Sorrel and rocket cappuccino..and the chicken chronicles II.

When something is in abundance, we should make use of it…like the sorrel in my garden, which is growing profusely. Not to mention the rocket, which is close to taking over the garden. Combine the two in an early atumn soup, sprinkle with some pistachios and cut some baguette to accompany.

Suggestions:

  • Spinach and basil leaves can be used instead of the sorrel and rocket.
  • The green peas are added for a green color…don’t boil the peas so they lose their green colour.
  • Potatoes can be added for a more consistent soup.
  • Be sure to sauté the sorrel beforehand in a bit of oil to prevent a sour taste to the soup.
  • Use a cuppaccino frother to make milk froth for a light version, or use whipped cream instead.
  • My way of making a creamy milk froth: Use cold, half fat milk. pour up to the marked level of the frother and froth until creamy. warm in the microvwave until the froth rises to the top. (Keep an eye on it, it haapens very quickly).Remove from the microwave and stir with a metal spoon until the mixture is nice and creamy.Spoon onto your soup(or coffee). The froth will hold its shap for quite a long time. For a cold soup, omit the heating.
  • This soup is delicious warm or cold.

…bon appetit!…

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…while the soup is busy simmering… an update on the chicken chronicles...

I mentioned in a previous post: Asparagus with poppy vinaigrette and a confused chicken, that the one hen turned out to be a rooster, which forced me to give them to a friend living on a farm.  It broke my heart to see them go and I especially missed Petronella, the rooster terribly, with his wonderfully cockey attitude! But they are happy  where they are now and Petronella can crow to “his” heart’s delight without worrying about neighbours. Here they can be seen as cute tiny chicks…A simple salad and special corners.

After a while I got two new chickens…Tartelette and Omelette.  Two Pekin bantam little chickens in the colour of Touraine…a soft grey, called “porcelaine“. They soon filled the sad corners of my heart…isn’t it amazing how much love we have to give? They are two adorable little featherfooted friends and I couldn’t ask for better chatterboxes to bring fun and laughter to my days!

Early mornings begin with joghurt. Healthy chicken food the rest of the day and a gouter(snack) late afternoon is  their favorite joghurt again, some grated coconut and a few shreds of salami…yeah yeah…I know… chickens know nothing about joghurt and coconut…, but then I also think these  two chickens don’t know they are chickens!

Where Tokala and Ayiani(my two beautifully chic cats)ignore me for the better half of the day to live their royal life, Tartelette and Omelette are just too eager to follow in my every  fresh footstep, to entertain and be entertained all the way. They fiddle around under my easel in my atelier during the day, groom and massage their feathers by my feet  and slip into the kitchen when I’m not looking to nestle in “their” corner for a nap, while looking at me with flirty eyes and charmingly tilted heads, begging to be allowed to stay…now tell me…how can I refuse such seduction?

…à la prochaine!

Ronelle

Pears in red wine and a wine harvest.

Pears in red wine. Always a winner in our house during the winter and especially over the festive season. In this recipe I used a cabernet sauvignon, but I have also used a (moelleux) sweet white wine before like a Montlouis moelleux or a semi sweet, which is just as delicious. Decorate the pears in red wine with some edible gold leaf and the pears in white wine with spun sugar. A post on how to make spun sugar will follow soon – before Christmas!

Pears in red wine

Why not gather all your wine corks and display them in pretty empty containers somewhere. Always a good talking point and especially the men like to dig and see the wines that passed through. I also colletct the wine cases, hoping I can get hold of enough to convert them into drawers and kitchen tops and units for Coin Perdu, our house in Corréze. They also make nice storage space in the pantry, can be used in the wine “cave”, the cats sleep in the empty ones and some even carry small twigs for lighting fires in my atelier.

winecorks 4 winecorks 1

wine cases 1 winecorks 6

In October we had one day of grape picking at the vinyeards of our friends Vincent and Tania Careme. The domaine vincent Careme is a bio vinyeard where no chemicals are used, wild herbs and weeds are allowed to proliferate, adding to the health of the grapes and picking is still done by hand. They have a traditional Saturday  during grape harvesting in Octobre, when all their friends and family get togetherfor a day of grape picking, press the grapes, feasting on a  huge lunch, continue picking afterwards, pressing again and finishing off with some more eating. We were all dead tired, but what fun we had, one of which was a grape fight when everybody started getting tired and sticky towards the evening. Here are some pictures of the Saturday at Domaine Vincent Careme.

…starting off early morning…

vendange-in the vineyard 2

…moving forward…

…up and down…

vendange-pickers

…picking carefully…

…emptying the bucket…

vendange 23

…into the remorque

vendange-vider

…almost full…

vendange-grapes

…taking a break…

vendange 19

…something for the thirst…

…healthy vinyeards…

vendange-vignoble 1

…at the cellar…

vendange 56

…onto the press…

vendange 58

…cleaning up…

vendange 65

…resting…

vendnage 86

…late afternoon fatigue…

vendange-late afternoon fatigue

…going home…

vendange-finished

Soon to be followed: More about the wines of Vincent and Tania, their wine cellar in the typical “caves” of Touraine, a sculpteur doing his artwork in one of their caves and the many pleasure(and hard work) of daily life at Domaine Vincent Careme.