from Oxtail a la Colombiana to Boeuf Ficelle

Actually this can take a couple of posts and three days..
I'm having Hubert and Sylvie for lunch and we are in the southwest of France , where food is talked about all day , all night , all year...you get the picture...So I always try to cook something special and  I've ordered a super de luxe beef fillet to do a "boeuf ficelle" which is basically poached beef in broth...But HA not any broth...a super de luxe home made broth hence the oxtail!
Which I will use for the broth and then cook a la colombiana..
It sounds like a bad TV series but I promise it will be worth the read..

DAY ONE

Ingredients for the broth

perfect oxtail

1. A nice oxtail cut and tied
2. Two or three bones (ask your butcher they come for free)
3. Two carrots peeled and halved
4. One fat leek cut in half
5. two stems of celery cut in three pieces
6. Three small whole turnips or a big one cut in four pieces
7. Two whole unpeeled onions grilled in the oven for about 20 minutes
8. Four cloves ,a stem of rosemary, a laurel leaf , a sage leaf , a tea spoon of hot chile , coarse salt

free bones  from the butcher

vegetables

grilled onions to color  the broth

Plonk the meat and the bones in a big pot and add COLD water.

Then bring to a boil while skimming like mad the revolting foam,this is the key to a perfect broth!
When the skimming is done and the liquid boils happily throw in all the rest of the ingredients , put the lid on ,keep the pot on a low fire and forget about it for the next four hours.
then once cooled put it in the fridge overnight.As it's  cold outside it stands on the window sill.

DAY TWO

The next morning you declare war on grease...Most of it has risen to the surface and is easy to discard but still the broth has to be strained through a sieve and cloth.

discard the vegetables,the carrots are perfect for the dog , keep the ox tail aside degrease and shred it.

for the master

for the king

ingredients for the oxtail a la colombiana

1. shredded ox tail
2. One onion
3. A cup of concentrated tomato paste
4. Half a glass of white wine
5. A tea spoon of sugar
6. A dash of hot chile
7. Some broth
8. coriander or parsley to give a nice touch of green

Brown the onion in olive oil  , a splash of white wine , then mix in  tomato paste, sugar and chile.
Add the meat, cover and cook on low fire for about an hour adding some broth if needed.
Serve with a sprinkle of herbs. My neighbor Michelle made some "escoton" which is the french south west cousin of  italian polenta but you can opt for polenta or rice or mashed potatoes...
Anything gooey that absorbs the sauce!

Enjoy!

 DAY THREE

Now today lets get down to serious business!
Boeuf ficelle served with boiled vegetables and a salmoriglio sauce.I could have done the typical green sauce , or a tomato sauce or horseradish...But I decided to live dangerously and try a new recipe!!!

ingredients

1. A nice piece of beef filet tied up 
2. A bunch of carrots
3. A bunch of turnips
4. Half a kilo of small potatoes
5. A bunch of parsley and a few leaves of fresh oregano
6. A garlic clove
7. The juice of two lemons
8. A glass of olive oil
9. Coarse salt on the table

Actually as far as the vegetables are concerned you can use whatever you fancy...
leeks , onion , cabbage , celery ...ect
The leftover vegetables will make a nice soup so figure out yourself the quantities...The broth can be used for a wonderful risotto...
Boil the vegetables in the broth for about half an hour.
Prepare a sturdy wooden spoon to hang your meat , the broth must be boiling and the meat should be poached without touching bottom or sides of the pot.
If you like your meat red , it takes about 25 minutes for three pounds.

salmoriglio sauce

whisk a glass of olive oil  adding slowly a glass of tepid water , then the lemon juice , when the mix looks quite thick add the chopped parsley,garlic and oregano.then heat the sauce on a slow fire always whisking for about five minutes , it's ready ! and it was a great success , a very light sauce to remember , it should also go well with grilled fish , or any adventurous barbecue.

the vegetables cook slowly in the broth

the meat is tied up and ready to swim

About 25 minutes hanging there

A dash of parsley for the color

Perfect meat,perfect taste

 Serve with the salmoriglio sauce on the side , coarse salt and mustard.
It was worth it !!!!!

