Rolls of fish in smoked ham

(Found inTexts)
Pieces of white fish rolled in thinly sliced smoked ham. These rolls are cooked in a little olive oil and served with French beans. The pairing of smoked ham with fish might seem a little strange, but in fact these flavours marry well.

Comtoise endive salad

(Found inTexts)
This endive salad has a Comtoise twist as a change from the usual pairing of endives with walnuts. The endives are finely sliced, mixed with fried smoked bacon, diced Comté cheese and a little chopped parsley, then dessed with a good vinaigrette.

Yeast-based flaky dough (for croissants)

(Found inTexts)
This yeast-based flaky dough (or croissant dough) is where puff pastry meets a yeast dough (such as brioche dough). This means that not only will we get flaky layers, but the dough will also swell and rise. The method is along the same lines as for a feuilletage: the basic dough is first kneaded, then layered with butter and folded over several times (in...

Avocado mousse with sorrel

(Found inTexts)
Avocado is rarely paired with sorrel, yet they go well together as the slight acidity of the sorrel balances the smooth richness of the avocado nicely. In this recipe they are combined in a cool, fresh avocado and sorrel mousse, served here with eggy bread fingers.

Gratin of beet tops and potatoes

(Found inTexts)
In a very classic gratin, here's a pairing that's a little less classic: beet tops with potatoes. The tops add a slight bitterness that complements the sweetness of the potatoes, cream and cheese.

Croque-monsieur complet

(Found inStages)
This is a "full Monty" version of the traditional French toasted sandwich: the bread is dipped in beaten egg with cream before cooking, rather like pain perdu, to make the fried bread rich and moist. The French term "complet" here means "with everything": egg, ham and cheese.

Macarons (the original French macaroons)

(Found inStages)
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...

Quick Strawberry Millefeuille

(Found inStages)
A millefeuille (which in french means "thousand sheets") is a delicious pâtisserie consisting of layers of puff or flaky pastry (pâte feuilletée) sandwiched together with cream, fruit, etc. In this recipe, we will be using sheets of caramelized brik or filo, which makes a delicious, light millefeuille, filled with strawberries and chantilly cream.

Surprise bread

(Found inStages)
This recipe is for a large surprise bread so you can make six layers (48 small sandwiches if you divide each layer in 8), with three different flavours: smoked salmon/lime, smoked ham/butter, mayonnaise/chicken.

Hasselback or "Swedish-style" potatoes

(Found inStages)
Hasselback potatoes are cut into thin strips, leaving some of the flesh intact, to form a sort of puff pastry or "porte-feuilles". They are then baked in the oven, and topped with cheese and ham. It's a simple recipe, and at the same time quite technical.

How to make tart cases

(Found inStages)
It's not easy to make beautiful, even tart cases, but here I'll let you into the secret of how the professionals do it. You will see that there are a lot of little details that make all the difference. It's a bit technical, but don't worry, I'll guide you through the important points.

Oaty walnut cake

(Found inComments)
This is a moist-textured walnut cake with rolled oats, but the real secret comes from dry-roasting the nuts before adding them to the mixture.

My best addresses...

Quite a few of you often ask me where I can find this or that? or is such and such a thing a good buy? or which brand is best for this or that? On this page, I'm going to group together my good addresses for suppliers of this or that product or utensil, and good books on the subjects that interest...
August 29^th 2023329 K4.0

Solar lighting

As you know, every square feet of our planet receives huge amounts of energy which is sent by the sun. This energy, free, infinite, non-polluting is at our hands, but unfortunately for some sad reason we continue to use fossil fuels with all their harmful consequences to our environment.Is it...
August 29^th 2023255 K4.0

Children and vegetables

This is an attempt to address the question that all parents and grandparents, maybe you included, face so often: how can we get children to like vegetables? And at the same time, we might get away from the familiar, day-in, day-out round of pasta, chips, toast.. Well, I can hear you say, it's...
March 9^th 201716 K5

The mock CAP baker's certificate exam

The next instalment in my life as an apprentice baker at the French INBP professional school. I’m now halfway through training and it’s still as exciting as ever, and exhausting – but maybe I’m just getting old, or both… Anyway, a few days ago we had to go through the mock CAP exam. A sort...
May 1^st 201821 K4.4

The magic of local wines

It's never easy to find the right wine to serve with the dish you've just cooked for your guests, because we're not all amateur sommeliers, and then there are so many possible choices in wines that "the perfect match" seems like a distant utopia, almost impossible to obtain. Add to that a lot of...
April 7^th 202011 K4.7

Remove bones from fish

Let's talk about fish: It's not a scoop, it's much more pleasant to eat fish from which all the bones have been carefully removed, even if it's a rather painful and time-consuming job, the result is worthy of your efforts. Here are some important points to keep in mind.
October 16^th 202114 K5

The dissociation of a preparation

It may have already happened to you: You prepare a sauce, a cream, a ganache etc. and then suddenly or almost, the whole thing dissociates, and from a smooth mixture that you were preparing with love, you end up with a horrible thing with a more or less solid part and another liquid part. It's...
January 22^th 202213 K4.9

How easy is it to chop herbs?

Whenever you have fresh herbs - parsley, chervil, coriander, mint, etc. - to incorporate into a recipe, we tell you to chop them up. In this case, "chopping" means separating the leaves from the stems, keeping only the leaves, and chopping them more or less finely. It's not very complicated,...
September 12^th 202313 K5

When I was a kid, I didn't like...

Maybe you've already made this strange observation: when you were a kid, there were things you hated, but as an adult it's almost the opposite? For example, you used to hate spinach or chicory, but now you love it?
November 5^th 202311 K5