Let’s go fry a kite

Tonight I would like to discuss frying with you all, mainly of the deep persuasion.
I didn’t grow up in a frying household. Not really anyway. I have some AMAZING memories of my mum’s home made skinny chips. We didn’t have them too often so when we did it was an awesome treat. Otherwise mum would dry fry most things or find ways around it, she used to make a world famous crispy aromatic duck (amongst the family and my friends at least) which was done completely in the oven, it various batches and over MANY hours (this does remind me I do really need to get that recipe off of her!)
So not a frying house. I then moved to uni. In my first year I was in catered halls which involved LOTS of carbs of various varieties in one meal all having exactly the same consistency! Potatoes, rice and pasta all exactly the same, it’s an amazing feat! So when I left halls and went into my first home I wanted to have a go at my mums amazing chips. I had a chip pan fire. It was the scariest thing ever. I stayed calm and put it out very quickly with a damp tea towel, thank god they nag you and nag you about this stuff. It’s nice to know that when it comes to it I was ok with it all. Since then I have tried to avoid deep frying at all costs. I had a go a few times in the years between then and now but I’m really not a fan, I’ve always been nervous and wanted Daniel as close as possible just incase anything happens.
That was all until this year started and I’ve been trying anything and everything which has happened to include deep frying, about once a month I would imagine. Thanks to that I am much better and much more confident with the whole affair. I appreciate it much more as a way of cooking although I don’t intend to carry on doing it once a month once this year is over!!
So tonight I made steak frites, steak and chips and it was glorious. I did peppered steaks again which I’m falling in love with. Seen as we had a massive plate of just vegetables last night, conversely tonight we had none. Naughty but awesome none the less.
So in conclusion; deep frying has it’s place, which I can appreciate but I’m not going to start doing it all of the time. My only advice is keep calm and remember damp tea towel covering the pan and all will be well! Happy frying and if you feel like treating the men you love steak frites is definitely the way to do it!
So it’s nice to see you, to see you nice
Kate
Xxx

Vegetable-tastic

Daniel has proclaimed tonight’s dinner to be the best one of French month so far. I am pleased because I was trying something a little different, kind of!
So Daniel LOVES enchiladas which, obviously not very French, so when I found a Raymond Blanc recipe for pancakes with spinach and cream (http://www.raymondblanc.com/recipes/baked-pancakes-with-spinach-cream-gruyère.aspx) I couldn’t resist!! He said in the recipe that you could add a slice of ham per pancake which, seen as Daniel loves his meat I did it, well a half slice anyway.
I prepared most of the food during the day, I made the pancakes and the filling and filled them, leaving them in the pan for when we got back from squash. I also realised that I really need to make some more proper desserts. As yet I have been a little lacking in that department so today I went for Reine de Saba (http://www.easy-french-food.com/chocolate-almond-cake.html) a chocolate and almond cake. It seemed really interesting as it doesn’t have any real raising agents in it, just the stiffly beaten egg whites. So I baked it for 20 mins just which left me just enough time to get it out before we had to leave to go and play squash. Unfortunately the oven hadn’t had time to warm up properly so when I had to leave it hadn’t quite finished so I did the only thing I could think of, I turned off the oven and put the cake right down at the bottom hoping that by the time we got back in an hour and a half it would be done and it was, on the whole. It turned out a little like brownie in the end though so Daniel was even happier!! And the texture of the cake and the hint of almonds was lovely.
So all in all I’m loving French month and so far I think France has taught me that the key to a good meal is the sauce.
So good night and good luck. Happy cooking
Kate
Xxx

