Archive for 'Recipes'

We recently discovered a great website and facebook page for ‘A French Family Cooking’. Here at VoulezVouloz we’re very keen to brush up our culinary skills so we wanted to learn more. We asked Isabelle (the mum of the family) a few questions:

What is ‘A French Family Cooking’ all about?

We’re a French family living in Bordeaux, France, the famous city of the wine. Our family includes:

• Great-grandmother: Antonia
• Grandmother: Annie (59)
• Grandfather: Alain (63)
• Uncle: Michael (40)
• Dad: Anthony (35)
• Mum: Isabelle (29)
• Son: Antoine (3)

We love to cook and this has been our passion for several generations. We’re in the process of creating a book of recipes and a documentary film about French cooking.

What is your favourite dish to cook for the family?

We like to cook anything but we love when we are preparing some crêpes with melted chocolate 70% and stuffed tomatoes with rice, yum!

What do you think are the five most popular French dishes?

Hmm, that’s hard but I’d say Boeuf Bourguignon, Coq au Vin, Banquette de Veau, Escargots and Soupe à l’oignon.

What advice do you have for Australians who want to learn to cook French food?

Our advice to budding French cooks is to just try! Start with easy French recipes for the whole family like endives au jambon à la béchamel (endive with ham and béchamel sauce). Preparing French food with all the family is a great experience and encourages you to use fresh, healthy ingredients. Also follow us on Facebook for great French cooking ideas and tips. We’re happy to answer your questions!

What is one of your favourite French Family Cooking recipes?

We love Granny Annie’s classic strawberry tart.

• Prep time: 20 mins
• Cook time: 20 mins
• Total time: 40 mins
• Serves: 6

Granny Annie’s original strawberry tart recipe:

Ingredients

• 12 ounces of flaky pastry
• 2 cups of milk
• 1 egg
• 2 egg yolks
• 3 ounces of granulated sugar
• 2 ounces of all-purpose flour
• 1 vanilla pod
• 20 ounces of strawberries
• 2 tablespoons of strawberry jam (or topping)
• 1 tablespoon of kirsch (or topping)

Instructions

1. Put the flaky pastry in a pie pan greased with butter and prick with a fork.
2. Bake at 300° for 20 minutes.
3. Pour the flour, egg, egg yolks, sugar into a bowl and whisk.
4. Heat milk with split vanilla pod and pour it into the bowl, stirring again.
5. Pour the cream into a pan and heat, stirring continuously 4 minutes.
6. When the cream has cooled, pour it over the flaky pastry and add washed strawberries.
7. Pour the kirsch and jam into a pan and heat 2 minutes (or use topping).
8. Pour over the strawberries.
9. Serve cold.

Monsieur Croissant note: Since these guys are really French they use old school ounces rather than grams. Here is a useful converter for you.

Where do we find you?

You can connect with us on Facebook, Twitter and at our website www.afrenchfamilycooking.com

Sounds good, right? Monsieur Croissant and his family will be trying out that strawberry tart recipe very soon! Bon appétit!

To celebrate our exclusive Partner Offer from Chilcott’s Butchery (get 15% off your next meat order!) we thought we’d share a delicious meaty recipe from one of our favourite cooking blogs – Cook.Eat.Blog, written by local culinary expert Lee Jackson. Why not visit our Facebook page and tell us your favourite meaty French dish?

This French inspired dish is one of the tastiest things I’ve eaten in ages. Really simple and pretty quick too – it was success all round when I served it up for our guest this evening. Even with a cold, and hardly any taste, I managed to fully appreciate its mellow, garlicky sauce along with the salty olives – a marriage made in heaven.

INGREDIENTS:
4 chicken supremes (skin on) (supreme is breast with the wing attached and trimmed – you can use just breast if you like)
2 tablespoons butter
1 onion (finely chopped)
5 cloves garlic (finely sliced)
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano or thyme
15-20 green olives (pitted)
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
250ml dry white wine
400ml chicken stock
2 tablespoons fresh parsley (finely chopped)
salt & pepper

DIRECTIONS:
In a large deep pan (with a lid) heat the butter until bubbling over a moderate heat. Place the chicken into the pan, skin side down, and cook for 5 minutes until the skin is well browned. Remove from the pan.

Add the onion to the pan and cook for 5 minutes until soft and golden. Add the garlic and oregano and cook for 30-40 seconds before adding the mustard and then wine – scrape off the bits that have stuck to the pan and reduce the sauce for 1 minute before adding the chicken stock and olives. Sit the chicken pieces in the pan, skin side up, and reduce the heat to low then cook with the lid on for 20-25 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through (check near the bone to ensure it’s properly cooked). Remove from heat, season with a little salt and plenty of pepper then sprinkle over the parsley and serve.

SERVING:
I served it directly from the pan with some salads and plenty of bread to mop up the delicious sauce