Chateau Maucaillou

A lovely pastime of ours since moving to the country is simply to get in the car and drive through the countless villages and vineyards that grace the eastern side of Médoc. It’s a wonderful maze of charming roads and invariably we get a little lost, chasing a beautiful Chateau we see on a distant hill or exploring a small road that seems all too inviting. Ranging from tiny operations, where the wine is literally made in the garage, to splendorous castles filled with rich family histories, Médoc has it all. Many of the villages are high on the authenticity list, not a souvenir shop in sight and sometimes, less conveniently, not even a loaf of bread. But that’s just the way we like it.

Bordeaux wines are a blend of the robust Cabernet Sauvignon and the smoother Merlot, usually with a dash of other varieties. In Médoc the blend favours Cabernet and this is why its wines are considered more earthy and powerful than wines from the “Right bank” such as St. Emilion and Pomerol. This is an oversimplification, of course, and there are different tendencies within Médoc itself. A wine from St. Estephe (the most Northern of the famous villages) are more earthy than wines from the southern Margaux, which have a reputation for silkiness. Read the rest of this entry »

Picture this – a little girl, straight off the plane from Hong Kong, dragged all the way to Montparnasse so her father can have a couscous royal. Yes, that was my earliest jet-lagged memory of coucous. One of France’s favourite dishes (and my father’s), the ‘couscous’ is certainly worth its fame. Having inherited the sunshine and warmth from North Africa, the couscous was originally a sacred dish prepared with the best maternal knowledge. Today it is a strong symbol of tradition and union. For me, the ‘couscous’ is a dream of a meal evoking Paris in the 60’s – Godard, Belmondo and black turtlenecks. There’s something very loving about this meal – it must be a combination of the golden semolina melting in the vegetable and meat stew, oozing comfort and joy. For that is what this dish is all about.

My kids always make a special request for couscous – I can’t imagine a healthier meal for them, filled with vegetables and wholesome semolina. As there is a lot of preparation required, I would advise you to cook this dish well in advance. You can improvise and have this meal vegetarian, or only with chicken. As you wish.

Ingredients: (serves 6)

For the couscous stew:
1 kg neck of lamb (collier d’agneau)
4 carrots
3 turnips
3 courgettes/ zucchini
1 large onion (sliced)
2 cloves garlic
2 large tomatoes
2 tbsp ‘ras el hanout’ ground spice
2 tbsp tomato concentrate paste
1 tsp chili powder
450 grs chickpeas (I use canned)
Salt and pepper
Harissa (to serve for those who like it extra-spicy)

For the meatballs:
600 grs minced beef
2 cloves minced garlic
A large handful of parsley
1 egg

Various meat:
5 chicken thighs
1 lemon (sliced)
12 merguez sausages

100 ml olive oil
750 grs semolina (I use instant)
Boiling water
Large handful of dried golden sultana raisins (optional)

Slice onion and garlic. Cut/chop all the tomatoes, carrots, turnips and zucchini to mouthsized cubes. In a large deep skillet, pour 2 tbsp of olive oil and brown the lamb. Add onion and tomatoes and fry for 5 minutes. Add the ras-el hanout, salt, pepper and chilli powder, add enough water to cover the meat, and cook on a medium heat for 10 minutes. Add the carrots and turnips and continue boiling for 30 minutes. Add zuchinni and chick peas and continue to boil on a low heat for 1 hour.

Prepare meatballs – mix one egg, minced garlic and chopped parsley with the minced meat. Mix well (I use latex gloves and mix with my hands) and shape little golf sized balls. Fry in batches in a large frying pan until browned and cooked, approx 8 minutes. Set aside.

Meanwhile, heat 2 tbsp of olive oil in a large frying pan, fry the chicken thighs with the sliced lemon until browned and cooked. Set aside. Fry the merguez until cooked and set aside. Cover chicken, meatballs and merguez sausages with aluminium foil and reserve for later.

When you are getting ready to serve, warm chicken and meatballs for 10 minutes in the ‘couscous’ stew.

