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

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.

This is extremely simplified version of  “rillettes” but is really lovely served as an aperitif or even as part of a starter.

Ingredients :

• 1 tin of tuna in brine or water (150g approximately)
• 1 cream cheese (St.Moret or Philadelphia etc) of the same weight as the tuna
• Salt & Pepper
• Chives

Method :

1. Drain the tin of tuna and empty into bowl
2. Miw well with cream cheese
3. Season with salt and pepper
4. Add a good dose of chives – not just for the taste but also for the colour
5. Serve with some fresh bread

This is a really tasty soup and with peas, lardons and potatoes it really is a meal in itself. The only little hitch is that it is preferable to pass the soup through a mouli before serving to remove any pea skins and bits of lardon and to make sure you get a nice creamy smooth texture.

So it does add a little but of extra work but it is worth it 🙂 And a mouli is a handy kitchen utensil for making really nice purées

Ingredients :

• 500g frozen peas
• 6 potatoes
• 2 onions
• 250g smoked lardons
• 50g butter
• Salt
• Pepper
• Chicken Stock

Method :

1. Measure out peas and allow to defrost
2. Peel and chop potatoes and onions
3. In a large saucepan melt the butter and add the onions, peas, chopped potatoes and lardons and cook over a medium heat for 5 minutes stirring all the time
4. Season with salt and pepper and add chicken stock until all ingredients are covered
5. Cook for 25 minutes and then blend the soup to remove as many bits as possible and then pass it through a mouli to get a smooth velouté

A Mouli

Endives are a great winter vegetable and can be eaten raw in salad or cooked, see this previous recipe from myfrenchtable for Endives au Gratin

They are really crunchy but can be slightly bitter so they work well with something sweet such as pears as I have used here but also lovely with avocado for example!

Ingredients:

• 4 endives
• 1 pear
• 50g emmenthal cheese
• Handful of walnuts
• Vinaigrette

Method :

1. Slice the endives lengthways, remove the base and chop
2. Peel and quarter the pear and then slice the quarters
3. Chop the cheese into small cubes
4. Place the chopped endive in a bowl and add your vinaigrette
5. Top with the sliced pear, cubed cheese ad a handful of walnuts

Ready!

Vinaigrette?

Everyone has their own preference regarding vinaigrette so the best thing to do is find one that you really like by trial and error. My basic vinaigrette is as follows :

1/2 teaspoon dijon mustard

1-2 tablespoons of vinegar (red wine or balsamique usually)

3-4 tablespoons of oil – olive oil or rapeseed oil

A good dose of both salt and pepper

Taste and add more vinegar/oil/salt etc if necessary until you get the taste you are looking for . 🙂

Vichyssoise – otherwise known as leek and potato soup! The autumn evenings are perfect for soup and this particular one is an all time favourite in this house. Home-made soup is cheap, easy and really tasty!

It is sometimes called vichyssoise here in France but to the best of my knowledge that refers to potato and leek soup served chilled – I’ve never tried it cold and am not about to 🙂

Some other soups on MyFrenchTable : Courgette Soup ; Mushroom Velouté

Ingredients :

• 300g leeks
• 600g potatoes
• 1.5 litres of chicken stock
• 30g butter
• 10cl crème fraîche (optional)

Method :

1. Peel and chop the potatoes and wash and chop leeks
2. Melt the butter in saucepan and add chopped leeks and cook over a medium heat until the soften
3. Add the chopped potato, mix well and continue cooking for another 5 minutes
4. Add the stock and pepper
5. Bring to the boil and then lower the heat and leave to simmer for about 30 minutes
6. Strain the vegetables but keep the stock
7. Purée the vegetables and put the back in the saucepan with the crème fraîche (if using) and a ladle full of the stock
8. Put back over a gentle heat and mix well. Slowly add the stock back in mixing all the time until you get the consistency you like (as thick or as liquid depending on your preference)
9. If you are going to follow the french tradition of a vichyssoise once the soup has cooled down place in the fridge for at least 2 hours before serving or just enjoy in hot!

*Of course you can simply mix the stock and veg together without going through the process of straining and adding the stock back in. Doing it the way outlined above just means that you only add in as much stock as you need to get the consistency required.

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

There are lots of quiche recipes but this is the original, traditional ‘quiche lorraine’ from the Lorraine region in eastern France which doesn’t include cheese! But once you have the basic quiche you can then add whatever you want : cheese, onions, leeks, courgettes etc depending on your tastes. It is perfect served warm with a side-salad.

You’ll need a pâte brisée for this recipe, which is simply the french version of a pie or tart pastry. I think its known as short cut pastry in english (open to corrections on that!)

Of course you can buy a ready-made pastry in the supermarket but really pastry is so easy to make and so much nicer when you make it yourself it is a pity not to!

Heres my recipe for pate brisée

Ingredients :

• 1 pate brisée
• 4 eggs
• 30cl crème fraîche
• 150g lardons
• Salt & pepper
• Nutmeg

Method :

1. Pre-heat oven to 180°C
2. Roll out your pastry into a tart dish and prick it with a fork
3. Fry the lardons until the are cooked
4. Mix the eggs and creme fraiche well.
5. Add salt if using (add sparingly because with the lardons you may have enough salt already) and pepper and nutmeg
6. Spread the lardons around on the pastry
7. Pour the eggs and crème fraîche mixture over the lardons
8. Place in the oven for 30 minutes, until golden brown on top