Terasse

Et Cour

(Well it is the Best)

Daughter D decorates the family cake in Waterford in 2005.

I think since the Christmas of 1976 , and possibly earlier either Síle or I have managed to make a Christmas cake in time for Christmas.
The recipe we use came from Margaret Costa’s, Four Seasons Cookery Book- the appropiate page is much splattered with batter over the 35 years of usage.
We have tweaked the recipe about a fair bit over the years.

Here is our basic recipe;

For a deep 12″ Cake Tin
Fruit:
110g (4 oz.) Yellow Sultanas
110g (4 oz.) Stoned Raisins
225g (8 oz.) Glace Cherries
110g (4 oz.) Crystallized Pineapple
60g (2 oz) Crystallized Ginger
60g (2 oz.) Angelica
110g (4 oz.) Walnuts
60g (2 oz) Candied Citron Peel
60g (2 oz) Candied Orange Peel
60g (2 oz) Candied Lemon Peel
Glass of Irish Whiskey
(this is 850g ( 30 oz) dried fruit and110g( 4 oz.) nuts in total)
5 Eggs
280g (10 oz.) Butter
Grated Rind and Juice of 1 Lemon
225g (8 oz). Caster Sugar
280g (10 oz.) Plain Flour
Good pinch Salt

Note. You can use different dried fruits and nuts so long as the end weight is the same.

Method.

First prepare the tin.
Butter the tin well and line it with two thicknesses of baking parchment deeper than the tin and coming up over the edge.
Pre Heat the oven to Gas 3, 160C,325F.

Soak the Sultanas and the Raisins in the whiskey for two hours.
Halve or quarter the cherries and chop the peel (if you are using whole peel) and cut the angelica, pineapple ginger and nuts into dice.
Beat the eggs until thick and foamy.
Beat the butter with the sugar and the lemon rind until pale and fluffy.
Add the beaten eggs a little at a time and stir well after each addition.
(If it starts to curdle fold in some of the flour)
Mix the salt into the flour and stir this into the mixture thoroughly but lightly. Then stir in the lemon juice.
Stir in the fruit , a little at a time, and then the whiskey.
Put the mixture into the prepared tin and make a hollow depression on the centre of the top to help it to rise evenly.

Cook at the prepared temperature for one hour and then reduce the temperature to Gas 2, 150C, 300F. and cook for another hour at this temperature.(If you have a fan oven I would reduce it to Gas1,140C,275F at this stage.)
From this on it is in your hands.Use a skewer to test the cake into the centre.
It should come out clean. Depending on the actual temperature of your oven this can take anytime between 1 to 2 hours more. If the cake is getting brown on top and still not cooked in the centre cover the top with some bakewell paper.

Once it is cooked leave it to cool in the tin.
(If you like you can pour some more whiskey over it at this stage and more from time to time afterwards should you like a strongly alcoholic cake)
The following day take it out of the tin but leave it in the baking parchment and wrap in tinfoil until needed.

If you don’t want to go to the bother of icing the cake glaze the top with some warmed sieved apricot jam, make a pattern on the top with some toasted nuts and some cherries and then glaze these with the jam as before.

This years variations were; as we couldn’t find Crystallized Pineapple or Angelica here we substituted Stem Ginger and upped the other fruit.
The French Glace cherries were much sharper that those in Ireland so that will give some interest.
We used an illegal Irish Spirit , a bottle of which I smuggled into France, in place of Whiskey or Brandy to soak the fruit (They smelled superb)
We folded in a couple of tablespoons of ground almonds at the end , just because they were there , and as we had left the Christmas Cake Tin in the attic in Waterford we cooked it (to no obvious ill effect ) in a cast iron saucepan.
The proof will be in the eating.

Un Ancien Combattant holds the flag at Le Monument du Morts this morning to commerate the dead on the Onze Novembre.

Courses for 2015 – Tastes of Languedoc, Nature and Food

This year we are again going to run some short relaxed courses in Le Presbytere.

Síle’s brother Colm Ronayne, nature lover extrordinaire, will be your guide to the natural beauty of this undiscovered part of the Languedoc and Martin will introduce you to its cookery and food.