Place semolina in a large bowl and stir in the olive oil. Pour enough boiling water until all absorbed. With a fork, scrape and fluff up the semolina gently. Place heat-proof bowl/pot in a 120°C oven until you are ready to serve. You can also place the merguez in the oven to keep them warm.

Place merguez, chicken thighs and meatballs on a large serving plate. Pour couscous stew in a large serving bowl. Serve semolina on a deep-set plate (with raisins on top), with a large ladle of couscous stew, topped with the meat of your choice. For those who enjoy an extra spicy flavour, add half a tsp of Harissa in a ladle of soup/stew and mix well.

Moroccan orange salad

I would highly recommend to serve this ‘Moroccan orange salad’ as a refreshing dessert.

Ingredients:

3 oranges, peeled and sliced
4 tbsp orange blossom water
2 tbsp caster sugar
A dash of cinnamon
A few mint leaves, finely sliced and extra for decoration

Slice the oranges and place on a serving dish. Mix orange blossom water and sugar and pour over the oranges. Sprinkle a dash of ground cinnamon and mint. Place in the refrigerator so you can serve it chilled.

Whenever I buy meat, I tend to get highly influenced by Michel’s (my butcher) opinion on what I should cook. I might be eyeing the attractive beef filets, but I can tell that Michel thinks I should be cooking something else by his body language as he positions himself away from my actual choice! Michel appreciates my passion for cooking and wants me to pick the best choice of the day. So it turns out that he thinks the pork ‘filet mignon’ are exquisite. And so they are. What better way to cook them than stuffed with prunes and apricots with a mustard wine cream sauce. This meal reminds me of my grandmother’s blue Wedgwood porcelain collection on her buffet table – elegant and old-fashioned.

Ingredients: (serves 4)

For the pork filet:
800 grs pork filet mignon (tenderloin) (divided in 2)
10 dried apricots
10 dried prunes
5 tbsp mustard
salt and pepper
kitchen twine (string to attach filet)
1 sprig rosemary (optional – I have rosemary bushes everywhere in the garden so I can’t resist)
3 tbsp olive oil
200 ml water

Sauce:
1 tbsp plain flour
200 ml white wine
70 ml chicken stock
2 tbsp mustard
4 tbsp crème fraîche

Pre-heat the oven to 200° degrees celsius/ 400°F.

Take out the meat one hour before roasting so it will be at room temperature. Cut a slit in the side of each fillet. Brush the inside/outside with mustard. Stuff filet with apricots, rosemary and prunes. Tie each fillet with kitchen twine to keep its shape. Drizzle the filets with 1 tbsp olive oil and season with salt and pepper.

Place in a roasting pan, add the water and place in oven for 30 minutes. Turn meat once after 15 minutes of cooking. If the pan is dry add more water. Take the meat out of the oven, set aside and cover with tin foil. Put the roasting pan on the stove (medium heat) with all its juices, add the flour, mix well. Add the stock, and wine and stir well. Let the sauce simmer for a few minutes until it starts to slightly thicken. Add crème fraîche and mustard, stir and switch the heat off. Pour the sauce over the sliced filet mignon and serve with haricot verts (French green beans).

This onion and bacon tart takes me back to my college days in Paris, when my friends and I would finish class and rush to St Germain-des-Près for drinks and a Flammekueche. Perhaps it was a 90’s kind of thing, but we loved eating this delicious Alsatian speciality. This pizza style tart topped with a mixture of crème fraîche, fromage blanc, onions and bacon strips is my idea of a heavenly snack. This is an ideal Monday meal after all the heavy week-end cooking I’ve been doing. It takes less than 10 minutes to make, and 12-15 minutes to bake! Nice and easy!

Ingredients:

1 ready-made 230 grs puff pastry (I use Herta – pâte feuilleutée), but you can also use ready-pizza dough
150 ml thick crème fraîche
50 grs fromage blanc
3 small onions (sliced finely)
150 grs finely diced bacon (lardons)
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tbsp canola oil

Pre-heat the over to 210° degrees celsius/425 F.

