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

This recipe is called Poulet Forestier in french which translates to “forest chicken” in english. The word forestier in the name comes from the sauce which is called une sauce forestière because of the mushrooms in the recipe and is a perfect autumn dish. Typically a forestier sauce does not have mustard in it but I find it gives a little something special to the sauce! 🙂

The below serves my family (2 adults, 3 children), I would say it serves 4 adults perfectly.

Ingredients :

• 4 chicken fillets
• 40g butter
• 1 tablespoon flour
• 20cl dry white wine
• 1 small onion
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 15cl chicken stock
• 250g mushrooms
• Salt & pepper
• 1 tablespoon of mustard
• 20cl of creme fraîche or liquid cream

Method :

1. Heat the butter in a large pan and brown the chicken fillets
2. Sprinkle in the flour and mix well, then pour in the white wine and continue mixing
3. Add the chopped onion, the garlic, the chicken stock and the mushrooms
4. Season with salt and pepper and then cover the pan and leave it to simmer for about 30 minutes
5. After 30 minutes remove the chicken fillets from the pan.
6. Add the mustard and cream (or crème fraîche) to the pan and mix well so that you get a nice creamy sauce
7. Put the chicken back in the pan and serve hot with potatoes or rice.

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.

For the base you’ll need a bread dough, if you don’t feel up to making your own or don’t have the time you can buy a ready-made pizza base which works pretty well too or if you are in France you can buy a raw bread dough in your local boulangerie or supermarket.

 Ingredients :

• 500g bread dough
• 20cl crème fraîche
• 200g fromage blanc
• 2 onions
• 300g of lardons
• Rapeseed oil
• Salt, pepper and nutmeg

Method :

1. Pre-heat oven to its hottest setting 250° – 270°
2. Finely slice the onions and fry them gently over a low heat until they become translucent
3. Do the same with the bacon
4. Mix the crème fraîche, the fromage blanc with the pepper, nutmeg and salt (if using, the lardons may be salty enough!)
5. Roll the dough as thinly as possible on a baking sheet
6. Using a spatula, cover the dough evenly with the cream mixture
7. Spread onions and lardons on top
8. Cook in the oven for about 10 minutes, until the dough looks crispy

*  You can add cheese or mushrooms etc. to your flammeküche if you wish 🙂