i think this used to be...
one of my sister's favourite recipe. We always called it Aioli (pronounce "a- yo- lee") de morue but i am not sure this is the proper traditional recipe (which comes with lotsd more vegetables on the side...) but it's our version. It's a very simple dish, very easy to prepare and very good value for money (well it was when we were little, not sure now with cod being over fished!). If you are going to try this recipe, really try to get your cod from a sustainable source...or you won't be able to enjoy it for long. I don't know where you can find salted cod round where we live, which is probably why I haven't cooked this dish since I have moved to England...but it's on my "list of requests" each time we go home. I really do that, yes!
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salted cod makes a fab "aioli de morue"
Read more!Reine de Sabah, the yummiest gooeyest(?) chocolate cake
Not sure the word "gooeyest" even exists...
but how else can i describe it? Backtracking my line of thoughts a bit for your benefit, last Saturday was the day of The Lunch (see here for the complete story). Was wondering what to make for pudding though...do I go with a very light fruity desert like poached pears in mulled wine for example to stay seasonal...but then again maybe too daring for my friends... or do I? Do I? Go the Full Monty?!After all if you are going to be bad, you better do it right so I ended up making some plain chocolate brownies (an adapted recipe from Jamie oliver's Red Nose Day booklet)...I realised only tonight they tasted a lot like the Reine de Sabah cake we used to make...that's how I came to think of that one!
Reine de Sabah is a rich, melt in the mouth,
Chicken soup from Belgium
The village I grew up in is twined with a tiny village in Belgium
called Saint Hubert. The idea is that people from Beaujolais go there once a year and then the people from St Hubert visit Beaujolais as well. Simple and quite effective to make new friends! My mum and dad met several friends like that, one couple in particular with 3 daughters. Isuppose they naturally had stuff to talk about since there are....4 girls in our family! Anyway, to cut the long story short, I became really good friend with their middle daughter and still am all those years later...she's now our daughter's Godmother.
When we went to their house, we often ate a chicken and leek soup called "waterzooi" in winter. I like this dish because it reminds me of my friend and holidays spent at her house in Saint Hubert.it's also a meal on its own, a brilliant and easy "week day evening recipe.
winter salad with chicory and walnuts
My grand-parents used to live in the old part of the village...
and that's a mediaval village, so we still have remains of castle fortifications...Their house wasn't huge but had a massive garage bigger than the bit they lived in (I think I have told this story before?). To get to it you had to get otu of the house, down a very steep staircaise (frozen and deadly icy in winter), open a big, heavy wooden door with a key like you see in a pirate's treasure hunt or Alice in Wonderland!. Besides that door was a smaller one leading directly underneath the house to a very old cellar with vaulted ceilings and an earth floor. I know it is impossible to imagine from a few words but as it didn't have any windows, it smelt of slightly damp earth all year round. I only have to close my eyes to remember that smell and wish I could have bottled it!. Anyway, that place was ideal to force chicories. So all winter we'd have a regular supply of white, crunchy vegetables. last time
Gratin dauphinois...the king of all potato dishes!
Now that we are each day coming a bit closer to Christmas...
(sorry for mentioning it so early, can't help it!), I thought it was time to share a few of the dishes we used to have more or less every year. We used to spend Christmas either at home, at my dad's parents or at my auntie (my dad's sister). Occasionally we'd have Christmas lunch at my mum's mum and dad but less often I think (or maybe I have decided so since I didn't like it as much there sadly). Moving on...We'd all contribute to the meal to make it a bit easier on whoever we went to (when I say "we" I mean my parents! Our contribution stopped at making "fruits deguises"(mainly dates or 2 walnut halves stuffed/held together with a bit of pink, green or white marzipan then either rolled in caster sugar or dipped in caramel), a Christmas log (same as the chestnut one but with whipped cream inside and coated in chocolate ganache) or "feuilletes aperetif". My auntie, Micheline, always made her signature dish: Gratin dauphinois.
cheese fondue...not that cheesy afterall!
When I was working in London a few years back,
in events/outside catering, each time I mentioned cheese fondue, my boss started talking about how it was "such a 70s dish, blah, blah, blah". Don't know to this day if it was only her who associated the 2 together or if it's a general English thing. In France cheese fondue is never out of fashion, especially when you come to winter months and ever more if you go skiing or boarding or "ski-bar" 
. I have recently featured quite a few recipes from Savoie in my blog(tartiflette, croutes au fromage): I used to go skiing quite a lot when I was a student since Lyon is only a couple of hours from the slopes. And yes, I know boarding is much cooler, but hey....
