I often bake this bread for the French Odyssey - Journey through France cooking classes, especially if we are making the walnut and Roquefort cheese terrine. Walnuts are grown widely in SW France, and when I was in the Dordogne with various culinary tours we always took the group to an ancient walnut mill and [...]
On one of my early visits to France years ago, we stayed in a divine little Chambre d’Hôte, L ’Impasse du Temple, now called a Maison de Maître. It was located down a difficult to find narrow laneway, pre-GPS days, in a pretty, tiny town called Léran, in the Midi Pyrenées, near Mirepoix, a beautiful [...]
Years ago, in 2007, I attended La Varenne Cooking School in Burgundy, and one of the many dishes we cooked there with the chefs was the classic Tarte Tatin. The class was held in one of the beautiful kitchens of the Chateau du Fëy, the home of La Varenne Cooking School and its founder, Anne [...]
Pain d’épices is a Burgundian classic; it is a lovely unusual ‘bread’ or ‘cake’ made with rye flour, spices and honey, without yeast, using baking powder and bicarbonate soda instead. It tastes something like gingerbread, although ginger is not one of the spices I use. In France, it is sold in loaves, sometimes, in [...]
For the classic, simple Bretagne ‘Moules Marinière’, the mussels are cooked with white wine and water; I am sure those Bretagne sailors’ wives would have used water only. These days various cooks use cider, beer or even red wine. Add a bouquet garni of bay leaf, parsley, celery stalk, thyme and peppercorns, plus a [...]
Some mussels you buy are cultivated in protected areas of the sea bed, or grown on poles, fixed in clean saltwater. Others, because of their habitat, are often sandy and need to be scrubbed; mussels also ingest sand and grit as they feed. Buy good quality, local mussels and they are well cleaned and very [...]
The Burgundian Coq au Vin and Boeuf Bourguignon share many similarities. They are both regional Burgundian specialities, they both showcase the famous Burgundian wines, Bresse chickens, pork and Charolais beef. Their method of cookery is very similar as well. When this dish is cooked with one of these Burgundian wines it takes the name of [...]
This is a classic, regional, warming, hearty braise originating in Normandy, France, the region famous for its dairy produce, the creams, butters and cheeses, such as Camembert, and apples and Calvados. Chicken and apple is a delicious, yet uncommon match. The chicken is braised with the onions, leeks and mushrooms, the apples give a light [...]
