August - My Swiss Connection
I've just returned from my annual six-week food fact finding and working holiday trip in the mountain village of Champéry. With the pound running at 1.95SFrs as against 2.45SFrs in previous years, and food prices running higher than I'd ever known before, it was obvious that purse strings would have to be tightened this year.
Bread and rolls were bought daily from the newly opened boulangerie, but meat and chicken being two of the most expensive items on my weekly budget were best bought in the village's local Migros Supermarket. Budget packs of six cornfed chicken leg portions for 8SFrs were a bargain, and my freezer was soon stocked up with them.
Meat was more of a problem, and I relied solely on minced meats from Denner's, another popular supermarket in the village that sold bulk packs of beef, veal and pork, working out at roughly the same price as in our local Waitrose – ie two for one in price.
However, this made me feel guilty every time I passed the local boucherie, so I did my best to spread my shopping around – ie popping into the village boucherie each week for their local cured, thick slices of jambon and delicious homemade liver and onions croquettes.
I found by carrying out this practice for the whole of my six weeks stay I was able to keep the local shops and the two supermarkets happy – and surprise, surprise, bring back some SFrs and traveller's cheques saved from my careful budgeting, which will come in handy when I return next year!
Back home again it was easy to see what's good this month in our local supermarkets and shops. Summer is the best time for buying fabulous homegrown produce, with fruit and vegetables piled high on our market stalls.
New potatoes such as Pink Fir Apple, Fontenay and Roseval make interesting varieties. Try steaming them or roasting them with garlic and olive oil.
Peaches, raspberries, apricots, plums, nectarines, apples and pears, all make easy desserts served with a dollop of fromage frais or ice cream, and homegrown tomatoes are, at last, bursting with flavour. August is the month for good supplies of fish arriving on our fish stalls, cod, crab, sea bass to name but a few.
And another most welcome sight greeted me on my return, the arrival of the new season's Welsh lamb – the sweetest of meats - in my local Waitrose, with special offers to tempt customers.
And, of course, the game season kicks off on the Glorious Twelth, the first day of the grouse season, and this month we have a tasty onion and game tart, followed by tempting fruit pies and puddings for you to make and some to put away in your freezer ready to bring out for a taste of summer during the winter months ahead. With raspberries still with us I've included a delicious loaf cake using them, with their slight tartness, ravishing colour and softness.
ONION AND GAME TART
I have used venison in this tart for preference. Many supermarkets sell pre-packed mixed game, already cut and ready for use, but you can buy fresh from your butcher during the game season which lasts from 12th August until 10th December.
Adapted from the Ultimate Game book by Tom Bridge/
Serves 4.
Ingredients: 250g ready-made short crust pastry. 125g butter. 2 garlic cloves, crushed. 1kg (2lb) onions thinly sliced. 1 tsp ground coriander. 250g cooked game meat, such as venison thinly sliced. 225ml single cream. 3 eggs, beaten. Method: Roll out pastry to line a 20cm (8 inch) flan dish. Chill for 20 mins. Preheat oven to 200C, 400FGas Mk 6. Bake pastry blind for 20 mins. Remove paper, brush pastry with beaten egg and bake for 5 mins . Lower oven to 170C, 325F, Gas Mk 3. Melt butter in a pan and cook the garlic and onions gently for 25-30 mins. until soft and juicy. Stir in the coriander and cook for a further 4 mins. Spread the mixture over the pastry and arrange the sliced game meat on top. Whisk the cream and eggs together, season, then pour over the game. Bake for 35-40 mins. until the filling is just set. Garnish with parsley and tarragon.
GOOSEBERRY CRUNCH
A delicious crunchy dessert, equally good with apples or plums, or any fruit now in season.
Serves 4.
Ingredients: 450g gooseberries, topped and tailed. 2 tbsp water. 4 level tbsp sugar.
Topping: 50g butter. 1 tbsp golden syrup. 50g brown sugar. 1 level tsp cinnamon. 50g cornflakes. Method: Preheat oven 200C, 400F, Gas Mk 6. Cook gooseberries in water and sugar. Place butter, syrup, brown sugar and cinnamon together in a large saucepan. Heat gently, stirring continuously until melted and well mixed. Add cornflakes and stir lightly until they are all coated. Pile evenly on top of gooseberries in an ovenproof dish. Bake for about 30 mins. or until topping is lightly browned and crisp. Serve hot or cold with cream.
