Hungry Breton

The Sirens of “Jerry Cod”

Every Wednesday, and like a lot of towns around France, we were treated to an alert horn. An old tradition from the Second World War, when powerful sirens were tested at noon; the urban legend said that one was just a test, two an accident, three casualties and of course 10 or 12 meant nuclear fallout, post cold war obliging. The sirens were hooked on top of high non residential buildings, or water towers that coloured the urban landscape, in all their glorious ugliness, reminding tax payers how much they were going to get screwed. If you think water charges is an Irish problem, you should ask a French family how much they are paying!

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Beet, Blood and Halloumi

Recipes, Uncategorized

I have been selling cheese for over 15 years… Yes, 15 years, pretty sure. As I have escalated and passed to the “Super Wise Man’s” gap of forty ( I am cool with that) and I am still getting to grips with what life is throwing at me. Bring it on, you old bitch, you have given me so many challenges before my worrisome nature turned into a “whatever” attitude… Saying that, the older I get, and apart from the ecological impact on our Blue Home, I am growing less and less attracted to meat and fish. I have always had a huge sense of philanthropy, I love people in general and see the best in them.

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Roast Chicken Pie

Recipes

Hey, we’ve all been there. Roast chicken on Sunday can last a few days; I like to recycle the dish into a curry or a “Blanquette” ( https://hungrybreton.wordpress.com/2015/03/24/blanquette/) but this time, I wanted to do something new, like a pie. I love the idea of using whatever is in the fridge and this time, I was in luck; no trip to the local shop, this is pure survival stuff that will see our wee cottage fed for another couple of days… I had 1/2 a savoy cabbage, a leek, an onion, few peas and a carrot. I thinly sliced the lot of them and sautéed them with a bit of cubed pancetta I had bought at the end of December… Once every ingredients sweated with a bit of salt, I made a cheesy white wine béchamel sauce… Here is the wee story of how it went…

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Verduzzo Pear and Fourme d’Ambert

Recipes, Uncategorized

This has to be my little Masterpiece, I designed that recipe over 10 years ago, making it a bit more special every time. The idea behind was to make and marry cheese and dessert together; if you have ever been asked for the option in a French restaurant, you will understand. That way, you keep everyone happy… First, you need to get yourselves some pears, but since they are going to be cooked in wine, make sure they are not too soft!

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Purification Brioche

Recipes, Stories, Uncategorized

I have always known that Ireland had a special bond with Christmas. I mean apart from the obvious religious heritage, both our “Celtic countries” have, a strong history of emigration that makes the end of year a bit more special, I get it. But you couple all this with an unhealthy relationship with money and you get the perfect storm. Don’t get me wrong, I have enjoyed it very much in the early years; there was something very sweet about it actually, in North Dublin, a foreign guest in my “Blue eyed girl’s” family; simplicity and warmth. No big fuss makes good fond memories, the inevitable turkey and ham which I read about but never had before was very new to me. Taking a walk by Bull Island to the sound of the Brent Geese and a pint on Stephen’s Day in a Coolock village pub before heading back west, to Sligo or Galway…

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Apple and Caramel Pie

Recipes, Uncategorized

I love apple compote. It reminds me of my grand parents’ house, where we used to make batches and batches with the apples of the garden. Where I am from, apple compote is mostly used at breakfast, on bread instead of jam, to flavour a natural yogurt or inside those wonderful “turnovers” my mother used to buy after school… Another thing that is synonymous with Brittany, is a love for salty caramels… Oh yeah. I got some beautiful cooking apples at the weekend and decided to put the two together; sure, what could go wrong with those flavours?

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Marie Lou’s Paupiettes

Recipes, Uncategorized

My mother passed away in 1997 this month, only three years after I had moved to Ireland, an untimely and very quick November harvest as she was only three weeks in her 50th birthday. In these short years, I visited a couple of times, in the summer of 96 and April 97. I would always ring a couple of days before sailing, to build up the excitement on both sides I guess and the question from the Gallic side of the channel, and like a good French mother, was always the same: “ What would you like to eat?”… The answer came out bizarrely honest that it even surprised me: “Paupiettes please!” a dish made of sausage meat wrapped in a thin layer of veal or chicken escalope. It is stewed in a mushrooms, white wine and tomato sauce and served with rice. A comforting classic in our house; it wasn’t “cupboard love”, I was never that kind of a young lad, too proud maybe? But my friends, when your Ma asks you what do you want to eat, you better think fast and tell her nice, as I think in the 25 years we’ve known each other, she only popped the question twice…

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Butcher Street

Stories, Uncategorized

I can’t recall anything scarier than being twenty… Seriously, it has to be the most over rated age apart from the fact that you are pretty much completely free from any commitments, bills, jobs… You’re broke, but you’re free. You need to find a place to exercise this freedom, a place of paradox, where one can reflect on ideals, but yet requires the company of similar frightened comrades putting on a brave face, a safe house for your music gigs, a place to drink a few beers at the weekend, a waiting room to that big ugly world out there, and it’s you and your likes that will make a difference, that will change all of this, you know it… Just maybe not right now, perhaps after another coffee at the bar…

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Soup ‘n’ Groux

Recipes

Bleedin’ wet and windy here today in Co. Meath, it hasn’t stopped for the last five days really! Even if Monday was erringly warm as I drove back from Dublin at 10:30 pm with 16c showing on the dashboard, temperatures are sliding back down to its seasonnal self. Time for a nice warming soup and a little something very few of you might know, “The Groux” ( to be pronounced like the loveable-despicable character “Gru”), a traditionnal buckwheat-like bread from north Brittany, oven cooked like polenta and then fried in butter, this time, I decided to bake them mixed with Gruyere cheese, looking like soft savoury biscotti … “Simples”!…Anyhoo, here it goes…

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Loin of Lamb with Red wine sauce and Sloe jelly

Recipes

It goes to show, a simple Sunday dinner can become personal… Oh well. Here is the step by step of this tasty recipe, I didn’t plan it, it just happened… It all started at the market, on Saturday morning, when I stumbled upon a fine looking butternut squash…

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