Chocolate mousse – an extremely easy dessert to make with only two ingredients! It’s quick, easy and tastes divine.

It is one of the most popular desserts in France which was made around Renaissance period. There are a lot of variants on this recipe, some recipes include butter or cream and some add a dash of liquor (Cointreau or Grand marnier for example) so it means that you can be creative 🙂

Ingredients :

• 200g good quality dark chocolate (the better the chocolate the better the mousse obviously!)
• 6 fresh free-range eggs (they won’t be cooked)

Method :

1. Melt the chocolate using a bain-marie*
2. Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites
3. Beat the egg whites (with a pinch of salt until stiff)
4. Slowly add the melted chocolate to the egg yolks beating all the time
5. Gently fold the egg whites into the chocolate
6. Pour into a bowl or preferably, individual ramequin dishes and place in the fridge for at least 2 hours

*A bain-marie a sort of double-boiler used to melt ingredients for cooking. Here it means placing the bowl with the chocolate into a second bigger recipient containing water over heat to melt it.

Riz au lait is a well loved dessert here in France – so popular you can buy it in ready made yoghurt sized cartons in different flavours – vanilla or rhum and raisin for example. My youngest loves this and it’s so easy to make it has become a staple in our household. Its a perfect dessert or after school snack!

Ingredients :

• 180g short-grain rice (almost oval or round in shape)
• 1 litre milk
• 100g sugar
• 1 vanilla pod

Method :

1. Bring a large pan of water to the boil and cook the rice in it for 3 minutes.
2. Strain the rice
3. Cut the vanilla pod lengthways and scrape out the seeds.
4. Heat the litre of milk with the vanilla pod and the seeds
5. When the milk come to the boil add the rice cook over a low/medium heat for 25 minutes stirring occasionally
6. After 25 minutes add the sugar, mix well and continue cooking for another 5 minutes
7. Remove vanilla pods, pour into pudding bowls and allow to cool

A tartiflette is a gratin with potatoes, lardons and onions topped with melted savoyard cheese called Reblochon. It is a traditional mountain recipe and a perfect dish for cold weather !

It is particularly nice served with an Apremont, savoie wine.

Ingredients :

• 1kg potatoes
• 250g smoked lardons
• 2 large onions
• 150g crème fraîche
• 1 whole reblochon cheese
• 1 clove of garlic

Method :

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C
2. Pre-cook the potatoes in a saucepan of salted water (traditionally the potatoes are sautéed but this dish is rich enough so I prefer to boil them)
3. In a frying pan gently fry the onions until they are soft and translucent and then add the lardons and continue frying
4. Remove from heat and add the creme fraîche or liquid cream and mix well
5. Chop the potatoes and mix in with the onion and lardons
6. Salt and pepper as necessary
7. Cut the garlic clove in half and rub the cut sides around an oven dish
8. Place the potato, lardon and onion mix in the oven dish
9. Slice the cheese down the middle and place the two round halves crust up on top of the dish
10. Bake for 20 minutes until golden brown and nice and crispy
11. Serve with a green salad

January wouldn’t be January in France without a Galette des Rois or two (or ten!). They are eaten throughout the month of January, until they finally disappear once February arrives only to resurface again near the end of December the following year.

A lof of people believe they are called the kings cake to celebrate the Wise Kings arrival at the stable on January 6th but apparently the actual reason goes back to a roman celebration. At the time, to celebrate the winter solstice, families would have a ‘raffle’ to pick a king who would be King of the household for the day. Even the servants could take part and if they won, could end up bossing their employer around for the day.

The Galette des Rois below with puff pastry and almond filling is common all over the north of France, but in the south of France their ‘galette’ is a completely different cake made with a ring of brioche and candied fruit.

The ‘fève’ is a small trinket (the french word fève actually means a broad bean which is what used to be put in the cake), usually a small porcelain figurine. We’ve had minions and star wars characters this year 🙂

In France the tradition is that the youngest member of the household goes under the kitchen table while the ‘galette’ is being cut and calls out the names of those present as each slice is served up. Whoever finds the fève is the king – or queen!

Ingredients :

• 400g ready-made puff pastry (of course you can make your own but it’s the only pastry I don’t make myself!)
• 100 g ground almonds
• 75 g caster sugar
• 1 egg
• 50g of softened butter
• A few drops of almond essence
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 “fève” !