HOT BLACKBERRY PUDDING
Blackberries should be ready for picking this month - you can buy cultivated ones from the shops, but I think the ones picked from the hedgerows have more flavour.
Serves 4-6.
Ingredients: 2 large eggs. 110g butter. 110g castor or brown sugar. 110g self raising flour. 1 tsp baking powder. tsp vanilla essence. 175g blackberries. Method: Preheat oven to 180C, 350F. Gas Mk 4. In a food processor blend butter and sugar together for 1 minute. Scrape down and add flour, baking powder, vanilla essence and eggs. Blend together for about 5 mins. Place mixture in an ovenproof dish and top with blackberries. There must be room for the pudding to rise. Bake for 55 mins. Serve with cream or ice cream.
APRICOT FLAN (Tarte Normande)
Some years ago, while on a camping holiday, we stopped at a tiny restaurant in the hills outside Nice on the Cote d'Azure, and enjoyed a memorable meal. The Tarte Normande was something to die for. Since then I've improvised and made it many times when the apricots make their brief appearance on our market stalls. Basically, its fruit tossed in hot butter, packed into a pastry case, covered with a light custard cream and baked. Delicious made with gooseberries, rhubarb or apples. Can be eaten hot or cold.
Serves 4-6.
Ingredients: 350g apricots. 25g sugar to taste. 25g butter. Icing sugar.
Pastry: 175g flour.2 tbsp icing sugar. 85g butter. 1 egg yolk. 1 tbsp cold water. Pinch of salt. Custard Cream: 1 egg. 25g caster sugar. 20g flour. 100ml cream. 1-2tbs brandy or calvados. Method: Beat the egg with the sugar until pale and thick, beat in the sifted flour, add the cream and the brandy or calvados. Method (Pastry): Sieve flour, salt and icing sugar into a bowl or a food processor. Add the butter cut up into small pieces and rub in or process to the breadcrumb stage. Bind with the egg yolk and a very little cold water. Form into a flat disc and rest for 1-2 hours in the fridge in a plastic bag. Roll pastry to fit a 24cm (9 inch) removable flan tin. Prick the pastry, line with tinfoil and beans and bake in a hot oven 200C, 400F, Gas Mk 6 for 8-10 mins. until pastry is set. Remove tinfoil and cook a few mins. more. Saut the apricots (halved) in hot butter and sprinkle with sugar. Pack into half cooked pastry case, pour over the custard cream and cook in a moderately hot oven (190C, 375F, Gas Mk 5) for about 10 mins. then sprinkle lightly with sifted icing sugar and return to oven for approx. 15-20 mins. until the top has browned and the cream has set.
RASPBERRY AND HAZELNUT LOAF
I love the slight tartness of raspberries used in this easy simple loaf, ideal to take on picnics. Using oil instead of butter in this recipe makes it very easy to mix the ingredients together. Cuts into 12 slices.
Ingredients: 250g self-raising flour. 1 tsp ground cinnamon. 1 tsp baking powder. 150g caster sugar. 125ml/4fl oz orange juice. 100ml/3 fl oz olive oil. 2 eggs. 110g skinned hazelnuts, toasted and chopped, (you can buy ready chopped and toasted hazelnuts, but I find you can't beat the depth of flavour when you do this yourself). 250g fresh raspberries. Method: Preheat oven 180C, 350F, Gas Mk4. Grease and line a 900g/2lb loaf tin. In a bowl, sift the flour, cinnamon and baking powder together, then stir in the sugar. Add the orange juice, oil, eggs and nuts, and beat together until smooth. Carefully fold in the raspberries and turn the mixture into the prepared tin. Bake on the middle shelf for 1 hour until the cake springs back when lightly pressed. Turn on to a wire rack to cool, and peel off lining paper. Keeps for 2 days.
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Weather for Sudbury
Thursday 09 February 2012
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