We Provice Recipes

I loved cocoa soup and cocoa pudding when I was a child. The soup would be served with zwieback that we would crumble into coarse pieces into the bowl and then we would eat the soup while there was still some crunch left in the zwieback. On special occasions cocoa soup would be served with whipped cream and then it was like thick cocoa, only you ate it with a spoon. It was wonderful to come in from the chill of a winters morning and sit down to some hot cocoa soup for lunch.

Cocoa pudding was poured into a large bowl prior to serving, sugar was sprinkled on top to prevent a skin from forming, and then we would eat it warm or cold. I never liked it much cold, preferring cold chocolate pudding made with Royal pudding mix, served with whipped cream mixed into it so it looked marbelised.

My mother never used cinnamon but sometimes she put a little bit of vanilla essence into the soup.

2 tbs baking cocoa
2 1/2 tbs sugar
250 ml water
1 cinnamon stick or vanilla pod (optional)
1 litre milk
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbs potato flour or cornflour (double or triple as needed to make pudding)
100 ml cold water
Zwieback

Mix together cocoa and sugar and add to the water in a cooking pot. Bring to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes.

Mix the potato flour/cornflour with cold water to make a smooth paste.

Add the milk, salt and cinnamon or vanilla pod (split lengthwise), if using, to the cocoa mix and bring to the boil. Stir the potato flour/cornflour paste into the boiling soup and wait until it boils again.

Serve hot with zwieback or whipped cream.

For a real treat, make the soup with real chocolate.

This is ridiculously simple, but ridiculously good, too. We did this all winter with our frozen beans, and they were as good as fresh, but if all you have is fresh beans, why, they are as good as fresh too.

4 servings
20 minutes prep time


500 grams (1 pound) green or yellow wax beans
1 tablespoon butter
salt & pepper to taste

Wash and trim the beans, and cut them into bite-sized pieces. Put them in a pot with water to cover, and bring them to a boil. Boil for 5 to 8 minutes, until just short of desired level of doneness.

Drain the beans very thoroughly, and return them to the stovetop. Add the butter and continue to cook the beans for 3 to 5 minutes longer, until you can smell the butter just beginning to brown. Stir frequently. Season with salt and pepper, and serve at once.




Last year at this time I made Bean & Potato Skillet.

I was incredibly pleased when I was offered the chance to review some beef from Heggies of Hereford.  Heggies first opened its doors in 1956 by Charles Heggie and has grown ever since; based in the rural city of Hereford they are able to source our products from some of the very best suppliers in the county of Herefordshire.
From the lush green pastures to the welsh borders  Heggies has been providing the finest quality meats for over 50 years  taking extra  special care when choosing their suppliers so that traceability from farm to table can be assured


Although I received three different cuts of beef, I have only had the chance to cook one of them.  I seized upon the sirloin steaks last weekend, and as you can see it is labelled with all the details of the provenance of beef including the name of the farmer.


Look at the beautiful marbling through the meat and the creamy white fat, both signs of great flavour.

Usually I would cover my steak with crushed black pepper, but I wanted the flavour of the meat to really come through, so I used just a little of the Sel de Camargue I brought back from Provence in the spring.  Sel de Camargue contains sea salt, black pepper, pink pepper and coriander.

I crushed a couple of teaspoons of the Sel de Camargue in a mortar and pestle, covered the steaks with a little olive oil and rubbed on the salt and pepper mix.  I then left it to marinade for about four hours, three in the fridge and the last hour out of the fridge so the meat was at room temperature when it ws cooked.
I grilled the steaks, but you could fry them if you prefer or cook on the barbeque.  We like our steak a little bit pink and the steaks cooked pretty quickly. 

The verdict?  Oh my goodness, probably the best steak Ive ever tasted, there was nothing chewy about this piece of meat as there often is with sirloin, it was easy to eat and was full of flavour.  Im not a huge fan of fat but grilled crisp, as it was, I ate the whole lot, it was just so good.

Two 12oz Sirloin Steaks can be bought online from Heggies of Hereford for £17.00.  Although that does seem expensive, I would have to say that is is completely worth it.  If you wanted to be a bit more frugal, you could slice the steaks after cooking and make them stretch to four people.

Many thanks to James Heggie and Tariq Mohammed for the opportunity to review these steaks.  I was not paid for this review and all opinions are my own.

You will need cream cheese and this.....


ps....give away start Monday!

You cannot go wrong with this side or main dish...

Servings: 4
Prep: 5 mins. |
Cook: About 20 mins.

Posted by Sandra

INGREDIENTS

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 large russet potatoes, peeled, and grated
½ onion, finely julienned
1 clove of garlic, minced
Pinch of red pepper flakes
Fine grain kosher salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons freshly chopped parsley leaves

METHOD

In a nonstick 10” saute pan, heat the vegetable oil and butter over medium-high heat. Add the onions and saute until translucent, and add garlic and red pepper flakes and saute for 30 seconds.

Meanwhile, grate the potatoes, squeeze excess moisture and add them to a medium bowl, and pour the skillet mixture over the potatoes, then gently toss to combine. Season with kosher salt and ground pepper, to taste, and add the chopped parsley and fold to combine.

Press grated potato mixture into heated nonstick skillet with back of spatula. Let cook undisturbed over medium heat, until crisp on bottom for about 8 to 10 minutes. Gently flip onto a plate, and then slide other side into nonstick skillet to finish cooking undisturbed for another 8 to 10 minutes.

To serve, slide onto a cutting board, and slice into four wedges. – Enjoy!

With sunny-side up eggs...

~~~~~~~~~~~~


Tip: This is excellent with eggs for breakfast, or a nice accompaniment with any meat, poultry, etc.


Note:  During the last 5 minutes, I like to make four indentations, and add one egg into each, then loosely tent skillet with foil -- This way your potatoes and eggs are perfectly cooked all in one skillet (See photo to the right).