Change of plans

I was going to make a post about the frankly epic tortilla I made for lunch yesterday but then, halfway through my last lecture of the day, as I was planning the post instead of paying attention, I got a text from my friend saying that she was currently in A&E with another friend who was waiting to be taken in for a scan. Much as I wanted to rush straight there and help, I knew that there was little I could do because they were both waiting for news from the doctor, so I (guiltily) continued my plans for the rest of the afternoon - finished the lecture, went to a café to work for an hour or so and then called into the supermarket to pick up some neccessities.

Once I got back, I found out that they were in the hospital just opposite my halls so no sooner had I got in and unpacked my stuff than I was out the door again to see how he was doing. The answer? Very, very hungry. Once he was released, the three of us headed back into town to get a nice meal - a reward for the two of them for hanging about in a hospital for the best part of seven hours.

After much deliberating and wandering about the Old Town, we ended up back at the first restaurant we'd looked at, and one we'd been to back in October when a friend came to visit.

Called the "Tire-Bouchon" (that's "corkscrew" for my non-Francophone readers), they do a couple of really fantastic value "formules". Ellen and I went for their "Formule brasserie" which gives you a starter, main and a pudding for €18.90. You don't have much to choose from, but what is on offer is fabulous. Last time, I was brave and had "saumon tartare" as my starter, followed by the classic confit du canard. This time, I opted for their selection of cold meats (pâté, salami and prosciutto ham); followed by cassoulet and then a crême brûlée. Some things never change.

The starter was faultless, it's hard to really mess up three types of meat arranged artfully on a slate after all; but the main was incredible. Really rich and filling with beautiful duck that just fell off the bone. If I'd had room, I definitely would have mopped up the sauce with the bread that was freely coming to us - but I was getting full and needed to have space for my pudding!

It perhaps wasn't the situation I'd imagined when I thought about going out for a meal with friends (you can't plan for everything, after all), but the reasons behind the meal didn't stop it from being a very enjoyable evening with good food, cheap wine and hilarious (if somewhat inappropriate) conversation.

Home comforts

I think everyone who's spent any time away from home has something that, if they make it, reminds them of home. For me, that's mashed potato.

I know, I know. Of all the fantastic food Britain has to offer (roast dinners! fish and chips! marmite!), and I pick the humble spud. Well you see, the reason lies in the fact that my dad makes, to my mind, the best mashed potato. Ever. It's creamy, it's buttery, it's smooth without being that odd, whipped texture of the mash we used to get in the States - frankly, it's perfect. With spring onion stirred through it to make champ, or used to mop up sauce - I love, love, love mashed potatoes.

Obviously, there's only so much "mashing" you can do when all you have is a knife and fork, but I refused to go the pretentious route and just call it "crushed new potatoes" and be done with it. It was mash or nothing. So that's what I had. I'd apologise for there not being a picture, but there's a limit to how attractive you can make a plate full of mash, sausages and tomato sauce look. That and I ate pretty much all of it before I even entertained the notion of taking a photo of it. If you really wanted, you could have a picture of my smug face after having eaten it because I am feeling very very smug. As I wrote on a friend's facebook:
"Just had mashed potato as part of my dinner. There are no words to express how happy I am right now."

An old favourite

I think one of my favourite spices would have to be cinnamon. It's an incredibly versatile flavour that lends itself as well to savoury dishes as it does to sweet dishes. There is something very indulgent-feeling about it, and for me it brings back wonderful memories of Cinnabon from when I lived in the States. It's also very yummy added to hot chocolate on a cold winter night!

I've been having a very cinnamon-y few days recently thanks to my lovely little cake pops - which did make sobbing whilst watching Sherlock more bearable, even if I was afraid to look away from the screen just for the second it would take to grab one off the plate by my hand!

But the actual reason why I bought myself some cinnamon (canelle in French, in case you're ever in France and in need of cinnamon) was to make an old favourite of mine - cinnamon chicken.

I think the first time I had it was when I was probably only 8 or 9, and I can still remember thinking then, wow. Now, given that I'm turning 21 in a month and a half and it still rates pretty highly on my favourite meals list, I'd say that it's a fairly successful recipe!

Making it is simplicity itself, and it's just as easy to make for 4 people as it is for one - I work on the basis of one red onion and one chicken breast per person, and then as much cinnamon as you like. The recipe says that you need 1.5 tsp of cinnamon to do enough for 4, but I like my cinnamon so I don't worry too much about being particularly scientific about it. The soft brown sugar you add at the end is the same principle - again, they estimate 1 heaped tablespoon for four people, so if I'm only making enough for myself, I just pour in "some" and leave it at that. Because I'm feeling particularly generous, I'll even give you the recipe so you can make this delicious meal for yourself.

To serve 4
1. Peel and slice 4 red onions into thick rings and put into a saucepan or casserole dish with 4 chicken breasts (boneless chicken thighs work just as well too) and 75g of butter.
2. Add 1.5 tsp of cinnamon and 150ml of water to the pan, then season.
3. Heat gently until the butter has melted, then bring to the boil, cover the pan and simmer for 5 minutes.
4. Add 1 rounded tbsp of soft brown sugar, and keep on a low heat until the chicken is cooked, checking often that the sugar hasn't caught.
5. Once the chicken has cooked, if the sauce looks a bit watery, remove the chicken and boil the sauce until it becomes thick and syrupy.

I have only ever had this with couscous and I think it complements the meal perfectly. Give it a go - and let me know how it turns out!

Good things come to those who wait...

