La Recette du Jour

This is a gloriously unfashionable and unhealthy dessert, which makes any meal seem like a special occasion. Like Beef Stroganoff, I hadn’t made this for absolutely ages, but a 36-hour powercut was a great opportunity to think of a dessert that doesn’t require the oven and uses ingredients that are to hand. Of course it doesn’t do to make it too often, but once in a while it makes a lovely treat.

It is not at all complicated to do, especially as you can prepare the pancakes and butter in advance — the day before if you want. You really should entertain your guests by flambéing it at the table.
Recipe for Crêpes Suzette »

This is my second recipe from Delicious Days — a Viennese classic reworked by Nicky. I don’t think I’ve ever made it before, but it is recognisably a clafoutis in a different guise. Yes, mine looks a complete mess, but I think that’s part of the idea.

You make a large pancake using whisked egg whites to give it lightness. Normally it’s cooked in the oven, but Nicky cooks it in a non-stick pan on top of the stove. I think my pan was probably too small, because by the time the bottom was cooked, the top was still quite liquid. At this point, without turning it over, you pull it apart into bite-sized pieces using two wooden spoons, resulting in the mess you see above. Then you add a bit more butter and some flaked almonds, sprinkle lavishly with icing sugar, and stir it around to caramelise the pieces. Serve at once; it should be served with plum or apple compote. We had it with maple syrup, but I think it needs the sharpness added by fruit.

A good quick, filling dessert at the end of an arduous week, just don’t serve it as the finale to an elegant dinner party!

… aka mushrooms on toast.

Don’t let it be said that I’m a procrastinator! Here’s my first dish from Delicious Days, my cookbook challenge for this year. Supplies were low and dinner improvised, but I found some mushrooms in the fridge, so while the “real” dinner was cooking I opened a bottle of wine and made Nicky’s mushroom crostini: a 10-minute job.

We didn’t have any chives, which would have made them look prettier even with my poor photographic skills. We didn’t have any Marsala either, but we don’t do things by halves in this household, and Christmas comes but once a year — in went a glug of Warre’s excellent vintage port, bought at the airport last week. Well, it was only a couple of tablespoons. The completed sauce was poured over a few slices of my home-made 5-minute bread, and we enjoyed them with a glass of wine by a cosy log fire.

The mushrooms and sauce were delicious. Nicky says the bread should be fried, which I did, in olive oil, and then drained on kitchen paper, but some of it was a bit greasy. Next time I’ll toast or bake it.

The friendly group of foodies in the Open University’s food and drink online conference has been talking for some time about a “cookbook challenge”; each person chooses a cookbook and then cooks their way through it during 2009, trying every recipe and blogging about it. I have been on-again, off-again about this project; I like the idea, but time for cooking and blogging is short at present, and the constraint of having to choose a recipe from a specific book two or more times a week seemed an impossibility.

But then I looked at my beautiful Delicious Days cookbook, a coffee-table ornament from which to my shame I have not yet cooked a single recipe, despite being a fan of Nicky’s equally elegant and enticing blog (from which I have cooked some recipes!). Everyone who has visited and picked up this book has oohed and aahed over it, so I really have no excuse. The book is short and eclectic, and I really want to cook some of the recipes from it, so I did a quick count. Only 76 recipes, quite a few of them small and simple. That’s only one and a bit a week; this seems do-able with a bit of discipline.

So my plan is to cook everything by the end of 2009, at least everything I can get the ingredients for; as I do them, I’ll blog about them, including if possible a less-than-wonderful photo. I’ll tag all the individual entries as “delicious days”. Nicky’s blog doesn’t need any more publicity I’m sure — it’s already one of Time Magazine’s 50 coolest websites — but if even a few people discover her creativity via my blog then I shall feel I’ve repaid some of the pleasure I get from reading hers.

Of course I will not be publishing the recipes themselves here; if you are tempted by my descriptions, then hop over to Amazon and buy the book (available in English and German). I think virtually all of the recipes are exclusive to the book, i.e. they are not published on Nicky’s blog. So if you want them, and her beautiful photos, you have to buy the book!

Other bloggers taking up the challenge so far (with different books):

Maggie on Nigel Slater’s Kitchen Diaries — this is sure to be a winning combination!
Dilly on not one, but two Jamie Oliver books: Cook with Jamie, and Jamie’s Italy
Sunny, on Rosemary Conley’s Slim to Win.
Ellie, on Gill Holcombe’s How to Feed Your Whole Family a Healthy Balanced Diet, with Very Little Money and Hardly Any Time, Even If You Have a Tiny Kitchen, Only Three Saucepans … – Unless You Count the Garlic Crusher…Yes, really — that’s the title of the book!
Rachel on Sarah Bounds’ Seasonal Vegetarian (this is an out-of-print Marks and Spencer book).

We had a quiet Christmas, just the two of us, so a turkey or a goose seemed a bit over the top. We’d had duck just a few days before, so I decided a break with tradition was called for. I decided on mini beef Wellingtons; leaving shopping till Christmas Eve meant I couln’t get any fillet, so I bought two slices of faux-filet (I think this is sirloin in English) instead. The beef was excellent, the pastry a rather soggy disappointment.

But looking on the bright side, the slices were so large that I cut out just the centres for the Wellingtons and was left with about 100 g of trimmings. An ideal opportunity to dust off an old 1970s favourite the next day: beef Stroganoff. It was well worth reviving; so quick to make, and absolutely delicious. Not only that, but I got to use the beautiful adjustable Peugeot peppermill I got for Christmas.

You must use really good beef for this, but you don’t need very much. I can’t imagine serving it with anything other than plain white rice, but it would make a good sauce for pasta too. Some people add all sorts of other things: brandy, Marsala, tomato puree, nutmeg… But try it this classic way first — sometimes simple is best.
Recipe for Beef Stroganoff »