Winter Warming Pot Au Feu

Well, we promised you a delicious, hearty winter-warmer, so that’s exactly what you’re getting this week – it’s Pot au Feu! This classic French dish is a staple during the winter months and it’s got everything you might want on a cold January night after work. Literally translated as "pot on the fire", (doesn’t get much cosier than that, eh?!) this dish uses mostly winter vegetables and the best cuts of beef for stewing. It is one of Carine’s favourite classic slow-cooked stews - earthy; meaty and full of vegetables, served in a clear broth which is – and here we quote – “scrumptiously delicious”.

Sounds pretty good, huh? Let’s get started! This recipe serves 6 people, and can be a real showstopper, or you can simply keep it all for yourself and have it several days in a row!

Ingredients

• 1.5kg Beef (choose the best cuts for stewing – we recommend oxtail, cheeks, brisket or additional lean beef)
• Beef bones for deeper flavour (optional)
• 3 large carrots
• 2 sticks of celery
• 2 potatoes
• 2 turnips
• 2 medium leeks
• 1 onion
• 5 cloves
• 2 cloves of garlic
• Bouquet Garni (2 bay leaves, 5 fresh sprigs of thyme, parsley – traditionally tied together with cooking string, but this isn’t strictly necessary!)
• 1 beef or vegetable stock cube (optional)
• 10 black peppercorns
• Coarse sea salt (to taste)

Method

1) Tie your meat with cooking string to help it keep its shape while it cooks. If you can’t find cooking string, cut the meat into big chunks instead.

2) Peel the carrots, wash your leeks and celery, then cut all into large chunks.

3) Peel your onion and stud it with the cloves.

4) Place your meat, stock, and bones if you have them in a large pot and add 5 litres of cold water.

5) Bring to the boil and skim the broth regularly, removing the foam.

6) Once the mixture no longer forms a foam on the top, turn down the heat and add the rest of the ingredients.

7) Bring the mix back to the boil, cover it then let it simmer over a very low heat for a minimum of 4 hours (if you have a slow-cooker, you can use this, turning the setting to “Low”).

8) To serve, remove the meat and vegetables from the broth and place them on a plate, then ladle over a little broth. Carine serves her pot au feu with Dijon mustard or Dijon Mayonnaise, but we’ll leave your condiment choices up to you.

Bon appetite! We hope this warms your cockles. If you do have a go making this at home, get in touch on Twitter and let us know – we’d love to hear how you got on! 

Fantastic Winter Vegetables and Where to Find Them

In the UK, we are incredibly lucky to have delicious local produce all year round, even in the depths of winter. And as part of her healthy, sustainable 2016, this week Carine will be sharing some of her favourite winter veg and how you can get hold of them.

Carine’s favourite winter vegetables:

Beetroot, parsnip, butternut squash, all sorts of winter cabbage.

Where you can find them:

Carine grows most of hers in her allotment. Otherwise she sources them from Farmer’s markets in Brixton or Clapham Common- “they have everything I need and I can be sure it is all locally sourced.” If you can’t grow your own - she recommends going to your own local farmers’ market to find what’s seasonal. “These brave growers need the support of their local community to survive”

Tips on how to grow or forage for them yourself:

According to Carine, it has never been easier to grow your own veg. Even without proper outdoor space, great winter vegetables like carrots, beetroot, squash, and salad can be grown in pots - you don’t need large plots of land. This year, Carine will be building a vertical garden using recycled wooden pallets. These are easy to collect - you can even find them on the street! And it takes very little to upcycle them into a fantastic trailing garden space. Keep an eye on the blog for Carine’s blogpost in March on how she built her own vertical garden.

For an alternative to gardening, we suggest you give foraging a go. One of Carine’s greatest passions, she is always looking for edible treasures on streets, commons, and in fields. Foraged produce can even be more nutritious than its farmed cousin. Good things to look for at the moment are green leaves, mushrooms, and some fruits – but make sure you know what you’re looking for before you eat anything! A great book for beginner foragers is Darina Allen’s 'Forgotten Skills of Cooking.'

Carine loves hearty, earthy dishes like slow-cooked stew, which winter vegetables are made for. If you are a fan of warming winter recipes too, keep an eye out for next week’s post where we will be sharing one of our favourite recipes!

Urban Foraging - Chestnuts

Chestnuts are a fabulous, wintry ingredient which can be used in all sorts of Christmassy recipes – whizz them into your stuffing for a little earthiness, add them to a nut-roast for your vegetarian friends, or simply roast them and eat them with a little salt. You can buy chestnuts in your local supermarket for around £1 for 100g, perhaps a little more or less if you go for a trendy farmers’ market, but we’re going to give you a few tips on how to find them for free, right on your doorstep!

Carine loves to forage, be it for windfall plums spotted by someone’s garden, or mushrooms in the woods of Sweden, there is nothing she likes better than to be out of doors, looking for food. And chestnuts are some of her favourites which can be found in the heart of London, so she took us urban foraging to demonstrate.

