Once of the advantages of having a home in the Mountains ( ours is in the Haute Savoie, not so far from Mont Blanc) is the amazing Savoyard food, the cheeses, the ham, the charcuterie, the cream, the potatoes and oh yes more cream and butter! On the other hand, the disadvantages are also huge, the cheeses, the ham, the charcuterie, the cream, the potatoes and yes more cream and butter! What makes the food wonderful is also its deterrent. Morzine/Les Gets both on the Route des Grandes Alps, have their fair share of local restaurants but nearly all of them specialise in the local food which is labeled Savoyard. Hence, going out to eat usually means eating the local fare. To be fair, they, the restaurants are not catering to the likes of me, on the whole they cater to the tourists, the skiers in winter, the hikers and mountain bikers in the summer. Consequently, when we are in the mountains, we don’t eat out very much.

Having said that, in Les Gets, there is a good restaurant, called L’Outa, which on first sight one can be forgiven in thinking that it is a rather nice antique shop. Madame who runs this establishment with her husband is fun! We telephoned one day to make a reservation and we’re told to call in the morning as she hadn’t decided if she was going to be open or not! Another time she complemented a French friend on her excellent French ! And her food is not the local fare! Another, supposedly up market restaurant, we visited one Christmas. The waitress declared that the chef had been shucking oysters all day! We couldn’t resist! We got 2 each ! And the rest of the meal, although not Savoyard, was less memorable!

In our little hamlet, we too have one, just one bar/ café. Over the years, it has become smarter and better food, in fact her hamburgers are really good as is her Steak tartare. Of course there are Savoyard items on the menu, but not exclusively so.

So what are the specialities of the region.

• Tartiflette which is made from Potatoes, Reblochon cheese, bacon or ham, onions , butter and cream.
• Farce or Farcement Savoyard, is a cake made from Potatoes, cream and bacon, NO cheese, but of course it could be added as well.
• Croziflette, which is a bit like Tartiflette but made with the little local pasta
• Diots are the local sausages
• Raclette, which is melted cheese and usually served with local charcuterie
• Croute Savoyarde is the areas answer to Cheese on toast or Croque Monsieur or Croque Madame
• French onion soup, not necessarily from this region except, the soup is topped with toasted bread smothered in one of the local cheeses
• Tarte d’Abondance. This really is my favourite, it is a cheese tart.
• There are 8 cheese from this region and all have a PDO, which means they have a Protected Designation of Origin. They are Abondance, Beaufort, Chevrotin, Emmental, Raclette, Reblochon, Tome and Tomme. They are all made from one of two types of cow, Abondance and Tarentaise.

A visit to any of the local markets will give you a good overview of all the cheeses and charcuterie available throughout the region.

For some reason the other day, I decided to make Tartiflette. It is a firm favourite for Himself and also for his skiing buddy who comes every January.

To make enough for 4/6 people :-

• 1.5 kilos of potatoes scrubbed but they don’t need peeling
• 3-4 oz unsalted butter
• 8 oz bacon cut into chunks or lardons, smoked or not
• 2 white onions roughly chopped
• At least 4 cloves garlic mushed
• About 12 oz Reblochon Cheese. I actually didn’t have any Reblochon tucked away in the freezer, so I used what I had, a combination of Pont l’eveque , Tunworth ( an English Camembert type) Emmental . Not traditional, I know but it worked.
• 100 cl of creme fraich or cream
• Salt and pepper.

Simply boil the potatoes until soft, I as usual cook them in the microwave. When cool, slice them into rounds about 1/4” thick.

Melt the butter and sauté the potatoes , until a golden colour, put to one side and then sauté the lardons, until they are crispy, add the onions and garlic and again sauté, but don’t let the onions brown, just get them soft.

Layer the potatoes, lardons/ onion/garlic in an ovenproof rectangular casserole ( in France one can buy special dishes for Tartiflette) along with some of the cheese.

Pour the cream over the mixture and top with the remaining cheese.

Bake at 180 C ( fan) 425/ Gas 7 for about 15 minutes, it should be bubbling. Serve at once along with maybe a green salad.

