Macarons (the original French macaroons)

(Found inTextsComments)
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,...
October 3^rd 20191.58 M 714.6 2 hours 40 min.

How to cook hard-boiled eggs properly

(Found inTextsStagesComments)
A hard-boiled egg is properly cooked when: shell is not broken, white and yolk are firm, yolk is only yellow with no traces of green around it. Here are some tips to make this easy.
November 4^th 20131.37 M 65 1 hour 30 min.

Poached eggs

(Found inTexts)
Poached eggs are cooked, without the shell, in barely simmering (nearly boiling) water. White should be firm and yolk soft, that's the difficulty. This recipe teaches you how to succeed with three important points.
January 8^th 2013310 K5 2 hours 40 min.

Paella

(Found inTextsStages)
Paella is a traditional Spanish dish made with round rice, associated mainly with the Valencia region. The name comes from the large two-handled pan in which it is traditionally prepared. This is an adapted version with a mix of meat, vegetables and shellfish.
February 21^th 2011340 K4.1 2 hours 60 min.

Surprise eggs

(Found inTextsStages)
These look like perfectly normal boiled eggs, but when the shell is cracked open - surprise! They contain a mixture of scrambled egg, cured ham, fried prawns and chives.
September 26^th 2010178 K5 55 min.

Seafood sauerkraut

(Found inTextsStages)
The French version of sauerkraut (choucroute) is normally served with meat, especially pork and sausage, but here is a seafood version with fish and shellfish. Do give it a try, as it's simple to make and delicious!
April 17^th 2011178 K4 1 hour 40 min.

Lobster Thermidor

(Found inTextsStages)
In this recipe, the lobster are cooked first in a court bouillon (stock), then the flesh is removed and cut into small pieces before being cooked with the cream and alcohol. The dish is browned in the oven to finish.
January 22^th 2012154 K 14.7 35 min.

Beurre blanc sauce

(Found inTexts)
Beurre blanc sauce is a great classic of French cuisine, made with vinegar, white wine and shallots. It is a wonderful accompaniment for fish and shellfish.
February 2^nd 2012175 K3.8 35 min.

Strawberry Charlotte

(Found inTexts)
This is a faily quick charlotte recipe. It begins, as usual, by soaking finger biscuits in syrup, in this case flavoured with lime. The charlotte is then assembled with alternate layers of Chantilly (whipped cream) and strawberries.
June 17^th 2012141 K5 3 hours 9 min.

How to prepare cockles

(Found inTextsStages)
Cockles are small Atlantic shellfish which can be used in many delicious dishes. However, they need to be prepared with care before cooking. Here is a simple way to do this.
March 13^th 2013538 K 13.7 1 hour 55 min.

Pavlova

(Found inTextsStages)
Pavlova is a dessert which originated in New Zealand (or was it Australia?). It consists of a meringue shell filled with a layer of whipped cream and topped with seasonal fruit.
March 24^th 2013116 K4.3 2 hours 35 min.

Fisherman's Ragout

(Found inTexts)
This ragout combines vegetables (cut small and cooked until just tender in vegetable stock) with a mix of cockles and chunks of fish, all simmered together with cream and saffron.
December 30^th 201998 K4.1 2 hours 20 min.

Tagliatelle with cockles

(Found inTexts)
In this recipe, the cockles and pasta are prepared separately, then mixed with the sauce at the last minute. The cockles are first cooked quickly, then shelled carefully (I find it unpleasant to have to do this on the plate) and the cooking juices are used to prepare a cream sauce. The tagliatelle...
June 24^th 2018140 K 14.7 2 hours 20 min.

Eggs in tomato shells

(Found inTexts)
This is a novel way of cooking eggs: in tomato "shells" or egg-cups! For extra flavour, we'll put a spoonful of caramelized onions in the tomato first.
October 11^th 201554 K3.9 1 hour 3 min.

