La Recette du Jour

As well as solving the problem of messy servings, this looks glamorous enough to serve to guests, has far fewer calories than traditional cheesecake and takes only 10 minutes to make. What’s not to like?
Recipe for Cheesecake, rearranged »

This is a quick and simple tart. You can make it with pretty much any soft cheese — we used goat’s cheese, but you could use feta, brousse de brebis, petit suisse, even Philly!
Recipe for Courgette, cheese, and herb tart »

I managed to buy a jar of chilli jelly on a recent trip to the UK, but I’ve long fancied trying Fiona’s recipe and making my own; this stuff is too tasty and versatile to be reserved for special occasions. So I bought a couple of kilos of apples and eventually tracked down a selection of chillis in Carrefour (they can be difficult to find, since the French don’t do hot as in chilli).

The first lot didn’t look much like chillis I’ve seen before; they were relatively large and bell-shaped. “Do you think I should use one or two?” I asked Steve. He looked at them and scoffed. “Pah! They’re so big they can’t be hot, and they are French after all. Those small pointy ones will be hotter.” Boldly, he cut a bit off one of the bell-shaped ones and chewed it. A moment’s silence, then: “AAAAARGH!” Quickly, I handed him the antidote, a spoonful of yoghurt, and he swallowed it gratefully. “OK,” he croaked after a minute, “I’ll try the small ones.” Bravely he nibbled one: “Humph! Not hot at all!” Armed with this information I added one cut-up bell-shaped pepper, seeds and all, to my simmering apples.

The next day, I tried the disappointingly scanty juice that had dripped through the cloth. ‘Phwoarhhhh!” Luckily there was some yoghurt left. Well, maybe the sugar will tone it down. Hmm, only 400 ml of juice from 1.5 kg of apples? I did the maths in my head with difficulty, added the requisite sugar, and boiled it up — result, half a jar of jelly, admittedly a beautiful colour. This didn’t seem like good value, so I tipped the pulp back into the pan with more water and managed to get two more jars of pale, translucent jelly from it. Their innocent looks belie their ferocity though; I think I’ll have to put health warnings on them.

Later, a bit of googling suggests that Steve might have inadvertently scored a further point in the Omnivore’s Hundred: raw Scotch Bonnet pepper … if you try this recipe, I recommend you use less virulent chillis than I did, or at least remove the seeds!

The recipe is in the title Brush your scallops with olive oil, season well, and sear for 1-2 minutes on each side in a non-stick frying pan or on a plancha. Serve with chilli jelly and a blob of crème fraîche; if you think the plate looks a bit empty, you can garnish with a few salad leaves. Effort versus results score: 10/10!

Our butcher shouts with laughter if you ask him for six or even four lamb shanks — he only buys one or two lambs at a time, so the number of shanks is strictly limited. Luckily that palace of frozen food, Picard, always has a plentiful supply of frozen New Zealand lamb, with shanks in packs of two. Cooked until falling off the bone, they are a really delicious morsel and go particularly well with dried fruit, as the famous seven-hour lamb from Le Manchon d’Henri demonstrated.

This tajine is very special too; a concentrated, spicy sauce with the rich flavours of prunes, apricots and figs, and meltingly tender meat. If you can’t get shanks, you could just use cubed leg or shoulder. Serve it with couscous (of course). This dish makes me wonder why we don’t eat more North African food.
Recipe for Lamb tagine »

A ripe Charentais melon is a wondeful thing, and we are lucky enough to be able to eat them all summer. When it is perfectly ripe and chilled, it’s a sin to eat it in any other way than as it is, with a glass of Muscat de St Jean de Minervois. If it isn’t, this is another way of using it; it makes a nice relish to serve with grilled duck breast, roast duck, or — dare I say it — foie gras. Quick to make too.
Recipe for Melon chutney »

Note: since I originally wrote this post, I have tried the method recommended by Judy in the comments, and it made a dramatic difference. So I have updated the post to reflect her method. The biscuits came out thin and crispy, with a nutty flavour just like the “real thing”, and didn’t spread as much.

When I was partnered with Ivy for Taste & Create, I decided to try making her hobnobs. Noting her problem with oozing butter, I adjusted the recipe a little, but still had to add loads of flour. The end result was quite nice, if not much like hobnobs. But the mixture was still sloppy and spread hugely in the oven, so I ended up with big, squishy slabs that were more like cookies than biscuits. So I ended up making her carrot cupcakes instead (and they were fab).

