Tour de France Stage 11; Albertville to Col Du Granon; Tarte au Caramel et aux noix de Grenoble

Tour de France Stage 11; Albertville to Col Du Granon

Tarte au Caramel et aux noix de Grenoble

Serves 8 – 10

Sweet pastry

90g icing sugar

25g ground almonds

220g flour

1/2 tsp salt

120g unsalted butter

1 large egg

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Filling

150g caster sugar

2 1/2 tbsp honey

2 tbsp milk

1 tsp lemon zest

180ml whipping cream

90g unsalted butter

1/2 tsp rock salt (Blackthorn)

300g Walnuts

Extra rock salt to scatter on top

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Combine the icing sugar, almonds, flour and salt in a bowl, and then add the butter and egg, mixing with your hands until it has all combined, a dough is well formed and smooth. Wrap in clingfilm and put in the fridge for at least an hour.

Preheat the oven to 180C

Take the pastry out of the fridge, and roll it out until a thin circle is formed. Place in a metal taste dish, pricking the base with a fork all over, and then cook for 25 mins.

Remove from the oven and leave to cool on a rack.

Then combine the sugar, honey, milk and lemon zest in a large saucepan and heat.

When this comes to the boil stop stirring and leave to caramelise for 5 mins. Pour in the whipping cream and stir until blended. Then stir in the butter and salt. Finally add the walnuts until evenly coated.

Pour into the pie crust, sprinkle with Blackthorn salt, and chill for at least 2 hours.

Serve with a glass of IGP Isere Balmes Dauphinoises.

Tour de France 2022, Etape 10; Morzine les portes du soleil to Megève: Oreilles d’âne

Tour de France 2022, Etape 10; Morzine les portes du soleil to Megève: Oreilles d’âne

Serves 4

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

600g of spinach leaves

9 large sheets of lasagna

150g grated Gruyere

1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

For the bechamel sauce:

80g of unsalted butter

70g of white flour

400ml of whole milk

1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

1/4 tsp fresh ground black pepper

1/2 tsp Blackthorn salt

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Preheat the oven to 180C

For the béchamel sauce melt the butter and mix with the flour to form a roux.

Pour in the milk and add the nutmeg and seasoning, and heat gently, stirring frequently until the sauce thickens.

Set to one side.

Heat some butter in a large pan and then add the spinach and blanche for 5 mins covered.

Mix the spinach with the béchamel.

Take a dish and grease with butter. Place 3 sheets of lasagne in the base of the dish, and cover with half the spinach mixture. Sprinkle generously with Gruyere.

Place another 3 sheets on top, and repeat, before finishing with a covering of lasagne sheets sprinkled with Gruyere.

Place in the oven for 25 mins, and then serve with salad.

Enjoy with a chilled glass of Chasselas.

Tour de France 2022 Stage 9; Aigle to Châtel Les Portes du Soleil; Tarte Fine aux pommes

Tarte Fine aux pommes

Serves 6 – 8

Ingredients

175g plain flour, plus extra for dusting

85g chilled butter, cut into cubes

3 – 4 apples (cored and sliced)

20g unsalted butter

2 tbsp caster sugar

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Peel, core and finely slice 4 apples.

Preheat the oven to 200ºC

Tip the flour into a large mixing bowl. Add the butter and rub in gently with fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.

Add 3 tablespoons cold water until the pastry comes together in a ball.

Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface and use it to line a 20cm tart dish.

Layer the thin slices of apples over the pastry in concentric circles until they are all used up.

Cut up the butter and place on top, and then sprinkle over the sugar.

Cook in the oven for 30 minutes.

Enjoy hot or cold with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Make sure you drink some Armagnac with it as a digestif, or a lovely chilled glass of Crémant.