Apple Pie

(Found inTexts)
This classic of family cooking is quite simple: just a puff pastry "shell" sealing in lightly sweetened slices of apple. During cooking, the fruit softens to resemble stewed apple. Serve warm, if possible, to enjoy at its best.
September 11^th 201864 K3.7 55 min.

Sauce Normande (for fish)

(Found inTexts)
Sauce Normande (or Normandy sauce) is a classic of French cuisine. It is rather "old school", but deliciously velvety and comes in two versions, one for meat and one for seafood. Here is the version to accompany fish or shellfish.
January 1^st 2020226 K4.8 40 min.

Fillets of sole Dieppoise

(Found inTextsStages)
In principal, fillets of sole Dieppoise are poached and served with a creamy sauce and small shellfish. I am offering a new twist on the dish, with the fish sautéed rather than poached, a cream sauce flavoured with mussel stock, and served with shellfish (mussels, cockles and clams), mushrooms and...
December 30^th 201969 K3.9 1 hour 30 min.

Langoustine gratin

(Found inTextsStages)
This elegant gratin has a layer of brunoise vegetables in the bottom, with langoustine tails (scampi) cooked in two stages on top, finished with a thick creamy sauce, made with the "fumet" from the langoustines. This recipe is quite long to make, but can be prepared in stages over a number of days....
December 30^th 201966 K3.9 2 hours 15 min.

Quiche Bretonne

(Found inTextsStages)
This quiche from Brittany has a puff-pastry base topped with an assortment of fish and shellfish with a classic quiche filling. After baking in a hot oven, the crusty pastry is a great foil for the moist filling with all its seafood flavours.
April 17^th 202260 K 1 hour 40 min.

Snails in a brioche

(Found inTexts)
A flat brioche filled with snails, themselves filled with a knob of sophisticated beurre d'escargot. The flat round shape is reminiscent of the old-fashioned French snail dishes. Cut into bite-sized morsels, this makes a good aperitif snack.
September 17^th 202454 K 1 hour 45 min.

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 art of the charlotte

In cooking, a charlotte is a delicious moulded dessert, with biscuits around the outside that have been soaked in a flavoured syrup, filled with a light cream or mousse. The charlotte is left to set in the fridge before being turned out and served in slices. It is very light and a lovely sweet...
February 27^th 201340 K4.3

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

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 201625 K5

85 grams of eggs?

Some time ago, I already spoke to you about the difference between baking and pastry-making, I emphasized, among other things, the precision of pastry-making which requires grams, cm, degrees and minutes. That's why, on the one hand, you have baking and cooking, where a certain tolerance is...
November 26^th 201848 K4.6

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 202115 K5

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 202114 K4.7

The infinite variety of salads

Making a salad for a meal, a few ingredients of your choice and a sauce to bind it all together is still one of the best ways to cook something really good quickly and simply. And since there is often a "fresh" aspect with the vegetables in the ingredients, not only does it taste good, but it's...
March 13^th 20216,4894.6

How to break eggs properly?

It is a very common gesture in pastry, bakery and of course cooking: breaking eggs to incorporate them into a recipe. You have eggs (which professionals call "shell eggs" to differentiate them from liquid eggs in cartons or cans), and you must break them to incorporate the contents into your...
June 26^th 202110 K4.8

Cooking scallops

We are, as I write these lines, in the season of the scallops, if you like that it is necessary to benefit from it as much as possible, although it is alas not cheap. I like scallops a lot, but I have to admit that it has naturally little taste, or, said differently, it takes the taste of what...
November 23^th 20219,0685

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 20225,966

The 3 secrets of Parisian flan

A flan Parisien, or boulanger, is a simple yet delicious cake. A cream, a mixture of milk, eggs and sugar, is poured into a raw pastry base and baked in the oven until the pastry and cream are cooked. This is the simplest version of the recipe, probably the original one, but nowadays the cream...
July 21^th 20238,9404.7