1 Delicious Delights with Lesley

Autumn is here,

lets highlight some

fantastic recipes to

celebrate

Delicious

delights With Lesley

2 Delicious Delights with Lesley

Welcome to Delicious Delights with Lesley, this is the first of our mini magazines.

We are planning on the magazine being quarterly, with the plan to increase to monthly in the future.

We will be highlighting what is going on in the area and what's coming up.

New and seasonal recipes , working with the latest fruits and vegetables and we will be delighted to create new recipes for our friends (that’s you).

If you would like to feature in the magazine with your recipes and pictures, please contact me and I will be de-lighted to discuss the finer details with you.

Hi, I am Lesley,

I am originally from Glasgow, Scotland, currently living in France with my Dutch husband and our dog (Lizette) and 2 cats (Fred & Ginger). I am a self confessed foodie (well Food Obsessed), I sleep, eat and breath food and recipes.

3 Delicious Delights with Lesley

Contents

4—Gigou, Classic wines of the area. Pg 4

6—Classic French lunch dishes,

try out a few to whet your tastebuds…

Details of front cover picture

8—Bread, perfect at any time of

the day. Check out the latest recipes

Pg 6

9—Autumn Fruits - Apples & Pears

10—Classic Lemon Tart luscious lemon

cream in a crisp buttery short crust pastry

Pg 10

12-13—Foraging

wonderful time of year to

find fantastic treasures

nature provides Pg 12

14—TheSecretGarden-France

Fun cooking holidays is the heart of France.

Pg 14

17—Advertising with us

18—Must have gadgets

4 Delicious Delights with Lesley

Gigou

Classic wines of the area

5 Delicious Delights with Lesley

September signals the Vendanges (the grape

picking season). The hills are alive with people and machines.

In years gone by, there would have been an ‘army’ of pickers

from all walks of life who would work their way though France,

signing up for work in the various Vineyards. Usually the picking

would start in the south of France as the weather is warmer and

therefore dictates when the grapes were ready .

Families and friends of the Vineyard owners would join the

‘army’ of pickers and they would all be out in force to help with

the delicate process of picking the grapes for the various wines produced by the family.

These days machinery helps with the picking of the grapes, reducing the back-breaking job, but of course

there is still some hand picking required for those delicate old vines.

A visit to the cave is well worth it, the family explain the

various activities that take place in the cave after the

grapes have been picked and the ‘juice’ has been extract-

ed.

The fermentation in Oak or Chestnut barrels is anywhere

from 9 months to 2 years. All the processes are natural

with no additives, so they let nature do the work.

Take the time to enjoy the very distinct flavours of this

wine, the minerals of the earth marry so well with the

spicy flavour of the Pineau d’Anis grape.

Each wine (Red, White & Rose) can be paired with fantas-

tic foods ensuring you enjoy each of their characteristics.

Nestled in the hills La Chartre-sur-Loir, L’Homme and Ruille-sur-Loir you will find the Jasnierries region, ex-clusive to this area of France.

This speciality white wine can be ‘layed down’ for 20-30 years, a real treasure to take home and enjoy for years to come.

Red, Rose & White Find out more at www.gigou-jasnieres.com

6 Delicious Delights with Lesley

Classic Lunch dishes

Ideal lunch or dinner dish, addition of fried onions, bal-

samic vinegar and brown sugar, brings this dish to live.

Garnish with mozzarella and basil leafs to bring a touch

of colour.

Full details : Tomato Tarte Tatin

Tomato Tarte Tatin

Croque Madame Baguette

You have heard of a Croque Madame, a

classic lunchtime dish here in France,

this has all the key components, but is

served in a slice of baguette .

Full details : Croque Madame Baguette

Ideal for lunch or dinner, great for sharing

with friends.

This quick , easy to prepare dish gives you an

elegant dish at any time. Serve with crispy

croutons or fresh vegetables.

Full details : Baked Camembert

Blue Cheese, Pear & Walnut Tart

Tarts are a great, easy addition to any collection of rec-

ipes. We use them for so many dishes, starters, lunch-

es, mains and desserts.

