Salty Meadow Lamb

Poulet au Fouesnant Cidre

The Poulet au Cidre is time and tried tested and easy on the washing up and effort, delicious and "fail safe" for entertaining.

Le Kig Ha farz, a speciality from Finistère

Lapin avec Pineau des Charentes

Serves 4:

Châteaubriand with Roquefort Sauce and Château Potatoes

This is the ultimate experience in beef. Traditionally a special centre cut from the beef tenderloin; a small thick cut located between the sirloins. I consider this tenderloin to be the tenderest of cuts. So do not be persuaded by your butcher to buy a cheaper cut, it does not taste the same!! If he tries then go somewhere else, but NEVER the supermarket!!

An average chateaubriand steak is the thickness of a small roast,weights approximately 340-450.grams and is traditionally prepared as two servings. Anything larger and you are wasting your time and money.

Now for the recipe which will serve 4 people, preparing this dish is a culinary challenge due to the thickness of the tenderloin. Although you want the meat rare, it is difficult to cook all the way through without drying it out. So the easiest method is to sear the meat in a very hot flame, then roasting it in a very hot oven.

This masterpiece is traditionally served with a white wine, shallot, lemon and tarragon demi-glace.Today, the trend is to serve chateaubriand with béarnaise sauce,however I prefer Roquefort Sauce, so that is what we will prepare today, a dish renowned for its flavour and tenderness.

PRESENTATION: Serve atop and alongside the steaks, as I do, .Then pass the extra sauce around the table in a silver or glass sauceboat.

Château Potatoes:

Ingredients:

100 grams Butter
450 grams White potatoes, peeled
Sea Salt to taste
Freshly-ground black pepper to taste
2 tablespoons Finely-chopped parsley

In a sauté pan, melt the butter. Sauté the potatoes in the melted butter for about 15 to 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until the potatoes are golden and soft. Season with sea-salt and black pepper. Stir in the parsley

Château potatoes traditionally accompany this dish, NEVER CHIPS!!!.

Cassoulet avec de la salade verte dans une vinaigrette de moutarde

Ingredients:

300 grams dried white haricot beans, soaked in clod water overnight
1 onion, studded with a few cloves
1 bouquet garni (2 bay leaves, a few sprigs each of thyme and flat leaf parsley and a 7.5cm celery stick, tied together)
4 fat garlic cloves, finely chopped
4 Toulouse sausages
4 duck legs
350 grams belly pork rashers, skinned and diced
2 tablespoons goose or duck fat
1 large onion, chopped roughly
1 large carrot, chopped roughly
2 celery sticks, chopped roughly
350 grams lamb neck fillet, diced
350 grams boneless casserole pork, diced
300 ml dry white wine
400 grams chopped tomatoes
1 tablespoon tomato purée
2 heaped tablespoons fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped
1 heaped tablespoon fresh thyme, chopped
Sea-salt
Black pepper

For the topping:
1 large day-old baguette
2 fat garlic cloves, halved
4 tablespoons goose or duck fat
2 heaped tablespoons fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped
1 heaped tablespoon fresh thyme, chopped

Preparation:

1. Drain and rinse the beans, tip into a large pan and cover generously with cold water. Bring to the boil and skim off the scum, then add the studded onion, the bouquet garni, half the garlic and lots of pepper. Stir, half cover and boil for another 30 minutes. Stir occasionally and top up with water when necessary.

2. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 220C/425F/Gas 7. Prick the duck all over with a fork and put on a rack in a roasting tin. Roast for 30 minutes, then remove and set aside. Lower the oven to 140C/275F/Gas Mark 1.

3. When the beans have been cooking for 1 hour, tip them into a sieve, discard the onion and bouquet garni. Set sausages aside.

4. Put the belly pork in a 4 litreflameproof dish and heat gently until the fat runs, then increase the heat and fry until just crispy. Add the poultry fat and heat until sizzling then add the onion, carrot, celery and remaining garlic, scraping up the bits from the base. Fry over a gentle heat, stirring often, for 10 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to transfer to a plate.

5. Increase the heat and add the lamb. Stir fry until coloured on all sides, then transfer to the plate and repeat with the pork. Tip the ingredients from the plate back into the dish. Add the tomatoes, tomato purée and herbs, then season with sea salt and pepper to taste.

