Chocolate cake, don’t we all need it once and a while?
Note: Spelt is not Gluten-free, some people may tolerate it better than others. For a completely Gluten-free cake you can use chestnut flour instead of spelt.
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Celebrating British food and Culture
Chocolate cake, don’t we all need it once and a while?
Note: Spelt is not Gluten-free, some people may tolerate it better than others. For a completely Gluten-free cake you can use chestnut flour instead of spelt.
by Regula 6 Comments
I am having a strange feeling of happiness…
It’s sunday evening, I’m ready to go to sleep and I m looking back on my weekend.
This weekend was all about a chicken, not any chicken, a chicken that was reared with care and had lived a worthy life.
From the moment the ‘Poelier’ handed over this *chicken to me I felt like I had the task of giving this animal the send off it deserved.
It might sound strange but I truly felt that it was my duty to continue to care for this animal.
Someone had taken good care of this -very large- chicken, it had been roaming free in the Vogesen in France for at least 120 days. Knowing that the chickens we usually come by have only lived 40 days and sometimes less, this was a big bird.
After I picked up the chicken, my whole weekend started to evolve around it. First I had to clean it, quite a task as it was the first time I had to clean a bird from scratch.
I stood there for a minute, until I came to my senses. If I am going to eat this animal I might as well look it straight in the eye.
If you buy these chickens you get everything, the whole bird. This is so you can see first hand how this animal has lived.
What might be disgusting to some, really made me feel humble.
I wasn’t going to let anything go to waste out of respect and gratitude for the life this beautiful animal has given.
This is a feeling we have often forgotten in Western civilization, raising and caring for an animal and then when it comes to the point where it’s going to be eaten, use every part so not one single bit of this animal will go to waste.
So this is what I made of my beautiful bird.
On saturday I smoked the whole bird for 6 hours and had it for dinner, on sunday we had the leftovers and froze what was left of the leftovers to make chicken pie next weekend and sunday evening I made stock from the bones, smoked chicken stock! So this chicken will be enjoyed for months to come.
For the smoked chicken
1 free range/Organic chicken, mine was a 4,5 kg Bresse* Chicken
(Just try and find the best quality animal and ask your butcher for advice)
1 onion
a hand of fresh parsley
a hand of fresh sage
a few sprigs of fresh thyme
apple juice
1 apple
For the smoker
Wood chips, wood from fruit trees works best. I used wood from old Whisky barrels which gave an extra flavour.
Coals
Extra wood, I used wood from old grape vines. As coals do have some glue and/or additives in them most of the time, I think it’s best to use wood when the chicken is already in the smoker.
I served the chicken ‘old school’ with apple compote, carrots and hand cut chips which I baked in the oven.
Method
Clean your chicken if your butcher hasn’t done so yet.
Start by firing your smoker or closed up BBQ
Stuff the chicken with 1 onion, fresh parsley, sage and thyme.
Bind the chicken with some kitchen rope so the stuffing doesn’t fall out.
Rub the meat with apple juice.
Soak the wood chips in some hot water
Prepare a jug with water, add a glass of apple juice, some apple slices and thyme.
When your fire is ready, add the watercontainer to the smoker which you then fill with the water you just prepared.
Just before you put the chicken on the heat, add the soaked wood chips by placing them on top of the coals.
The heat inside the smoker has to be at least 80% to cook chicken.
Now the fire is ready to start cooking the meat.
Close the lid and don’t open it again for at least 4-5 hours.
This will prevent any dropping of temperature in the smoker.
After an hour check on the coals and add some new ones or a piece of wood if necessary.
I found it was necessary to do so, to keep up the temperature in the smoker. (I used the old grape vines at this stage)
After 3 hours we added some wood chips again.
You can check on it after 4-5 hours, but with a 4 kg chicken like ours it took almost 6 hours to be perfect.
Remember the juices have to run clear before it is safe to eat chicken.
*Bresse chickens are protected by Appellation d’origine contrôlée since 1957 – the first livestock to be granted such protection. The rules about raising these chickens are very strict, for example, stocks are limited by the size of the farm – with a minimum allocation of 10 square meters for each bird.
Today is world food day, I signed up for Blog Action day #bad11 and that’s why I felt I needed to write the next bit:
I haven’t had chicken in my country for years and when I did I felt guilty but frankly more sick then guilty.
The cruelty these animals are raised in is just beyond your imagination.
They live -survive- on a tiny spot in a large closed barn until they drop dead or stop laying eggs.
I hate intensive farming, we do not have the right to let an animal suffer to put food on our table.
The most important thing I feel is “think before you eat”. You don’t have to become a vegetarian or a vegan if you don’t want to, just think before you buy your meat.
Try and find an alternative to the meat you usually buy in supermarkets, search for a farm where you can go, so you can see first hand where and how the animals live.
I used to be a vegetarian for 6 years because I didn’t want to eat an animal that had a miserable life. I found a farm where I can go and see the animals every month, when it’s meat day.
I do not get veal as the children on that farm don’t want to slaughter their calves, so I don’t eat veal. (and one of my favourite dishes is Osso Buco -veal shank- so I would love some veal)
I don’t want to get all ‘activist’ on you, it’s just something I feel very strongly about.
You make your own choices in life. I choose to only eat meat from humanely raised animals.
I firmly believe that happy animals just produce better meat and I know a few chef’s and farmers who will back me up on that.
Buying my meat from a farm changed the way I live.
For example, I missed last months meat day (as you have to order your meat a week in advance so the butcher on the farm knows what to prepare) so now I have no pork or beef for two weeks, and I’m fine with it. We only do have meat once or twice a week anyway.
It does take some planning, but to be honest I like it that way.
Does it cost more, no it doesn’t.
Not on a local farm, you are a huge help to them if your buy directly from them. The price supermarkets pay the farms for their meat is criminal, the animals cost more to raise then what they get back from the meat. (not saying it is this way in every country) No wonder some farmers resort to cheaper feeds and more animals in one barn.
The system is just wrong.
I’m not saying it’s the same in every country, it is not.
For example France has ‘label Rouge’ for poultry and eggs which is very strict, the UK has more and more farms with rare breed animals who are allowed to live longer than other livestock.
But if you want the system to change, you have to change your own.
Once you go directly to the producer, you never go back!
The end.
A few good websites to take a look at:
www.action.ciwf.org.uk
www.fishfight.net
www.fao.org/getinvolved/worldfoodday/en/
If you know of a great producer, feel free to post the details in the comments section below.(doesn’t matter where it is, we want to know)
Help others to find meat from animals that are raised with kindness and compassion.
(I will group this information and turn it into a page for all to use.)
Many, many thanks for sharing!
Here are a few to start with:
The Ginger pig
www.thegingerpig.co.uk
Shop’s all over London, farms based in Yorkshire
Foxbury farm
www.foxburyfarm.co.uk
Family run farmshop in the Cotwolds
Salts farmshop near Rye
Folkestone Road East Guldeford, Kent
01797 226 540
Daylesford farm
www.daylesfordorganic.com
Farm and farmshop based in the Cotswolds, shop’s in London
Sandfields Farm
www.sandfieldsfarm.com
Family run farm in Oxforshire
De zeshoek
Family run farm in East-Flanders, Belgium
www.hoevevleesdezeshoek.be
by Regula 6 Comments
Every time we go for dinner at my parents house, we hope for my mum’s Moussaka.
It’s a dish that she makes best of all, her signature dish so to speak.
It brings me back to a summer evening when I was just about 3 or 4 years old, my parents and I walked to the park that day so I could play in the playground. It was a very long walk and a hot day and I must have been very tired that evening. We had Moussaka for dinner and I can still remember looking forward to it as the lovely smells came out of the oven.
I was sick that evening and I’m sure it wasn’t the Moussaka but the tiredness and the heat that day.
Normally I wouldn’t consider a memory like this pleasant, but it’s the first memory that I have of my mum’s Moussaka so I kinda treasure it anyway.
Mum and me |
Sometimes my mum changes something in her Moussaka recipe which is followed by utter disappointment as the whole family was expecting “the” Moussaka.
“The secret lies in using the best olive oil” my mum always said but even with my best olive oil, I can’t reproduce this dish. When I make my mums Moussaka it tastes completely different…
So I decided not to try anymore and enjoy her Moussaka when she makes it, and boy do we enjoy it when she does.
Mum, don’t change the recipe again and keep on making it exactly as you have been for the past 30 years. Watching you bring this dish to the table with the whole family sitting there, eager to tuck in gives you a lovely glow. We all love it and love you for it.
Happy birthday Mama!
We are all hoping you are cooking your Moussaka tonight!
My mum and I, me 9 months old, my mum 31 |
So here it is…
A dish inspired by my mums
This dish is best prepared the day before so all the flavours can develop.
Ingredients (serves 3-4)
350 g of minced beef* (you can also use pork or a 50/50)
A few sprigs of fresh thyme (you can use dried, my mum does)
1 big onion chopped finely
1 clove of garlic chopped finely
1 big aubergine (or 3 small ones like in the picture)
3-4 tomatoes
Olive oil (the good bottle)
Ricotta 1/2 tub
1 small tin of tomato concentrate
white wine
milk
Parmesan
Mozzarella (or another melting cheese)
*For a vegetarian version:
You can substitute the meat with Quorn and not use the wine.
