RASPBERRY TREAT

If I had to pick, I would take raspberries over strawberries. It’s probably because, as a child, I ate far more than my fair share of strawberries.  A June weekend would be spent trailing behind my mum filling punnets at the local Pick Your Own farm. My method was definitely pick one, eat one and was quite apparent to all, as my face, hands and cheesecloth t-shirt (yes, a child of the 70’s) were stained scarlet thanks to the juicy berries. Strawberries then were heavenly, they tasted like bright sunshine and the warmth goodness from the earth and now I can only eat British ones, in season and as local as possible to try and recapture that taste.

Raspberries  are, of course, also preferable picked straight from the bush, but their sharp, boisterous flavour is still found in frozen berries.  I always have a generous stash in the freezer: for muffins, smoothies, sorbets, brownies, syrups, or just to defrost and eat with a drizzle of cream.

My daughter’s breakfast of choice is frozen raspberries served on a plate, next to a dollop of peanut butter. She dips one of the icy red berries into the peanut butter, pops it into her mouth and declares that it is delicious. To be honest I tried and didn’t quite get the same enjoyment but perhaps that’s because I’m a bit stuck in my ways when it comes to raspberries and their partners.  I love raspberry and lemon and I love raspberry and almonds so I especially love this recipe as it combines them all.  Not only is this cake so moist and tasty but also it is so very easy to make.

A RASPBERRY, LEMONY, ALMONDY CAKE

200g butter, softened


200g caster sugar


4 large eggs


180g ground almonds


60g self-raising flour


Grated zest of 1 large lemon


About 20 fresh or frozen raspberries

1 Preheat oven to Gas mark 4/ 180c Butter and line a 20 inch tin.

2. Beat the butter and sugar together until they are a pale, creamy mixture.  Then, one at a time beat the eggs in.

3. Stir in almonds, flour and zest. When it’s all mixed together, pour the cake mix into the tin and spread it evenly.  Pop the raspberries into the batter in whichever fashion you may prefer and then put into the oven for around 25 minutes. It should be lightly golden and the skewer should come out crumb free.

Delicious. Eat for an afternoon treat, or after supper or even for breakfast. This cake is perfect at any time.

FAST AND FURIOUS

 Monday and Thursday are fast days for my husband and I. I don’t mean that we do things in a super speedy manner. Rather that in a bid to try and rectify the results of years of unchecked eating, scoffing and gorging, we are following the Fast Diet as devised by Dr Michael Mosley and Mimi Spencer. What I like about it is that you don’t have to turn your back on a food group; you don’t have to count calories every day for now until eternity and no food are forbidden.  For five days out of seven you can feast and for the other two days you have to limit your calories to 500 for a woman and 600 for a man. This does actually prove to be quite hard. Especially for someone who is as greedy as me and always looking for something to snack on. I have to confess to being foul on a Monday and Thursday, my chosen fast days. I get headaches that I know are the result of dehydration. Cooking the children’s dinner is torture. I really am the worst faster in the world. But I am persevering. From reading the Fast Diet, health benefits are explained and while the weight loss is slow I have managed to comfortably fit into a pair of trousers I had resigned myself from ever being able to wear again. So even though the children, Michael and the dog give me a wide berth on Monday and Thursdays and I feel myself turning into a bear with a sore head and a grumbly tummy I will not quit. I try and find low calories meals with some taste and texture. A rice cake will not suffice. Today for lunch I picked some asparagus from the garden and boiled an egg. The fresh green soldiers dipped into the soft yolk were scrumptious.  And it comes in at around 100 calories.   Now that does bring a very rare fast day smile to my face.

GCSEs are taking place now and son had his first today. Daughter is also busy revising for end of year 8 exams so to try and cheer them up I served up chocolate pots with strawberries. I can’t begin to stress how hard I had to fight the urge to lick the wooden spoon. I managed to resist by thinking of all the yummy stuff I can eat tomorrow.  

EATING OUT IN PARIS - DUCK CONFIT

We have just been to visit my sister in law who has recently moved to Paris and there are so many lovely things to admire about that city. The architecture, the style, the art – just so much to see and do but there is one Parisian great that surpasses everything else for me and that is the food. Oh we ate so well. Expensively sometimes, especially if we didn’t check out the menu before ordering.  We were aghast when a few croissants, an omelette, orange juice (amazingly fresh but still) and coffee for four came to just under €50.  A lesson well learned. Our next forays for breakfast got us ensuring we had a fixed price menu which was filling and kept us going throughout our sightseeing, meaning we could just have a break at a Salon de Thé and enjoy a macaroon or one of the delightful pastries on offer.

I am a little embarrassed to say that out of three evening meals, I chose Duck Confit twice. Both times were good but the first was excellent.  So rich in flavour yet just melts in the mouth. I can’t remember what I had on the other night now at all. Memories of the duck have completely overridden it.

So when I got home, missing Paris madly, I decided to make duck confit. I looked through a variety of recipes but decided to go with Jamie Oliver’s Duck Confit, pg 324, in Jamie Does. I think it was the juniper berries that swayed it. 

Anyway it was all very straight forward. You put 6 duck legs onto a large roasting tray. Bash 10 juniper berries and 4 cloves in a pestle and mortar and then sprinkle the shrapnel over the duck legs with a generous couple of handfuls of sea salt.  Tear 6 bay leaves and a small bunch of thyme onto the tray. Then rub salt and flavourings into the duck legs. Cover with clingfilm and leave in the fridge overnight.

 

The next day, grab a large pan and put it on a low flame. Rinse the salt off the duck legs and pat dry with kitchen towel.

Put the duck legs in to the pan and spoon in 1.75kg duck fat. Leave on low heat for 2 and ½ hours but as Jamie reminds in his recipe do remember hot fat is nasty stuff so take care.   When time’s up, turn off the heat and leave to cool. If you want to check the legs are ready, use tongs to grab a leg and check that the meat pulls apart easily. 

When it’s all cool, ladle some of the fat from the pan into a large container and again, use the tongs to move your duck legs.  Carefully pour in the rest of the duck fat. You must make sure the legs are absolutely covered. Cover with a lid or clingfilm, pop in the fridge and you can leave it there for weeks. When you want to tuck into a ducks leg, pull them out of the fat, wipe off the excess fat and fry for 20 mins and until skin is crispy and the meat is hot through.

I have served it up with Puy lentils and I have to say while I may not give the Parisian chefs any sleepless nights, this duck hits the spot perfectly. Moist, flavoursome meat covered in deliciously crispy skin.

Hopefully now that I can make my own duck confit and hence eat it year round I will eat something else next time we get to Paris.