6. Add the haricot beans and 850ml water to the dish and bring to the boil. Stir, then lower the heat so the liquid is just simmering. Keep the mixture in the same dish to cook or transfer it to an earthenware dish.

7. Remove the skin from the duck then tuck the duck legs into the liquid. Peel off the sausage skins, slice the sausage meat thickly on the diagonal and add to the dish.

8. Cover the dish and bake for 1 hour, stirring once. Stir then cook uncovered for a further 1-1½ hours, stirring halfway, until the meat is really tender and the sauce is thickened. Take the dish out of the oven and remove the duck legs. Strip the meat from the bones (it will fall off easily) and return the meat to the dish. Stir and add a little water, if necessary. Season if necessary, then return to the oven and bake for another 15 minutes until all the meat and beans are very tender.

9. Cut the crusts off the baguette, tear the bread into pieces and put in a food processor. Add the garlic and chop into coarse crumbs (you should have about 200grams. Heat the fat in a large frying pan until sizzling, then stir fry the breadcrumbs and garlic over a moderate to high heat for 7-8 minutes until crisp and golden. Remove from the heat, toss in the herbs and stir to mix, then season well with salt and pepper.

10. Give the cassoulet a good stir. The consistency should be quite thick, but not stodgy. If you prefer it slightly runnier, add a little water. Taste and add more salt and pepper if necessary, then sprinkle the topping over the surface in a thick even layer.

Serve in warm bowls with a green salad dressed in mustard vinaigrette

Cari de poulet à la Bretonne avec le pilaf de Trois-Grain

Some of my readers have been enquiring whether we make curry here in Breizh. Well this is my interpretation of a chicken curry, a light and tasty meal that will serve six people.

Ingredients for the Curry

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
 150grams onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, mashed
1 teaspoon ginger, chopped
120grams mango pulps, coarsely chopped
120grams banana, coarsely chopped
120grams pineapple, coarsely chopped
120g grams apple, peeled and coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons curry powder
1 litre Chicken Stock (see this link)
600grams skinned chicken breasts, cut into large cubes
100grams frozen green peas, thawed
2 tablespoons coriander leaves for garnishing

Preparation

• Garnish with fresh coriander and serve.

Ingredients for the Pilaf

Red Rice Pilaf:
1 cup of Bhutanese Red Rice
2 tablespoon olive oil
4 tablespoon
Minced onion
1½ cups boiling water
¼ teaspoon sea salt

Kalijira Rice Pilaf:
1 cup of Kaliira Rice

Forbidden Rice Pilaf:
1 cup of Forbidden Rice

Preparation

Prepare the three grains separately

Red Rice Pilaf:
In a 1 litre sauce pan heat the oil. Over medium flame, add onions and sauté until translucent, about 5 minutes, making sure not to colour. Stir in rice and coat with oil until rice is hot. Stir in salted boiling water. Simmer, covered with a lid, over low heat for 15 minutes and let rest for 5 minutes.

Kalijira Rice Pilaf:
Use same ingredients and method as above for Red Rice.

Forbidden Rice Pilaf:
Repeat the same method as above, using 1¾ cups boiling water, as well as, the other ingredients. Let the Forbidden Rice simmer for 30 minutes. Mix the 3 pilafs together and serve immediately.

Boeuf Bourguignon

Everyone's heard of beef bourguignon or Burgundy beef stew and recipe books will try to tell you theirs is the most authentic. Do not be fooled, the only authentic recipe is the one from the wife of a Burgundy farmer and every farmer’s wife has a trick or two hidden in their apron. My version, well, lets just say it tastes good. However, did you know that it is very simple to make? Stew beef is slowly simmered in red wine and sautéed mushrooms are added later on in the cooking. The meat becomes more and more tender as you cook it in a large cast iron casserole dish so you do not lose the flavour from the browning stage, so allow plenty of time for it to cook before you serve. Your whole house will fill with a divine smell, enticing everyone to the table.

Remember you should start this dish the day before!!