Mix and match the various pastries with sweet or sa-

voury fillings.

We love this Blue Cheese, Pear and walnut tart, make

individual tarts or a large tart and serve slices…. Enjoy.

Full details : Blue Cheese, Pear & Walnut Tart

Baked Camembert

7 Delicious Delights with Lesley

French Onion Soup The quintessential French dish, ideal as a starter or lunch dish. One for all the family to

enjoy.

Method Peel and thinly slice the onions in rings.

Melt butter in a large frying pan, add onions to cover a single layer and

slowly fry, cook the onions in batches, adding more butter as required

(more is better).

Add the stock to a large pot and transfer the cooked onions as they are

cooked, continue until all the onions are cooked.

Bring the pot to a simmer, mix and continue simmering for approx. 20-

30 mins.

When ready to serve, cut some slices from a baguette, top with grated

gruyere cheese and place under the grill to melt.

Pour the soup into a bowl and place a piece of cheesy bread on top of

each.

I like to make the soup the day before I need it, I simmer for 20 mins then turn it off and put the lid on it and just

leave it alone. The following day when you need the soup, put it back on the heat and bring slowly back to a simmer

and it will be ready for eating.

The soup also freezes well.

Ingredients 1 kg Onions

Butter (about 200g)

2 ltrs of Chicken and Beef Stock

(2 chicken and 1 beef Knorr

Stock Pot)- Use vegetable for

Vegetarian version.

The key to a fantastic soup is

the cooking of the onions, you

need to keep cooking them

with out burning them so you

bring out the natural sweet-

ness of the onions.

8 Delicious Delights with Lesley

Bread Bread, its one of those things that most people think ‘it’s too much like hard work’…… Well I have heard

it all before, but really it doesn't take that much time, it really only takes a bit of planning and then let

nature do the rest…. A bit of elbow grease and give the yeast the time to do what it does and hey presto

a wonderful bread….. Dutch Crust Bread

When my hubby lived in Holland, every Saturday morning he

would get up early to travel 40 km to a bakery to get his fix

on these crackle crust breads. He was so impressed the first

time I made this bread and it took him all the way back to

Holland and those Saturday mornings, fresh crusty bread

and some very old cheese. So it was a winner, hopefully you

think so too.

For the recipe and details, check out

the website : Dutch Crust Bread

Breakfast Stuffed Crown

This is another wonderful bread, ide-

al for breakfast, mid morning or even

afternoon tea. Just like a large Danish

Pastry.

Check out the website for all the de-

tails : Stuffed brioche bread

Pain aux Raisin Swirl

Again another ideal addition to the breakfast

table, mid morning and afternoon tea. In

fact ideal at any time, when you need some-

thing a little sweet.

Check out the website for all the details :

Pain aux Raisin

9 Delicious Delights with Lesley

Autumn Fruits

French Apple Tart is a great way to use up

some of the fantastic apples available at this time of

year. I make it with a Frangipane (almond sponge)

filling, a perfect a compliment to the sweet apples.

If you need a tart in a hurry and don't have time to

‘blind bake’ your pastry then this is for you.

Check out the website for full details : French Apple Tart

Apples & Pears

Apple & Caramel Tart

These buttery little delights are ideal

at any time of the day, quick and

easy to make. Add a some caramel,

even use shop bought caramels and

add them to the filling.

Check out the website for full details : Apple & Caramel Tart

Pear & Chocolate Tart

Another delicious tart to enjoy. Great as a

dessert but of course ideal at any time of the

day. Use canned pears or poach your own for

this tart. Again another one to make if you

are short of time, no need to ’blind bake’ the

pastry

Check out the website for full details :

Pear & Chocolate Tart

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Classic Tart aux Citron A fantastic addition to any table

Delicious Lemon

Tart in a buttery

short crust pastry.

A Delightful experience at

any time.

So many ways to serve it, in-

dividual or a slice of a larger

tart, then it’s the toppings…..

‘Naked’ just as it comes from

the oven.

