Entertaining in France

I'm a bit of a cheat when it comes to entertaining our French neighbours in Brittany.  If a meal has been successful for one group of friends I have no qualms about a repeat performance the following week for  other friends.  This meal had two outings during our Easter holidays.

As I've said before we can get the freshest fish.  For years I was nervous cooking and serving it to people who have been eating wonderful seafood from the cradle.  But there are only so many things I can do with an organic, free range chicken, so I decided to bite the bullet and cook fish for our friends this Easter.

We bought some locally caught pollack, and I simply marinaded it in Harissa and freshly squeezed  lime juice, I baked it in the oven for about 15 minutes and served it on rice with a tomato and onion sauce (such as I would usually make for pasta).

The meal was simple to produce, and lovely to eat.

NB Harissa is widely available in France, but it seems to come in huge industrial sized containers.  As this marinade needs only a teaspoonful of Harissa, I bring my own favourite brand from England.  It doesn't take up that much space in the car.  

I do tend to take a few other foodie necessities with me such as,  Marmite, Horseradish Sauce and a jar of Mince Sauce.

Next month I'll be back to baking posts, and of course trying to come up with a cake for the Jubilee.  I just thought I would pop one more French fish course in today!

A delicate, light supper
perfect for sharing

My favourite recipes have three or four ingredients

A teaspoon of Harissa and a squeeze of lime

Cover the fish

My Easter table

And we had sunshine, it's light outside

Out of the oven, and I cut each fillet in half

Wonderful on rice and tomatoes.

Goats' Cheese and Rose Peppercorns - two ways

As I'm sure you know by now,  when I am in Brittany I cook (and eat) lots of seafood, and just once in a while I feel like a break.

We'd eaten so many cockles, as well as  the abalone, and of course the  spider crab and lobster.  I woke up one morning thinking, 'No fish today!', but what could we eat?

 I switched on my iPad to catch up with the newspapers and  I noticed that there was something waiting to download in the Newsstand.  It was the latest edition of Martha Stewart's Living Magazine, and there in the Good Things section was a suggestion for Goats' Cheese marinated in olive oil with Pink Peppercorns.  How serendipitous, it would be perfect for lunch.

I had some goat's cheese, the peppercorns (which I usually have with smoked salmon) and of course olive oil.

There wasn't much cooking or making  really.  I sliced  the goats' cheese, sprinkled on the peppercorns and poured on some olive oil.  I served it with some fresh parsley, a green salad and tomatoes, it was very simple and very delicious.

However, although my husband enjoyed it, he  really loves toasted goats' cheese and suggested I incorporate the peppercorns into that regular supper dish.

So a few days later that is exactly what I did.

Once the bread was thinly sliced, I sprinkled some crushed peppercorns, and then put the cheese  on top.  Once cooked I added some more peppercorns and again we ate the cheese with a fresh green salad and tomatoes.

Both meals were delicious, though I will use less pink peppercorns next time I make the toasted goats' cheese.

Do try one or both of these goats' cheese and pink peppercorns.  They make a tasty, light lunch or supper.

Goats' cheese with Rose peppercorns 

I love things with a very few ingredients

The sliced cheese

Rose Peppercorns

Olive oil

Pretty on a plate

A Perfect Lunch

For the toasted goats' cheese, just add bread

Crush your peppercorns

Lightly toast the bread

Add the peppercorns and then top with the cheese
and toast under the grill

I love the way the goats' cheese puffs up when cooked

Once again the cheese is  perfect with salad and tomatoes 

Bringing Home the Lunch

Both my sons love seafood.  With childhood holidays spent in Brittany how could it be otherwise? But now they are grown up they just don't have the same opportunities to visit France  regularly.

I decided to bring a taste of Brittany home with me, and so the day before we left I bought a couple of crabs.

I boiled and prepared them (You can see how I prepare crabs, here) and once they were cool I wrapped them and put them in the fridge.

We brought them home packed in a cool bag with several ice packs around them.  I am glad to say they travelled well, and were still cold when I unpacked them.  We ate them with a soda bread that I had baked in Brittany and a delicious wholemeal loaf that my younger son had baked. (His brother is serving in Afghanistan and I don't think home cooked crab would really travel well there!)

