Creamy Blue cheese and Red onion Pasta (with a Quercy Twist)

This is a dish I have developed from various recipes that I've tried, but the addition of walnuts give it more of a local South West France feel. Once you've prepared your onions it's a very quick and easy supper dish.

Ingredients for 4 people

400 gms of penne pasta (or any pasta you like)
150 gms of crumbled gorgonzola or similar mild blue cheese
3 large red onions
6 tbsp of olive oil
2 tbsp of balsamic vinegar
A good handful of roughly chopped flat leaf parsley
About 70 gms of toasted chopped walnuts
Salt & ground black pepper to taste

Method

First prepare the red onions which will go into the sauce for the dish. Peel and slice them into rings about 1 cm thick. Toss them into a roasting tin with the olive oil and balsamic vinegar, add a sprinkling of salt and ground pepper then roast at 190 degrees centigrade
for 30-40 minutes. Give the tin an occasional shake during the cooking to make sure the onions cook evenly. They should be tender but slightly caramelised when ready.

Cook the pasta as per the instructions on the packet. Drain and return to the pan, with a little of the cooking liquid retained.

Add the crumbled blue cheese, onions with all their juices, walnuts and chopped parsley.

Stir quickly and serve immediately.

Smoky bacon lentils

Serves four

Two tbs olive oil

250 g dried Puy lentils

200 g chopped smoked bacon or lardons

1 ½ litres of vegetable or chicken stock

2 medium sized sliced carrots

2 celery sticks finely chopped

1 red onion finely chopped

2 bay leaves

2 sprigs of thyme

1 clove garlic finely chopped

Salt & pepper to taste

Gently fry the onions and the bacon in the olive oil until they are soft and tender.

Then add the garlic, celery & carrot and cook for a further few minutes until the vegetables begin to soften.

Add a litre of the stock along with the lentils, bay leaf & thyme and bring to the boil. Then reduce the heat & simmer for about 20 minutes until the lentils are tender and most of the liquid has been absorbed. Season with salt & pepper to taste. If it starts to get dry and the lentils are not ready add a little more of the stock and continue cooking.

This makes a delicious meal in itself or as an accompaniment to any meat dishes – we often eat it with liver or sausages. This is a dish that can easily be prepared in advance and heated up to serve.

As an alternative this can also be served as a vegetarian dish by omitting the bacon and using vegetable stock.

Crunchy Winter salad

It’s that time of year when everyone is talking about healthy eating, post Christmas and New Year, so here’s a delicious flavourful salad to accompany cold meats, cheeses, quiches etc. It looks and tastes much more interesting than a bowl of green salad and all of the ingredients should be readily available at this time of year. The quantities here should be enough to serve about six people.

Salad Ingredients

¼ of a medium size red cabbage
¼ of a medium sized white cabbage
1 x small fennel bulb
2 x sticks of celery
1 each of white/red endive (chicory) head
Handful of chopped walnuts
Handful of raisins

Dressing ingredients

2 x tbs olive oil
1 x tbs walnut oil
1 x tbs cider or balsamic vinegar
1 x tbs clear honey
1 x tsp grainy mustard
Salt & pepper to taste

Take the leaves off the red and white chicory heads and place in the bottom of a bowl.

Finely chop the red and white cabbage and add on top of the leaves.

Next finely chop the fennel bulb and celery and sprinkle on top of the cabbage.

Add chopped walnuts and raisins and gently mix the salad together.

Make your dressing by mixing the honey, mustard, oils & vinegar together in a clean jam jar with a lid. Shake for a few minutes, taste and season with salt & pepper accordingly.

Add the dressing to the salad immediately before serving, mixing well to ensure that it is all coated.

Note: if using balsamic vinegar be aware of how quickly the salad will get discoloured so take care not to leave too long before serving.

