Recipe Thread

[Fred]

Got any good recipes to share?

They don't have to be French, just make a post with a list of ingredients and method of cooking.

I will update this post as new ones are added, if it gets to big we could look at adding a sub board for recipes.

Basic Sausage Recipe - Fred.

BBQ Chicken Satay - Jen.

Versatile tomato sauce - Admiral.

Cheats Passata - Fred.

Basic Flan Recipe - Fred.

[Fred]

Here is a basic sausage recipe.

For 1 Kilo you will need.

• Sausage skins: You can get them in Leclerc but the ones from Ferme de la Vallée de la Brame are much better.
  
• 800 grams of Pork I use 60% Shoulder & 40% Belly.
  
• 15 grams of salt.
  
• 3 grams of white pepper.
  
• 2 grams of nutmeg.
  
• 65 grams of rusk. (I've yet to be able to find a good rusk and use Biscottes in it's place) Though rusk would be better, so if you know where to get it let me know.
  
• 110 grams of Ice cold water.
  

You will also need a mincer, I got an old hand one from a car boot and found the sausage funnel at Thimonnier in Bussière-Poitevine.

OK lets go.

• Get your skins and leave in cold water to remove the salt.
  
• Mince your pork. Mix the shoulder and belly as you go, put it back in the fridge to get it nice and cold. An hour or so should do, it just makes it better to work with.
  
• Get a large bowl and add your Minced Pork, Salt, Pepper, & Nutmeg. don't add the rusk yet. and blend it all together.
  
• When thoroughly mixed add your Ice cold water and mix with your hands till the texture starts to become stiffer.
  
• Now add your rusk and mix thoroughly.
  
• When your happy it's all mixed in well stick it back in the fridge.
  

Now the fun part:
This is easier with two people, one to stuff and one to form the sausage into a round on a plate as it comes out.

• Go back to your skins and run some cold water through the inside, this just removes any remaining salt and helps the skins slide of the funnel.
  
• Obviously by now you have got your sausage funnel set up on your mincer, so feed enough skin on the funnel for the sausages. (I tend to put one length on, they are usually nice and long.) Make sure you leave about the length of two sausages at the end and DON'T tie a knot in it.
  
• Now as one shoves in the mix and turns the handle the other gently feeds the long sausage into a round on a plate. It will come out by itself but it helps to have someone at the other end.
  

Now you have a big round sausage on a plate, you can leave it like that or twist the skin to make a run of sausages. Bung it in the fridge and leave it overnight, this will help the flavour and let the meat settle.

As long as your meat has not been frozen you can freeze them for use later.

Tip: Once you have put your last bit of sausage mix through you mincer, it won't all come out and you may loose 1 sausage. So shove a bit of stale bread through to push the last bit out.
You could buy ready made mince but it just doesn't make a good sausage.

This is a basic recipe to get you going, and you can play with the flavours as you wish. I've tried herbs, sun dried tomato, even Beer in place of the water.

Enjoy.

[Admiral]

This is NOT a tomato ketchup but a basic tomato sauce that you can add anything to that takes your fancy. In its basic state, perfect over pasta with a sprinkle of Parmesan etc.

Good glug of olive oil.
1 medium onion finely chopped.
2 cloves of garlic finely chopped.
1 x 200g box of lardons.
1 medium carrot diced.
1 stick celery diced.
1 chilli (pref cayenne) chopped.
450 g diced tomatoes.
Oregano.
Salt and freshly ground black pepper.
1 medium glass good red wine.

METHOD:

Heat oil in large frying pan. Gently fry the onion, garlic, carrot, lardons, celery and chilli peppers until suitably soft.

Add red wine and let bubble away until reduced.

Add tomatoes, oregano salt and pepper. Lower heat and gradually reduce the liquid.

This is where the fun begins. You have three choices; leave as a basic mix which is great over pasta or, option two; add anything you like....minced beef, chicken and option three; leave OUT the red wine and oregano and add any spices you fancy.

I haven't given an amount for the oregano because I do it by taste.

