Inside a Franglish Pantry: Lentils

I’m going to start on a slight tangent but yesterday was Valentine’s Day and we had lentils for dinner. That’s right, lentils. Hardly the romantic food of love, you might think, especially when Facebook was exploding with soppy declarations of luuurve and pictures of flowers and chocolate had taken over the newsfeed. Unfortunately, my day started so badly that I didn’t notice there were flowers on the dining room table. My only excuse is that it was 4.30 am at the time and I was making a desperate dash for the toilet. It’s times like these that only having a downstairs bathroom is a real PITA!

When I was finally ready to face the world around 9 am, I did notice all the lovely things Badgerman had left behind and with my stomach finally settled, the Lindt chocolate with strawberry bits did much to improve my mood. It did however take until the afternoon for me to feel ready to think about the lovely dinner I had planned to cook. Last week, we decided not to go out for Valentine’s Day and had a rummage through our more festive recipes for something suitably yummy to indulge in. To my immense surprise, Badgerman turned down the lamb curry I would have placed bets on being top of his list in favour of a duck with lentils extravaganza.

Now onto the subject of this post: lentils. I originally had a different title for this post, it was going to be ‘Hateful Foods from my childhood: Lentils’. I used to hate lentils. I still sort of don’t like them. Like quinoa, bulgur wheat and whatever other pulse you can think of, it’s all been meh to me from the start. I can never look forward to them. I don’t know what child looks forward to lentils ever, but they’re particularly unforgiving, especially when you’ve been expecting couscous instead. Can you tell I’m slightly bitter about this?

Since becoming an adult and holding all the power when it comes to what goes into my mouth, I have stayed very clear off them until a few years ago. I watched a food programme where chef Valentine Warner demonstrated a Duck with Lentils recipe and managed not only to make it look edible but also incredibly appealing. I thought to myself that it might be time to give my taste buds another go at them – in the name of science of course – so I made the dish and to my immense surprise, it was delicious, and was still delicious when I made it another time, so it was not a fluke. Whilst I am not going to ever reach punching the air ‘yeah lentils!’ levels of excitement, I can now feel good about giving my body an occasional health surge, and that’s nothing to sniff at.

Pink but not quacking

The recipe is officially called Wild duck breasts with Puy lentils, chanterelle mushrooms and bacon and can be found straight off the BBC food website but as I’m nice and all, I’m also going to copy it below and add my own comments. I would rate it as easy and can vouch for the cooking time too, which is a rare thing! For the two of us, I approximately halved the required ingredients, which worked fine.

Less than 30 mins preparation time / 30 mins to 1 hour cooking time / Serves 4

Ingredients

• 175g/6oz Puy lentils (that is, the dark ones, whether or not it specifies ‘Puy’, which indicates the region of France these lentils originate from, just don’t use orange or yellow lentils)
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 10 rashers smoked streaky bacon, rind removed, finely chopped
• 3 shallots, finely chopped (at a push, use a small onion instead, but it won’t be quite as nice)
• 2 carrots, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 2 small celery sticks, finely chopped
• 2 large handfuls fresh chanterelle mushrooms, wiped clean
• sea salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper
• dash red wine vinegar
• extra virgin olive oil
• small handful fresh parsley, chopped