Easy Tuscan Tuna and Beans Lunch

We are in the south west in France , best place for duck and foie gras...And trying to copy my girls  I am on the master cleanse diet...
But the husband has to be fed...nice and easy....
no food aromas to distract me and a dish he loves..

ingredients

1. A tin or a jar of cooked large beans ( best from Spain or Italy)
2. A tin or a jar of chunks of best quality tuna
3. One onion
4.  A bunch of parsley
5. Hot cayenne pepper
6. Super olive oil
7. A mild white vinegar on the table
8. Some salad leaves

Olive oil Le Domaine de Lulu de Waldner

First heat the beans . Do NOT cook them! Once they are hot drain them and rince them with warm
water , this will wash of any taste of the can...
then you can drain as well the can of tuna to get rid of the second rate oil..

Once it's done mix gently the tepid beans , the tuna , the sliced onion , first rate olive oil* ,
some cayenne pepper , drizzle with parsley and serve with salad and white vinegar on the side!
This salad works all year round..Fantastic with brilliant products and I guess awful with the wrong ingredients....

*Olive oil
I get it from my friends Diane and Oliver in Provence...It' the best!!!
Domaine de Lulu de Waldner
Las Créma 84330
Le Barroux
Vaucluse
Récoltées à la main, première pression à froid

Irresistible Goodies in Italian Bars

My husband is convinced we would weigh half a ton
between us if we moved to Rome...
Life would become just masses of temptations.
Are'nt those the best looking sandwiches ever?
Who needs to go for lunch in a restaurant....

Inspirations for divine picnics!

Fake Easy Peasy Healthy Risotto with Sage

As I was walking the dog I noticed I still had sage in the garden,
not springy bright but adequate for cooking and smelling nice.
So having no idea about dinner I decided to please my husband
with this tasty invention of mine he loves..I call it fake risotto
 because there is no onion , wine or stirring....

ingredients following :

brown rice it takes longer to cook, follow instructions on packet.

sachets of broth ..usually I always have homemade broth in the

freezer but being between 2 houses I cant be bothered and this brand

by a french chef is just tops...

fresh sage

butter

cream

parmesan cheese

cook the rice with water and broth.
cut the sage with scissors , fry it in butter and add the cream
if you are being good use light cream...
mix all together with a dash of pepper...
top with grated parmesan  cheese.

and if you want to be decadent drizzle with white truffle oil..it's exquisite...

getting along with country lunch

a few days before xmas ..lets play it simple!
but still it has to be gooey...
so this is the result of a top  sicilian
sausage which was lurking in the freezer..
an old recipe that I have wanted to try for the past
twenty years and grapes in the market..
I will show you the result but go to my children's
blog: its-my-treat for the recipe..
try it it's a winner and no hassle....

top quality sausages olive oil and fresh grapes!

aglio olio with a twist

I just came back from Argentina jet lagged and cooked this delicious pasta which can revive
anybody , there is a trick to it that I learned from my daughter clo..

1. one or two sliced garlic pods
2. a bunch of parsley
3. a tea spoon of dry chile or a whole fresh one
4. top quality olive oil
5. spaghetti or any long pasta
6. two egg yolks
7. two table spoons of tomato concentrate

fry first the garlic and chile in olive oil , then add the parsley and when it gets crispy wet with
a ladle of the water in witch the pasta is cooking . And then mix with your pasta al dente...
Ah but there is a twist which will change and improve the dish...
mix two egg yolks with two spoons of concentrated tomato paste,add some pasta water mix all together...this is a GREAT pasta..no need for parmesan if you are a purist..my husband is not!!!!

eggs and tomato paste

ready to serve!

For this recipe I did not use spaghetti but linguine actually it's up to you..be always ready to improvise...

orechiette with cima di rape

In Switzerland we are very lucky with the local markets , they sell

a lot of italian products...now is the season of "cima di rape" , it's

a sort of tamed wild broccoli..you can do this recipe with broccoli

but the cima di rape is more savory...

this is a recipe from puglia where I can only wish to go back..It is a 

marvelous area in southern Italy with brilliant food....

fresh from the market

this is a must!

