Stuffed Courgettes

This is such a simple recipe but so full of flavour it makes a meal in itself.

2 courgettes - cut in half length wise and the seeds scooped out

4 sun dried tomatoes

12 pitted black olives

1/4 red onion

Feta (about 50 g or more if you like it)

Chop everything except the courgettes into small pieces and mix together in a bowl with one tiny bulb of crushed garlic.

Put the courgettes in a baking dish and drizzle with a small amount of virgin olive oil and sprinkle with salt (fleur de sel is best)

Fill each courgette half with as much of the chopped mixture as you can and top with parmesan cheese.

Put in the preheated oven at 180° for about 20 minutes or until the courgettes are soft.

I added small cherry tomatoes in the baking dish and some fennel.

This went extremely well with Les Perles de Jones Carignan Gris 2016.

Bon appétit!!

Oven baked Pork with vineyard herbs

I am absolutely loving the Mediterranean diet - it's not really a diet but a new way of eating and the recipes are really easy and quick. My favourite meal this week was oven baked pork with herbs that I could just go and pick from my vineyard.

Wild rosemary at Falandrin vineyard

My recipes will give you the general idea of what I did.  This was enough for 2

Handful of fresh rosemary

Handful of fresh thyme

Handful of fresh parsley

1/2 garlic bulb

Tablespoon of dijon mustard

Dash of olive oil

Salt and pepper

2 pork chops

Whizz it all round in the blender (except the meat) to try and get a smooth paste - mine wasn't very smooth and it doesn't' really matter.

Spread it on the pork chop and bake in the oven at 180° until the pork is cooked through (about 25 minutes depending on the thickness of the pork).

At the same time I added some halved cherry tomatoes to the baking tray sprinkled with salt and crushed garlic .

Bon appétit!

New Year Resolutions 2018

This is the week that most people give up their New Year Resolutions so I thought it would be a good time to actually make mine.

I only have one.

I have been in a complete quandary for the last couple of months trying to decide which diet to follow to feel healthier and to shed a few kilos.  All this time it has been staring me in the face - the Mediterranean diet.  As I live more or less on the Mediterranean I don't know why I haven't thought about this before.  I have tried other styles of cooking where it has been almost impossible to source the ingredients but surely I have everything I need for the Mediterranean diet on my doorstep?  I only need to step out of my front door to find wild rosemary and thyme growing in profusion.

And you can drink wine (in moderation).  As my wines are definitely from traditional grape varieties of the Mediterranean they will fit in perfectly with my good intention.

So far we have had fresh mackerel off the bbq with Les Perles de Jones Carignan Gris 2016 and Domaine Jones Grenache 2014 with stuffed peppers.  Both pretty delicious combinations.  I did try to capture the moment on photo but food photography is definitely not my forté.

So in 2018 I will be waving au revoir to desserts, butter and red meats and saying bonjour to fruit, olive oil and fish.  Doesn't sound too bad to me!

Bon appétit !!!