Ingredients for 6 people
• 1 Kg Stewing Steak cut into 100gm cubes
• 2 Carrot, roughly chopped
• 2 Onions, chopped
• Two fresh bay leaves
• 4 cloves garlic crushed in their skins
• 2 Cloves
• One bottle of a robust red wine (Cotes de Rhone or Languedoc) at least
• Ten black peppercorns
• 3 Tablespoon Cognac
• Beurre manie (teaspoon flour and teaspoon butter mashed together)
• Tablespoon butter
• Large handful of chopped parsley
• Olive oil
• ¾ kilo mushrooms, quartered if large – but preferably button
• 1 packet of Lardons (Bacon Chunks)

Preparation
Now the secret with this recipe is to be generous, it is not wildly expensive if you’re lucky enough to live here and is even better the day after. Think more in terms of throwing things in, rather than measuring out exact quantities.

Now you need to get the worst bit over first – invite a friend round for coffee, and make them peel the onions. Don’t let them get away with doing the mushrooms, which only need a wipe with a damp cloth. That’s your job. Peel the garlic while you’re at it, just to show willing.

Find the plasters, sharpen your best knife; put the plasters away. Cut up the steak into chunks, remembering that they’ll shrink a bit so do not cut them too small. Toss the chunks in generous amounts of sea-salt and pepper then put some flour on a plate, season it well, then coat all of the steak chunks with flour. Place the beef in a large glass bowl then add the next seven ingredients making sure that the beef is covered. Cover the bowl and allow 24 hours for marinating.

Today you start cooking so turn on the oven – red hot for the first half an hour, then reduce the heat to Gas Mark 1/2 (Electricity – 140ºC, 250ºF) for the rest of the cooking. Now, if your friend from yesterday arrives make her another cup of coffee then send her out to buy a couple of loaves of fresh crusty bread because you have to concentrate briefly. Having found a large cast iron casserole dish, take the meat out of the marinade and dry it thoroughly on kitchen paper. Now make sure you have opened all the windows or you won’t be able to see. In the casserole dish, pour in lots of olive oil and get it smoking, then toss the meat in four pieces at a time to sear it. Brown them over a high heat on all sides – they should look really crusty almost like a steak – and then take them out of the pan and add the next four, until you have a pile of fragrant beef.

Now turn down the heat, throw all the seared beef back into the dish rapidly followed by the carrots, onions, bay leaves and lardons. Toss it about until the onions look half cooked and the bacon is beginning to burn. Here comes the fun part: Pour over the brandy and set light to it, making sure your eyebrows well out of the way. When that’s calmed down pour in the marinade making sure the meat is covered. If not then add more red wine to cover everything completely. Throw sea-salt and red/black pepper in like it was going out of fashion.

Add the drained vegetables from the marinade to the casserole pot and brown those too and then pour in the wine marinade. Bring the liquid to a gentle simmer and pile the meat back in. The meat should be entirely covered by liquid. If not add a little more red wine if you have a bottle handy, bring back to a simmer and place in a low oven (140°C) for three hours. 

Cover the dish with foil – if the dish’s enormous you’ll have to put two bits of foil together and pleat it to make it wide enough. Heave it into the oven and forget about it for at least three hours, although it’ll carry on getting better if you can wait an extra hour. However, you should take a peek every hour or so to see if the level of liquid has dropped and the meat looks a little exposed, turn it over gently in the liquid. Even if the meat looks burned, do not be alarmed and do not add more liquid – you need the gentle reduction of the sauce and the darkening of the meat for flavour – if the pan looks totally dry, your oven thermostat has broken! Whilst you are waiting, finish off the remains of the red wine!!! 

To serve: Throw on a generous handful of chopped parsley. Serve it from the dish, with tagliatelle and fine green beans if you want to be a bit more exotic. Try not to look too disappointed when the last morsels are wiped from the pan with chunks of bread – you won’t have to eat it three days running, and you could have a takeaway kebab tomorrow, if no-one invites you out.

Poulet Espagnol aux Amandes et au Safran

This beautiful Moorish dish has been prepared for century’s right across Spain. My good friend Yvonne from Andalucía has always amazed me by how quickly she could throw this dish together. So, we are going see if we can produce something that has a touch of both Breton and Andalusian cuisine about it, a dish full of flavour with subtle herbs and spices, something that can be served by the more adventurous hostess. Our recipe is based around Andalusian, Breton, Persian and Maghribian ingredients, plus a selection of basic items found in your refrigerator, condiments, and cooking processes. Our preference is to serve the dish with either a large portion of saffron rice or Noirmoutier new potatoes drenched in salted butter and covered in fresh parsley – the choice is yours – but don’t forget to add something green. The sauce may not be that pretty, but ignore that fact, just revel in the flavours.                   