Why did I suddenly think about this dish? (Sorry R,A, and S I HAVE to tell the story)
Mussels mariniere, au curry, a la diable...
If you ever go to Lyon...
You might end up in Rue Merciere for dinner. it's a cobbled pedestrian street where all you can find are restaurants and bars. There must be at least 50 of them lined up one after the other, catering for all tastes and budgets. From traditional Bouchons (of course) to Mexicans, Italians, a Spanish tapas bar, piano bars and the famous "Chez Moss" (an institution when it comes to fish and shellfish, but not cheap- you've been warned!). In the middle of those is a little place that used to look like a cabanon straight from the Calanques of Marseille (that's another lovely place to visit...the Calanques). It's called "Bleu de toi" and used to be really nice (not sure what it's like now, haven't been for years but sure it still exists which is a good sign). There you could eat simple salads and large pans of steaming mussels cooked in several ways: Mariniere, provencale, in a curry sauce...it's "cheap and chearful" mind you, but what a great place when I was a student and eating out on a bit of a budget!.
Anyway, I adore Mussels marinieres
Got spare apples? make a tarte tatin bien sur!
A tarte tatin is basically an upside down apple tart...
cooked in caramel so the apples go all golden brown and sweet and yummy. it's a very typical French dessert that I learned from watching my dad making it. He'd find any excuse to make a pudding, and I am so glad for this. Amongst his favourites are (I think): "It's Sunday" (lets make a pudding), "we've-got-friends-coming-round-for-aperetif-and-they might-end-up-staying-over-for-dinner-and-we- need-to-be-prepared" (lets make a pudding),one of us is coming round for lunch-more likely a week end in our case- , oh we've got loads of (apples/butter/ready made pastry..) in the (cellar/fridge/freezer), and so on.
but anyway, it's a quick and no-fuss pudding to make and you only need a few ingredients which helps if you decide to make it at the last minute (it's best served warm anyway, just after you've left it to cool for a bit, yummmmmm!)
chestnut special!
With the weather getting all cold...
and the first Christmas lights already on in some of the shops round here, that's it, I am starting to think A LOT about Christmas (I always kinda think about it a bit since I am part of the strange breed of people who buy presents all year round). I have lots and lots of nice memories about Christmas as a child, and when it comes to food, some ingredients always come back to my mind. one of them is chestnuts, and particularly sweet chestnut puree. Maybe because my mum's family comes from Ardeche: it's an institution down there!. Anyway, when we were kids, mum used to buy us the stuff in little tubes (like tomato paste but a bit smaller) and we'd suck straight from it until every single little drop was gone.....now that's comfort food! sadly I never found those in England but you can find the sweet chestnut puree in a tin in most supermarkets and delis now. And with that you can make a "gateau roulé" ("rolled cake"). You can use the basic cake recipe for loads and loads of stuff including Christmas log (I'll come to that later this week no doubt) btu here's the one for today:
You'll need:
(the repice is from my "100 desserts, 50 tips" book which I mentioned before in my "easiest bestest cake recipe ever")
for the sponge-
3 eggs
3 tablespoons of sugar
5 tablespoons of self raising flour (or 3 tablespoons of flour and 2 tablespoons of Maizena if you've got some)
1 teaspoon of baking powder
25 g of butter
for the filling and top-
2 tins of sweet chestnut puree
1 pint of double cream
1 tablespoon of chestnut liqueur (optional)
Prepare the sponge: separate whites and yolks. Beat the yolks and the sugar until you get a mousse consistency and the mix is pale cream colour. Add the flour (sifted), the Maizena, the baking powder. Whisk the egg whites into firm peaks, then gently fold them into the mix of yolks, sugar and flour.
place a layer of baking parchement/foil on a baking tray and butter it well.
Spread the sponge mix very thinly and evenly with a spatula
Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in a hot oven (200-210 degres) until set and slightly coloured
As soon as you remove the sponge from the oven, flip it ona slightly damp clean kitchen towel, remove the baking parchment /foil
Roll the sponge with the towel together and leave to cool
in the meantime, whisk your doublecream into soft peaks, add 1/2 a tin of chestnut puree and the liqueur.
