European glass

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A little dessert that's rather long to make, but which will always impress your guests. Layered in a glass: a jellied red fruit coulis, a layer of pineapple charlotte cream, a layer of kiwi coulis, topped with a peeled clementine segment. It's "european" because it resembles the italian flag, and in another version with apricot instead raspberries, the irish flag (a country so dear to me).

Quick bramble jelly

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Fruit jelly is jam made with the juice only. All the skin and seeds are strained out, which gives a very smooth texture. Here's a quick recipe which will give you an excellent jelly, and which keeps the full flavour of the blackberries thanks to its very brief cooking.

Little vanilla, clementine and chestnut verrines

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This is a fresh-flavoured verrine with 3 different flavoured layers: vanilla panna cotta, clementine and chestnut mousse.

Corsican tarts

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Two typically Corsican ingredients are brought together in this recipe: chestnuts and clementines. Chestnut flour is used in the sweetcrust pastry and the tarts are filled with a mouth-watering clementine jelly.

Apple and Blackcurrant Brioche Pies

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These brioche pies look like muffins with their "mushroom" tops. They are filled with quartered apples and a little blackcurrant jelly.

Windfall apple jelly

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This jelly is an excellent way to make use of all those unripe apples that have dropped off the tree. They (or rather, their juice) makes a delicious jelly with a very delicate flavour. As these apples are green and generally tart, we need to use a little more gelling agent than for a normal jelly recipe.

Jelly-style plum jam

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Lots of people make plum jam, but you can also elevate this to a rather elegant jelly, simply by removing the skins. It's not a true jelly (this is normally made with juice), but leans towards that style: light and, above all, delicious.

Blackberry and almond fondant tart

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Balckberries and almonds go so well together: the slight tartness of the berries is the perfect foil for the sweeter almonds. This combination makes for a delicious tart. The sweetcrust pastry case is filled with a blackberry jelly and an almond panna cotta, presented in a bold and unusual way as a change from the usual layers.

Thin tomato jelly and avocado tart

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For this sophisticated recipe, we'll be preparing a disc of tomato jelly to sit on a puff pastry base. This is topped with slices of avocado in a lime dressing.

Clear strawberry juice

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In French this is called a "clarification". The method for making a clear strawberry juice is simple, with little added sugar. The delicious juice obtained can be used in lots of recipes: mousse, cream, jelly, etc.

Blackcurrant jelly

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Blackcurrants are full of flavour and make an excellent jelly. In the depths of winter, you'll be glad you made some now.

Double raspberry tartlets

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Little sweetcrust pastry cases filled with a raspberry jelly, then topped with a raspberry-flavoured whipped cream. Despite their intense raspberry flavour, these tartlets are lovely and light.

Quince jelly

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This quince jelly, with a very pronounced taste, will delight lovers of this fruit.

Apricot jelly

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An apricot jelly is made using only the pulp of the fruit, removing the skin and any fibrous parts, which requires some cooking. The result is a much smoother, more pleasant preparation, a little less tart than a classic jam.

Dandelion flower jelly

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With dandelion flowers and a hint of lemon, here's how to make a delicate and surprising jelly, which in franche-comté (eastern France) is called "cramaillote", or sometimes "dandelion honey".

How to remove fat from meat juices

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After cooking meat, we are left with the delicious cooking juices, but these can often be rather fatty. Here is one simple and effective way to remove much of the fat.

Express apple tart

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A fine apple tart, very quick to make.

Paté en croute (terrine in a pie crust)

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The French classic "Paté en croute" is a terrine of different meats layered and baked in a pie crust. There are many recipes which vary the kind of meat and the seasonings. This is my version with pork, veal and chicken, which is not too difficult, though it does entail quite a lot of work.

Smart plum tart

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This is a very simple tart recipe that combines the flavours of plums and hazelnuts. It stays crisp after cooking because it is baked in two stages.

French custard tart

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Custard pie is made with a shortcrust pastry base, and filled with an egg vanilla "custard" mix (prepared beforehand). Filling and pastry cook together in the oven. It's a great classic of the French bakery, found in all good shops.

Fruits which can ruin your jelly

There are many ways of making a fruit mousse, but one of the simplest is to prepare a fruit jelly (basically a fresh fruit coulis with gelatine) and then mix this jelly before it sets completely with whipped cream. The result is perfect for filling a charlotte, for example. But do beware;...
March 6^th 201375 K4.0

The time of the jams

We are well into summer as I write this, and this is the time when most of the fruit is giving or about to give in full. And for many of us, it will also be the time for jams and jellies, one of the best ways to preserve fruit for the next winter.
July 12^th 202125 K4.5

In Praise of the Vegetable Mill

When a recipe or preparation calls for something solid to be pureed, as in a soup for example, the natural reflex is to take out the blender and plunge it into the saucepan. This works very well in most cases, but there are times when you'd like to puree something and at the same time remove the...
July 12^th 20238,5515