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Ladies With Bottle
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Ladies with Bottle is a blog dedicated to women who, like me, enjoy a glass of wine or two! We choose it in the supermarket to serve with dinner; we order it in restaurants and bars. We chat over it, cook with it, give it as gifts and unwind with it. Ladi
Recent Posts Tagged With 'wine and food'
Christmas Desserts – Mincemeat Tart
Did you know that eating mince pies was made illegal in 1657 and according to the Law Society the law has never been repealed? They were outlawed towards the end of Oliver Cromwell’s rule as Lord Protector, when his puritan council abolished Christ...
Christmas Desserts – Sherry Trifle
The earliest trifle recorded was in a book called “The Good Huswife's Jewell” in 1596 but it didn't resemble the trifles we know today. It consisted of thick cream flavoured with sugar, ginger and rosewater and it wasn't until sixty years later t...
Nuts About Christmas – Almonds and Soup Recipe
Almonds are part of the plum family and are native to North Africa, West Asia and the Mediterranean. Botanically-speaking, almonds are a fruit and there are two forms of the plant, one (often with white flowers) producing sweet almonds, and the other...
Nuts About Christmas – Pecans and Pecan Pie Recipe
The Pecan is a species of Hickory and is native to the USA. "Pecan" is from an American Indian word, meaning a nut requiring a stone to crack. The nut was a staple food for American Indians who pounded the nut into a thin meal and then added water to...
Nuts About Christmas – Walnuts and Rumkugeln (Rum and Walnut Balls) Recipe
The Walnut's Latin name Juglans, translates as "Jupiter's acorn" and means a nut fit for a god. Our word Walnut comes from from the Anglo-Saxon word wealh meaning foreign or alien and hnutu meaning nut. It's thought that the Romans introduced the Wal...
Nuts About Christmas – Hazelnuts and Chocolate Hazelnut Truffles Recipe
Hazelnuts have been harvested for thousands of years and there is evidence of large-scale Mesolithic nut processing, some 9,000 years old, on the island of Colonsay in Scotland. The evidence consists of a large, shallow pit full of the remains of hun...
Christmas Sweets and Treats – Figs
Did you know that the fig is one of the first plants to be cultivated by humans. Nine subfossil figs of a parthenocarpic type dating to about 9400–9200 BC were found in the early Neolithic village in the Jordan Valley, north of Jericho. The find pr...
Nuts about Christmas
It's traditional in our house to have a nut bowl at Christmas and one of my favourites are the Brazil nuts. They are known as Noix du Bresil in France and their genus (Bertholletia Excelsa) is named after the French chemist Claude Louis Berthollet, ...
Christmas Appetizers and Snacks – More Vol-au-vent Recipes
Salmon, Dill and Caper Vol-au-vent2 salmon portions250g cream cheese2 eggs2 tbsp crushed capers¼ cup dill sprigs, chopped¼ cup chopped chives4 large vol-au-vent casesPlace salmon fillets into a deep frying pan. Cover with cold water and place ov...
Christmas Appetizers and Snacks – More Vol-au-vent Recipes
Mushroom and Bacon Vol-au-vent8 vol-au-vent cases2 tsp butter2 slices bacon, diced1 tbsp minced shallot6 oz mushrooms, choppedpinch crushed garlicpinch of chopped fresh thyme¼ cup good beef stock2 cups double creamsalt and freshly ground black pepp...
Christmas Appetizers and Snacks – Vol-au-vent
Vols-au-vent are puff pastry shells that resemble a pot with a lid. They can be small (individual-size) or large (6 to 8 inches in diameter). The pastry is classically filled with a cream sauce-based mixture, usually of chicken, fish, meat or vegetab...
Christmas Appetizers and Snacks – Canapés
Canapés are finger food and are little crackers, small slices of bread, toast or puff pastry, cut into various shapes topped with a "canopy" of such savoury foods as meat, cheese, fish, caviar, foie gras, purées or relish. Canapés can be traced b...
Kirsch
Kirsch is a clear, colourless fruit brandy traditionally made from double distillation of morellos, a dark-coloured cultivar of the sour cherry. The German word Kirsch comes from the word karshu, the name given to the first cultivated cherries in M...
Emmental Cheese
Emmental is one of the largest cheeses in physical size in the world. More than 264 gallons of milk is required for one cheese. During the whole of the ripening process the cheeses have to be turned regularly. In the past this had to be done by hand ...
