I have hundreds of recipes that I haven't tried yet. Like most people, I tend to stick with familiar things that we like. Then suddenly I go through a phase of trying new recipes, keeping the ones we like and recycling the ones we don't. That way the culinary repertoire at La Folie is frequently refreshed. Some of my successes over the past couple of weeks include.....
Broccoli Clafoutis
Any foodies reading this will be thinking, "but clafoutis is sweet!" Well, usually it is, but you can follow the same idea for savoury, replacing the sugar with grated parmesan. The broccoli florets are cooked in a mixture of milk, eggs, and cheese and it comes out like a kind of quiche without the pastry (which, for people like me who are not particularly fond of pastry, is a bonus!).
Nigella's "Holiday Hotcake"
What a thing of great joy! Very easy to make, once you can persuade yourself to pour boiling water over a bowl containing what essentially is a cake batter. I have learned that when a Nigella recipe includes the words "trust me", she feels your suspicion but urges you onward. The top comes out like a lovely moist sponge pudding with a layer of Christmassy-spiced sauce underneath. I only wish I had had some Advocaat in the cupboard to make the "Egg Nog Cream" that was suggested on the recipe.
Potato and Banana Curry
Yes, you read that right, banana. Sounds bizarre, tastes fabulous! You use green (i.e. madly underripe) bananas and add them in at the end of cooking for a couple of minutes in a sauce that includes turmeric, ginger, and coconut milk. Yummers! This was our lunch on Valentine's Day, and was followed by....
Cherry Clafoutis
In an unusual fit of romanticism, I decided to christen the heart-shaped silicone mould that I bought in a sale at Lidl (!!!) over a year ago and hadn't yet used. (I also had to bypass the fact that Kevin always calls clafoutis "Chlamydia Pie". I don't know why, you'll have to ask him!). I used up the other half of the tin of coconut milk from the curry in this, but have to confess that I couldn't really detect the coconut flavour in the finished object. Nonetheless, it was delicious.
5 comments:
You don't like pastry?! That's the best part of a quiche.
Out of all of those recipes, I think I'd only be able to get away with the cherry clafoutis with Ian - he's not a fan of broccoli or meals without meat. He might be persuaded by the banana curry though. We once made maryland chicken which had sweetcorn and banana in it - it was a Jamie Oliver recipe I think, but it was a little on the strange side.
Do you cook evening meals for your guests or are you strictly just a breakfast B&B?
Everything looks very yummy! I'm the same I make the same recipes time and time again for an easy and lazy life. But then hit a phase when I want to try new recipes. I am currently going through that phase :)
Maria
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Oooh like the look of the Broccoli Clafoutis but I am going to take some convincing on Potato and Banana. Clearly anything by Nigella will be wonderful :-)
Carrie - I keep trying to like pastry, but really it's just a way of stopping the filling falling out of a pie! Although I recently made something with potato pastry that I really enjoyed - watch out for my next food post!
We do offer "table d'hote", which is the evening meal, at our B&B, both with meat and veggie. Usually I'm the only veggie, but I always make too much of the veggie main course so that anyone who wants to try some is able to do so.
Maria - I'll be keeping an eye on your blog for new recipes. Yours are always so good! The Uncle Neddies have been going down a storm both with us and all the neighbours!
Neat - the madness of the potato and banana combo was what made me try the recipe. The combination of banana, coconut milk, lots of turmeric and some tamarind really works well and the end product is very tasty!
I think it is more a texture thing than a taste thing; which is odd as banana and custard is quite possibly my all time favourite dessert.
Anyway, moving on. I would imagine a potato pastry 'thing' would work rather well. Looking forward to your next food post.
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