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!

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

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)

Gratin dauphinois is a traditional french dish that may be eaten as a side dish or as a meal in itself.  It originates in the south-east of France, in a region that used to be called the Dauphinois – which today is in and around Grenoble.

This is the traditional recipe, lots of variants exist, namely that of adding grated cheese (gruyere or emmenthal etc) but once you have added cheese it is no longer a gratin dauphinois! It becomes a simple ‘gratin de pomme de terre’ or ‘potato gratin’!

Ingredients :

• 1.5kg waxy potatoes
• Butter
• 1 clove of garlic
• 50cl double cream
• 50cl milk
• Salt & Pepper
• Nutmeg
• 1 laurel leaf and 1 sprig of thyme (or a bouquet garnie)

Method :

1. Pre-heat oven at 160°C
2. Peel and rinse potatoes.
3. Slice potatoes finely – a mandoline is great for this, just be careful of your fingers 😉
4. Do not wash potatoes after slicing – otherwise you’ll wash off the starch!
5. Heat the milk in a saucepan with the laurel leaf and thyme (or bouquet garnie) and season with salt and pepper
6. Bring to the boil and add sliced potatoes, lower the heat and cook for 10 minutes mixing regularly (to avoid the potatoes sticking to the bottom of the pan)
7. Halve the clove of garlic and rub it round the inside of an oven dish and then rub the dish with a little butter
8. Remove the laurel & thyme from the pan and pour the milk and potatoes into the oven dish
9. Pour the cream over the potatoes
10. Put a few knobs of butter on top of the dish
11. Bake in the oven at 160°C for 1h30