Tour de France 2022 Stage 8 Dole to Lausanne; Carbonnade flamande

Tour de France 2022 Stage 8 Dole to Lausanne; Carbonnade flamande

1kg stewing beef, cut into cubes

400ml Leffe or equivalent English dark ale (@chadbrewery)

3 garlic cloves, lightly crushed

2 bay leaves

3 tbsp plain flour, seasoned with salt and pepper

2-3 tbsp olive oil

250g diced pancetta

2 carrots, sliced

2 onions, sliced

1 leek, sliced

1 tbsp tomato purée

350ml beef stock

Handful of mixed seasonal herbs

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Marinate the beef overnight in the ale with the garlic and bay leaves. The next day, drain the beef from the marinade, reserving the marinade. Toss the beef in the seasoned flour until evenly coated.

Heat 2 tbsp of the olive oil in a casserole until hot. 

Fry the beef for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until it is sealed. Remove the beef, and set aside.

Lower the heat, add a smidgen of oil and fry the pancetta in the casserole for 8 minutes, stirring occasionally, until crisp and golden. 

Take the pancetta out and set aside with the beef.

Preheat the oven to 160C. 

Pour the carrots, onions and leek into the casserole and fry, stirring occasionally, until they start to brown. Add the tomato purée and continue to cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly.Add the beef and pour in the reserved marinade. Bring to a simmer, scraping any sticky bits off the bottom of the pan, then add all the beef stock and herbs to the casserole. 

Season with salt and pepper and bring everything to the boil. Remove from the heat. Cover with a lid and cook in the oven for 2 hours, stirring once halfway through.

Serve with fries and cabbage.

To be enjoyed with Trappist beer.

Stage 7 Tomblaine – La Super Planche Des Belles Filles: Aperitif, Pain Aux Céréales et Chèvre Chaud

Stage 7 Tomblaine – La Super Planche Des Belles Filles

Aperitif, Pain Aux Céréales et Chèvre Chaud           Makes 24 bites

2 Bouche de Chèvre (Chavroux is very tasty)

1 Handful of Savoury

Salt

Pepper

For the Bread:

500g Multigrain Flour

320ml lukewarm water

1 packet of dried yeast

1 tbsp olive oil

Generous handful of any seeds you can get (Poppy seed, Sunflower Seed, Flax Seed and Millet Seed especially good)

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Preheat the oven to 170ºC (Gas Mark 3)

Put the flour in a bowl, making a well in the centre.

Mix the yeast with the water, and then add the oil and pour into the well, and mix with the flour until a dough is formed.

Knead for 10 minutes, and then set to one side to prove for half an hour.

Knock out and then knead for a further 10 minutes, forming into a round loaf, before placing on an oiled baking tray and leaving to prove for an hour.

Bake on the top shelf of the oven for 30 – 40 minutes until the bottom of the loaf makes a hollow noise when you tap it.

Set to one side to cool. (overnight if possible).

Slice the goat’s cheese into discs. Slice the bread into bite size pieces, switch on the grill, and then toast one side of the bread.

Pop the goat’s cheese on the other side, and season and sprinkle over some of the savoury, and then grill for 5 – 10 minutes, keeping a close eye on the grill so the food doesn’t burn.

Garnish with extra savoury, and serve with Chilled Champagne; Deutz if you can get it.

Tour de France 2022; Stage 6 Binche to Longwy; Les Truffes Chocolats

Les Truffes Chocolats

Stage 6 Binche to Longly

Les Truffes Chocolats       

Makes 24 – 30 truffles

200ml double cream

200g dark chocolate

1 tbsp Champagne or 1 tbsp cognac

2 tbsp caster sugar

2 tbsp cocoa powder

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Break up the chocolate into individual pieces and place in a bowl.

Bring the cream to the boil, and immediately remove from the heat and pour in with the chocolate and stir until all the chocolate has melted and a thick sauce is formed; stir in the alcohol until completely combined.

Place in a refrigerator for 1 – 2 hours. Take out and using a teaspoon, spoon out walnut size pieces of chocolate, and roll in your hands until a ball is formed. Then roll in either caster sugar or cocoa.

Plate up and serve after dinner.

