How to roll out pastry for a tart

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Lining the bottom of a tart tin with pastry is not as simple as it sounds. To help you get it right every time, here's an illustrated procedure.

How to prepare tomatoes

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Yes, I know you will say to me: why peel tomatoes? The answer is very simple: it's much better, gives a better texture, softer in the mouth. The skin is tough, adds nothing to the taste (and you will have noticed that commercial tomatoes have practically no taste), and finally it's there (on/under the skin) that the awful chemical products that the fruit receive during growth, are concentrated (treatments, pesticides, etc...).

Fish fillet in express cooking envelope

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Vegetables cut in small dice and precooked, fish fillet, lemon juice, olive oil, and 2 minutes in the microwave.

How to cook rice in rice-cooker

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Cooking rice in a specially adapted "rice-cooker" is practical and quick: you don't have to watch it during cooking, it's fast (15 minutes) and the rice-cooker switches automatically to "keep warm".

Cheese tart

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This is a very simple recipe for a "Pontarlier" style cheese tart that allows you to prepare a number at the same time. They freeze very well, so you can easily stock up for later.

Poivrade artichoke Salad

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"Poivrade" artichokes are the small purple ones, often eaten raw in salads. Choose the smallest ones, as they are the tenderest and have practically no fibrous "choke". For this recipe, they are combined as a salad with herbs, spring onion and Parmesan shavings in an olive oil and lemon dressing.

Mussels with beurre d'escargot

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In this recipe, the mussels are cooked briefly first in salted water, just until they open. They are then shelled and popped in the oven for a few minutes with a knob of beurre d'escargot (butter for snails).

Chocolate orangettes for Erika

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Orangettes are candied citrus peels (oranges or grapefruit) cut into sticks and coated in chocolate. This delicious confection blends the slightly tangy flavors of candied peels with the sweetness of chocolate.

Gratin with Parmesan flavours

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For this gratin recipe, we're going to use Parmesan cheese crumbles, which will find a final, practical use. You'll have a potato and cauliflower gratin, with delicious Parmesan flavours, but without actually using any.

How to prepare carrots

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Here's how to prepare carrots, from the simplest way (peeled then rinsed) to a more sophisticated version where only the very best ofthe vegetable is kept.

Fruit coulis (fruit purée)

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Contrary to what people usually think, coulis is not just a simple fruit purée with sugar. Of course, this is the general principle, but it's possible to make something much better and more refined. This recipe is for a strawberry coulis (see below for other fruits): how to make it, but also how freeze it.

Bread with Tomato

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This tomato-flavoured bread, the famous "pan con tomate" of our Spanish friends, is ridiculously simple, but such a treat! It only takes a few minutes to prepare and makes a delicious aperitif snack.

How to make tart cases

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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.

Pear and strawberry verrine with tiramisu cream

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For this recipe, layers of cookie, pear and strawberry in a beautiful verrine, bound with a tiramisu-style cream.

Gratin of potatoes with morels and yellow wine

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For this delicious and very tasty morel mushroom and vin jaune gratin, we're staying in the spirit of the gratin Dauphinois, so no cheese, but with a double use of vin jaune: to sauté the morels, and in the cream that will be poured over the potatoes before cooking. This is a full-flavored recipe, in which each ingredient is used to the full.

Films and papers in the kitchen

It's now fairly easy to find a range of papers and plastic films that are invaluable, and sometimes indispensable, kitchen aids. Here's a quick overview of the main products available, and what you can and can't do with them.
August 29^th 2023610 K 93.6

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.
July 14^th 2025195 K3.7

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 2023332 K4.0

Cooking with herbs

Herbs: there's nothing else so small that can add so much to a recipe. They are not only for garnishing, but are a true part of the dish, sometimes one of the main ingredients. A small example of the "power" of herbs: you make a chopped carrot salad, which is very good with a vinaigrette, but if you...
June 3^rd 2024221 K 13.9

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 2023337 K 13.6

One should cover a pan while heating?