Left overs? I’m kidding, but if there are, refrigerate or freeze. Reheat very quickly in a microwave.

Enjoy ! We certainly did !

The family have had a love affair with pancakes, since I can’t remember when. Himself is the pancake King. He made them at weekends for our own kids, where mostly the youngest and the middle child had competitions as to how many they could eat. Nowadays he makes them for grandchildren, in two groups, the big kids and the little kids, but whenever they come to stay, it is expected that he makes pancakes for breakfast.

A few years ago, my daughters and I, were in Chicago for the marathon, above said middle child has run many marathons and so we were there as the support team. There were always two items that were a MUST for marathon running, the best Hamburger afterwards and pancakes the following morning. We had an Excellent Air BnB right next to a Ralph Lauren restaurant which made the most amazing hamburgers. And true to form we found the best Pancake house in Chicago! We had to wait for maybe an hour but when needs must !

As I am sure you are aware,there are many many forms of Pancakes, the word pancake being a generic word ( for us anglophones) which covers a myriad of different types of pancakes. In the UK it generates at least 450,000 monthly searches for a recipe, and not only that there are at least Seven pages of recipes on the BBC website for pancakes.

So as you can imagine there are numerous types and recipes. Here is a brief synopsis. English pancakes, flat thin, usually eaten with lemon juice and sugar, but can be eaten with almost anything ranging from yogurt to Nutella, to bacon and scrambled egg. American, thick and stacked and definitely with additions, bacon, sausage, egg, maple syrup, fruit, cream yogurt and more. The Scotts have Drop Scones, and the Welsh have Pikelets, whereas Eastern Europe have Blini, which should be made with Buckwheat flour ( Sarrasin). The French have Crêpe which they flatten out in their pan with a rateau en bois and they have Crêpes Salée, or in Brittany it is a Galette, a savoury pancake made again with Buckwheat flour! You don’t have to have a Crêpe pan, but it really does make a difference. It is best not to wash your crepe pan, at best wipe it our with paper towel straight away after using, at worse whilst still very hot just water and wiped dry immediately.

We were away recently, just for a few days, so once again, being of the school of “Waste Not, Want Not” I wondered how to use up the odds of food that were in the refrigerator. I decided to make Galettes Soubises which are pancakes made with Buckwheat or Sarrasin flour ( which by the way is Gluten free ). The recipe I found used a combined plain flour and Sarrasin, which I found to be an odd choice. However, I do happen to have a box of Sarrasin flour ( from France) and there is no mention of mixing it with plain flour.

Ingredients :-

• 330 grams of Buckwheat flour
• A pinch of salt
• 75 CL of ice cold water

Put the flour and salt in a bowl, and carefully pour in the ice cold water, stirring constantly, to make a smooth mixture.

Leave the batter to stand for 2-3 hours. Heat the Crêpe pan until very hot, grease with either a spray or with butter. Pour in some of the batter, but remember Galette are thin. If the mixture is too thick carefully add some extra water. When the edges of the pancake begin to brown, using a spatula flip the pancake over. ( if you are confident, you can try flipping. Quickly cook side two, remove with a spatula and place on a plate. Repeat until all the mixture has been used. They can be staked and stored until ready to use.

For the filling, well savoury, something as simple as cheese and ham, ( using grated Emmental) sautéed mushrooms, or as I did a mixture of sautéed onions, bacon bits ( lardons), garlic, parsley, and then topped with grated Emmental cheese and fried eggs! A meal in itself, or maybe add a green salad!

I saw a recipe the other day, well more of an idea than a recipe. I saw a picture, that was all and although I googled Duck with Figs, the only result was an article in The Telegraph. (UK). I have a newspaper subscription but not that one and no matter how I tried I couldn’t find the recipe. So it had to be invention! Actually the invention became very easy. I had the duck breasts, I had the figs. And bizarrely I also had fig jam, which I would use when making my sauce. My fig jam was actually homemade, probably made during one of our lockdowns, when himself really got into Jam making! Unfortunately since then he has hardly eaten toast and jam, so now we have a bit of a glut, both here and in our house in France! Maybe we need to set up a stand at our farmers market?