Tour de France 2022 Etape 5: Lille to Arenberg Porte du Hainaut; Flamiche

Tour de France Etape 5: Lille to Arenberg Porte du Hainaut; Flamiche

Serves 6 – 8

2 large leeks (diced)
200g crème fraiche 
1 large egg
3 large egg yolks
1/4 tsp grated nutmeg
Pinch of salt
Several twists of pepper

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For the pastry

220g white flour
1/2 tsp salt
135g chilled unsalted butter
80ml cold water

To make the pastry, mix the flour, salt and butter with your fingers in a bowl, and then add the water and mix until a smooth dough is formed. Wrap in cling film and place in the fridge for a minimum of 30 mins

Melt the butter in a pan and add a clove of garlic; when sizzling add the leeks and reduce the heat, and cook until soft (about 10 mins).

Preheat the oven to 180C

Take your pastry out the fridge and roll out until it is a disk shape that you can pop in your dish (best to use a metal one).

Go over the base of the pastry with a fork.

Mix the leeks in a bowl with crème fraiche, nutmeg, eggs, pepper, and salt and mix well.

Pour the mixture into the pie case and cook for 40 – 45 mins.

Remove from the oven and transfer to a rack and allow to cool for 15 mins.

Serve with Salad and some sun blushes tomatoes.

Delicious with a cold beer

Tour de France 2022 Stage 4: Dunkirk to Calais; Petits Farcis du Nord

Tour de France Stage 4: Dunkerque to Calais

Petits Farcis du Nord

Serves 4

500g beef mince
200g lardons
1 onion (diced)
2 cloves of garlic (minced)
4 slices of white bread (decrusted and grated)
1 egg
Mixed dried herbs
Salt and pepper

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4 peppers (deseeded)
4 courgettes (seeds scooped out)
2 onions (inside scooped out)
2 aubergines (seeded part scooped out)

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Preheat the oven to 190C

Take a large mixing bowl and combine all the ingredients including all of the seeds scooped out from the courgette and aubergine.

Once well mixed through stuff the peppers, onion, courgette and aubergine and place on a baking tray.

Drizzle some oil over the top and place in the oven for an hour.

Enjoy with green beans, and a local beer.

Local to wherever you are that is.

Tour de France 2021; Etape 21; Chaton to Paris Champs-Elysées: Poelée de Gambas et Avocat

Tour de France 2021; Etape 21; Chaton to Paris Champs-Elysées: Poelée de Gambas et Avocat

Serves 4

300g Uncooked King Prawns

2 Avocadoes (Peeled, halved and chopped into small pieces)

3 cloves of garlic (2 pressed, 1 crushed)

2 Handfuls of Coriander (Chopped)

1 thumb size piece of ginger (Peeled and diced)

2 tbsp light soy sauce

Salt and Pepper

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Heat a skillet with a nob of butter and the smashed garlic clove, and when sizzling add the prawns, cooking through stirring regularly until they are cooked through, and then remove from the heat and cool.

Take a large mixing bowl; chop up the prawns and toss with the avocado. Mix in the ginger, coriander, garlic, and soy sauce, and combine well.

Take a medium sized presentation ring, and spoon in some of the mixture to the top.

Serve with extra coriander garnish, and why not with a glass of champagne. Deutz.

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Tour de France 2021; Etape 20; Libourne to Saint Emilion: Entrecote Bordelaise

Tour de France 2021; Etape 20; Libourne to Saint Emilion: Entrecote Bordelaise

Ingredients

1 tbsp unsalted butter

2 echalotte, finely sliced

¼ tsp Blackthorn Rock salt

1 glass of Bordeaux red wine

1 tsp fresh thyme

250ml beef stock

4 Ribeye Steaks

Salt and Pepper

Extra butter

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Heat the tbsp of butter in a pan, and add the echalottes and salt.

Cook over a medium heat until the echalottes start to soften and become translucent.

Add the wine. Simmer for 5 mins until the alcohol has cooked off.

Add the thyme and stock, and simmer for 10 – 15 mins until the sauce has reduced by half.

Season.

Cook your steaks on the barbecue or on a griddle pan to your desired cuison, and then serve with some Aligot, a Green Salad, and the sauce on top. Enjoy with a glass of Haut-Medoc, or Pessac Leognan.

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