For the duck

• 4 wild duck breasts
• salt
• knob of butter

Preparation method

1. Place the lentils and the bay leaves into a pan and cover with cold water. Bring them to the boil, then drain. Refill the pan with cold water to just above the level of the lentils. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 30 minutes, or until tender. Add more water if the level falls below the lentils.
2. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a frying pan over a medium heat. Add the bacon and fry until just beginning to colour.
3. Add the shallots, carrots, garlic and celery and fry until the vegetables are soft and the shallots are golden-brown.
4. Add the chanterelles and cook for one minute. On the subject of Chanterelle mushrooms, I don’t know about anyone else in England but unless you live somewhere where the farmers’ market is particularly awesome (and I want to know where that is!), you simply won’t find them. It might be a bit easier in France, especially in mushroom season i.e. September/October but even then, I’m not sure. Your alternative options are therefore as follows: dried wild mushrooms, which you leave in a bowl of boiling water for about 30 minutes before using, or good old chestnut mushrooms or any other fresh ones you picked up from the shops – about 6 of them will do.
5. Drain the cooked lentils, then return to the pan they were cooked in. Add the bacon and mushroom mixture and stir to combine. Season, to taste, with sea salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper.
6. Add a dash of red wine vinegar and cook over a low heat for five minutes. I have discovered through bitter experience that the ‘dash’ thing is too vague for me and that too much red wine vinegar will ruin the dish. However don’t use it and you will be seriously missing out. I couldn’t tell you exactly what it is about it but it lifts the flavour to a whole new level. For 2 people, I used one tablespoon and found it juuuuust right; for 4, it’s safe to say two tablespoons should do. 
7. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and stir in the chopped parsley.
8. For the wild duck, using a sharp knife, finely score the skin of duck breasts in parallel lines, then season well with salt. If you are particular about your duck and will notice whether or not it is wild, by all means, get it from your butcher. I bought Gressingham breasts for £8.25 from Tesco and they were very tasty.
9. Melt the butter in a frying pan over a medium heat. Add the duck breasts skin-side down and place a small plate on top so the breasts stay flat and cook evenly. Cook for 5-6 minutes, or until golden-brown, then turn the duck breasts over and cook for a further 1-2 minutes, or until cooked to your liking. Remove from the pan and leave to rest for five minutes. As for beef, how you like it cooked is really up to you. I personally added a couple of minutes to the cooking time. However I would add my twopence and say that if you don’t like pink meat, you probably shouldn’t be eating duck. This is particularly true of duck breasts; they basically lose all deliciousness if they get brown all the way through. Even a tiny bit of pink is better than no pink at all.
10. To serve, spoon equal portions of the lentils onto four plates. Slice each duck breast and arrange over each portion of lentils.

Enjoy!

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Duck Breast with Puy Lentils, Mushrooms and Bacon

I’m going to start on a slight tangent but yesterday was Valentine’s Day and we had lentils for dinner. That’s right, lentils. Hardly the romantic food of love, you might think, especially when Facebook was exploding with soppy declarations of luuurve and pictures of flowers and chocolate had taken over the newsfeed. Unfortunately, my day started so badly that I didn’t notice there were flowers on the dining room table. My only excuse is that it was 4.30 am at the time and I was making a desperate dash for the toilet. It’s times like these that only having a downstairs bathroom is a real PITA!

When I was finally ready to face the world around 9 am, I did notice all the lovely things Badgerman had left behind and with my stomach finally settled, the Lindt chocolate with strawberry bits did much to improve my mood. It did however take until the afternoon for me to feel ready to think about the lovely dinner I had planned to cook. Last week, we decided not to go out for Valentine’s Day and had a rummage through our more festive recipes for something suitably yummy to indulge in. To my immense surprise, Badgerman turned down the lamb curry I would have placed bets on being top of his list in favour of a duck with lentils extravaganza.

Now onto the subject of this post: lentils. I originally had a different title for this post, it was going to be ‘Hateful Foods from my childhood: Lentils’. I used to hate lentils. I still sort of don’t like them. Like quinoa, bulgur wheat and whatever other pulse you can think of, it’s all been meh to me from the start. I can never look forward to them. I don’t know what child looks forward to lentils ever, but they’re particularly unforgiving, especially when you’ve been expecting couscous instead. Can you tell I’m slightly bitter about this?

Since becoming an adult and holding all the power when it comes to what goes into my mouth, I have stayed very clear off them until a few years ago. I watched a food programme where chef Valentine Warner demonstrated a Duck with Lentils recipe and managed not only to make it look edible but also incredibly appealing. I thought to myself that it might be time to give my taste buds another go at them – in the name of science of course – so I made the dish and to my immense surprise, it was delicious, and was still delicious when I made it another time, so it was not a fluke. Whilst I am not going to ever reach punching the air ‘yeah lentils!’ levels of excitement, I can now feel good about giving my body an occasional health surge, and that’s nothing to sniff at.

Pink but not quacking

This duck recipe is officially called Wild duck breasts with Puy lentils, chanterelle mushrooms and bacon and can be found straight off the BBC food website but as I’m nice and all, I’m also going to copy it below and add my own comments. I would rate it as easy and can vouch for the cooking time too, which is a rare thing! For the two of us, I approximately halved the required ingredients, which worked fine.

