Paella

O.K .....not exactly french.... but very good and very handy for entertaining....It's a one course meal - no starters - perhaps a few fancy nibbles....I reckon the Paella is to the Spanish what the Risotto is to the Italians...
A Spanish friend of mine explained that Paella is based on leftovers - i.e we had chicken one day, prawns the next, mussels after that and so on.....and let's throw the whole lot together with a bit of rice and Bob's you uncle....Once you get the hang of it, you can experiment with all kinds of leftovers..
Anyway, Geraldine, this one's for you....

Paella
Ingredients .....for 6 people
6 chicken thighs
2 lemons, cut in half
olive oil
4 cloves garlic, crushed
2 shallots, chopped
4 fresh tomatoes, chopped or a tin (in winter)
2 bay leaves, broken in half
good pinch saffron or Paella spice mix
700g/1½lbs Valencia or paella rice
splash white wine
1½-2l/2½-3½pt hot vegetable or chicken stock
1 packet mixed seafood, defrosted
1 chorizo, sliced
225g/8oz mussels – cleaned, debearded and cooked in a dash of white wine until open (discard closed ones) ......oh yeah and ...... keep the wine and add to stock....
225g/8oz prawns – heads and tails on....
large bunch parsley, chopped
salt and pepper
Method
1. Seal and lightly colour the chicken pieces with the lemon halves in olive oil.
2. Remove from the pan and add the chopped garlic, shallots and tomatoes. Fry for a few minutes, adding the bay leaves, saffron, rice, wine and chorizo.
3. Return the chicken and lemon to the pan and pour in enough hot stock to cover the mixture. Partially cover the pan with a lid and bring to a gentle simmer.
4. Continue to add the stock a ladle at a time, allowing each to be absorbed before adding the next.
5. The rice should be almost cooked after 10-12 minutes. Check to make sure the chicken is cooked through before adding the seafood. Cook for about 3 minutes, adding more stock if necessary.
6. To finish, stir in the prawns, the cooked mussels (shells and all – ‘nothing like scooping out the rice from the shell) chopped parsley, season.....reheat thoroughly (for the added shellfish) and serve from the pan. You may ....i.e you have to use your fingers – it’s all part of the fun .....just don’t forget the fingerwipes!

Bon appétit!

P.S Serve with a nicely chilled Rosé wine

The Green Goose

In an effort to get the girls away from MSN, the TV and their mobile phones - I asked them to express themselves creatively with a couple of tins of paint.....and gave them carte blanche for the chicken house!!!!
Completely underestimating the effect of a tin of green paint on our Nicloas (de goose), off went Ellen and Kate with great plans for a makeover job...
Yes, you've guessed what happened next....Nicolas, on seeing the shiny green acrylic, went ape, thought all his heavens had come together and niw sprots a green beak......and the chicken house - which they decided would be a disco (!!???) for the lively chicks, has been called 'The Green Goose'...

Enya

Our latest addition to 'Animal Farm'.......Kate has been saving up all her pocket money, has sold her saddle (!!!), has worked for Papa in the surgery and emptied his pockets before loading the machine......and managed to come up with enough dough to splash out and buy her new friend - the 'handbag' arrived yesterday much to the joy of her new mistress!!

Holidays

A few photos from our holidays - Venise, Croatia, Vienna...

Moules

Time to get back to 'normal' .....whatever that is, as the holidays are over...
We drove from Benoistville to Paris, then on to Venise for 3 nights (check out Novotel - kids go free until the age of 16...great breakfast buffet and often a pool which, given the heat that we're not used to, is fab)and from there to Croatia where we met up with some pals for a week of sailing....and ended our holiday in Vienna...

On the cookery front, I felt like Rick Stein when 'Gus' our friend and skipper went diving and presented me with a bucket of fresh mussels ....
So,obviously, busman's holiday apart, I had to come up with something to feed the crew...

Mussels in Garlic butter...easy, tasty - a classic french recipé. All you need is:

Garlic butter (see prawns in garlic butter recipé) and cleaned, debearded mussels...

Place mussels in a large, heavy based pot with a glass of wine, cover and place over a high heat for 3 - 4 minutes, shaking pot now and then, until the mussels have opened. Drain into a colander, tehn break off and disgard the empty half shells, leaving the mussels in the other shell.
Preheat the oven/grill to very high. Place a little garlic butter on each mussel ( yes, a very good friend of mine tells me life is too short for stuffing mushrooms - mussels too I imagine, but what a taste....)
Put into oven until bubbling hot and serve with lots of crusty bread and a dry white (Muscadet/Rosé)

The 'Wilde' Geese....part II

Et voilà......a new addition to the 'basse-cour'
Nicolas and Carla are settling in nicely, enjoying the sunshine....Carla's the bigger of the two, by the way!!

The 'Wilde' Geese....

Monday morning...That's it ... off to the market like the little piggy we went...(Remember, 'this litle piggy went to the market?.....')Our decision was final, we were going for geese this time..
Names..Nicolas and Carla....that way we'll have no problem eating them at Christmas.....
and guess what...?

They were all gone.. ...

we're too late for the geese from Toulouse....A bit like the Randy Travis song that ....'you've been too gone for too long...it's too late to come back now...'

Anyway, they're ordered for the Friday morning market in Les Pieux ..

Here is a song, that I learnt in secondary school,which I now sing to my girls to get them used to the idea of what we'll be eating at Christmas...




The Goslings - Frederick Bridge
===============================

She was a pretty little gosling, and a gay young gosling he:
And “I love you,” he said, “so dearly;” and “I love you too,” said she.
“But alas we must part,” he whispered, “I’m off to the world so wide;
but love, don’t fear, I’ll come next year, and make you, and make you my little bride.”

’T was Michaelmas day at morning, that he came home once more.
He met his true love’s mother, and oh!, she was weeping sore.
“Too late you’ve come,” she whispered, “They’ve taken your love away.
She never will be your bride, ah, me! For she’s going, she’s going to be cooked today!”

Then up he went to the farmhouse: “Where is my love?” he said.
But the farmer’s wife she took a knife and cut off his little head.
And she served him up with his true love, on a dish so deep and wide.
So though in life they were parted, in death they were side by side.