Quails with sultana grapes
Serves 4
Preparation time : 20 minutes
Cooking time : 30 minutes
4 Quails
1 small glass of Brandy or
Salt
Pepper
Olive oil
4 teaspoon of butter
3 slices of bread to make your croutons (thick and heavy).
4 slices of bacon
700g of Sultana grapes or other white grapes.
String
Thick fry pan
Season the quails
Cover them with bacon
Tie the bacon on the quail
Pan the quails on each side (5 min in total)
Add the Brandy in the pan
Ignite the Brandy
Remove from heat
Cover the pan
Crush 200g of grapes, pour in the pan
Return pan to heat during 20-25min at low-medium heat cover the pan.
While it’s cooking, prepare you croutons (toast the bread slightly chop the bread in small square and pop it under the grill)
Pan them in butter and oil
Display them in heated plates/dish
Chop the string, remove the bacon, display the quails.
Keep the quail in the oven while you make your sauce
Add one teaspoon of butter in the pan
Add 400g of crushed grapes slowly in the pan, (the sauce shouldn’t be too fluid or too thick)
If too fluid let the sauce reduce, if too thick add a bit of water
Pour the sauce on the quails.
Add the rest of the grapes for decoration.
Serve with vegetables such as potatoes, pumpkin, carottes
Blanquette de Veau ou d’Agneau
Serves 4
Preparation : 20 min
Cooking : 1 hour
750g of Veal or Lamb shoulder (I use Lamb shoulder chops as it’s got bones and stron ger taste than the Veal )
1 onion
6 cloves
1 large carrot
125g of mushroom
1 large pinch of parsley
Salt
Pepper
3 soup spoon of flour
4 soup spoon of butter
Half a teaspoon of nutmeg
1 egg yolk
The juice of half a lemon (not too big)
Water
Chop your meat in 5 cm cube, remove the bones, do not remove the fat.
Put your meat in a stock pan, pour some water until water covers the meat completely.
Remove the meat.
Add salt, pepper, onion, cloves(stick the cloves on the onion), bones to the water.
Bring to the boil
Add the meat, the carrot in 1cm slices, mushrooms chopped in1/4
Let it simmer/boil during 50min, the meat should be tender.
Pull the meat and the vegetables, keep the stock.
In a large fry pan or a stock pan melt the butter add the meat and the vegetables.
Add the flour to the meat, mix.
Add some of the stock to the meat until the sauce has the consistence of a white sauce.
Let it cook during 5 min on very low heat.
In a bowl mix the egg yolk, the lemon juice, nutmeg, pepper and 2 soup spoon of stock
Add this mixture to the meat
Remove from heat.
Mix the egg mixture and the meat
The mixture will thicken; add some stock until the sauce has a nice consistence (not too thick, not too fluid).
Serve it with rice, or potatoes
Roulades de Saumon
Serves 4
200g of Smoked Salmon
2 tubs of thick cream
2 sticks of spring onion
1 large pinch of Dill
2 large pinch Chives
Salt
Pepper
Olive oil
Rock salt
Chop spring onion, dill, chives thinly but keep some whole for decoration
Mix herbs, and spring onion to the cream.
Season to your taste, you can also add more herbs if you like.
Flatten your smoked salmon
Pour some of your mixture on the salmon and roll the salmon.
Put in the freezer for 15min
On a plate sprinkle artistically olive oil and rock salt.
Display the “Roulades de Saumon”.
Decorate with dill and chives.
Pot au feu (serves 4)
This dish is a traditional French dish that we eat in winter – spring.
This dish is best if you prepare it the day before.
Preparation : 30mn
Cooking : 30min + 3hrs
Ingredients
1.5 kg of beef , ask your butcher what is best to boil
chop 300g in small pieces, 1.2kg in 5cm cubes
4 marrow bones
2 litres of water
1 onion in which you stick 4 cloves.
1 celery stick
1 bouquet garni (thyme, bay leaves, rosemary, parsley)
salt
pepper
250g of carrots chopped in half(length wise) and in 10cm stick
250g of turnips in quarter
250g of leeks, green and white part
8 potatoes
First part: the stock
- Fill a large sauce pan with water
- add the 300g of meat, the onion, the bones, the bouquet garni, the celery, pepper, the green of the leeks, (no salt)
- Bring to the boil during 30 min
- Remove the meat, it has given the flavour to your stock.
- Add the rest of the meat, cook for 2 hours gentle boil
- Add the carrots, the turnips, the leeks
- Cook another 30 minutes
- Cook the potatoes separately
Let it cool down, eat it the next day.
You can eat the Pot au feu with the liquid (consommé) or strain it and eat the consommé as a soupe.
If you eat it as a soupe, add 2-3 soup spoons of red wine to your soup when it is served, it’s called “faire chabrot”
If you don’t want to add wine, leave the soup in the fridge and remove the fat when it’s solid, as the consommé is very fatty.
If you eat the Pot au feu with the consommé, you can also add a little bit of red wine 1-2 soup spoons
If you strain the Pot au feu , it might be dry, sprinkle a little bit of olive oil on top and some rock salt
