Only_Oli (The O_Zone)

I made some Duck rillettes!

Another recipe that is very easy to do but requires a little bit of time.

I am keen on learning recipes of the past, which have now become for most people something that you can only purchase from the supermarket when it is very easy to do at home and is a lot nicer…

Ingredients:

• A duck!
• some garlic and Ginger and an Orange
• Salt and Pepper and herbs as you like
• Some Cognac or a Brandy

How to make:

• Stuff the duck with  crushed garlic cloves and ginger and a peeled orange
• Season generously the outside of the duck with salt and pepper
• Put into an oven dish wrapped in 2 layers of aluminium foil. (To capture all the fat and juices that are going to render)
• Cook in the oven a 130-140 for 4 to 5 hours. Until the meat is coming off easily from the bones without it being “overcooked”.
• Capture all the fat and juices into a jar and pass it through a fine sieve or filter to remove the bits.
• Let the duck cool down before removing all the meat from the bones.
• Spend time to reserve only the meat parts of the duck. Discard all bones and skin.
• Put all the meat in a large bowl and add 3 tablespoons of Cognac or Brandy.
• Adjust the Salt and Pepper to taste. (this is important). Usually, it requires more salt.
• The Fat and Juice should have “separated in the jar” as they are cooling down.
• Mix a little of the fat and a little of the juice into the bowl and start mixing.
• Keep mixing with a spoon until the meat is moist and the texture is like Rillettes.
• Put into conserve jars of small size. Put into the fridge for at least 12 hours.

Et voila! Eat on toasted bread with some cornichons or pickled shallots.

A very simple apple tart which is always a success.

There are a few complicated ways of making a “tarte tatin”.

The following simple method makes a very decent tart…

It is possible to upgrade this one with homemade caramel if you have time to do that.

Ingredients:

• A bag of Apples, something like 800g. That’s probably 6 small apples or 4 large ones.
• Best Apples : Golden Delicious, Jonagold, Braeburn
• A lime juice
• 50g Cassonade  (Beetroot Sugar), but normal sugar will do as well
• 50g Butter
• A sheet of ready-made puff pastry, get the nice one with full fat

How to make:

• Peel the Apples and cut each apple into 6 pieces. (one-half and then in 3)
• Put the lime juice and cassonade and mix with apples
• Place in a circle into a tart oven dish (I prefer the glass ones as they are easy to clean)
• Place the butter on top
• Cook in the oven at 140 degrees for 20 minutes or until the apples are getting softer and the butter and sugar are turning into caramel.
• (Note: It is possible to make a separate caramel to pour on the finished product as well, this is reserved for even more special days…)
• Take the tart out of the oven and place the sheet of puff pastry on top of the apples.
• Put back into the oven 200 degrees and cook for another 35-45 minutes, or until the colour of the pastry “looks right”
• Take out of the oven and let the tart cool down for 20 minutes.
• Put a serving plate on top of the tart dish and turn it over.
• The pastry will now be at the bottom and the apples on top with the caramel and juices.

I then upgrade the whole lot by Blow torching the top of the tart to get these small burns and a taste of burned caramel.

Then I finally top it all off with a few crushed hazelnuts (praline)

I pan fry with a small amount of butter a few carrots, some garlic, a couple of celery stalks and a bit of pepper. (The fancy ones from the larder, like the Madagascar pepper – VOATSIPERIFERY PEPPER)

Add the mussels and let them steam, then add some cream.

Finally, finish it off with some freshly cut curly parsley.

You can significantly upgrade the Tesco mussels…

2X500g Tesco mussels is ideal for 3 to 4 people. (That’s £5.50 in 2023 money…)

A few French fries cooked in Peanut Oil

And a glass of white wine (obviously).

Decided to make some walnut oil with all the walnuts from my uncle in Belgium.

I toasted them in a pan and then put them in sunflower oil. I will leave it all to infuse for a few weeks.

I made a label to remember what is in the bottle…. haha…

I made a large quantity of Chili con carne so that Noe could have some to return to University in Bristol…

It is very easy to make.

Slow cook in the oven to let all the spices and flavours spread through the dish.

Definitely a comfort dish.

Ingredients (this is for a large quantity and can be halved if you do not want to eat some the whole of the following week…):

• 750g of Minced Beef
• 2 cans of chopped tomatoes
• 2 cans of red kidney beans
• 2 onions
• 4 carrots
• 1 celery stalk
• 2 or 3 garlic
• A sachet of ready mix spices (why make it complicated? )

How to make:

• I use my Le Creuset cast iron casserole for this
• Brown the meat in batches if necessary
• Chop carrots, Celeri and onions.
• Depending on how much fat has been rendered from the meat, discard or keep some for roasting the vegetables.
• Start with carrots and celery; add the garlic after a few minutes.
• As the vegetables are cooking, they will lift the “suc” from the bottom of the casserole.
• Put the meat back into the casserole and add the spice mix.
• Mix well and add a bit of water to prevent the whole mixture from sticking to the bottom of the casserole.
• Put the whole casserole in the oven at 120 degrees for 5 hours….or until dinner…

Serve with sour cream and some cheese on top. Chargrill the cheese with a blow torch and add a few jalapenos. Very nice with a fresh beer.