Lazy weekends

Wish I had time for croissants with butter and jam every morning. For me, weekday mornings are a mad rush, often still half-asleep, to down my tea and chomp on cereal or bread, then whizz out of the house to catch my train. Often I forget my keys.

Makes me appreciate weekends even more now. The day starts so much nicer with pancakes and honey or scrambled eggs with smoked salmon. This morning, it was bacon, sausages and eggs. The good ol' calorie-laden, artery-clogging, classic breakfast. No healthful (cardboard) Weet-Bix for me, thank you. I at least made a feeble attempt by adding tomatoes. They were fried in bacon fat but veg is veg, I console myself.

Start with a hot non-stick pan. Add the bacon until the fat renders, then fry the sausages in the bacon fat. Add the tomatoes, push them to one side of the pan, and crack an egg or two in. Tip the pan around so that the egg whites run in between the sausages, tomatoes and bacon. Cook until the eggs are done to your liking, then sprinkle with salt, pepper and chives to finish. Easy and delicious. A great start to your day!

Fresh from the sea

During our holidays in Croatia, we had the most delicious seafood - charcoal-grilled fish, fried squid, octopus salad, mussels with spaghetti... All locally caught, of course, everything was so fresh and succulent. I think what I enjoy most about travelling is eating. Seeking out local specialities is just as interesting as visiting historical monuments. Besides seafood, other local food we tried included pašticada (beef stew with gnocchi), ćevapi (minced meat shaped into sausages), Zagreb steak (breaded veal escalope stuffed with cheese), punjena parika (stuffed peppers), paški sir (cheese from Pag), Dalmatian pršut (smoked ham) and Dalmatian stuffed bread (focaccia-like bread stuffed with tomatoes, anchovies and onions). A visit to the market brought back watermelons, peaches and heaps and heaps of figs! Figs were so plentiful that we just picked them off trees as we walked around!

Back to fish. Still dreaming of our holidays, it was "fish week", with sole meunière, baked salmon and with the leftover baked salmon, salmon cakes and melon salsa!

Salmon cakes

400 g salmon filet, cooked

1 shallot, finely chopped

1 egg

1 tablespoon flour

1 tablespoon breadcrumbs

1 tablespoon oil

1 tablespoon chopped dill

juice and grated rind of 1 lime

salt and pepper

Mix all ingredients together and shape into patties. Fry on a non-stick pan until golden brown.

Melon salsa

1/2 melon

2 tomatoes

1 small cucumber

1 spring onion

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 teaspoon Tabasco sauce

Chop the melon, tomatoes, cucumber and spring onion into small cubes. Mix together with olive oil and Tabasco sauce.

In the mood for soup

Cold winter days call for soup. This was about 2 weeks ago. The weather suddenly turned bitter cold, often with frost in the mornings. I came down with a flu. At times like these, all I want is a steaming bowl of soup. Actually I rather like soup anytime of the year. I don't even mind hot soup in summer, though I also appreciate a chilled gaspacho. Whatever the season, soup is quick and easy peasy with my stick blender, my best kitchen investment so far.

Cold winter days do not offer a large variety of vegetables at the market. A large bunch of leeks caught my eye. Cheap. So leeks + cold weather + flu = leek and potato soup. A classic. I like my leek and potato soup with bacon bits, not sure how "classic" that is but it tastes good. Don't bother reheating the leftover soup the next day, and you got another classic, vichyssoise, a chilled leek and potato soup.

Many recipes with leek usually specify the white part of the leek. I have seen pre-washed and pre-trimmed leeks so that just the white parts are sold in neat packages in supermarkets. But I normally buy my leeks whole and throwing out the green part (which makes up 50% of the leek!) seems a total waste to me. Yet nobody has any tips on using the green? I like my leek and potato soup white and creamy, so I used only the white part of the leek for that. With the leftover green part, I decided to make another soup - split pea and leek soup. It's green anyway. It's also a very hearty and nutritious soup.

Leek and potato soup

2 large leeks, white part only

2 large potatoes

500 ml water

300 ml milk

200 g bacon, cut into strips*

salt

creme fraiche

Peel and dice the potatoes. Chop the leeks into small pieces and sweat in a pan with a little butter. When the leeks are soft, add the potatoes and water. Bring to a boil and simmer for about 30 minutes until the potatoes are soft.

In the meantime, fry the bacon strips until the fat has rendered and nicely browned. Drain on kitchen towels.

Puree the soup in a blender. Add the milk to desired consistency. Season with salt. Serve with a dollop of creme fraiche and the bacon bits.

