myfrenchtable

A table !!!

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French Pear & Almond Tart

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This pear and almond tart or amandine aux poires is also known as Tarte Bourdaloue and was created around 1850 by a Parisian patissier on Rue Bourdaloue – hence the name!  It can be made with fresh pears (ideally poached first) or you can use tinned pears which work perfectly.

Ingredients :

  • 1 shortbread pastry
  • 100g softened butter
  • 100g sugar
  • 100g ground almonds
  • 2 eggs
  • A few drops of almond essence
  • Sliced almonds (optional)
  • Apricot jelly to glaze*

 

Method :

  1. Pre-heat oven to 200°C
  2. Roll out chilled dough and line tin, place in freezer for 15 minutes
  3. Bake the pastry for 10 minutes a 200°C, once removed from the oven lower the temperature to 180°C
  4. Cream the butter and sugar
  5. Add eggs and almond essence and mix well
  6. Mix in the ground almonds
  7. Spread the mixture evenly over the pastry base
  8. Slice the pear halves in thin slices, place them on the almond mixture
  9. Sprinkle the tart with almond slices
  10. Bake in oven for 30 minutes

 

*Glaze : You can heat a few spoons of apricot jelly and brush the top of your tart once it has cooled down to give it a nice shiny look!

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Berry meat and egg pie

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This speciality is made with minced meat and hard-boiled eggs. It is known as as a Pâté Berrichon or as a Pâté de Paques (Easter pie) because it is often eaten as Easter. It gets it’s name from the Berry region, which ceased to exist after the French revolution.. Today the departments of L’Indre et le Cher make up most of what was formally the Berry province.

It can be eaten hot or cold but it really is delicious served cold with a green salad.

Ingredients :

  • 2 sheets of puff pastry
  • 300g sausage meat
  • 200g minced veal
  • 6 eggs (4 hard-boiled eggs, 1 egg for the pâté, 1 egg yolk for the pastry)
  • 50g breadcrumbs
  • Parsley
  • Salt and pepper
  • 1 shallot
  • Nutmeg
  • Optional : A tablespoon of cognac or of a sweet wine

 

Method :

  1. Pre-heat oven to 180°C
  2. Hard boil 4 of the eggs, remove shells
  3. Finely chop the shallot and the parsely
  4. Mix the meat with the shallot, parsely, one egg (beaten), the breadcrumbs and the alcohol (if using)
  5. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg
  6. Pace one sheet of puff pastry and a baking tray covered with parchement paper
  7. PLace half of the meat filling down the middle of the pastry
  8. Slice the hard boiled eggs in half and place them on the meat face down
  9. Cover the eggs with the remaining meat filling
  10. Using the remaining puff pastry cover the meat and press down to seal the pastry
  11. Brush the pastry with the yolk of the remaining egg
  12. Make 2 large incisions in the pastry to allow the steam to escape while cooking
  13. Cook in oven at 180°C for 20 minutes and then lower the temp to 150°C and cook for a further 30 minutes

 

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Ficelle Picarde

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A ficelle picarde is a savoury crepe, from, yep you’ve guessed it, the Picardie region. This a great way to use your crepe batter when everyone has had their fill of sweet crepes ! There are a lot of similar recipes in France that use a béchamel sauce but the real Ficelle Picarde doesn’t. I discovered this recipe when living in Picardie 🙂

Ingredients :

  • 6 crepes (pancakes), you’ll find the recipe here
  • 6 slices of ham
  • 500g button mushrooms
  • 400g shallots
  • 25g crème fraîche
  • 3 tablespoons wine (if you do not wish to use wine you can use some chicken stock instead)
  • 50g grated emmenthal (or any hard cheese)
  • Salt & pepper

 

Methods : 

  1. Make a duxelles* – clean and chop the mushrooms and the shallots very finely
  2. Melt the butter in the pan, add the shallots and sauté for 5 minutes until soft
  3. Add the mushrooms and cook over allow to cook for at least 20 minutes until all the liquid has evaporated
  4. Pour in the white wine and continue to reduce until the liquid evaporates again
  5. Remove from heat and add 2 tablespoons of the crème fraîche
  6. Season with salt & pepper
  7. Put a slice of ham on each crepe and then place 2 tablespoons of the duxelles mixture down the middle of the crepe
  8. Roll the crepe and place in an oven proof dish
  9. Repeat with the over crepes and place them all side by side in the dish
  10. Spoon the remaining crème fraîche over the crepes and top with the grated cheese
  11. Bake for 10-15 minutes at 200°C 
  12. Serve hot with a green salad

 

 

 

*Duxelles is a very finely chopped mixture of mushrooms and shallots that are sautéed in butter and reduced to a paste. Famous chef François Pierre La Varenne, chef for the Marquis d’Uxelles created this preparation in his honour in the seventeenth century.

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Gaufres de Liège or Belgian Liège Waffles

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Ok so first things first. This isn’t a french recipe, its Belgian and comes from the Belgian town of Liège. Anyone who has visited Belgium will know that it’s not just famous for its beer and “moules-frites” (mussels and chips) but also for its unbelievably delicious waffles or gaufres ! … [read more]

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Apricot Cake

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Or cake aux abricots in french! Apricots are plentiful this time of year and this is an easy way to use them to make a cake thats perfect as an afternoon snack.

