Brandade de Morue

                                                  Serves 6

A southern French classic recipe. It's usually served with slices of crusty bread and raw vegetables, and goes well with a crisp, dry white wine.

Ingredients:

400 g Salt cod, diced, soaked in cold water overnight

500 g cooked potatoes

3 shallots peeled and sliced

250 ml Milk

250 ml Cream

2 eggs

8 Tablespoons olive oil

Black pepper

Procedure:

• Cook the peeled and chopped potatoes and keep on the side.   
• Sweat the chopped shallots in 2 Tbs of olive oil for 5 mins. Add the soaked Cod, potatoes, cream and Milk. 
• Cook until the fish is tender. 
• Strain off most of the liquid and put in a food processor. Add the Eggs and black pepper and mix on medium speed. Slowly incorporate the rest of the olive oil. Taste for salt, but it should be good.  
• Put in oven proof individual dishes and bake 375 degrees for 5-10 mins, when it soufflées and browns. Serve with fresh bread.  

Home-made Gnocchi

Ingredients:

for 4 people

1.25 Kilos Raw Old Russet Potatoes

Rock Salt

125 grams all-purpose Flour

75 grams Semolina Flour

200 Grams Parmesan, finely grated

5 Egg Yolks

Procedure:

Bake the potatoes on a bed of salt in a very hot oven (500F / 260C) with aluminum over the top for 1 hour.

Cut them in half and pass them through a fine mesh sieve. Take 1 kilo of the potato pulp in a bowl, add in the egg yolks and the parmesan cheese. Mix the flour together, then put half flat on the table. Put the potato mass on the flour and add the rest of the flour on top.

Cut the flour into the dough with a flat wide plastic bowl scraper.

Then start to fold and form a ball. Roll the dough into small tubes, using the smallest amount of flour.

Cut the tubes into small bits about 3/4’s of an inch. Then roll them off the back of a fork to create the ridges. Poach them in simmering water until they float and serve with any kind of sauce.

This recipe can also be deep fried at 175C / 350F for about 4 mins.

Happy Valentines Day

Litchi and Rose Spongecake

Ingredients:

150g/ 5.3O oz sugar

180g/ 6.3O oz  soft butter

3 eggs

150g/ 5.3O oz  flour

1 teaspoon of baking powder

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

250G /8.8O oz  whipping cream

50g/ 1.7O oz icing sugar

250G/ 8.8O oz mascarpone

1/2 teaspoon of rose essence, and crushed rose tea petals

Procedure:

In a bowl mix the butter and the sugar until it gets white. Add the eggs one by one and mix. Add the sifted flour and a spoon of baking powder and vanilla.

Pour mixture into a cake mould. Add the fruit you like, such as litchi, mango, apricot, berries….Bake at 175C (350F) for 20 mins

To check if it’s cooked you need to stick a knife blade in and check if it comes out clean.

In a mixer whip the cream then add the icing sugar. Finish with the mascarpone and the rose essence & coloring if you wish,  you can also add cinnamon, ginger, spices,…

Then add the cream on top of the cake, make sure cake is cooled down so it doesn’t melt.

Rosemary and 7-garlic clove leg of lamb

                                                  8 Portions

Ingredients

1 small leg of lamb, about 3 lbs/1.5 kg 

7 branches fresh rosemary 

7 cloves fresh garlic 

Olive oil
2 T coarse salt

Procedure

• Trim most of the fat off the leg of lamb, if necessary. 
• In a large sauté pan, brown the leg on all sides. Cut each clove in half or thirds, pierce the meat with a paring knife and insert the garlic. 
• Finely chop the rosemary and rub all over the meat surface, with olive oil if necessary to form a paste which clings. 
• Place in 400 F/200 C oven the 1st 15 minutes, then at 365 F/180 C for about 30 more minutes for medium rare, 45 for medium well. 
• Sprinkle surface with salt, let rest 5-‐10 minutes before slicing against the grain. Season sliced meat with fleur de sel, and fresh cracked pepper. 

Tips:  

• If you don't have a large enough sauté pan for initial searing, rub meat surface with olive oil and place under broiler on upper oven rack, 400 F/200 C, to brown at least two sides well, before rubbing on the rosemary, and piercing with the garlic, lowering the temperature to continue cooking. 

 Wine Suggestions

Full bodied reds : Rhone valley, Corbières, Minervois, Bordeaux