add a little zest!

What better way to beat winter blues than with the smell of fresh lemon zest?  I always forget just how glorious it is to inhale.  And on this winter evening I find myself cooking up an old favourite compliments of Bill Granger.  Salmon marinated in lemon zest, lemon juice, chopped garlic, olive oil roasted with baby cherry tomatoes and a tablespoon of capers thrown in at the end.  Served on a pile of minty pea puree.  But for a little extra this evening baked potatoes and roasted portobello mushrooms.  I am starting to come around to the idea of living again:)

duck and walnut salad

A little salad for dinner.  Fresh crisp lettuce leaves scattered around a plate, finely sliced Magret de Canard, chilli quince jelly splattered over, shaved parmesan from Italy via my sister who flew in this week oh lucky girl I am, fresh walnuts picked from the tree in the village and roasted... and of course balsamic vinegar and virgin olive oil drizzled over.  A very happy moment! Oh and rum and raisin ice cream (ala Jane) for dessert!

lemon meringue ice cream

After extolling the virtues of home made lemon curd ice cream, someone has just blown my world to pieces by suggesting that after the initial ice cream has been in the ice cream maker ripples of lemon curd and chunks of meringue should be added. Of the cheap bought variety, then frozen for lemon meringue heaven!

where the wild things grow

In the Languedoc apparently liqorice grows wild although I have yet to see.  Hence Haribo.  But in the gardens here, green and black figs, pomegranates and grapes are growing wild sweet and sun drenched. I have discovered through a burn on my skin that the sap from figs is poisonous which the birds are obviously well aware of now, and you have to be careful when you pick!

marscapone and limoncello icecream!

Finally after days of thinking and talking about this ice cream I decided to make it. My first attempt ever at ice cream!  Firstly I made a syrup with 5oz sugar, water and juice and rind of one lemon (200mls) then when cool I added 250g marscapone, 500mls cream, 50ml limoncello.  Into the ice cream machine for 50mins then into the freezer.  Taste test - disappointing (but edible) and did taste alot better after a few glasses of wine:)  A synthetic lemony aftertaste prevailed which has put me off repeating the exercise - sort of like boiled sweets, when you would be hoping for the gorgeous real lemon taste. According to the experts here this is what limoncello tastes like!  The good thing is that 50mls limoncello made the ice cream soft enough to scoop immediately and the marscapone component was positively creamy hmmmm ponderations.

fig salad

The figs are ripe, the peaches - plump and juicy - are falling from trees and Muscat grapes sweetened by the sun are tempting all the birds. Oh the glory of a Languedoc garden! For lunch today I was inspired by a recipe for a salad with rocket, fresh figs, parmesan shavings and parma ham...  But upon looking in the fridge I came up with a regional conversion - lettuce leaves and fresh figs with roquefort crumbled over and a drizzle of olive oil and balsamic vinegar. A lovely cold beer on the side. Perfect!

bay tree

Well for the first time in my life, I can go into the garden to pick a leaf from a real bay tree!  I always imagined a bay tree to be a delicate sort of tree sort of like a silver birch.  But this bay tree is so big and green and luscious and abundant that I walked right past it looking for the real bay tree fancy that!

artichoke hearts

While perusing the local market I noticed piles of artichoke hearts in many of the stalls and realized that I had never eaten one before!  So I bought one for the fruit bowl and it lay there looking beautiful for a few days until I cooked it today.  Ymmm, was instructed to boil for at least 40 mins, then take each petal, dip in melted butter and squeeze the innermost petal out by sucking on the part where it attaches to the stalk with your lips. On first taste a little like inner broad bean texture, delicious with the butter. Then once getting right to the heart removing the top of the stalk and the choke to scoop out the artichoke heart with melted butter dripped on - reminded me more of an warm advocadoey goodness.  I commented that if I ever saw artichoke on a menu somewhere I would be sure to try and was told I never would!  It is far too time-consuming for most chefs...

rose salt

Well.  I finally made rose salt, as spotted in Purple Citris and Sweet Perfume.  One pink rose which looked far too pretty to be condemned to such a fate, and 2 tablespoons of crystallized salt.  Rubbed together for quite a while and then consigned to a pretty jar.  So far everyone has been making fun of me.  But what are you going to use it for?  The chef sticking his nose into the jar for a big long sniff and shaking his head. I explained how pretty it was going to look on pea green soup (as appeared on covetable cover of book) and he just shook his head again and said 'you know, nobody really tests out these ideas they just write them down in the book!'.  Frank the gardner was consumed with mirth and just kept pointing at the jar.  The thing that I've realized about having an inclination to do something is that it's just better to get it out of the way. If I never use it then at least I won't die wondering and if it turns out to be wonderful.  Well then is all I can say.

cocktail dessert

How about a little homemade chilli and orange ice cream scooped into a shot glass, a trickle of grand marnier drizzled over the top and a spoon?

noisette

Coffee is one of my daily pleasures and I adored monmouth coffee in borough market, London - a favourite saturday morning indulgence and where I faithfully bought all my beans. I could absolutely never resist a monmouth cappuchino!  The milk is pure creamy decadence all the way through not big froth and then over milky as a lot of cappuchinos are in my humble opinion:)  Elsewhere I would prefer a macchiato - espresso with a little froth.  I have been to France many times and have amazing memories of cafe creme but sadly this trip have been disappointed every time. It just tastes too milky, not creamy and rich at all. Strangely I was also just talking to some Londoners whose friend owns flat white in Soho and they inform me that London is now full of coffee snobs and the best place in Europe for coffee!  Can it be?  Anyway... after trials and tribulations I have decided that my perfect coffee in France is now a noisette.  Espresso with a drop of cream, literal translation to english meaning hazelnut, named so for its beautiful colour. Voila!

tapas

Roquefort cheese and chilli chorizo together - a revelation! Toast rubbed with garlic and fresh tomato and drizzled with olive oil.  Tomatoes fresh from the market chopped roughly and roasted with garlic, onion, cumin, thyme, olive oil, bay leaves for hours on a low heat in the oven turning occasionally, served with goats cheese and fresh bread, or in a salad with advocado or whizzed up into a glorious soup with a drizzle of olive oil on top...

ooh la la!

I had the great fortune to be in possession of three vital ingredients needed to create a salad I'd been dreaming of for quite a while.  Compliments of Bill Granger, who does simple easy food that is never boring.  His version was lychees, chilli and mint - and I did have some tinned lychees. But after peeling sweet orange segments for a fruit salad that weren't used I decided to go with these, chopped mint and a pale green chilli that had a good amount of fire to it.  No dressing, as I thought olive oil might kill it. A truimph! Zesty and fresh, and actually a bit of the orange zest would not have gone amiss must try next time...

plat du jour

What makes a marvellous plate of food?  As I inspected my plat du jour which consisted very simply of thinly sliced ewe's cheese, toasted pain and a beautiful cherry confit placed in the middle I wondered.  It's not always found in hours of creation, sometimes it can be as simple and heavenly as a plate of cheese and bread. A glass of Rose. Summer! Rick Stein made the comment on his tour around spain series 'the best ingredients cooked as simply as possible'.