Off to Senegal

No no, am not off to Senegal in reality, it's just that I woke up this morning, with everything around me covered in frost, and somehow the magic of one's mind takes you along long forgotten paths.

Maybe it is the cold, crispy air that made me think of the most unforgettable meal I've had 'CHEZ AIDA', a tiny little café in the heart of the 'Goutte d'Or' area of Paris. Certainly not an area frequented by the chic Parisiennes as this it right up north in the city and known as 'Little Africa'. I went there on a similar cold crisp day with an old friend and had the most amazing Thiéboudienne!

Just the name allready evoke a trip to an exotic place and sometimes one does not need to be there in person, just preparing foreign-exotic dishes is travelling to different destinations!

Now, I know not many of you have heard of this dish, so I went on a big web hunt and found some recipes and info! And here goes:

 

http://www.whats4eats.com/fish/ceebu-jen-recipe gave such lovely explanations so I took the liberty to copy it here for you!

Thiéboudienne is one of the most popular dishes in Senegal, especially along the coast. A Wolof term meaning "rice and fish," ceebu jen is a tomatoey mix of fish, rice and cooked vegetables that shows a strong resemblance to Spanish paella and Creole jambalaya. A wide variety of vegetables and fish can be used, making ceebu jen an extremely versatile dish. Also spelled tiéboudienne, thiep bou dien, Ceebu jencep bu jën. (cheh-boo jen)

4 to 6 servings

• Whole fish (or fillets, see variations), cleaned -- about 2 pounds
• Parsley, finely chopped -- 1/4 cup
• Hot chile peppers, finely chopped -- 2 or 3
• Garlic, minced -- 2 or 3 cloves
• Salt and pepper -- to season
• Peanut, dendê or vegetable oil -- 1/4 cup
• Onions, chopped -- 2
• Tomato paste -- 1/4 cup
• Stock or water -- 5 cups
• Carrots, cut into rounds - 3
• Cabbage, cut into wedges -- 1/2 head
• Pumpkin or winter squash, peeled and cubed -- 1/2 pound
• Eggplant, cubed -- 1
• Rice -- 2 cups
• Salt and pepper -- to season
• Lemons, cut into wedges -- 3

Method

1. Rinse the fish inside and out with cool water and pat dry. Cut three diagonal slashes about 1/2 inch deep in each side of the fish. Mix the chopped parsley, chile peppers, garlic, salt and pepper and stuff the mixture (called roff) into the slashes on the fish.
2. Heat the oil in a large, deep pot over medium-high flame. Brown the fish on both sides in the hot oil and remove to a plate.
3. Add the chopped onions to the hot oil and saute until cooked through and just beginning to brown, 5 to 7 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste and about 1/4 cup of water and cook for another 2 to 3 minutes.
4. Stir in the stock or water, carrots, cabbage, pumpkin and eggplant and simmer over medium heat for 35 to 45 minutes, or until the vegetables are cooked through and tender. Add the browned fish and simmer for another 15 minutes or so. Remove the fish and vegetables and about 1 cup of the broth to a platter, cover and set in a warm oven.
5. Strain the remaining broth, discarding the solids. Add enough water to the broth to make 4 cups and return to heat. Bring the broth to a boil, stir in the rice and season with salt and pepper. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover and simmer for 20 minutes, or until the rice is cooked through and tender.
6. Spread the cooked rice in a large serving platter, including any crispy bits (the xooñ) sticking to the bottom of the pan. Spread the vegetables over the center of the rice and top with the fish. Finally, pour the reserved broth over all. Serve with lemon wedges. Ceebu jen is traditionally eaten with the hands from a common serving dish.

