Wholesome Free-From Foods

IF YOU’RE COOKING FOR VEGETARIANS, VEGANS OR THOSE NEEDING A GLUTEN-FREE DIET, HERE ARE MY TRIED AND TESTED RECIPES

As I write this month’s column, I’m bang in the middle of hosting a Yoga Retreat here at Chateau Mareuil. The fact that I love to cook is no secret, but more than anything, I really enjoy the challenge of providing delicious food for people who are either not able to, or who would prefer not to eat certain food groups.

This week, I am cooking an all-vegetarian menu for our guests, but we also have gluten free and vegan requirements to cater for – so I am preparing dishes that everyone can tuck into!

So here are some suggestions for really tasty, healthy dishes to suit everyone.

Ingredients (Serves 6 -8)

4 tbsp olive oil

750g fresh mushrooms of your choice

2 cloves of garlic, sliced

1 tsp dried thyme

100-150ml coconut or soy cream

Method

1. Heat the oil in a pan over a high heat and fry the mushrooms for 15-20 mins until very soft, and any liquid that’s been released has evaporated. Stir in the garlic, thyme, 1 tsp sea salt and about ½ tsp of ground black pepper, and cook for 3 mins more. Leave to cool slightly.

2. Transfer the mushroom mixture to a food processor and blitz to a thick

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Belinda, the ‘Accidental Chatelaine’ loves to cook at any opportunity and is delighted to be able to share that love with you www.chateaumareuil.com paste. Add 100ml of coconut or soy cream, then blitz again to achieve the texture you like, scraping down the sides as you go. You may need to add up to 50ml more of the cream.

3. Season to taste, then spoon into a serving dish or bowl and smooth the top with the back of a spoon and cover with cling film or place in a plastic container until ready to serve. Cover and chill for 2 hrs until firm.

Will keep in the fridge for at least 24 hrs.

Roasted Butternut Squash Tagine

Ingredients (Serves 6)

1 butternut squash

2 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp vegetable or olive oil

2-3 onions, diced

2 garlic cloves, finely sliced

1 or 2 celery sticks, finely diced

1 tsp peppercorns, freshly ground

1 tsp ground turmeric (curcuma)

½ tsp ground cinnamon (cannelle)

½ tsp ground ginger (gingembre)

100g red lentils

1x 400g tin of chickpeas (pois chiches), drained and rinsed

500ml passata (purée de tomates)

1 pack fresh coriander handful fresh parsley

1 ltr vegetable stock

50g gluten free small pasta shapes

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 200ºC/180ºC fan

1. Peel, deseed and chop the squash into large chunks. Toss in the olive oil, season with some salt and roast in a large baking tray for about 30 minutes until just tender but retaining some bite.

2. Heat the oil in a large pan over a medium heat. Add the onions and fry until just starting to turn golden. Add

Spicy Beans with Sweetcorn and Tomatoes

Ingredients (Serves 6)

4 tbsp vegetable oil

2x 400g tins of beans of your choice (red kidney beans, haricots blancs, chickpeas etc)

1x 400g tin of sweetcorn

1 tsp red chilli flakes

1 tsp whole mustard seeds

1 tsp whole cumin seeds

2x 400g tins of chopped tomatoes

½ tsp ground turmeric

2 tsp ground coriander

2 tsp ground cumin

2 fresh green chillies *

2 cloves of garlic, crushed

2 tsp grated fresh ginger pulp

2 tsp sugar

1 tbsp salt

Chillies* - I buy fresh chillies when I see them and pop them straight in the freezer. No need to defrost, just slice from frozen and add straight to the pan.

Method

1. Pour the oil into a medium size pan over a medium heat. When the oil is the garlic and celery and cook for a further minute or so, then add the pepper and spices, stirring for a couple of minutes until fragrant. hot, put in the mustard seeds, cumin seeds and chilli flakes.

3. Add the lentils, chickpeas, purée de tomates, chopped parsley and about half the coriander, chopped. Continue to cook, stirring frequently over a low heat for about 10-15 minutes.

4. Add the stock, cover and simmer for about 20 minutes, then add in the roasted butternut squash and the pasta. Simmer gently together until the pasta is al dente, then season to taste.

Serve with the remaining coriander scattered over the dish.

2. Stir into the oil and as soon as the mustard seeds begin to pop, add the tomatoes. Stir together and then add the turmeric, coriander, cumin, sliced green chillies, garlic, ginger, sugar and salt. Stir and bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer gently for 5 minutes.

3. Drain the beans and sweetcorn and add to the pan, heat through gently until heated through.

Serve with fresh coriander and fluffy rice.

Ingredients (Serves 6-8)

150g polenta

150g ground almonds

150g caster sugar (sucre en poudre)

150g vegetable spread, in pieces

1 egg

1 tsp ground cinnamon

300g frozen red fruit mix

Method

1. Lightly grease a 23cm loose bottom flan tin and line with baking parchment.

2. Pre-heat the oven to 180ºC/160ºC fan

3. Simply place all the ingredients, except the fruit, into a food processor and process until well combined.

4. Taking about half of the mixture, gently spread it into the bottom of the tin and push to the edges with your finger tips.

5. Scatter over the frozen fruit right up to the edges.

6. Sprinkle over the remaining mixture in small pieces until the fruit is almost all covered, then spread gently with a wet fork to cover as completely as possible.

7. Bake for about 45 minutes until the top is lightly golden and firm to the touch.

Delicious dusted with icing sugar and served with coconut cream.