Glazed, with a crisp/crunchy

thin sugar layer, scorched to a

glaze or even a meringue top-

ping, giving a toasted marsh-

mallow addition.

Ingredients

1 portion of short crust pas-try (pg 8)

3 eggs

125 g caster sugar

Juice and finely grated zest of 2 lemons

200 ml of double cream

Method

Place the eggs and sugar in a medium sized bowl and whisk until pale and creamy.

Add the lemon juice and zest and mix for 1 minute, add the cream and continue whisking for a further 1 minutes.

Place the pastry cases onto a baking tray and place in the medium rack of the oven, carefully pour the lemon cream into the cases right to the top.

Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes or until the filling has just set in the centre. (It should wobble like jelly, not like water)

Remove from the oven and allow to cool and then transfer to the fridge to firm up.

When ready to serve, remove from the tin and then place on a plate, spoon some caster sugar across the top and using a blowtorch melt the sugar on top and allow to melt to a golden caramel.

Do NOT place the glazed tarts back into the fridge as the caramel will melt and leave a wet finish on your tarts.

11 Delicious Delights with Lesley

Pastry Pastry is the base for so many dishes, sweet and savoury.

One major thing that you need to remember when preparing pastry, is to

be gentle , it’s the opposite of when making bread. You need a light touch

to make the most crumbly delicious pasty.

Short Crust Pastry

Ingredients

225 g plain flour 150 g cold butter 75 g caster sugar 1 egg Pinch of salt

Method

Food Processor method:

Put the flour and sugar into the bowl of your pro-cessor, pulse a couple of times to combine.

Cut the butter into 1cm cubes and add to the flour mix and pulse until you have fine breadcrumb mix-ture.

Place egg in a cup and whisk, with the machine running, add the egg through the funnel. Keep the food processor running until the mixture comes together.

Remove the dough from the food processor and wrap in cling film and place in the fridge for 20-30 minutes to firm up.

If you need the pastry fast, place in the freezer for 10 minutes.

Rough Puff Pastry

Ingredients 500g plain flour 500g very cold butter, cut into small cu-

bes 1 tsp salt 250ml ice-cold water

Method

Put the flour in a mound on the work surface and make a well. Put in the butter and salt and work them together with the fingertips of one hand, gradually drawing the flour into the center with the other hand.

When the cubes of butter have become small pieces and the dough is grainy, gradually add the iced water and mix until it is all incorporated, but don't overwork the dough. Roll it into a ball, wrap in cling film and refrigerate for 20 minutes.

Flour the work surface and roll out the pastry into a 40 x 20cm rectangle. Fold it into three and give it a quarter-turn. Roll the block of pastry into a 40 x 20cm rectangle as before, and fold it into three again. These are the first 2 turns.

Wrap the block in cling film and refrigerate it for 30 minutes.

Give the chilled pastry another 2 turns, rolling and folding as before.

This makes a total of 4 turns, and the pastry is now ready. Wrap it in cling film and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before using.

12 Delicious Delights with Lesley

Autumn Autumn brings with it some wonderful things. Albeit the weather is changing, the leaves are

turning all shades of reds , oranges and yellows, and it does have its benefits, there is a heady smell

of wood fires in the air.

We still have those wonderful warm days, but the evenings are getting colder, easier to sleep and we

can enjoy the cosy evenings in front of the fire.

The apples and quince are ready to come in from the cold, then we can take foraging to a

whole different level, with the abundance of walnuts, hazelnuts and chestnuts, figs and of course the

mushrooms. Oh I do love living in this part of the world.

We are so lucky to still have the seasons, and although I do prefer the warm weather, I do love the

cooler/colder evenings so we can enjoy sitting in front of the roaring fire.

I have been busy collecting the apples and quince from the Orchard. The apples that I can not use are

washed, dried and wrapped to ensure they last as long as possible , ready for my next recipe.

The quince are a different thing, we need to

wait for them to ripen before we can do any-

thing with them.

They look very strange, like a huge hairy

pear…..

Quince are not a fruit to eat fresh, they are

very hard and bitter if you try. But cooked

they are a wonderful fruit, full of flavour and

the vibrant ruby red colour and fragrance are

very unique.

