Fruit coulis (fruit purée)

(Found inTextsStages)
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...
October 20^th 2012770 K 44 25 min.

How to roll out pastry for a tart

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Rolling out pastry from a block and lining a tart mould or tin is not as straighforward as all that. To help you to succeed every time, here is a very simple tip. It will to change your opinion of tarts...
October 13^th 2010294 K4.6 25 min.

Hotpot my grandmother's way

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If you like slow-cooked dishes prepared with loving care (mitonné), you will certainly love this hotpot recipe, with the taste of Franche-Comté, inspired by my grandmother. It's an old-fashioned dish full of flavours and aromas, cooked vegetables, stock, smoked sausages, all cooked long and slow.
February 21^th 2011335 K5 4 hours 7 min.

Profiteroles

(Found inTexts)
Small choux pastry puffs, filled with vanilla ice cream and topped with a rich smooth chocolate sauce.
October 13^th 2010306 K 14.5 1 hour 35 min.

Red rice pannequets

(Found inTexts)
This is a kind of small crusty parcel with flax seeds, filled with a mix of red rice, diced courgette and smoked ham.
June 12^th 2011231 K4 2 hours

Smoked salmon sacristains

(Found inTexts)
Sacristain (sexton in English, a strange name though common in French cooking) is a small pastry twist, made with puff pastry. There are many recipes with different flavours, sweet or savoury. Here is one with smoked salmon, ideal as an aperitif.
February 21^th 2011227 K 33.9 1 hour 30 min.

Pan-fried potatoes

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What could be simpler than fried potatoes? No need of a recipe for that! Quite right, but it's also very easy to end up making fried mash instead. Here are the main pitfalls to avoid.
February 3^rd 2011294 K4.5 1 hour 40 min.

Bolognaise lasagne

(Found inTexts)
Lasagne is an Italian pasta that comes in rectangular sheets. These are used to separate layers of filling, like a large savoury oven-baked millefeuille. A bolognaise lasagne combines bechamel sauce, minced meat and tomato sauce.
February 27^th 2011225 K4.4 2 hours 3 min.

Foie gras fingers

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An elegant canapé which consists of a crisp layer of shortcrust pastry topped with a layer of foie gras.
December 21^th 2011132 K4.6 2 hours 50 min.

Aperitif rolls

(Found inTexts)
These are small, bite-sized, soft bread rolls made with bacon bits and topped with grated cheese.
October 24^th 2017118 K4 2 hours 35 min.

Dauphinoise potatoes with Serano ham

(Found inTexts)
These tasty, bite-sized rosettes can be served as an aperitif snack or to accompany a meal.
January 23^th 2013103 K4.6 40 min.

Vol-au-vent cases

(Found inTexts)
Vol-au-vents, whether large or bite-sized, need a special pastry case that is hollow to take the filling. Here is how to prepare these delicate cases using puff pastry.
October 16^th 2013302 K4.1 45 min.

Vol-au-vent

(Found inTexts)
The classic vol-au-vent of French cuisine consists of a very light puff pastry case (supposedly so light that it could fly off in the lightest puff of wind) with a cream-based filling. There are many different recipes for fillings. This version uses bacon, chicken, mushrooms and leeks.
October 20^th 2013143 K4.3 1 hour 25 min.

Valay-Brest

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A Valay-Brest is a mini eclair, filled with apple-flavoured confectioner's custard and topped with a rectangle of walnut nougatine.
May 14^th 201470 K4.1 1 hour 30 min.

How to cook potato grenaille

(Found inTextsStages)
The French call very small potatoes "grenaille". This is a typical way of cooking them: the tiny potatoes are pan-fried in their skins and make an excellent accompanient for meat. Grenaille can be made with any kind of potato; it is a question of size, rather than variety, though I think that...
September 16^th 2015450 K4.5 45 min.

Dipping bread with cheese

(Found inTexts)
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.
October 24^th 201750 K4.1 2 hours 50 min.

Stuffed artichokes au gratin

(Found inTexts)
For this recipe we'll attempt to use the whole of the artichoke: the heart, of course, but also the leaf bases in bechamel sauce with mushrooms and shallots, as a tasty filling for the hearts.
May 10^th 2023100 K5 1 hour 35 min.

Lemon creams

(Found inTexts)
These light and flavoursome lemon creams are "set" by the curdling action of the lemon juice on the heated cream, so no thickening agent is needed. They are served in individual glasses, topped with a layer of fruit coulis (blackcurrant here).
December 6^th 201741 K3.9 45 min.

Breton sablé biscuit dough

(Found inTexts)
Brittany is famous for its rich, sandy textured "sablé" biscuits. Similar to shortbread, they are made with lots of butter and egg yolk, and just a hint of vanilla. This dough can be made into simple biscuits – already delicious on their own – or used as the base for tarts and other desserts.
August 1^st 2018104 K 30 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.

What is this site, and who am I?

