Civet Of Pork With Amandine Potatoes.

This not an authentic civet of course. In a real civet the blood of the animal is used to thicken the sauce and Armagnac is used to flambé the meat. The most common animal used for this is the hare although rabbit and pork are commonly used. It is a very satisfying dish to make and to eat.

The Amandine potatoes are also a lot of fun to make and were a huge item back in the sixties and beyond. They are rarely seen now and considered ‘passe’. How a potato can be passé I do not know. They were often used in banquets but were found on many of the menus of first class hotels. I made these in the following way:

I boiled 3 large baker potatoes and put them in a colander to let all the water drain out of them. This is very important. Then I mashed them and put them back on the stove in the same pot and dried them out over the heat.

The reason you want them dry is that when you deep fry them you don't want them to burst and the less water in the mixture the less possibility there is of that happening.

Then you let them cool for a bit and put one or two egg yolks in it. Mix them around very well. Then you roll the potato/dough out onto a little flour and roll them into cylinder shapes. They will need to go back into the fridge to settle for a good half hour.

It is really better to make these the day before.

While they are in the fridge mix some slivered almonds with some breadcrumbs. Break and egg or two in to a bowl and put some flour on a plate. Beat the eggs so you end up with liquid eggs.

Put these items side by side: flour/egg/breadcrumbs.

Take your potatoes from the fridge and cut them into the size you want. Pass them first into the flour, then into the egg wash and finally in the breadcrumbs/almond mixture. Reshape them when finished and deep fry them until golden brown in hot oil. Be careful not to burn the almonds