of course is to peel potatoes and then cut them into quarters.  A medium-large tater suffices for each serving plus add another one for the baking pan. 

That's my new ceramic knife in the below photo--beautiful and what a slicer!  It's an inexpensive brand, and I was apprehensive per my research that it would chip easily.  So far I have only used it for what it is made for, which is slicing. After a month of careful use, still no chips.  I had no idea how tiring it was using a regular knife for slicing veggies!

Put the potato chunks in a  roomy pot to allow easier mashing/beating and cover them with water. Put the lid on and bring to a boil, and then lower to a simmer and cook until tender, around 15-20 minutes--a tip of a sharp knife should slide easily right into the centre.  While they are boiling, start on the lamb filling (see below).  Drain the taters and on low heat, shake the pot for about a minute to dry them out.

While maintaining the low heat, add a tablespoon or two of butter and mash the potatoes well.  I recommend the type of masher below because it actually rices the potatoes right in the pot.

Season to taste with salt/freshly ground black pepper and add more butter if that is your wont.  The topping needs to be stiffer than regular mashed potatoes so only add some milk if your potatoes are very mealy and dry.  What I do in that case and also when making regular mashed potatoes, is to push the potatoes aside in the pot and pour in some milk--raising the heat and tipping the pan so only the milk heats.  It saves a pot that way as milk needs to be warm so as not to make lumps.  I lower the heat and finish off by beating with a wooden spoon or a large balloon whisk to get a smooth, creamy mass.  Turn off the heat.

To make the lamb filling, chop finely the leftover lamb.  A cup of lamb makes a serving.

In a pan, add the chopped lamb, about a quarter of a cup of left-over lamb pot roast gravy for each serving, a smashed, fat garlic clove, and a large spring of rosemary. 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F/205 degrees C.  Gently simmer covered for about ten minutes so the mixture can thicken slightly.  But be careful not to make the lamb stringy by cooking for too long.  Add salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste. Fish out the garlic cloves and rosemary.  Put the filling in a suitable-sized oven dish and start spooning the mashed potatoes around the edges first. 

Using a fork, 'knit' the spoonfuls of mashed potatoes together.

Make a pattern using the fork.  I mark striations in one direction followed by ones made at right angles, and then ones made on the diagonal, ending with a run of the fork all around the edges to seal in the filling.  The goal is to rough up the surface to encourage a nice, golden-brown crust.  For a fancier effect the potatoes can be decoratively piped onto the filling.  Dot with butter to increase browning.

Bake for about thirty minutes until the top is golden brown and crusty.  The casserole could be placed under the broiler to increase its crustiness.  This dish is comfort food at its most basic.  If the filling is on the liquid side, wait about five minutes before serving.

For the Scotch Broth, you need just a few ingredients: 1/2 cup of barley, a chopped medium onion, two chopped carrots, a chopped stalk of celery or lovage, and of course the left-over meaty bones--when carving the original roast, I leave about at least a couple of servings on the bone.  These amounts make about four servings.

Place the lamb bones along with the barley in a soup pot, add about 1 1/2 to 2 quarts of water, just enough to cover the bones and simmer with the lid on for about 90 minutes until the barley is tender.  Remove the bones and separate the lamb from it.  Cut the lamb into bite-sized pieces and reserve.  Skim off any scum from the surface of the soup.  Saute the chopped onions, carrots and celery/lovage in some butter in a skillet for ten minutes.  This step causes the carrots to release some colour into the butter which is a truly important cosmetic touch as the finished soup will then have a golden glow instead of resembling dishwater.

Add the veggies to the soup and cook another ten minutes until they are tender.  Add the chopped lamb and heat gently for a minute or two.  Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.  It's a lovely soup--glistening with a hint of gold and soothing with a touch of silky milkiness.

The weather has been mostly unseasonably warm this January except for a snow flurry or two.  The garden therefore thinks it's time to bud and sprout and flower.

Roses needed to be pruned YESTERDAY!

It's looking that there will be daffodils by early February!

The gold-dusted Aucuba putting out its first growth for the new season

The warm weather prevented the perennial geraniums from dying to the ground

With the winter carrots, broccoli, and Brussels sprouts completely harvested, there is only leeks left to provide fresh veggies.

A good part of the leek is buried so as to blanch its succulent bottom part.

There is still a lot of onions and garlic in the cellier along with some frozen fruits and veggies like peas and strawberries.  But for the most part, the provisions harvested and processed from last season are winding down.  However, the early spring harvest is just around the corner as long as I prepare the beds and put in my nursery order. Then another active, sometimes frenzied--but always fruitful in some important way--garden year starts!

À la prochaine!


RELATED POSTS:

Pot Roast of Lamb

*French Pronunciations: 

Hachis  
Parmentier
Les
Restes
À la prochaine