Tuesday 15 September 2009

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'...

Thursday 13 August 2009

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!!

Wednesday 12 August 2009

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)

Friday 10 July 2009

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!!

Tuesday 7 July 2009

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.

Monday 18 May 2009

Tarte à la Rhubarbe


I recently spent a day with François in his boulangerie, at La Ferme Auberge de Bunehou, and came away laden with recipes and tips, and dying to try this one out on my loved ones in June, when one of our favourites... rhubarb, comes into season ... Tarte à la rhubarbe (with a Norman twist...Calva and crème fraîche !)

The result was definitely worth waiting for.....


Pâte Brisée
250g plain flour
125g butter, at room temp. cut into small pieces
1 egg yolk
40g caster sugar
pinch of salt
50ml water

1 kilo Rhubarb, chopped
50g sugar


For the filling:
3 eggs, beaten
3 tablsp. crème fraîche
1 dessertsp. flour
80 – 100g brown sugar
Drop of Calvados


For the Pastry
Sieve flour and salt. Rub in butter until mix resembles fine breadcrumbs.
Stir in sugar and make a ‘well’ in the centre. Pour the egg yolk (beaten) and water in and mix in with a knife until a ball is formed....Leave to ‘rest’ in fridge for at least an hour.

Preheat oven to 180°C

Line a lightly buttered quiche tin with pastry. Bake ‘blind’* for about 15 minutes.
Place chopped rhubarb on top and sprinkle with sugar.

Mix all the filling ingred. together and pour over rhubarb. Sprinkle extra sugar on top.

Bake in a hot oven until nicely set.



*Baking ‘blind’ is simply pre-baking the pastry, to avoid a soggy base!
Prick the base of the pastry with a fork. Put some baking paper on top and a few dried beans/pasta so that the pastry won’t rise...
(I always do this for quiches and tarts.)