  Ingredients (Serves 6):

2 -2.5 kilos of Chicken pieces, preferably breasts
150 grams Marcona Almonds
A large pinch of pure Mancha Saffron Stamens
250 ml Chicken stock –see this link
3 Garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 very thick slice of slate bread, crusts removed
Sea-salt and black pepper
A pinch of Nutmeg
2 Cloves, crushed
125 ml very dry Fino Sherry
Sprig of Bay Leaves
4 sprigs of thyme, leaves stripped
1 tablespoon freshly chopped flat-leafed parsley
Juice of ½ a lime
Olive Oil

Preparation:

Halve the chicken pieces
Pre heat the oven to Gas Mark 2 (150ºC or 300ºF)

Scatter the almonds on a small baking tray and toast in the oven for 5 – 10 minutes. Keep an eye on them, nothing browns faster than nuts. Throw out any dark brown ones, as they will taste bitter and burnt.
Soak the saffron stamens in a small quantity of the hot chicken stock
Heat 2 tablespoons of Olive Oil and the garlic in a heavy shallow frying pan. Do not let the garlic brown, remove it and place on a plate, putting it to one side. Now fry the bread in the garlicky oil on both sides until brown and crisp. Now place it on the plate with the garlic.

Season the chicken pieces with sea salt and black pepper then sprinkle with nutmeg and crushed cloves. Add a little extra Olive Oil to the pan and brown the chicken pieces on all sides. This will take around 20 minutes. Remove and place on a plate, nice big heap of chicken!!!
Add the chicken stock (not the stock infused with saffron) to the pan with the sherry and scrape up the sediment with a wooden spoon to deglaze the pan. Allow the liquid to bubble for a few minutes then add the chicken to the pan, also adding the thyme and bay leaves, crushing them between your fingers as you do so. Cover with a lid and simmer for 10 minutes.

Blitz the almonds in a blender until they are the course side of ground. Rip the fried bread to pieces and add to the nuts with the fried garlic, parsley and saffron infused chicken stock and blitz to a purée.

Scrape the mixture into the simmering pan of chicken and amalgamate with the juices, if it looks a little thick add some more hot chicken stock. Taste and adjust the seasoning to suit then add the juice of the lime. Taste again adding more lime juice if necessary – then serve

Poulet et Champignons en Sauce Cremeuse à Saint Marcellin

This is rich comfort/soul food! Cheese, mushrooms and chicken, what a combination!!

 Saint Marcellin is a very popular soft cheese which is sold in pots (sometimes reusable small clay pots) so much it is runny. In the past, it was made with goat’s milk, but nowadays it is produced with cow’s milk. Saint Marcellin is a cheese with character that has a pleasant creamy texture, a nutty flavour and is slightly acid in taste. Due to it’s lemony note, Saint Marcellin goes perfectly well with a herb such as tarragon that offers bittersweet and zesty aromas of fennel, liquorice and anise.

Serves 4

Ingredients:
30g Unsalted butter
1 Shallot, chopped
300g Champignons de Paris (Parisian button mushrooms), cut in two and sliced
2 Chicken breasts, not too thinly sliced
250ml Double cream
1 Saint Marcellin cheeses (100g each), cut in slices
3-4 tbs Fresh tarragon leaves (French tarragon), chopped

Sea-Salt to taste
Black Pepper to taste

 

Method:

1. Heat a frying pan, add the butter and chicken. Sizzle over high temperature while continuously stirring.
2. Add the mushrooms, continue sizzling and stirring until they are golden.
3. Add the shallots and cook until they are translucent.
4. Then, incorporate the cream and cheese. Stir and let simmer gently over low temperature for about 10 minutes.
5. At the very end, add the tarragon leaves, salt and pepper to taste.
6. Serve, sprinkled with more tarragon leaves.

Remarks:
If you don’t have any fresh tarragon, then use the dried herb, but don’t sprinkle any on top of the dish. The herb should only be used inside the sauce. And, of course, don't forget that dried tarragon is a lot stronger than when it's fresh so use about 1 1/2 Tsp.
The dish is ready once the cheese sauce has thickened.

Serving suggestions:
Serve with pasta or white rice.