Quince can be substituted for apples in most

We are very lucky here that there are an abun-

dance of fig trees and as you have guessed an

abundance of figs. These beautiful sweet jew-

els are a delight at any time of the day, break-

fast, lunch and dinner, fresh, dried and cooked.

I made a delicious fig and custard tart last

week, and decided to leave the figs fresh as

they deserved to showcase themselves with

the wonderful sweetness.

13 Delicious Delights with Lesley

Mushrooms The weather has been kind to us the last few weeks and we had the pleasure of foraging in the

forest for mushrooms, well Cepes no less.

We have some friends who have a large forest and often

go foraging for mushrooms, they had offered to take us

out into the forest to show us what mushrooms to pick

and those not to.

So we headed to their house last Tuesday morning, with

our old clothes and wellie boots, basket, knife and gloves

in the car and a huge amount of enthusiasm for what the

day was about to bring.

It was a great day, the best day outside walking for a long time, as we wandered through the

forest, we were shown the mushrooms NOT to pick and those to pick.

(In France you can take your basket of mushrooms to the Pharmacist and they will test them

to check if you have any dangerous mushrooms.)

Although we did see a huge number of Tete Rouge, and

although they are safe to eat, they are not very appetis-

ing to cook with, they turn a very strange colour, pur-

ple/black and in turn, colour everything they are

cooked with the same colour.

As we walked through the forest filling out bas-

ket, we also found a trail of Girolles , those lovely

little golden delights, were just too small so we

left them to grow a little more, probably another

week would do them.

We had a wonderful

day and a good boun-

ty, certainly well

worth the walk

through the forest, we

are looking forward

to our next outing.

14 Delicious Delights with Lesley

The Secretgarden-France For fun cooking Holidays 3/5 day cooking package

What We Do We have a variety of cooking

courses to suit your plans, budget

and experience, all our cooking

courses are created based on the

skills and experience of those at-

tending.

We have courses that range from

2 hours to 5 days all-inclusive,

allowing you to build a cooking

course into your existing holiday

plans or base your holiday

around the cooking courses we

have to offer.

The cooking courses are all

hands-on, no standing around

just watching a demo, you are

here to enjoy the full experi-

ence, it is a cooking holiday so

you will be doing the cooking and

having fun of course, it is your

holiday after all.

Tel: +33(0)243 462805 or +44(0)131 202 6080

E-mail: thesecretgarden-France@hotmail.com

www.thesecretgarden-France.com

15 Delicious Delights with Lesley

The ingredients you will use can be

found in just about any well-

stocked shop or deli wherever you

happen to live, so the dishes you

will cook here can easily be repli-

cated when you get home. And on

your return, you will no doubt find

yourself inundated with requests to

demonstrate your new found skills,

so we send you home with a recipe

pack of all the dishes you cooked.

The week's menu is designed

around the food preferences of

each guest, which inevitably incurs

a degree of compromises, but you

should find a few dishes that ap-

peal. And if, for instance, you have

a burning desire to recreate a fa-

vourite holiday dish, or you find

the need to learn something that's

not on the menu, let me know and

will see if we can incorporate it into

the week.

Finally - and, perhaps, most im-

portantly - its about gaining confi-

dence by bringing out whats al-

ready within you while having a

great time doing what we all love

COOKING......

Whats it all about

Its not just about individual dishes:

its about learning new techniques,

and taking on fresh ideas with a

willingness to experiment; its

about blanching, blow-torching

and searing; its about learning how

to cook ahead, so those normally

stressful dinner parties run

smoothly and efficiently, leaving

you time to enjoy the company of

your friends; its about being able

to judge when a piece of meat or

fish is cooked 'to the point' and

about educating your palate to the

flavour enhancing benefits of sea-

sonings like salt and sugar; its

about developing chopping, fillet-

ing and slicing skills, and its about

taking the time to reduce stocks

and sauces, extracting the most

from the ingredients.

The dishes you will be preparing

and cooking comprise an eclectic

mix of classic and modern styles.