I think I may make this a regular 'coming home from France' treat.

Wonderful crab and home baked bread

The French fish counter

You may recognise this shop
It was the one featured in Monty Hall's
The Fishermen's Apprentice

Mussels, oysters and other wonderful delights

These oysters are farmed just along the coast from us
at Carentec

How much of this food is just left sitting on the rocks
here in the UK?

The water the crabs are in has distorted this photograph

The cooked crab

Once sorted I packed the crab in foil and a large
zip lock bag

It travelled well, and only required unwrapping before
lunch

This tasted better and fresher then  any crab I have
eaten in a London Restaurant!

And the bread was scrumptious too!

Sea Bass with Fennel

What more need I say?

Sea Bass really is the most delicious fish, and we were very fortunate to buy one that was  completely fresh, it must have been caught that morning, it certainly wasn't more then a few hours out of the sea. The fish which was from our local supermarket in Brittany, had a tag which guaranteed that it had been line caught.


I buttered a sheet of foil and placed some sprigs of wild fennel and  the fish on to it.  I then spread some butter over the top and sprinkled some sea salt.

My husband and little girl had picked the wild fennel that morning from the sand dunes near our house, and as there was plenty  I used some to stuff  the cavity in the fish.

I then baked the fish for 15 minutes in a very hot oven.

We ate it with a good squeeze of lemon, some  new potatoes (from a friends' vegetable patch) and a green salad with a simple lemon and olive oil dressing.

Although this recipe doesn't use left over fennel, it was foraged,  I have checked with Kate at Turquoise Lemons  and she is happy for me to link it to her wonderful and thoughtful  No Waste Food Challenge, which this month features fennel.

Sea Bass with Fennel 

The fish and fennel waiting to be cooked

The fishmonger had gutted the fish for us

I put it on buttered foil and fennel

The fronds of fennel inside the fish

Out of the oven

A perfect lunch 

Inspired by Vanessa - British Bloggers in Support of British Flowers

I'm sure that many of you are already aware of Vanessa's beautiful and inspiring blog, Goddess On a Budget.

Vanessa is a wonderfully creative cook, who published a superb cookery book, Prepped, which I use all the time.

As well as her cooking, she blogs about her lovely home, and she  has just started a campaign to encourage  British food  bloggers to apply the same standards of care that  we take in purchasing food stuffs to our purchase of flowers.

In other words, where possible, to support the British Flower industry by buying British grown flowers and using British produced seeds.

But as a caring person she also highlights Fair-trade flowers, which help the producers in less developed economies.

Please do read her post which you can find here, it will make you think.

As a non gardener, I would still like to support this campaign, so this week I set out to buy only British  or Fair-trade Flowers.

While I was doing my 'big shop' in Waitrose I found some beautiful British grown tulips and some Fair-trade roses.  The colours are glorious, bringing a zing of brightness to this very dull and overcast week.

I had to pop into the local Tesco's for some groceries which I had forgotten and there I found some British grown Daffodils, so I bought two bunches.  I'm just looking at them in the corner of the room, they look so cheery I can't help but smile.

I have decided to follow Vanessa's example and as well as home made goodies such as preserves and cakes, I'll be taking friends a bunch of British Flowers when I go to visit.  I am also going to incorporate a packet of  British Seeds from companies such as Thompson and Morgan, into gifts for birthdays and other occasions, to encourage my gardening friends to grow some beautiful flowers.

While I'm mentioning Vanessa I wanted to thank her for including my little blog in her Inspirational Links, do go and have a look at the august company she has put me with!  Some truly inspiring and motivating reads can be found on that page.

Thank You Vanessa, and I will be delighted to use the marvellous "Recommended Blog" logo on my blog.

Tulips

And the Union Jack to confirm 'grown in Britain'

A delightful pink

I usually buy two bunches
and then put them in one vase

All closed up

Fair-trade Roses

Waitrose support fair-trade in Kenya and South Africa

I love the white exteriors, they look like they have been
dipped in pink

I used a taller vase for these

The daffs, and at that price I had to buy two bunches

Waiting to open

Three days later

And they are stunning

The roses are open

Perfect, and they have a light scent

And the tulips are open too