French Food is Fattening

French food has had its day in my opinion. I find anything on a typical French menu in France a little disheartening. It’s the same menu everywhere you go and it’s always butter, cream, cheese in practically every dish. The dishes are very retro [aka been there & over done that] and most come with potatoes in the form of fries or are smothered in butter or cream and not a green vegetable in sight. Do they do this to fatten up the tourists and keep the good stuff at home?

French Onion soup covered in grated cheese!! Muffin top delicious

A recent trip to the mountains was proof of how dull the food options are for those who pay for expensive ski trips. Apart from the usual tourist fodder of Burgers, Chips, Pizzas and Pasta, it is the smell of melting cheese that is the predominant smell all over the mountains. Every restaurant there offers a fondue or a raclette – a tradition of dipping cold cuts, boiled potatoes and cornichons or pickled onions [so everything out of packets and jars and I wouldn’t call boiling some potatoes a skill] into already melted cheese or cheese you melt yourself at the table.

Raclette cheese ready for melting

 

 

Another typical dish is Pierrade, sliced raw meat that you grill yourself on a hot stone [again – you pay to cook your own food] served with fries and green salad. Well, they say a green salad – what they mean is tired old bitter lettuce leaves smothered in mayonnaise.

Don’t get me wrong the meat is delicious. Their steaks have great flavour. The cheese is amazingly tasty but once in your system you will never scrape that fat off your thighs. The bread is too tempting– freshly baked everyday baguettes are a vehicle for the cheese and to mop up the cream sauces and is totally addictive. You have to buy fresh bread everyday & you end up eating more not just because it’s delicious but also because it doesn’t keep till the next day – in fact it goes so hard it can be used as a weapon of mass destruction the next day.

And don't even get me started on the desserts - mouthwatering temptations with more cream than you can shake a stick at!

 

 

 

 

Perhaps the reason why French women are so thin is that they have to exercise an iron will power everyday to restrict their intake of such fattening ingredients, because the only way to eat this stuff everyday and not be the size of a house is portion control & serious daily exercise.

However, this level of control & discipline required only dampens my spirit and my soul feels beaten down. I need food that is healthy and that can be eaten with abandon - as much as you like, when you like, without having to contemplate [if not actually do] tonnes of exercise or starve yourself the next day!

When I got back to the UK I was adamant to find something French that wasn’t loaded with calories and guilt, and perhaps had vegetables other than potatoes in it. Rick Stein’s series on French food was on repeat on some food channel and as if on cue it had the recipe for a French Soup called Pistou. A seasonal vegetable stew for spring, made more interesting by a garnish of a garlic and herb paste. I made this version to restore my faith in French cooking and balance out all the calo-hor-rific foods I consumed in France. You can use whatever Veg is in season or needs using up in your fridge.

Ingredients:

2 leeks

2 carrots

2 onions

Handful of ripe tomatoes

Courgettes

Tinned beans: e.g. Haricot, Borlotti, etc. [Drained and washed in running water]

2 pints of veg stock or chicken stock or just water if you prefer

Pistou paste:

Bunch of Basil

Garlic

Olive oil

About 2 tablespoons of grated parmesan cheese [optional]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Method:

1.       Wash and chop up all the veg

2.       Blitz the basil, garlic, tomatoes, olive oil, cheese [if using] in a blender and set aside for later

3.       Gently fry the veg in a little rapeseed oil or olive oil

4.       Add the drained beans

5.       Pour over 2 pints of veg or chicken stock [or just water] and simmer on a low heat

6.       Add the herb paste and then season to taste

This soup keeps well in the fridge and is a great filler upper when starvation strikes and it is so healthy you need not worry about exerting any self control over portion size or the frequency of consumption!

If the veg soup is a little too virtuous for your taste you can always jazz it up with some grilled French sausages chopped up and added to the mix. Just say no to any bread. Or butter. Or cream.

 

Fish on Fridays: Tinned v Fresh

Traditionally people apparently eat Fish on Good Friday. Some for religious reasons, some like me, for lightness and health! Fish can be so expensive these days that it seems a luxury most of the time. If you are strapped for cash, store cupboard ingredients like tinned tuna can give you a fish supper, if you decide to have a meat free day. I used tinned tuna and sweetcorn to make fritters and fish cakes. Both were more-ish and filling. Serve up with salads and veg for a complete meal.