Ingredients :

  • 6 ripe apricots
  • 3 large eggs
  • 130g softened butter
  • 125g sugar
  • 1 sachet vanilla sugar
  • 250g flour (I replaced half the flour with cornflour as this gives a lighter texture to the cake but just using flour is good too!)
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 large pinch of cinnamon

 

Method :

  1. Pre-heat oven to 180°C
  2. Wash and dry the apricots, remove the stone and chop
  3. Sieve the flour and the baking powder together
  4. Use a fork to mash the softened butter until you get a beurre pommade*
  5. Mix in the sugar, the vanilla sugar and the cinammon
  6. Add in each egg separately, mixing well each time
  7. Fold in the flour
  8. Add in the chopped apricots
  9. Bake in oven for 45 minutes (keep an eye on the cake, it might take less time)

 

*A beurre pommade is butter that has been let come to room temperature and then mixed with a fork or spoon until you get a spreadable mixture

 

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Ratatouille

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Ratatouille is a stewed vegetable dish from Provence and mainly thought to be from Nice which is why it is sometimes referred to as ratatouille niçoise. There are dozens of different recipes and I know that a lot of the ‘purists’ opt for cooking each vegetable separately first and then combining them but I love just flinging it all together as a one pot wonder ! Still tastes lovely !

Ingredients :

  • Olive oil
  • 1 large onion
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • 1 aubergine
  • 3 or 4 courgettes
  • 5 or 6 tomatoes
  • 1 red pepper
  • 1 yellow pepper
  • 1 green pepper
  • Garlic
  • Salt and pepper
  • 1 laurel leaf
  • Thyme

 

Method :

  1. Wash and chop all your vegetables
  2. Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large heavy bottomed pan
  3. Fry the onions until soft and then add the peppers and continue frying for another 2-3 minutes
  4. Add the chopped aubergine, followed by the courgettes
  5. Peel the tomatoes (use a sharp knife to slice a shallow X on the bottom of the tomato and then place in boiling water for 30 seconds before transferring to a bowl of ice-cold water)
  6. Add the chopped tomatoes to the pan along with the crushed garlic
  7. Add salt, pepper, thyme and a laurel leaf, lower to a low to medium heat and allow to simmer for 20-30 minutes
  8. Taste and adjust the seasoning

 

Ratatouille is delicious served with all sorts of meat and fish or with an omelette. It can be eaten hot or cold and tastes even better the next day. It’s a great way to pack lots of veggies into your meal!

 

 

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Madeleines

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Madeleines are well known small sponge cakes, famous for their little ‘bump’ and shell like shape. They originated in the town of Commercy in the Lorraine region in north-eastern France and were made for the King of Lorraine, Stanislas, in 1755 by a young servant girl whose name was, évidemment, Madeleine –  which is why the King declared they would be known from then on as Madeleines de Commercy.

Madeleines are often associated with Marcel Proust who wrote about them and the childhood memories evoked by eating one.

Ingredients :

  • 2 eggs
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 100g flour
  • 20g ground almonds
  • 100g sugar
  • 125g salted butter
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder (approximately 6g)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla essence extract

Method :

  1. Pre-heat oven to 210°C
  2. Melt the butter in a pan until it browns slightly (this gives a nutty flavour to your madeleines and is known as a ‘beurre-noisette’ in french which translates as ‘hazelnut-butter’)
  3. Mix the flour with the baking powder and the ground almonds
  4. In a bowl gently beat the eggs with the sugar and the vanilla essence
  5. Sieve in the mix of flour, baking powder and ground almonds and mix until the texture is smooth
  6. Add in the cooled melted butter and mix well
  7. Ideally if you have the time leave the batter in the fridge for 2 hours – this will help them rise and give the traditional ‘bump’ shape!
  8. Grease the madeleine pan (this isn’t necessary if you are using silicon pans) and fill each shell to about 2/3
  9. Bake in oven at 210°C for 6-8 minutes

*Other possible flavours for your madeleines : the zest of a small lemon or a few drops of orange blossom water

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Flaugnarde aux Pommes

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Flaugnarde  or flognarde is a baked French dessert with fruit and a  thick flan-like batter hailing from the Limousin and Auvergne region in France. It is similar to a clafoutis, which is made with black cherries whereas a flaugnarde is made with apples, peaches, pears, plums, prunes etc. It can be served either warm or cold.

 

Ingredients :

  • 100g flour
  • 100g sugar
  • 1 table spoon oil
  • 300ml milk
  • 200ml liquid cream (or liquid crème fraîche)
  • 5 eggs
  • 6 apples
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • Pinch of salt

 

Method :

  1. Pre-heat oven to 180°C
  2. Peel and core the apples and slice into circles
  3. Mix everything together in a bowl in the following order : flour, sugar, oil, milk, cream, salt
  4. Beat eggs well and add to mixture
  5. Butter a round oven dish and spread the apple slices around evenly
  6. Pour the batter over the apples
  7. Bake in oven for 45 minutes at 180°C
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