Method :

1. Roll out half the pastry into a circle and prick with a fork
2. In a bowl mix all the ingredients together – the ground almonds, sugar, softened butter, egg and almond essence
3. Spread the mixture over the pastry and place the fève on it
4. Brush the edges of the pastry with water, then cover with the second half of the pastry, pressing the edges to seal
5. Using a fork or knife to create a design on top
6. Brush with the beaten egg yolk
7. Bake in oven for 30 minutes until nice and golden

A pot-au-feu is a french beef stew, which uses mostly inexpensive cuts of beef that need to be cooked for quite a long time in a bouillon seasoned with root vegetables and a bouquet garni.

According to the french chef Raymond Blanc, pot-au-feu is “the quintessence of French family cuisine, it is the most celebrated dish in France. It honours the tables of the rich and poor alike.”

It is a perfect dish for a cold January day and even when the meat and vegetables are gone you can get another meal out of it by using the broth as a soup. In France this broth is usually served with special soup pasta called cheveux d’ange (or angel hair in english) added to it.

I make this using my pressure cooker as do most french people. So I am estimating that it will take 2 to 3 hours in a regular saucepan.  If using a pressure cooker, you’ll need to cook the dish at first for 30 minutes and then remove the carrots, leeks and turnips before continuing to cook the meat and seasoning for another 45 minutes.

Ingredients :

• 1.2kg stewing beef (I usually use cheek and tail)
• 2 marrow bones (optional!)
• 1 onion studded with 3 cloves
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 3 leeks
• 1 kilo carrots
• 3-4 small turnips
• I branch of celery
• Bouquet Garni
• Salt and Pepper
• Potatoes to serve

Method :

1. Peel and wash the leeks, carrots and slice in half
2. Peel and wash turnips and chop in large chunks
3. Fill a large saucepan with 2 litres of water and add the clove studded onion, the carrots, the leeks, the turnips, the garlic cloves, the celery branch and the bouquet garni.
4. Season with salt and pepper and bring to the boil, then add the meat
5. Cook over a gentle heat for 10 minutes, removing  the foam the comes to the surface (this is called “écumer” in french!)
6. Put the lid on the saucepan and cook for approximately 3 hours until the meat is really well cooked
7. Wash and peel potatoes and cook them separately in a saucepan of salted water
8. When your pot-au-feu is ready you can serve the broth as a starter or enjoy it the following day – its a meal in itself, really tasty and full of goodness 🙂
9. Serve with potatoes, gherkins and strong mustard
10. If you are having the marrow bones serve with toasted bread

Pot-au-Feu Ingredients (Image from Wikipedia)

Petit Salé aux lentilles is a classic french dish from the Auvergne region dish using pork that has been salted by placing the cuts of pork in brine for up to 48hrs.

The meat in this dish is cured in salt so there should be no need to add salt to the dish. Several cuts can be used so it is up to what you prefer or what your butcher has – pork shoulder, ham shank or ham hock, pork belly etc

Ingredients :

• 1kg salted pork
• 600g green lentils
• 5 carrots
• 1 large onion with 2 cloves
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1 bouquet garni
• Pepper

Method :

1. Soak the pork in cold water for 2 hours if necessary to remove excess salt
2. Place the meat in a large saucepan and cover with cold water
3. Add the onion studded with cloves, the 3 garlic cloves unpeeled, one carrot sliced in thick slices, the bouquet garni and pepper
4. Cover the saucepan and cook the meat for 1hr30
5. Rinse the green lentils under cold water and add to the pan along with the 4 remaining carrots diced in small squares
6. Cook for another 30 minutes
7. Rectify seasoning if necessary
8. Serve in soup dishes – with some crusty bread.

Sablé cookies are a traditional Christmas fare in France, although they are well loved all year round 🙂 They are from the Normandy region and are delicious plain but you can also dip them in dark chocolate or vary the flavourings – almond, orange zest, cinnamon etc.

The word sable means sand in French which is the term used when the English use the term “breadcrumbs”, as you rub the cold butter, flour and sugar together at the start of the recipe to make texture like breadcrumbs (or sand) before adding the egg.

Ingredients :

• 250g flour
• 125g butter
• 75g sugar
• 1 egg
• A few drops of vanilla essence
• I egg yolk (for brushing cookies before baking)

Method :

1. Pre-heat oven to 180°C
2. Rub the flour, butter and sugar together until you get a breadcrumb texture
3. Make a well in the centre and add the egg and knead the dough into a ball
4. Leave the dough to rest for at least 30 minutes
5. Place on a smooth surface and roll out
6. Use cutters to cut out the cookie shapes
7. Brush the sablé cookies with egg yolk (to get a nice gold colour)
8. Bake in oven at 180°C for 12-15 minutes (keep an eye on them, once they are nice and golden remove from oven and place on cooling rack

Chocolate and pears go so well together, the dark chocolate and sweet moist pears make a lovely combination. I have already posted a pear and chocolate loaf , ideal with afternoon tea, this is more of a dessert which is perfect served with a scoop of ice-cream.