Ingredients (Serves 6-8 -can easily be halved)

1kg fruit of your choice (plums, peaches, berries etc)

1tsp vanilla extract (optional)

Sugar to taste

For the crumble

120g caster sugar (sucre en poudre)

220g maize flour (or other gluten free alternative)

220g ground almonds

1tsp ground cinnamon (optional)

220g dairy free spread

Method

1. Prepare and chop the fruit as necessary, mix with the vanilla extract and up to 100g sugar according to taste (remember, the crumble topping is sweet)

2. Place the flour, almonds and cinnamon (if using), in a bowl and mix together well. Scoop spoonfuls of the dairy free spread into the bowl and rub in with your fingertips until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add the sugar and mix well together.

3. Scatter the crumble over the fruit and cover it up to the edges of the dish.

4. Bake in a hot oven for about 50 minutes until the top is golden and the fruit is bubbling around the edges.

Delicious served with coconut cream.

Cookies

Ingredients (Makes about 10)

85g sugar free alternative (eg Canderel Pâtisserie)

1 egg

100g chocolate chips*/raisins/ chopped nuts

150g polenta

85g vegetable spread

Pinch of salt

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180ºC/ 160ºC fan

2. Melt the spread in the microwave for 30 seconds.

Cookies

3. Mix the polenta and the sugar alternative together in a bowl, add the melted spread and the rest of the ingredients. Mix together until you have a soft dough.

4. Cover a baking tray with greaseproof paper. Take small handfuls of the dough, form into rough balls and place well spaced out on to the baking tray. Pat down into cookie shapes with a damp fork.

5. Place in the oven until golden brown – about 10 minutes.

6. Remove to a rack and leave to cool.

*Be sure to check the chocolate chip ingredients for dairy or gluten.

Well, I lost count how many times I had British people asking how to cancel insurance in France (not from my customers of course, as nobody wants to leave BH Assurances!). Note also that in France, insurance contracts are renewed automatically! I know, in Britain, you just phone them and tell them you want to cancel and that’s it! But surprise, surprise, you are in France and we like paperwork! So, here is how to cancel your insurance.

Anniversary Date / Date D’échéance:

The important thing to find out about your insurance contract is the “date d’échéance” which is the anniversary date of your contract. Be careful, as sometimes, some companies will automatically put 1st of January as an anniversary date, so it is not always the date when you took out the contract originally. You can find this date on the original contract you signed or on the renewal notice you receive once a year. Normally, when you take out any insurance, it is for one year minimum (there are exceptions - see ‘Exceptions’). So, you need to see it through until the anniversary date. Before the new law ‘Loi Hamon’, the only way you could cancel was by sending a registered letter 2 months prior to the anniversary date saying you wish to stop the insurance at its next anniversary (in 2 months)! Be careful, with some company‘s top up health insurance, it can even be 3 months!

The other way to cancel is ‘Loi Chatel’ and with this method you have 20 days from receiving the renewal notice to send a registered letter saying you wish to stop the insurance. Do note that some companies actually send the renewal notice at the last minute, even sometimes after the actual renewal date so you think it is too late! But it is the date on the envelope (post office stamp) that counts and not the date on the letter, so always keep the envelope when you choose this method. This method does not work for professional insurance such as public liability or décennale insurance or even with some health top up policies. It always works for car and house insurance.

Loi Hamon and New Law for Health

Top up:

Since January 2015, you can cancel your car and house insurance anytime you want as long as you have had the contract for at least one year. From 1st December 2020, you can also do it for top up health insurance. From 1st of July 2023, it also works for caravans, accident insurance, legal protection insurance, pet insurance, unpaid rent insurance, and special object insurance. This new law does not work for professional insurance.

How to Cancel Using Loi Hamon:

House insurance as an owner, accident insurance (GAV in French), legal protection insurance, special object and pet insurance:

You simply have to notify your insurer with a letter and the cancellation will be effective one month and 3 days after receiving the letter (email is possible if you can be identified properly with it).

Health, cars, caravans, and house (as a lodger) insurance:

The cancellation must be done by your new insurer! (Hopefully me!) Because car and caravan insurance and house insurance for lodgers are a legal obligation, the French government decided not to trust people! Therefore, to make sure that they are still insured, the cancellation can only be made by their new insurer. Not sure why but it is also like this for health top up.

Exceptions:

Obviously, there are exceptions which allow you to stop your insurance without using the methods above. If you sell your car or caravan, you can cancel the insurance by showing your certificate of sale (certificat de cession de vehicule - this can be downloaded from the internet) and the insurance will stop from the day after the date of sale. If you sell the car abroad, always get a proof of sale of some sort. Without paperwork, it is illegal for an insurance company to stop a car insurance contract before its anniversary date! If the car stops working, proof from the garage or mechanic can be accepted (it does with us). If you move back to the UK, we need proof of insurance from the UK.

If you sell your house, you can stop the house insurance with the paperwork given to you by the notaire on the day of the sale.

For the health top up, it can be stopped if you move abroad and stop being covered by the French system. In this case, they can issue you a letter saying you are not in the French system any more and the insurance is stopped. Otherwise, proof from the UK showing that you are covered under the UK system should be enough. For professional insurance, you can cancel with proof from RSI or MSA saying you have closed the business. Otherwise, you can only cancel with a 2 months’ notice prior to the anniversary date. Basically, when there is nothing to be insured and you can prove it, the insurance can be stopped.

Conclusion:

Hopefully now you should all be willing to switch your insurance to me and BH Assurances especially when you know that we take care of all the cancellations for you. So, if you are happy with my quotes, I will do it all for you and you have nothing to do. Also, we have bilingual employees to deal with claims, administration, accounting, and other assistance. So, no excuse for waiting until the anniversary date to get cheaper/ better insurance!

HELP contact@anglofrenchhelp.com

Growing up in France, Lauren has experienced firsthand the complexities of the administration system, especially for non-French speakers. She’s here to accompany you on your French journey, offering admin help, translation, interpretation, and a deep understanding of the French system (See ad on page 13)