I have used my Sous Vide contraption in the past for a simple precooking, but this time round I decided to forgo the Sous Vide option, ( maybe I was just being too lazy)! I had two plump duck breasts, which I defrosted and then patted dry with kitchen paper. Then I sprinkled the fatty side liberally with ground black pepper. Heated a cast iron griddle, until it was really hot and put the duck fat side down to sear and to really cook the fat, pressing the breasts down. This did result with the extractor working overtime, but it is important to get this fat reduced, nothing worse than having horrible soft fat.

When the fat side was really done and crisp, I removed them from the pan and let them rest a while on a plate, but in the meantime I made a sauce. This was very simple and almost cheating. Into a clean saucepan, I put a couple of tablespoons of fig jam, then added a good swish of port, and a dash or two of some cassis. Heated the mixture slowly on the stove top, stirring to marry the ingredients together. When well amalgamated, put to one side until ready to serve.

I served my duck breast with some green beans with almonds and as always I cook them in the microwave, beans for two only takes about 3 minutes on high. Microwave cooking is in fact the cheapest way of cooking but not only that, things like vegetables do not lose any of their nutrients in the cooking water ( there is none). I have memories of my mother or aunt cooking cabbage for what seemed like forever, until it was limp and plaid, but gone are those days, thank goodness.

Once I was ready, I popped my duck breast back onto the griddle, this time skin side up, and cooked for about 5 minutes for the meat to heat through, again, I left them to rest on a plate with some kitchen paper, whilst I cooked the beans.and reheated the sauce.

Figs are very much in season in the UK, and are readily available at my local Middle Eastern stores.

Yesterday I was forced into Culling some of my books! There were just too many on the shelf, it was untidy, but that was not the problem. Several years ago, a visitor commented “ the shelf is bending he said” Himself replied, “ Glass does not Bend” and nor does it, but of course it can break. As I removed a book from the shelf, it wobbled! And the above thought went through my mind. I quickly removed all the books on that particular shelf and found that the glass had indeed moved. It had somehow slid out , or almost out of its brackets!

Himself, quickly came to the rescue, but it involved in removing all of the books and inspection of all of the shelves, fixing them as needed and then the obvious, cleaned them all and sorted out books. There were indeed some which would decamp to France and others , that had never been used , or were just too boring to keep, and still others that had sentimental value, such as a pretty useless book on the cuisine of Belgium !

Dinner was scheduled around the Rugby World Cup , after the England Fiji game and before the French South Africa game. Fortunately I had decided to have the Alternative sole, Megrim, which I had defrosted earlier. My intention was to make Sole Meunière with brown shrimps, which I think was often called Sole Ostendaise, in Belgium. The little brown shrimps, which are required are readily available there, even in the local supermarkets, but here in the UK , more difficult and more expensive. We had been to the local farmers market, where they had wonderful Halibut, which at £40 a go, a tad expensive for 2 people, but sadly no brown shrimp. So Sole in beurre noisette it had to be.

For some unknown reason, many people are afraid of cooking fish, and I have one friend who actually finds fish abhorrent, but then she also doesn’t like the Sicilian specialty of stewed donkey ( can’t say I blame her for that one though!) And yet another, who always soaks fish in milk before cooking, must be something that her mother / grandmother did!

So this has become FISH WEEK, from (Poor-mans) Dover Sole, to Hake ( an alternative to cod) and skate, or what it really is a form of Sting Ray. Whilst living in the US, I found that Americans or Texans at least didn’t eat what I call Skate, which they call Ray. In fact they told me, that if they caught it whilst out fishing, it is just thrown back. To be honest, the fish itself is big and can be huge and a only the wings are eaten.I cook both the sole and the Skate/Ray the same way, lightly dusted in flour, sautéed in hot, unsalted butter with the fish being doused by the spoonful of hot butter, carefully turned and the hot butter doused over again. Remove the fish, put onto a warm plate, turn up the heat so that the butter begins to turn brown! Be very careful not to burn the butter.

Spoon the brown butter ( Beurre Noisette) over th fish, garnish with a slice of lemon., Along with vegetables and salad of your choice.

