Sous-vide is a method of slow cooking food (in sealed plastic bags) in a water bath. It's a French invention wouldn't you know? 

To buy a half decent Sous-vide gadget will set you back over 200€ but my method is much cheaper and you don't have to buy anything except food grade cling film (one that’s marked suitable for microwave).

The big advantage of using this cooking method is that the meat retains its juiciness whilst taking on the seasoning and herbs that you coated it with.  The end result is moist meat.

As an example, take a skinless chicken breast, season and/or coat in herbs or spices of your choice then tightly roll up in cling film making sure the ends are secure and water tight.  Boil up a large pan of water and then turn down to a gentle simmer (should be making a slow plop, plop sound). Now place your sausage looking wrapped chicken breast into the water and leave it alone for around 30 minutes (depends on the size of your ‘sausage’ of course).

When it has reached doneness remove carefully and place on a chopping board allowing it to rest for a few minutes otherwise you’ll burn your fingers when unwrapping the breast as any liquid escaping will be rather hot. 

I served mine with cauliflower and potato gratin and green peppercorn sauce.

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I haven’t had much by way of meat lately but a pork chop loitering in my freezer grabbed my attention.

And whilst it was defrosting my subconscious was working overtime to come up with a recipe to do justice to my sage plant and a bottle of French cider acquired recently during a reconnoitre to Granada.

I used to live in France so I know this is my made up version but at least the cider is from Normandy. The pork is Andalucian and the shallots are from France. The sage is from my Andaluz patio.

Using a suitable casserole dish this is cooking for one…

Brown a pork chop in a little oil

Sauté shallots, sliced carrot and a few cauliflower florets

Add a garlic clove

Add a splodge tomato purée

Add bay leaf, ground black pepper

Add peeled and sliced apple

Add a couple of slugs of cider

Then a ladle of hot stock to cover the ingredients

Sprinkle with dried or fresh sage

Layer with thinly sliced potatoes and a few dots of butter

Place in a preheated oven at 190°C for 35 minutes or until the top layer of potatoes have started to brown and crisp up. 

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One hot sleepy Sunday afternoon at my restaurant in rural France Dennis Lillee came in for lunch. Dennis is a former Australian cricketer rated as the "outstanding fast bowler of his generation". Lillee was known for his fiery temperament, 'never-say-die' attitude and popularity with the fans. According to Wikipedia.

He sat outside with friends enjoying the good weather and how he came across us in the middle of the Périgord-Limousin natural park I never got to find out.

I did have a lengthy chat with him about what he was up to these days – a little commentary and a share in a dry cleaning business didn’t seem to do justice to such a great athlete even if he was on the other side.

Now, I am not the world’s greatest cricket fan but in 1981 I attended an England vs Australia test match at Manchester’s Old Trafford. The first session of the morning was rather dull but when we returned from lunch Ian ‘Beefy’ Botham was at the crease. It was where he set a record of six sixes in a single Ashes match. One such six was scored when Dennis caught the ball but the momentum took his foot over the boundary line thus ‘Beefy’ recorded a six instead of losing his wicket. Botham went on to score 118. I reminded Dennis that I witnessed this little piece of history first hand. He smiled convincingly.

We chatted for some time whilst I prepared his bill. What a great man who even took time out to chat with a young lad of around 9 who would never had known who Dennis Lillee was.

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Manu is a friend from the time when I lived in France. He plays chess, drinks, smokes and doesn't like football but I like him all the same and the bar that he lives in. I stayed there for a few days on my journey to Spain. 

Manu Laurand, chess player.

I managed to cook something

Lunch out with Manu. I asked the waitress to marry me, 

she replied in English, 'No.' 

Much to my surprise Manu had never visited Oradour-sur-Glane where on Saturday, 10th June in 1944 soldiers of 2nd Waffen-SS Panzer Division killed 642 men, women and children and destroyed the entire village without giving any reason for their action to the inhabitants and to this day there is no universally accepted explanation for the massacre.

It was quite sobering when we visited. The rain didn't help.  

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