From time to time, we all need a bit of gentle sweetness. For me, childhood food comfort comes in the form of Crêpes, savoury or not, but also apple compote my grandmother used to do by the gallons at this time of year. I brought some back from her garden last month, trees planted over 35 years ago, ideal for a breakfast treat. Here it goes.
Continue reading “Crêpes with buckwheat honey and apple compote”
If like me you feel a little fragile today, after watching the amazing win from the Irish team against France, during the Rugby world cup yesterday, I have a lovely little salad for you. Don’t knock it until you try it, it really works! I often have this for breakfast…
Cucumber and Kiwi salad
“Blue Monday how I hate Blue Monday
Got to work like a slave all day
Here come Tuesday, oh hard Tuesday
I’m so tired got no time to play…”
In my family, we had a funny tradition. For as long as I can remember, and almost religiously, Saturday night was “Couscous Night”; when 6pm came a ringing, my Dad would drive down town to his friend, proud owner of a “zinc” ( small French bar) in a corner of Marechal Leclerc Street. “The Duke’s Mill” if I remember well, with a Formica counter, a couple of tables and a pin ball machine near the toilets. Downstairs, right underneath the bar, was an impeccably dressed dining room only used at weekends, where Joel’s wife would cook only one dish: Couscous. When the days of take away food didn’t really exist yet, at least in my town – or so I thought – Dad would drop a big pot with its couscous steamer and collect it at the beginning of the evening, full to the bream.
They say that Carbonara was designed to feed Italian coal miners… “The black faces”. I don’t know if it’s true, but if I was a coal miner, I am sure I would wolf it down after a day down below. So yes, like a lot of legendary dishes, there are a lot of speculations about one of the most cooked pasta recipes in the world. All I know is that it is the first dish I cooked, it has evolved since and sometimes I add extra bits, it has also saved my life a few times, a dish that should be at the final exam of any leaving Certificates… Here is my father’s recipe, one I tend to follow…
I have a customer who comes in our shop; often on a Friday, sporadically on a Thursday. No matter where the conversation drifts, as it often does in our “philanthropic” business, she always speaks about her favourite movie “Fried Green Tomatoes” as a point of reference to everything. I have tried to invite her toward the route of different flicks that matters to me, “The Deer Hunter”, “ Paris, Texas”, “ Harold and Maude” or even “ Blade Runner” but without success… I guess some movies get stuck in your head, the same way the film featuring fried green tomatoes got stuck in mine when it was released in the early 90’s. The thing is, I’ve never done anything about it…
Well apart from our National anthems, Bro Gozh ma Zadoù (Old Land of My Fathers) and Hen Wlad fy Nhadau (Land of my Fathers), Breton and Welsh also share a love for the auld leek. My rare Breton name, meaning “The Lanky” appears for the first time in 1641 in Ergué-Armel near Quimper… Some say that we might have come from “The land of song”, like a lot of other aborigines from Ireland and England who made their way across to Brittany for a new life since the 5th century.
What on Earth is or even are avaloù? Well nothing too exotic I am affraid, they are just “Apples” in Breton. But I should be careful… Apples are considered sacred in Brittany, there is even a ceremony in the west of the peninsula were an “apple tree” is paraded; Gwezenn an Anaon… “The tree of souls”. But for now, here is the recipe for my apple tart, made by my Great Grand Mother, Grand Mother and Mother… All adding a little something in the process!
Aaaahhh the joys of summer and the simplicity of its cooking… If there is a veg that was always present on the August table was the green bean, or, like we called it “haricot vert”. My mother and grandmother used to simply boil them for a while ( I like to leave them with a crunch so 5 min in boiling water will do). It often accompanied a pork loin roast, with tomatoes and roasted garlic. To be honest, I just enjoy them like so, with or without meat… With a crumble of cheese at the end. Nice…
I am usually off on Mondays and yesterday, I was determined to do something positive about it. I mean, I feel the summer is disappearing like sand between my fingers, , a sad metaphor on life you might say but hey, that’s the way I feel. I was hoping, shall I say determined even, to head west for the day. I have been meaning to go back to the Burren in Co. Clare to take some pictures of wild orchids, since June now… No luck. Sadly, after looking at the Irish Weather forecast that morning, driving 2hrs under mediocre weather seemed to be a bit of a waste of everything; I sighed and went to plan “B”…
Hungry Breton 