A Princess Love Heart Photo

I have, at last, managed to load my photos.  However sorting and writing instructions for the various seafood I cooked over the Easter weekend is going to take me a while, and today I am (sadly) tidying and packing, to return to England for the school term.

But in tribute to yesterday's beautiful celebrations (which we were able to follow listening to the radio, and checking on the iPad), I wanted to show you  this sweet heart.  Our Little Girl drew dozens on the beach and called them (before she knew about the Royal Wedding!) Princess Love Hearts, it's the theme she is planning for her fifth birthday party!  (Help - two months away, and already a theme, guest list, and entertainment ideas - from her!)

I hope you all had a great time yesterday, and enjoy the rest of the weekend.

Jude x

PS I am very excited, nearly 1000 hits on this blog.  Thank you all, it really makes it worthwhile to know that people are reading it :-)

Another perfect summer salad:- Lisbon Salad

I call this Lisbon Salad, because that is where I first ate a version of it.  My husband was attending a conference, and once I had arrived my husband insisted in taking me to a tapas bar, for lunch, which he had discovered the previous day.

We had some truly delicious tapas, with a lovely glass of Vino Verde, the highlight of the meal being this salad.  We ate, and tried to discover the various ingredients that made this delicious salad.  We decided it  was salt cod, chick peas, lemon juice, olive oil and parsley.

Now I don't know about you, but I find salt cod a tad difficult, all that soaking and re-soaking!  So I decided that smoked haddock might be a good substitute, I was really  delighted to read in an article in Country Living, that said smoked haddock is commonly used in place of salt cod.

So this is my version of Lisbon Salad:-

Chick Peas - 1 tin
Smoked Haddock - 2 pieces
Onion - 1 medium
Parsley - large handful
Lemon - 1
Olive Oil

In England you will need to cook the smoked haddock, I do this by baking (in a little milk) in the oven, it is ready once it is tender.  Let it cool and flake.

Chop the onion and soak in the olive oil (a tablespoon or so should do)

Add the flaked haddock and the chick peas

Now stir in the lemon juice and the finely chopped parsley

The salad is better left for the flavours to meld, pop in the fridge for up to four hours.  It is a super lunch, we ate it on Good Friday.  Or makes a great part of a tapas meal.

I am sorry that I forgot to photograph the various steps, but I am confident that this
 is easy to make, and do hope you enjoy it.

I had intended to post "Lobster- a dish for a Princess" tonight, but I am once again having problems with my camera.  I will download the lobster, crab and spider crab photos and easy to follow instructions, but it may be next week.... please await more information!

I read in the Times yesterday (via my iPad) that Richmond was the London Borough with the largest number of  registered street parties, so to all my friends who are out celebrating tomorrow have a wonderful time.  I hope William and Catherine have a wonderful day, and that the press leave them to a little peace and quiet while they find their feet.

Best wishes to all, enjoy the long weekend.  We are travelling home over the weekend so my seafood cooking  will have to wait, until next week.

Jude x

The Easter Bunny... she found us in Brittany!

What a relief, the Easter Bunny did manage to  find us!

 The Bunny dashed in with lots of pretty eggs for La Petite to share with her friends.   She was in a hurry ( she had to take all those eggs to children in England!) so she asked us to hide the eggs in the garden, we put them out in threes to encourage team work.

 Once our  guests had arrived the three children had a lovely time hunting in the garden and found all the treasure.  (We had earlier had a small mishap, the dog had managed to find a cache of eggs and had had a small feast.  Fortunately the combination of foil and chocolate does not seem to have upset him too much!)


And, of course, I didn't forget the adults, we  all had a cup of coffee with some (homemade) fruitcake and shop bought treats, enjoying the sun on the terrace.

A basketful of eggs ....

We found them here...

here....

and here....

also here....

and under here!

The coffee tray, and cakes.

I couldn't get a photograph of the Easter Bunny, but this rather
hazy photo is of one of her cousins in the sand dunes.

Happy Easter Week!