Unroll the sponge, fill with the mixture and roll again, this time using the towel to hold the roll in place
cut the ends with a sharp knife
Spread the reamaining of the sweet chestnut puree on top of the cake covering all the sides as well
Draw patterns length way with a folk and leave to set
you can even use on the end bits you have cut to make your "log" more realistic- place it on top of the sponge and cover with sweet chestnut puree to get a fake knot...how cheesy but we used to love this when we were kids!
back soon
if you are visiting my blog today...
I know there hasn't been anything new for a few days. Blame it on a family visit and my son's birthday...got to make a treasure chest birthday cake 1/2 foot high !
will definitely be back tonight with more French recipes and stories
See you soon then
Easy desert with lady fingers (boudoirs biscuits)
if you have people coming round for dinner...
and want a simple and easy pudding with no cooking involved, this one is perfect!. The only thing is you need to do it a day in advance. So not one for a last minute gathering, but for that you can try my chocolate and frangipanne tart which takes very little cooking, or even pain perdu, even quicker (just glam it up by serving it with a scoop of very very nice ice cream like Carte dOr caramel et beurre salé, my favourite!). it's called Charlotte, not sure why actually? if you know, please share your knowledge with me, please
anyway, my mum used to make it quite often with different filling depending on the season. Berries and whipped cream in summer, chocolate mousse and pears and even chestnut purée and whipped cream around Christmas. She even had a special Tupperware dish to make it in, one which made it easy to take the charlotte out of it by lifting a little lid on the top. I use a glass bowl lined with clean film, works the same.
although summer has long gone (well actually November has been much nicer than July so you can pretend) this recipe is for the summery version using berries.
You'll need:
1 pack of lady fingers
250 g of fresh or frozen berries, (tongiht I used a pack of mixed red summer fruits- frozen- )
200ml of raspberry or strawberry coulis
1 pint of single cream
4 gelatine leaves
2 tablespoons of caster sugar
on y va:
Defrost your berries if necessary
Lined your glass bowl with cling film leaving an extra couple of inches hanging out all the way round
mix your fruit coulis with a few tablespoons of water to thin it a bit
dip your lady fingers in the coulis one by one, making sure tey are well coated
place a coupld of halved lady fingers at the bottom of the bowl
Carry on placing more lady fingers aroudn the bowl standing up
fill in any holes with bits of fingers
whip your cream to a mousse consistency
Soften the gelatine in a little water
Drain, mix with a little bit of the cream in a separate glass bowl
warm the gelatine and the cream over a pan of boiling water until all the gelatine is disolved
Mix with the rest of the cream
Add the sugar to your berries and toss them round
Mix the berries with the cream
Spoon enough mixture in the middle of the lady fingers to fill half of the bowl
Dip more lady fingers in coulis and place on top of the cream
pour the rest of the cream and berries mixture on top stopping only 1 cm from the top of the bowl (it is important to fill your dish to the top so it set properly when you add a weight on it)
Dip more lady fingers in the fruit coulis and completely cover the top of the cream layer
the top of your pudding should be slightly higher than the top of the bowl you have used
bring the cling film back on top of the charlotte
put a small place upside down on top of the charlotte
place in the fridge with a weight on it (a pint of milk for example) and leave to set overnight
To serve just remove the plate, unwrap the bottom of the Charlotte and tip on a large plate
Pull gently on the cling film to remove from the glass bowl
Peel and discard the cling film
Reblochon, gruyere, chevre...ah le fromage!
I realised I have been writing quite a bit...
about cheese since I have started. I have so far included recipes using reblochon, gruyere with pumpkin, gruyere with chicory, gruyere and onions (earlier this week), and even fromage frais . It's no wonder really, since I'd rather go without chocolate than cheese for months- it's a very close second though. I realised that when I was pregnant and could not indulge in several of my favourite dishes because they use completely unpasteurised, preferably runny cheeses like reblochon for example.
Anyway, it's all coming back to me as I am thinking about what to cook for dinner tonight "pour 1 personne" and can't decide between those 2 possibilities:
Salade de chevre chaud (goat's cheese salad)
or
Croutes au fromage ("cheese crusts")*
que choisir!
