It Was A Pesto Recovery.

In the end it had to be homemade pesto pasta. Mainly due to what was, or wasn’t in the fridge and the fact that it was Sunday and all the shops in France are well and truly shut on a Sunday.

The pasta definitely did the job and I felt one hundred percent better and healthier. Lots of fragrant basil, the healing oils of garlic, some toasted pinenuts and the cleansing properties of freshly squeezed lemon juice. All perfectly bundled into a steaming bowl of al-dente carbohydrates.

And I’m on top of the world again.

I really wondered about putting this one in though as a recipe. You’ve probably all made it before and it is just pesto. It’s a shame that I think that about such a simple and yet such an amazing recipe. I guess It’s from past lazy, rushed meals and the jar of shop bought stuff making the odd appearence (who me? Never).

But the homemade version is always a revelation and I think you should all try it for the simple, up-lifting experience of it!

Its cheap, its easy and its healthy, need anymore excuses? Here goes;

For 5-8 people you will need;

500g pack spaghetti or more depending on the hunger vibes your getting

Large pan of boiling salted water

A good sized bunch of fresh basil, leaves picked from the stems. We’re talking like a small posy. The smell will have you won over already.

2 good sized cloves of garlic, skins removed and sliced

Grated zest and juice of 1 large lemon

50g lightly toasted pinenuts

100 g grated Parmesan cheese or Pecorino

150ml olive oil to start with

Salt and pepper

Just to let you know that these amounts are really just a guide line. You can make your pesto more lemony or more nutty. You really can’t go wrong so play around with it to your liking.

Method;

• Whilst you have a large pan of water on to boil make your pesto. When the water comes to the boil add, roughly, a tbsp of salt to a litre of water. Don’t be shy.

• Put the basil leaves, garlic, lemon zest and juice, pinenuts, parmesan and the oil into a food blender and whizz till it’s all combined. It shouldn’t be too pureed; a bit of texture is nice. If you only have a hand blender then that will work fine.

• Season with a little salt and a good grinding of pepper remembering that the parmesan can be salty. Add more olive oil if it needs to be loosened.

• Taste and adjust the flavours as you wish.

• When the spaghetti is ready, strain it but keep roughly 3 tbsp of the pasta water to mix in with the pesto.

• Tip the pasta back into the pan and add the pesto and pasta water. Stir to combine and serve with lots of salad and some nice crusty bread.

• And there end’eth your hangover.

You can use walnuts if you wish to really boost the health benefits. I have a nut allergy on board so I stick to the pinenuts. Also if you don’t like the idea of so much raw garlic (maybe you have a date), then you could roast the whole cloves in their skins in the oven which makes the garlic a little sweeter before adding to your pesto.

We’re going out for our first trial-sail of the year tomorrow. Very exciting. I hope I remember how to do it and which bits of rope to pull and when. I’ll let you know how it goes. Wish me luck and see you soon.

Ouch.

Well that was messy. But fun too. (Thanks Holly)  And most of Saturday was a bit of a right-off.(Shame on me, sorry Ma) I might have mentioned in my last blog that the possibilities of copious amounts of rose being consumed when in the close vicinity of classic yacht sailors were high. I lied. It turned out to be copious amounts of cheap vin rouge, by the glass; ouch.

It was a large chocolate Haagen-Dazs milk-shake that kicked the hangover into touch, followed a little later on with some great sushi; a great aspect of Cannes, plenty of sushi restaurants.

So I'm back on track today and wondering what the ultimate apres-hangover meal might be. What soul-food is waiting for me in my cupboards? Something soothing, refreshing, nutritious. Sounds like flavours from the Thai department to me. I'll go have a gander and let you know what I come up with.

Would love to know what your ultimate hangover food is in the meantime... Please leave helpful suggestions in the comment box below and I'll be back later with mine.

Cheese and Chutney Pie

We looking a bit out of place there? And small.
Next week we get to move down the quay a bit so that we'll fit in a bit more with the neighbours. Which is great because the neighbours will be the likes of beautiful classics such as Mariette, Cambria and Altair amongst others. The only downside I know from many past experinces is that there'll be alot more socialising in the copious-amounts-of-rose type. Well shucks...