So, we also had Hake, which I cooked exactly the same way as above but this time served it on a bed of curried chickpeas. Not a huge fan of chickpeas, although I do like Hummus. I used a jar of chickpeas rather than dried which require soaking!

For two people:-

• Extra virgin olive oil , a tablespoon will suffice
• 1 tin of cooked chickpeas, drained & rinsed
• 1 medium onion, finely diced
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 thumbnail sized piece of ginger, grated
• 1 red or green chilli seeded, finely chopped
• 1tsp cumin seeds 
• 2tsp cumin powder
• 1teaspoon curry powder
• 1tbsp smoked paprika 
• Squirt of tomato purée or a teaspoonful
• Cup of water
• A large knob of butter 1-2 ounces
• 1 bunch coriander, chopped (you can use parsley if preferred) 

Sauté the onions , garlic, chillies and ginger in the olive oil with the cumin seeds,powder-and curry powder. Do not let the onions brown, just cooked.Add the drained chickpeas, tomato purée and paprika, cook for a couple of minutes and then add enough water to cover the chickpeas, simmer gently for about 5 minutes.

Pat dry the fish, heat the butter until it is sizzling. Pop in the fish and cook for about 5 minutes spooning over the hot butter from time to time. Carefully turn the fish over to give some colour to the second side, again spoon over the butter.

Spoon the chickpeas between 2 plates and top with the seared fish . Garnish with some of the oil from the chickpeas , some parsley, coriander or as I did a few rocket leaves.

As we all know fish is good for you ! Here in our London Tower we do eat a lot of fish, all sorts , but one I do not like is mackerel! Smoked is fine ( as is smoked salmon) to make a very quick pâté. But as a run of the mill, not for me! But being the super wife that I am, I cook it from time to time for himself.

During the pandemic and our various lockdowns, I bought fish online from either Chapmans Fish based in Kent, and ISH Fish. I actually fell in love with both of them and bought from them regularly. Very sad news though, no longer do they deliver to small fish like me! Well Chapmans do, but no longer do the have RYE BAY, Scallops or Skate but ISH FISh certainly do not, only to the big boys! Therefore I am forced to find new sources, and this ranges from supermarkets, our local ‘Wet’ fish shop, online Wright Brothers, Berwick shellfish to name just a few.

One new fish that I found, and himself has given it his nod of approval! Is Cornish Megrim. Never heard of it? Neither had I ! But it looks like Sole ( eyes on its flattened head), cooks like sole ( maybe not so refined) and is a fraction of the price of sole and is much better than lemon sole or plaice , both in texture and price.

As you can see they do look alike except of the spots! Look out for it, before the price starts to rise. Remember , Monkfish used to be as cheap as chips, and was used as a fake in Scampi and chips, not anymore as it is now expensive!

Another fish that I loved during the lockdowns, Chalk Stream Trout ! Not anymore! I would buy 6 or 12 of a one person size, and grill them on the BBQ, but now they only sell large ones, enough for 6-8 people!

But back to Mackerel, we had unexpected guests the other night, great to see them, as they live in Belgium ( where we lived for 13 years), so have know them for 40 years ! And the boys still ski together ! Hence it was a delight for them to visit, but some quick thinking was required. Nibbles? All too easy to go for chips and dips! Wandering around my local store, I espied smoked mackerel. What could be easier ! Actually not a lot. It can be called Pâté or maybe even better Rillets, but whichever you choose is fine.

I used smoked mackerel, but smoked salmon ( slices or odd ends), hot smoked salmon or smoked trout will also work.

Discard the skin from the fish, flake it, put into a bowl. Add 2 tablespoons of crème fraiche or sour cream and a squeeze of lemon juice. I then blend them altogether using a handheld blender, but of course, a food processor or, liquidiser , or a simple fork will also do the job. If using a fork, the end result will be a little coarser, whereas the finer the pâté, means that for a refined finish, it may be piped onto crackers . Optional extras ( not for piping) included finely chopped dill, finely chopped spring onions or cornichons?