Both are very yummy and scream comfort food a mile away. Salade de chevre chaud is a typical starter you'll find on the menu of loads of restaurants and bouchons lyonnais. Croute au fromage comes from Savoie and makes a fab simple main course with a big green salad on the side. Mum used to make it for us for dinner (a "kids version" to start, without the wine)...and still does!
anyway, see for yourself which one you'd prefer;
Ingredients for the salade de chevre chaud:
1 goat's cheese (traditionally a crottin de chavignol or a similar individual hard goat's cheese)
2 thin slices of baguette or nice white loaf
1 big handful of soft green salad leaves (lollo rosso or lettuce- proper, not the iceberg type-, but if you like you can mix in a bit of rocket leaves)
salt, pepper, olive oil, French mustard and (raspberry or cider) vinegar
Cut your goat's cheese in half to get 2 discs
Place them on the slices of bread and grill on medium setting for about 10 minutes tuntil the cheese is warm and start to melt but still holds its shape
in the meantime make the dressing for your salad: Take an empty jam jar, pour in 3 tablespoons of good olive oil, 1 tablespoon of vinegar and 1 teaspoon of French mustard. Season, put the lid on the jar and give it a shake. voila!
wash and dry your salad leaves
place them on a big plate, spoon over a little dressing and place your warm goat's cheese on top.
C'est tout, c'est pret
Ingredients for the "croutes":
(There are several recipes but I like this one best)
1 or 2 thick slices of slightly stale bread loaf, preferably sourdough
1/2 glass of white wine
1 clove of garlic
50g of Comté, Beauford or Gruyere cheese, thinly sliced or grated
1 pinch of grated nutmeg
1 small handful of wild mushrooms (optional, the recipe works well without)
a small knob of butter (if you are using the mushrooms)
Clean your mushrooms with a brush if they are fresh
or
put them in a bowl and just cover them with boiling water to soak if they are dry (how long? depends on what you bought so best is to read the instructions on your packaging)
Melt the butter in a pan and gently fry your mushrooms. Season them well.
In the meantime, cut your garlic clove in half and rub it on your slices of bread
Pour the white wine on a plate and lightly soak the bread in the wine
put the slices of bread in an ovenproof gratin dish
Spread your mushrooms on your bread
cover with the cheese
Sprinkle the nutmeg
Bake in a hot oven (200 degres) for 15 to 20 minutes until the cheese is golden and melted
If you are really hungry, you can fry an egg in a pan in the meantime and serve your croute topped with the fried egg....If you have been skiing all day, you won't feel a bit guilty about that!
My mum makes them like that -minus the fried egg- but mixes the grated cheese with some French mustard, so it becomes a cross between a French "croute" and an English...sorry Welsh rarebit. It's all about improvising with what's in the fridge I guess
so which one should I go for?
* and no, this is not cheese on toast...
Aperetif nibbles with puff pastry
One thing we like in France...
is our "apérétif" (drinks before dinner or lunch). Were I come from, the traditional drink is often a kir (a little balloon shaped glass of white wine with 1/2 inch of creme de cassis or creme de mure at the bottom). Make it weaker (with only a drop of creme de cassis or de mure) it becomes a "blanc cass" (I like that better personally - not as sweet). Or if you really want to pass for a local ask for a "communard", which is red wine and creme de cassis.
We often have a nibble or 2 with our drink. Simple stuff like thin slices of saucisson, sliced mini pork pie (paté en croute), olives, tiny one-bite cheese, cervelle de canuts....or any other cold stuff straight from the fridge, using whatever we've got spread on toast, like paté, tapenade...But for bigger occasions, we normally prepare cooked nibbles. One of my favourite one is mini Frankfurter sausages in puff pastry. It's so simple but really yummy. And because it's quick to prepare you can easily make large volumes of it in no time. I made some for a Christening we were invited to this summer and everyone adored them so I hope you like the idea as well!
All you need is:
1 pack of "knacki" frankfurter sausages
1 block of puff pastry
French mustard
1 egg yold
a little bit of milk
Off you go:
Roll out your pastry to 1cm thick, into a rectangle shape of about 4 inches high by as long as you can
Place your sausages in the middle one next to another to get a long line
Spread a little French mustard on the remaining pastry leaving 1/2 inch at the end
Beat the egg yolk and milk together
With a pastry brush, brush the remaining inch of pastry (to ensure it sticks to the other end when you roll it)
Roll the pastry back aroudn the sausages as tight as you can
Press on the end of the pastry to ensure the roll get sealed
Lightly brush the outside of the pastry with the egg yolk/milk mix
Take a big sharp knife and cut your sausage shape pastry into 1/4 inch thick slices
Brush a little oil or melted butter onto a roasting tray /sheet
place your sausage slices on it leaving a bit of a gap in between them (otherwise they'll stick to each other when cooking)
Bake in a hot oven (200 degres) for 10-12 minutes until golden
Serve immediately or place in an airtight container for a few days in the fridge and warm when needed. You can even freeze them and take them out as needed!