So off I went to the market this morning. I needed to get a few bits and bobs for lunch. I had to be quick because I was needed to help varnish the rail, so only bought some tomatoes. We were there pretty early as you can see. These pictures aren't exactly a true representation of the full Cannes Market Experience. Normally you can't move for French ladies, their small dogs and trolleys, loudly hollering for bargains, proclaiming how good or how bad a stall's produce is as they skillfully hammer the price down.

(I have a trolley. Im aware that back home this is not cool. Especially at the tender age of 33. However, when shopping for lots of hungry people with no transport, let me tell you that in physical-effort terms, they're cool Ok) 

I wish I could do that at the Cannes market, banter the price down. Do you know how much these tomatoes cost?   Cannes market is great fun to go to but unless you have plenty of time and a huge budget, its for taking pretty pictures and maybe learning the odd bit of French.

The Most Expensive Tomatoes In The World

So because I was on varnishing duty, I decided to do an easy sandwich lunch. I made a bowl of egg mayonnaise, tuna mayonnaise and huge green salad. A platter of hams and salamis, those 4 Euro tomatoes with mozzerella, dried figs and apricots. Then I decided to make a cheese and onion pie which was absolutely no effort whatsoever. Try it.


I had 2 rolls of ready made shortcrust pastry which you can get ready rolled in France. So the pie took literally 20 minutes to make and 10 people had plenty what with the other bits and bobs they had to eat.


You will need;

2 rounds of ready made shortcrust
2 onions sliced
Goats cheese
2 tbsp of any chutney you may have
2 tsp of dried thyme
an egg or milk for glazing
Sprinkling of sesamee seeds.

• Fry the onions in a little oil and season with salt and a little sugar. 
• Fry till they are just starting to go a nice golden colour.
• Lay the first round of pastry out on a non-stick baking sheet and smear the chutney over the base leaving an edge of about an inch un-chutneyed.
• Pour over your onions and then scatter the goats cheese over that in an even layer.
• sprinkle with the dried thyme. Then with a pastry brush wet the outside edge of the pastry with water so that the top layer of pastry will stick to it.
• plonk over your top layer of pastry and roughly scrunch together the 2 edges so that you know the pie is well sealed. Brush with beaten egg or milk and scatter with the sesamee seeds.
• Wih a sharp knife, poke 2 holes into the pastry lid so that steam can escape.
• Bake in a pre heated oven at gas mark 5/190 degrees for 35-40 minutes
• Hey presto, pie for 8-10 people and a nice picnic lunch.

 Did I mention how much those tomatoes cost?



Its friday tomorrow and we have the weekend off. I might have to start drinking some rose then. Have a good one. I'll let you know how mine goes. Thanks for reading.

Pumpkin Lasagne

We arrived in Cannes yesterday afternoon, gracefully motoring in as Arnold Schwarzenegger finished up his tea on one of the big Super Yachts and left with his entourage of body guards…was it something we said? Anyway, this is what it’s all about here. Its all glamour and sparkly, shiny, expensive boats and women.  I might have to start brushing my hair in the morning.

On the opposite end of the glamour scale, I’ve had a few requests for the recipe for my kitchen-sink-lasagne which featured briefly in my last blog.  It may not be very ‘Cote D'azure’, but is a great way to feed lots of hungry mouths in a very short space of time. Everything but the kitchen sink can go in it, hence the name (I’m sure you hadn’t guessed that) And it costs nothing to make. Ace.

More often than not, I find myself with around 90 minutes to cook lunch for 12 people  and can’t afford to take the time to go to the shops. Kitchen-sink-lasagne day I looked into the fridge to find 4 courgettes, a quarter of a bit of a pumpkin, and some very odd bits of cheese. Thus followed a huge lasagne!  So here it is and obviously you can use most left over vege’s that are in the fridge. If you have onions, you can make a feast out of anything in my book;

For a lasagne for 6-10 people you will need;

3-4 onions, thinly sliced

3-4 cloves of garlic, crushed

2 medium sized potatoes, chopped into small cubes

Pumpkin or butternut squash, peeled and chopped as small as the potato

4 courgettes, grated; the water squeezed out of them

100 g pinenuts, dry fried in a pan till golden

A box of dried lasagne sheets (or fresh if you have)

A white sauce (bought or homemade, instructions below)

Any bits of left over cheese, rind and all!

tsp of fennel seeds

Method

•         Because you’re probably in a hurry, the lasagne will cook quicker if it’s soaked first, so put a load of the pasta sheets in a dish of water. Unless you have fresh in which case skip that bit.

