Category: Main dish

18th June 2022

Bresse chicken, morels, and yellow wine

The Doubs area is in the east of France, between the Jura and Switzerland, and is blessed with good products such as the Bresse chicken. These birds with red combs, white feathers and dark blue feet symbolise the French flag. Their special treatment makes them a reference in gastronomy. The yellow wine is a strong kid of wine with a taste close to sherry and […]

Beef Main dish Mushrooms

17th January 2022

Poire de boeuf, foie gras et cèpes

The poire de boeuf is a rare and succulent cut of beef, that does not need a complicated preparation.

eggs jams Main dish

21st November 2021

Pancakes, à ma façon

Pancakes are so well-known and common that there are many recipes. I started making mine from a Dutch cookery book ‘Margriet” that my parents gave me when I left the house to study. For a while, I added yeast to get thicker pancakes as I was looking for a more substantial dish than the French crêpes that are great for desserts but not as a […]

spaghetti with vegetable sauce and sea food

Main dish Pasta Seafood shellfish

13th September 2021

Spaghetti with vegetable sauce, squid, clams and olives

An easy and juicy dish using fresh clams and squid, and left-over ratatouille as vegetables like eggplant and zucchini are in season.

Main dish Vegetables

1st September 2021

Stuffed baked tomatoes and zucchini

At the end of the summer we have a good harvest of vegetables in our village and neighbours brought me crates of tomatoes and zucchini. I stuffed them and baked them in the oven.

eggs Main dish

25th June 2021

Foie gras omelet

Fresh eggs from a friend in the village and leftover duck liver – an omelet from heaven.

Main dish Pasta Veal

14th March 2021

Axoa, a Basque veal dish

I had been reading a book that involved a police woman from the Basque country and I wanted to prepare something of the local cuisine. Axoa is a dish of simmered shoulder of veal with peppers, chili and Espelette chili powder. I first cut a red and yellow bell pepper into small squares and chopped up a large onion. Then I sliced the veal in […]

Main dish Poultry

1st June 2020

Spatchcocked cockerel on the grill

Spatchcock, or butterflying, is a method in which one cuts the backbone away from the bird and flattens the carcass.

Fish Main dish

1st April 2020

A simple aïoli

For many people aïoli is a garlic sauce that goes over fries, kebab or shawarma. But in the Provence, aïoli is more than that and can be an entire festive meal with fish, snail, squid, artichokes and other vegetables with a dollop of the creamy garlic sauce.

Main dish

22nd December 2019

Pancakes!

In France, people eat a lot of pancakes. They are flat and called “crèpes” and can be sweet of savoury. In Breton pancake eateries they have savoury “sarazin” crèpes that could rival with pizzas. The “crèpes Suzette” is an alcohol soaked sweet desert. In the Netherlands where I grew up, the pancakes are thicker and can be baked with slices of lard or apples. I […]