Martin’s Taste of Languedoc Food will consist of four days of morning demonstrations of cooking the wonderful produce; shellfish, vegetables, fruit, lamb, duck and wines available in this part of France.

The Taste of Languedoc Nature Walks with Colm will take place this year, 2015, in May and October:
There will be one in May:
• ArriveThursday 7th May, Depart Tuesday 12th May

And one in October
• Arrive Thursday 15th October, Depart Tuesday 20th October

The Taste of Languedoc Food with Martin will also be in May and October:
• Arrive Thursday May 21st, Depart Tuesday May 26th
• Arrive Thursday October 1st, Depart Tuesday October 6th

Both courses will include Bed and Breakfast and a light lunch for the four days of the course and dinner cooked by Martin for the five nights you are with us – Aperitif, Starter, Main Course, Cheese, Dessert and Coffee served with the delicious wines of the Languedoc.

For the Taste of Languedoc Nature we can pick you up at Carcassonne Airport on the day of arrival and bring you back there for your flight home. You do not need a car as we will organise your transport to the various walks.

For the Taste of Languedoc Food you need to arrange your own transport as you will be free to explore the mountains, the rivers and the beaches of the Mediterranean in the afternoons.

Each of these courses will cost €725 per person sharing with a single supplement of €100.

For any further information contact us at:
Martin and Síle Dwyer,
Le Presbytère, Chambre et Table d’Hôte,
14, Rue René Lenthéric,
34490 Thézan Lès Béziers,
France

Telephone : +33 (0)4 67 48 70 18
Email : martin@lepresbytere.net

Please note that if we don’t get a minimum of three bookings for any of these courses they will not go ahead.

I bought myself some new trousers in Pezenas market this morning, they are rather smart I think, have useful cargo pockets and also little snazzy zip-up ones and are lined with some sort of brushed cotton. (I even got to try them on in a little tent thing at the back of the stall and they fitted perfectly) They are made by (I imagine) happy people in China and come with the above proud lable.
(They cost a jaw dropping seventeen Euros)
And I have no intention of putting them near a Tocbler- I promise.

Every little village around us is woths a wander, this was our first time here.

Here you have our- not often photographed- under terrace Cour or Coutyard firstly as it was yesterday as we started to make it slightly less of a dump in preparation for the terrace renovations soon to begin. Nota Bene the curtain of Winter Jasmine and Rambling Rose

.
Second shot is as it was this afternoon as we denuded the place of its modesty curtain of climbers. You will see in the corner that we have tried to preserve the main stem of the plants but, who knows if they can be persuaded to come back.
Ah Well- all in a good cause.

And so, since our last clients left over a week ago we are in that state of grace known as holidays, but of course, when your home and yourself is the business, these so called holidays are more about repairing both for next year.
Building first.
As and from Monday 19th November Our friendly builder will be replacing our terrace. We have realised for a bit that it is not in the soundest of conditions and so this has been pending. He has promised that he will depart , leaving us with a brand new terrace and a newly cleared courtyard underneath before December 21st when our family, three daughters, two grandsons, one husband and at least one and possibly two partners come to celebrate Christmas with us-Bliss!

Bodies next.
On 28th November (having been deferred from today) Síle goes into the nearby clinic in Colombiers to get one of her knees replaced which , we expect, will stop her gallop right up to Christmas.
In the meantime to prepare for the builder we have to clear out the courtyard ( our dump as it can’t be seen from the terrace,) clear the terrace and move any plants in the garden out of reach of the builders.

Perhaps you can understand why I call them so-called holidays!.

Dry November
(With apologies to Thomas Hood)

No Beer, No Wine

No Downs’s Number Nine

No Fino, Manzanilla, Noilly Prat

No Gin, No Port, No Picpoul de Pinet

No easing of the pain in any member

No Macon Lugny No! nor Chardonnay.

No Burgundy

No Cotes du Rhone

November

“People who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it.”

“There is no sincerer love than the love of food.”

“If you can’t get rid of the skeleton in your closet, you’d best teach it to
dance.”