In a bowl, mix the crème fraîche, fromage blanc, nutmeg and canola oil. Pre-fry the diced bacon (lardons) in a frying pan for 5 minutes. Set aside. Slice the onions finely. Roll out the pastry (either rectangle or round shaped) and fold the borders (1 cm). Spread the cream mixture on the dough evenly, sprinkle onion and bacon all over. Finish with a dash of salt and pepper. Place on a parchment lined baking tray and bake in the middle of the oven for 12-15 minutes. Serve with a salad.

There is no bad weather, just bad clothes. Swedish proverb

Here in Médoc, instead of taking our kids to a toy store, we take them to a ‘pépinière'(flower and plant nursery), which has become their new fairground attraction. Last April, we told our kids they could pick a small plant to take care of. Mia chose verveine (lemon verbena) for its refreshing smell, Louise chose pink geraniums for the colour, and Hudson opted for a raspberry plant for its opulence. We put these three plants in a box, and told the kids it was their full responsibility to take care of the green babies. They proved to be good plant-sitters, and today the plants have grown to perfection! Plants are a symbol of growth, encouraging all of us to adopt new ideas, so it was only a matter of time before the kids fell in love with their ‘magic growing box’.

What better way to grow memories than in your own garden?

Our children are very good eaters. We like taking them to restaurants, and despite a few raised eyebrows, it’s always been a real pleasure (apart from the few times when we traumatized the staff!). It’s a priority for us to teach ‘les enfants’ good ‘food culture’ at an early age, and we find that by introducing them to a varied menu, it widens their palate to new horizons. Could that be the secret to no more picky eaters?

Of all our kids, our little boy Hudson is particularly keen on food. He has been to many restaurants in his life, and ever since he was a baby, he loved eating, especially what we were eating. As a matter of fact, Hudson was nearly born in a restaurant. As I was finishing a superb meal at ‘Aux Lyonnais’ (32, rue St Marc 75002), I started having heavy contractions and had to rush off to the clinic. From that day on, whenever I go back to ‘Aux Lyonnais’ with Hudson, he is referred to as ‘le bébé Lyonnais’! Needless to say, ‘Aux Lyonnais’ became his favourite restaurant at age… three.

Lyon’s gastronomy excellence can be explained by the fact that it’s close to regions providing the best food in France – the chicken from Bresse, beef from Charolais, fruits from the Drome, ‘cochonailles’ (sausages, pâtés, ham…) from the Monts du Lyonnais, and amazing cheeses like Rocamadour and St Marcellin from the Dauphiné. With all these products, the kitchen’s are naturally blessed.

Yesterday, I was going through some old photos and stumbled across Hudson’s picture taken at ‘Aux Lyonnais’. It inspired me to cook a Lyonnais style meatloaf and a smashing pink praline tart with an île flottante – all inspired from my son’s favourite restaurant of course. You can have a full-on experience and do them all. It might look like a bit of a project at first, but with a well planned cooking schedule, the results will be very satisfying!

The lyonnais meatloaf is originally made with a typical Lyonnais pistachio cervelat sausage, but as it is not always easy to find in stores or supermarkets, I chose to make it with minced pork (taken from good quality pork sausages). The ‘brioche’ is a bread bun made with egg, milk, butter and yeast.

The pink praline tart is such a delight to make. Pink pralines are old-fashioned candies – you’ll need almonds, water, sugar and red food colouring. They are so delicious, vintage-looking and pretty in pink. You’ll be using these candies by crushing them in your food processor or with a mortar and pestle, to make the praline tart. They can be easily stored in a glass jar. This recipe (see below) is a simplified version – I was very happy with the result. Save a few pralines to drizzle on the ‘oeufs à la neige’. You can also buy pink pralines at selected fine stores.