Breton Langoustines & Pasta

Julienned vegetables and langoustine tails are served in deep soup bowls, covered with pasta circles and set swimming in Langoustine Nage.Langoustines are crustaceans which fall between shrimp and lobster in size. They have thin, long claws and bodies. If necessary, you may use enormous jumbo shrimps for this recipe, and use the shrimp heads and shells to make the nage. Spiny or Maine lobsters may also be substituted, but use only half as many lobsters as langoustines, and cut the tails in half lengthwise before cooking.

Serves 4

16 Breton langoustines (substitute: jumbo prawns)
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
¼ cup olive oil

Langoustine Nage
Claws and head shells from langoustines (above), roughly chopped
2 garlic cloves, unpeeled
1 small carrot, chopped
Hot water to nearly cover
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 ounce fresh coconut
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

Vegetables
½ kilo snap peas
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
½ celery root (celeriac), cut in fine julienne
2 carrots, cut in fine julienne
¼ cup duck stock
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

Pasta
1 tablespoon olive oil
Four 4-inch, 1,5 mm thick pasta dough circles
½ cup Parmesan cheese
¼ cup dried lime zest, grated fine
4 coriander leaves, minced
¾ cup peanut oil

To prepare the langoustines: Pull the tails off the langoustines and remove the shell and back strip. Clean out the heads; save the claws and head shells for sauce. Season the tails with salt and pepper. Heat the olive oil in a large sauté pan or skillet over medium-high heat and sauté the langoustine tails until opaque throughout, 4 to 6 minutes; do not overcook

To prepare the Nage: Put the claws, shells, garlic, and carrot in a large saucepan and add hot water to nearly cover. Bring to a boil; reduce to simmer and cook 20 minutes. Remove from heat and strain through a fine-meshed sieve, pressing down on the solids to extract all flavour. Put back on the heat and reduce to ½ cup. Set aside and keep warm.

To prepare the vegetables: Trim the edges of the snap peas to remove the strings and cut the pods in fine julienne. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in each of 3 small saucepans over medium heat. Put the peas, celery root, and carrots each in its own pan and sauté, stirring occasionally, until softened, 2 to 3 minutes. Put the vegetables in separate small bowls.

To prepare the pasta: Bring a large pan of lightly salted water to a boil. Reduce the heat until the water is just simmering. Add the olive oil. Slip the pasta circles into the water and poach until al dente, 10 to 12 minutes. Drain on kitchen towels.

To finish: Combine the vegetables into one pan. Season with salt and pepper, add the duck stock and balsamic vinegar and toss; simmer 2 to 3 minutes to reduce the liquid. The finished julienne should be coated thoroughly, but nearly dry.

Stir the butter into the Nage with a whisk. Add the coconut and balsamic vinegar and combine with a stick blender. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.
To serve: Place four deep soup bowls on serving plates. Divide the vegetables among the bowls. Place four langoustine tails in each bowl on top of the vegetables. Lay a circle of pasta on each and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Spoon the Nage into the bowls around the pasta. Sprinkle with grated lime zest and minced coriander leaves.

Kaoteriad

The kaoteriad is to Brittany what the bouillabaisse is to Provence and there are versions of it all over Brittany. A fairly traditional recipe originally made with the seafarer’s share of the catch upon the boat’s return to port. I think it is even better ifshellfish such as mussels, cockles, prairies are added with the fish. If you are very brave include fish heads. Looks very pretty in a dish but without the fish heads. The recipe is particularly popular in the Morbihan and on the Emerald Coast and has the advantage of being both a soup and a dish.

Crantez les noisettes avec les haricots fumés de lard et de Cocos de Paimpol

Serves 4:
16 scallops, shelled
250 g smoked streaky bacon slices with rind
250 g fresh shelled Paimpol coco beans
1 carrot, diced
50 g parsley
25 g thyme
50 g chervil
16 flat Cancale oysters
100 g churned butter
Salt,
Milled pepper
200 ml olive oil (for marinating).

Preparation: 60 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes


Shell the beans and cook in cold, unsalted water. When half cooked, add the diced carrot, a few sprigs of parsley, a little thyme and, depending on personal preference, a small piece of smoked bacon rind. Cook gently and check from time to time. When the beans are tender, salt and put aside. Open the oysters and remove them from their shells.


