I really miss having lunches in France. When I’d raid the fridge, I’d always have chèvre (fresh goats’ cheese ), ‘duck ham’ (duck prosciutto) and really crusty bread. I don’t know how people have it everyday without having a stent put in after a week but once in a while it’s lovely. I’ve had a hankering to make a charcuterie board from scratch and I want to start curing things and making cheeses so these were easy ones to start with. 

He was just on the phone to his parents and told them about the beautiful dinner we had (I thought he meant the charcuterie) and he was talking about the beans on toast we had today! So I’ll write a recipe about curing boyfriends next week…

I found the recipes for the duck and the cheese and I’ll cite the pages below. The pink onions are in my middle eastern feast post. It was all really delicious but I didn’t use many pickles because the flavours of the duck was gorgeous on its own and the goats’ cheese was very delicate tasting (I am going to explore maturing cheese etc next time).

Duck ham

• 2 duck breasts (250g)
• 1 cup sea salt
• Black pepper
• Rosemary 

Kit wise- you’ll just need some muslin cloth and string (I just got it from Amazon and it arrived ever so promptly).

1. Roll the duck in pepper and rosemary.
2. Put 1/4 cup salt under each breast and press them down on top. Put 1/4 each over each duck breast and pack the salt around them until they’re completely covered.
3. Cover with cling film and stick a plate on top of the duck. Leave in the fridge for a full 24 hours.
4. Wash the salt off the duck breasts and wrap in two pieces of muslin cloth about  three layers will do. Wrap them up tightly and twist the ends like a boiled sweet- tie the ends with string tightly.
5. Some people air them just in the kitchen  which I’m sure is fine if it’s cool but I just hung them in the door of my fridge and it was nice to be greeted by them each day.
6. Leave hanging for a week and enjoy! My breasts (duck that is) weighed 250g to start with and then 190g after a week and they were fine.

Thanks to: http://andhereweare.net/2014/01/duck-ham-a-super-easy-curing-project.html/

Chèvre/ goats’ cheese

• 2 pints of full fat goats’ milk
• Juice of two lemons
• 30ml white vinegar
• 1/2 tsp salt

1. Heat the milk to about 82c while stirring.
2. Add the lemon juice and stir a few times
3. Add the vinegar and stir a few times
4. Leave for 10-15 minutes
5. Put three layers of muslin cloth in a colander and gently pour the mixture into it- mix in the salt.
6. Gather the top of the cloth, tie with a string and hang somewhere with a bowl underneath and let it drip for an hour. 
7. Put the curds on some cling film and shape into a sausage.
8. Leave in the fridge for 20 minutes and then roll gently in some herbs, paprika or just some salt and pepper.

Thanks to: http://ethnicspoon.com/how-to-make-goat-cheese-recipe-chevre/

Ciabatta 
I just cheated with this and bought a packet mix! Just knead for a bit longer than it says on the pack and divide into four baguettes. The reason I did this was because I’m still traumatised after the last time I made him ‘bread’. I forgot to knead and shape after the second prove so it kept growing and growing. Plus it had the texture of cake! The lump was two feet wide which was pretty spectacular. I think I found the cure to world hunger but he said I could have weaponised them by putting them into water sources and let the bread absorb it all! Whoops.

Pink Pickles

We got this from a library book but I think it was Rick Stein’s ‘India’ (polite link for book below)

This comes with a warning- you’ll become addicted and you won’t be able to eat anything without it!! We eat it with curry, chilli etc.

You’ll need:

1. 1-2 limes
2. 1 tbsp sea salt
3. 1 tbsp sugar
4. 2 tbsp of white wine vinegar
5. 1 large or 2 small red onions

• Finely slice onions and lay out flat on a plate.
  
• Dress with the other ingredients and toss. 
  
• You will start nibbling after half an hour but two hours with an occasional toss is optimum