Posted by Chanda
Today I’m going to give you a recipe in French for chocolate mousse.
Ingrédients:
200 g de chocolat noir à pâtisser (around 2 cups)
50 g de beurre (around 3 1/2 tbsp)
3 jaunes d’oeufs
5 blancs d’oeufs
125 g de sucre en poudre (just a little under 1 cup)
1. Dans une casserole au bain-marie, faites fondre le chocolat en morceaux avec le beurre.
2. Cassez les oeufs dans un saladier, en séparant les blancs des jaunes.
3. Battez au fouet à main les jaunes avec le sucre jusqu’à ce que le mélange blanchisse.
4. Ajoutez ensuite le chocolat fondu et mélangez bien à l’aide d’une cuillère en bois.
5. Battez en neige très ferme les blancs d’oeufs.
6. Incorporez-les délicatement dans le saladier avec une cuillère en bois, en soulevant toujours le mélange de bas en haut, afin de ne pas faire retomber les blancs battus.
7. Laissez reposer plusieurs heures au réfrigérateur avant de déguster.
If you have any questions, please let us know in a comment. Bon courage!
Posted by Chanda
The summer is underway and the pilgrims on St. James’ Way can be seen making their way to Santiago. One of my very favorite appetizers or first course dishes is Coquilles Saint Jacques or what is known in English as simply ’scallops’. I don’t know about you, but I find Coquilles Saint Jacques much more elegant…but then again that seems to happen a lot with French cuisine. The funny thing about them is the fact that their history is actually tied to Spain and that they don’t have such an elegant name in Spanish…Saint Jacques or Saint James was one of the 12 Apostles and the scallop shell is the symbol of the crusaders of the Order of St. James, which was founded to protect pilgrims headed to Santiago de Compostela. The story goes that St. James saved a drowning knight’s life and the knight came out of the water covered in scallop shells. It is also said that the body of St. James, himself, was lost in the ocean on the way to Spain for burial and later washed ashore covered in scallops. There are also other versions. In any case, the order and the French dish were named in his honor.
I thought I would share this very simple Coquilles Saint Jacques recipe with all of you.
Ingredients:
1 lb. of scallops
2 pints mussels
10 oz. shrimp
3 shallots
1 glass of white whine
1 cup of fresh cream
2 tablespoons of olive oil
5 teaspoons of butter
2 small cans of mushrooms
salt
pepper
Mince the shallots and sauté them in the oil until clear. Add the scallops, mussels and shrimp and let them cook for 3 minutes on low heat. Then, add the mushrooms and again let it cook for a minute.
Pour the white wine over this and then pour in the fresh cream and let it cook for 5 more minutes. Thicken the sauce with butter. Salt and pepper.
Serve this in the scallop shells after you have cleaned them.
Posted by Chanda
One of my favorite French dishes is quiche and when I was a student living in France, some of the French girls in my dorm used to make Quiche Lorraine for us to enjoy on the weekends. Here is a recipe I got from one of them:
Ingredients:
3 cups flour
10 ½ tblsp butter
6 eggs
2 ¼ cups bacon
2 cups shredded gruyere cheese
10 tblsp of fresh liquid cream
4 ¼ cups of milk
water
salt, pepper
1. Preheat oven to 400ºF.
2. Prepare the shortcut pastry. Sift the flour into a bowl. Place the salt in the middle of the flour as well as 1 egg yolk and a ½ cup of water. Mix with a wooden spoon. Add the softened butter, then mix again.
3. Knead the dough for a few minutes, then make it into a ball and let stand for 20 minutes.
4. Next, dice the bacon and blanch it for a few minutes in a frying pan with a little bit of cold water. Drain and set aside.
5. Beat the 5 remaining eggs in a bowl along with the fresh cream and the milk, a pinch of salt and some pepper.
6. Roll out the dough and arrange it into a buttered pie pan. Then, sprinkle the bacon and cheese on the bottom and pour in the egg mixture.
7. Place in the oven for 30 minutes. Serve hot.
Although many Americans may want to eat this for breakfast or brunch, the French usually eat it for lunch or supper along with a mixed salad and bread.
Posted by Chanda
I just finished eating a juicy entrecôte (rib steak) and am feeling thankful to the French for this delicious cut of meat…but, then again…is it really French? And come to think of it, the French fries…I don’t think they are really very French either. According to Wikipedia, ‘entrecôte‘ is a piece of meat (beef) cut out between two ribs. And now, it turns out that what the grocery store sold to me as ‘entrecôte‘ is really a ‘contre-filet‘ or sirloin steak which is the portion of the sirloin on the side of the bone opposite the filet. Oh well, it was so very tasty anyway, especially since it was smothered in sauce Roquefort! Here’s my husband’s recipe for Roquefort sauce:
Ingredients
2 cups of softened French Roquefort cheese
2 cups of heavy cream
2 tsp black pepper
Pour the cream into a saucepan, throw in the pepper and boil until reduced by half. Then, add the cheese and whisk until smooth. Serve warm drizzled over a juicy, grilled steak.
