Croissant Crown : Brunch Fit for a Queen

Inspiration comes from many quarters. But it's one thing to see something and another to make it at home without instructions. I once struggled with a Melon de Dinde but the results were definitely worth it, succulent meat made really moist by the fat simmering inside. 

Starting from the reckless principle: if they can do it, I can do it too. When I came across a picture of une couronne de croissants fourrés, there was no doubt in my mind. This beautiful thing was to be the next brunch.

For once, it was dead easy. Start with a tin of uncooked dough for croissants,  sold in shops for £1.50. The stuffing is left entirely up to the imagination. I would think that cheddar will be high on the list however here, I made used of the mozzarella which was languishing in the fridge and left-over ham shreds.

The trick, if ever there is one in this case is the place all the triangles with their small side touching one another in a circle on the work-top, place the fillings on the top and roll the croissant as normal. there will be gaps and therefore a little spillage but that doesn't matter. Cook according to the instructions. Et voila

A tear and share - happy meal.

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I entered My Croissant Crown in the Baking Explorer and Cakeyboi's

"I Made This" : Butter

Do you remember the ending few seconds of each X-files episode when a little voice proudly declared "I made this". That little voice skipped and played into my head as I turned the handle of this ever so low tec hand-held gadget that you have to love it for just what it represents.

 Why would you make your own butter?

There is no rational reason for making home-made butter, if only to enjoy that moment when you look inside the jar and you see the cream separating, the buttermilk raising and the butter forming. That's the "I made this" moment.
 

 Turning cream into butter has never been difficult, it can be done in a food processor or even a plain jar, it's a matter of shaking the cream a medium speed. In this case, by turning the handle.

 

I am afraid to say it's not economical either, unless you have free access to a cow in the back garden. For 400-450g of butter you'll need 900ml double or whipping cream.

 

But it's fun and you are certain that your butter will not contain additive. Butter can be flavoured. Add garlic, parsley and eh, presto: Garlic Butter for an Italian evening.  Add a touch of icing sugar and a sprinkling of cinnamon to your homemade butter and serve with tear-and-share sweet breads, snack-attacks sorted.

 

With the buttermilk I made a scones-crown

 

How to make butter?

 

 

Pour the cream in the Butter Churner and beat it at a medium speed for 10 to 15 minutes. First the cream will thicken to eventually stiffen and form butter clumps and a whitish liquid. Carry on churning for a few minutes. Then you'll need to rinse the remaining buttermilk from your butter. That's when paddles are handy but you can do it by hand. Et voila "you made this too"

 

Disclaimer Silver Mushroom sent me their Kilner Butter Churner for trial. I was not asked to write a positive review. The Kilner Butter Churner can be found online and in shop RRP £22.00

 
 

Lobster Ravioli

You know what the wise woman says "every single cloud deedah deedah...." however, when it comes to fishing policies, it's hard to imagine that the adage applies. 

Lobster Ravioli served in The Canadian -VIA train across Canada -

I still maintain that (collective) we don't do enough and this is going to end up in tears but in the meantime, something is happening for which we had no warning.

The price of lobster is falling drastically, 70% in recent years, according to the Wall Street Journal.

This is likely to make a huge difference to the choice of main dish at Christmas. Already Iceland (the supermarket not the country) chose to make this once expensive crustacean one of its showpiece, at what we can expect to be a very reasonable price.

 

Why is this happening?

The Atlantic temperature is rising, lobsters hatch sooner, little ones grow faster. Concomitantly there is less danger to the small lobsters as there predator, cod, is overfished, told you it's a mess. In return Canadian and American lobsters abound.

 

Looking at the bright side of things, we can, for a while at least, make the most of the not-so-good situation and eat lobsters while keeping an eye on the ever more complicated list of sustainable fish to eat published by the Marine Conservation Society.

 

At least, if produced "en masse" lobsters are likely to arrive frozen are ready to cook which make recipes such as lobster ravioli, much easier to prepare at home.

 

I had a lobster ravioli for brunch while travelling in the Canadian, four days across Canada for Trip Reporter and I loved it. Here is the easy way to cook it at home. A lot of "cheat" is used but cooking from scratch for a small amount doesn't make sense.

 

Lobster Ravioli

 

Ingredients

 

Fresh lasagne sheets (dried can be used too, half cook them first, handle when cold)

 

Lobster meat

 

Double cream

 

Tarragon, salt pepper

 

1 egg, whisked

 

the proportions depend on the quantity you will be making. The filling needs to be rather thick. Weight the lobster flesh and start adding 1/4 of the weight in cream.

