Le Couvent Diary

This one's for the Landseer group who are coming to stay at Le Couvent, Roujan again in a couple of month's time. It's an annual reunion of chums who've previously worked together and they've asked for us to do supper for them one evening. They've requested 'the lovely courgette soup you gave us last time'. I'd completely forgotten, but have found the recipe. Good start. I'm hoping I can encourage the courgettes to get a move on. This is how they look today, with their pals the coriander plants.

Just so you can see how your breakfast is coming along I thought I show you some figs that will arrive on the Le Couvent, Roujan breakfast table a little later in the year. These are on one of about five wild fig trees that we have in the Le Couvent vineyards.

 Although nowhere near ripe yet, having a couple of months to go, they're looking good. Currently, however, it's the asparagus season. We're not at all happy that our lovely neighbour Stephane Cabrol, who used to have a long stall of luscious asparagus outside his house each evening, has decided to move to Alignan-du-Vent, a few minutes drive away. Gone are the days when we could stroll across the road for the fattest, most delicious thumbs of fresh-picked asparagus. I drove off to buy some last Friday. I needed three kilos to make some delicious dense soup. Although he only had the little finger sized ones they were perfect for the velvety soup.

 Our lovely writers are here still - just until tomorrow morning, when Ali and I will be very sad to see them go. They've been wonderful. There's a gentle hum of energy and thinking running right through the house. We've loved it.

Meanwhile, Ali and I have had time to do a little more in the vineyards. A good deal of the time we were pestered by Kit the Labrador wanting to ride round on Queenie the Quad. Here she is with Neffies in the background.

And here's a pic especially for my step-father, John, who's having a rough time with chemo, and for Sarah who's thinking of camping in the vineyards all summer. Here is a pic of your vineyard - they're coming along well.

Hope you're feeling better John.

Ok, so we're not officially open until 1 May, but this exceptional week we have a group of Black & Asian writers staying, working on their films, stage plays, radio plays, TV dramas & books. They're all jolly well known, and they're just lovely and very interesting. We had supper together last night with the writers and our chums Nicola & Teddy who've arranged this particular jape. They do lunch & supper and we have everyone to breakfast. Lucky us eh?

I have a personal challenge to see how many different fruits I can serve at breakfast and the current record is 13. It's early in the year so I wasn't being too hopeful but I managed passion fruit, kiwi, physalis, melons, oranges, apples, strawberries, pineapples, star fruit & bananas this morning. That's 10. The record looks in danger this year now that we have Chateau Mal Au Dos where the fruit grows in abundance.

After talking about the English Class in a previous blog, several people asked for the luscious cake recipe - so here it is.

Ingredients
For the cheesecake
butter, for greasing
1 large ready-made sponge flan case
3 tbsp orange liqueur
200g/7oz caster sugar
2 oranges, zest of both and juice of 1 orange
4 tbsp cornflour
850g/1½lb full-fat soft cream cheese
3 medium free-range eggs
1 vanilla pod, seeds scraped out
375ml/13fl oz double cream, plus extra to serve
345g/12oz dark chocolate pieces
For the marbled chocolate
150g/5oz white chocolate
150g/5oz dark chocolate

Method
1. For the cheesecake, preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4. Grease a 23cm/9in springform cake tin.
2. Cut a circle from the sponge flan case to fit the base of the tin, then cut this circle in half across the middle to make two thin discs. Use one of these to line the cake tin - the other disc can be used in another dish. Drizzle the sponge with one tablespoon of the orange liqueur.
3. Mix together the sugar, orange zest and juice and cornflour in a bowl using a wooden spoon, then use an electric hand mixer to beat in the cream cheese. Crack in the eggs one by one, beating constantly until all the eggs are well incorporated.
4. Add the vanilla seeds and the remaining two tablespoons of orange liqueur to the mixture and mix well. Add the cream and beat well until the mixture is smooth.
5. Pour a third of the mixture over the sponge base in the cake tin. Sprinkle over a third of the chocolate pieces and smooth over with a palette knife. Repeat twice more with the remaining cheesecake mixture and chocolate pieces.
6. Place the tin into a baking tray filled with 2-3mm of warm water - this helps to create steam during cooking. Transfer to the oven and bake for 50 minutes, or until the top is lightly golden. Remove from the oven and leave to cool and set completely before removing from the tin.
7. Meanwhile, for the marbled chocolate, place the white chocolate and dark chocolate into separate heatproof bowls set over pans of gently simmering water. Heat, stirring occasionally, until melted and smooth.
8. Cover a baking tray tightly in cling film. Pour ladlefuls of the dark and white chocolate onto the tray. Allow to cool slightly, then use your finger to swirl the two chocolates together to create a marble effect. Place into the fridge to chill and set completely. When set, break into pieces.
9. To serve, cut the cheesecake into wedges and place onto serving plates with a piece of the marbled chocolate and a drizzle of cream.

With thanks to James Martin, from whom all this is nicked.