My "mamie" Juliette made those them my mum and my auntie, now it's my turn (and I am sure my sisters do the same!).
Swiss chard quiche
my mum make quiches with everything...
to finish leftovers. it's a brilliant that i have adopted a long time ago. Apart from the pastry (and she's often have a spare ready made shortcrust pastry in the fridge- I keep one in the freezer) a couple of eggs and a bit of milk, you can get fairly creative with the ingredients. We kept chickens (and guineafowls) at home for a long time until mum and dad moved totheir current house in the village- sadly this one doesn't have as much land so the chickens stayed where they were!. All this to say that we were never short of eggs until then.
Anyway, this recipe uses swiss chard, which we grow in and around Lyon. It's called "blettes" and we normally use the stems, steamed first, to make a gratin dish with white sauce and cheese on top. Then you're left with the leaves and that's what this recipe uses...never throw away anything!
You'l need:
1 ready made shortcrust pastry- or make your own using 250 g butter, 5 g of salt, 125 g of softened butter(diced), 1 egg yolk and a couple of tablespoon water. Mix salt and flour together, drop your egg yolk and butter in the middle and mix together then mix with the flour. Roll into a ball using the water to help, then flatten and roll out in betwen 2 layers of cling film. Not the easiest recipe but the best I have ever tried.
2 eggs
200ml of milk
a bit of butter and flour to coat your tart case (I use a 22cm one- about 9 inches)
250g of swiss chard leaves
150g of grated cheese (gruyere if you can or cheddar otherwise)
salt and pepper to season
Here's how it goes:
Roll out your pastry
Fit it in your tart case (buttered and floured our layered with greaseproof paper)
Wash, roughly chop and steam the swiss chard leaves for a few minutes in the microwave the drain to remove any excess water
Beat your eggs and milk together, season and add the grated cheese
Spread the swiss chards on the pastry
Pour the custard mix on top
Bake in a medium hot oven (190degres) for 25 to 30 minutes until golden and set
Make it in a rectangle dish to cut into small squares and serve for aperetif or take away on a pic-nic (still a good idea with the incredibly good weather this week!)
PS: you can replace the swiss chards by fresh spinach, the gruyere by slices of goats cheese if you fancy experimenting.
The tradition of gratinee onion soup at weddings
When you get married in France...
the "partying" tends to last longer than in England (well at least for weddings I have been to here...including ours!). It's not uncommun to be still dancing and celebrating when the sun comes up. So on top of serving guests a selection of canapes with the -champagne- reception and a sitting down or buffet meal, a lot of the time you traditionally eat the "soupe gratinee" early in the morning. It's an onion soup with layers of coutons and grated gruyere cheese finished under the grill. It might sound an unusual snack to tuck into after a full meal, wedding cake and coffee. But since you eat it several hours later, it actually works quite well.
All you need is:
1/2 kilo of onions
30g flour
2 pints of chicken stock
salt and pepper
200g of grated gruyere cheese (or cheddar)
Stale bread (like a baguette or a small loaf)
25g butter
Melt the butter in a pan
Peel and slice the onions thinely
Sweat the onions in the pan until they start to colour
Sift and add the flour to the onions
mix well then pour the stock in the pan
Bring to simmer and cook for 15 minutes
Check the seasoning
Slice and toast your bread
Divide the soup in individual bowls
place the slices of toasted bread on top of ach bowl
Sprinkle the cheese on the bread
Place under a hot grill for a few minutes until the cheese melt and becomes all golden
You don't need to wait until your get invited to a wedding in France. It's a really nice and easy winter dish, perfect if you don't want a big meal on a Sunday night for example.
chocolate and frangipanne tart...lost for ever?
I have just added this recipe today but for some reason it appeared in Oct posts (think perhaps because I started the draft last month as a reminder?) anyway, click here to get to it without getting lost!
Bon Apetit x