Vichyssoise – otherwise known as leek and potato soup! The autumn evenings are perfect for soup and this particular one is an all time favourite in this house. Home-made soup is cheap, easy and really tasty!

It is sometimes called vichyssoise here in France but to the best of my knowledge that refers to potato and leek soup served chilled – I’ve never tried it cold and am not about to 🙂

Some other soups on MyFrenchTable : Courgette Soup ; Mushroom Velouté

Ingredients :

• 300g leeks
• 600g potatoes
• 1.5 litres of chicken stock
• 30g butter
• 10cl crème fraîche (optional)

Method :

1. Peel and chop the potatoes and wash and chop leeks
2. Melt the butter in saucepan and add chopped leeks and cook over a medium heat until the soften
3. Add the chopped potato, mix well and continue cooking for another 5 minutes
4. Add the stock and pepper
5. Bring to the boil and then lower the heat and leave to simmer for about 30 minutes
6. Strain the vegetables but keep the stock
7. Purée the vegetables and put the back in the saucepan with the crème fraîche (if using) and a ladle full of the stock
8. Put back over a gentle heat and mix well. Slowly add the stock back in mixing all the time until you get the consistency you like (as thick or as liquid depending on your preference)
9. If you are going to follow the french tradition of a vichyssoise once the soup has cooled down place in the fridge for at least 2 hours before serving or just enjoy in hot!

*Of course you can simply mix the stock and veg together without going through the process of straining and adding the stock back in. Doing it the way outlined above just means that you only add in as much stock as you need to get the consistency required.

This is another savoury loaf (or cake as they say in french!) which is perfect as an aperitif or finger food for a buffet. Personally I prefer the ham and olive loaf, the recipe for which you can find here, but this is a good alternative if you are cooking for someone who doesn’t like olives 😉

Ingredients :

• 150g flour
• Even teaspoon of baking powder
• 3 eggs
• 1 tablespoon of wholegrain mustard
• 100ml milk
• 125ml sunflower
• 150g ham
• 75g cheddar
• 75g grated gruyere (or other hard cheese)
• 5cl beer (blonde or pale – not sure what the correct term is in english!)
• Salt and Pepper

Method :

1. Pre-heat oven t 180°C
2. Chop the cheddar and the ham in small cubes
3. Place in a bowl and mix in the wholegrain mustard and the beer, mix well and leave to marinate for at least 30 minutes
4. In a large bowl beat the eggs with the flour and baking powder
5. Slowly pour in the warm milk and oil mixing all the time
6. Add the grated cheese
7. Add the ham and cheese mixture and mix well
8. Season with salt and pepper
9. Pour into a non-greased loaf tin and bake for 45 minutes at 180°C

Leeks are in season! And this leek and potato tart makes a lovely evening meal or lunch with a green salad. I made it with lardons but it is also lovely with smoked salmon.

See the following for some similar recipes : Quiche or Courgette Tart

Ingredients :

• A short-cut pastry (recipe here) or a puff pastry
• 5 medium sized potatoes
• 3 leeks
• 3 eggs
• 150ml of milk or creme fraîche
• 200g bacon lardons or 4 slices of smoked salmon
• 100g grated cheese (I use gruyere but any hard cheese works)
• Salt & Pepper

Method :

1. Wash and peel potatoes
2. Wash leeks, remove any withered outer leaves and trim off then end of the roots and the green leaves (leave a little green as this will have more colour to your dish)
3. Chop potatoes and leeks and cook in salted boiling water for approx 20 minutes (until cooked)
4. Roll out pastry and press into a quiche tin, prick the base with a fork
5. If using lardons fry in a pan, when cooked spread on the pastry base, if using smoked salmon cut into strips and do as for lardons
6. Beat the 3 eggs with the milk or creme fraiche, salt, pepper and grated cheese
7. Strain potatoes and leeks and add to the lardons
8. Cover with the milk and egg mixture
9. Cook in oven for approx 35 minutes at 180°C until nice and golden

I love lemon flavoured cakes and desserts but I like them to have a really strong lemon flavour so this lemon cake is only going to be the one for you if you really appreciate the tangy fruit too!

The icing is optional as even without, the cake is very lemon-y!

The temperature for the cake is 170°C and it really needs to be no higher, as you can see from the picture my cake got slightly too done on the outside because I wanted to double up and bake it at the same time as a brown bread loaf so everything went in at 180°C – I won’t be making that mistake again!

Ingredients :

• 175g sugar
• 120g melted butter
• zest of two lemons
• 3 eggs
• 150g flour
• Juice of two lemons (approx 80g)
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

For the icing :

• 125g icing sugar
• 25g lemon juice

Method :

1. Pre-heat oven to 170°C
2. Melt the butter in the microwave
3. Mix the butter and sugar together
4. Add the lemon zest and then the eggs, one by one mixing well after each one
5. Mix in the flour and baking powder
6. Pour in the lemon juice and mix well
7. Pour the mixture into a greased 1lb loaf tin and bake for 40 mins at 170°C (it may need 5 minutes more or less depending on your oven)
8. When the cake is cooked remove from the tin and wrap immediately in clingfilm while waiting for it to cool, this will keep the cake lovely and moist!
9. Whisk the icing sugar with the lemon juice
10. Remove the cake from the clingfilm and place on a grill
11. Cover the cake with the icing and leave for a few moments for the icing to harden
12. Eat!