Otherwise some popular supermarkets do have offers – I found 2 whole sea breams for £7 which was a bargain and they looked fresh [clear eyes, pink gills and no smell]. Luckily the fishmonger at the store had already scaled and gutted the fish – all I had to do was cut off the sharp fins with scissors! Hope you like my recipes and give it a try.

 

Tinned Tuna Fritters

Ingredients:

Tinned Tuna [drained well – I prefer tuna in olive oil or sunflower oil but in brine/water is fine]

Tinned sweetcorn [also drained – first washed under running tap water if it is not low salt/sugar version]
1 cup of self raising flour
½ cup of milk
2 eggs
Salt and pepper
Dash of Encona hot sauce [optional] or any hot sauce you love
Any chopped up green herbs you have to hand [I only had dried oregano in the cupboard]

1.       Place the flour in a deep bowl and make a well in the middle for the eggs and the milk

2.       Whisk together into a smooth batter

3.       Add the drained tuna and the sweetcorn

4.       Season with salt, pepper, hot sauce if using and herbs

5.       Set aside for 30min in the fridge

6.       Shallow fry spoonfuls of the mix using rapeseed oil until golden on both sides and drain on kitchen paper

Fish Cakes

Tinned Tuna [drained]

Tinned sweetcorn [drained]
Cooked potatoes [leftovers will do]
Salt
Pepper
Hot sauce
Green herbs
1 whole egg
1 tablespoon of ground almonds
Polenta to coat the fish cakes

 

1.       Mash tuna and potatoes together.

2.       Add the seasoning and herbs.

3.       Add one egg to the mix and then the ground almonds

4.       Form into cakes with clean washed hands

5.       Put some polenta on a flat plate then coat the cakes in polenta

6.       Shallow fry in rapeseed oil until golden and drain on kitchen paper

 

Whole Sea Bream with Fennel

Ingredients:

Fresh Whole Sea bream – gutted, scaled, fins chopped off

A few sprigs of rosemary

Slithers of garlic,
Sliced lemon
Salt and pepper
Dash of Vermouth
Olive Oil

Baby Fennel: Sliced thinly

Tomatoes: Fresh, quartered
Tablespoon of tomato puree
Thyme
Garlic
Red chilli flakes
Cayenne Pepper
Saffron: Pinch
Chicken stock [half a pint of hot stock]
Paprika
Squeeze of agave syrup/a pinch of sugar

 

 

 

1.       Wash and prep the fish and set aside on a rack ready for the oven. Place a dash or vermouth or just water in the bottom of the tray

2.       Rub the fish with olive oil then season with salt and pepper

3.       Put a slice of lemon in the cavity along with some rosemary and some slices of lemon under the fish tail to stop them from sticking to the rack

4.       Cover with foil and bake in the oven for 25min at 180 degrees C [fan assisted]

5.       Fry some onions and garlic in olive oil and then add the tomatoes

6.       Add a sprinkle of chilli flakes, cayenne and paprika as well as the tomato puree

7.       Put the saffron in the hot stock and allow to steep for a few minutes so the colour comes through

8.       Add the fennel to the frying pan and fry for 2 minutes before adding the stock.

9.       Simmer on a low heat

10.   Season with salt and pepper and add a dash of agave syrup or a pinch of sugar to cut through the tartness of the tomatoes

11.   Once most of the liquid has evaporated set the pan aside with a lid on

12.   Take the foil off the fish and pop them under a hot grill for 10 minutes to crisp up the skin

13.   Check the fish is cooked and then serve with the fennel [can also serve with white rice/mash on the side too]

 

 

 

Chocoholics Celebrate: Easter

CHOCOLATEY EASTER

I can’t stop baking. This weekend it has to be a chocolate cake as it is Easter. Easter is the holiday that has somehow become synonymous with chocolate over consumption. If you are a chocoholic try out this recipe to satisfy your chocolate cravings and use really good quality chocolate with a high % of cocoa which is loaded with antioxidants.

This is from a recipe I found on line from Easy Living Magazine – It is simple and dead easy to make. It doesn’t get more chocolate-tastic than this...

