International bio apple chutney

First production Apple Chutney this year! It's totally bio, apples and herbs from the garden.
The chutney should be called International Apple Chutney! The ingredients come from various cultures. The nutmeg and cloves are a heritage from a visit to Banda Neira many many years ago! Ketjap Manis and Sambal is from my life in Jakarta. The Apples, the fresh rosemary and cider vinegar is from Normandy.
To be able to supply all the fans, next production this weekend.
This combination can only be tasted in 4 weeks time. It needs to settle first!

Home made apple chutney and walnut pesto

The tree in front of the house gives so many apples, that apart from feeding them to my horses. It calls for serious production of apple chutney. This year I will combine apples with romarin, it will be totally bio.
This impressive walnut tree is my view from the bathroom. Eagerly waiting for the harvest and to make parsley-walnut pesto.

Wild Garlic - Ail du ruisseau

A new discovery, at least for me. Wild garlic or Ail du ruisseau, very difficult to grow, while here in Normandy you find bushes of it. Very good to use in salads, risotto, soup basically anything. It has a very nice perfume. The taste has nothing to do with ordinary garlic. Really very nice indeed, plus beautiful flower.

How to create a large variation of cold soups

Suffering from hot winds for days not to say weeks on end, cold soups become essential parts of the daily menu.

The question is how to create a large variation apart from the well known gaspacho.

After some experiments, I came to the conclusion that all vegetables can be used to create cold soups. As long as, one ads lemon, fresh mint and vinegar. 

If possible it becomes even better if one manages to create a nice colour at the same time!

Chutney time with some new inventions!

Just finished the annual chutney production. This year I used apricots for one batch, with lemon and raspberry vinegar and mint. Turned out very nice! 

The second one was with just tomatoes but really nice Italian tomatoes. As I came across a sambal based on tomatoes, I decided to use it as the main spice and turned in something delicious, but not certain chutney is the right word. It became a very nice tomato relish instead! Luckily I made lots as this one will go very fast.

Peche de vigne chutney, Making chutney with bought goods, is unacceptable!

This weeks in between all sorts of activities, I made Peche de vigne chutney. Processing kilo's and kilo's into chutney, finished with 30 mainly large pots!
After some attempts to revive my vegetable garden I abandoned, this spring due to workload and lots of rain. Now the summer is nearing its end there is a big surprise as we have masses of peaches, juicy and full of taste! Very nice as I missed not having my own vegetables etc. this year.
Making chutney with bought goods, is unacceptable and I was not expecting this at all. The peaches are white ones which have a very delicate perfume. No need to add anything else just some spices to make it hot and spicy. Their perfume will remind us of summer while sitting in front of big fire to stay warm!
Over the years, I have developed a fan club for my chutney's and the pots in various sizes leave very rapidly.

All those wonderful fresh vegetable, a real feast!

After some hectic weeks passing a lot of time on the road it was good to touch base and get some rest! 

The best news is that shopping for food becomes fun again! The selection is huge and so fresh. Spring has really arrived. 

Winter chutney and colours!

Winter chutney, made with apples, fresh ginger, rosemary and yellow turnip. The last one is rather unknown and seen as food for the poor! However, it has a wonderful taste and is a real winter vegetable, something I can recommend!
The color turned out rich like amber goes well with amber and the DEDEM yellow.
The taste is delicious! Spicy and full of different flavors, instead of sugar I used honey.

Then there were tomatoes! Tasty tomato soup

After having great difficulties to have any tomatoes at all, the sun and heat in August solved this problem. Now there are plenty and what to do??? Tomato soup is delicious provided it really taste of tomatoes and it's not watery and lacking taste. The best way to create a soup which is full of taste (without adding anything artificial!) is by roasting the tomatoes in the oven first. This way they become very tasty, the onion and garlic as well a 2 carrots get the same treatment. Once roasted everything goes in a pan together with the juices add some water a little more boiling, pass it through the mixer and it's done!
Made also some tomato chutney with basil so far tastes very good.

This is the way to eat oysters!

As a very big oyster lover this is a magic place to have large quantities of oysters! Cap Ferret This the way to eat oysters, fresher than fresher with a magic view! Cap Ferret

More Chutney!!!

After sampling the first Chutney with my local French friends, where they finished by eating spoon-fulls directily from the pots. I decided I could produce more. This time I also use my secret Indonesian weapon which is Sambal and Ketjap Manis. 2 ingredients which I use on a daily basis. In 6 weeks time we will know if this batch turned out as well as the 1st one. 

Too many courgette or zucchini? Chutney saves it all!

With the never ending rain and short spells of sun everything grows very fast. Suddenly I had courgettes who were getting way too big and too many. I decided to run one of my experiments, which is producing chutney. Once you have the right balance between vinegar, sugar and onions you are free to do anything and combine whatever seems to be good idea. 

anything. For this production I put lots of fresh mint, lemon juice together with red peppers, cloves, nutmeg,  etc. It tasted rather good, when I put it in the pots, but I need to wait 6 weeks before I can taste, during the 6 weeks the chutney settles and the flavor really comes together. The secret to have a chutney which lasts is to cook it rather long till it reduces, it's like making jam.
In France Chutney is not really known, but my french friends have take to my chutneys, however, the name remains alien and they refer to your 'special confiture'.