The latest recipe is a warming winter one from Morocco for these cold days – there’s quite a lot of preparation but it’s simple to cook and worthwhile:

Chicken Tagine – serves 6

You will need:
2-3 tablespoons of cooking oil
6 jointed chicken legs or 12 thighs/drumsticks
500 g carrots peeled & cut in chunks
500 g waxy potatoes, cleaned, peeled if you want but I prefer not to (charlottes or similar)
200 g sliced onions
400 g ripe tomatoes chopped or 1 large tin tomatoes
250 g sweet potatoes peeled and cut into chunks
1 litre of vegetable or chicken stock
12 chopped dried apricots
3 tbs clear honey
Large bunch of coriander
A few bay leaves
4 large garlic gloves
4 heaped tablespoons of Ras el Hanout
1 red chilli , deseeded and chopped finely
Salt & ground black pepper to taste
2 shallots finely chopped

You will need a large flameproof pan to contain all these ingredients when mixed together.

The first thing you do is make a spicy paste using a mini blender to blitz the chopped shallots, chilli, garlic, a little salt & pepper and the stalks of the coriander – put this paste to one side for later.

Heat the cooking oil in a large pan and brown all the chicken pieces – remove from pan when golden brown and put to one side.

Add the spice paste to the remaining oil in the pan and fry for a few minutes the add the Ras el Hanout powder and fry for a further few minutes.

Take all the chopped vegetables – onions, potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots – plus the tomatoes & apricots and add them to the spices in the pan. Stir to stop them sticking and then add the stock, honey & bay leaves. Stir again a few times & then add the chicken pieces back into the pan.

Simmer the whole thing for an hour or so stirring occasionally, making sure it doesn’t stick.

Serve the tagine with a big bowl of buttered couscous, sprinkling the remaining coriander on top.

Susie’s Cassoulet – a winter treat

Since we moved to France we have hosted a Cassoulet party on New Years Day and I have adapted several recipes over the years to come up with a hearty version that seems to have become a favourite with our friends and family. It’s a perfect antidote to the current cold wintry weather and can be adapted to suit your budget, with the main ingredients being beans, sausages, pork & duck. The quantities I use for about 8 people are listed below. Ideally you will have a large pot that can be used on top of the cooker to begin with and then put in the oven to finish off.

Ingredients:

• Bouquet garnie (celery stalks, parsley, thyme sprigs & bay leaves)
• 2 large chopped onions
• 6 large cloves of garlic (peeled & chopped)
• 500g smoked bacon cut into large cubes (hock joints are ideal – just cut the meat off the bone but leave the bones in for a while to impart flavour)
• 500g belly pork cut into large cubes with skin on
• 8 pieces of confit of duck* cut into two joints with some of the fat that the confit has been preserved in. (we prepare our own confit but the tinned version works perfectly well)
• 8 Toulouse sausages (I often make two small ones out of each sausage or buy the large ones that you can make into any size that suits your appetite)
• 4 chopped/peeled fresh tomatoes or 1 large tin of tomatoes
• 2 tins of haricots blancs (I use prepared Haricots from Castelnaudry which are cooked in goose fat if they are available) or 1 kg of dried Haricots soaked overnight and cooked as per the instructions on the pack.
• 1½ litres of chicken or vegetable stock
• Ground pepper to taste

* if you can’t get hold of duck you could use cooked chicken thighs or legs as an alternative – it would be slightly different but would work.

Method:

Take a large cooking pot and sauté the chopped onion in a little of the duck fat from the confit. When soft and transparent add the garlic, chopped tomatoes, beans and the stock. I tie my bunch of herbs to the side of the pot so that I can retrieve it later but make sure it is fully submerged to infuse the liquid.

Put the cubed smoked bacon (including bones if there are any) and pork into the pot and bring to the boil. Simmer for about 15 minutes, giving it a gentle stir now and then to make sure the beans don’t stick. Remove the bouquet garnie and ham bones if used.

While the sauce is simmering you can brown your sausages in a separate pan using a little of the duck or goose fat. Once coloured put the sausages into the bean & pork mixture with the duck pieces and cover ready to go into the oven.

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees and place the cassoulet in it for an hour or so until bubbling.

Serve with hot crusty bread or baked potatoes and a winter salad.

For a slightly different twist, If you happen to have some day old French bread, you can slice it up and lay the slices on top of the cassoulet for the last half hour or so of the cooking time – leave the lid off and this will soak up any fat from the duck etc and give a golden brown crust.

Incidentally this is a great dish to prepare in advance and store in the freezer if you are catering for a group – just cook it as above and allow to cool before freezing. Then make sure you get it out in good time to defrost and heat through until piping hot.