 

Method

Mix lobster and cream in a bowl. Use a hand-blender to a "mash". add herb and seasoning

 

Place a sheet of lasagne on the work top.

 

Top with a teaspoon of the mixture leaving 12cm between the "blobs".

 

Paint the egg on the lasagne between the lobster fillings, this will act like a glue.

 

Cover with the other lasagne. Press where the egg has been painted but not to close to the filling as it needs a bit of space to expand.

 

Cut the shapes and boil for 5 minutes (3 if al dente)

 

Serve with cream sauce and grated cheese

 

Dear Bloggers-Readers have you entered the #InheritanceRecipes Challenge yet

 

 

Let's Shakshuka

Let's talk Shakshuka.  Being "issued from immigration," in other words second generation onwards generates a lot of soul searching about identity.

I grew up in France. My parents' marriage were a mixed one. In the late 20's, my maternal family immigrated to France from Essaouira, Morocco, a modern tourists resort

 

and an ancient fishing port

I am fourth generation. As a child I would never introduce my friends to my mum's family. I was too afraid of being marked for my differences. So I hid them away. 

Then I immigrated and this bought a new set of situations. Three decades in the UK, I now write for the local newspaper and I am still talk to very slowly or in a poor primary school French probably to make sure I understand.

 

All this was running through my mind when Margot of Coffee 'n Vanilla and I talked about the new "Inheritance Recipes" Challenge. We are both in a different way proud of our roots and equally proud of being active citizens in the country of our choosing. There is a lot to celebrate:
 

When I think back to my grand-father's kitchen, I can smell the aroma of chargrilled peppers, see honeyed cakes and colourful plates and hear a little chorus of cousins singing "On y va, c'est d'la Shakshuka d'Essaouira".

 

Shakshuka is traditionally served with eggs. At Pebble Soup HQ we like it with spicy sausages which is a lesser know version.

Ingredients

 

• a little olive oil
• 1 or 2 onions, peeled and diced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 2 medium green or red bell pepper, chopped, grilled and skin removed
• 6 medium ripe diced tomatoes peel and deseeded, or 2 cans of diced tomatoes
• 1 tsp chili powder or 1 tsp of harissa
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp paprika (optional)
• 1 tsp of tomato paste (for extra colour)
• 1 big pinch of sugar
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 2 spicy sausages (or merguez) per person
• 1/2 tbsp fresh chopped parsley (optional, to look pretty)

Method
 

Step 1 is to peel the peppers, this doesn't have to be done but the result is nicer with skinless peppers.
           put the peppers on a grill, when the skin has blackened seal them in a plastic freezer bags until cool or run them under the water. When cool enough to handle, peel

 

In a frying pan or skillet if you have one, add the spices (cumin and chili or harissa) to hot olive oil and cook the onions and garlic gently until the onions are transparent.

 

Grill the sausages

 

Add the peeled tomatoes, the peppers, the sugar reduce and cook until it's all thick and shiny. Add the tomato paste if you want to add colour.

 

Combine the sausages and the base.

 

Shakshuka base can also be served cold as a salad

 

 

I'm submitting this recipe to the Inheritance Recipes challenge that we have just stared together with Margot at Coffee and Vanilla. This month theme is Cool Recipes so please come and join us, share your inherited Summer recipes!

Inheritance Recipes : Cool Recipes - August Challenge -

Welcome to the first Inheritance Recipes Challenge

Inheritance Recipes is a challenge celebrating dishes that food bloggers cherish. Recipes which have been passed down by a family member, a friend, through an ancestral culture and dishes which you would like to bestow to future generations.

August theme is Cool Recipes. We would love to see your summer recipes. Cool recipes, easy to prepare or/and don't need cooking.

Choose recipe(s) you've inherited from friends or family or one you would love to pass down to the next generation. To say thank you for entering we have a prize for you.

Janice as in farmersgirl.blogspot.com and long standing food-blogger will be our friendly judge.  The lucky winner will be sent a Cake Pans Set  by Lakeland our prize provider this month  -Postage restricted to UK only-

 

About Lakeland

Lakeland is a household name. a chain of kitchenware stores and online which celebrated their 50th anniversary, last year.  It is still based where it was founded in Windermere in the Lake District and has not lost its family business approach. Personally, I love Lakeland products, for me the brand name is a sign of quality moreover the people working at Lakeland are genuine and highly professional so it was a delight when they agreed to be  our first challenge's prize provider.

