Sweetcrust pastry (pâte sablée)

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Sweetcrust pastry is one of the basic pastry of French patisserie, used in many tart and cakes recipes, but it can also be rolled out and cut into biscuits, delicious with tea or coffee. This recipe is given for those who have a mixer (Kenwood, KitchenAid or other), but it can also be done with your hands. Please note that it's very important to make it several hours before using it, if possible the day before, as then it's much easier to work.

Potimarron braised in meat jus

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This is a very quick and simple recipe which makes an excellent accompaniment for roast meat, for example. It is also a good Sunday night dish.

Chocolate Truffles

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Chocolate truffles: those dreamy, creamy chocolatey treats, rolled in cocoa powder or a mix of chopped dry-roasted pistachios and almonds.

Naan

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Naan is a type of Asian bread made from wheat flour. This kind comes from the Punjab region of India.

Diamond biscuits

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These round biscuits no doubt get their name from the coating of sparkling sugar crystals around the edge.

Traditional nutty choc-chip cookies

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A traditional American recipe for homely biscuits, which can be made in different flavours or with additions (seeds, dried fruit, nuts, chocolate, etc.).

Autumn apple and plum crumble pie

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This crumble with a difference captures real autumn flavours: apples, plums and hazelnuts. For a change, the crumble topping is pressed into a thin crust, more like a pie.

Crab Cakes

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These crab cakes are a mixture of crab meat - of course - with onion, parsley, breadcrumbs, egg and mayonnaise. The cakes are made fairly thick and shallow fried in a pan, but they can also be deep fried.

Chicano burger

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Time for a fresh take on burgers with this Mexican-inspired version. The beef patty is pepped up with chilli spices and partnered with a plainer patty made with red kidney beans.

Soft apple cookies

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This French twist on the famous American treats delivers delicious apple flavour in cookies that are a little softer than usual.

Dipping bread with cheese

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In France, "pain trempette" (dipping bread) is a loaf made to be broken easily into bite-sized morsels, perfect for serving with any dip. The dough is fairly soft and I have added shallots and fried bacon bits. The dip shown here is a hot box Mont d'Or, but there are plenty of other possibilities.

Polpete

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The polpete are the delicious meatballs of the Italian cuisine, softer than the classic meatballs because they contain breadcrumbs moistened with milk.

Viennese Shortbread

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The Viennese shortbread, or "Spritz", are small shortbread cakes, with a light vanilla taste and covered with chocolate.

Lambé salad

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Lambé's salad is a rather original salad with chickpeas, mimosa eggs, cheese and, above all, a crunchy buckwheat pancake, broken into small pieces and added at the last moment.

Eggplant Polpette

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These easy-to-make and delicious eggplant polpettes (dumplings) are great as a side dish with meat or even on their own, but also as a patty in a veggie burger.

Foie gras ballotine

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Making your own foie gras, from raw liver, will give you not only the satisfaction of having made it yourself, but also a liver of simply remarkable quality and taste, far better than any commercial foie gras. It's a tricky operation, but one that's entirely within your grasp, as long as you follow the 3 delicate stages of the recipe, which are well explained here, in the following order: de-veining, seasoning and cooking. This recipe will be cooked "en ballotine", a simpler and much easier...

Home-made terrine of foie gras

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Preparing your own home-made foie gras from raw is immensively satisfying: good quality liver and a simply amazing flavour – much better than anything you can buy. This recipe is a bit tricky, but quite within everyone's grasp, as long as you follow the 3 most delicate stages carefully. These are, in order: de-veining the liver, seasoning and cooking. As usual, I have explained every stage of the recipe in full, with photos to help you.

Tiramisu balls

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For this astonishingly quick and easy recipe, you form balls from sponge-cookie powder, mascarpone and coffee, and roll them in cocoa. The tiramisu taste is guaranteed.

Tzatziki

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Tzatziki, typically a summer recipe, is a very fresh mixture of Greek yogurt, cucumber, garlic and herbs, intended to be used as a sauce or condiment. It's a recipe of Greek and Turkish origin, but can be found in many other Eastern and Middle Eastern countries under a different name.

How to prepare corn salad

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Corn salad (or lamb's lettuce) is a green salad plant. It can be used like lettuce, but requires careful preparation as it is often grown in sand. Here is how to prepare corn salad from the freshly picked plant to the leaves ready to use.

Making your own bread

You'll find a whole range of bread and pastry recipes on this site, but before you get started, perhaps you'd like to know more about the subject, get some tips and tricks, and find out what the main mistakes beginners make? If so, this page is for you.
August 22^th 2024579 K 63.9

Make your own hot-wire or styrofoam cutter

A filicoupeur is a hot-cutting tool for polystyrene, which can be used to enhance any piece of polystyrene you've salvaged, and to do all kinds of things with it: model building, model making, arts and crafts, and so on. See here how to make your own.
February 20^th 2024547 K 433.5

The name of the elements

The names of the elements in Mendeleyev's table are generally derived from Latin, Greek or German, and refer to properties such as color, brilliance or geographical origin. Here's the origin of each element's name.
August 24^th 202481 K3.6

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 2023260 K4.0

Start off well to cook well

What do I need to get started in the kitchen? First of all, a good website! That's it, you're there ;-), then a minimum of equipment, and the few products you should always have in your cupboards or fridge. Here are a few things to help you make your choices.
August 29^th 2023344 K 13.6

As I write these lines, we are in the middle of the apple season, and it's an apple year, as you may have noticed if you have apple trees around you, they are bursting with fruit! Excellent news for the people in the west of France in particular, but let's have a little thought for those in the...
October 23^th 202111 K5

When you prepare dough for cupcakes in a pastry shop or bakery, at some point you're going to have to divide it, i.e. cut it into small pieces, which should all have the same weight. Sounds simple enough, but is it really that simple?
May 30^th 202314 K5

When you've finished preparing a salad, green or otherwise, it's usually time to add the dressing and toss. It's often said to "toss the salad", which means to season and mix. Is it easy? Not so easy...
March 8^th 202415 K5

The home bread-makers often ask themselves “Have I kneaded my dough long enough?” . A good question, as dough that is insufficiently kneaded will not rise properly or will fall flat when the top is slashed, which is very frustrating. To know when the dough is ready, one can rely on the length...
June 16^th 2021100 K 23.9

Mixing bowl (of food processor)

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Very useful for hard work that's difficult to do with your hands: kneading evenly.
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