4 pears salad with vanilla

(Found inTextsStages)
It's a very easy recipe, everything depends on the choice of differents kinds of pears all fully ripe, to give a delicious contrast in the mouth.
February 21^th 2011223 K4.2 40 min.

Chinois

(Found inTexts)
"Chinese" - what a strange name for this cake! A kind of brioche, filled with confectioner's custard (crème pâtissière) which can be decorated with fondant icing.
September 10^th 2018262 K 24.7 5 hours 30 min.

Confectioner's custard (Crème pâtissière, or French pastry cream)

(Found inTexts)
Quite similar to crème anglaise but much thicker. It is used in many pastries like choux pastry (pâte à choux) or millefeuille.
January 27^th 2017747 K 313.7 40 min.

Parcels of fish fillet in spinach

(Found inTextsStages)
These parcels are made with small pieces of fish fillet, wrapped in a blanched spinach leaf and lightly fried in butter. They can be served with a salted white wine sabayon (as in the recipe of scallops with crunchy vegetables), a beurre blanc, a dash of olive oil with herbs, or any other sauce of...
March 18^th 2013234 K5 2 hours 25 min.

Four quarters

(Found inTexts)
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.
February 21^th 2011314 K3.7 1 hour 15 min.

Guacamole

(Found inTextsStages)
For this typically Mexican recipe there are two main methods: smooth mashed avocado (made with a blender), or simple mashed avocado (made with a fork) with small pieces. And you can add, or not, finely diced tomato. You will find the first version (smooth) below.
November 26^th 2011293 K4.1 1 hour 25 min.

Icelandic-style fish and vegetable pie

(Found inTextsStages)
This recipe is made from vegetables cut small and blanched, mixed with pieces of salt-cod and cream, then baked in small soup dishes with a puff pastry lid.
September 7^th 2018274 K3.9 4 hours 35 min.

Tahitian style fish

(Found inTextsStages)
Little pieces of fish marinated overnight a night in lime juice.
February 21^th 2011266 K5 12 hours 60 min.

How to peel a pineapple

(Found inTextsStages)
For most recipes it is necessary to completely peel the pineapple, and to keep only the flesh which is then often cut into small pieces. Here is a method.
February 21^th 2011201 K3.7 20 min.

How to break a chocolate bar into small pieces

(Found inTextsStages)
Most of the time chocolate needs to be broken into small pieces before use, because it melts faster and more evenly. Here is a way to do it quickly.
February 21^th 2011156 K3 1 min.

Fruit salad

(Found inTextsStages)
To make a good fruit salad, there are three important points: Choose fruits that go well together (avoid putting soft pears with crunchy apples for example).Remove absolutely all skins and seeds.Bring it all together with a good home made sugar syrup added to the fruit juices.Here is a recipe which...
April 20^th 2020380 K4.1 1 hour 15 min.

Rolls of fish in smoked ham

(Found inTextsStages)
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.
February 21^th 2011306 K4.9 55 min.

Quail egg canapés

(Found inTextsStages)
This starter is a small canapé consiting of a toasted and buttered bread slice covered with a slice of smoked ham topped with a fried quail egg.
February 21^th 2011327 K5 55 min.

Half-cooked chocolate cake with raspberry coulis

(Found inTextsStages)
A small chocolate cake, still runny in the middle, served with a raspberry coulis.
October 3^rd 2010329 K5 1 hour 25 min.

Pears and caramelised walnut samosas

(Found inTextsStages)
Samosas are small parcels of filling wrapped in brik (or filo) sheets and either shallow or deep fried. Here is a sweet version, with pears and caramelised walnuts.
October 13^th 2010325 K4 1 hour 25 min.

Scallops with green asparagus tips and parmesan

(Found inTexts)
In this recipe scallops are fried quickly, then cooked aaparagus tips are added with a sprinkling of parmesan to serve.
February 21^th 2011240 K4.1 40 min.

Crunchy little pieces of fish

(Found inTextsStages)
Small pieces of fish, dipped in beated egg then in breadcrumbs, and fried. Preferably serve with something with slightly acidic like herb salad, or Béarnaise sauce.
February 21^th 2011261 K5 50 min.

You should not push with the sharp edge of a knife

(Found inTexts)
When you cut something into small pieces on your working surface, it's an automatic gesture to push the pile with your knife blade. It's a bad habit because this will blunt your blade.
February 21^th 201159 K5 1 min.