The important thing is the content of the site, the recipes and information you can find, but some of you want to know who is behind it all.
August 29^th 2023210 K 44.2

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 2023574 K 93.6

Homemade plancha

The plancha is a cooking method that originated in Spain. It consists of a very hot metal plate on which food, usually cut in small pieces, is cooked with little fat.Contact with the hot plate means that cooking is very rapid, only a few minutes, and there is an obvious "cooked" side. Food is well...
June 3^rd 2024258 K 43.7

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 2023300 K3.9

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 2024188 K 13.9

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 2024509 K 433.5

Slashing loaves

When it's time to put them in the oven, the dough pieces for future breads or viennoiseries need to be "lamés", i.e. made with a very sharp blade, by making quick incisions at the top, known as "grignes". Let's see how it's done.
August 29^th 2023282 K 43.6

A Mendeleiev periodic table in 3D

It's an old idea that was in my mind for years: making a real periodic table of Mendeleiev (who always fascinate me) in 3D, where in each element box, there is some atoms (at least) of this element.
August 24^th 2024201 K 13.6

Polynesian arrow

A Polynesian arrow is an arrow with a tail that is thrown by hand, using a piece of string. The result is a "slingshot" effect that propels the arrow much further than if it were simply thrown by hand.It's a craft to do with children, for example on an afternoon when they're a bit idle...
August 29^th 2023191 K 14.3

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

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

Submitting a comment or image

You can, if you wish, add a comment on the pages, articles and recipes of the site. This comment, or question, will be immediately put on line and available for consultation. Here are a few tips for your writing. .
August 29^th 202379 K 23.9

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 2023308 K 13.6

Webmaster tools

This page gathers in one place all the free widgets available for webmasters or bloggers to incorporate (automatically) news from the cooking-ez.com site.
August 29^th 2023235 K3.5

Advices for writing your recipes

If you choose to submit one of your recipes, you'll need to do so via a form (accessible when you're logged in), in which you'll need to enter all the information about the recipe. Please note that in order to log in, you must first create an account. Here are some tips on how to fill in the various...
August 29^th 202358 K4.4

Basic temperature in bread-making

When making bread, it's very important to keep to the correct temperature, as yeast and sourdough are very sensitive to temperature. The dough must be warm enough for the yeast to develop and make it rise, but not too warm, which would have the opposite effect. To express this ideal dough...
August 22^th 2024227 K3.7

The right size of zucchini

When you buy zucchini at the market, you're often offered a wide variety of sizes, from very small to very large. But which ones to choose? Here are a few tips.
September 9^th 20243,4815

How to choose a centrifugal juicer

A centrifugal juicer is an appliance designed to extract juice from all kinds of fruit and vegetables. It will produce juice from tomatoes, carrots, apples, pineapple, blackcurrants, etc.
April 1^st 201141 K4.4

Choosing a chopping board

It's a no-brainer, surely? If you want a chopping board, just find a piece of wood, and Bob's your uncle! You can happily chop away with a knife and not damage the table or worktop. But in reality, it's a bit more complicated than that. You need to be careful what you are buying, in particular the...
May 8^th 201246 K4.6

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

The window-pane test in bread-making

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 202189 K 23.9

Children and vegetables

This is an attempt to address the question that all parents and grandparents, maybe you included, face so often: how can we get children to like vegetables? And at the same time, we might get away from the familiar, day-in, day-out round of pasta, chips, toast.. Well, I can hear you say, it's...
March 9^th 201712 K5

What can I use for blind baking a pastry case?

When it comes to home-made desserts, tarts are always popular. They can be divided into two basic types: those cooked with their filling, such as an apricot and almond cream tart, and those where the filling is added after baking the pastry case, such as a strawberry tart or chocolate tart. For...
May 2^nd 2017106 K4.5

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 201815 K 34.7

The 3 essential knives

You must have heard a chef or cook say: "There’s no good cooking without good ingredients". This is very true, of course, but for any amateur or beginner it is equipment that really counts to start with. What I mean is that you should not skimp on kitchen equipment, good utensils, a food...
May 30^th 201821 K5

The right way to cook potatoes

If you simply boil them (not steam them), or bake them in the oven, at some point you will have to ask yourself the question "are they well cooked?".
March 23^th 202012 K4.7

Circles vs. moulds tins

If you like to bake or make quiches, pies etc. you must surely have one or more pie pans at home, in different diameters and perhaps materials. They are indispensable, without them there is no way to make beautiful pies, and they work very well, but you have another option, instead of moulds,...
October 2^nd 202012 K5

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 20205,5154.5

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

Brussels sprouts are very good

We are, as I write this, in the season of Brussels sprouts, a delicious vegetable that often suffers from a bad reputation, let's try to fix that.
March 5^th 20226,8724.7

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

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 20228,152

Sausage broth

I've already talked to you about vegetable cooking water, which becomes a precious broth after cooking that would be a shame to throw away. Now let's look at the special case of meat cooking broth, and in particular sausages, which are often poached.
June 28^th 20236,5615

Cooking cauliflower

Dramatic observation: cauliflower when cooked has a bad reputation ("it doesn't smell good!" and the like), and yet it's an excellent vegetable, very Breton, that deserves to be treated well, to give the best of itself.
August 29^th 20238,0173.3

It's spinning too fast!

When you need to grate or slice vegetables, you generally use an electric machine that does all the work: a food processor, a mixer with a "slicer" extension or similar. Are these machines really suitable? Generally speaking, yes of course, but there's one criterion that often poses a problem,...
November 12^th 20237,4605

Cutting soft cheeses

As you may have already noticed, when you have to use a "soft" cheese in a recipe - their exact name is "soft cheese" - such as Camembert, Munster or Mont d'or, it's not easy to make anything other than thick slices.
February 20^th 20245,1445