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NATIONAL PIZZA DAY February 9th National Pizza Day. Dedicated to the humble pizza. Perhaps one of the most popular foods there is. Adopted by most countries throughout the World – certainly here in France it has been. In our small town we have 3 take away pizza places, and one restaurant. Visit Angers and you will see numerous pizza cafés, perhaps overtaking the burger bars in popularity! It’s easy to understand why this food is popular – it’s relatively inexpensive, and there is a huge variety of toppings to be had. All supermarkets sell them, many even making their own on the premises – joining the many “industrial” ones in the chill cabinets and freezers. We all have our favorite brands, chains, restaurants. None of the big guns here, but we have found a former bar now selling Pizzas, and pretty good they are to. Occasionally, when pushed for time we have been known to buy one from the supermarket – admittedly we are rarely satisfied, and often vow “never again!” Many of us make our own – perhaps buying ready made pizza bases or making a base following a favorite recipe. We are occasionally seduced by an article extolling the virtue of “the perfect pizza base”. but generally stick to our regular recipe PIZZA DOUGH from Hugh Fernley Whittingstall. Pretty reliable, and easy to follow. His toppings are the stuff of Legend in Monkvalley. BEETROOT PIZZA WITH CHEDDAR and PIZZA WITH NEW POTATOES, ROSEMARY AND BLUE CHEESE When deciding on a topping it’s important not to overload it with too much sauce & other ingredients – if you do the base could end up pretty soggy! Beware of egg in regards to soggy crusts. A thin covering of tomato sauce with cheese, and many other ingredients, the choice is yours: anchovies, mushrooms, onions, olives, pepperoni, other cured meats (don’t dare mention pineapple in the same sentence as pizza) Rocket is also popular, I remember having it on a Margarita in Rome, delicious is was. Of course there is an alternative to a tomato based Pizza. White with Creme Fraiche:- Flammkuchen. Pizza with Smoked Salmon, Crème Fraîche and Caviar. Pizza Savoyarde. Sheila prefers the white base any day, even the Salmon as long as it’s made from Smoked Salmon. Pizza by any other name:- The Alsatian FLAMMEKUECHEN or Tarte flambée) is a thin disc of dough covered in crème fraîche, onions, and bacon. The LAHMACUN or Turkish pizza is a meat-topped dough round. The base is very thin, with layer of meat Lahmacun The Provençal Pissaladière is similar to an Italian pizza, with a slightly thicker crust and a topping of cooked onions, anchovies, and olives. Okonomiyaki a Japanese dish cooked on a hotplate, is often referred to as “Japanese pizza” So maybe not so humble after all AWFUL OFFAL….. or not I appreciate the subject of this post will not be popular with some of you, when ever I mention a recipe with any of the offal cuts, I often get the responce ugh!! So for those of you are still with me, let us consider Offal! Offal or literally “off-fall”, refers to the internal organs of animals. Some cultures consider offal as a food to be taboo, while some eat it daily and for others it is a delicacy. Some offal dishes—including French foie gras, are considered gourmet. Others remain part of traditional regional cuisine and may be consumed at holiday time. This includes Scotland and the Haggis, the Jewish chopped liver and in the U.S. Chitterlings. Where to start? One of our favourites is Delia Smiths KIDNEY STROGANOFF from an early book Frugal Food. It is tasty and full of flavour, and compared to the steak version very economical. She also does a mean STEAK AND KIDNEY pudding which as she says is the ultimate comfort food. You cook it for 5 hours, and try to forget about it, which is fine until the amazing delicious meaty smells wafts out of the kitchen. Who remembers the Liver and onions we had a school? Cooked long and slow with bacon and served with creamed potatoes. I know, it was often overcooked and grainy but I remember it fondly. Our parents often used Ox liver soaked in milk, for a a couple or so hours. Why? I have been given different reasons for this.