... Or so goes the adage. Well, let me say, that is totally and utterly true. You may remember my stumbling upon a recipe for a chorizo and bean soup over on the BBC Food website and mentally filing it away to make this week. I made it tonight and my goodness was it good. The recipe calls it a soup but mine turned out as more of a stew - a 'stoup', if you like - which I think was from using a tin of chopped tomatoes rather than cutting fresh tomatoes into quarters and putting that in. It's the longest I've waited for a meal to cook since I got here but it was well worth the wait. It was also a good way of finding out that the hobs in my kitchen switch off after being on for an hour - luckily this particular discovery was made just as I was coming in to collect it after leaving it to simmer for 45 minutes.

The joy of this recipe is that once everything is cooked through, which doesn't really take that long, it's up to you how much longer you leave it before digging in. I used normal, rather than cooking, chorizo which means you don't have to wait for it to cook through. Plus, I tend to find that this kind of chorizo tends to have a more intense flavour than the uncooked ones, which means that the spicy paprika from the sausage really flavours the rest of the 'stoup'.

This was definitely the perfect meal for a day like today when you want something that'll keep you full for a while. I had it at dinner with a slice of bread and butter because I didn't surface early enough to have a 'proper' breakfast; but it could easily be had as a late-ish lunch so you'd just need a bit of bread and cheese for your dinner. Even better, I've got some batter left from the cinnamon cake pops I made earlier in the week so I think I'll be making some of those for eating as I sob into my jumper during the "Sherlock" finale. It's funny how on days when I can't summon up the energy just to make a sandwich I can still find the motivation to make teeny tiny little cakes, dipped in a mixture of cinnamon and sugar while still piping hot. Scrumptious.

New Year's resolutions

I’m not usually one for New Years’ resolutions, but this year I’ve broken the habit and have made a promise to myself to start eating properly. And by properly, I mean making a real effort to have one filling yet healthy meal a day. To be honest, I don’t really have much excuse not to. I enjoy cooking, I can cook, and I’m well past that childish attitude of “ugh, vegetables”. It’s incredible how easy it is to eat healthily and inexpensively.

This bright Saturday morning, as I had no real plans until the evening,  I was enjoying a good lie-in, watching cooking programmes on the iPlayer and drinking a cup of real coffee – none of the instant stuff that I rely on to get myself moving in the morning. In “Nigel Slater’s Simple Suppers”, he made a sausage and bean soup. It really couldn’t have been simpler. Onion, garlic, celery, carrot, tomato, cannellini beans, chorizo sausage and some herbs (if you’re feeling fancy). None of that needs to be particularly expensive, but it’s a full, flavoursome meal that is actually quite good for you. Plus, it’s just as easy to make enough for four meals as it is to make enough for one, so it’s easily frozen and then just needs to be warmed the next time you fancy some and bingo – instant meal.

However, I had a meal plan and I fully intended to use it, so this recipe was set aside for next week as today was down for “cassoulesque” – which seems appropriate as cassoulet is a mainstay of the cuisine down here in the Languedoc. My student budget-friendly version is one of those dinners that feels so much more luxurious than it actually is. I cut two sausages into rounds and threw that into a saucepan with a diced chicken breast, some bacon lardons, about half a red pepper and a bit of butter. I cooked that for about 5 minutes, then added some (store bought, the horror!) tomato sauce and left that to simmer for another 5 minutes. Then, I added around about half a tin of drained and rinsed cannellini beans (saving the rest for a meal I’ve got planned later) and left that to simmer for around about five minutes with a lid covering it. I came back in and turned the heat up, gave it a final two minutes then took it back to my room, lid still on so that it could continue cooking a bit and keep warm. Finally I added a teaspoon of Boursin, gave it one last stir for luck, plated up half and put the other half into a container and into the freezer to prevent myself from snacking on it. I’m sure there’s a healthier way of thickening an overly-runny tomato sauce but I’m not particularly fussed about finding it!

Simple, filling and tasty – plus I now have a bonus meal for a day when I can’t be bothered to cook something from scratch. Perfect!

This holiday, I have been mostly baking...

 

After a wonderful few weeks at home, I'm back in France, full of home comforts and having satisfied my baking cravings - for now anyway!

To say I made the most of our oven would be a massive understatement. Dozens of cupcakes, Jamie Oliver’s tried, tested and utterly failsafe chicken and leek pie, my traditional Christmas sticky toffee pudding, macaroons, cake pops (more on those later!) and apple pie with homemade pastry (my first attempt at pastry in many many years) – I think it’s safe to say that I certainly took advantage of having an oven for the two weeks I was home. Even if it did break twenty minutes after we’d finished Christmas dinner. Uh oh.

Now, onto these cake pops. They're being tipped as "the new cupcake" when it comes to trends in the baking world. Well, no disrespect to cake pops, but personally I don't think they'll steal the place I have in my heart for cupcakes, but they are certainly satisfying in a way that cupcakes aren't. Provided you have the ingredients necessary - even better if you already have the batter made - little cakes can be yours in four minutes, thanks this wonderful little gadget, which my parents kindly bought for me this Christmas. 

source

I can highly recommend a plain vanilla sponge, dipped in white chocolate and then dessicated coconut. I currently have about 13 cakes' worth of chocolate chip sponge batter - Ellen and I made some to take to snack on during the film we went to see earlier this evening, Les Intouchables, which, if you get a chance to watch, you really must watch. It's fantastic.

While it may not be a proper oven, and I won't be able to make cupcakes or pies or macaroons in it, it'll certainly tide me over until the next time I'm home!