Fred's newsletter 2.2.21
Hoping for sunny days again soon.
Good morning,
Today is La Chandeleur in France, known here as Pancake Day. In the north east of Brittany a crepe is a thin, sweet, wheat flour pancake, and a galette is a thicker, savoury pancake made with buckwheat, water and salt. The argument between villages has been going on for generations.
Savoury or sweet, it doesn’t matter, La Chandeleur is a fantastic opportunity to have fun and get the kids involved in the kitchen. Let your imagination go wild and have fun. It can be made into a great social event at home, as well as a great meal. I will even give you a recipe for your base. For me, the filling is chocolate all the way - you know the reasons already and my affection (or addiction) for chocolate.
It’s not Pancake Day here until the 16th February, but you can start the fun now and get practicing. So here’s my recipe: pass 500g of plain flour through a sieve; add 250g of cold milk and whisk until smooth; add a pinch of salt; add 4 eggs and 2 soup spoons of sugar and whisk again; finally pour over 250g of melted, warm, unsalted butter. This is a very 'Fred' recipe with lots of butter, like my grandmother (or Paul Bocuse!).
Rest the mix for a good two hours, then cook them as thin as possible using a pancake pan or a small frying pan if the other is not available. This should give you enough crepes for 4 people. You can repeat the same recipe avoiding the sugar if you want to do savoury crepes. Kids love to be in on the action in the kitchen, and crepes guarantee a fabulous evening to remember. And let’s be honest, who does not like crepes? If you don’t, fill them with oysters or garlic - it should be a fun night!
On the French news yesterday, it was announced that Italy has allowed restaurants and leisure destinations like museums to re-open until 6pm, albeit with limited seating and certain rules. Spain has done something similar. Both countries, instead of going into strict lockdown, have concluded that people need to socialise. Something we are desperate to see happening here. Let’s wait and see.
Last week was a busy one at l’escargot, and we are expecting to be as busy again this week. We have a great menu with some new products that I’ll tell you about. Also, it’s Valentine’s weekend next week and we’ll have the menu ready from this Thursday. We will take orders over the phone on Thursday, and also online from our website.
This week, we have more saucisses sèches from the Pyrénées. They are very tasty and you obviously love them. I have also bought in some artisanal olives including the fabulous black ones from Nyons, and a couple of others from Italy. Couldn’t find any in Scotland 🤔
Our freshly-made fish soup is on, and the terrine this week is de tête de cochon, also called brawn or pig’s head terrine, served with sauce gribiche. We have some crab claws that will be baked with onions and chorizo, topped with a garlic and parsley butter, easy and tasty. They replace the snails this week. A little tartiflette needs no introduction other than to say it’s made with organic, salted bacon from Italy, a special reblochon from the caves of Hervé Mons, and Carroll’s Heritage Potatoes. This would also be perfect as a side dish in this cold weather. Salad die-hards will enjoy our winter leaves with yellow beetroot and goat’s cheese, served with a tapenade dressing.
For mains, we have a cassoulet made with East Lothian lamb and a lamb sausage “Toulouse-style” using Laurageais beans from the Albi region. And this week, for the first time, we are introducing goat meat from Lunan Bay, cooked with spinach and chard in a coriander and tomato sauce. It looks beautiful and promising. I really appreciate the effort Jillian and her family have put into their farm to meet expectations. You may recall us using their asparagus when in season. Jillian has written a few words for us – read them here.
Next, and for the first time this year also, I will be cooking wild rabbit from Glenlethnot estate in Angus, sold to me by Ochil Foods based in Perthshire. January and February are good months for rabbit as they are not breeding, and the meat is firm and fat. There will be no trace of shots as these rabbits are caught in underground traps. There’s no official season for rabbit in Scotland, but gamekeepers are cautious about when is best to hunt. When wild, the flavour is slightly stronger than our usual farmed variety, and the texture a little firmer. I’ll cook them ragout style and will serve with a snail and rabbit sausage.
Linda’s chicken is back, this time made into a roulade and served with crevettes in a creamy Riesling sauce. For fish we have fresh steamed hake with a leek and saffron sauce. That’s it for the mains.
The dessert menu includes all our classics, but as the new-season forced rhubarb from Yorkshire has landed, we’ll make a crumble with two types of apples. After all the chat of crepes, of course I had to include my favourite: crepes au chocolat. And there’s also a lovely tarte aux poires for two with chocolate sauce, brioche and praline butter pudding, tarte au chocolate, and not to forget our prunes Armagnac, and cherries in Kirsch. The prunes are now a few years old and well worth a taste. We also have some boxes of chocolates for the addicted like myself.
As always, thank you for your support and feedback. I’ll leave some space for Jillian to tell us about her goats. And also a special thank you to Sue Lawrence for her very kind words (read here). Thank you both for the support.
A bientôt,
Fred and family