You've probably heard it before: "Cover your pan, it'll boil faster", but is it true? Let's find out.
February 27^th 201532 K 13.4

Perpetual stock

It's something you have probably have done yourself: cooked or pre-cooked vegetables before adding them to a recipe. This is almost always done the same way: peel the chosen vegetables (carrots, for example), cut them up, boil them in salted water (using a tablespoon or so of coarse salt per litre),...
November 22^th 201632 K5

The Holy Grail of French bakers

While browsing through the recipes on this site, you may have noticed that while I adore cooking (everything, in fact, to do with eating and drinking), I am particularly drawn to bakery: bread, viennoiseries and all that goes with them – it’s a real passion of mine; I love making them and I...
March 24^th 201821 K 34.7

The march forward

When professionals get to work in their kitchen, lab or bakery, they are (if they are conscientious) very sensitive to hygiene and cleanliness. It is impossible for a good baker for example to do a day's work without regularly cleaning the table where he or she works, and it is even more...
June 30^th 202121 K5

Stand mixer tools

Whether we call it a stand mixer, food processor, or simply refer to it by brand (Kenwood, KitchenAid, etc.), this machine is a valuable tool for amateur cooks, bakers or pastry chefs like ourselves. All these machines come supplied with 3 different tools. Let’s take a look at their names and...
November 2^nd 201938 K4.5

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 202010 K4.9

Thermal inertia or "out of the fire"

When you're cooking, you need a lot of heat to cook, and most of the time it's on the fire, literally if you're on gas, more indirectly if you're not. An expression that comes up quite often is "Off the heat", but what does it really mean?
December 12^th 202011 K4.6

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 202118 K4.7

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 202110 K4.9

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 202115 K5

The 29-cent "baguette" scandal

You probably heard about it a few days ago, and that was the point: Leclerc hypermarkets in France are going to freeze the price of their baguettes at 29 centimes for 6 months. This measure caused quite a stir in the media, with a lot of talk, and in particular a lot of talk about Leclerc...
January 29^th 20228,0864.5

The two frying pans

Where we see that a non-stick frying pan, if it is very practical in general, sometimes it is not enough.
February 26^th 202212 K4.7

The right bread knife

We almost all have a bread knife in our kitchen, that is to say the knife we use almost exclusively to cut bread. Is this knife efficient, is it really the one you need? Here is some information to guide you in your choice. .
September 15^th 202212 K

How to properly roll out a pie crust?

Very often in pastry making, you have to roll out a pastry before using it for a pie or another dessert. At home, of course, you get out your rolling pin and simply roll it out. Is there a way to get an evenly rolled out dough? That's what we will see in this article.
May 10^th 202311 K4.9

How to sprinkle well?

When in a recipe you need to sprinkle something, that is to say to spread a fine layer of powder (flour, sugar, etc.) on something, powdered sugar on a pie for example, you will probably use a fine strainer or a sieve, this is the best way to proceed. But is that all?
May 23^th 202311 K4.7

Pastry doughs

To make a classic tart, you'll need a pastry of course, and if you don't use puff pastry (normally reserved for "fine", in french, tarts), you'll have a choice of shortcrust, shortbread, sweetcrust or "à foncer". Let's take a look at the differences between these four.
August 16^th 20249,2874.4

Your oven in "proofer" mode

In the bakery, proofing is a crucial stage in the process of making light, plump breads and pastries. During proofing, the yeast ferments the sugars present in the dough, releasing carbon dioxide which forms bubbles. This process allows the dough to swell and aerate, guaranteeing a soft, light...
September 27^th 202412 K5

Cake moulds

When we make a cake, or a cake of the same rectangular shape, we usually take out our usual mould and tell ourselves that the recipe is anyway "for a cake", but is it really that simple?
August 25^th 20259,1535