A gougère is a baked savory choux pastry made of choux dough mixed with cheese, usually gruyère or comté but you can use emmenthal or any hard cheese really – even cheddar!
Gougères “Cheese Puffs”
Tuna Rillettes
Rillettes are a meat (usually pork or duck) “paté” type preparation where the meat is cooked slowly in fat and then shredded and mixed with some of the fat to form a spread. Rillettes are delicious served with bread.
Bayonne ham and Olive Madeleines
Madeleines are one of France’s favourite small cakes. In this recipe I’ve used a madeleine tin to make savoury bites for an aperitif – perfect size to eat with drinks and a little surprising for guests to see madeleines cakes that are actually savoury!
Ham, Cheddar and Mustard Loaf
This is another savoury loaf (or cake as they say in french!) which is perfect as an aperitif or finger food for a buffet. Personally I prefer the ham and olive loaf, the recipe for which you can find here, but this is a good alternative if you are cooking for someone who doesn’t like olives 😉
Flammeküche
Flammeküche is the Alsatian word for what is called a tarte flambée in french. It has a thin bread dough base with crème fraîche, fromage blanc, onions and smoked lardons. This Alsatian street food is very easy to make at home and is perfect as a light evening meal with some salad, or as a finger food or starter.
Bacon and Olive Loaf or “Cake aux Olives”
Yes I know that the name cake will usually conjure up images of something sweet with a cup of tea but in France the word ‘cake’ really refers to the loaf form, be that savoury or sweet. This is one of my staple recipes – great as an aperitif or as a light meal with some salad. There are lots of variants to the basic ingredients which I will share in the upcoming months.