New ideas new recipes!

Summer has still not arrived and it rains too much! Nevertheless small peas are sweet as ever and together with broad-beans I have come with a new recipe which has been very well received.
put them in olive oil with garlic add a little fresh nutmeg and some tarragon. Cook for 10 min max. Very refined taste! Tarragon is the favorite herb at the moment!

As it's very often fresh at night thanks to the rain I make a vegetable soap with carrot, courgette, and fennel and to give it a summer taste I add peas at the last minute and some mint. Makes it fresh and crunchy!

Due to the rain the weeds are thriving and it's impossible to keep track!

Vegetables garden is growing!

Finally after a cold rainy April and most of May, plus sever night frost, we are arriving in spring. The vegetable garden was not really accessible and nothing was really growing except the weeds! Since last week this has changed and it's a great pleasure to see everything taking off, after having cleared masses of weeds.
Nothing to eat yet except the fresh herbs which makes all the difference! Grated Carrot salad with fresh mint with a dressing of raspberry vinegar, olive oil, mustard, lemon and honey is so fresh. Same for new potatoes in the oven with fresh thyme and garlic.
Planted masses of different things and I am now eagerly awaiting  the sweet peas!
Now it's a question of half a hour a day keeps the weeds away!

Vegetables in winter

In Spring and summer vegetables look all very attractive. In winter, however, it doesn't look the same. It's dirty, doesn't look fresh, plus choice is very limited. This winter I have discovered root vegetables. Using home made beef broth as a basis, produce this by the liters and keep a stock in the freezer. 

I take all the root vegetables I can find (so sorry don't even know their proper names, apart from carrots and fennel!) slice them very small put them in the olive oil and cook them on slowly until tender. Add some parsley finely chopped and fresh grated nutmeg. Once more or less tender add beef broth and cook slowly 10 minutes. It's very tasty, healthy and no fattening! 

To make it slightly different one can make it spicy, by adding sweet soya sauce, lemon juice and sambal. This is a nice change. To make it a full meal noodles can be added as well.  

PS the beef broth can easily be replaced by water with a beef cube!

The last fresh vegetables of the season

The weather is about to change and we are enjoying the last fresh vegetables. A delicious soup with courgette and sorrel. The secret is not to boil the sorrel to keep the real taste. Some corn which was delicious. All the basil has been processed and frozen, same for the parsley. The artichokes did well. All in all the experiment went well. Next year I will continue with garden as it gives great pleasure and the taste of everything is the best. Even cabbage becomes a delicatese!

Peaches + Chutney

Due to the hot spring the harvest of Peche de Vignes is huge, in every sense, the size of the fruit as well as the quantities, some years they never really ripe due to lack of sun and heat.
I had 8 kilo! some of it I used to make jam and the other half I made chutney. Chutney is very nice to make as you can do basically anything you like as long as you get the balance right of the onions - sugar - vinegar. I always put masses of fresh herbs as well as nutmeg, sambal, ketcap manis, coriander and lemon juice. The peaches are full of taste and the Chutney turned out very well. I kept a little bit to taste, as the rest needs 6 weeks before one can eat it, very good and tasty! Half of the production will go to my chutney fans!

courgette finally an easy and delicious recipe

Courgette is what one has in great abundance in a vegetable garden, at the same time it's quite boring and one has to force oneself to come up every time with something different which is interesting.
My friend Monique, who has a restaurant in Lavardin (le Caveau) came to stay and she has the solution! One takes a courgette, peels it with potato peeler. Once the skin is removed one continues to peel and creating tagliatelle with courgette, until one gets to the pit. This courgette tagliatelle only needs olive oil, lemon/vinegar and fresh herbs. Leave it for half hour to hour so the courgette gets slightly 'cooked' and after that a perfect salad. One doesn't even recognize it as the tedious courgette!

Risotto a la Francaise

Lately I am having great success with my French interpretation of risotto. All the ingredients I use are French. The rice comes from Camarque, French white wine, the stock I make with French beef (plates cotes), locally made cheese (sheep) and echalots from my garden and masses of fresh herbs from the garden (mint, rosemary, basil, parsley, thyme). The only exotic ingredient I use is nutmeg an ingredient which is highly underestimated! I discovered nutmeg at Banda Nera one of the spice Islands in Indonesia, I use it a lot without it taking over the taste but it does add a finesse.
Being Dutch, preparing dinners for the French is always a challenge, however, this dish is well received, compliments flying over the dinner table every time. Of which the best one was 'are you certain you are Dutch?'

wild mushrooms + working lunch

August is the season for wild mushrooms. This year as it's hot + humid there are masses. When George et Odette stopped by on their way from Las Canals to Au Vieux Paris we had a splendid meal with 'cepes' After spending a magic afternoon, a little bit of rain, in the middle of the forest looking for cepes. The small ones we had raw with garlic, olive oil and basil, the big ones fried with persil, to good to be true! During this feast we discussed the DEDEM party on October 3rd in Paris during fashion week Au Vieux Paris! More details will follow shortly! www.auvieuxparis.com

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