Reserve the juice from the shells and strain it through a fine cloth. Place the oysters in water. Wrap the bacon slices around the scallops, place in olive oil and season. Fry them in a non-stick pan for 4 minutes at medium heat, turning after 2 minutes once the first side is nice and golden. Reheat the beans in the cooking juices. Pour the oyster juice into a small pan, reduce by one third and then whisk in the butter, cut into small pieces, over a very low heat. Add the oysters to the pan, season and keep warm. Divide the drained beans between the plates. Carefully arrange the scallops and oysters evenly around the beans. Filter the sauce, blend with the melted salted butter and drizzle around the edges of each plate. Garnish with a few sprigs of chervil.

Lobster, Chestnut Pili and Thongweed

Mouclade Charentaise

Meskl gant avalou/ Moules the Breton Way

Mussels with Apple & Shallot sauce

Paella de poulet et de crevette

Serves 6

This is a dish I have tried to prepare many times, only for it to be a complete failure. This time Yvonne is by my side so I am going to learn how to do it properly now that we have acquired the freshest ingredients. J-M & Juan have been to the fish quay to buy shrimps, whilst Yvonne and I have spent an afternoon with Yanni my local chicken farmer, who has provided us with some very, very fresh chicken pieces. Next we raided my kitchen garden for the vegetables and raked around in the fridge for some other bits and pieces, so now it’s time to cook. But first we must choose the correct utensils to make the paella in. We do not use regular frying pans although it seems that the word is, in the Valencia language, the Castilian translation of frying pan. The Paella pan is a special low border frying pan, best quality are thin carbon steel as they respond very quickly to changes in temperature. It should be around 30 mm deep with dips in the central part like a golf ball and two rather large handles. Curious, isn’t it? These pans can measure anything from 20 cm to a metre across and on special occasions hundreds of people to eat from it. The size is very important, having to know the amount of people who will be eating it to be able to choose the correct paella pan.

Ingredients

6 Chicken breasts (about 750 grams) skinned
1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary
¾ teaspoon sea salt, divided
¼ teaspoon, freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons Olive Oil
1 (100 gram) link Saucisse Basquaise (Hot, spicy sausage)
1 cup, chopped onion
½ cup, chopped red bell pepper
1½ cups, uncooked Arborio or Valencia rice
½ cup, diced plum tomato
1 teaspoon, Hungarian sweet paprika
¼ teaspoon, Saffron threads, crushed
1 garlic clove, minced
3 cups, chicken stock
300 grams large shrimps, peeled and deveined
1 cup, (1-inch) diagonally cut asparagus
½ cup green peas, thawed

Preparation

Preheat oven: Gas Mark 6 (200ºC, 400°.F)
Sprinkle chicken with rosemary, ½ teaspoon salt, and black pepper. Heat the oil in a large non-stick paella pan over medium-high heat. Add chicken; cook 3 minutes on each side or until lightly browned. Remove chicken from pan; cover and keep warm.

Remove casings from sausage. Add sausage to pan; cook 1 minute, stirring to crumble. Add onion and bell pepper; cook 7 minutes, stirring constantly. Add rice, tomato, paprika, saffron, and garlic; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Return chicken to pan. Add chicken stock and ¼ teaspoon salt; bring to a boil. Wrap handles of pan with foil; cover pan. Bake at Gas Mark 6 for 10 minutes. Stir in shrimps, asparagus, and peas. Cover and bake an additional 5 minutes or until shrimps are done.

Serving Suggestion: Decorate with 2 lemons , halved and quartered then place Paella pan on table, making sure you have a heatproof table mat on the table, and let everyone serve themselves. We enjoyed it, hope you do .

Bouillinade (Fish and Potato Bake)

This is my interpretation of one of the simplest fish dishes, because it is very much a comfort food, and I find my grandchildren love it!!

Serves - 4

Preparation time: - 10 minutes

Cooking Time: - 30 minutes

Ingredients

1 tablespoon of butter or lard
1 large handful of parsley
650g of potatoes, sliced
1kg  of mixed fish, scaled, gutted, washed then cut into cubes
4-5 cloves of garlic, chopped finely
cayenne pepper
saffron
sea-salt and black pepper
2 tablespoons of olive oil
Some flour

Preparation

Melt the butter in a large pan, remove from the heat. Add all the parsley, salt, pepper, garlic,saffron and cayenne. Dust the fish with flour, then build layers of potato and fish starting and ending with potatoes in the pan. Just cover with cold water and bring to the boil.

