Fred's newsletter 16.3.21

Good morning,

We’ve had a busy week and I hope we made a few happy mothers last weekend. Lee was in charge of the newsletter, I mean she is always kind of here with us every week and does a fair bit of editing, spell-checking and keeping me right in my writing. So does Betty actually, now that I think about it.

You wouldn’t know, but last week started with a lot of butchery. We welcomed two muttons from Jack and Morna at Ardoch Farm, which I was told would be the last delivery for a while - so it might be late April before we get more. I do enjoy them, so full of flavour.

I heard on the grapevine that North Ronaldsay mutton will be traveling to the Scottish capital mid-April, and that is good news. We’ve enjoyed these fantastic creatures many times (in the days when we ran restaurants) and I’ve written about them often. Click here to find out more, and you’ll also get a recipe). I’m looking forward to sharing and experiencing them with you again soon.

We also welcomed another whole pig from Herb Majesty last week. Bertrand spent the entire day on Tuesday breaking it down in his butcher's overall. He’s a great multi-tasker, as we all are. Just to let you know that he’s also the one making puff pastry and shortcrust for the desserts. Skilled, isn’t he?

I was very pleased with the quality of it all, and this week we’re having them on the menu again, including more rabbits from France. These organic, tasty little things will be cooked in red wine, a bit like coq au vin, cooking slowly overnight at a low temperature, with a slice or two of tasty, smoky Morteau sausage.

The beef from Uradale Farm in Shetland will be cooked with sweet peppers, like a Basquaise sauce but with beef stock and fresh tomatoes, and served with a white cabbage sauerkraut (or choucroute for the Francophiles). Also made in-house of course.

The fish is a gratin of haddock with an Ecossaise sauce. I made this sauce a few years back for a Slow Food event, and it quickly became a l’escargot classic, usually served with fresh scallops. This time it will be served in an oven dish and ready for you to bake. Click here for the recipe.

It was a year ago, yes a full year, when we closed both restaurants. It’s now God knows how many weeks since blanc has had a visitor. No-one has been there except me for a weekly check: pipe, taps, meter readings. Bleu has been doing ready meals since what feels like May 2016, but we did manage to trade as a fully-operating restaurant for, erm, 5 whole weeks in 2020. Enough said on the subject.

I spent two days at the garden this weekend, sowing and getting the boxes cleaned and topped with compost. I transplanted some thyme, claytonia, mustard leaves, mizuna, chervil and parsley. Many lettuces have been sown - it’s that time of year. If any of you are thinking of growing, then now is the time I suggest you get started. If I remember well, spring begins on Thursday! This week, green salad is back on the menu; some leaves from Newton Garden and some from Phantassie Organic, a good mix. However the leeks in the salad this week are all from Newton, sown and planted in 2017, I think.

The fish soup is staying as it is a classic, but next week we’ll have a langoustine bisque for a slight change. This terrine is country pâté de campagne style, a powerful flavour. I’m currently prepping a jambon persillé for next week, using Herb Majesty pork, naturellement. If you don’t know what jambon persillé is then I recommend you Google it for now.

Recently I've been craving asparagus, so here they are for an early appearance (the Scottish ones are still many moons away) served with cured ham (thank you Claire).

For the adventurous, I’m cooking a selection of tongues - veal, beef and pork, all from the animals we butchered - served with my favourite lentils: lentilles de St Flour. Forget the Le Puy, you will never look back! This salad can be warmed up as well, but just warm, not hot! I love tongue (now I’m thinking I might have to add some mutton and goat tongues too, yes, I will add them).

The loin of pork will be from Rachel at Herb Majesty too, rolled with spinach, pine kernels, and hazelnuts, then cooked very slowly at a low temperature to keep its moisture. Should be good :)

The nibbles are doing well and I am happy, but there’s no saucisse seche this week as I am told they are not ‘seches’ enough. So chorizo it is, mixed with ewe’s milk hard cheese, both straight from the Pyrénées.

We also have a winning goat’s cheese from Haute-Provence. Mistralou is the ideal cheese as an aperitif or late afternoon snack. Wrapped in a chestnut leaf, it’s full of flavour. Francois and Vanessa Masto moved to Simiane la Rotonde, reviving an abandoned farm by making this cheese with the highly-prized, rich, creamy milk of the Roves, an ancient Provençal breed of goats. I hope you will enjoy it.

You will notice that I have also listed butter. It’s on the menu at cost price. This is what we use in the restaurant, not just for eating but for cooking. We go a long way to get it and I cannot find anything as good closer to home as yet. I know I am going to get beaten up for saying this, but that is my opinion. Please buy and enjoy real butter, salted with rock salt, or unsalted. Happy buttering chaps!

For the side dishes, this week I would order a green salad, a swede and sweet potato with fondue cheese, and a Pink Fir potato raclette. Ok, I might also have the vegetables since there are golden beetroots in it, with sprouting broccoli and probably the last of the butternut squash.

Desserts include a lemon tarte, a 75% Guyaquil chocolate cream pot with biscuits and crème anglaise, a puff pastry and almond tarte, our tasty brioche and butter pudding, and a rhubarb and apple crumble. Of course cheese from the winning team at Mons in London is also there.

Mes amis, I leave you with Albie, my old friend, a keen cyclist obsessed with the Tour de France and a photographer. He has joined me on many trips and especially the Budding Chefs trips. I will tell you more about that another time as I’m running out of space and Lee will go bananas!!

A très bientôt,

Amitiers gourmandes,

Fred