I was still curious about the hobnobs though. I followed Ivy’s recipe back to its source and noted that everyone who tried it had the same problem. Then I did some googling and found this. The ingredients and method made it seem as if it must be the original, but — quelle surprise — somewhere along the line someone had converted the ounces to cups and completely messed up the proportions. Easily done!

So I eventually got around to trying it again — with much more success! They came out a bit thick — I might add a smidgin more liquid next time. Maple syrup is not traditional, but I like the taste, so I used it instead of golden syrup. Optionally, you can add other flavourings such as cardamom, vanilla, orange, or lemon zest. Or even dip them in chocolate for chocolate hobnobs!
Recipe for Hobnobs revisited »

This is from Judith Wills’ Top 200 Low-Fat Recipes (out of print). It was nice, and very quick to make, but the duck itself, while virtuously low-fat, was a bit disappointing: no crispy skin! It was also a bit underdone; I think Peking duck really does need to be shreddable with a fork.

I would highly recommend buying the pancakes if they are available in your area; they aren’t here, so I had to make mine, using a Kenneth Lo recipe. Again, they are simple, but fiddly. It’s best to make them ahead of time and reheat in a steamer. That way, you will be relaxed when your guests arrive. I also recommend making more than you think you need, then you can throw away the ruined ones.

I was most pleased with the home-made plum sauce; effort vs. results was on a different scale to the other two items. Really delicious, and quick to make. I will certainly make this again … with real Peking duck next time
Recipe for “Peking” Duck »

Everyone else seems to be doing it, so here’s mine! I didn’t think I was that adventurous an eater, so I was a little surprised to score 63 (or 62, depending on whether you count harissa without rose petals in it). The list is a strange mixture of things I consider quite ordinary (chicken tikka for example) and things that seem wildly exotic — to me, at any rate. I didn’t even know what some items were; I assume they make perfect sense to Americans Some of the American items I have eaten are a result of a year in the US at the age of 11; I am not a regular consumer of PB&J sandwiches or root beer floats.

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Optional extra: Post a comment at www.verygoodtaste.co.uk linking to your results.

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile (unless it’s endangered)
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp (don’t really like river fish though)
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho (Vietnamese beef soup)
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi (Indian potato curry)
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle (Not all it’s cracked up to be IMHO, but perhaps the ones I’ve tried were inferior quality)
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes (I had to google to find out what these were — and I still don’t know whether I’ve eaten one or not)
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese (made my own from scratch! That I wouldn’t do again …)
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters (but only when I absolutely can’t avoid it)
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda (somehow I have missed ever eating this, although it’s the sort of thing I would eat)
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi (had some just last week — fabulous with curry!)
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar (both, but not together)
37. Clotted cream tea (again last week, on a trip to the UK — such a treat!)
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O (I am assuming jelly made with homemade limoncello counts, since it has vodka in it)
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more (Once or twice; I’m not a whisky drinker)
46. Fugu (why risk it?)
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel (Jellied eels are *horrible*. They put me off for many years, but I have since had both smoked and stewed eel and been pleasantly surprised)
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut (A what??)
50. Sea urchin (once, and wouldn’t again)
51. Prickly pear (didn’t know you could eat them! How do you get the spines off?)
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer (Indian cheese)
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal (many years ago!)
56. Spaetzle (my German friend Helga’s are the best!)
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores (what??)
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin (used as indigestion cure in the UK — kaolin and morphine, used to be available over the counter!)
64. Currywurst
65. Durian (not sure if I would try it or not)
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette (won’t do it again though)
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost (not keen on it though)
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie (don’t know what this is)
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant (once, Michel Bras, in Aubrac)
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare (all too rarely!)
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse (not intentionally, but I’m sure I have been served it at least once, disguised as beef)
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab (crab makes me ill)
93. Rose harissa (Yes to harissa, but not with rose petals — I assume it’s listed because a well-known brand of rose harissa is available in UK supermarkets)
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano (unlikely to try this because I don’t do Mexican food; I’ve never had any Mexican cuisine that I liked, but if I was served it, I would try it)
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor (but I think lobster is best served simply with mayonnaise or hollandaise sauce — why tamper with perfection?)
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake