A Vagabond Life - Food

Christmas Menu for Two Aperitif Tepenade on Toasted Baguette & Smoked Salmon with Chive Flavoured Butter Served with Kir Royale Entrée Oysters Served with lime and chilli dressing Wine: Bordeaux white wine from Graves Plat Margret de Canard with Rasberry Sauce  with Green Beans and Roasted Garlic Potatoes Wine: Bordeaux Marguex or Malbec Wine Fromage Rocamadour served on a bed of lettuce Wine:  Bordeaux Sauvignon Blanc Dessert Buche de Noel Wine: Bordeaux Sauternes Aperitif Tepenade  Tepenade served on toasted baguette slices.  Ingredients : 2 Cups Pitted Black Olives 2 Tablespoons Capers 1 Clove of Garlic Drizzle  of Olive Oil Lemon Juice & Pepper to taste Method: In a food processor, blend the olives, capers, garlic, a generous drizzle of olive oil, lemon juice and pepper to taste. Serves on slices of toasted baguette. Smoked Salmon on Chive Flavoured Butter Smoked Salmon with Chive flavoured bu

Christmas Menu for a Group Aperitif Artichoke and Foie Gras canapés & Chive blinis with caviar and soured cream Served with Kir Royale Entrée Oysters Served in a Variety of Ways Wine: Bordeaux white wine from Graves Plat Brandied Roast Goose served with Green Beans and Garlic Roast Potatoes Wine: Bordeaux Marguex or Malbec Wine Fromage Rocamadour served on a bed of lettuce Wine:  Bordeaux Sauvignon Blanc Dessert Buche de Noel Wine: Bordeaux Sauternes   Recipes Aperitif Artichoke and Foie Gras canapés served with Kir or Kir Royale For 6 people Ingredients: 12 small artichoke hearts Olive oil and butter 12 slices of foie gras (30-40g each) Balsamic vinegar Salt and pepper Method: Remove the seeds from the artichokes.  Cook them in a pan for 3 minutes on each side.  Set aside on a plate.  Place the slices of foie gras in the pan on a high heat for 1 minute and then place them on the artichokes.  Degl

We had friends come to stay. The night they arrived we ate Coq au Vin - perfect on a cold winters night after a long journey. A little bit of history about Coq au Vin.....Legends trace  coq au vin  to ancient Gaul  and Julius Ceasar , but the recipe was not documented until the early 20th century;   it is generally accepted that it existed as a rustic dish long before that.   A similar recipe,  poulet au vin blanc , appeared in an 1864 cookbook. 2 kg chicken (I use legs as I find this meat doesn't dry out) 1 bottle red wine 2 bay leaves 2 sprigs thyme 250g bacon 60 g butter 250g button mushrooms 20 small onions (pickling onions work well) 1 tablespoon oil 30g plain flour 700 ml chicken stock 125 ml brandy 1 tablespoon tomato paste 1 1/2 tablespoon softened butter 1 tablespoon flour 2 tablespoons chopped parsley Joint chicken - if using legs separate the thigh from the drumstick to make 2  pieces. Place the chicken in a large bow

Strawberry Jam & Plum Jam Fruit is abundant in our local Sarlat market at the moment and we are spoiled for choice. The stalls are loaded with strawberries, raspberries, plums, figs, melons and grapes..just to name a few. So with a hint of autumn in the air and winter not far away it is time to make some jam .. so we still have a little taste of summer in the depths of winter. Sarlat Market We cheat a little with our jam and use a sugar designed for confiture (or jam) called Confitsuc. It has added gelatin to help in the setting process so when using this the all you need is fruit and the Confitsuc. Strawberry Jam 2 kgs Strawberries 2 Kgs Confiture Sugar or  2 Kg white sugar and juice from 1/2 a lemon  Method Sterilise jars and lids. Wash and hull fruit Place in a large heavy based saucepan until the strawberries  start to break down a little an become soft. Remove a 1/3 of the strawberries. Add sugar (and lemon juice if us

Walnuts We have four gorgeous huge walnut trees on our property which give us lovely shade in the summer and an abundance of nuts in Autu mn. Here are a couple of cakes I have recently made using walnuts that are delicious. Walnut Cake 150 g softened butter (unsalted is best) 4 eggs, seperated 150g castor sugar 200g shelled walnuts chopped (I use the rolling pin and give them a bit of a bash) 150g plain flour 2 teaspoons baking powder Grated rind of 1 lemon pinch cinnamon 1 tablespoon rum (optional) Pre heat the oven to 180 C and grease the cake tin with butter. Cream the butter the beat in the egg yolks one at a time. Stir in the sugar and walnuts, sift in the flour and baking powder and mix well. Add lemon rind, cinnamom and rum. Stiffly whip the egg whites until they form peaks and fold into the mixture. Pour into the prepared cake tin an bake for about 1 hour. Leave to cool and then turn out. Delicious as a dessert with custard or

My beloved came home from the market the other day with the biggest cauliflower I have ever seen...and there lay the challenge...given (in my opinion) the old cauli can be a tad bland what to do with it to liven it up a bit... Here are two recipes Lentil and Cauliflower Dahl  ( Delicious....) Ingredients (serves 4)   2 tbs sunflower oil  1 large onion, thinly sliced  2 garlic cloves, finely chopped  2 tbs medium-hot Indian curry paste  - if like me you can't get a good curry paste (and in rural france you cannot) use powdered indian curry and give it a good old cook in oil with the onions 1 cup (200g) dried red lentils  3 cups (750ml) vegetable stock  2 tbs tomato paste  500g cauliflower, cut into small florets  1 cup (120g) frozen peas, thawed  2 tbs roughly chopped coriander leaves, plus extra chopped coriander to garnish  Natural yoghurt and naan bread, to serve Method Heat oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add onion, garlic and curry paste, then cook, stir

This page has moved to A Vagabond Life Food Blog Gateaux Noix Gateaux Noix is a traditional walnut cake that you will see across the region of Perigord in markets and bouloungeries. Delicious with a cup of tea..... Ingredients 1 cup shelled walnuts 250g flour 250g caster sugar 4 eggs 1 cup oil 1 cup white wine 1 pinch salt 2 teaspoons baking powder Method Pre-heat oven to 200C. Grease a cake tin with butter. Grind the walnuts to a fine powder. Sift the flour and baking powder together. Cream the butter and sugar until the mixture is light and creamy. Add the flour mixture, salt wine and walnuts and mix well. Add the oil. Pour the mixture into the cake tin and bake for 30 minutes.