myfrenchtable

A table !!!

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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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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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Tartiflette

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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

 

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Pot-Au-Feu or French Beef Stew

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Potaufeu1

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)

 

 

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Endives Au Gratin

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Endives

I was trying to think of a suitable name in english for this dish but couldn’t so I just stuck to the french one. Endives are mostly called chicory in english but are also called endives too.  A gratin means when a dish is topped with a golden crust, often using cheese or breadcrumbs by baking or cooking in the oven with an overhead grill.

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