You can either freeze this basic mix for use during the winter - or eat right away.

Great way of using up a glut of home grown tomatoes. Tinned are perfectly acceptable but make sure you buy the pulpe de tomates en des.

[Fred]

Thanks Jen & Admiral I've added them to the list in the first post, but don't stop there if you have more keep em coming.

And to the rest of you, come on some of you must have some sort of Recipe we can all try?

[Fred]

After reading Admiral's Tomato Sauce recipe which I will have to try I thought I would share my Cheats Passata. For those that don't know, Passata is a bit like a Tomato Purée but not as thick and is a great basis for any tomato dish or can be used as a soup.

This is a simple way to make your own, but it works best with Black Russian tomatoes. If you've never tried Black Russian tomatoes, you don't know what you are missing. They are as ugly as hell but have the most fantastic tomato flavour in the world, they are good eaten raw but they make the best passata you will ever try.

This recipe does work with other tomatoes but if you use Black Russian you don't have to worry about the pips or skins as they will go soft and blend in nicely.

It's as easy as this.

• Get your ripe Black Russian tomatoes remove some of the hard cores or dodgy looking cracks (I told you they are ugly) dice them up and throw in a large baking tray.
  
• Splash in a good dash of Olive oil.
  
• Add Salt & Pepper to your own taste.
  
• Mix it all up and shove in a hot oven for about 1 hour, halfway through give them a bit of a bash up with a wooden spoon and don't worry if there are some burnt bits it will add to the flavour.
  
• When they are soft and turned mostly to liquid throw them in your blitzer thingy (I have one of those on a stick and blitz them in a large bowl or saucepan) you will see as you blitz them the pips and skins will all blend in and you will end up with a nice thick tomato passata.
  
• Let it cool, bung it in plastic freezer boxs the size of one portion and freeze.
  

That's it, now you have Passata throughout the year. Well that is if you have grown enough toms.

Oh and regarding Black Russian tomatoes they will grow outside but you get a better harvest in a poly tunnel, and remember they are Ugly. You may find them difficult to find here and they will tell you to use Crimian but they are not as good.

[Fred]

Mrs Fred has just made one of her fantastic Flan's, I have tried many but have to say that hers competes very well with any you can buy.



1 Litre Milk
180g Sugar
3 Eggs + 2 Egg yolks
120g Maize cornflower
1 Vanilla pod
1 Tea spoon vanilla extract
1 ready made pastry we prefer puff

Spread the pastry in a flan tray, we have one were you can push the bottom out. Precook the pastry blind using coins or beans on baking paper to stop it rising at 180 fo 20 minutes.

In a bowl beat the eggs and egg yolks, cornflower, vanilla extract, seeds from the vanilla pod, and 125ml of milk with an electric whisk.

Put the rest of the milk in a saucepan with the sugar and heat whilst stirring to dissolve the sugar.

When the milk begins to boil pour it into your bowl with the other ingredients, and beat it quickly for about 10 seconds with your electric whisk.

Pour all the mixture back into a saucepan (you may need a larger one now) and heat over a very very low heat and stir it all the time. The mix will start to thicken as you go.

Once it has thickened up pour it over your blind baked pastry, it should almost overflow the top. Bake it in the oven at 180 for 40 minutes.

During cooking, a bubble will form on the top of the flan and go a brown-black colour this is normal.

Remove it from the oven and let it stand in the fridge for 3 hours before serving.

*The recipe above is the basic ingredients that you will need to make the traditional flan. You can have it plain or you could add summer fruits etc, the one in the picture has Raisins soaked in Pineau added to the mix.

[curryman86]

Shrimp & Cuttlefish Chowder

150g Shrimp / Prawns
150g Cuttlefish
1 Medium onion
1 Medium potato
1 grilled red pepper
1 Carrot
3 tbsp tinned sweetcorn
1 clove of garlic (optional)
250ml Milk
knob of butter
1 tsp fumet de Poisson
Black pepper
pinch of salt
Nutmeg
1 Bayleaf
oil

Method

Chop the onion, potato, carrot, garlic & red pepper small dice, slice the cuttlefish thinly (3mm) and score in a criss cross pattern.