About Layer cakes

  are show stoppers, mille-feuille, sandwich cakes and black forest gateaux often make as layer cakes. Did you know that the first layered cake was recorded in 1872, of course we don't expect your recipes to date back to the 19th century.

 

HOW TO ENTER?

  Please, Link your recipe back to Pebble Soup and Coffee 'n Vanilla - Grab one of the  pretty Inheritance Recipes badges, display it on your post, 

• Up to two recipe links accepted per blogger, so long as each one fits the month’s theme. Feel free to link up to past posts but please add the links to our websites and the Inheritance Recipes badge too.

If we are using the linky

• Add your recipe via the linky provided on the host page

          if not

• Send your recipe URL to the host email address (in August pebblesoup at gmail dot com) including your own email address, the name of you recipe and the blog-post link. Closing date is the 24th of each month

If you feel like sharing via Twitter to promote your recipe, please add @solangeweb  and @coffeenvanilla #InheritanceRecipes and we will retweet.   

• The winner will be announced at the end of the month via Twitter and on the host post. Entries from bloggers all around the world are accepted but  but unfortunately the prize can only be shipped to a UK address.

 

• And if you have not done so yet, have a look at terms and conditions here

 

We can't wait to see your Inheritance Recipes.

 

Reminder The theme for the first Inheritance Recipe challenge is Cool Recipes, deadline 24th August, we would love to see your summer recipes and recipes which are easy to prepare.

Link and have fun

An InLinkz Link-up

 



'Tales From the Meadow’ A Giant Cake

Certain initiatives take your breath away. A giant cake measuring  10 metre squared cake, weighing over half a tonne which took It took over 168 hours to create, definitely enters that category.

 

 Irish butter producer, Kerrygold partnered with renowned sugar artist, Michelle Wibowo, to bring the luscious rolling hills of Ireland to London city centre. why?

 
A national research revealed some incredible facts

• four out of ten Brits have never been to the countryside in the last ten years, which is in itself  a mind-boggling stats.
• If you add  that 10% of Brits admit they have never heard a cockerel ‘cock-a-doodle-do’ in real life.  More than seven per cent has no idea that corn grows in a field.
  

It was time to do something, the renowned butter cie decided to bring the country side to London. Hopefully, the next survey won't reveal that people believe real meadows are made out of sugar paste.
 
But for the time being passer-by in  Finsbury Avenue Square were stunned to see and Irish meadow complete with grass, rolling hills, hedgerows, a pond, farm house and barn, meadow flowers and  even Irish dairy cows – all hand crafted from cake and sugar icing. 

Take a look at the making of the cake and Londoners enjoying a ’slice of the meadow’ here

Some publicity stunts are just amazing, let's hope this one will hit the mark and we will take more to the country side, after all if we don't know where our food grows what chance do we stand to eat healthily?

Go to Twitter copy "RT to #win 1 of 10 limited illustrated edition of ‘Tales From the Meadow’ @solangeweb" and paste.

This post is sponsored by Kerrygold.
 

Wine -Destination : Niagara, Ontario

About an hour and half away from Toronto, the Niagara region once only known for its magnificent waterfalls is now a prime destination for a wine lovers. With nearly 100 wineries spread across the area there is enough to keep you busy for days. If you get bored with wine-tasting which is very unlikely, there is always the distilleries, the craft beer breweries and of course the falls.

The winecountryontaria has a wine route planner to custom your own wine tour itinerary. You can cycle the trails, Segway the vineyards or even fly over in an helicopter. At Pebble Soup, we only had to hop in the car with our designated a driver. We are very lucky to have friends who immigrated to the area and though we miss them a lot, while we were dithering about visiting Canada, it gave them years to conduct applied research which they did with a thorough dedication for which we are grateful.

Somehow, I'd like to start with our last stop in Beamsville and a holding belonging to friends of our friends. The reason I want to do so is that meeting the proprietors of these vineyards has been refreshing experience. Their openness, fresh marketing drive, uncomplicated approach and readiness to approach organic viniculture is in stark contraction with the French Vignerons' way imbued in the notion of "terroir".

But first, a tasting stop at the recently re-opened Kew vineyards with its incredibly beautiful mansion, its tasting patio, its crisp Riesling, soft Chardonnay, two of the original wines grown in the area and my favourite: a seductive sparking blanc de noir with tiny bubbles, hints of summer fruits and citrus.

