Savoury bread & butter pudding

In the Summer 2013 issue of Beer...
the quarterly magazine of CAMRA...
there was a recipe for a Mediterranean bread and butter pudding...
and it sounded very tasty.
Yesterday we needed a hot meal...

As it left the oven...

But, as usual, we didn't have all the ingredients...
the full recipe as published is at the bottom...
but this is the recipe as I made it...

1 sliced loaf of brioche... this was bought for the recipe... and it was sandwich loaf shaped
98g butter, softened... it was all I had...
200g rather overhard Chévre cheese, "shaved" carefully with a Chinese chopper... the Micro-planes wouldn't touch it!!
15 slices [one packet] of Smoked Austrian ham... from LIDL

and for the custard...
3 whole eggs and 3 yolks.... my recipe for meringue calls for 3 egg whites
1tsp un-smoked paprika... but home grown and ground
1tbs brandy
200ml La Borde "double" cream... so thick it needed extra thinning
250ml milk
I cut back a bit on the liquid to allow for the extra egg white

The method was much as below, but I decided to blend the butter and cheese together with a spoon to make spreading easier... that worked well!
The LIDL ham doesn't have separators which always makes it a bit tricky to get them apart...
and I didn't cut the slices in half... and I had three extra of course!!
When packing them in, I did cut the end crusts in half across, not down...
that allowed me to use the two tops in the centre...
The addition of the liquid for the custard took almost the 45 minutes that you are meant to let it stand... huh?
So I then let it stand another 45 minutes to soak properly... towards the end of this time I pre-heated the oven.
After the 50 mins there was still runny custard in the middle...
so it was back in for another 30 mins...
and, because I like crusty bread & butter pudding...
I didn't do the covering bit...
until the last 30 mins as the crusty outside was how I like to see it after the first 50 mins.

One portion on the plate and you can see the yummy moistness in cross section

We ate half of it hot, with a plain green salad, roast tomato & cumin chutney and sweet pickled ripe Oxheart tomato...
it was exceptionally yummyumm!...

Plated up... the ripe tomato pickle is top left [just below the salad]  with the roast tomato & cumin chutney below it.

Tonight we ate some of it cold...
again with a plain green salad and tomato & cumin chutney...
with the addition of a potato and hard-boiled egg mayonnaise, some radish and half a fresh tomato... again it worked well and would probably be a good picnic main course...
Not often I use a magazine recipe...
but this one really caught my eye.

The actual recipe in the magazine was:

1 loaf of brioche
100g butter, softened
200g Manchego cheese, shaved
12 slices of Serrano ham

and for the custard...
2 whole eggs and 4 yolks
1tsp smoked paprika
1tbs brandy
400ml double cream
150ml milk

Slice brioche into 12 slices,
butter one side of each and top with cheese and a slice of ham.
Cut each slice in half to give 24, then arrange them crust-up in a buttered casserole dish; don't pack too tightly.

Whisk together custard ingredients, pour over the pudding and leave for 45mins.
Pre-heat the oven to 150°C / 300°F / gas mark 2.
Season pudding liberally with freshly ground black pepper.
Cover pudding with greaseproof paper, then aluminium foil; bake for 45-50 minutes, until firm.
Serve with tomato chutney.
Serves four!
No... it would easily serve six to eight!!

The recipe is served as a starter at the Anderson in Fortrose... this hotel/pub, reportedly with a magnificent selection of Belgian bottled ales and UK beers on draught, has been run for the last ten years by one Jim Anderson [formerly a US beer writer] and his wife Anne [a cutting edge chef]... they fled Philadelphia for a Victorian hotel in Scotland... with some success it appears!!

The [not so] Hungry Gap

The Hungry Gap...
comes from the labouring classes pre-supermarket days...
when your store of food was becoming exhausted, one had, as one says, to become both frugal and creative...
but there are a lot of people nowadays who rely on the supermarket only...
in the UK... for the majority of people from all classes...
they have no idea how to keep a home produced larder...
the skills are neither taught nor handed down.
It is really a shame.
It has become a WI and upper-middle-class hobby...
but here in France... and in the US...
you can get everything you need for bottling...
[canning in States-speak]...
from the local hardware stores.

Even some of our older fellow allotmenteers...
who had lived through the war as teen-agers...
the idea of over-wintering crops was not even considered...
most left bare sandy soil for the winter, which leached out any nutrients...
or just had a few rows of over-wintering broad beans and onions...
crops that won't come good for a couple of months yet.

Those of us who grew cabbage, kales and chard...
and had winter root crops...
were looked upon with both surprise and amusement...
I often wonder what would happen if supermarkets suddenly vanished!?

I learnt the majority of what I know from my maternal grandmother...
my grandfather had left well before the war...
and she had to bring up three kids on her own...
with very little money!
She...
and my mother...
were wonders at both keeping a harvest safe and at frugal cooking.