*Bacon can be bought here ready-cut in little strips called lardons.

Split pea and leek soup

2 leeks, green part

1 cup split peas

2.5 cups water

juice of half a lemon

salt

Chop up the leeks and cook in a little olive oil until soft. Add the split peas and water. Bring to a boil and simmer for about 20 minutes or until the split peas are cooked but still have some bite.

Reserve a ladle or two of the soup and puree the rest in a blender. Stir in the reserved split peas so that a nice chunky soup is obtained. Stir in the lemon juice and season with salt.

Top the soup with a drizzle of olive oil and freshly cracked pepper before serving.

Starters

I shall end the "wedding menu" series with the starters. No recipes here. I think bacon-wrapped sausages, prunes stuffed with foie gras wrapped with thin slices of dried duck magret and yogurt balls rolled in mixed peppercorns pretty much speak for themselves. Once again, I was too ambitious and got carried away. We made way too many canapes and the pastry parcels were too fiddly to do for such a large group of people. I, however, liked the wide variety of starters we had.

Ever since our first trip to Spain about 10 years ago, and its tapas bars, I have been fascinated by these one-bite (or two, if you take small bites like me) munchies served on slices of bread or on skewers. Tapas are Spanish appetizers but you easily can make a meal out of them. I remember tapas bar hopping in San Sebastian savouring the different tapas each had to offer. And there was such variety! Marinated vegetables, grilled seafood, cheese, chorizo, tortillas... We just walked in, ate as much as we wanted, paid, and went on to the next. It was a cheap and filling dinner, not to mention the unique experience. Coming to France, I came across more appetizers, often served during l'apero. Simple aperos consisted of just crisps or saucisson sec or olives, more elaborate ones involved some sort of cooking, baking or at least skewering two or more ingredients onto a toothpick. Suddenly all the rage is the apero dinatoire, same concept as a tapas dinner, basically a meal of appetizers.

Inspired, I decided to have a very large appetizer platter. As a result, the greatest amount of cooking time was spent on the appetizers (desserts came a close second). All that wrapping, skewering, twisting, baking, frying...

As I reminiscently write up this last wedding post, I wish to thank again everyone who had helped in the preparations. I can't help thinking that if I had the chance I'd do it all over again. I can already hear Aunty Lina and Joanne shouting in protest. *grin* Will you come to our silver wedding anniversary?

The Veg

We should have had more veg. I guess we had a good variety (courgette salad, roasted squash, beet salad, ricotta and pinenut salad) but we should have doubled the quantities. Looking back, it makes good sense to make plenty of salads for large buffets as the dressings can be made easily in advance and it's a snap to mix it all up before serving, plus everyone likes salads at BBQs.

I'm not going to give the recipes for the beet salad with balsamic vinegar dressing and the ricotta and pinenut salad as I think their names are quite self-explanatory.

Courgette salad
from Happy Days with the Naked Chef by Jamie Oliver

4 small courgettes
1 red chilli
1/2 clove of garlic
1 handful fresh mint
1/2 lemon

Extra virgin olive oil

Slice the courgettes lengthways as thin as you can (use a mandolin if you have one). Grill on a hot griddle pan or on the barbeque until lightly charred on each side. Scatter the slices over a large plate, making sure you don't sit them on top of each other otherwise they'll steam and go a bit limp. Sprinkle with a little salt and freshly ground pepper.

Deseed the chilli and chop finely. Finely chop the garlic and sprinkle the chili and garlic evenly over the courgettes.

Tear over fresh mint and drizzle with good extra virgin olive oil and a squeeze of lemon.

Spicy roasted squash
from The Naked Chef by Jamie Oliver

1 medium/large butternut squash
2 teaspoons coriander seeds
2 teasponns dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
2 small dried red chillies
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 clove garlic
1 tablespoon olive oil

Preheat the oven to 200 C. Cut the squash in half and remove the seeds. Cut the squash into wedges.

Put all the dried herbs and spices into a mortar and pestle and pound them up with the salt and pepper to make a fine powder. Add the garlic clove and pound it into the spices. Scrape out the contents into a bowl and add the olive oil. Toss the squash thoroughly in this herb and spice mixture, making sure that all the pieces are well coated.

Place the squash pieces skin side down on a baking tray. Roast them for about 30 minutes, or until tender.