The recipes have been taken from a

broad spread of countries, and

have been adapted to fit in with

our contemporary lifestyles.

While some dishes are modern

'takes' on old favourites, others are

simple classics of their kind. As

such, some are borrowed from

elsewhere, but a few are invented,

here, and every now and then we

play around and come up with

something completely new.

Fun cooking holidays in France

16 Delicious Delights with Lesley

Courses

5 days/nights

3 days/nights

3 days/nights—Gourmet

1 or 2 days

1/2 day (join an existing group)

Groups—

We can cater for max 8 people, ideal

group size is 6, if you have a family/

friends holiday in mind, come along and

have a cooking holiday.

Non cooking partners -

Partners are welcome, sharing your room and going off to enjoy the area or sit in the garden and read a book, then enjoy the food we have prepared on the course.

3 Day Cooking Holiday Day 1 - Aim to arrive at The SecretGarden-France

between 2 and 4 pm, allowing you time to settle in-

to your room and relax before joining the other

guests for welcome drink and evening meal that will

be prepared for you by Lesley (Chef). Over dinner

we will discuss the plan for the next couple of days,

and what you are all hoping to achieve from the

course.

Day 2 - Continental breakfast will be available from

7.30 – 8.30 am, we start in the kitchen at 9am. We

will start with some basic kitchen rules and eti-

quette, hygiene, etc to ensure everyone has a good

starting point for the course, and then start cooking

for lunch and preparing for this evenings meal.

We will aim to have lunch between 12.30 and 2pm

each day. This gives us a well-earned break plus a

chance to discuss the morning class and activities

for the afternoon session.

We will start the afternoon session at 2 pm, continu-

ing with the prep work for the evening meal. We will

aim to complete the session around 5pm, where

you will have some free time before meeting again

in the kitchen to complete the menu and plate up

ready to enjoy the food prepared during the day.

Day 3 - Continental breakfast will be available from

7.30 - 8.30 am, we will meet in the kitchen at 9am to

start the sessions for the day, again we will prepare

for lunch and evening meal.

Late afternoon we will head off to one of the local

vineyards, visit their wine cave, you will have an op-

portunity to taste the wines and buy if you wish.

Day 4 - Departure day, continental breakfast will be

available from 7.30 – 8.30 am, then you will head

back to your room to pack and ready for the off by

11am.

Holiday details

We can customise a course to suit your re-

quirements, additional days, fewer days.

Why not extend your holiday by a couple of

days, explore the surrounding area and stay

here for B&B and of course evening meal if

you fancy.

Allergies/Food dislikes

We do take food allergies very seriously and

work with you to ensure the menu is suita-

ble for you.

Customise your Holiday

5 Day Cooking Course includes a visit to the Farmers Market

17 Delicious Delights with Lesley

TO ADVERTISE WITH US

WEBSITE, MAGAZINE AND

BLOG

Email : Thesecretgarden-France@hotmail.com

Website : www.thesecretgarden-france.com

Recipes & Blog : www.blog.thesecretgarden-france.com

Follow us :

Facebook: www.facebook.com/thesecretgarden.france

Twitter: @SecretGardenF

All rights reserved.

Pictures & Recipes : Lesley Robertson

Gigou Pictures (pg 4&5) Rights reserved by Gigou Family

18 Delicious Delights with Lesley

Spiralizer :

A fantastic way

to get more vege-

tables into your

diet.

Swapping out

pasta for vegeta-

ble spaghetti,

this is the gadget for you. Cour-

gette spaghetti, beetroot/carrot

Amazon—Must have items for all kitchens

Plastic Scraper,

used in our kitchen

for so many things,

bread, baking, cut-

ting.

Digital Scales, must

have in your kitchen,

for all those baking

jobs

CJN Sugar Thermometer,

for all those sugar jobs, Italian

Meringue, Marshmallows….A

must have gadget.

Cover for bread proving

Cover for your bread

dough , moves with the

dough rather than re-

stricting.

Stand Mixer—1300W

Andrew James,

excellent for all those

mixing jobs.