Bienvenue à table A little taste of authentic France Bienvenue à table

Category: Appetizer

Something to nibble with your pre-dinner drinks!

  • Gougères “Cheese Puffs”

    Gougères “Cheese Puffs”

     

    gougeres

    A gougère is a baked savory choux pastry made of choux dough mixed with cheese, usually gruyère or comté but you can use emmenthal or any hard cheese really – even cheddar!

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  • Tuna Rillettes

    Tuna Rillettes

    RillettesTuna

    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.

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  • Bayonne ham and Olive Madeleines

    Bayonne ham and Olive Madeleines

    SavouryMadeleines

    Madeleines are one of France’s  favourite small cakes. In this recipe I’ve used a madeleine tin to make savoury bites for an aperitif – perfect size to eat with drinks and a little surprising for guests to see madeleines cakes that are actually savoury!

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  • Ham, Cheddar and Mustard Loaf

    Ham, Cheddar and Mustard Loaf

    Ham&Cheese

    This is another savoury loaf (or cake as they say in french!) which is perfect as an aperitif or finger food for a buffet. Personally I prefer the ham and olive loaf, the recipe for which you can find here, but this is a good alternative if you are cooking for someone who doesn’t like olives 😉

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  • Flammeküche

    Flammeküche

    Flammekuche

    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.

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  • Bacon and Olive Loaf or “Cake aux Olives”

    Bacon and Olive Loaf or “Cake aux Olives”

    cake-jambon-olives-010m

    Yes I know that the name cake will usually conjure up images of something sweet with a cup of tea but in France the word ‘cake’ really refers to the loaf form, be that savoury or sweet. This is one of my staple recipes – great as an aperitif or as a light meal with some salad. There are lots of variants to the basic ingredients which I will share in the upcoming months.

     

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