Dear Queen of Gascon Cuisine,

If you could wave your magic bleu doo-rag and teach everyone reading this one very easy recipe, what would it be?

Signed,

loyal kitchen slave

This is it. A miracle sauce to change your life. Easy, cheap and fun. A sure-fire pantry pleaser. Magic in a jar. my new piggery pantry staple. A cunning condiment.

All this magic in a jar came from a sweet French book called Tisanes et Sirops Delice, one of three that I use for all things herbal, floral and frenchy.

The Miel de Poivre caught my eye flipping through the other day. Huh. Honey? Black Pepper? Hmmm. So I tested and tweaked and added my own touches , of course. This is what I discovered- a perfectly flexible honey-like spicy condiment perfect for glazing a golden Roti de Porc, zigzagging over a sharp Fleuron cheese, or stirring into a cup of mint tea. Magic!

Recipe:

In a medium sized sauce pan, place 2 handfuls of black pepper corners and 20 cl of water. Bring to a boil, cook 5 minutes.

Strain and reserve peppercorns. Add 500 gr sugar to the now dark hot water, plus the juice of one lemon as well as the zested lemon rind (organic please). Bring back to boil, stirring until sugar is dissolved and the sirop is thick. about 5 more minutes. NOW add the peppercorns back to the sirop and cook on a low heat for another 5 minutes. Remove from heat, taste, bottle and then start thinking of all the ways you’ll love this spicy sweet peppery faux honey!

from the Queen of Gascon Cuisine…   and thanks to http://cowgirlchef.blogspot.com/ for this delicious pic!