Library of foodie fun
Ingrid Shevlin looks at two new recipe books
This, her latest cookery book is a follow to Summer Food in Provence and pays tribute to the edible bounty of Provence and shares, too, her idyllic lifestyle in this country.
The book, which showcases winter recipes adapted for South African ingredients, is divided into categories such as “for the love of an olive tree” and tells a story about olives, the family’s food memories with olives and recipes with olives. Other categories are “wild about mushrooms”, “through the grapewine”, “duck for cover” and “in praise of pulses”. i also include traditional, bread, chocolate and lamb. So it covers all culinary bases.
The recipes are hearty and sophisticated as only French cuisine can be. Who would have thought that the humble prune would warrant its own category but it does in this book. 6 eggs 6 Tbs sugar 1 1/4 cup milk 1 tsp vanilla extract pinch of salt 1/4 cup flower 2 cups pitted prunes 2 Tbs icing sugar 1 Preheat the oven to 180ºC. 2 Beat eggs, sugar milk, vanilla and salt together.
3 Add the flour and mix well to form a smooth, liquid batter.
4 Pour the batter into a buttered flat dish and spread the prunes evenly on the top.
5 Bake for
1 Mash salmon with a fork and combine with egg whites and cream to form a soft mousse. Season with salt and pepper
2 Remove the leaves from the cabbage and blanche for five minutes in salted boiling water.
3 Choose eight undamaged whole leaves and set aside. Chop the rest of the leaves finely.
4 Fry the bacon and onion in half the butter and add the finely chopped cabbage. Leave to cool before mixing with the salmon mousse.
5 Place a cabbage leaf on a sheet of tinfoil and spoon about 30g of the grated cheese on to the leaf. Cover the cheese with a little of the salmon filling.
6 Wrap the cabbage leaf and filling in the foil to make a neat, round parcel. Fold the foil tightly at the top. Make another seven parcels the same way. Use all the salmon filling but reserve about 60g of the cheese.
7 Steam the stuffed cabbage for 20 minutes and leave to cool slightly before removing the foil.
8 Heat the remaining butter in a frying pan and fry the parcels until golden brown. 9 Heat the white wine and shallot in a small saucepan, add the crème fraiche and cook rapidly to reduce the liquid by half. Stir in the reserved cheese until it melts to form a thick sauce.
10 Serve the cream cheese sauce with cabbage parcels.