Ingredients:

Brioche:

250 grs plain flour
110 grs butter (room temperature cut in cubes)
3 eggs
7 grs dry baking yeast
3 tbsp warm milk
3 tbsp warm water
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar, beaten
1 egg yolk, beaten, for glaze

In a large bowl, mix flour, yeast, water and milk. Mix well. Incorporate salt and eggs, mix well and add butter. Knead continuously for 15 minutes. When the dough is elastic, shape into a ball, leave in the bowl and cover with a clean cloth. Let the dough rise for 1 hour in a warm place. Flatten the dough slightly and place the pork meat filling in the center. Press the edges and seal. Place in a lightly buttered loaf tin and cover with a clean cloth. Leave in a warm place for 30 minutes.
Pre-heat oven 180° degrees celsius. Brush the brioche with the egg yolk and bake for 35–40 minutes until risen and golden brown. Let it cool for 15 minutes place on a wire rack. Serve with a warm potato salad.

For the ‘meatloaf’ filling:

4 skinned good quality sausages
A large handful of good-quality pistachio nuts
1 onion (finely chopped)
1 garlic clove (minced)
30 ml white wine (optional)
1 tsp thyme
1 tbsp butter
salt and pepper

Slice onion, mince the garlic. Slice the sausages and squeeze out the pork meat. In a saucepan, fry the onion until soft (4 min) in 1 tbsp butter, add the garlic, thyme and sausage meat for 8 minutes until cooked and semi-golden. Deglaze with the white wine, add salt and pepper. Set aside, add the pistachios, mix well and leave to cool.

Warm potato salad:

4 large potatoes (peeled and cut in 4)
2 shallots (sliced finely)
4 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tbsp grain mustard
salt and pepper
A dash of chopped parsley

Boil potatoes till tender. In a large bowl, make a vinaigrette by mixing the shallots, olive oil, mustard, vinegar, salt and pepper. Slice the potatoes and add to the vinaigrette. Mix gently and add parsley.

Pink praline tart:

80 almonds
160 grs sugar
140 grs water
3 drops red food colouring
100 ml crème fraîche
Shortcrust pastry (bough from store) or homemade (see recipe below)

Step 1: Make the pink pralines – simple version

On a medium heat, mix almonds, water, sugar and red food colouring in a pan. Do not stir until the water starts to boil, then you can start swirling the pan gently. When the liquid starts to thicken (after approx 5 minutes), stir continuously until you feel a caramel texture. Take away from heat on/off and stir until the sugar crystallizes. Put almonds on parchment paper and let them cool. This process can take up to 12-15 minutes.

Pre-heat oven 180° degrees celsius. Roll out pastry on a floured surface and line the tart baking pan (I use a small 20 cm pan), and place parchment paper with marbles (or any oven-proof weights). Pre-bake your shortcrust pastry approx 15 minutes. Set aside

In a food processor, smash pink pralines into chunky bits. In a pan, add pralines and crème fraîche, boil gently for 15 minutes until the mixture is thick and glossy. Leave to cool for 5 minutes and pour in the pastry shell. Leave to cool and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Easy shortcrust pastry

125 grs plain flour
60 ml water
90 grs butter
1/4 tsp salt

Mix water with salt in a large bowl. Slice butter into cubes. Mix all ingredients together, ‘working’ the dough 5 minutes. Shape into a ball, wrap with cling film and place in the fridge for at leat an hour.

Ile flottante:

3 eggs yolks
175 ml milk
1 vanilla pod (or 1 tsp vanilla essence)
75 grs sugar

For egg whites:
3 egg whites
40 grs caster sugar (for egg whites)
1/4 tsp salt

Separate egg whites and egg yolks. In a saucepan, add milk, sugar and vanilla – bring to a gentle boil. Take off the heat and whisk in the egg yolks. Bring back to the low heat, and whisk for 5 minutes or until the mixture thickens slightly. Set aside and leave to cool.
In a large glass bowl, whisk the egg whites, when the mixture starts to set, gradually add sugar and salt, and continue to whisk until firm peaks appear. Place bowl in a microwave for 40 seconds on a low setting. This will firm up the egg whites. Should you not have a microwave, you can place large spoonfuls of required egg whites in boiling water for 30 seconds.
Pour custard into bowls, and shape round large balls (with a large slotted spoon) of egg-whites to place on custard. Drizzle with crushed pink pralines. Serve with a slice of pink praline tart.