Hollandaise sauce

(Found inTexts)
This sauce is quite similar to Béarnaise sauce, but with a light lemon flavour. It can be used hot, warm or cold on several things: vegetables, fish, eggs... Not easy to get right, like all "emulsified warm sauces" (Béarnaise, Hollandaise, etc.), but you will find all the tips you need here.
July 25^th 2019237 K 14.7 25 min.

Smooth mixed vegetable soup

(Found inTextsStages)
Any vegetables you have, cut into small pieces, mixed with a shallot cooked in butter, cooked together then blended. Even better when it's cold outside.
January 3^rd 2014341 K4.4 2 hours 3 min.

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 2024565 K 63.9

Bread oven

Building a bread oven was until a few years ago a job for the professionals. But now you can buy a kind of kit which allows you to build your own bred oven without professional masonry know-how. You should know that the kits only provide the main part of oven, the hearth, where you light the fire...
October 15^th 20241.16 M3.6

Some hints for a pizza-party

A pizza party is always a very pleasant and convivial occasion. Good people (friends and family) get together to enjoy delicious pizzas, baked right in the oven. Here are a few tips to help you make yours a success.
August 30^th 2024187 K3.7

The oven itself (hearth)

The main part of the oven (the hearth) as sold by the producer ("Fayol" company) consists of 9 slabs (to form the sole) and the curved sections which make up the domed oven, plus a keystone which fits in the top.
August 30^th 2024124 K3.8

Advice on heating oven

For good results with a wood-fired oven, it's very important to manage the heating process well. Here is some advice to help you succeed in this delicate operation.
August 24^th 2024177 K4.0

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 2024509 K 433.5

Elements in the table

It's not always easy to represent an element. Some are obvious because they're used as such (iron, copper, lead...), but for others it's much trickier. In this list, you'll find the objects/materials that have been chosen to fill in the boxes in the table.
August 24^th 202436 K3.9

A mist free mirror

I don't know if you're like me, but I find it very annoying after a shower or bath to have to wipe down the bathroom mirror 36 times with a towel just so I can see myself shaving (or putting on make-up for the girls).How do you solve this tricky problem? First of all, by looking at the cause of the...
August 29^th 2023219 K 13.6

The steam machine

Fogging is an essential element in a bread oven. It's not easy to see, but it's the presence of fog that makes breads golden brown. To get steam on a regular basis, you can put a ramekin full of water in the bottom of the oven, or spray the inside with a sprayer, but this solution requires you to...
August 24^th 202458 K4

chives

Chives grow in clumps, and the leaves used as a herb have an extraodinary taste. It's an essential for adding to salads, and everything else that can be eaten cold, because it doesn't like long cooking during which it loses most of its flavour.
August 29^th 202376 K3.8

bayleaf

Bay is a kind of laurel, grown as a shrub or small tree, of which the leaves are used, fresh or dry (other laurels are toxic). Bayleaves are used frequently in mediterraneen cooking.
August 29^th 202389 K4.2

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 2023308 K 13.6

Small, regular pieces

When we cook, bake or pastry, we often have to cut food into small pieces, often cubes, to incorporate them into a recipe or preparation. How do you get regular pieces fairly quickly?
November 28^th 20205,5144.5

Divide and weigh dough into regular pieces

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 20236,2275

Fried potatoes or fried mash?

In cooking there are a lot of dishes that appear to be extremely simple but which can actually prove to be very tricky. Amongst those that I'm aware of having this reputation are omelette and fried potatoes.
February 6^th 201121 K4.5

The different cooking modes

In cooking, cooking means bringing food into contact with a source of heat, to transform it: improving its taste, and sometimes its texture. This contact with the heat source can be achieved in a number of ways: these are the cooking methods, and let's take a look at the main ones.
July 24^th 20244,3764.7

How to zest a fruit?