- it removes impurities, tenderises the meat, and disguises the smell? For me it tasted good, which is all that matters. Sheila’s mother loved to cook. Unfortunately Sheila’s father wasn’t adventurous food wise (that’s putting it mildly!). I remember her preparing us a dish of slow cooked, stuffed lambs heart – absolutely delicious. We discovered sliced Ox heart on sale in a supermarket here in France – cooked like lambs liver it was very tasty. Sheila makes a CHICKEN LIVER PATE it is so, so easy, and so full of flavour. She once decided to make a big pot of it to take on the Wilton Week. All was ready, car packed, so she got it out of the fridge, and, off we went to Dorset. I think it might have been while we were sat on the ferry she said “I’ve left the Pàté at home and of course its out of the fridge” !! No turning back. Not a problem? It was waiting to greet us at the back door when we got back!! I suspect the most disliked of the offal is black pudding, perhaps because of its main ingrediant, but, both Sheila and I love it. We come from a background where Sheila (originating in Manchester) where it was always boiled, in my family it was fried or grilled. We like both the French and the English versions. The English is firmer, and contains larger pieces of fat and is more seasoned. A classic starter we often serve is SCALLOPS AND BLACK PUDDING served on a bed of cauliflower purée. Delicious. When at “work” Sheila used to organize a once a year quiz night she prepared a buffet for half time, it would always include black pudding sandwiches, which were, believe it or not, always first to go? Sheila often stood aside, letting people go first and she always missed out! The cry “Next year we need more black pudding!!” Was often heard. Next Oxtail. The unctuously delicious OXTAIL WITH MARJORAM is a dream. Mopped up with creamy mash. During the Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), crisis of 1996 and 97. The British government banned the sale of meat on the bone. The day after in the supermarkets Beef was on sale at ridiculously low prices. Many people were filling two trolleys. I believe we did snap up a “few juicy bits.” On the other hand some people stopped eating beef altogether. At this time we often brought our meat from a local farm shop. We were in the shop one day beguiling the missing joints. Rib of beef, T bone Steak and of course Oxtail. The butcher just looked at us and said “Not here” !!! So we had Nigella s oxtail stew, all the better I think for being, ……well, almost contraband. On Johns birthday in the January, we enjoyed rib of beef with Sheila s Nephew Simon. Tripe. I have not given up on Tripe. I suspect Sheila as , but to be fair she has tried it. The first time for both of us was at a Sheffield Market. There was tripe stall where you could buy a little plate of tripe morsels for 3d – yes it was pre decimal – with salt and vinegar I ate mine, but when I looked across at Sheila she was struggling, until the lady on the stall said “ I think you’d better take the plate off her! Sheila remained undaunted and made us a dish of Somerset Tripe made with cider, a very unattractive dish. A Tomato sauce with Hugh blobs of white floating in it! (don’t think about it too long ) I am having a renaissance with it in France, it is different and cooked, and very popular lots of the little villages have tripe fairs. Only in France! Recently on a visit to a Saturday morning market we found fresh Lambs kidneys, we couldn’t allow these to escape our clutches! The butcher swiftly cleaned and prepared them for us and the following day a breakfast dish of DEVILLED KIDNEYS evilled kidneys was enjoyed. Some offals I have yet to try and I am open to sampling them. “Brains” was a recent first and I look forward to eating them again, beautifully delicate. So we are at the end of the offal journey , but it is evident when I read back that these words “Tasty”, “delicious”, “unctuous”, “full of flavour”, “love it,” It really is not awful offal. All of the above INTERNATIONAL PORK DAY 2021 Pork is a firm favourite of ours, in all its many guises, as our long list of Pork recipes is testament to. Simon and Caitlin in Australia are also big fans, and, together we have designated: 27th May: International pork Day. Each year we celebrate by preparing new Pork recipes. Simon and Caitlin often go down the Asian route, Thai, Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese etc etc, they are so close to a giant Asian indoor market, the food is wonderful, for a foodie like me its a dream place to visit. Maybe one day we can share the day or at least have a virtual apero or a cup of tea depending on the time of day for both of us. 2021 will be the 13th occasion we have done this, and, we feel duty bound to spread the word about this celebration CASSOULET NAGLAND PORK RIBS ROAST HOISIN PORK SHOULDER STICKY GLAZED PORK RIBS PAN FRIED PORK CHOPS WITH CAPER AND SOT BUTTER SAUCE DAEGI BULGOGI.