Chocolate cake:

Ingredients:

175g Unsalted Butter
175g Caster Sugar
175g Self Raising Flour
3 Whole Eggs
50g of good quality Cocoa Powder
A pinch of Salt
A drop or two of Vanilla Extract
1 teaspoon of Baking Powder

100g of Dark Chocolate [50% Cocoa]
100g of Unsalted Butter

Equipment:

Food processor
Round tin greased with butter and lined with baking paper
Pre-heated oven

1. Take butter out of fridge and collect all your ingredients and measure out each bit

2. Preheated oven to 180 degrees C [160 if on fan assisted]

3. Smear the tin with a bit of butter and line the bottom with cut out baking paper

4. Place all the ingredients for the cake in the processor and mix

5. Scrape the mixture into the tin and bake for 45min – rest for 15min and then turn out [I've kept mine in the tin for presentation and because it has a nice lid that fits!]

 

 

6. Place the butter and the chocolate into a suitable bowl and place over the simmering water

7. Allow this to gently melt down - do not stir too often. Take off the heat and cool for 5 min

8. Pour the melted chocolate over the cake and decorate with chocolate eggs [chill the cake for 30min or else the eggs may melt!]

 

 

 

This is serious chocolate overdose! Don't forget to share...and the diet can resume next week!!

The Cake Craze

I’ve succumbed to the baking fever that has taken over Britain since the success of the Bake off series and I’ve decided it’s time to try out some cake recipes. I’ve gone and acquired my very first loose bottomed springform tin and all the store cupboard essentials for sweet treats like baking powder and vanilla extract and so on.

I was given 'Hugh’s Three Good Things...on a plate' cookery book for Christmas and the recipe for Almond Cake, Honey and Oranges, caught my eye. It’s a flourless cake that’s almost gluten free unless you have gluten free baking powder. As with all cake recipes, it seems a doddle as long as you have a food processor handy to whiz everything together. I was dubious with the consistency of the cake batter as it was so thick that it was hard to scrape into the tin but the resulting cake was very light indeed.

Recipe for Almond cake [courtesy of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's latest book - my Xmas pressie!]

Ingredients:

225g of unsalted butter

225g of caster sugar

225g of ground almonds

125g of polenta

3 eggs whole

Zest of a lemon

1 teaspoon baking powder

Runny honey

4 large oranges – grate the zest of one into a pan, remove all the skin and pith off and segment, collect any juices that come out into the pan for creating a honey sauce 

Equipment:

1 pre-heated oven at 170 degrees C

1 food processor

1 round springform tin greased with butter and lined with baking paper

 

 

Method:

1.       Put the butter, sugar and lemon zest in the food processor and blend till fluffy

2.       Stir in the ground almonds and then add one egg at a time and whizz

3.       Add the baking powder to the polenta and the salt. Add this to the mix. It will be quite thick.

4.       Scrape it all into the tin and bake for 45 min

5.       Poke holes into the cake while hot and pour over some runny honey over the cake

          [warm the honey slightly unless it’s already pretty runny]

6.       Allow to cool

7.       Mix some more honey [about 3 good dollops] and the juice of the oranges and heat up. Cool

          then steep the orange segments in this sauce.

8.       Serve a slice with the honeyed oranges [as suggested by the book] or I preferred to decorate 

          the cake with them and pour over a generous amount of the sauce to soak into the cake.

 

 

 

 

I was so happy with the result I got carried away and continued to bake another cake [well the oven was still hot and I had more of the right ingredients and nowhere to go].

I had a couple of ripe bananas to hand and decided to try a banana cake. This next recipe was found from the BBC good food recipe on line and was nothing more than measure out, chuck into a food processor then bake. Is it really that easy? Why have I been so afraid of making cakes? Oh yeah – sorry I forgot - the unbelievable quantities of sugar and butter that go into making these delights. Oh well. Maybe it’s time I let myself go...

Recipe for easy Banana Cake [courtesy of http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/7380/banana-cake]

Ingredients:

170g of butter, 170g of self raising flour and [yes you've guessed it] 170g of caster sugar

2 ripe bananas and 3 whole eggs

A drop or two of vanilla extract

Chopped walnuts [optional]

Equipment:

 

1 round baking tin greased with butter and dusted with flour

1 hot pre-heated oven at 170 [the magic number today] degrees C

Method:

1. Whizz everything together in a food processor [then mix in the chopped walnuts if using]
2. Pour into the tin
3. Bake for 55min
4. Turn out and cool
5. Decorate with caramelised bananas if you want

 So - one cold, wet miserable afternoon, 2 delicious cakes and a new blog for March... not bad really. Now I just need to find some people who want to come round for afternoon tea and cake!