#84 Easy Bouillabaisse

To serve 4

3 tbsp oil
1 onion, finely chopped
2 celery sticks, finely chopped
½ carrot, finely chopped
½ fennel bulb, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 bay leaf
¼ tsp rosemary
½ tsp thyme
a pinch of saffron
½ glass of white wine
1 can of chopped tomatoes
1.6l fish stock
400g cod fillets, chopped
200g mussel meat
fresh flat leaf parsley, finely chopped

Heat the oil in a deep pan and sauté the onion for 3 minutes.
Add the rest of the vegetables and cook for another 5 minutes.
Add the herbs and wine and cook for a minute, or until the alcohol has evaporated.
Add the tomatoes, pour in the fish stock and cook the soup on medium heat for 30-40 minutes.
Add the pieces of cod and cook them for 6 minutes, then add the mussels and cook for another 2 minutes.
Sprinkle some chopped parsley on top and serve hot.

#64 French onion soup

Onion soup has got to be one of life’s miracles. I don’t know who invented it and to be honest I don’t really care. When I first cooked it (many years ago...) I was in shock! I couldn’t believe such taste existed... It was strong and mild, savoury and sweet, sophisticated and utterly simple, all at the same time. It was new but also so very familiar. Like one of those rare discoveries you make purely by accident and then become determined to keep for life. It is that special!

To serve 4
3 tbsp sunflower oil
750g onions, sliced in half moons
250g red onions, sliced in half moons
1 fat clove of garlic, very finely chopped
1 bay leaf
100 ml red wine
1 tbsp flour
1.4ml good beef stock
½ tsp dried thyme
black pepper
salt
1 baguette, sliced
50 g Gruyere cheese, grated

Heat the oil in a deep pan and add the sliced onions. Cook on medium heat for about 5 minutes, stirring every now and then. Lower the heat and continue cooking for at least 2 hours, or until they have reduced in half and became almost caramelised and deep brown in colour (the longer the better, it depends on your cooker but I usually cook mine for 3h.)
Put the heat up and add the garlic and bay, stir for a few seconds.
When you can smell the garlic pour in the red wine. Cook for a few minutes until the alcohol evaporates.
Stir in the flour and start adding the beef stock, taking care not to form any lumps.
Add the thyme and black pepper, check the salt and add more, if needed.
Cook on medium heat for another 20 minutes.
Serve the soup in oven-proof bowls. Put a slice or two of baguette on top and grate some cheese. Bake for 3 minutes under the grill.
Serve immediately.

#54 Gascony-Style Tomato Soup

I based this soup on Joanne Harris’s recipe in The French Kitchen cookbook.

I have to admit that French is my favourite style of cooking, despite the fact that this cuisine is falling out of fashion lately. I just love the way people in France treat their food: the time they spend thinking about it, cooking and then eating it; the lengths they’ll go to find the best ingredients, the way they treat them, the way they respect every single product and manage to get the best out of it through using special and sometimes rather complicated techniques.

Reading this recipe, acknowledging the different ways the modest tomato is treated and cared for, I believed this soup had to be wonderful. That’s why I decided it deserves its place in our collection here and gave it a try. I had so much expectation... Unfortunately, it didn’t turn the way I’d hoped. It was quite sour, it didn’t have the nice, full bodied flavour that I expected and the tomato skins were utterly unpleasant. I know you will be concerned about the amounts of garlic, but I will assure you straight away – it was not a problem, quite the opposite.

I still believe there is something to look for in this recipe and I’ll try it again. But I have a major lesson learned: Unless you live in a Southern country with nice, warm summer and/or have access to good, well ripened tomatoes – use tinned!


To serve 3

200 g cherry tomatoes, halved
2 whole garlic bulbs, cut in half crossways
4 tbsp olive oil
salt
150 g oyster mushrooms, roughly chopped
1 small onion, finely chopped
50 ml red wine
1 small bay leaf
a pinch of dried rosemary
600 ml beef stock
chopped parsley, to garnish

Put the cherry tomatoes and garlic bulbs in a tray together with 2 tbsp of the olive oil and stir well. Season with some salt, and roast on 150C for one hour. Remove and when cool enough to handle, squeeze the garlic out of its skin.
In the meantime, heat the rest of the olive oil and sauté the onion for 5 minutes.
Add the mushrooms and cook on high heat for another 2 minutes.
Add the red wine, bring to the boil and cook for 2 minutes.
Add the herbs, tomatoes and garlic, stir for a few seconds.
Add the stock and simmer gently for about an hour.
Take the mushrooms out and keep them on a plate.
Transfer the rest of the soup into a blender and liquidise until smooth.
Reheat gently, serve in individual bowls and decorate with the mushrooms and parsley.

#42 Classic Vichyssoise

Soup doesn’t get more elegant than this!