Add the olive oil, when boiling, then cover and simmer for about 20 minutes

You can also add a little strong cheese on top when cooked and place under the grill till it browns

Pipérade - Dos de Cabillaud à la Basquaise

This is a recipe given to me by Zohartze, a lady who, to me, is the queen of Basque cuisine. Somebody who really knows how to cook the most amazing fish dishes with very little effort using the freshest fish with freshest vegetables and herbs from her garden. .

Preparation time: 25 min.
Cooking time: 10 + 60 min.

Ingredients

To serve six

1.5 kg Cod in a single piece
3 cloves of Garlic, peeled and chopped
6 thinly sliced Onions
750 grams Bell Pepper, red and/or green cut into quarters and deseeded
1 kilo Tomato cut in quarters
60 ml Olive Oil
30 ml White Wine
Sea-salt and black pepper
A sprig of Thyme;
½ leaf of bay leaf
Fresh Parsley, finely chopped

Preparation
Heat 2 tablespoons of Olive Oil with the onions in a shallow dish in the oven until lightly coloured; Remove and drain the onions, placing to one side;
Then add another spoonful of Olive Oil to the dish, add the Bell Peppers then roast in the oven until slightly blackened; Remove from the oven, allow to cool then peel the skin away using your fingers.
Plunge the tomatoes into boiling water for 30 seconds then peel and remove seeds and dice the tomato flesh.
Now flour the skin of the Cod, add sea-salt and pepper the place in an oven preheated to 180ºc/250ºF/Gas Mark 4 and allow the fish to cook on the floured side only.
Using a larger dish pour the Olive Oil from the other dish and add the onions, the tomatoes; place the Cod on the vegetables; then surround the Cod with Bell Pepper strips. Add sea-salt, black pepper to taste, then place the spring of thyme and the Bay Leaf on top of the fish. Now add another tablespoon of Olive Oil, the White Wine and 30 ml of water...
Place in the oven and allow to cook for 1 hour, turning regularly for the first 10 minutes. Serve straight from the oven in the cooking dish onto a bed of rice, having sprinkled the dish with freshly chopped Parsley.

Marmitako - Tuna and potato stew

Ingredients
For 4 persons.

150ml Olive Oil
2 Large onions, thinly sliced
4 Green chilli peppers medium sized and mild, seeded and thinly sliced.
2 Bay leaves
8 Garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1kg Potatoes suitable for boiling, quartered
240ml Dry white wine
720 ml Vegetable stock
6 to 8 Saffron threads
15ml Sea-Salt
8ml Ground white pepper
1 Dried chilli pepper (mild)
1kg Skinless blue-fin tuna fillets cut into 15mm cubes
45ml Chopped fresh parsley
8ml Piment d'Espelette powder.(Espelette pepper), a variety of chilli pepper that is cultivated in the commune of Espelette, Pyrénées-Atlantiques

Preparation

 Warm 120ml of olive oil in a large casserole over high heat. Add the onions, fresh chillis, bay leaves and garlic. Sautee for 10 minutes.
Add the potatoes, wine, vegetable stock, and saffron. Bring to the boil, cover, and reduce heat to a minimum.
Add the salt, pepper, dried chilli pepper and cook until the potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes.
Warm the remaining olive oil in a large sauté pan over a high heat. Add the tuna and sauté for 2 minutes until lightly browned. Transfer the tuna to the casserole with the potatoes and continue to cook until the fish is done to your taste (about 8 to 10 minutes). Stir only occasionally to avoid breaking the fish apart.
Season with sea-salt and pepper to your taste. Discard the bay leaves before serving. Serve in shallow soup bowls, sprinkle with the parsley and Espelette pepper.

Txangurro - Basque Crab Bake

This delicious dish can be made with crab meat, on the Basque coast, spider crab is used. Me, I do not care, any crab will do providing it is still alive when I get it!!!! Once cooked the crab meat and sauce are put into the crab shells or ramekins then grilled. Because a single crab yields so little meat, it is usual to augment it with a white fish ( Cod or Haddock).

Now this recipe is not for the faint-hearted, because this time I am going to teach you how to cook live crabs, do not be scared it is easy!! The worst that can happen is you have six angry crabs racing round you work surfaces,. Oh what fun, at least they are not lobsters, so you cat will not get attacked!!.

