This is a really tasty soup and with peas, lardons and potatoes it really is a meal in itself. The only little hitch is that it is preferable to pass the soup through a mouli before serving to remove any pea skins and bits of lardon and to make sure you get a nice creamy smooth texture.

So it does add a little but of extra work but it is worth it 🙂 And a mouli is a handy kitchen utensil for making really nice purées

Ingredients :

• 500g frozen peas
• 6 potatoes
• 2 onions
• 250g smoked lardons
• 50g butter
• Salt
• Pepper
• Chicken Stock

Method :

1. Measure out peas and allow to defrost
2. Peel and chop potatoes and onions
3. In a large saucepan melt the butter and add the onions, peas, chopped potatoes and lardons and cook over a medium heat for 5 minutes stirring all the time
4. Season with salt and pepper and add chicken stock until all ingredients are covered
5. Cook for 25 minutes and then blend the soup to remove as many bits as possible and then pass it through a mouli to get a smooth velouté

A Mouli

Endives are a great winter vegetable and can be eaten raw in salad or cooked, see this previous recipe from myfrenchtable for Endives au Gratin

They are really crunchy but can be slightly bitter so they work well with something sweet such as pears as I have used here but also lovely with avocado for example!

Ingredients:

• 4 endives
• 1 pear
• 50g emmenthal cheese
• Handful of walnuts
• Vinaigrette

Method :

1. Slice the endives lengthways, remove the base and chop
2. Peel and quarter the pear and then slice the quarters
3. Chop the cheese into small cubes
4. Place the chopped endive in a bowl and add your vinaigrette
5. Top with the sliced pear, cubed cheese ad a handful of walnuts

Ready!

Vinaigrette?

Everyone has their own preference regarding vinaigrette so the best thing to do is find one that you really like by trial and error. My basic vinaigrette is as follows :

1/2 teaspoon dijon mustard

1-2 tablespoons of vinegar (red wine or balsamique usually)

3-4 tablespoons of oil – olive oil or rapeseed oil

A good dose of both salt and pepper

Taste and add more vinegar/oil/salt etc if necessary until you get the taste you are looking for . 🙂

Yet another loaf cake – my most used tin in the kitchen! Pears are in season at the moment, for this recipe just make sure they are nice and soft before using.

Ingredients :

• 3 pears
• 150g self-raising flour
• 80g sugar
• 3 eggs
• 90g butter (melted)
• 50 g dark chocolate

Method :

1. Pre-heat oven to 180°C
2. Mix the flour, sugar, eggs and melted butter together
3. Peel and chop pears in small cubes
4. Break the chocolate into small pieces (or use ready made chocolate chips)
5. Add the pear and chocolate into the cake mixture and pour into loaf tin
6. Sprinkle some sliced almonds and chocolate on top of the cake
7. Bake in oven for 40-45 minutes at 180°C

This is another traditional french cake that is very popular at goûter time and is a real favourite with french kids.

Ingredients :

• 125g butter
• 200g self-raising flour
• 3 eggs
• 6 tablespoons of milk
• 200g sugar
• Vanilla essence
• 25g cocoa powder

Method :

1. Pre-heat oven to 180°C
2. Cream the butter and the sugar together
3. Add the eggs, milk and flour and mix well
4. Separate the mixture in two halves
5. Add a few drops of vanilla essence to one half
6. Add the 25g of drinking chocolate to the other
7. Grease and flour your loaf tin
8. Pour in some of the vanilla mixture, followed by the chocolate mixture and repeat
9. Bake in pre-heated oven for 40 minutes