How to peel a garlic clove easily

Chestnut cake

This delightful cake is doubly chestnutty: it contains chestnut flour, and sweet chestnut purée.

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.

Bouquet garni

Used very frequently in French cuisine, a secret of French chefs, it adds flavour to a lot of recipes, and it's easy to prepare. The basic principle is to make a small bundle of herbs, bind them in green leek leaves and to tie it up, so that the whole thing can be removed and discarded easily after cooking.

Potato gratin

This classic French recipe is made with sliced potatoes baked in milk and browned on top.

Preserved tomatoes

Softer than dried tomatoes, they can be used as a kind of chutney in pasta dishes for instance, or simply served to accompany an aperitif.