Steak au poivre

Well tonight was a tour de force! We had Steak au Poivre with roast fine beans, ratatouille and Potatoes Dauphinoise….
So the lowdown. Ratatouille my end up being a huge factor in France month, especially as Daniel clears his plate every time we have it, I have thankfully mastered small portions this time, I still have some left over which I will have with some crusty bread for lunch tomorrow but I’m ok with that, it’s much better than the mound left over last time!
The beans were a complete trial, my entire life I have HATED all kinds of beans, they’re furry and they have a weird skin thing around the horrid bits in the middle (I don’t know if you can tell but u feel VERY strongly that beans are horrid…well some beans!) but I am now reasonable indifferent to peas and I love mange tout so I thought fine beans would be worth a try. I googled French recipes and fine green beans and found a great recipe. There were no measurements, just ingredients. They were shallot, oil, garlic and green beans. Chop onions, put oil and garlic into a big bowl. Add the shallot and beans, toss and bake for 15 minutes. They were lovely, Daniel ate them all although he isn’t really a fan of crunchy vegetables!
We went out for dinner with my parents on Saturday night. We went to a fabulous restaurant called Quite Sumply French in Lancaster. I was lucky that I picked good choices as my dad got a bit of a bum deal with his. But my venison was wonderful and to go with it we were brought a dish of potatoes dauphinoise. I have had them before but like many things this year it is my first go at making them. They were an absolute success, I forgot to rub the garlic clove on the bottom of the dish but that just means I’ll have to make it again!!!
Well all in all the meal was a great success. I have plans for tomorrow’s dinner and I really do need to have a proper crack at some dessert recipes. Tomorrow will be the day!! I promise some good recipes to come!
So it’s goodnight from me and it’s goodnight from him!
Kate
Xxx

Well that was a pile of Coq

Well tonight was interesting. Coq au Vin…again my first attempt. I didn’t prefer it to the beef yesterday, that’s for sure. The sauce was wonderful, I am now officially in love with red wine based sauces but I HATE boned chicken in a casserole. I remember having this problem in Spanish month but I couldn’t put my finger on what it was. It’s the bones. They end up splintering and it’s SUCH a ball ache having to pick them all out.
I am also pleased that this month has had me adding a lot more fish and red meat into our diets. I went to the Market on Friday and they do market day deals in the fish and meat hall (have I mentioned I LOVE Bury Market!!) and they do eat for a week for £10 so I stocked up…our freezer loves me at the moment as does, I’m sure I don’t even need to mention, Daniel!
But this has left me in a little bit of a quandary. I had planned to cook Chicken Marenngo tomorrow, when Hannah stays over but after realising how much I hate chicken in a casserole, boneless or not I just think red meat lends itself better to having the shit cooked out of it, I have decided instead to cook Ragout D’Agneau, a lamb casserole 🙂
I have also been wracking my brain over a good way to end these posts so I may try a few different ones to see how I feel;
So goodnight and try not to have nightmares

Kate
xxx

Beef Bourguignon

Well so far I am loving France. I don’t feel like I have done enough yet of the small snacky things which I have done every other month but we have a lot on this week, I’m working split shifts and then we are going to a funeral in Wales this weekend so not really enough time to make let alone eat all of the bits and bobs I want to make!
The best thing about doing splits though is that I have been making dinner in the slow cooker on my break so when I get back it’s ready and today was WONDERFUL. It was the Julia Child beef bourguignon recipe (minus the cognac). Wow. I have never made beef bourguignon before, I’m not usually a big red meat fan, especially at home, I tend to save it for when eating out but what a treat this was. We had some plain boiled rice with it. Amazing. The flavours were so rich and moreish, it wad difficult not going back for seconds, although it does mean I get to have it for my lunch tomorrow! I was a little worried when it came to French month about doing Julia Child recipes but I’m not sure there’s any way to escape it and I’m glad now I didn’t. This is definitely going to be a keeper this recipe. The ratios of mushroom, onion and carrot was just perfect. I was unable to get hold of the small pickling onions so I got shallots and just used the smallest ones. What I have learned about the slow cooker is that because the liquid doesn’t evaporate off you have to pour the sauce into a pan and thicken it up. I was worried about this with the beef as the recipe suggested adding 2 tbsp of flour but it was perfect. I added a little extra wine for good measure also but that was always going to happen!! What I think I am a very big fan of is; it has been wonderfully warm recently which I don’t normally find synonymous with casserole style meals this was just perfect.
So I am doing splits tomorrow and Thursday so Tomorrow i will be doing chicken marrengo, apparently the recipe dates back to the 1800s. Napoleon ate it after winning a battle and so insisted his chef cook it every time as, apparently, he was a superstitious fellow. Anyway, interesting sounding recipe, should make for an interesting post. I will also be making coq au vin. France is going well so far and can only get better.
Thanks for reading
xx