Chop the cima di rape
leaves and stems , bring water and salt to the boil
throw in the cima di rape , when the water starts
boiling again add a table spoon of bicarbonate
this will keep the beautiful green color of
the vegetables when cooked but crunchy , drain them
 and keep the green broth to cook the pasta.

INGREDIENTS
serves two

1. a bouquet of cima di rape
2. one garlic clove peeled and sliced
3. chile flakes
4. three anchovies in oil
5. olive oil
6. half a pack of orecchiette
7. sodium bicarbonate
8. parmesan
9. coarse salt

when it's cool squeeze the extra water out

keep the water after you cooked the cima di rape it makes a wonderful gren broth for the orechiette...

Fry the garlic , the anchovies , some chile flakes

 in olive oil .

when the garlic takes a nice golden color and the

anchovies have melted add the broccoli and

cook a few minutes .

 put half of the amount of cima di

rape in a bowl and mash it , then add it

to the remaining casserole.

Cook the orecchiette as instructed  in the green broth.

drain them and add them to the sauce.

simmer a few minutes with parmesan cheese..

It's ready!

leg of lamb with anchovies

In the old days instead of salt anchovies were used , it was something I always wanted to try..

so this morning ,saturday being awful , speedy the dog refused to go out even with his brand new raincoat bought in NY..after all he is a very old dog with old bones and should be pampered but helas no success...

it was so horrible , that , as I had in the fridge a beautiful leg of lamb from the "pays basque" bought in the best butcher of geneva ( boucherie du molard the cartier of meats) I decided to indulge , got on the net to find out about anchovies and lamb and made my own invention , actually the recipe is for four , but between my husband and myself the dog just got a few scrapes.

zesting , slicing ,preparing and cooking

1.  INGREDIENTS

1. a smallish leg of lamb
2. rosemary
3.  two garlic heads
4. three anchovies in oil
5. half a lemon zest
6. olive oil
7. fresh grounded pepper 

with a sharp knife slice five holes in the meat

slip into each hole

 two spikes of rosemary,a slice of garlic and a small piece of anchovy

preheat the oven to 200° .

set the meat in an oven proof dish with a dash of olive oil,a few twists of pepper mill,

scatter on top the lemon zest,

surround it with whole garlic cloves and extra rosemary .

bake as long as you wish , we like our lamb very cooked (one hour and a half) ,

some prefer it pink....

add a glass of hot water scrape the dish with a wooden spoon and tuck in.

We served this with borlotti beans and the pureed garlic cloves.

apples galore

TATIN WITHOUT PASTRY

ingredients

coring and peeling

first layer and nutmeg grinder

ready to jump in the oven

even speedy is fed up with apples...

"an apple a day keeps the doctor away"

Of course it's september and we have too many apples..not enough to make our own cider , too much for the house and as we live in switzerland all our friends have the same problem....so what about an apple pie  with masses of apples !?

I had a marvelous apple pie in a lovely restaurant near Angers , chez Michel Trama in Puymirol he is a wonderful chef ...we try and go at least once a year when we drive through France on the small roads in the summer.

he said his recipe dates from the middle ages , I found a recipe in the same spirit in a divine cookbook , by Nathalie Hambro : visual delights . Here is my own version.

the wonderful news about this recipe . no flour , just a dash of butter and sugar...
LIGHT!!!!! and YUMMY!!!!!the tarte tatin that keeps you SLIM!!!!!

ingredients

2 kilos of apples

80grs of grapes
80grs of cranberries

a tablespoon of caster sugar
a tablespoon of butter

grated nutmeg

preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C
line a cake tin (26cm) with greaseproof paper 
peel and core the apples , cut them in thin slices .
the slices are layered in the tin , every other layer
scatter  a tiny bit of sugar , some mixed grapes and cranberries,grated nutmeg and a dash of butter .

bake the tart for three hours and halfway through 
cover loosely with foil.
let it cool in the oven for about an hour , invert
 it on a dish  and serve at room temperature with
 low fat yoghurt or double cream!!!!




NB
I love nutmeg if you hate it you can replace it with powdered cinnamon or vanilla.
It will take you between 30 to 45mns to prepare...depending on how fast you are at coring peeling and slicing the apples...
I am not particular about the type of apples as long as they are not acid. 

tuck in!