Moving on from smoked mackerel, I do have some trout in the freezer. No longer from the chalk stream but from my local fishmonger. Another thing that himself loves is spinach and I’m always looking for alternative ways to cook it. The latest incarnation is what I all Spanish Spinach, though for some reason, I think it originated from Catalunya.

Quantities vary according to how much you need, but spinach here in the UK is usually sold in bags weighing between 200 grams and 400 grams. It can also be bought as baby spinach and ready washed spinach.

Wash your spinach leaves if necessary and spin dry or drain on a tra towel. You do not want wet spinach. Sauté in a wok or large flat frying pan, a chopped onion or shallots until soft but not brown, in some olive oil. Add a clove or two of minced garlic along with a handful of pine nuts, ( raisins and or chopped dried dates) continuing to sauté whilst the nuts turn golden. Add the spinach, continue to sauté, turning the spinach over from the bottom of the pan, but not stirring! Remember SAUTÉ means to jump, whereas to stir is remuer! When the spinach has wilted, it is ready to serve at once!

What I did was to grill my trout fillets ( they don’t take long) at more or less the same time as cooking the spinach dish, so that both were ready at the same time.

This very simple dinner, satisfies not only hunger, but aesthetically pretty and is a very healthy, dinner. At least Himself is happy!

We left our mountain home,where we had been for about 6 weeks!

The first three we had Tess with us and almost to the day it rained,that last week she was joined by her mother and siblings, the sun shone, we were able to go to the lakes and them to French Camp! We played golf just once at our Mountain Goat course and just once in Chamonix, where it was even hotter, the course sandwiched between the mountains became a heat trap.

They left and the weather certainly changed and not for the best , a heatwave, so during this stay we have had as little as 14 C to for these last two weeks 38C+. For those of you who live in such climates it is made bearable by air conditioning. We found this whilst living in Houston Texas! Why? we wondered were homes dark , and windows small ! Because of the climate and what do the locals do in such weather? Stay home and do jobs in the cool! We soon acclimatised ( or Acclimated )as our American friends would say.

The last week, had been too hot to do much but eat we must, so as we were soon to leave much of it was a UFO! Which equals, You’ll find out, or rather using up what was still in the refrigerators, or that was simple to prepare! Exercise became a 6 am occupation, a walk in the woods or by the river, at that time of day, the temperature was OK! As we were out we tried a few of the local patisseries, with mixed results. The best one changed hands and is now not worth going to, but we recommend a small one in St. Jean d’Aulps, where we reverted to “ Tremper “ our croissants in our coffee! There is a song for the kids, which goes” Tremp ton pain Marie, Tremp ton pain Marie, Tremp ton pain dans la sauce! Basically dunk your bread !

Being of the school of Waste Not, Want Not, I have to use up all food that is still in the refrigerator, or failing that it has to be frozen in time for our next visit, and as we are driving much can also be transported back to London, garlic and onions for example!

So what was on the menu this past week? Well some did require cooking, but maybe that was done early morning before it got too hot, or maybe with all windows and doors open and a breeze blowing through? And as I have said, left overs in many shapes and forms.

Warm potato salad, made with small new potatoes, cut into chunks, not peeled, and these I threw into the microwave ( cheapest and most efficient way of cooking) via the microwave container, cooked on high for 5 minutes , added some chopped spring onions and a slug of good olive oil ! Job done! Do not refrigerate as then it will no longer be warm potato salad !

Next on the agenda was carrots, I can keep my carrots in my London refrigerator for days and even weeks but not so in the Alps, limp and or mouldy they rapidly become, so Carrot Salad. In central London, there is a restaurant called Brasserie Zédel, and for those in the know, it is part of the chain that includes the very famous Ivy Restaurant. They have on their lunch menu Le Prix-Fixe, 2 courses for £16.95 and 3 for £19.75. And there is a choice, not just a take it or leave it! One of the choices for starters is Dressed Shredded Carrots. I take it a tad further, and add some chopped nuts ( almonds, brazils, walnuts or pecans) some raisins or sultanas and of course some olive oil and some balsamic vinegar. Very simple, very quick to make and this one I box and keep in the refrigerator.