Ingredients

Serves four people
Preparation time 20 minutes
Cooking time 30 minutes

6 spider crabs or blue crabs
500 gm white fish (Cod or Haddock), cooked and flaked
80 ml olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
200 ml Armagnac,Cognac or in my case Calvados
300 ml tomato puree
230 ml oz white wine
Pinch of Piment d'Espelette
Sea-Salt and black pepper
40 ml chopped parsley
80 ml fine bread crumbs
30 gm butter

Preparation
Place the live crabs into tepid salted water. Bring them slowly to a boil and boil for 15 minutes. Drain and leave till cool enough to handle.
Pry off the shells and put to one side, you will need them later, having cleaned and oiled, for use as serving dishes.
Clean the crabs, discard the spongy gills and stomach, but save any liquor from the shell. Scoop out the soft, dark meat and flaky white meat. Crack the legs and extract the meat.
Heat the oil in a frying pan and sauté the onion until softened.
Add the crab meat and flaked cooked fish to the pan. Add the brandy and ignite it. When the flames die down, add the tomato puree, wine, Piment d'Espelette, sea-salt, pepper, and parsley. Cook for 15 minutes, adding a little of the liquor, if needed, to thin the sauce.
Spoon the mixture into the crab shells or into 6 oiled ramekins. Sprinkle the tops with the bread crumbs, dot them with butter, and put under a hot grill or into a preheated hot oven until the tops are browned, about 5 minutes.

Ultimate Breton Fishcakes – Ischni Style

Ingredients

FOR THE TARTARE-STYLE SAUCE

• 125ml mayonnaise
• 1 rounded tbsp capers, roughly chopped (rinsed and drained if salted)
• 1 rounded tsp creamed horseradish
• 1 rounded tsp Dijon mustard
• 1 small shallot, very finely chopped
• 1 tsp coriander, finely chopped

FOR THE FISH CAKES

• 1000g skinned cod or haddock fillet, or a mixture of the two
• 2 bay leaves
• 150ml milk
• 750g Lady Crystal potatoes
• 1 tsp finely grated lemon zest
• 2 tbsp fresh coriander, chopped
• 2 tbsp snipped chives
• 2 eggs
• 2 tbsp freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• flour, for shaping
• 85g breadcrumbs

Preparation

1.     Mix all the sauce ingredients together. Set aside. Lay the fish and bay leaves in a frying pan. Pour over the milk and 150ml water. Cover, bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 4 minutes. Take off the heat and let stand, covered, for 10 minutes to gently finish cooking the fish.

2.     Meanwhile, peel and chop the potatoes into even-sized chunks. Put them in a saucepan and just cover with boiling water. Add a pinch of sea-salt, bring back to the boil and simmer for 10 minutes or until tender, but not broken up.

3.     Lift the fish out of the milk with a slotted spoon, pat dry on kitchen paper and allow to cool. Drain the potatoes in a colander and leave for a min or two. Tip them back into the hot pan on the lowest heat you can and let them dry out for 1 min, mashing them with a fork and stirring so they don't stick. You should have a light, dry fluffy mash. Take off the heat and beat in 1 rounded tbsp of the sauce, then the lemon zest, coriander, chives and Parmesan cheese. Season well with sea-salt and black pepper. The potato should have a good flavour, so taste and adjust to suit.

4.     Drain off liquid from the fish, grind some pepper over it, then flake it into big chunks into the pan of potatoes. Using your hands, gently lift the fish and potatoes together so they just mix. You'll only need a couple of turns, or the fish will break up too much. Put to one side and cool.

5.     Beat the egg on a large plate and lightly flour a board. Spread the breadcrumbs on a baking sheet. Mix flour, sea-salt and cayenne pepper on board, and with floured hands, carefully shape into cakes, about 2.5cm thick. One by one, sit each cake in the egg, and brush over the top and sides so it is completely coated. Sit the cakes on the crumbs, patting the crumbs on the sides and tops so they are lightly covered. Transfer to a lined tray, cover and chill before packing for freezer.

Service

Heat some oil in a large frying pan. To test when ready, drop a piece of the dry breadcrumbs in - if it sizzles and quickly turns golden brown, it is ready to use. Fry the fish cakes over a medium heat for about 5 minutes on each side or until crisp and golden. Serve with the rest of the sauce (squeeze in a little lemon zest to taste), lemon wedges (for squeezing over), watercress and crispy fries.

Makes 24 cakes!!