You will have no doubt noticed that many recipes call for the zest of citrus fruit. The zest is that outer layer of the skin which adds so much flavour to a dish. There are many different ways to peel off the zest and various tools are available. Here is a summary of the “dos and don'ts” of...
November 5^th 201342 K3.8

5 really useful cooking tips

Cooking is about recipes, of course, but it is also an impressive collection of small gestures, ways of doing things, knowing what to do and what not to do. All these little tips and tricks can be very important: they can affect the way a recipe turns out, simply because you did just the right...
March 29^th 201620 K4.9

Vegetable soups

As I write this post, we are slowly slipping into winter, and this late autumn is the perfect time for soups, especially vegetable ones. Soups, that somewhat "soft" dish, often associated with our childhood, infallible remedy against a cold evening or an ugly weather, or both.
December 5^th 20178,2255

Double cooking of vegetables

When you cook vegetables, it's not easy to capture and preserve the flavours. It is easy to undercook, but you can make up for it, or overcook, and then it is unfortunately a bit cooked (in the sense of "ruined"). But above all, how to get the maximum of the taste of the vegetable in the pan, then...
July 12^th 201919 K4.1

Fruits and their syrup

As I write these lines, we are finally in the summer, the holidays are approaching, and above all, the fruits are pouring onto the market stalls, if they are ripe, it's time to enjoy them to the full! .
July 24^th 20197,9354.7

Roasting spices

If you like your food a little, or a lot, spicy, you'll no doubt have a jar or sachets of mixed spices in your cupboards from which to draw when preparing a dish. I'm thinking, for example, of curries, chili and couscous, all of which fill the kitchen, and sometimes far beyond...
October 30^th 20206,0154.9

Croutons

Do you use croutons, that typically French trick of toasting small pieces of bread on the side to add to a recipe? They're just delicious, but you need to know 2 or 3 things about them. .
December 30^th 20206,0615

The perfect boiled egg

Making boiled eggs is always a delight and it pleases the young and old alike. This little transgenerational side puts them on the list of "things to do on Sunday evening when you don't know what to do" in many families (including mine)... That said, it's not that simple, you have to pay...
January 30^th 202113 K4.7

The return of the vegetable grater

If you are of a certain age (say +50) you may have known, when you were a kid, something that your grandmother had in her kitchen set, the vegetable grater. A kind of mill, to be turned by hand, and which with cutting discs of different sizes, allowed to grate a lot of vegetables, carrots first...
March 20^th 202112 K4.6

The "caves" in the bakery and pastry shop

Maybe you've already done this? You want to make a brioche or a cake with fruit inside, you decide to proceed with your usual recipe, but also to add in the dough pieces of fresh and raw fruit, or whole fruit, for example pieces of apples or pears, good idea. When you bake it, everything seems to...
March 27^th 20217,5974.9

Let's rehabilitate the burger

The burger is a sandwich that is very fashionable at the moment, and as for all other sandwiches, the worst (often) rubs shoulders with the best (much more rare). In principle, I'm probably not teaching you anything, it's a sandwich made of a small round bun, rather soft, like a sandwich bread,...
April 10^th 20215,8354.9

The "pith" of the cauliflower

When using cauliflower in a recipe, there is a lot of preparation work at the beginning: removing the leaves, taking the tops or florets, etc. It's a bit tedious, but in the end you're left with the best of the cauliflower, ready to be used in your recipe.
February 5^th 20229,4674.9

Soup vs. potage

It's true that we're finally coming out of winter as I write these lines, and that we'll all be making, no doubt, a little less soup and potages, but even if it's out of season, it really is a simple and delicious dish, which is one of the always easy answers to "What's for dinner this (Sunday)...
April 9^th 20225,868

Celeriac soups and the 3rd ingredient

Do you like celeriac, a vegetable that is not always a big hit? If your answer is "no" or "not so much", it is perhaps that you have in mind the celery remoulade, the emblematic starter, with the eggs mimosa, of the bistrot kitchen. It's very good, well if you like it of course, but it's a bit...
May 21^th 20229,3294.9

Beans in primeur

As I write this, it is the beginning of the short season for fresh beans. If you've never made them before and you're just starting out (and that's a great idea) you'll find that it's a bit time consuming to prepare, you have to shell them once, remove the beans, scald them to remove the skin (and...
June 4^th 20229,867

Parmesan cheese crusts

If you use Parmesan cheese (Parmigiano Reggiano) in your recipes, you may have already noticed: when you grate it, it becomes (very) difficult near the crust, especially if it is a slightly aged parmesan, as the cheese gets harder and harder. So we stop grating, leaving some crust on top, and a...
September 14^th 202213 K4.8