Then, our party trotted next door where a South-African couple hires out their vines to a major local winery. To my utter surprised I was told, "A few years back, "ceps de vignes" in Bordeaux suffered a plague which devastated the harvest. Beamsville sent vine replacements and saved the day".

By contrast, we visited a winery which is part of a larger estate: 13th Street in St Catherines where their, "Very first vines were planted in 1976. In the years since, they' ve planted Gamay Noir, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Riesling, Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Pinot Gris and now have amassed more than 40 acres of estate vineyards in the VQA Creek Shores appellation of Niagara". It was interesting to see that here again, the first impression was, the hospitality, the openness.

13th Street is a well-oiled business. For $5 you get a flight of 3 tasting wine of your choosing. The wine is not pretentious, I rather liked the Riesling which has got such a bad reputation in Europe but somehow in Canada seems to have drop its "Nun habit" turned dryer and much much more robust.


More stops, a little tasting here, another there and we needed food which took us to a must visit  the Brewery in Silversmith, set in a beautiful, restored, old church.

Ontario craft beer movement has certainly grown fast over the past decade or so: according to Beer Canada, the number of licensed breweries in rose almost by 50% between 2008 and 2013.
The craft beers got the thumb up from him. And the pickle watermelon rind had me lost for words for a little while, a rare occasion indeed.

We had only one last stop to make on our way back: Dillon's distillery who produces a number of gins, vodkas, white whiskies, absinth..... and bitters. Alcoholic ingredients mixed with herbal essences, with the renaissance of cocktails' recipes, bitters are growing in popularity.

In my opinion, Ontario wine is much more adapted to the modernity of our lives. Generally refined by technology, wines produced in the area are better drunk young. In general, they didn't wow me, the way some Californian wine did, but it was a very pleasant experience so bring it on, export.... but leave ice wine behind please.

Next we crossed Canada from East to West by train. Read all about it soon in Trip Reporter.



Summer Soup: Coco Beans & Chorizo - Cold Soup-

First of all, I'd like to thank Pebble Soup readers for their patience. I disappeared without a word for a month but I promise if was for a good cause. I came back with loads of material and a few surprises in my bag and I look forward to reading your comments and reactions.

It all started in June when he solemnly declared that we needed a holiday NOW. So we hoped on a plane, direction Vienne. Not the Austrian capital, the Roman town, south of Lyon, on the way to the Riviera.

In spite of its regional importance, being the second largest county (department) town after Grenoble and all that, Vienne is off the tourists' radar. Its roman past left substantial remains still visible in the modern town, every year a jazz festival is held in the roman circus. From its association with the kingdom of Provence, there is a medieval castle but what draws me to the area is food and friends. Today, Vienne specialises in the food industry. Is it cause to effect? I know not, but there are numerous lovely restaurants in the area.

This time round, we were introduced to Le Brocard in Serpaize where Julien Taurant delights his clientele with subtle and tasty dishes. The place looks like a café but don't be fooled, the menu is on a par with the best in Lyon, capital of French gastronomy. All without the price tag  nor the pretentiousness attached to "haute cuisine."  

When we visited for lunch the menu was already wearing its summer clothes and I started with a cold soup. The dynamic chef would not reveal its secret so back home, I tried my hand at Coco Beans and Chorizo soup, the colour was different, the taste too but this is a keeper for the summer.

Coco Beans and Chorizo -Cold Soup-

Ingredients

• 2 tins of cannellini
• 2 pints of bouillon (I use my trusty marigold powder in hot water)
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 large fresh rosemary sprig
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 a chorizo or 150g
• 5tsp thick cream (optional)
• 1 large onion, coarsely chopped (about 2 cups)
• 2 1/2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh thyme, divided
• Small cubes of white bread (optional)

Method

Place the drained cans in  the broth with salt and pepper and bring to a gentle boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, partially cover, and simmer.

In the meantime, in a frying pan add 1 tb of olive oil. When the oil is hot add the onion, smashed garlic rosemary and bay leaf. When a lovely smell tickles your nostrils and the garlic has slightly coloured add the chorizo.

Drain beans, reserving cooking liquid. Puree the beans in a blender with some of the liquid, the proportion is entirely up to you and how you like the consistency of your soup.

Sieving gives a smoother finish. Return puree to pot. Stir thyme, chorizo, and cream. Can be made 1 day ahead.

Chill uncovered until cold. Cover and keep chilled.
Before serving fry the croutons if using, salt and pepper.