Traditional 29 recipes of French cooking (without meat)

Celeriac Rémoulade

A classic recipe of traditional French bistro cooking (winter salad).

Du Barry soup

Du Barry is a creamy cauliflower soup, including small whole pieces of cauliflower.

French onion soup

This warming onion soup is an emblematic French dish, both in bistro cuisine and home cooking. This is a very classic version. The long, slow cooking is the secret to revealing its full flavour.

Leeks in vinaigrette

A classic dish of French family and bistro cooking. It's both simple and good. The secret lies in cooking the leeks until they are only just tender, so that they keep their lovely green colour. The special vinaigrette includes herbs and hard-boiled eggs.

Lobster Thermidor

In this recipe, the lobster are cooked first in a court bouillon (stock), then the flesh is removed and cut into small pieces before being cooked with the cream and alcohol. The dish is browned in the oven to finish.

Potato Gratin

A classic dish, but so delicious. Slices of potatoes cooked in milk, a mixture of cream and Comté cheese, and then it’s all baked in the oven until golden brown.

Baked Alaska

The name may be odd, but Baked Alaska is an elegant dessert. The core of this version is a "sandwich" of vanilla ice cream and blackcurrant sorbet between 2 layers of sponge soaked in rum-flavoured syrup. This is then covered in a layer of meringue and put in a very hot oven for just a few minutes to brown the outside. The magical and delicious effect comes from the contrast between the hot meringue and the cold ice cream and cake inside. It is a little tricky to get right, but the main...

Chocolate eclairs

This might appear to be a straightforward recipe: choux pastry, chocolate confectioner's custard and fondant icing, but in practice it is quite technically tricky and all three stages need care to produce a perfect result. But don't let that discourage you; there are demonstration videos and I will take you through the whole process, paying particular attention to the most difficult stages.

Crème brulée

Crème brûlée (burned cream) is quite easy to prepare: it's a simple egg-cream dessert. The only difficulty is in making the delicious crunchy caramel layer on top. The perfect crème brulée (for me) is a cold and soft cream, with on top a nice hot caramel crust. This is a completely new version of the former recipe, with video.

Crêpes Suzette

Crêpes Suzette are pancakes filled with orange-flavoured butter (butter and sugar mixed with Grand Marnier), caramelized in a pan and soaked in orange-flavoured syrup. This is an modified version of the recipe invented by Auguste Escoffier.

Epiphany galette

Here is the recipe for the very classic but delicious "galette des rois" (Epiphany galette) in puff or flaky pastry (pâte feuilletée) with almond cream or frangipane . You will also see some professional tips to easily handle the dough, and obtain a nice and regular galette.

Galette Charentaise

This is a traditional cake from France's Charente region. The recipe is straightforward and the cake is slightly dense in texture, but quite delicious.

Macarons (the original French macaroons)

This recipe really is "of the moment": the success of these small, highly-coloured cakes, in an infinite variety of flavours, is impressive. It's a recipe which needs some care, in order to produce a result worthy of a professional pastrychef. No problem, I will guide you through the recipe, particularly the tricky parts. This variety of flavours means that I test many alternatives, so don't be surprised if in the pictures the colour of the macarons changes, I used the best photograph available...

Peach Melba

Peach Melba is a famous dessert created in 1893 by an equally famous chef, Auguste Escoffier, and inspired by the singer Nellie Melba. There have been many versions of this well-known dish but, in principal, it consists of vanilla ice cream, poached peaches, raspberry coulis and sweetened whipped cream (Chantilly). This is a simplified version.

Profiteroles

Small choux pastry puffs, filled with vanilla ice cream and topped with a rich smooth chocolate sauce.

Rice pudding (riz au lait)

My personal version of this classic family recipe.

Saint Honoré cake

The Saint Honoré cake is a famous example of French patisserie. It consists of a puff pastry base surrounded by a ring of caramel-coated choux puffs and topped with whipped cream (Chantilly). It is a bit tricky to make, but this recipe gives you all the hints you need.

Tart Tatin

Tart tatin is one of the great classic desserts of French cooking. It's an apple tart cooked upside down. Apples are cooked in sugar until they caramelise. Then a circle of puff pastry is put on top, and the whole tart is baked at 356°F (180°C) for 20 minutes. To serve, the tart is turned over so that the apples are on top. Apples with caramel and crispy puff pastry taste amazing. The classic recipe uses shortcrust pastry (pâte brisée), but in this version I prefer to use puff pastry (pâte...

Chocolate rolls (petits pains)

Here is a recipe for "real" chocolate petits pains, i.e. with a milk bread dough (not croissants dough) and with a stick of chocolate inside.

French baguettes

This classic of French baking is rather different from the recipe for leavened bread, it's a question of making a good crust and light crumb along the whole length. To succeed, you should know that there are two secrets: water first of all (much more than for normal bread), and the working of the dough, which is also very different.

French croissants

In this famous and highly technical recipe from a piece of yeast-based flaky dough we are going to cut and shape ("roll") croissants.

Blackcurrant liqueur

The fruit liqueurs (or "creams" in French) are a mix of neutral alcohol in which fruits are macerated, and sugar syrup. They are the basis of the very famous "Kir", mixture of dry white wine and blackcurrant liqueur. This recipe is for blackcurrant, but it can be made with other soft fruits like raspberries, strawberries, blackberries, etc.

Four quarters

It's "the simpliest cake in the world", called four quarters, because it's made with 1/4 eggs, 1/4 sugar, 1/4 flour and 1/4 butter.

Béarnaise sauce

This delicious, aromatic sauce—made with tarragon, chervil, and shallots, and featuring a hint of acidity—is perfect with grilled meats or fish. It’s known to be difficult to make, but here are all the tips and tricks you need.

Beurre blanc sauce

Beurre blanc sauce is a great classic of French cuisine, made with vinegar, white wine and shallots. It is a wonderful accompaniment for fish and shellfish.

Chantilly cream

Chantilly cream, it's simply whipped liquid cream with sugar. It is use in many desserts, but already delicious simply with strawberries or other fruits.

Chocolate Chantilly

If we look at the more scientific side of Chantilly cream we can see that it's mainly cream, and cream is a mix of very small droplets of milk fat and water, which is called an emulsion. When we whip this emulsion, we incorporate air into it and so create a mousse or foam. In the end Chantilly is a foaming emulsion. The interest of this observation is that we can imagine doing the same not only with cream. We just need water and fat. And it works, so you can make chocolate Chantilly. Please...

Mayonnaise

Mayonnaise is a cold egg dressing, quite thick, served with many dishes, usually cold too: meat, fish, vegetables, etc.

Rémoulade dressing

This dressing is a kind of mayonnaise with vinegar, used for some salads like celeriac rémoulade. Usually it is prepared from mayonnaise, but here is another version, simpler and just as tasty.