myfrenchtable

A table !!!

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French Pear & Almond Tart

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This pear and almond tart or amandine aux poires is also known as Tarte Bourdaloue and was created around 1850 by a Parisian patissier on Rue Bourdaloue – hence the name!  It can be made with fresh pears (ideally poached first) or you can use tinned pears which work perfectly.

Ingredients :

  • 1 shortbread pastry
  • 100g softened butter
  • 100g sugar
  • 100g ground almonds
  • 2 eggs
  • A few drops of almond essence
  • Sliced almonds (optional)
  • Apricot jelly to glaze*

 

Method :

  1. Pre-heat oven to 200°C
  2. Roll out chilled dough and line tin, place in freezer for 15 minutes
  3. Bake the pastry for 10 minutes a 200°C, once removed from the oven lower the temperature to 180°C
  4. Cream the butter and sugar
  5. Add eggs and almond essence and mix well
  6. Mix in the ground almonds
  7. Spread the mixture evenly over the pastry base
  8. Slice the pear halves in thin slices, place them on the almond mixture
  9. Sprinkle the tart with almond slices
  10. Bake in oven for 30 minutes

 

*Glaze : You can heat a few spoons of apricot jelly and brush the top of your tart once it has cooled down to give it a nice shiny look!

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Gaufres de Liège or Belgian Liège Waffles

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Ok so first things first. This isn’t a french recipe, its Belgian and comes from the Belgian town of Liège. Anyone who has visited Belgium will know that it’s not just famous for its beer and “moules-frites” (mussels and chips) but also for its unbelievably delicious waffles or gaufres ! … [read more]

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Flaugnarde aux Pommes

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Flaugnarde  or flognarde is a baked French dessert with fruit and a  thick flan-like batter hailing from the Limousin and Auvergne region in France. It is similar to a clafoutis, which is made with black cherries whereas a flaugnarde is made with apples, peaches, pears, plums, prunes etc. It can be served either warm or cold.

 

Ingredients :

  • 100g flour
  • 100g sugar
  • 1 table spoon oil
  • 300ml milk
  • 200ml liquid cream (or liquid crème fraîche)
  • 5 eggs
  • 6 apples
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • Pinch of salt

 

Method :

  1. Pre-heat oven to 180°C
  2. Peel and core the apples and slice into circles
  3. Mix everything together in a bowl in the following order : flour, sugar, oil, milk, cream, salt
  4. Beat eggs well and add to mixture
  5. Butter a round oven dish and spread the apple slices around evenly
  6. Pour the batter over the apples
  7. Bake in oven for 45 minutes at 180°C
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Chocolate Mousse

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Chocolate mousse – an extremely easy dessert to make with only two ingredients! It’s quick, easy and tastes divine.

It is one of the most popular desserts in France which was made around Renaissance period. There are a lot of variants on this recipe, some recipes include butter or cream and some add a dash of liquor (Cointreau or Grand marnier for example) so it means that you can be creative 🙂

Ingredients :

  • 200g good quality dark chocolate (the better the chocolate the better the mousse obviously!)
  • 6 fresh free-range eggs (they won’t be cooked)

Method :

  1. Melt the chocolate using a bain-marie*
  2. Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites
  3. Beat the egg whites (with a pinch of salt until stiff)
  4. Slowly add the melted chocolate to the egg yolks beating all the time
  5. Gently fold the egg whites into the chocolate
  6. Pour into a bowl or preferably, individual ramequin dishes and place in the fridge for at least 2 hours

*A bain-marie a sort of double-boiler used to melt ingredients for cooking. Here it means placing the bowl with the chocolate into a second bigger recipient containing water over heat to melt it.

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Riz au Lait / Rice Pudding

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Riz au lait is a well loved dessert here in France – so popular you can buy it in ready made yoghurt sized cartons in different flavours – vanilla or rhum and raisin for example. My youngest loves this and it’s so easy to make it has become a staple in our household. Its a perfect dessert or after school snack!

Ingredients :

  • 180g short-grain rice (almost oval or round in shape)
  • 1 litre milk
  • 100g sugar
  • 1 vanilla pod

Method :

  1. Bring a large pan of water to the boil and cook the rice in it for 3 minutes.
  2. Strain the rice
  3. Cut the vanilla pod lengthways and scrape out the seeds.
  4. Heat the litre of milk with the vanilla pod and the seeds
  5. When the milk come to the boil add the rice cook over a low/medium heat for 25 minutes stirring occasionally
  6. After 25 minutes add the sugar, mix well and continue cooking for another 5 minutes
  7. Remove vanilla pods, pour into pudding bowls and allow to cool
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Galette des Rois

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January wouldn’t be January in France without a Galette des Rois or two (or ten!). They are eaten throughout the month of January, until they finally disappear once February arrives only to resurface again near the end of December the following year.

A lof of people believe they are called the kings cake to celebrate the Wise Kings arrival at the stable on January 6th but apparently the actual reason goes back to a roman celebration. At the time, to celebrate the winter solstice, families would have a ‘raffle’ to pick a king who would be King of the household for the day. Even the servants could take part and if they won, could end up bossing their employer around for the day.

The Galette des Rois below with puff pastry and almond filling is common all over the north of France, but in the south of France their ‘galette’ is a completely different cake made with a ring of brioche and candied fruit.

The ‘fève’ is a small trinket (the french word fève actually means a broad bean which is what used to be put in the cake), usually a small porcelain figurine. We’ve had minions and star wars characters this year 🙂

In France the tradition is that the youngest member of the household goes under the kitchen table while the ‘galette’ is being cut and calls out the names of those present as each slice is served up. Whoever finds the fève is the king – or queen!

Ingredients :

  • 400g ready-made puff pastry (of course you can make your own but it’s the only pastry I don’t make myself!)
  • 100 g ground almonds
  • 75 g caster sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 50g of softened butter
  • A few drops of almond essence
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 1 “fève” !

Method :

  1. Roll out half the pastry into a circle and prick with a fork
  2. In a bowl mix all the ingredients together – the ground almonds, sugar, softened butter, egg and almond essence
  3. Spread the mixture over the pastry and place the fève on it
  4. Brush the edges of the pastry with water, then cover with the second half of the pastry, pressing the edges to seal
  5. Using a fork or knife to create a design on top
  6. Brush with the beaten egg yolk
  7. Bake in oven for 30 minutes until nice and golden
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