Method
Preheat the oven to 160°C
Chop the onion and the garlic, put a pan on a medium heat fire. (I always use a cast iron pan)
Put some regular olive oil into the pan and add the onion and the garlic, let it color for a bit then add the meat and thyme.
Cook the meat until it starts to stick to the pan and pour over just under half a glass of white wine.
Let the wine evaporate and add the tomato concentrate. Heat it and turn down the heat and leave while you prepare your Aubergine.
Cut the tomatoes in 0,8 cm discs.
Put a heavy based pan on the heat, I always use a cast iron griddle pan so I can put it into the oven afterwards. Finely slice (0,5 cm) the aubergine in discs and take of the skin. Arrange neatly next to each other into the griddle pan and drizzle over some good olive oil so every slice of aubergine has some oil, flip the discs. Put into the oven for about 10 minutes while you prepare the ricotta sauce.
Just mix half a tub of Ricotta with some milk to make a soft sauce, slowly heat it in a small pan and season with salt and pepper, add some parmesan cheese to your taste.
Evenly spread the meat on the bottom of the pan you used to prepare it in.
Arrange you Aubergine over the meat in one layer and then a layer of tomatoes.
Season with a turn of the pepper mill and some thyme.
Pour you Ricotta sauce over and finish with Mozzarella so the whole dish is covered. Do not layer it to thick.
Finish of with some leftover slices of tomato and thyme.
Put in the oven for 40 minutes, the olive oil must come to the surface and the cheese must have melted.
Serve with bread and/or a green salad.
I’m not saying this is the real Greek Moussaka, in fact this has become more an Italian dish. So if you are reading this and you are Greek, I would love to hear your comments!
Drink some dry white wine with this dish, we had a Soave Classico.
Enjoy!
by Regula 3 Comments
The comfort of food
Although it was the last week of August the weather became quite chilly, not to speak about the storms we’ve been faced with.
There’s been thunder and lightning every evening for about a week now. At times the weather got so bad a tent collapsed at a music festival leaving utter destruction and fatalities.
I had some friends there who kept themselves safe, thank god for that. But others did lose friends and are now left to cope with the loss. It leaves you with a strange feeling when tragedy strikes a place where thousands of young people are gathered to enjoy themselves and be merry.
Some of the young people’s lives will never be the same and others will be strengthened by it but nevertheless the experience will be a part of their lives for a very long time, if not forever.
At times like this I’m beginning to think about warming stews and the comfort they can give you.
I love making stews, you can make it in the morning and leave it to simmer for a few hours so it fills the house with a mouthwatering aroma. There’s something about a big pot of delicious food on the stove that always gives me a feeling of warmth towards my family.
I wanted to cook something with the last of my discovery apples and I knew I had some Cider tucked away from our wedding. Apples and pork are one of my all time favorite combo’s, classic.
This is a truly British dish, I hope you’ll like it !
Ingredients: (serves 4)
Cider half a pint
Water half a cup
500 g of free range/Organic stewing pork
a few sprigs of fresh thyme
2 medium potatoes
1 carrot
2 medium onions
1 teaspoon of cider vinegar
1 or two small (I used my discovery) apples
Salt and pepper
Flower to dust the meat
Method
Preheat your oven to 160° (gas)
Take 1 tablespoon of salt (I always use coarse seasalt), a bit of freshly ground pepper and the leaves of a few sprigs of fresh Thyme and rub meat in with it, dust with a bit of flour.
Cut the onion into medium sized wedges, quarter the carrot (half if it’s a small one) and slice the potatoes in cubes like seen in the picture above.
Peel and slice the apple in small cubes (about the size of a dice).
Put on the heat under a heave base pan (I always use cast iron) and pour in some olive oil.
Add the onion and carrot to the pan and stir for about two minutes, now add the potato and the apple.
Stir a few times and add the meat, let it color a bit and than add the Cider and the water.
Bring to the boil and than put it in the over for about 2,5 hours.
You can take it out sooner but I like it when the meat falls apart.
Drink this with a Cider, just delicious!
My sweetheart enjoying his meal and his Cider, bless him X |
Regula Ysewijn is a food writer, stylist and photographer, with a particular interest in historical recipes. he is a Great Taste Awards judge and a member of The Guild of Food Writers, as well as one of the two judges on 'Bake Off Vlaanderen', the Belgian version of 'The Great British Bake-Off'. A self-confessed Anglophile, she collects old British cookbooks and culinary equipment in order to help with her research. She is the author of 5 books: Pride and Pudding the history of British puddings savoury and sweet, Belgian Café Culture, the National Trust Book of Puddings, Brits Bakboek and Oats in the North, Wheat from the South. Read More…