•         Gently sauté your onions in some olive oil or sunflower oil with ½ tsp sugar. (I usually do this with onions, I find it helps drawer out their sweetness and helps round off the flavour of most dishes. My grandma taught me that)

•         In another pan, at the same time as your onions sauté the pumpkin and potatoes in some oil until soft. Don’t fry them too hard, they don’t want to be browned, just soft. Add the fennel seeds and continue sautéing for a few more minutes. Add to your onions.

•         Squeeze as much of the water out of the grated courgettes as you can. Fry this in some oil for a few minutes then add to the rest of the vege mixture along with the toasted pinenuts. Season with some salt and pepper. 

For the white sauce

¾ pint of milk

2 tbsp butter

2-3 tbsp plain flour

A dash of grated nutmeg

Salt and pepper

100-150g of bits and bobs of cheese,

•         Now for the tasty, cheesy white sauce bit;  If you have a carton or jar of white sauce then just heat gently and add your finely chopped or grated bits of cheese. I used some goat’s cheese, parmesan and some French Cantal but cheddar or anything would be great too.

•         To make the sauce from scratch plop a good tbsp or about 50g butter into a small-ish saucepan. Melt the butter then add 2 wooden spoons worth of flour or 2 heaped tbsp. Stir into the butter on a medium heat so that’s its sizzling. When it looks a bit honey-combed or granular then take off the heat. Now start adding some milk bit by bit, stirring loads with a wooden spoon or whisk to incorporate it fully into the flour and butter after each addition. It gets a bit doughy but that’s cool. Eventually it’ll start turning into a nice looking sauce. When you have incorporated all the milk put back onto a medium heat and keep stirring all the time till its thickened. When it has thickened nicely, let it simmer gently for about 5 minutes.

•         Take off the heat and then add you cheese, nutmeg and seasoning till you're very happy with the taste. Please use freshly grated nutmeg. The pre-grated stuff is truly useless. Make sure your sauce is not too thick; you need a good amount of spreadable cheesy, creamy sauce.

•         Now you can start layering. Spread a few spoonfuls of the veg mixture across the base of your dish. Just a light smearing of it is all you need to start off with. Lay your sheets of soaked lasagne sheets over the vege's so that there are no gaps.

•         Next spoon about a third of the vege mixture over the lasagne sheets. Then pour over a good dribble of the cheese sauce till it thinly covers the vege mixture. Top this with more lasagne sheets.

•         Keep repeating this process till you have come to the top of your dish. I like to finish off with a last layer of pasta sheets then a final topping of cheese sauce and some grated cheese.

•         Bake in the oven for about 40 minutes, till nice and golden and bubbly on top.

I’ll be off to the Cannes market as soon as possible so I’ll be coming up with some slightly more, good looking, Cannes worthy dishes for the crew. And it’s getting hot, slowly but surely. So it’s definitely salad time of year again.

Please do use the comment box below if you have any requests for recipes or you tried a dish and wish to tell me how it went. I'd love to know. Cheers!

See you soon and hopefully with a bit more of a tan. I really need to try to fit in a bit more round here. But then I would still like to keep eating so I'll let you know how it goes. Who really cares about being a size 8 still at the age of 33?

A Quick Tour

I thought I’d give you a quick tour of my galley and my cabin. It won’t take long because there’s not a huge amount to show you.  We’ll start with the galley.

My oven is known as a ‘Force Ten’. I really think that it’s perhaps designed to cook on boats that are less than 60ft long for no more than 8 people on the occasional, nice weekend’s outing on the Solent. And there I am, cooking for 12 every day, sometimes on deliveries, for days at a time on an angle of various degrees. Last year, ‘Mr Oven’, (he’s definitely a male. So difficult when I least need it) got the chance to live up to his name; ‘Force-Ten’ (said with movie trailer voice). He failed.