Duck Recipe: Less than 30 mins preparation time / 30 mins to 1 hour cooking time / Serves 4

Ingredients

• 175g/6oz Puy lentils (that is, the dark ones, whether or not it specifies ‘Puy’, which indicates the region of France these lentils originate from, just don’t use orange or yellow lentils)
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 10 rashers smoked streaky bacon, rind removed, finely chopped
• 3 shallots, finely chopped (at a push, use a small onion instead, but it won’t be quite as nice)
• 2 carrots, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 2 small celery sticks, finely chopped
• 2 large handfuls fresh chanterelle mushrooms, wiped clean
• sea salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper
• dash red wine vinegar
• extra virgin olive oil
• small handful fresh parsley, chopped

For the duck

• 4 wild duck breasts
• salt
• knob of butter

Preparation method

1. Place the lentils and the bay leaves into a pan and cover with cold water. Bring them to the boil, then drain. Refill the pan with cold water to just above the level of the lentils. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 30 minutes, or until tender. Add more water if the level falls below the lentils.
2. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a frying pan over a medium heat. Add the bacon and fry until just beginning to colour.
3. Add the shallots, carrots, garlic and celery and fry until the vegetables are soft and the shallots are golden-brown.
4. Add the chanterelles and cook for one minute. On the subject of Chanterelle mushrooms, I don’t know about anyone else in England but unless you live somewhere where the farmers’ market is particularly awesome (and I want to know where that is!), you simply won’t find them. It might be a bit easier in France, especially in mushroom season i.e. September/October but even then, I’m not sure. Your alternative options are therefore as follows: dried wild mushrooms, which you leave in a bowl of boiling water for about 30 minutes before using, or good old chestnut mushrooms or any other fresh ones you picked up from the shops – about 6 of them will do.
5. Drain the cooked lentils, then return to the pan they were cooked in. Add the bacon and mushroom mixture and stir to combine. Season, to taste, with sea salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper.
6. Add a dash of red wine vinegar and cook over a low heat for five minutes. I have discovered through bitter experience that the ‘dash’ thing is too vague for me and that too much red wine vinegar will ruin the dish. However don’t use it and you will be seriously missing out. I couldn’t tell you exactly what it is about it but it lifts the flavour to a whole new level. For 2 people, I used one tablespoon and found it juuuuust right; for 4, it’s safe to say two tablespoons should do. 
7. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and stir in the chopped parsley.
8. For the wild duck, using a sharp knife, finely score the skin of duck breasts in parallel lines, then season well with salt. If you are particular about your duck and will notice whether or not it is wild, by all means, get it from your butcher. I bought Gressingham breasts for £8.25 from Tesco and they were very tasty.
9. Melt the butter in a frying pan over a medium heat. Add the duck breasts skin-side down and place a small plate on top so the breasts stay flat and cook evenly. Cook for 5-6 minutes, or until golden-brown, then turn the duck breasts over and cook for a further 1-2 minutes, or until cooked to your liking. Remove from the pan and leave to rest for five minutes. As for beef, how you like it cooked is really up to you. I personally added a couple of minutes to the cooking time. However I would add my twopence and say that if you don’t like pink meat, you probably shouldn’t be eating duck. This is particularly true of duck breasts; they basically lose all deliciousness if they get brown all the way through. Even a tiny bit of pink is better than no pink at all.
10. To serve, spoon equal portions of the lentils onto four plates. Slice each duck breast and arrange over each portion of lentils.

Enjoy!

Inside a Franglish Pantry: my love affair with sherry

In the first installment of my new topic Inside a Franglish Pantry, I want to tell you how I fell in love with sherry. That’s right, the Spanish alcoholic beverage also known as xérès. It’s a big fail in the Franglish department, but it is in my pantry and is so wonderful it now features in our dinners on a weekly basis, so there.

The History

Before 2006, I knew nothing about sherry apart from a strange idea in my head that it was one of those old-fashioned drinks favoured by old ladies as an after dinner treat. A bit like port, which I always think is only drunk by the fireside by posh pipe-smoking old men. Turns out I was wrong and if used appropriately, it turns a standard dish into a culinary delight.

It all started when I went to Paris on a romantic weekend away with my long-distance boyfriend of two months. Because we didn’t live anywhere near each other, we only saw each other at the weekend and it didn’t really feel like a relationship. To try to get a better sense of each other (I was going to say to get a better feel, but it sounded a bit wrong), we decided to go to Paris for a couple of days. One of the first ‘defining’ moments of our budding relationship was a wonderful Parisian lunch of steak and fries we had in a café near the Ile de la Cité. Whilst it was simple and tasty in and of itself, the highlight was the blue cheese sauce it was served with, which is the best I have ever tasted and one we still talk about to this day (yes, we are a bit obsessed by food, and as you can guess the trip was a great success and didn’t scare us off each other, since we’re still together now!).

