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

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.

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)

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.

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

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

Leeks are in season! And this leek and potato tart makes a lovely evening meal or lunch with a green salad. I made it with lardons but it is also lovely with smoked salmon.

See the following for some similar recipes : Quiche or Courgette Tart

Ingredients :

• A short-cut pastry (recipe here) or a puff pastry
• 5 medium sized potatoes
• 3 leeks
• 3 eggs
• 150ml of milk or creme fraîche
• 200g bacon lardons or 4 slices of smoked salmon
• 100g grated cheese (I use gruyere but any hard cheese works)
• Salt & Pepper

Method :

1. Wash and peel potatoes
2. Wash leeks, remove any withered outer leaves and trim off then end of the roots and the green leaves (leave a little green as this will have more colour to your dish)
3. Chop potatoes and leeks and cook in salted boiling water for approx 20 minutes (until cooked)
4. Roll out pastry and press into a quiche tin, prick the base with a fork
5. If using lardons fry in a pan, when cooked spread on the pastry base, if using smoked salmon cut into strips and do as for lardons
6. Beat the 3 eggs with the milk or creme fraiche, salt, pepper and grated cheese
7. Strain potatoes and leeks and add to the lardons
8. Cover with the milk and egg mixture
9. Cook in oven for approx 35 minutes at 180°C until nice and golden

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.

And guess what? Endives are in season so are really plentiful at the moment – and are great in a winter salad too!

Ingredients :

• 6 endives
• 6 slices good quality ham
• 100g grated gruyère cheese (or any other hard cheese you have)

For the béchamel :

• 90g butter
• 45g flour
• 500ml milk
• Salt, Pepper and Nutmeg

Method :

1. Chop the ends off the endives and remove any discoloured leaves
2. Steam them or boil them until well cooked
3. Leave the endives to drain in a colander (to try and remove some of the excess water contained in the endives)
4. Melt the butter in a saucepan
5. Add the flour and mix well with a whisk
6. Season with salt, pepper and a pinch of nutmeg
7. Slowly pour in the milk whisking vigorously all the time to avoid lumps and to get a nice smooth texture for your sauce
8. Once all the milk is added continue to cook over a medium heat mixing all the time for another 5 minutes
9. Butter an oven dish and place each endive wrapped in a slice of ham on the bottom and pour over the béchamel sauce
10. Top with grated cheese
11. Bake in a pre-heated oven for 25 minutes at 180°C and the pop under the grill for another 5 minutes to get it nice and crispy on top

*  If you find the endives too hard even after all that cooking, you can also cut them in half lengthways, lay them on the bottom of the dish and simply cover them with the ham slices.