At this time of the year you can use fresh pears, making sure they are nice and ripe. You can always use a tin of pears too though!

Ingredients :

• 200 g dark chocolat (70%)
• 150 g butter
• 120 g sugar
• 3 eggs
• 130 g self-raising flour
• 4 pears

Method :

1. Pre-heat oven to 180°C
2. Melt the butter and chocolat together in a bain-marie (put ingredients in bowl and place bowl in saucepan of water over a low heat)
3. Mix in the sugar
4. Separate the eggs into whites and yolks and add the yolks to the mixture
5. Fold in the flour
6. Beat the egg whites (with a pinch of salt) until stiff and gently fold them into the rest of the ingredients
7. Peel and core pears and slice in half
8. Grease and flour tin, place the pear halves on the bottom and cover with chocolate cake mixture
9. Bake in oven at 180°C for 40 minutes
10. Remove from tin immediately and place on rack to cool

Chocolate Pear Cake

<img alt="twitter" title="Share on Twitter" class="synved-share-image synved-social-image synved-social-image-share" width="24" height="24" style="display: inline; width:24px;height:24px; margin: 0; padding: 0; border: none; box-shadow: none;" src="https://myfrenchtable.com/wp-content/plugins/social-media-feather/synved-social/image/social/regular/24×24/twitter this content.png” />

A biscuit roulé (literally meaning rolled biscuit) is very similar to a swiss roll and particularly popular at this time of year as a base for a christmas log cake, called a bûche de Noel in french.

The actual base for the cake is called a ‘genoise’ which is a sponge cake that uses whole eggs and is a basic building block of much French patisserie and is used for making several different types of cake.

Ingredients :

• 4 eggs
• 150 g caster sugar
• 1 tablespoon of vanilla sugar
• 125g self-raising flour
• 1 pinch of salt
• Jam or nutella

Method :

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C
2. Beat the eggs, sugar (caster sugar and vanilla sugar) and the salt well with an electric mixer until pale, light and fluffy
3. Fold in the flour gently
4. Pour the mixture onto an oven tray that you have lined with greaseproof paper
5. Bake for 12 minutes
6. Prepare a clean, damp tea-towel and place it on top of the oven tray and flip it over so that your cake is on the damp tea-towel
7. Roll the cake with the tea-towel and leave to cool
8. When the cake is cold gently unroll and spread with jam or nutella, re-roll it and sprinkle with a bit of icing sugar et voilà!

*Make sure to roll the cake when it is just out of the oven and still pliable

*You can make a chocolate base by substituting 25g of cocoa for 25g of flour

Beef bourguignon (sometimes also called beef burgundy in english) is a well known traditional french recipe and comes from the Burgundy region of France as do many other famous french dishes such as snails and the delicious appetizer gougères which I recently posted the recipe for.

Ingredients :

• 1 kg of braising steak
• 6 carrots
• 1 onion pierced with 2 cloves
• 1 clove of garlic
• 1 orange
• Bouquet Garni
• 100g bacon lardons
• 50g butter
• 75cl (1 bottle) of dry red wine preferable a burgundy wine
• 1 tablespoon of tomato concentrate
• 1 tablespoon of flour
• 1 tablespoon of sugar
• Salt & Pepper

Method :

1. The day before put the beef into a large bowl with the red wine, the juice and zest of the orange, the onion with cloves, the clove of garlic, the bouquet garni and the sugar, then cover and leave in the fridge overnight
2. The next day strain the marinade. In a large saucepan brown the meat in the butter
3. Add the flour and the tomato puree
4. Cook for 5 minutes over a gentle heat mixing all the time, then add the marinade and aromates (onion, garlic, bouquet garni)
5. Add the carrots, chopped into large chunks
6. Season and bring to a simmer. Give everything a good stir, then cover.
7. Cook over a low heat for 2 hours (until the meat is well cooked) The lower the heat and the slower the cooking, the better
8. Place the lardons in a saucepan of cold water and bring to the boil for 3 minutes to blanch them, drain once done
9. If the meat sauce is not thick enough, remove the meat and garniture from the pan and cook the sauce until it thickens
10. Put the meat and garniture back in the pan with the lardons, cook altogether for 5 minutes  over a low heat
11. Serve with mashed potatoes

Beef Bourguignon