I’ve since tried to recreate the blue cheese sauce on a number of occasions with varying degrees of success and the first recipe I followed required sherry. The rest is history.

What I do with it

I don’t make the cheese sauce often at all as it is much too rich for day-to-day cooking but I have found another use for the sherry. It is absolutely fantastic with fried onions, enhancing their natural flavour without overpowering them and filling the kitchen with the most tantalising smell, as if fried onions needed any help in the aroma department. All you need to do is start frying your chopped onions on a low heat. Once they are slightly translucent and starting to soften, sprinkle a bit of sugar, add a pinch of salt and a generous splash of sherry, mix well and continue to cook until the onions turn a bit sticky. I tend to use the final product with steak or incorporated in mash potato. It’s simple and delicious.

In terms of what type of sherry to buy, I must confess I haven’t gone very far in my investigations. I tend to buy the medium dry Amontillado as per the blue cheese recipe and I haven’t actually tasted any other kind so I can’t tell you anything else about it!

One thing vaguely negative sherry has done to my life is make fried onions seem a bit boring without it but on the whole it’s a situation I found I could live with.

Now, I am going to share a simple recipe for Potato Salad with you; too simple maybe but I have made this a couple of times and have had surprising reactions to it. You would think I had added a magical ingredient for the rave reviews I got for it.

Sherry – it’s not just for old ladies

Potato Salad with a Twist

To make this salad you will need:

• New potatoes (or any other non-floury potato i.e. NOT Maris Piper!);
• a few shallots, chopped;
• Fresh or dry parsley;
• Mayonnaise
• Salt and pepper
• A knob of butter
• SHERRY!!!!!

Boil the potatoes (leaving the skin on). Once cooked, leave to cool down.

Whilst the potatoes are cooking, heat vegetable oil with a knob of butter and fry the shallots on a fairly low heat until they start to soften but aren’t yet brown. Add a pinch of sugar and a pinch of salt and continue to cook for a couple of minutes. Add a splash of sherry (as much as you want depending on how pissed you want your guests to be I guess, but I’d recommend not so much that the shallots are swimming in it), mix well and cook until it has reduced and the shallots are a bit sticky. Put aside to cool.

Once the potatoes have cooled, cut them into chunks and mix them with the shallots in a large bowl. Add a handful of freshly chopped parsley and a generous amount of mayonnaise to taste and mix well until the potatoes are well coated.

Keep the bowl in the fridge for an hour before serving.

Bon appétit!

Potato Salad with sherry shallots

In the first installment of my new topic Inside a Franglish Pantry, I want to tell you how I fell in love with sherry. That’s right, the Spanish alcoholic beverage also known as xérès. It’s a big fail in the Franglish department, but it is in my pantry and is so wonderful it now features in our dinners on a weekly basis. I have a potato salad recipe to show for it below.

The History

Before 2006, I knew nothing about sherry apart from a strange idea in my head that it was one of those old-fashioned drinks favoured by old ladies as an after dinner treat. A bit like port, which I always think is only drunk by the fireside by posh pipe-smoking old men. Turns out I was wrong and if used appropriately, it turns a standard dish into a culinary delight.

It all started when I went to Paris on a romantic weekend away with my long-distance boyfriend of two months. Because we didn’t live anywhere near each other, we only saw each other at the weekend and it didn’t really feel like a relationship. To try to get a better sense of each other (I was going to say to get a better feel, but it sounded a bit wrong), we decided to go to Paris for a couple of days. One of the first ‘defining’ moments of our budding relationship was a wonderful Parisian lunch of steak and fries we had in a café near the Ile de la Cité. Whilst it was simple and tasty in and of itself, the highlight was the blue cheese sauce it was served with, which is the best I have ever tasted and one we still talk about to this day (yes, we are a bit obsessed by food, and as you can guess the trip was a great success and didn’t scare us off each other, since we’re still together now!).

I’ve since tried to recreate the blue cheese sauce on a number of occasions with varying degrees of success and the first recipe I followed required sherry. The rest is history.

What I do with it

I don’t make the cheese sauce often at all as it is much too rich for day-to-day cooking but I have found another use for the sherry. It is absolutely fantastic with fried onions, enhancing their natural flavour without overpowering them and filling the kitchen with the most tantalising smell, as if fried onions needed any help in the aroma department. All you need to do is start frying your chopped onions on a low heat. Once they are slightly translucent and starting to soften, sprinkle a bit of sugar, add a pinch of salt and a generous splash of sherry, mix well and continue to cook until the onions turn a bit sticky. I tend to use the final product with steak or incorporated in mash potato. It’s simple and delicious.

