If I Eat Another Grain My Liver Will Burst!





Saturday 27/8/2005

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Diary and Notes

In addition to my Italian trip, my housemates Fran and Matt have also been away on holiday recently except they went to Bergerac in the South of France - aren't we a cosmopolitan little bunch?

Before they went I gave them a big long list of things to bring back with them, foremost being loads of confit de canard - duck preserved in duck fat. It's delicious and nutritious and not even the slightest bit fatty. Ok so some of that's not entirely true, but it is delicious.

In addition to some excellent cans of duck (loads of cans of duck I should add) they also brought some herbs, sausage, a giant block of Cantal cheese and several tins of paté de fois gras, my favourite.

There are some, mainly jumper wearing pipe smoking lefty vegetarian types, who claim that the force feeding of ducks and geese until their livers drag on the ground is cruel and should be banned - but it's just too damned tasty to resist. Anyway, if the birds don't like it they should write to their European Member of Parliament and stop quacking on and on about it. We live in a democracy and if the birds aren't willing to participate then they will jolly well have to put up and shut up.

So today we have a bit of a duck feast. Some tasty paté, a little French style vegetable bake and then some of the canned confit with some potatoes fried in duck fat. Delicious.

I even made my own cake today, well sort of, I actually defrosted some frozen puff pastry and whacked some sliced pears and apricot jam on top but it's almost there.


Cake Blog

French Apple Tart: I bought some frozen puff pastry, blanched and peeled some pears. Sliced the pears and drizzled them in melted apricot jam then baked the whole thin in the oven. It was pretty damn good.


Menu

  • Paté de fois Gras de Canard
  • Salad

  • Provençale Bake

  • Confit de Canard
  • Potatoes with Porcini Mushrooms

  • Cheese

  • Tarte aux Poires


    Ingredients*

    Provençale Bake
    3 Courgettes
    1 Onion
    3 Tomatoes
    2 Small Dried Chillis
    1 Tbsp Olive Oil
    100g Cantal Cheese
    Handfull of Breadcrumbs
    1 tsp Herbs de Provence
    Sea Salt
    Black Pepper



    Preparation

  • Provençale Bake: Chop the chillis into halves and fry very gently in a little olive oil. Add the sliced onion and sweat until soft. Slice the courgette and layer in a dish, sprinkle on some herbs de provence and a little salt and pepper. Lay the fried onions on top, then some more herbs/salt and pepper and then the tomatoes. Pour over the spicy oil from the onions, grate loads of cheese on top, sprinkle with breadrumbs and bake gently for 30 minutes - grill to toast the top just before serving.
  • To reheat confit de canard open the can, place the can in a waterbath and slowly heat through. When the fat is fully dissolved remove the duck pieces and grill gently. Use the fat to fry the potatoes, drain when crispy and add some soaked porcini and fry a minute more before serving.

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    *All quantities are very approximate and for six people





    JCBorresen@GMail.com