Variations

• Fish: You can use whole fish or fish fillets. Any firm white-fleshed fish works well. If using fillets, try marinating the fillets in the parsley mixture (roff) instead of using it as a stuffing, then add the roff to the sauteing onions. Most Senegalese also add small amounts of smoked, dried fish (guedge) and fermented snails (yete) to ceebu jen. They add an incomparable, smoky flavor.
• Vegetables: Use any vegetables you have on hand. Try yams, cassava, potatoes, green beans, zucchini, okra or bell peppers. You can use any hot chile pepper for heat, but Scotch bonnet peppers come closest to those used in Senegal.
• Ceebu Yapp (Beef with rice and vegetables): Marinate 2 pounds of stewing beef in the roff mixture for at least 1 hour. Brown the meat in the hot oil and set aside. Brown the onions and roff in the oil, then stir in the tomato paste as indicated. Add the stock or water and return the beef to the pot, but don't put in the vegetables yet. Simmer the beef for 1 to 1/2 hours. Then add the vegetables and 8 to 10 shelled hard-boiled eggs and simmer for 45 minutes. Continue with the recipe as indicated.
• The fish, vegetables and rice can also be served separately in the Western style.

The cuisine of Senegal has been influenced by nations like France, Portugal, and those of North Africa, and also by many ethnic groups, the largest being the Wolof; Islam, which first penetrated the region in the 11th century; and various European cultures, especially the French, who held the country as a colony until 1960. Immigrants have brought Senegalese restaurants to many world cities, where its popularity has been growing.

Because Senegal borders the Atlantic Ocean, fish is an important staple. Chicken, lamb, pea, eggs, and beef are also used in Senegalese cooking, but not pork, due to the nation’s largely Muslim population. Peanuts, the primary crop, as well as couscous, white rice, sweet potatoes, lentils, black-eyed peas and various vegetables, are also incorporated into many recipes. Meats and vegetables are typically stewed or marinated in herbs and spices, and then poured over rice or couscous or simply eaten with bread.

Popular fresh juices are made from bissap, ginger, Buy (pronounced bouy) which is the fruit of the baobabmango, or other fruit or wild trees. Desserts are very rich and sweet, combining native ingredients with the extravagance and style characteristic of the French impact on Senegal’s culinary methods. They are often served with fresh fruit and are traditionally followed by coffee or tea. tree also known as "monkey bread fruit",

 FROM : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senegalese_cuisine

http://kariborders.blogspot.com/recipes/recipes.html 

So happy travelling to you today !

Life's about sharing and I love sharing with you

Lynn

Dashing to the Dordogne (Feasting with the 'Marquis')

After a mad Saturday evening where we had the house filled with friends, then hopping out to the Opera in Vichy to see 'Les Ballets Trocadero' http://www.trockadero.org/, and back home for a very late night supper, we dashed to the Dordogne Sunday just after lunch.

The main purpose was to see our friend John who has been looking at property in a very beautiful village in the Dordogne region and who wanted the expert advise of his fellow Capricornian friend, Olivier. So you can imagine, 2 Capricorns together visiting century old properties - not a good thing!

But what I really want to share with you today is John's absolute incredible love for food! John is a Gourmand and a Gourmet!! John has had many lives - University lecturer, restaurateur and writer amongst other. A couple of years ago he published : Take 40 Fresh Crayfish......

http://www.timeslive.co.za/sundaytimes/article113584.ece

In the meantime, life has walked many different roads with him and after a 6 month stint in Asia the first half of this year, he has decided to settle in France for now. A country he knows and loves and appreciates as very few foreigners does.

On our arrival at his new temporary home in the beautiful town of Belvès, we were greeted with an apéritif and we then had the most amazing Thai curry.

The 2 boys at table with the delectable and easy Thai Curry

 THE RECIPE received from John via email this morning:
'For Thai curry, simply slice boneless skinless breasts (with mushrooms or thinly sliced courgettes) to simmer in curry mix which consists of tin of coconut milk, generous scoop of Thai curry paste (red or yellow or green), splashes of Thai fish sauce, kaffir lime leaves and lemon grass, water chestnuts, touch of brown sugar, and don't forget the fresh ginger! Fresh coriander cut on top to serve. Recipe in 'Take 40 Fresh Crayfish' !'

Monday, after a visit to the now ex property, we quickly ran back home in the cold drizzling rain, to sit down to another great meal : This time a lovely Risotto of girolles with anchovies, parmesan and once again washed down with divine wine!