A Second Bistro Salad: Salad de Ile de Batz.

We first ate a version of this salad about six or seven years ago.  It was a sunny July day, and we had taken our bicycles, on the ferry, over to the Ile de Batz.  We had  a splendid time cycling around the island, and stopped for lunch at a lovely little bistro, and sat on  a sun filled terrace,  over looking the sea, close to the Lighthouse.

The salad we ate, was  served with a crepe (french pancake).  It consisted of  lettuce, smoked salmon and warm goats' cheese.  I had come across goats' cheese toasted on French Bread salad several times and it is always delicious, so I decided to lose the crepe, (I reserve those for restaurants in France, were they are perfect) and came up with my own version of the  salad.

 Thinly slice some french bread, and toast one side under the grill. Remove it from the grill and turn then place a slice of goat's cheese ( you can buy a log of cheese in most supermarkets) on each slice of bread, return to toast under the grill, serve with a green salad and some slices of smoked salmon.  

Because I have just discovered how lovely salmon is with red peppercorns,  I  prepared the salmon with a generous squeeze of lemon juice, some red peppercorns and some capers - really fantastic flavours.

Smoked salmon, lemon juice, red peppercorns and capers

Goats' cheese and french bread - under the grill

On the table

On the my plate, with some fresh green salad

It seemed to me that this salad would be perfect,  and I was correct.

 Do try it, I am absolutely sure you will love it.  Super for a weekday supper, or a weekend lunch with friends.  Have a go and let me know?

Or These....

.....A HUGE  (1KG) of local, Breton, strawberries.

I insisted we buy them, then and there,  and of course, when I got them home, I realised that they were far too many for the three of us to eat, so what to do?  Make jam, of course!

I weighed out 1lb of strawberries and put them in a largish pan with 1lb of preserving sugar, (sucre gelifiant, special confitures) and left them to macerate for two hours.  I then boiled the sugar and fruit for 5 minutes, tested  for the set, and put the jam into the prepared jars for (almost immediate) eating.

Not cheap, but certainly worth every Euro!

Even the box tells us they are (very) local

I washed and cut them in half

I added the same weight in preserving sugar

After two hours I boiled for 5 minutes

I tested for a set, (saucers in the freezer, put on a drop of jam, and look for a wrinkle!)

Put them in clean jars, and don't mind the mess!

We have eaten the jam for the last two mornings on toast. It is delicious, and I even had some with my yoghurt this morning, YUM!

[NB our four year old prefers Bonne Maman to homemade jam!  Don't give up if your young children do not like your cooking, they will grow into it!  My sons both come home to take jars of homemade jam away with them!]

I Couldn't Resist This....

Bubble Cellar!

We were in E Leclerc, our local hypermarket, and I saw this - I just couldn't resist a photo!

Do you think Waitrose or Sainsbury's might take it up ...  a bubble cellar, or perhaps a bubble corner?

Prendre l'aperitif?

One of the most delightful things we have found about entertaining in France is the habit of pre-dinner drinks.  This gives you a lovely opportunity to meet and talk with friends and neighbour and  it is usual to prepare some food to accompany the drinks.  When we go to  visit our friends' homes,  we find the catering is  a step or two up from the crisps and peanuts we might have in England.  We have, in the past, eaten all sorts of delicious and special food.

It is usual, alongside the food, to have the drinks tray prepared.  I find this very useful for me,  as my husband's spoken French is far better then mine, he can pour drinks and talk to our guests, while I listen and try to form some kind of intelligent conversation!  We tend to serve Ricard, Whiskey, White Wine and Kir, as we have found these to be some of the most popular drinks, for aperitif,  in Finistere.

The drinks tray

A selection of nibbles

more nibbles

The table

(Our Easter Tree)

In most of the homes we visit, the aperitifs are served in the living/sitting  room, but,  unlike us, none of our friends have a large greyhound, who is only too happy to test the food!  I therefore find it easier to have the food ready on the dining table (just about out of dog height!)