At home I have this extra large cast-iron cocotte (casserole) perfect for slow cooking. I really enjoy looking at it, especially when I am writing – it’s my inspiration pot. My ‘cocotte’ has had a lot of family history, and is officially the heart of our house. One of the most delicious dishes I love to make in it is the osso bucco ‘tout nu‘ (‘naked’ ossu bucco), a version of the classic osso bucco dish, but more simple with an abundance of white wine, garlic, bay leaves, olive oil and butter.

Whenever I have friends coming over for lunch or dinner, this osso bucco has proven to very popular. I love serving dishes straight from the ‘cocotte’. Taking center stage on our dining table, it’s a very convivial way to eat. I especially enjoy seeing the most ‘gourmand’ guests scooping the last drops of sauce to mix in the golden polenta – then I’ll know that the meal was ‘un vrai succès’ (a real success)!

Ingredients: (serves 4)

4-5 slices veal shanks, approx 1.2 kg
8 garlic cloves (slice in half)
8 bay leaves
3 tbsp flour (for meat dredging)
500 ml white wine
4 tbsp olive oil
150 grs unsalted butter
Salt and pepper

Gremolata:
A large handful of chopped parsley
1 garlic clove
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon rind

Dredge meat in flour. In a large saucepan, heat the olive oil on a medium heat. Brown the veal shanks on all sides, set aside. Add the butter, sliced garlic cloves, bay leaves and return meat to the pan. Add salt and pepper, and pour the white wine.

Simmer for 2 1/2 – 3 hours on the lowest heat. Check regularly, add a bit of water if you find the sauce too dry. Veal shanks should be cooked till tender.

For the gremolata, chop the parsley and garlic finely, add the grated lemon rind and mix well.

Serve with polenta, and sprinkle with the gremolata.

Polenta:

1 liter and 1/4 water
250 g polenta
40 grs grated parmesan cheese
salt and pepper

Boil water and slowly drizzle the polenta (so it won’t form lumps) in the water, stirring continuously. Add 2 tbsp butter and 40 grs grated parmesan cheese. Cook for 5-10 minutes. Cover and set aside.

Whenever I cook a ratatouille, my kitchen smells like a Provençal market, filled with Mediterranean scents. Even though ratatouille is a grand classic French dish, you won’t often come across it in the restaurant menus. This is a true ‘home-cooked’ meal, to be eaten in the best traditional way, with a golden fried egg on top. I always feel invigorated when I cook this meal, not only is the scent uplifting, but the deep and rich colours of the mixed vegetables give you a sense of culinary wisdom – as if your body was a temple and you are about to make a healthy offering.

Ingredients: (serves 4)

2 medium-sized onions, sliced
1 red pepper, sliced
1 green pepper, sliced
3 courgettes/zucchini, sliced
1 large aubergine/eggplant, cut into cubes
3 medium tomatoes, chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely sliced
2 sprigs of fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
40 ml red wine (optional)
4 tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper

Slice all the vegetables accordingly.

Heat the olive oil in a large pan and cook the onions until they are transparent. Add the peppers and cook for 3 minutes. Then add aubergine, courgettes, garlic, thyme and bay leaf, season with salt and pepper, and cook for 3 minutes. Finally, add the chopped tomatoes and the red wine (optional), stir gently, cover and cook for 25 minutes on a low heat.
Serve with a fried egg, sunny-side up.

Note: Fresh thyme makes a world of difference for this dish.

We have a big country kitchen table I have always dreamt of having – filled with an abundance of fruits, flowers, vegetables, lots of kids drawing, dogs lying under and delicious home-cooked food. I get very inspired just by looking at the table, and today, I had to do something with the beautiful apricots. I ate a very light lunch and felt like having something sweet, yet tangy, so I made little apricot tartlets. They are so summery and I love the colour!