But the prize went to the delicious dinner. I've been crossing 'Elizabeth David' for many a year and actually never got so far as to buy a recipe book of this incredible writer on food. John cooked 'Noisettes de Porc aux Pruneaux' (Pork Noisettes with prunes and cream sauce) from her book, 'French Provincial Cooking' and when I got home on Tuesday afternoon, I ordered it on the spot! 
 Read more about her: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_David

In case you do not have her cookbook, here goes : 'Noisette de Porc aux Pruneaux'.
'This dish, a speciality of Tours, is a sumptuous one, rich and handsome in appearance as well as in it's flavours........' This is how she starts the write-up of the recipe.

Take 6 to 8 noisettes (John used filet mignon)
1 lb (500g) juicy prunes
1/2 bottle of wine (white Vouvray will be great)
1 tablespoon of red-currant jelly
1/2 pint (250 ml) of thick cream
a bit of butter
flour 
and seasonings.

Put prunes to steep in bowl covered with 1/2 pint (250 ml) of wine, supposed to be done overnight, but with good prunes half-day will be sufficient. Cover and put them in a very low oven to cook - an hour or more, the longer the better!

John, the 'Marquis of Belvès' divine pork dish

Season the pork
very well with freshly-milled pepper and salt and sprinkle each 'noisette' with flour. 
Melt butter in the pan, put in the meat, let it gently take colour on one side and turn. Keep the heat low - butter must not brown. After 10 minutes pour in the remaining white wine. Cover the pan. Cook very gently, covered on top of the stove for approximately 45 minutes to an hour.

Pour the juice from the prunes over the meat - this must be done over direct heat on top of the stove - keep the prunes hot in the oven.
When the juice has bubbled and reduced a little, transfer the meat to the serving dish and keep hot. (John kept the meat in the same pan) Add the red-current jelly and stir until it has dissolved. Pour in some of the cream, shake the pan and add a little more cream until the sauce is just beginning to get shiny and really thick.
John added steamed potatoes at this stage as well and according to Elizabeth, there should be enough sauce to cover the meat, but not the prunes!


A truely delicious and easy meal. Whilst the meal was simmering away, John took time to teach us the basics of a Chinese society game, Mahjong! Not only a divine cook, art collector, expert on Sade, but also a great teacher! And John loves sharing with others!

The beautiful antique Mahjong set on which he taught us the ropes

Here's to sharing amongst friends!


Life is about sharing
Bisous

Wilson the Piggy - Suite Ham!

Well it's a rainy autumn Sunday afternoon, we had wonderful oven roasted fish and steamed cucumber from the market in Vichy, all washed down with a bit too much delicious South African white wine and apart from being in bed with a great book, the next best thing is to share with you!

A couple of months ago I did a post on Wilson the Piggy if you remember (in January I think). Yesterday, Olivier sliced into Wilson's ham for the first time.

Now let me tell you how I've been pampering that ham! First, after spending about 30 days in a big salt jar, then rinced, we suspended the 2 hams of Wilson in a wired cage in the attic above the pool. An airy space so that it could dry out properly. Every week they were lovingly rubbed with a kind of grappa and I spiced them with a pepper mixture, especially around the bone. This went on for about 6 months. Then Wilson's hams were fetched by our friend Jean-Yves, and he placed his a an ash box for the next couple of months.

We eventually fetched our ham from him about a week ago, and were waiting for the right opportunity to slice into this air dried delicacy!

Olivier's old friends and his godchild arrived this past weekend and we decided that this was the perfect opportunity to inaugurate dear Wilson's ham!

And boy oh boy, what a joy!! Absolutely delicious and perfect as an aperitif on a autumny Saturday afternoon sharing with great friends in the lazy sun! But the whole process was captured by our friend Pascal and he kindly allowed us to place his video on the blog:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5sl5GzSETo

So guys, now you've seen it all!! And with this good night and it's always nice sharing with you!


Life is about sharing


Froggie hugs
Lynn

Blabbermouth was bustling.....