We sailed the boat from here, St Tropez to the UK. Most of the 3 week trip was great, catching fish and making sushi. But then the coast of Portugal brought weather that sent the fruit bowl flying (amongst anything else on the boat that wasn’t glued down or lashed to the deck) so that whilst trying to stay up-right, hold on, keep a non-sea-sick head and cook stir fried vege’s and egg noodles, I also had to avoid a pineapple, apples and some kiwi’s all hurtling through the galley in various directions. And then the oven door kept flying open, whilst my one and only port hole started to leak all over the floor I was already struggling to stand up on……

‘Oh, how we laughed!’, she says with a small, its-all-in-the-distant-past kind of a chuckle.

So here we are, the crew queuing up for lunch whilst in port. So if you were thinking of downing some Stugeron, hold back, its all flat and calm again.

Tim and Matty diving into 'kitchen-sink-lasagne'

You’ll no doubt get to know this lot quite well over the next few months. I’ll remember not to complain about their eating habits too much. We work, live, eat and play in such close quarters, its probably wise to say nothing but the nicest of things. To be honest, I’m very lucky. I have one vegetarian, one nut allergy, and the odd, few dis-likes. Oh and the captain can’t eat too much shellfish or drink green wine but that’s his story and I definitely need to keep him sweet.

Moving onto my cabin then; sorry, our cabin.  The Fella and I have now spent a week, back in our cabin quarters. Now, you may think from these pictures that it all looks quite nice! And you’d be right. We’re very, very lucky. 4 members of the crew sleep in the forepeak. They have ‘cots’ which fold down on pullies. And a space under a seat to put their stuff in (crew uniform, pants etc). So Billy, Joe etc, if you’re reading this then please forgive me my whinging.

maybe I could have tidied a bit more...

We all spend about 7-8 months living in this manner. And let me tell you that you can love your partner/boyfriend/spouse more than anything in the world and yet, I assure you, you will be tested by this arrangement. The Fella and I sleep head to toe in our bunk. George is 6ft 3 and very broad in the shoulder (don’t want to brag about how butch my man is…oh, ooops!).  And I…well I am no slim, tiny, slip of a thing, Hey man,I’m a foody!  So we simply can not lie next to each other and not, quite literally, hate each other by the early hours. It’s a small single bed in normal, land-bed-sized terms.

 

Thank God I love the Fella’s feet.

Showing my drawers on the internet eh? Anyway, there they are. 2 whole drawers. Its amazing how as a chic, you can put the most amazing amount of stuff away in 2 drawers. The problem comes when you need a particular top or pair of jeans. It all has to come out or you’ve no hope of getting dressed any time soon.

 My life for the next 8 months basically is all right there. Obviously I haven’t shown you any of the cool on deck sailing stuff yet, but don’t worry, we’ll get there soon. We move the boat to Cannes on Monday and start race training in a few weeks. There you’ll get to meet my fabulous stewardess who I couldn’t live without as we peel off wet clothes after a hard day’s sailing, make tea and snacks for the rest of the crew, looking like we never had a hair out of place all day, cooking dinner and sandwich fillings for the next day’s sail… Its my turn to buy the next bottle of Gin Sian, don’t worry I’m on it.

Hope you can join us for it, its going to be an amazing season.

Topinambour!

It has truly begun. Here I am at the beginning of another season aboard ‘Mariquita’, one of the most beautiful classic yachts in the world (as you can see from her picture, right) and this, her hundredth year.  I am so very proud to be here. In fact, if you’re still with me in a month or so, it wont be for long. For you will be disgusted at my blatant and highly unflattering boasts about how I so have the best job in the world and leave me. Fair enough. But if you don’t leave, I do give you full permission to remind me of this ‘reality-check-blog’, in which I will let on that it’s not all roses. Especially when your 33.

If you read my last one you will know that my Fella, George and I have recently moved out of our ‘Crew House’ up the hill and are now on the boat in Cogolin, a marina just down the way from St Tropez in the South of France. This procedure happens the same time every year in the same way and I enjoy it less with every year (I get older) I’m afraid. For it involves leaving the comforts and space of the ‘crew house’ to the lack of both on the boat. No more double bed and choice of bathrooms. But back to sharing a small cabin with the Fella, 2 drawers for clothes and a crew ‘heads’ (bathroom) to share with 7 others. Joy.