As for tasty "Hungry Gap" greens, we will be growing Ken's Collard Greens every year from now onward...
very sweet flavoured...

Collard Greens... just beginning to sprout.

similar to Red Russian Kale...
also growing well at the moment.

Red Russian Kale

We often sow Chinese Mustard Greens in late summer....
these give a pick of young leaves all winter.
Red Mustard for colour and "Green in Snow" for a more peppery flavour.
There are still Red Cabbage out in the potager...
wonderful cooked with apple, raisins and red wine.
All of these, and the Brussel Sprouts that were too small to pick...
give wonderful sprouts to steam...
or eat in winter salads towards the end of March.

If you cut the Summer cabbages rather than pulling, then cross-cut the stump that's left...
you should have some sweet "Spring" cabbage by now.
You cross-cut the stump immediately after you've cut the cabbage off, using the same knife...
we always try and leave a ring of the outer leaves.
That usually means four buds are left to sprout...
initially developing as small cabbages and then...
at around the same time as most plants are putting out shoots...
each mini cabbage [if you haven't already picked and eaten them] throws out a flower shoot from each axil.
These snap off and can be steamed...
a mix of different shoots give a variety of flavours... from peppery to sweet.
And, as they have been steamed... a selection of colour too.
Worry not if the flowers have broken open... the flowers are all edible.
The flower shoots of rocket can be added at this time, too.
This wonderful selection of sprouts are often referred to as "Poor Man's Asparagus".

Some sprouts from Black Tuscan Kale... very expensive in the shops as each leaf has to be hand picked!!

Also maturing now will be the Purple and the White Sprouting Broccoli... wonderful stuff!
If the winter has been kind, or if you have kept it sheltered...
any of last summer's Tenderstem Broccoli may well give a second flush around now.

Broccoli sprouts

If you don't like cabbage... there are carrots, parsnip and swede still in the ground...

Fresh parsnips and carrots...

the chard [or blête] should be starting its spring flush too.
The potatoes, shallots and onions should still be in store...
but remember to check the spuds for sprouts...
they take too much energy from the spud...
and can change the flavour as starch is turned to sugar for growth...
and then there are the previous year's dried or frozen pulses, the stored pumpkins, the fresh leeks...
as well as rocket...

Rocket flowers.... excellent!!

and wild sorrel or the larger garden variety...
as well as, still on the wild side, the young nettles that are now sprouting like fury...
they make an iron rich spinach substitute.
try this mixed with fresh goats cheese as a sandwich spread.
And don't forget hop shoots and bracken fronds, either...

And then again...
dig some Jerusalem Artichokes and make a soup with them, onions and créme fraiche...
a real warmer!

All can be used to "fill" the "Hungry Gap".
So, you see...
it is not difficult to bridge the gap...
and wonderful food can be eaten if you've chosen your crops carefully...
and take advantage of the cheaper cuts of meat that the butcher has on offer.

With sorrel, if you can pick enough of the older leaves, you can make a superb, lemony flavoured, green mash...
[used with a really good floury spud - Remarka or King Edward]...
called stoemp in Flemish...
very tasty, looks wonderful on the plate too...
lime green mash!


An Early Spring recipe.
This serves two...
Fry up or grill a couple of bacon chops,  sweated gently to extract some of their fat, and put aside to keep warm.
Fry a sliced onion or a couple of shallots in the fat... when soft, keep warm... but leave in the pan!
Put a good portion of stoemp on two plates and make a well in the mash...
Place a chop beside the mash and put the heat back on under the onions and bacon fat...
add any fat that leached out of the chops while keeping them warm.
When spitting nicely, remove from the heat and pour the fat into the well in the piles of mash...
the onions can go on the mash as well.... or be put on top of the chops.
Serve with steamed shoots from bolting greens... and put a good knob of butter on them to melt down...
add salt and pepper to taste... these shoots are eaten like asparagus.
To drink...
not wine... but beer...
a glass of Chimay Blue...
or a Tripel Karmelite.

Just loafing around... 'tis the weather!

Yesterday Ken blogged about making bread...
this is based round an expanded comment I left on his blog.
Nowadays our "machine a pain" has become just a glorified dough maker.
Mainly because I hate the hole in the bottom!!
What follows are a few of my observations...

The Bread Machine makes better dough than I do by hand...
it has a load more patience for a start...
and the temperature is probably more constant...
but I still knock back after it comes out...
seems to give that bit extra to the texture...
and NO HOLES!

I try and experiment with the breads I make...
to ring the changes, mainly...
but also to try and make breads to go with different meals...
or to be had with jam, marmalade or peanut butter and redcurrant jelly!!