Most of the food I had  prepared on this particular evening was ready to go:-   some ruby red (breton) tomatoes, green and black olives, and pistaccio nuts.  I removed the stones from the dates and put some cream cheese in them.  The crackers (ritz) had either tapenade noire  or tomate et basilic paste spread on them.  All delicious and (importantly) easy to eat with fingers.

It was wonderful to catch up with our dear  friends.

The Beautiful beach... Sunshine at Easter.

Here are just a few photos from the beach, the weather has been fantastic, and we really haven't done much more for the last week, than shop for food, walk the dog and play on the beach.  It has been wonderful, we are all rested and happy:-) (but missing our boys!)

Limpets on the granite rock

Seashells

Taking a rest from digging

A little footprint in the sand

Keeping my beach bag dry

Seaweed

The jumping rock
(my sons used to climb and jump from this rock when small, it still makes me anxious!)

Serious beach construction.

My take on a Classic Bistro Salad... and Lieu baked with fennel.

I promised to show you my take on a typical French Bistro Salad.  You can find many versions of Roquefort, Pear and Walnut with Endive salad in French Recipe Books.  It is a super salad but I am not that keen on the taste of Endive, I find it a very bitter salad leaf and  personally, prefer a softer green lettuce.  So the simple solution for me was to substitute  the leaves!

While I washed and spun the lettuce, my husband cracked a handful of Grenoble Walnuts, which we then gently roasted for a few minutes in a medium oven, to bring out the lovely walnut oils.  We put the lettuce in a bowl, and sliced the pears into elegant segments.

We put the pear on a wooden board with a delicious piece of Roquefort and the roasted walnuts.  Then we were able to make our own salad with the quantities of ingredients we wanted.  It was really scrumptious, and we ate outside in the garden, an added bonus.

Cheese, pears and walnuts

A really tasty salad

Later, while we were walking the dog, I gathered some wild fennel leaves.  We had bought a piece of  lovely fresh Lieu in the morning, (Lieu is a local, sustainably caught fish, similar to Pollack, and it makes a great substitute for Cod, when you are cooking.)  I simply baked the Lieu on the fennel leaves, with a spare grinding of pepper and two (tiny) knobs of butter.

We ate it with my version of ratatouille: - onions, garlic, peppers, courgettes and tomatoes, with some fresh garden herbs; thyme and rosemary, as well as dried provencal herbs.

Ratatouille ingredients

Cooking in the saute pan

A beautiful fillet of Lieu, waiting to bake

Perfection!

I hope you get to try these two very simple, and really delicious recipes.  Let me know how you get on with them, please.

Happy Easter!  We have an Egg Hunt tomorrow.  I hope the Easter Bunny can find us here in Brittany:-)

To Market, to market to buy a ....

Here are a few photos from the market.  In the summer the market is larger, but even at Easter there is lot to look at and buy.  There are many lovely food stalls, but some were so busy,  I couldn't get any good shots.  I'll just have to keep trying.

There is an amazing array of stalls selling things you expect,  and things you don't.  Obviously there are Breton shirts, lots of nautical stripes from very tiny to very large, just take your pick.  Some beautiful handmade baskets, (I'm going back to buy one for my vegetables on Tuesday!) Table linens, old and new, and a new pair of clogs...

And now look at the food, it doesn't need to be described ... it's just sooooo.....

I thought I would put the food in some sort of eating/menu order, but a market is always a mishmash of stalls, and so is best reflected in a mishmash of photographs!

Breton shirts, for you

and "les petits"

Beautifully embroidered linens

and rather pretty table cloths

Baskets for all

in the Cathedral doorway

Breton cider

If the clog fits!

Lobster

Crab

Spider Crab

(Very) local Strawberries

Organic Salad

A Melon, or more

Amazing Tomatoes

Fennel

Cauliflowers

Don't forget the cheese

or the Oysters.

[NB I haven't put a picture of 'le boucherie chevaline" though it is  part of the market.  I wouldn't, under any circumstances, buy meat from there and I am secretly shocked and dismayed to see just how busy and popular it is.]