One mustn’t grumble; and so I look as usual to the fridge to cheer myself up. My stomach and my droopy mood needs soup. A soft and friendly soup that still harks back to the colder seasons but is a gentle, encouraging shove into the direction of summer.  I was so happy to find Jerusalem Artichokes in the supermarket still. Their season is coming to a close but they were exactly what I needed. If you have never made Jerusalem Artichoke soup before, I implore you to try it soon. It’s really so easy to make but gentle and warming and light and rich all at the same soup-slurping time. I can taste it now as I write.

Jerusalem Artichokes have nothing to do with Jerusalem and absolutely are not Artichokes and look like fresh root ginger. Which is confusing. In France they call them Topinambour, a way cooler name. But they are also known as Sunchokes or Sunroot.  They are a root vegetable and are a bit like potatoes I guess, or celeriac in texture. But like I said they are a gentle taste so please don’t be afraid to try them if you haven’t already and to cook them like you would a potato, so mash, fry or steam.

I highly recommend the soup. And I highly recommend using a homemade chicken stock, but hey, I know what its like so if it’s a cube that’s cool too.

For 6-8 bowls of soup you will need;

2 small onions or 1 large, chopped small

2-3 cloves of garlic, crushed

500-600 g Jerusalem artichokes, roughly peeled and chopped into 1 inch bits

(I say roughly because they can be a real faff, depending on their nobblyness. So really don’t sweat it. Do what you can be bothered to do before it’s not cool anymore)

2 medium potatoes, peeled and chopped the same size as the J. Artichokes
about 2 pints of hot chicken or vege stock
½ tsp sugar

Good grating of nutmeg

2-3 tbsp crème fraiche or cream, and its optional depending on how much comfort you're in need of.

 Method;

• Gently sauté the chopped onions in some sunflower oil and a small knob of butter. Turn the heat right down low and put the lid on the pan whilst you deal with the Jerusalem Artichokes.

• Time to peel the Jerusalem Artichokes. I sort of chop them into easier pieces, then peel. Last time I made this, I really barely peeled them and it was a lovely soup and the skin is always highly nutritious.

• Every now and then take the lid off the pan and stir to check the onions aren’t catching on the bottom. Just before you’re ready to add the Artichokes, add the garlic to the pan and the ½ tsp sugar.

• Turn the heat up a little and add your J.Artichokes and the potatoes. Stir and get a good sizzle going. Then add the stock to the pan.

• Bring the soup to a boil, turn down the heat and let simmer for about 20 minutes. Season with some salt, pepper and a good grating of fresh nutmeg.

• When your J.Artichokes and potatoes are soft, whiz the soup to a puree with a hand blender. Stir in your cream/crème fraiche.

• Check your seasoning. This is a delicate flavour so careful not to put too much salt in. And if you have any truffle oil then definitely drizzle the soup with that. I have a vegetarian onboard so I don’t, but this would go very well with some crispy bacon croutons to garnish.

• Serve with some nice crusty brown bread and butter and prepare to feel much, much better about things.

Please try this out if you never have before and let me know what you think. This is a very simple recipe but I’m sure you would be a little more adventurous. I’ll get there soon too. We’re moving to Cannes on Monday and so will be amongst the rich and beautiful and amongst other beautiful classic boats and fellow classic yachties. That’ll get me going into the season, happy to be on the boat again, even at the age of 33.

Wild Boar Daube

I must start by apologising for my absence having posted my first blog a long,whole week ago. The internet in the 'crew house' broke... Im really not sure but apparently it was the modem - or the router, or maybe it was the modem-router  (can you tell I haven't a clue about such things?). But whatever it was we haven't been able to fix it yet.  I am writing this however, my second blog, sitting in the saloon of 'Mariquita', having just moved back onto the boat for the season. Its raining outside which is creating that nice cosy effect of being in a tent. And im reminiscing our winter adventures in La Garde Freinet.

The joys of living in the 'crew house'  in La Garde Freinet during the winter months, are many and various. True, we're not sailing but we need the break aswell as the boat does. Its a period of maintenance for  'Mariquita' and for us.  The best of those joys being that we get weekends off to do things such as mountain biking in the hills which surround us and snowboarding in the nearest of the Alps. We've also been known to go foraging for mushrooms when they are in season, picking fresh, fat cep's in the French countryside. Which had me literally squeeling with delight.