I always have a home-made pastry dough in the freezer – it’s so easy to make and convenient to store. All you have to do in de-freeze the dough, roll out little circle for the tartlet pans, slice the apricots in half, throw some sugar, mix crème fraîche, 1 egg and sugar and voilà! These are probably the easiest tartlets to make, and they are delicious.

Ingredients: (makes approx 6 tartlets)

14 apricots (cut into four, pits removed)
250 grs shortcrust pastry (home-made or bought in store)
50 grs caster sugar
20 cl crème fraîche
1 egg
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
20 grs icing sugar
6 tartlet pans

Easy shortcrust pastry

250 grs plain flour
125 ml water
175 grs butter
1/4 tsp salt

Mix water with salt in a large bowl. Slice butter into cubes. Mix all ingredients together, ‘working’ the dough 5 minutes. Shape into a ball, wrap with cling film and place in the fridge for at leat an hour.

Apricot tartlets

Pre-heat the oven 180° celsius.

Rinse the apricots and pat dry. Cut them in four and remove the pits. Sprinkle with sugar.

Roll out the pastry on a floured surface and cut off 6 circles slightly larger than the width of your tartlet pans. (I use a round-tipped knife). Line each tartlet pan.

Whisk crème fraîche, egg, cinnamon and sugar until smooth. Pour a base into each tartlet (approx 1.5 cm deep). Place apricot slices on top. Sprinkle with sugar.

Bake for 30 minutes. When ready, take out from the oven and place on a wire tray. Leave to cool 10 minutes before serving and sprinkle with icing sugar.

I had a lovely moment by the rose garden, having a coffee, tartlets and writing some recipe notes!

Everybody loves good ‘comfort food’, classics such as macaroni cheese, mashed potatoes or fried noodles are high on the list. But what is the next best thing to comfort food? I call it continental holiday food. It is the kind of dish you would order when you are by the pool, from room-service, or simply in a café. The excitement of being away, in a new environment, slightly jet-lagged, triggers happy and carefree feelings. Everything tastes better when you are on a holiday. So here are my two contenders: For Asia, it’s nasi goreng (fried rice with egg), and for the rest of the world, it’s a crème Vichyssoise.

I have always loved ‘crème Vichyssoise’. This chilled potato and leek soup, topped with a generous amount of cream and chives, is my idea of ‘travel’ happiness. This French/ American soup was born in New York, created by a French chef at the Ritz-Carlton by the name of Louis Diat. One summer day, chef Diat was homesick and thinking fondly of his grandmother in his hometown Montmarault, near Vichy. He was inspired to make her delicious potato and leek soup, just like the one she made when he was a child. His brother and he added cold milk to make the soup easier to drink. It was one of his fondest childhood memories, reminding me of one of the best ‘food’ characters ‘Anton Ego’ from Ratatouille (Pixar). This story warms my heart.

Ingredients: (serves 6)

7 leeks, (white bulb) sliced into rings
5 potatoes, peeled and quartered
1 onion, sliced
2 sprigs fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
2 liters of chicken or vegetable stock
50 ml white wine
25 grs butter
salt and pepper to taste
100 ml crème fraîche

Slice onions, potatoes (quartered) and leeks (into fine rings). In a large pot melt butter over low heat, add onions and fry for 3 minutes. Add the potatoes and leek and continue frying on a low heat for 10 minutes. Deglaze with the white wine, reduce for 2 minutes, then add the chicken or vegetable stock. Add thyme, bay leaf, salt and pepper. Stir well, and when it starts to boil, lower heat, cover pot and continue to cook for 20 minutes.
When ready, let the soup cool, then mix in the food processor until smooth and liquid. You can chill the soup in the fridge for 20 minutes or more. I also enjoy this soup served warm. It’s up to your taste.
Chop chives (finely). Add a tablespoon of crème fraîche, sprinkle with chives and serve.