Category: French

  • French Bread Pizza

    French Bread Pizza

    During the holiday season, people seek nice recipes for desserts, fancy entrees, elegant soups and appetizers for New Year Eve.  In this age of instant gratification, it is all too easy to go to the corner store and pick up some junk food, like chips & dip or frozen pizza snacks.  Convenience does have its…

  • Classic Creme Brulee

    Classic Creme Brulee

    Crème Brûlée is one of those classic French dessert recipes that chefs seem to insist on “enhancing”: adding bits of fruit, nuts or – worse still – oatmeal! I suppose their reasoning is that nobody could possibly be interested in such a simple dessert in these complex foodie days. Well, they are wrong. Crème Brûlée is…

  • Mélange à la Provençale – Potatoes Baked with Tomatoes

    Mélange à la Provençale – Potatoes Baked with Tomatoes

    In September in London we have fresh, crispy mornings, and very sunny, still hot days, but ending in chilly evenings when we need to reach for a cashmere shawl to warm up. I still think “summer” when I see the local tomatoes, and I am already in fall when I buy potatoes. We can still…

  • Salmon and Lentils

    Salmon and Lentils

    I just made this for dinner last night and I am once again reminded of how much I love lentils. the lentils really are the star of this dish. They are tender, brothy and fragrant with garlic and leeks and sweet from the carrots and a bit spicy from the crushed chilies. And, in addition…

  • Molten Chocolate Lava Cakes

    Molten Chocolate Lava Cakes

    Anyone who knows me knows that I am a chocoholic. I love chocolate in all its forms, colours and sizes – dark, white, fudge, ice cream, cake, you name it. So when I saw a recipe for this luscious lava cake, I couldn’t resist. The best part is it was so incredibly easy and quick…

  • Strawberry Tart with Crème Patisserie

    Strawberry Tart with Crème Patisserie

    Nothing smells of an English summer like strawberries. I have wanted to make crème patisserie for ages and thought it would be the perfect accompaniment to the strawberries in this classic, unfussy tart. For the base of the tart, of course, we are using our yesterday recipe ‘ pate brisee’ ….and now you probably know…

  • Tart Crusts Made Easy

    Tart Crusts Made Easy

    Today I wanted to publish a recipe for a delisious strawberry tart, but then I realised that making tart dough can be a frustrating experience without a good recipe and a few pointers!Hands get tired mixing ingredients and – oh my God – who wants to deal with sticky dough? Personally, I have always thought…