Gruyère Cheese
Before Gruyère cheese gained its own Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée (AOC) status in 2001 there was heated debate as to whether it was of French or Swiss origin. Gruyère is named after the town of Gruyères in Switzerland but the style of cheese...
Winter Warmers – Fondue
Fondues are in fashion once more and given that they are a winter dish I thought they would make a great comfort food for this time of year. In the past food became scarce in the winter and the cheeses that had been made in the summer were hard and...
The Jack O\'Lantern and Tagine of Lamb with Pumpkin
The Jack O'Lantern originated from an Irish myth about a man nicknamed "Stingy Jack." According to the story, Stingy Jack invited the Devil to have a drink with him. True to his name, Stingy Jack didn't want to pay for his drink, so he convinced the ...
All Saints Day, La Toussaint and Chrysanthemums
Halloween in France is overshadowed by All Saints Day (November 1st) which is part of a National holiday known as La Toussaint. La Toussaint is a 2 day festival during which the French celebrate two holidays together: All Saints Day, the day for reme...
Autumn Stews from France – Bouillabaisse
Bouillabaisse is a traditional Provençal fish stew from the port city of Marseille. It takes its name from the Provençal Occitan word bolhabaissa: bolhir (to boil) and abaissar (to simmer). According to tradition, the origins of the dish date back ...
Autumn Stews from France – Ratatouille
Ratatouille has been made famous by the Disney Film about Remy the Rat - it's a traditional French Provençal stewed vegetable dish, originating in Nice and its full name is Ratatouille Niçoise. The word ratatouille comes from the Occitan ratatolha ...
Autumn Stews from France – Carbonade
Carbonade takes its name from the Latin carbo meaning coal and refers to the stew being cooked over coals in times long past. Les Carbonades Flamandes is a traditional Flemish sweet-sour beef and onion stew made with beer, and seasoned with thyme and...
Autumn Stews from France – Ragout
Over the centuries, the word ragout (which in 17th-century France meant anything that stimulated appetite) has come to signify a highly seasoned stew. A Ragout can be a stew of any simmered food, be it meat, vegetable, fish or fowl - although in Fran...
Autumn Stews from France - Matelote
Matelote is a French fish stew made with red wine. It takes its name from the old French word for sailor or bunkmate matenot, which has its roots in the Latin matte meaning bed or from the Old Norse word mötunautr, meaning messmate.The ingredients f...
Autumn Stews from France - Hochepot Flamande
Hochepot Flamande is a recipe from the north of France where Belgian and Flemish influences are apparent with this traditionally hearty cuisine. It's the northern version of Pot Au Feu and is a "hotch-potch" of mixed meats (pig's ears and tails, brea...
Autumn Stews from France - Estouffade
Estouffade has two meanings in French, one is meat cooked very slowly in very little liquid; braised or casseroled and the other is a brown stock made with veal and beef bones plus pork knuckle. Traditional recipes for Estouffade have deserted the ta...
Autumn Stews from France – Pot au Feu
Pot au Feu (pot on the fire) is a classic French stew and has been eaten all over France for centuries. In fact it's so deeply French that 19th century folklorist Ernst Auricoste de Lazarque declared, "All people have their soups. France alone posses...
Autumn Stews from France - Boeuf en Daube
Daube is Provence’s most famous meat stew. It has crossed the borders of provincial France and is found in other regions, too. The origin of a daube seems to be related to the Italian addobbo (which also gives us the Mexican adobo), meaning “seas...
Autumn Stews from France -Bourride
Bourride is a stew similar to a Bouillabaisse, except that the hallmark of a bourride is aioli (garlic mayonnaise) and was a favourite of the late great Keith Floyd. La Bourride is one of the great classic fish dishes of Provence and there are many, ...
Autumn Stews from France -Garbure
Garbure is a thick French soup of bacon with cabbage and other vegetables, usually with cheese and stale bread added. There is some controversy over its name - some say it came from the Spanish garbias, for "stew" and others say it comes from the Bas...
Autumn Stews from France -Chaudrée
Chaudrée is a fish stew from the Charentes and Poitou region of France. The name of the stew comes from the French word chaudière which was a large 3-legged heavy iron cooking pot used by fishermen. Chaudrée is very similar to the English Chowder ...