Hi you all

Just coming up to take some air as these last weeks shot past like an arrow and I cannot even begin to tell you about all the cooking that went on.

First we had Magic Marita, a South African writer living in Provence with her French Husband Alain and their four kids and a cat. Marita was presenting a 13 part series on South Africans in France and what they cook - called 'Marita Kook' and it will be broadcasted in South Africa in January.
You can follow Marita through her website
http://www.maritavandervyver.info/
her blog, http://www.maritareadingspace.blogspot.com/ or her Facebook Group  http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=78346169084

Marita and Alain's Cookbook, Summerfood in Provence has just appeared on the shelves in South Africa! A MUST!!

You can follow what's happening about the kykNet series 'Marita Kook'  (in Afrikaans) on their blog:
http://onskookfrans.blogspot.com/2010/10/welkom-en-lekker-saamkook-jaco.html

Was very nervy as I do not like being in front of the lens - am always the one snapping away - and here not just a 'photo' lens but a camera rolling along in my kitchen! I do not think any of you had any idea what my kitchen looked like at the end of the season! Books piled up, papers, invoices, notes, makeup, shoes,............ So my job was to get my kitchen in tip top shape for Magic Marita and the A team from kykNet.  It did help that I sent a few lines to their blog every now and then and called myself  'Babbelbek' or 'Blabbermouth'

And when DDAY arrived it was lots and lots of fun! Marita is so natural and amazing and it felt like we've been doing this for years and it just went off like a dream! Antoinette, one of the co-producers of the program, did a couple of shots and I shall include them here (Thank you Antoinette!! all the pics in this post is by her!)

I did an adapted menu with local products and a slight South African influence:
Little mustard cakes from Charroux, a beautiful medieval village not far from us, for the apéritif.
Then fish bobotie in a springroll with home made chutney
Followed by sweet and sour Quails - poached in a wine-cranberry sauce and then roasted in the oven just before serving

We also had Tracy from the Food Studio in Cape Town (http://www.foodstudio.co.za/) and her cookgroup that came for lunch on Dday and it was wonderful sharing this experience with them! Thanks to all it went off so well and on time and here's to Magic Marita, Antoinette and Marike, the producers, Jacques and David the cameramen, my darling husband Olivier always drawn into the running whirlwind life of his wife!

 Life's too short not to have fun and not to share!

Next post will be about Pam, the Gypsy Chef and the Second Groovy Gang!

Bisous

Ode to my French teacher Irène

When we first moved to this property just over 8 years ago, little did I know that our new neighbour will become my French Teacher.

In South Africa, when you move into a new house, normally the neighbour comes over with a tray or drinks to bid you welcome. In France, the custom is totally different! The neighbours wait for you to invite them over to introduce yourself. This is what we did a coldish day in September 2002.

Irène stayed all by herself in a rather huge Napoleonic style house up on the hill above our property. She was direct and lively and we 'clicked' straight away. She also had an intense love for and understanding of the French language. I then asked her if she could help me with my very poor written French and so a weekly institution started. One week at her place, one week at our place.
She introduced me to wonderful authors, new and classic, and I did my 'dictations' with pure delight - her telling me lots of anecdotes about the authors or the caracters etc.

 Irène on the far left next to me taken last March

Our weekly meetings also revolved around either a cup of tea, or depending on the time of day, we might take an 'apéro' together! Her favourite was 'Floc de Gascogne' http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floc_de_Gascogne

We did not just meet to do French, Irène also joined us for many a meal here Aux Jardins des Thevenets and we even spent a Christmas together.When I cooked jam, she'll always have a pot or two, or a jar of chutney and she kept empty jars for me for my future cooking.
I used to mow her fields with my tractor and she could cook an amazing Cassoulet with the right beans from Tarbes.

Irène was witty and called a spade a spade. She loved reading, and travelling and nothing could get her away from her television when there was a rugby match. And she had the very sexy 'Dieux des Stades' calendar sitting on her piano! She loved music. She loved selling things at the brocantes in the summer. She loved birds and just knew a lot about everything from Greek mythology to the stories of the locals in our village. Irène loved sharing her knowledge.

