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)

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

Courgette (or ‘zucchini’ for some of you!) tart – like a quiche with extra veg 🙂

Ingredients :

• 1 short-crust pastry (see here for recipe)
• 1 small onion
• 200g lardons (smoked if possible)
• 2/3 courgettes
• 20cl crême fraîche or cream
• 3 eggs
• Salt & Pepper

Method :

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C
2. Wash and finely chop the onion and the courgettes (grating works well too if you prefer)
3. Gently fry the lardons in a pan and then add the onion and courgettes – fry until the excess water from the courgettes evaporates
4. Add salt (not too much because the lardons will be salty) and pepper
5. In a bowl beat the eggs with the crême fraîche (or cream if using)
6. Roll out you pastry and press it into a quiche dish, pricking the base with a fork
7. Spoon the courgette, onions and lardons over the base of the tart
8. Pour over  the egg and cream/crême fraîche mixture
9. Bake in oven for 30 minutes
10. Serve warm with a tossed salad

*  You can always add cheese too, sprinkling on top of the tart before it goes into the oven.  Or to have a vegetarian tart you could replace the lardons with a hard cheese – cheddar works well. Leave out the lardons, mix approx 125g of grated cheese into the cream and egg mixture and continue as above.