To serve 2
2-3 tbsp sunflower oil
1 big leek – cleaned well and finely chopped (use only the white part, if you want a paler soup)
200 g potato – peeled and chopped
500 ml chicken stock
2 tbsp crème fresh
fresh chives, to garnish

Heat the oil in a deep pan and sauté the leek for 10 minutes.
Add the potatoes and stock and cook on medium heat for about 10 minutes, or until the potatoes have softened.
Take the soup off the heat and allow to cool.
Liquidize in a blender and chill very well in the fridge, at least 8 hours.
When ready to serve, add 1 ½ tbsp of the crème fresh to the soup and stir well.
Pour in individual bowls and decorate with the rest of the crème fresh and some chopped chives.

Fast and French 2 - Mango Tart

I usually prefer fresh fruit, but it's different with mango. The tinned (or home-made) fruit in slight syrup has a heavenly taste, which goes fine with, guess what ... cardamom :).
This recipe is very light, easy and fast. And French.
It won't disappoint you.


You need:

ready sweet shortcrust pastry

1 tin mango in light syrup
2 eggs
6 tbsp sugar (plus more for sprinkling)
6 tbsp double cream
crushed cardamom seeds from 2 pods

Line a round tin with the shortcrust pastry, prick with a fork, cover with baking paper and ceramic baking beans to weigh the pastry down. Place in the fridge for some 20 minutes.
Place the pastry in a preheated oven to some 170-190 degrees for 15-20 minutes. In the final 5 minutes remove the baking paper and the beans.
Place the slices mango over the pastry and pour over the filling carefully.
To prepare the filling just whisk well all the ingredients and fill in the pastry case.
Return to the oven and bake more 20 minutes on 180-200 degrees until golden-brown. Sprinkle with sugar and leave for a couple of minutes.

Fast and French - Poires Belle Helene

Time changes lots of things and even our tastes and preferences. Before I thought of poached pears as of a flat and easy dessert, and that's maybe why I hadn't give them a try so far. But lately my approach to food (and more generally desserts) has changed and I started to appreciate these easy looking and yet elegant recipes, using less ingredients, which allows to concentrate and value the natural flavours.
Despite their simplicity the Poires Belle Helene are an incontestably elegant dessert, that one can indulge itself with, without a remorse. Of course the quantity also matters.

The history of this dessert goes back to 19th century in Paris and was named by Offenbach's opera of the same name.
On the other hand, my final obsession among herbs is cardamom, which I kinda neglected before, but now I am amazed by its versatility and multi-use, as it can be used to flavour rices and curries and in the same time is perfect for desserts.
Its aroma is so nice and sweet that it somehow reminds me of the leaves of a plant my grandmother used to put in pear compotes, called Rose geranium, which added a wonderful flavour to the pears.

So I was curious to see how the cardamom will work for flavouring the fruit instead of the overused (by me) vanilla. I put the whole cardamom seeds in the boiling sugar syrup with the pears and simmered for some 20 minutes, allowing the flavours to combine well.
The try was great and the spiced poached pears worked even well with the chocolate sauce.



So, you need (for 2):

4 small (or 1 large) ripe but firm pears
1 l of water
100 gr sugar
seeds from 3 cardamom pods


for the chocolate sauce

50 gr Belgium cooking chocolate
90 gr Creme fraiche


Bring the water and sugar to the boil, add the peeled pears with reserved stalks, and cardamom. The pears should be submerged in the syrup. Lower heat and leave to simmer for some 20 minutes. Try the pears with a fork to check if they are tender enough, and leave them to cool in the syrup.
In the meantime melt the chocolate, out it in a sauce pan and add the creme fraiche, stirring and heating gently, until every thing is well combined.
At the end place the pears in a plate and pour the chocolate sauce over them. Nothing more, to cherish this dessert in its pure.

Cherry Clafoutis

Clafoutis is a traditional french dessert, originated from the former province of Limousin, central France. It was originally made from cherries (with pits) and a batter, but nowadays clafoutis can be sweet or salted and can be made of various fruits (pears, apricots, plums, etc.) and vegetables as well.
In fact this is a very quick to prepare and cook dessert. It's ready in some 30 minutes.
As the recipes vary a lot, here my suggestion for this dessert:
You need:
3 eggs
180 ml liquid cream
5-6 tablespoons of corn flour
vanilla
100 gr sugar
20 ml coconut rum
400 gr fresh cherries
2-3 tablespoons of caster sugar to sprinkle.

What to do:
Preheat the oven on 180 degrees.
In a bowl mix well eggs and sugar. Gently add corn flour and liquid cream. At the end add vanilla and rum.
Butter a baking dish (30x30 cm) and place the whole cherries on the bottom. Cover with the batter and bake for some 20-25 minutes until golden. At the end sprinkle with caster sugar.