I use different blends of flour... but almost always include 100 to 150g spelt [épeutre] as it gives a better rise. And the base is usually one of the "off the shelf" strong flours...
Monday tends to be a fairly regular bread-bake day... no bakery!
Yesterday I mixed
175g Pain de Campagne flour,
150g of Epeutre mix,
and made it up to
450g with a local farmers multi-grain mix...
I then added 50g extra grains...
mainly linseed.

These are the ingredients mentioned above...

Lidl's Ciabatta mix is perfect for pizzas.
The Bread Machine recipe book says use Olive Oil for the Ciabatta, Focaccia and Pizza doughs...
and Butter for almost all the others...
so I started substituting Groundnut or Sunflower oil for the butter...
but now use Vigean's Fruity & Nuts... the 30:70 mix of Walnut and 1st press Colza [rapeseed] oils...
it does give a moister, longer lasting loaf.
 
Using a pre-mixed packet....
such as Lidl's Ciabatta mix...
for one of the ingredients, means that you need to cut back on the salt...
I add half a teaspoon now when using it as part of one of my "blends"!

Pauline complains about the number of different flours and grains that I have on the shelves because they take up so much room [but she loves the bread!]

There are a lot of mini-moulins in Centre...
you can get their flours at the farmers markets...
and some of the weekly ones...
you just need to keep your eyes open....
Susan commented, after me, on Ken's entry that Angelique has stopped doing markets...
but you can still order stuff from her at her home...
[thank goodness... I've not seen those grain mixes that she does anywhere else]

When you get to the bake stage...
my tip to pass on is get the oven up to 250 Centigrade...
put the loaf in...
cancel the oven and reset for 200C...
bake for normal time...
this is meant to replicate a traditional bread oven...
some small artisanal bakeries apparently use this method regularly.

And this is the loaf that came out of the oven!

A foodie post. {Especially for Simon...}

Auntie Beeb had a News Magazine article this morning called "20 of your tales of vegetarian woe" about the difficulties faced by people trying to eat veggie in places where it is "likened unto an illness!"

The Allotmenteer's Stir-Fry

These are a selection from the quotes:

I liked this one...

Angus Gafraidh, London, UK:
The French are overwhelmingly in favour of animal rights, in that every animal has the right to be eaten by a French person.

And the next two made me think of Simon...

Otto Gross, Boonton Township, New Jersey, US: 
On my first business trip to South Korea, the response to telling people I was vegetarian in Seoul was, "Vegetables are what they feed animals before they kill and serve them."

and I've heard Simon say this...

Demarest Campbell, San Francisco, US: 
In South Africa, requesting vegetables is like swearing at the wait-staff.
One bewildered waiter told me haughtily, "But, vegetables is what food eats."

"We show what we Grow... We don't grow to Show!" - our allotment show's catchphrase.

 To read the full article click on the "20 of your tales" link at the top.

Oh! And while all the Irish and English supermarkets were clearing their shelves of Silvercrest Economy Shergar Horseburgers... LIDL in France put up the price of their Silvercrest Burgers!
And re-labelled them... Gourmet!!

Only joking... I hope!!?

Boffo!

Last year and this, Le Grand Pressigny hosted un grand spectacle de magie, a magic show, absolutely free and gratis. You might think this would consist of old uncle Louis in a shiny tail coat doing card tricks that fool nobody, but no! The magicians concerned were both extremely professional, with the "how did they do that" coefficient at 10 out of 10.It's all what Terry Pratchett refers to as "boffo" - showmanship and misdirection - but boy were they good at it.

Nothing up my sleeve

This year the hall was packed for the featured magician, "Max". Just "Max"! Yes, there were a couple of card tricks, but how did he get four complete strangers from the audience to pick the four cards that were written on a piece of wallpaper inside a sealed roll? Time and again he produced a flock of paper butterflies from variously shredded paper, only to reveal the paper whole again. He showed a small audience member three methods of tying knots in a rope without letting go of it, allowing him to win two candy bars by getting it right the first time and then again, then to win back the candy bars with a trick knot, twice carefully showing him how to tie it from no more than a yard away! The lad then regained the candy bars by tying two knots simultaneously, one with each hand. The long rope Max cut, knotted, untied, moved the knot, untied it again, yes two pieces of rope but not the same length, tied again, moved the knot again .... The flying table, no strings attached... And where did the live canary go?

The audience loved it. It was great to see so many children, most of whom were right at the front and eager to join in. Many of them were rewarded with balloon animals, including a bouncy scarlet octopus. During the interval, soft drinks, cakes and crêpes were served as somewhat sticky finger food, and I suspect that sugary smears will continue to turn up on the Salle des Fêtes stacking chairs in months to come.

Watch him kids! Did you see how it's done?

Our neighbour told us that Max is presently the acknowledged best magician in France. He told us to look out for him on Le Plus Grand Cabaret du Monde on the Reveillon edition. Not bad for a village in La France Profonde!