The two locations she chose this week were Clapham Common and Putney Heath – both medium-sized green havens most commonly used by dog-walkers and families with small children. I’d love to tell you exact locations, but Carine has sworn me to secrecy – partly because part of the fun is stumbling across these treasure troves yourself and partly because...Carine doesn’t want you stealing all her chestnuts! She spotted the trees on Clapham Common one day when she was taking her daughter to playgroup and it goes to show how little these natural foodbanks are signposted.

Here are a few tips to follow to ensure you find a bumper crop:

1) When it comes to nuts, there is a high possibility that a squirrel or two will beat you to it. Since they need the food too, we don’t suggest you fight them off, just try to go early on in the season and there will be enough for you both.

2) Make sure you know the difference between the chestnuts you can roast and eat (“sweet chestnuts” - larger) and the chestnuts you make conkers with (smaller). Take a look at our pictures to be sure.

3) You’re going to need gloves because chestnuts can be very spiky – if you don’t have suitable hand-wear, place your chestnut on the ground and gently prise them open with your feet, rolling them around a bit first with your foot to loosen them up.

4) Try to go for ones which are already starting to open – this shows they are ripe.

5) Chestnuts often come with three or so inside – two little ones and one big one, go for the biggest.

And there you have it! The perfect winter day out – pick your area, bring the family (and plenty of gloves) and go exploring! You don’t need to look just for chestnuts either, while we were out, we also found some apples and Carine plans to whip something up using them both. So keep an eye out for that and, until next time, happy foraging!

And, to see a bit more, check out Carine's YouTube channel HERE.

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Get Festive, French-style.

Although her gastronomic roots are firmly planted in Cameroon, Carine spent much of her life in the culinary capital of the world: France. Renowned for its unparalleled ingredients, and world-famous cooking techniques, we thought it was about time we paid homage to France through a festive supper club, chez Carine.

To celebrate that wonderful country and this most joyous time of year, Carine will be hosting “A Very French Christmas” on the 4^th and 18^th of December, for a limited number of selected guests, in her warm and inviting home in Brixton. This 6-course menu will showcase some of the greatest French dishes and the most delicious French produce and is bound to get you in a Yuletide mood.

The theme will be all things French – so dig out your favourite beret and come in your finest Breton stripes. It is the season of giving, so we are asking you to bring a small gift, costing no more than £5, to do Secret Santa with the other guests at the party. We will also be giving some gifts in return, with every guest receiving a goodie bag, along with their swapped Secret Santa gift.

Christmas tasting menu

Welcome Amuse-Bouche

Butternut Squash Velouté with a Truffle oil emulsion

Crispy Salad

Grilled White Fish with sauce beurre meunière, served with braised baby veg.

Duck à l'orange confit with potato gratin dauphinois

Chocolate Marquise with Pain perdu crumble and Ice Cream.

Coffee & Nibbles

There will be only 10 seats per event, so get booking now to avoid disappointment! Tickets can be bought HERE so get your skates on! We look forward to welcoming you all and à bientôt!

Try a True Taste of Africa!

Exciting news, ladies and gentlemen, if you can’t make it to tomorrow night's Matango: A True Taste of Africa supper club, we will be holding another one in just two weeks’ time, on November 12^th. Each of Carine’s Matango supper clubs explores the culture of a different country, and this one will provide a way for Carine to share the food of her homeland, Cameroon, with you.

Come prepared for some tastes and smells you have never before encountered as Carine often makes dishes and uses ingredients you may never even have heard of. In the past, she has served Ndole, Miondo or Poisson braisé, authentic Cameroonian dishes which have been handed down from generation to generation. Carine might be cooking with exciting ingredients such as Cocoyams and Mbu – and if you don’t know what those taste like… well you better buy a ticket and come taste them for yourself!

Sample Menu

Street-food style appetiser of Banana and Cassava beignet with a choice of chilli dip or Carine’s secret green sauce from Marie’s Little Jar.

Starter of Avocado and Prawn salad, in honour of Cameroon’s name*.

The fish course will be a white fish, steamed in banana leaves with Carine’s special spice blend, served with cassava fries.

The meat course will be Smoked chicken in peanut sauce, served with fragrant rice.

There will be a palate cleanser to make way for dessert!

Dessert will be spiced, roasted banana, served in a spicy syrup, with mango sorbet.

Finally, there will be Coffee and caramelised coconut balls.

You will also take away a homemade goodie bag, filled with some of the things you have tried this evening.

*Cameroon was originally colonised by the Portuguese, who arrived in 1472. Upon arriving they noticed the abundance of prawn and shrimp who lived in the country’s Wouri River. Because of this, they named the territory Rio dos Camarões (“River of Prawns”), and it has been called ‘Cameroon’ ever since!

There will be flavours and ingredients like you have never tasted before, so come hungry and free of expectations and we can guarantee you a warm and wonderful evening.

Get your tickets HERE!