Irène was not just any neighbour, she was my friend.
Irène passed away last night and I shall miss her very much in my life.

Here's to you dear teacher! You might give them hell up there!

I shall miss sharing with you

Sundays...... and the memories of sharing

My maternal grandparents had a farm near a town called George, around 400 km's from Cape Town towards the east. A region we call the Garden Route as it is so beautiful between mountain and sea.
Not one of those huge 1000 hectares machines, but a very modest tiny small place with fields falling down into a beautiful river and an hours walk to the sea! Still one of my favourite places called Harold's Bay.
http://virtualgardenroute.co.za/vtours/perlemoen/harold%27s%20bay/_flash/haroldsbay.html

The Sundays of my childhood were very special. My granny on the farm (ouma plaas) was behind the cooking pots from early morning. In those days no telephones, emails, skype, cellphones etc and we used to ask her who's coming for lunch. In general her answer was, I don't know, but you'll see. And sure thing, after church the cars started pulling up and in the end, her tiny kitchen with it's huge Aga, used to spatter and boil and cook and produce food for between 20 to 30 persons.
One of my favourites was when she took the bread out of the oven and having a huge slice with butter melting all over your fingers.
And the aroma of her burning her coffee beans in a small black pot on the coals outside the house.
Smells that stay with you for the rest of your life. And then, many years later, you happen to stumble upon an Ethiopian restaurant in Paris where the hostess burns her coffee beans in a tiny pan and walks around the room with the fumes and smells taking you back to your childhood. How wonderful to be small again.

What a joy.
But the lesson was learned
My grandparents shared the little they had with those they loved!
That's what life's all about.
Sharing

ps And it's nice to share some memories with you on a Sunday evening when I'm feeling a bit homesick for Africa.

Blackberries - not the 'phone' kind!

Since I last spoke to you in August, doing my 'mea culpa' about not getting out posts more often, we took a very small break to a teeny weeny island just off the West coast of France, Ile de Groix. I promise to tell you more about that and the seafood and oysters! 

Having just got back home, and for the first time in months with a couple of hours free after guests leaving and the next batch arriving, I took a delicious long walk around our property, followed by Lili the pest! 

And harvested the last of the Blackberries. 

They are lush and plump and although the ripes ones has been eaten by birds or fallen on the ground, I still have enough to make some 'confiture' and some 'Crème de Mûre'.

 
Now I shall share with you today, Martine, our help's very delicious and easy Confiture recipe! She's asked me to tell you all that it has been a best kept secret for many years but that she's willing to share it now!

So here goes (in Martine's words):

Send your husband to pick the blackberries

Wash them, and then blend them in a mixer with half a glass of water.

Weigh this mixture and use 1 kg of sugar per 1 kg of berries

Bring to the boil and cook for 5 minutes. Put in sterilised jars

Absolutely delicious!!!

(I have in the past added star anis to the mixture whilst cooking and it gives it a lovely flavour)

I use this confiture in my very easy blini recipe to make a sweet blini for dessert - put some fresh berries on the blini with a touch of cream, add some 'crème de mûre' and home made fatfree berry icecream! (Mix your fatfree yogurt with a little bit of confiture and freeze it! Easy as pie!)

 

Now a very quick and easy 'Crème de Mûre' recipe :
1 kg blackberries
1 liter redwine
800 gr sugar
1 glass of fruit alcohol
2 blackcurrent leaves

Put the blackberries in a big salad bowl and crush them a bit. Add the redwine, the alcohol and the blackcurrent leaves, let it steep for 5 days, stirring it every now and then.

Filter the mixture and put, with the sugar, in a pan. Bring to the boil and cook for 5 minutes. Let it cool down and bottle it. Best to leave for about a week and then, Kir with Crème de Mûre!! 

I wish you all a great harvest!


Life is about sharing and I wish I could share a glass of Kir with Crème de Mûre with you all soon!


Bisous
Lynn