Monday

Chicken korma


















Type of dish : Main course
To serve : 4
Preparation : 15 min
Cooking : 60 min
Budget : Reasonable
From : India
Difficulty : Medium


Ingredients :
1 medium-sized chicken
2 large onion
2 cloves garlic
1 small root of ginger
500g tomatoes
2 small dried red chillies
6 cloves
2 sticks cinnamon
2 cardamon pods
oil
8 black peppercorns
4 pots yoghurt
1 teaspoon turmeric
A pinch of saffron
Salt

1 teaspoon blanched almonds


Recipe :
Take the skin off the chicken, bone and slice off flesh.
Slice onions, garlic and ginger.
Chop tomatoes and chillies.
Brown cloves and cardamon in a little oil and add onions, pepper, garlic, ginger and chillies. Fry for 5 minutes.
Add chicken and brown.
Mix the saffron and turmeric into the yoghurt.
Pour mixture into pan with tomatoes, cover and leave to simmer for an hour.
Add almonds and cook over a low heat for 10 minutes.
Serve with basmati rice or naan bread.


Advice :
Recommended wines:
Tavel, Saumur Champigny

Sunday

Crab cakes




















Type of dish : Starter
To serve : 4
Preparation : 5 min
Cooking : 20 min
Budget : Reasonable
From : Europe
Difficulty : Medium


Ingredients :
200g crab meat
1 lime
1 small bunch chives
4 eggs
250 ml crème fraiche
20g butter
Cayenne pepper
Salt & pepper

Recipe :
Beat the eggs and crème fraîche together with a fork, in a small bowl.
Remove and shell from crab meat and mash a little. Add to egg mixture.
Grate the zest from the lime and add to mixture, along with chopped chives.
Season with salt, pepper and cayenne pepper.
Divide mixture into 4 greased individual flan/cake tins or similar.
Cook in oven preheated to 350°F (180°C) for 20 minutes.
Serve warm, with salad.


Advice :
Try making smaller crab cakes, then frying in a little oil for a crispy coating.

Recommended Wines :
- Alsace : Silvaner, Pinot blanc
- Bordeaux : Entre 2 mers
- Bourgogne : Maçon, St Véran
- Loire : Sancerre, Pouilly

Saturday

Chayote stuffed with crab





















Type of dish : Starter
To serve : 4
Preparation : 15 min
Cooking : 15 min
Budget : Reasonable
From : Exotic
Difficulty : Medium


Ingredients :
4 crabs
2 chayotes (custard apples)
2 carrots, roughly chopped
2 onions (1 chopped, 1 quartered)
3 cloves of garlic
1 lime
chives
thyme
flat-leaf parsley
chilli to taste
salt and pepper
1 glass white wine
5cl oil
bread-crumbs


Recipe :
1) ash the crabs and cook for 10 minutes in a pan of boiling water, with the carrots, the quartered onion, thyme, parsley and seasoning. Set asidea nd allow to cool.
2) Scoop out the crab meat, saving a few claws for decoration.
3) Wash the chayotes, cut in half and cook for 20 minutes in salted water. 4) In a pan, cook the chopped onion, garlic, chives, parsley and chilli, then mix into te crab meat. Loosen with the white wine.
5) Scoop the chayote flesh from the skin (save the skin) and mash with a little olive oil and the lime juice. Stir in some bread crumbs and season.
6) Spoon the mash into the chayote skins, topping with the crab mixture. Sprinkle breadcrumbs on top and pass under the grill for 15 minutes, or until golden.

Friday

Crab rolls




















Type of dish : Starter
To serve : 6
Preparation : 30 min
Cooking : 10 min
Budget : Reasonable
From : China
Difficulty : Medium


Ingredients :
300g crab meat
60g noodles
1 grated carrot
2 clove garlic, crushed
1 onion, finely chopped
75g bean sprouts
1 teaspoon grated ginger
3 tablespoon soy sauce
18 spring roll wrapper (can be bought frozen)
1 teaspoon sugar
750 ml frying oil

Recipe :
Make filling :
Cook noodles and chop.
Mix with the crab meat, carrot, garlic, onion, bean sprouts, ginger, coriander and 2 tablespoons soy sauce.
Soak each spring roll wrapper briefly in a mixture of water, sugar and the rest of the soy sauce (can be done on a plate).

Place wrapper on a cloth, with filling in a line 1cm away from top edge.
Roll up, fold ends in.
Boil oil in fryyer or deep frying pan and fry rolls until golden.
Blot excess oil with paper towel.



Advice :
Excellent with Chinese beer!

Thursday

Kiwi and bacon bites




Type of dish : Nibbles
To serve : 4
Preparation : 10 min
Cooking : 3 min
Budget : Cheap
From : Exotic
Difficulty : Easy

Ingredients :
3 kiwis
200g bacon
Black pepper

Recipe :
Cut bacon into strips, removing fat.
Peel kiwis, slice each one into four.
Wrap bacon around each slice, then put in a moderate oven for 3 minutes.
Serve immediately.



Advice :
A glass of champagne!

Wednesday

Prune and bacon bites



















Type of dish : Nibbles
To serve : 4
Preparation : 5 min
Cooking : 10 min
Budget : Cheap
From : Europe
Difficulty : Easy


Ingredients :
200g bacon
20 prunes
Black pepper

Recipe :
Cut the bacon into strips.
Wrap each strip around a prune, secure witha cocktail stick, then put in the oven at a low heat for 8 minutes.


Advice :
Great with a glass of champagne!

Tuesday

Poached turbot with morels





















Type of dish : Main course
To serve : 4
Preparation : 30 min
Cooking : 10 min
Budget : Cheap
From : France
Difficulty : Easy


Ingredients :
4 turbot fillets, with their skin on
Salt and Espelette pepper (chilli powder)
1 small bunch of chives

For the court bouillon:
1 carrot, sliced
1 onion, chopped
1 whole garlic clove
1 bouquet garni
Salt and Espelette pepper
1/2 lemon
1/2 orange
a few black pepper corns
1 piece of celery
1l water

for the Morel sauce:
200g fresh morels (or 40g dried)
60g shallots, finely chopped
100ml Noilly Prat
10g potato/corn flour
100ml chicken stock
5cl, Double cream (or unsweetened condensed milk)


Recipe :
The Sauce:
1- Put the shallot and Noilly Prat in a saucepan, bring to the boil and flambe (light to burn off excess alcohol)
2- Contiinue to cook over a low heat untiil the shallot is soft.
3- Add the mushrooms and sweat.
4- Add the chicken stock and reduce by 1/3.
5 - Sieve the sauce and save the morels.
6- In a cup, mix the potato/corn flour with a little water, then add to the sauce to thicken it.
7- To finish the sauce, add the cream and morels nad check the seasoning. Warm your plates in the oven.

Turbot:
1- Put all the court bullion ingredients in a large saucepan. Bring to the boil and simmer gently for 10 minutes.
2- Add the turbot fillets (2 at a time) and gently poach for 8-10 minutes (the flesh should be just cooked through - overcooking will ruin the texture).
3- Once poached, carefully remove the skin.
4- Pour sauce onto your warm plates and arrange the fish on top. Garnish with chives and serve.





Advice :
Turbot is a medium lean, white fish, rich in protein. Poaching is the ideal way to prepare this types of fish, ensuring flavour, whilst ridding it of any fat.