Before the kids left, I defrosted some steak and decided to have the Japanese dish of Shabu Shabu. It is an onomatopoeic word, literally meaning Swish Swish. It is the sound made when swishing ingredients around in the pot. It is made at the table, with thin slices of meat and sometimes seafood, on skewers which are swished around in hot liquid or broth for a few minutes and eaten hot with a variety of sauces. Then shredded vegetables are added and a broth is made. Our improvised version, used thinly sliced steak ( best to slice whilst still frozen) and an assortment of shredded vegetables which could included, carrots, cabbage, pak Choi, mushrooms, kale etc. we also used some light stock as the base, though I believe in Japan, they start with water. Great communal meal for all ages. To make this all you need is a good sized pot and some sort of heating device, some fondue forks or chop sticks, some sauces to go with the steak, and here we used what we had, Teppanyaki, Teriyaki, Miso sauce, French mustard and Piri-Piri mayonnaise! Not particularly authentic, but it is what the 8, 13 and 15 year olds decided! They love Shabu Shabu.

On a final non food note, I mentioned golf on our Mountain Goat course and also at Chamonix, so pictures below out of interest!

We almost NEVER have Sunday lunch, not when we were first married, a life time ago, not when the kids were small, or bigger but still at home and even now , now we are foot loose and fancy free, Not even with our myriad of grandchildren. That’s not saying that they don’t get fed, when Chez Nous, it’s just not Sunday Lunch!

However, we usually have something special for Sunday dinner. Many years ago, one of my first favourite cookbooks ( Simcas cuisine) I would take one of her set meals, every Sunday and work my way through the book. Nowadays, I troll the books on my shelf, using stickies, to denote ideas/ recipes I want to try. Unfortunately there are too many on my list and the list seems to grow longer by the day. I love to cook but only so so about baking, whereas my son cooks and my lovely daughter in law bakes! A perfect combination!

This week was a bit of a cop out. I had mushrooms which I had to use ( we are away for a week) and also had marrow bones, which I had been dying to use and were not yet in the freezer. And Steak, I had two beautiful filet steaks, which cried out to me COOK !

The mushrooms were the easy bit, cleaned ( use a mushroom brush, but NEVER NEVER WASH! They go slimy), sautéed in olive oil with some chopped garlic and some chopped parsley ( actually had the leftovers on toast for breakfast! Yummy). But I digress. The first time I had grilled bone marrows was in a large Very French Old Hotel in Le Touquet. The hotel was a huge disappointment as was the restaurant EXCEPT the bone marrow. Grilled until the marrow melts, maybe with garlic and parsley dressing and toast.

I had been planning to have these for a while, but again, the choice was to throw them in the freezer for a rainy day, or to “Go for it”:So I went for it. I mixed together some panko breadcrumbs with chopped parsley ( did you know…… don’t throw parsley away, put into a bag and freeze it, then it smushes easily ready to use) and chopped garlic. Smothered the top of the bone marrows and put into a hot oven. Nothing could be easier!

Alternatively, if you have bone marrow in your refrigerator, scoop out the marrow with a teaspoon and mix it into good quality beef mince with at least 20% fat. Preferably 30% but if adding bone marrow the 20% will suffice. There is nothing worse than dry hamburgers!

But for my steak, I have been reading/ watching the latest way that chefs cook the perfect steak. Firstly, preheat your oven to 400F/200C, then pat the steak dry, a dry steak will sear better, season with pepper and then lob it onto a very hot grill pan ( oven proof) for about 2 minutes, flip over and repeat.

Then place steaks and pan into the oven and bake ( yes bake) for 5-10 minutes . At this point it is best to use a thermometer to test exactly the inner temperature of your steak, however, I forgot at that point that my thermometer had died, so I had to wing it, just by timing. Remove from the oven about 5 degrees inner temperature earlier than you think as you will now need to let them rest. ( to let them finish cooking and for the juices to be reabsorbed into the meat, making for a tender juicy meat.

So the end result for me was, my steaks were WELL DONE! Never mind, I need to get a new thermometer and repeat the exercise! To serve my steaks, I had the mushrooms along with a gratin of root vegetables which I had made previously and had frozen.