Potato Salads

I love potato salad. I love potatoes. In all ways - baked, boiled, fried, mashed, roasted - and in all potato dishes - potato salad (as mentioned), gratin dauphinois, rosti, potato cheese soup, double-baked potatoes, potato cutlets, etc, etc, etc. I'm lucky that Albrecht buys me 10-kg bags of potatoes from a nearby farm. When I'm feeling too lazy to cook a proper meal, I sometimes just have boiled potatoes with some olive oil (or butter) and crushed garlic. One of my staples is potato wedges roasted with seasoned salt, dried mixed herbs and chili flakes. I make it so much that Shank has adopted it too as his signature dish; it's always asked for at potlucks.

The best potato I've ever had is the Jersey Royal. They're so good, I can eat them plain. They have a buttery, nutty taste, and a very thin skin. Boiled, some butter and salt, and I'm in potato heaven.

There are so many versions of potato salads. With eggs, without eggs, with onions, without onions, with mustard, without mustard, with mayonnaise, or sour cream, or yoghurt... The very first potato salad I learnt from my mum contained potatoes, chopped hard-boiled eggs, canned pineapple, spring onions, bacon bits and mayonnaise. I still make it now and then, but somehow it tasted better in my memories.. Does that happen to you too with your childhood foods? Our tastebuds develop and change as we grow older and some foods that we simply adored as kids are now simply... bof. (Of course, the converse is also true, I hated aubergine when I was small, but now it's on my fav list.) Since my first potato salad, I've tried so many recipes. I've experimented with warm potato salads with olive oil dressings, mashed potato salads, hot cheesy potato salads, and I loved them all.

Minty potato and green bean salad
from BBC Good Food magazine

500 g new potatoes
200 g green beans
2 shallots
3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 handful mint leaves, chopped

Boil the potatoes for 15 minutes or until tender. When the potatoes have 5 minutes cooking time left, tip the beans into the boiling water. Drain and cool under cold running water.

Meanwhile, finely slice the shallots. Place in a bowl and sprinkle with the vinegar and oil then leave for 5 minutes. Toss potatoes and beans in with the shallots and sprinkle with the mint.

Creamy potatoes with peas and pesto
from BBC Good Food magazine

500 g new potatoes
100 g peas
1/2 pot creme fraiche
3 tablespoons pesto

Cut potatoes into thick slices, then boil for 10 minutes. Tip peas into the boiling water for the final 2 minutes of cooking. Drain the potatoes and peas together in a colander and set aside to cool for a few minutes.

Spoon creme fraiche into a large bowl, season to taste, then gently fold in the sliced potatoes. Swirl over the pesto just before serving.

Our Chateau Weekend

Might I interrupt my recipe repertoire to describe our pre-honeymoon honeymoon. We didn't have time for a proper honeymoon as the school year started almost immediately and we had to go back to work. So we took a weekend trip in October to the Perigord region where we stayed in a castle.

We arrived in the evening. After exploring the castle a bit, we had dinner in the large dining room. There was soothing Mozart playing as we entered. The dining room was nicely decorated with an old chandelier, long tables and there was a large fireplace at one end. We started with a homemade walnut aperitif which was very good. Walnuts are one of Perigord's specialities. We were the only guests in the castle that night and sat at the large table in front of the fireplace. We felt like a king and queen as dinner was served. Dinner started with a salade landaise which is a green salad with smoked duck breast, gizzards and croutons. The gizzards in this particular salad were deglazed with balsamic vinegar which gave it a caramalised touch, very different from the other salades landaises that we've tried. For the main course, we had magret de canard served with peas, carrots and bacon, and a potato gratin. Duck is another Perigord speciality and this magret the canard was by far the best we'd ever had. It was very succulent and gamey, not like the vacuum-packed duck we buy in supermarkets. Dinner was accompanied by good Bergerac wine. Dessert was tarte tatin with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Mmmm... Need I say more?

After a restful sleep in our beautiful room overlooking the woods, we had a big breakfast with croissants, toast, butter, homemade strawberry and plum jams, honey, orange juice and hot chocolate. We then went for a tour around the castle with the owner, Etienne. The castle was built in the 16th century and was located on top of a hill overlooking a wooded forest. Although it had a fortress-like architecture, it served no military function. The castle had 4 levels. In addition to the dining room and kitchen, there was a large main room on the groundfloor. The two upper floors contained a dozen bedrooms. The cellar and old kitchen were below. There were 4 towers at the corners of the castle. We climbed the towers and walked along the covered walkway all around the castle. There was also a chapel which was built much later, in the 19th century. Imagine all that, just for us that weekend. It was a perfect romantic getaway.