Wild boar, speaking of squeeling, is very delicious and its here and sometimes, very occasionally, if you're as lucky as me, your handsome boyfriend whilst in his landrover, might come across a poor, unfortunate pig who has been knocked down by a car. They fit perfectly in the back of a Landy, dead wild boars. 


Im very sorry if you happen to be a bit squeemish. You might not truely appreciate these photos but please believe me when I say how much fun it is butchering a whole, wild animal. Especially if you're not entirely sure what your doing. The only whole animal I ever butchered before (not including birds) was a goat in the Caribbean. But thats another story.

Thats me doing my best

Boar is delicious. Its full of flavour, not gamey if thats not your thing and takes on other flavours very well. I made a wild boar daube (a french casserole basically) with the meat from one leg and one shoulder to feed 10 for a dinner party. I have included my recipe on this blog for you. You can get wild boar in the UK but if you're struggling, you could easily substitute the boar with beef or venison and it would be just as delicious.  We served our Daube with homemade tagliatelle.
Its really best to start making your daube 2-3 days in advance so that you can marinade the meat. It will absorb all the lovely flavours of the wine and herbs and orange zest. And gets you all excited about cooking it when the time is ready.





For 6-8 people you will need;
2-3 lb/900g-1kg meat, cubed into large sized pieces
bottle of red wine, a good rich one, all dark and spicey, a burgandy perhaps
couple of sprigs of fresh rosemary
3-4 bits of orange peel (using a peeler but try not to get any pith)
12 black pepper corns, 12 juniper berries
8 cloves of garlic peeled and slightly squished with the blade of a knife
a few bay leaves

So put all the above ingredients in a nice wide, non-metallic dish and let it sit covered in the fridge for no less than a day, 2-3 if you can. Stir occasionally.

And when you're ready to go;

4 onions, sliced (as you like, thin or thick)
6 cloves of garlic, chopped
400 g bacon lardons, not smoked
4-5 carrots peeled and roughly chopped into nice sized chunks, not too small
bunch fresh thyme
few sprigs fresh rosemary
4 bay leaves
4 fresh pieces orange zest
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 tbsp soft brown sugar
extra red wine
4 tbsp cognac
good handful black olives

Drain the meat from the red wine its been sitting happily in for the last few days setting the wine aside for later. Sieve all the herbs out of the wine and discard.

In a large frying pan, sear and brown the boar over a high heat in olive oil and a small knob of butter. Do this in small batches so you dont over-crowd the pan which cools it down too much for searing. When the pieces are nicely browned all over, set aside. If you need to, add more oil.

Once you have seared all the boar, fry the lardons . Set aside with the boar.
Using the bacon fat, turn the heat down and gently sautee the onions for 10 minutes, then add the garlic. Continue sauteeing till the onions are starting to go a nice golden colour. Stir in the carrots.
After a few minutes frying the carrots you can return the bacon and boar to the pan. Turn the heat up a little so it all starts to have a nice sizzle.

Dob in the tomato puree and give it all a good stir.  Add the sugar and some salt and pepper. Then add the red wine from the marinade, topping up with fresh red wine to cover or some beef stock.

Add all the remaining herbs and orange zest.

Cover and cook in the oven at gas mark 3 for about 4-5 hours.

Before serving the boar, ladle about as much of the liquid into a saucepan as you can. Bring to a rolling boil (a good bubbling boil) and stir in the cognac, a tablespoon of redcurrent jelly or crab apple if you have any and let it reduce and thicken. This should take about 20 minutes.

If you'd like to thicken the sauce further then put a tbsp of cornflour into a cup and add 2-3 tbsp of cold water to mix into a smooth, thin paste. then add 2-3 tbsp of the reduced, red wine sauce to the cup and mix. Pour it all back into the saucepan, stir till the cornflour has thickened the sauce and check for seasoning before finally returning your  red wine sauce back into the casserole. Finish off by adding the black olives.


Always good to have another final seasoning check before serving the Daube with taglietelle, green salad and a nice hunk of fresh bread to mop up that delicious red wine gravy.

Enjoy! And by the way, there is no reason why you shouldn't cook and eat this in the coming summer months. Or maybe I really am just dragging my heels into summer this year. I've not even spent one night onboard yet and im missing my nice big bedroom, wardrobe and choice of 3 bathrooms already....

Thanks 'Crew House'. That was a great winter. See you again in October.