Free Deep France by Celia Brayfield Page B

in a piece of muslin
    1 tbsp chopped parsley or small bunch of parsley stalks
    a pinch of salt
    1 bottle of red wine
    Preheat the oven to 130°C/ 275°F/ Gas 1.
    Cut the beef into pieces of your preferred size. Peel and slice the shallots or onions. Cut the pork into small chunks; if you have been able to buy the pork with its rind, put the rind in the
bottom of the casserole, fat-side down because the skin side will stick. Put the bay leaf and a sprig of thyme on top of it. Crush the garlic.
    Put a layer of shallots or onions in the casserole, then a layer of meat. Sprinkle with the
quatre épices
, or add the whole spices tied in muslin, and the salt, garlic and herbs.
Add a second layer of shallots or onions, a second layer of meat, then more herbs, and repeat until all these ingredients, including all the thyme and the salt, are in the casserole. Finally, heat
the wine in a small saucepan, let it boil for about 5 minutes to reduce it, then pour over the meat and flavourings.
    Put the lid on the casserole, with a piece of foil or a damp cloth if it does not fit tightly, and cook in the centre of the oven for 5 hours. If you want to serve the daube
immediately, simply take it out of the oven and pick out the bay leaf, thyme stalks and any whole spices – carefully, because the meat will be meltingly tender. Then serve with mashed or
baked potato, or polenta.
    If you’re making the dish the day before you need it, you can then leave it to cool in the oven with the heat turned off, and transfer it to the refrigerator. The next day, pick off the
surface fat and reheat for an hour at the same oven setting.
    Hot St Clement’s Cake with Jurançon
    This is not a classic recipe, but my own take, with Béarnais flavours, on the light dessert cake found all around the Mediterranean, and wherever the Moors traded
almonds. Jurançon wine, from the vineyards near Pau, comes in sweet and dry versions. The dry is a favourite aperitif, while the sweet Jurançon, chilled, is the proper accompaniment
to
foie gras
. It is a delicate, fresh dessert wine, incapable of cloying, neither as complex as Sauternes nor as perfumed as Beaumes de Venise, though you could use either as a substitute
in this recipe.
    For the cake
    175g (6oz) unsalted butter
    175g (6oz) caster sugar
    1 medium orange
    3 large eggs, separated
    90g (3oz) self-raising flour
    85 ml (3½ fl oz) Jurançon wine
    90 g (3oz) ground almonds
    For the sauce
    1 medium orange
    1 lemon
    30g (1 oz) granulated sugar
    a pinch of
espelette
or chilli powder
    3 tbsp Jurançon wine
    Allow the butter to soften to room temperature. Preheat the oven to l60°C/ 325°F/ Gas 3. Grease a 20cm (8 in) cake tin. The sort with a loose base are almost
idiot-proof.
    Tempting as it will be to make the cake in a mixer, it would not be as light as it will be if you start it off with a wooden spoon and elbow-grease. By this method, cream together the butter and
caster sugar until pale and fluffy. Grate the orange zest and fold into the mixture, then gradually beat in the egg yolks, followed by 2 tbsp of flour and the Jurançon wine. Next, take a
metal spoon and lightly fold in half the almonds, then half the remaining flour, then the rest of the almonds, and finally the last of the flour.
    Whisk the egg whites until firm and peaky, then, with the metal spoon, fold them into the mixture. Spoon it into the cake tin and bake in the centre of the oven for about 50 minutes, or until
you can stick a skewer in the centre and pull it out unsmeared.
    While the cake cooks, make the sauce which will turn it into a wickedly sticky dessert. Pare off the peel from the orange and lemon and slice into fine strips. Put the peel, the sugar, the
espelette
or chilli powder and 100 ml (4 fl oz) of water in a small saucepan and stir over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved. Simmer for 10 minutes, then leave to work up more
flavour.
    Squeeze the juice of the orange and the lemon. When the cake is ready, turn it out