St Valentines

A romantic dinner for two? Not exactly – we had eight friends over for dinner on Thursday and had a really fun evening together. Well, who says that St Valentines has to be all luvvy-duvvy? We were all hearts though – with the table decorations and none got broken!

We did the American-style pot luck with everyone bringing a contribution which makes catering for ten people a little easier. We provided the main course of salmon Wellington served on a bed of creamed leeks. We had experimented with different fillings and think that this one is the best. The leeks, which are seasoned with whole grain and Dijon mustard, made a perfect accompaniment. You would think that salmon and mustard doesn’t go together but it works really well – perhaps it’s the vinegar.

The last place John worked in the UK was a high-end deli and one of their best sellers was beef Wellington so he has made lots of them. The head chef had a great technique for wrapping the pastry which uses just one piece rather than the normal two pieces which you attempt to stick together to hold in the filling. And the join is underneath so it has a much better visual appearance. We hope that we can adequately describe it to you. This makes a delicious, make-ahead main course for entertaining but could just as easily be a family meal. Or maybe that romantic dinner for two?

A word about the spinach; here in France frozen chopped spinach is universal – it comes in small compressed pellets about 3cm square and because you can’t rely on finding good quality fresh spinach when you want it that is what we used. Whether you use fresh or frozen you need a small handful of chopped blanched spinach per person.

serves 4

• 4 x 125g filet of salmon, skinned and pin boned
• spinach – see above
• 1 tbsp per person of cream cheese
• 2 tbsp chopped, fresh dill
• salt & pepper
• chilled flakey pastry

Firstly, you need to extract the water from the spinach so place it in a fine sieve and squeeze with the back of a spoon or potato masher to make it as dry as possible. put it in a mixing bowl and mix with the cream cheese, dill and some seasoning.

Take a piece of pastry large enough to completely enclose the salmon and spread 1/4 of the spinach mixture in the middle roughly the size of the salmon. Place the salmon on top and pull the pastry up and over to enclose the salmon tearing off any excess and sealing the edges together on the top side so you have a nice tight parcel. Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment with the top side now down – i.e. with the join underneath and the filling on top. Decorate with pastry trimmings if you like and then place in a cool larder or fridge until ready to bake – pastry is better cooked from chilled and the handling of it when you make them warms it up. Wash with beaten egg and cook in an oven preheated to 220C/ 200C fan for 15 minutes until the pastry is nicely golden. Serve on a bed of creamed leeks.

Creamed leeks

• 3 leeks, trimmed, finely sliced and thoroughly washed and drained
• 25g butter
• 2 tsp Dijon mustard
• 2 tsp whole grain mustard
• single cream
• salt & pepper

Melt the butter in a roomy saucepan and add the leeks with a little salt and pepper. Put the lid on and sweat over gentle heat until soft, about 7 – 8 minutes. Remove the lid and check to see that there isn’t any excess liquid – it’s surprising how much water can cling to them no matter how well you have drained them. If there is a little then continue to cook with the lid off until it has evaporated but if there is a lot then put a sieve over a bowl and strain the liquid from the leeks. Return the leeks to the pan and add the mustard and a little cream and stir to amalgamate. You want a nice creamy texture but not excess moisture – if there is a puddle of cream when you move the leeks to one side then there is too much so start with a little and then add more if needed. Now taste and adjust the seasoning and add some more mustard if it is not tangy enough – you want a creamy, tangy, savoriness not a strong mustard taste.

Eating up and eating out

That just about sums up our week as far as food goes – well, almost …

Monday we were shopping with friends in Biarritz and had lunch out. We find if we eat a main meal at lunchtime then we only need a light snack in the evening and usually cheese is the default option. Though maybe a slice of lemon polenta cake and ricotta cream might have crept in too!

We had some chicken leftover from the coq au vin and John had the great idea to take the meat from the bones and chop it with a sharp knife into fine dice and then mix it with some of the leftover sauce of the coq au vin to give a kind of ‘chicken bolognese’ which we ate with some wide pasta. It sounds rather bizarre but it worked and tasted fabulous.

salmon Wellington

Wednesday we were doing a bit of testing for a St Valentines pot-luck dinner we are hosting this coming Thursday. We are cooking the main course and as we have a non-meat eater we decided on salmon en croute but to make it a bit special we are going to try to create individual salmon Wellingtons and we were experimenting with different fillings to go with the salmon. The result will be revealed after the 14th!

We met friends for an aperatif Thursday evening and needed a quickly prepared meal when we got in. A stir fry of a piece of pork and various vegetables we needed to use flavoured with ginger, garlic and sweet chilli sauce made an easy supper.

The venue for the drink is an interesting window on french life. We refer to it as ‘the garage’ – it is in fact a petrol filling station on the edge of town and the office where you pay for your petrol has a bar. It’s been owned and run by the same family for at least two generations which probably explains this throwback to a different time. And of course since smoking is not allowed by law in bars any longer if you are a smoker then you must step outside and smoke – on the petrol forecourt! You think we are joking? No we are not. Only in France and it’s one of the many reasons we love you. Please don’t ever change.

Friday evening we were invited to a french friend’s home for an aperitif but it was postponed as workmen had turned up at the beginning of the week to replace all of her windows and heating system and neither she nor her home were in a state to entertain, so we joined friends at a local bar that serves English fish and chips on a Friday evening. For lunch a frittata used up more vegetables and eggs that had sat in the fridge longer than we liked and we livened it up with some spicy chorizo we had bought on our recent trip to Spain. A salad garnish cleared out the remnants of salad too.

baked potato beans and cheese – yum!

Strange how your mood is affected by the weather? Last week continued pretty wet which has mostly been the story this year. But it is very mild too so the garden is already rushing into new growth and we haven’t been able to get out to start the Spring tidy-up which is quite frustrating. We are hoping we don’t get a sudden hard frost to kill it all off as we did February last year.  The veg patch needs turning over and fertilizing but it is just too wet – the whole garden is like a giant sponge oozing water. So we potter around indoors and seek comfort food which yesterday included this baked potato with beans and cheese – not classy or haute cuisine we know and definitely not on our low GI diet plan but sometimes it’s just what you need and you can’t resist can you?

We were at friends for dinner last night and are again tonight to celebrate Chinese New Year. In one week we’ve managed to completely blow the New Year’s resolution out of the water!