Put a couple of tablespoon of oil in a sauce pan on medium heat, place the onions and carrots in the pan stir and cook for 3 minutes now add the potato and cook stirring for 3 minutes, add garlic and red pepper and cook for 3 minutes stirring, now cover and turn heat to it's lowest setting and allow to sweat for 10 minutes stir once or twice, add sweetcorn, bayleaf, nutmeg, salt and black pepper stir and add the milk, butter & the fumet de poisson, bring to a boil, cover and turn heat to lowest setting for 10 minutes add the prawns and cuttlefish, allow to cook for no more than 3 minutes otherwise the cuttlefish will go tough.

Enjoy !!!!!!!!!!

---

EDIT By Fred: Made images show up on the forum.

[curryman86]

Delicious Home-Made olive bread .... Yummy !!!!
.
Olive Bread recipe

Ingredients

500g bread flour (type 65)
1 tsp instant yeast
2 tbsp Olive oil
325g tepid water
1 tsp salt
20 Olives de-stoned

Method

Weigh the flour into your bowl, add the yeast and mix then add the oil & mix, pour in the water and mix to combine and hydrate now add the salt and continue to mix to combine the salt cover bowl with a tea towel and leave for 20 / 30 minutes.

Lightly flour your surface and turn dough out, dust with flour and start to knead gently (if the dough is sticky lightly dust with flour) continue kneading for approx 10 minutes, now chaff the dough and pinch together underneath, press finger gently into dough which should slowly return, if the indentation remains knead again for a few minutes, chaff and check again.

Clean bowl glug of Olive oil in bottom flip dough over so top of dough is in bottom of bowl swish around to cover dough and bowl in oil, you should end up with dough the right way up in bottom of bowl cover with tea towel and leave in warm place for 1 - 1.5 hours for dough to double in size, once doubled, punch down and turn out onto floured surface, flatten out a little with your fingers, sprinkle over olives, stretch and fold twice then make into disired shape, cover with tea towel and let rise till doubled in size, slash with your Stanley / razor blade place loaf into pre - heated oven set at highest temp, pour water into receptical in bottom of oven to create steam, after 10 minutes turn heat down to 220°C for a further 20 / 25 minutes then check loaf by tapping on bottom you want a hollow sound, place on cooling rack and allow to cool completely .......
if you can !!!!!!!

Happy Baking

[Jiml]

I must get my wife to try this recipe

[Jiml]

Mrs Fred has just made one of her fantastic Flan's, I have tried many but have to say that hers competes very well with any you can buy.



1 Litre Milk
180g Sugar
3 Eggs + 2 Egg yolks
120g Maize cornflower
1 Vanilla pod
1 Tea spoon vanilla extract
1 ready made pastry we prefer puff

Spread the pastry in a flan tray, we have one were you can push the bottom out. Precook the pastry blind using coins or beans on baking paper to stop it rising at 180 fo 20 minutes.

In a bowl beat the eggs and egg yolks, cornflower, vanilla extract, seeds from the vanilla pod, and 125ml of milk with an electric whisk.

Put the rest of the milk in a saucepan with the sugar and heat whilst stirring to dissolve the sugar.

When the milk begins to boil pour it into your bowl with the other ingredients, and beat it quickly for about 10 seconds with your electric whisk.

Pour all the mixture back into a saucepan (you may need a larger one now) and heat over a very very low heat and stir it all the time. The mix will start to thicken as you go.

Once it has thickened up pour it over your blind baked pastry, it should almost overflow the top. Bake it in the oven at 180 for 40 minutes.

During cooking, a bubble will form on the top of the flan and go a brown-black colour this is normal.

Remove it from the oven and let it stand in the fridge for 3 hours before serving.

*The recipe above is the basic ingredients that you will need to make the traditional flan. You can have it plain or you could add summer fruits etc, the one in the picture has Raisins soaked in Pineau added to the mix.

This is on my todo list, thanks Fred