Day 11 Olympics Dorset and the Duchy of Cornwall and recipes

I have been quiet, not not really we have been rocking our camp site with screams and claps and groans . 

We ex Pats are still British when it comes to royalty and sport , we even get about 23 pounds a week pension for our teenage years working in England. As Annie says enough to buy a good coffee in Neros , Warwick way London ) every morning.  We are really enjoying touring around. 

Having said goodbye to Nick Kate Georgia and Lauren not to forget Granny, we stocked up at Morrissons and drove the A 35 to Charmouth , the Dutch would call it a country lane. Great views over hilly countryside  to the sea. 

Nick and Kate had looked after us so well. in his young days Nick was a chef , he and I set the food fair Maastricht alight about 20 years ago when we did a stint for Magimix , even Henri Nieman the boss was getting a bit worried about our act. Great fun I enclose the Balti recipe we made then, using our keep it moving spoon to stir the wok. Oh dear all those meories come flooding back, BORING, for you but fun for me. But the recipe you will like. One thing I have had an exciting, if not a bit stressful 32 years of LCF but I do not regret any of it.

Now the next bit . I wonder  

Camping fine , beware of kids , keep your distance !

Absolute panic the de coder and new tele did not work , after hours of spluttering blood sweat and tears from Annie we gave up. Seems England does not DO satelites any more i

`Good bless my Apple and I player, we bought a wifi for 5 pounds a day and we where in business. Although watching was a bit like coitus interuptus as every time we got to a special moment like the final of the 100 metres mens, then BBC would go on pause while the wifi rebooted.

Man what a tension. Sport is wonderful, let us hope it gets the kids away from the internet for a while.

The Duchy of Cornwall

Poundbury, always worth a visit and on this day there was market and a cooking dem, brings me back to my Dutch Dairy Bureau times when I toured England at the age of 19 , in a company car accompanied by the Dutch cheese girls , and gave demonstrations to the British housewives, recipe Gouda pie and Janhagel I will not bother you with !!! UGH

Poundbury was created by Prince Charles seems to be the place to live in the area. However we prefer the coast . Lyme Regis with 2 million euros of French sand to make a kiddies beach , Charmouth where every one walks about with little hammers and buckets ---Looking for fossils. Erosion is a big problem unfortunately last week a young woman lost her life in a rock fall nearby .

if you want to experience English seaside life  not on the scale of Blackpool but a little more refined then take a trip along this Jurassic coast . But end in South Devon my favourite place where the national Heritage has protected a long piece of coast from all the parafanellia of modern materialism, pure country is to be found still and certainly in the British isles.

Also athletes  

What an olympics, golden Saturday got England Swinging what a day what a night .

Last night we guiltily wanted Team GB to get the Gold in the show jumping event , they did we looked at each other rather sheepishly and were amused by the kids who came running to see what had happened as the word , great , fantastic and  Mega ran out over the camping site, it was the first time in 60 years so Dutch friends excuse us. The kids love Annie specially her  Usain Bolt actions see photo windsurfing and the neighbour likes her hair too. 

Time to move on they are encroaching .

In France I am hoping to stay mainly at vineyards and farms so hope not to get involved in too much camp life. Though they are very helpful.

LOndon here we come .

recipe porchetta 

Shoulder of piglet or lamb with mustard herb crust

Ingredients:

2 pieces of piglet (lightly salted) shoulder or loin or lamb shoulder if preferred

50 g butter

2 tbsp olive oil

100 g bread crumbs or panko

50 g chopped herbs

2 to 3 tbsp tarragon  or green mustard mixed with dijon mustard

50 g butter or oil 

Method:

1.     Preheat the oven at 200° C.

2.     Season the meat well.

3.     Fry in butter and oil until golden brown. Mix the bread crumbs and the chopped herbs together.

4.     Spread a thick layer of the mixed mustards on the pig and sprinkle over the breadcrumb mixture.

5.     Place in a roasting tin.

6.     Heat the butter in a small pan and drizzle the butter over the breadcrumbs. You may also use olive oil.

7.     Place the meat in a pre heated oven and roast the meat in the oven for about 45 minute, depending on its size, the first 10 to 15 minutes on 200° C, then turn the oven down to 160° C.

8.     Take the piglet out and let it rest before carving.

Notes

It is also possible to serve the porchetta cut into thick slice of farmhouse bread, like they do in Umbria on the markets.

Balti Mince Tandoori

675 g minced meat

4 tbsp ghee

4 cloves of garlic

225 g onions

3 tbsp tandoori powder

1 tbsp tomato puree

75 g greek yoghurt

1 tbsp Balti garam masala

1 tbsp coriander leaves

sea salt

1 tsp cummin seeds

½ tsp aniseed

Method

1.     Stir fry the mince in the wok for 10 minutes. Strain off and reserve the juices.

2.     Heat the ghee in the wok, add the garlic and stir fry for 30 seconds.

3.     Add the onions  and the tandoori powder and fry over a low heat until soft.

4.     Add the tomato puree and fry briskly for 2-3 minutes stirring well.

5.     Stir  in the mince and fry until very hot.

6.     Turn down the heat and simmer for 30 minuten,adding the cooking liquid from the meat and the yoghurt gradually, to give a creamy sauce.

7.     Finish off by adding  the garam masala ,coriander leaves and aromatic salts.

Balti Masala paste

Ingredients:

50 g coriander seeds

30 g white cumin seeds

15 g cassia bark

10 fennel seeds

10 g black mustard seeds

8 g green cardamom seeds

4 g fenugreek seeds

4 g lovage (a perennial herb, tasting strongly of celery)

3 g wild onion seeds

3 g cloves

2 g dried fenugreek leaves

2 g bay leaves

2 g dried curry leaves

spices

20 g turmeric

20 g garlic powder

10 ginger powder

8 g chili powder

Method:

1.     Roast the spices, cool and grind the whole spices

2.     Mix with the ground spices

Garam masala

20g cinnamon

8 g cloves

20g cardamom seeds

a pinch of  mace

a pinch of nutmeg

Method

Grind all the spices together. This can be bought commercially prepared.