13th March 2019
Lemon jam, confiture de citron
An easy recipe for a great jam made from locally sourced untreated lemons.
20th January 2019
Winter soup with lentils
There is nothing better than a soup to chase the winter cold and this beef and lentils soup does the trick very well.
9th January 2019
Japanese-style soup of rock fish with squat lobster
An easy, light and tasty recipe for a soup based on a dashi stock with small fish and crustaceans.
23rd December 2018
Red Mullet with a crust of salt
Red Mullet, rouget-barbet in French, is a rock fish of which some amateurs even eat the entrails.
It has a thick layer of scales that normally need to be cleaned but with this recipe you can leave them on.
28th November 2018
Red cabbage, Dutch style
A red cabbage stew with spices and apple, as in the Dutch tradition. Very good in winter.
17th October 2018
Soup with kale, a Dutch transplant in France
On the farmer’s market here in Mirepoix, I found fresh kale just had to take it home. Kale, chou frisé, is called boerenkool and the Dutch eat it as a healthy and cheap vegetable in winter.
29th August 2018
Pyrenees crawfish
Crawfish are a rare delicacy in France, especially as they are far less abundant than several decades ago when the red legs and white legs still populated many streams and lakes. But they are for sale, or can be caught, here in the season in the Pyrenees.
8th August 2018
Catalan-style marinated peppers
The other week we drove to Maury to buy some wine. We had been seeing friends at Cubières-sur-Cinoble, and drove through the Gorges de Galamus, and arrived in Maury just as the shops closed. So we decided to have lunch and found La Placette with a big terrace. There my wife had a starter that included finely sliced peppers; we were in the Catalan […]
30th June 2018
A light soup of clam and langoustines
Now that it is getting rather hot here in France, it is time to turn to light meals. I used to make Japanese-style soups with miso and seaweed, sometimes also dashi, and while the taste is great, it adds up to a rather salty combination. So, I improvised. I bought some clams and raw langoustines at the fishmonger and some shiitake mushrooms at the greengrocer. […]
13th June 2018
Turbot in the oven
Turbot is not the least expensive of fish, but it had a very delicate taste and the meat stays firm during cooking. In France, there are many recipes with parts of a large turbot – of up to 5 kilos – with white sauces, mushrooms, shrimps and oysters or mussels. I do like mushrooms, shrimps, oysters and or mussels but as often with complicated dishes […]