In terms of what type of sherry to buy, I must confess I haven’t gone very far in my investigations. I tend to buy the medium dry Amontillado as per the blue cheese recipe and I haven’t actually tasted any other kind so I can’t tell you anything else about it!

One thing vaguely negative sherry has done to my life is make fried onions seem a bit boring without it but on the whole it’s a situation I found I could live with.

Now, I am going to share a simple Potato Salad recipe with you; too simple maybe but I have made this a couple of times and have had surprising reactions to it. You would think I had added a magical ingredient for the rave reviews I got for it.

Sherry – it’s not just for old ladies

Potato Salad Recipe with a Twist

To make this salad you will need:

• New potatoes (or any other non-floury potato i.e. NOT Maris Piper!);
• a few shallots, chopped;
• Fresh or dry parsley;
• Mayonnaise
• Salt and pepper
• A knob of butter
• SHERRY!!!!!

Boil the potatoes (leaving the skin on). Once cooked, leave to cool down.

Whilst the potatoes are cooking, heat vegetable oil with a knob of butter and fry the shallots on a fairly low heat until they start to soften but aren’t yet brown. Add a pinch of sugar and a pinch of salt and continue to cook for a couple of minutes. Add a splash of sherry (as much as you want depending on how pissed you want your guests to be I guess, but I’d recommend not so much that the shallots are swimming in it), mix well and cook until it has reduced and the shallots are a bit sticky. Put aside to cool.

Once the potatoes have cooled, cut them into chunks and mix them with the shallots in a large bowl. Add a handful of freshly chopped parsley and a generous amount of mayonnaise to taste and mix well until the potatoes are well coated.

Keep the bowl in the fridge for an hour before serving.

Bon appétit!

How my roar turned into a whimper

A quick post from me today; it is half-term and having my teacher husband home has disrupted my life in a good way but it means I haven’t had much time to sit down and write – well, that is what I tell myself anyway. I could more truthfully perhaps blame my Kindle: I have been reading the Song of Ice and Fire series by George R. R. Martin and I am completely addicted. Still, in between this and that of not doing very much at all, my inner feminist has managed to suffer a severe blow to her self-belief as a good old ‘I too can kill the beast’ woman.

I am quite the unapologetic carnivore; having grown up in France, I have been used to eating such things as rabbits without ever feeling any of the ‘poor little bunnies’ stigma that seems to affect most British people I have come across. I honestly believe that if it came to it and that I had to hunt and kill my own food to survive, I would do it and I would be OK with it. But what is all well and good in theory is, well, just theoretical after all, as I now know.

It all came to a head yesterday when I went to the kitchen to cook the fish I’d bought at the supermarket. We quite often buy whole fish in our house, particularly rainbow trout as it comes much cheaper than salmon fillets and tastes great. It’s an easy dish; bang the whole thing in the oven on a bed of tomatoes and capers with a bit of white wine and lemon and you have yourself a tasty lunch in 20 minutes. Yesterday I went to prepare lunch and realised to my horror that the fish was not gutted. It felt Very Wrong in my hands. Usually, I don’t even have to ask, the fishmonger either asks if you want it done or the fish is already prepared. We have bought a lot of fish over the years and it is the first time it wasn’t gutted. But I braced myself and thought ‘that’s OK, I can do this, it’s only guts and gore’. So I tried, oh my goodness people, I really tried. But I’d never gutted a fish before and my knife was not very sharp. The whole thing was disgusting, very fishy and gooey and I made only a small cut and all this stuff came out and oh my god I am not cut out for this and I think I feel a bit ill and HUSBAAAAND! I don’t think I can do this! Waaaaaiilll!

So there. I failed. I didn’t gut the fish. Badgerman tried and later told me I shouldn’t come to the kitchen as it was ‘not a pretty sight’ and we should probably eat something else for lunch. It’s not like I even had to kill the fish; the job was already half done! I felt a bit sorry for myself after that, strangely sad and ashamed that I let myself down by being afraid of a bit of smelly sea life.

And still somehow at the back of my mind I think that if my survival depended on it, I would kill the beast. I would, through gritted teeth, gut the fish. But maybe first, I should sharpen my knife and take a few practical lessons with Bear Grills.

The Beast that bested me (Image via Wikipedia)