Vive La France! The country that brought us Parisienne bistro classics and lesser-known regional dishes from the sunny Provençe through Spanish-influenced Basque and the Germanic Alsace. Here are some of my favourite French recipes.
Grilled Asapagus with Sauce Maltaise Like this recipe? You’ll love my online French cooking class featuring the Food of Provence! Spring brings so many wonderful ingredients together, including two of my favourites, new season asparagus and blood oranges – and I love to combine them in this dish. Being one of the classic ‘mother sauces’ […]
Axoa d’Espelette (Basque Veal Stew) I discovered axoa d’Espelette, a classic Basque dish, when I visited the town of Espelette in southwestern France, famous for its mild dark red chillies drying under the eaves of the whitewashed houses. I brought home jars of the ground piment d’Espelette which flavours this and so many other Basque […]
Tapenade Like this recipe? You’ll love my online French cooking class featuring the Food of Provence! I love salt, so a dish made of black olives, capers and anchovies is right up my alley. Tapenade hails from Provence in the sunny south of France and is generally regarded as an olive paste, however the name […]
French Onion Soup Soup, bread, cheese: three of my favourite comfort foods. I love French onion soup because it combines all three! Beef stock is considered the traditional base, but I often use chicken stock or just water. Sometimes I use the stock leftover from poaching veal for vitello tonnato and find the vinegar cuts […]
Tarte Tatin Tarte Tatin is one of those classics that I didn’t attempt for a long time for fear it would be too tricky. Turns out it’s super quick and easy, especially if you use a good ready-made shortcrust pastry like Carême. It’s named after the Tatin sisters, Caroline and Stéphanie, who served it at […]
Easy Sauce Béarnaise Sauce Béarnaise is the classic accompaniment to roast beef. It’s named for Béarn in southwestern France, the birthplace of Henri IV, although the rather tenuous connection seems to be that it was created around 1830 at a Parisian restaurant called Pavilion Henri IV, rather than any association with Béarn itself. Correctly it’s […]
Steak Tartare As a reformed vegetarian, it’s odd that my favourite way to eat meat is raw, but I can rarely resist this dish when I see it on a menu. I love the theatre of it being mixed tableside by an experienced waiter and the traditional crinkly pommes gaufrettes with it, though crisped baguette […]
Salade Lyonnaise This hearty salad is one of my favourite starters, and also makes a great light meal. I became addicted to it on a trip to Lyon where I had an excellent Salade Lyonnaise at the bouchon La Meunière. As with all simple recipes, there’s a trick or two that take it from good […]
Crème Caramel The best recipes are simple yet impressive, like this French classic. Best of all it’s made ahead of time and just whipped out of the fridge when you’re ready to serve. Two tips help ensure crème caramel success: dissolving the sugar in the eggs means you beat them less giving a more delicate […]
Coq au Vin Coq au vin was one of the first French dishes I ever cooked, and it seemed terribly sophisticated in the early ‘80s. Literally ‘rooster in wine’, it’s a classic braise of chicken, onion, mushrooms and lardon (cured pork belly), sometimes thickened with the chicken’s blood (but not in my case). Coq au […]