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A velouté is a french term meaning that the soup has been thickened, in this case using chicken stock, flour and butter, giving it a smooth and creamy texture. The word velouté comes from the word velour which means velvet. Mushrooms are in season at the moment so when I found I had too many left in the fridge I decided to make a mushroom velouté – a great way to use them up and a great starter or lunch!

Ingredients :

• 300g button mushrooms
• 1 small onion
• 50g butter
• 250ml chicken stock
• 500ml milk
• 2 tablespoons of flour
• Salt and Pepper
• 1 tablespoon of chopped parsley (if you have it!)
• 1/2 lemon

Method :

1. Melt the butter in a saucepan and add the chopped onion and the chopped mushrooms
2. Add salt, pepper and finely chopped parsley and mix well
3. Cover the pan and leave to cook on a gentle heat for 15 minutes
4. After 15 minutes sprinkle in 2 tablespoons of flour, mixing all the time
5. Pour in 250ml of stock and 500ml of milk while mixing continuously (to avoid any lumps)
6. Gradually bring to the boil and then lower the heat and allow to simmer gently for another 15 minutes (leave the lid off the saucepan)
7. Mix your soup with a blender or food processor
8. Just before serving add the juice of half a lemon

I was trying to think of a suitable name in english for this dish but couldn’t so I just stuck to the french one. Endives are mostly called chicory in english but are also called endives too.  A gratin means when a dish is topped with a golden crust, often using cheese or breadcrumbs by baking or cooking in the oven with an overhead grill.

And guess what? Endives are in season so are really plentiful at the moment – and are great in a winter salad too!

Ingredients :

• 6 endives
• 6 slices good quality ham
• 100g grated gruyère cheese (or any other hard cheese you have)

For the béchamel :

• 90g butter
• 45g flour
• 500ml milk
• Salt, Pepper and Nutmeg

Method :

1. Chop the ends off the endives and remove any discoloured leaves
2. Steam them or boil them until well cooked
3. Leave the endives to drain in a colander (to try and remove some of the excess water contained in the endives)
4. Melt the butter in a saucepan
5. Add the flour and mix well with a whisk
6. Season with salt, pepper and a pinch of nutmeg
7. Slowly pour in the milk whisking vigorously all the time to avoid lumps and to get a nice smooth texture for your sauce
8. Once all the milk is added continue to cook over a medium heat mixing all the time for another 5 minutes
9. Butter an oven dish and place each endive wrapped in a slice of ham on the bottom and pour over the béchamel sauce
10. Top with grated cheese
11. Bake in a pre-heated oven for 25 minutes at 180°C and the pop under the grill for another 5 minutes to get it nice and crispy on top

*  If you find the endives too hard even after all that cooking, you can also cut them in half lengthways, lay them on the bottom of the dish and simply cover them with the ham slices.

A hachis parmentier is a french version of what is called shepherds pie in the english speaking world. Shepherds pie is traditionally made with lamb whereas as hachis parmentier is usually made with beef or duck. Hachis comes from the french verb hacher to chop or ‘mince’ and the word parmentier comes from Antoine-Auguste Parmentier the man who introduced potatoes to France.

Parmentier was trying unsuccessfully to introduce potatoes to France by planting them in Parisian gardens (then only only considered fit for animals) as he considered that they were the answer to the problems of hunger in the country at the time. He finally managed to get the then king Louis XVI on his side – the king agreed to send royal guards to protect the potato plantations knowing full well that this would only kindle the interest of the local population. And indeed the locals wondered about this ‘potato’ that was so precious the king had the plantations guarded. The guards were instructed to turn their backs while the  locals ‘stole’ the plants and in no time at all the potato had become a popular and widespread food item in France! A very clever advertising campaign 🙂

Traditionally there aren’t any vegetables in hachis parmentier but I add some to give a bit of colour and texture to the dish. Its a great way to use left over veg, potatoes and even meat from the previous days dinner.

Ingredients :

For the meat sauce : 

• 500g minced beef
• A large onion
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 2/3 carrots finely chopped
• Handful of peas
• 1 tablespoon of flour
• 350ml beef stock
• Salt and Pepper

For the potato topping : 

• 1kg potatoes
• 250ml warm milk
• 50g butter
• Salt and Pepper
• Pinch of nutmeg (optional)

Method :

1. In a saucepan cook your finely chopped carrots and peas or any other vegetable you have – green beans, leek etc. (already cooked left over veg works well with this recipe)
2. In a large pan fry the onion & garlic in some olive oil and a knob of butter on medium heat for about 5 minutes
3. Stir in the minced beef and cook well on a relatively high heat setting
4. Add salt and pepper
5. Sprinkle in a tablespoon of flour and mix well
6. Pour in your beef stock stirring continuously
7. Mix in your pre-cooked chopped vegetables and set-aside
8. In the meantime, cook the potatoes in boiling salted water for 25 minutes or so until cooked
9. Strain and mash the potatoes
10. Season with salt and pepper (and nutmeg if using) and add the butter and milk (adding more if necessary to get the texture you like)
11. Butter a large dish and add a layer of meat. Top with the mashed potatoes.
12. Add a few pieces of butter on top and cook in the oven at 180°C for 30 minutes before placing under the grill for 5 more minutes.
13. Serve warm with a green salad. Delicious!