A home-made burger with three of my favourite French elements included in the ingredients, Bearnaise sauce, French blue cheese and sliced red onions! I made these for a quick lunch on Bastille Day – 14th July, hence the name! I used our excellent local Charolaise beef, a salt marsh beef which is superb, with a good fat to muscle ratio, and a slight tang of herbs and salt. If you want to cut down on the carbs, just have this burger “Naked” without the bun! Likewise for low fat – omit the Bearnaise sauce and chop some fresh tarragon up and mix it with the minced/ground beef. I am not a great lover of commercial burgers, but I do like home-made burgers – and these are now a firm favourite with all my family & friends! This recipe is for 2 people – just increase the ingredients for more people.
A delicious and lucky discovery, I found this recipe in a Maille (pronounced “My” ) French Mustard leaflet.This recipe has been slightly adapted to suit our own personal tastes.It’s very easy to prepare and is a winning French classic; wonderful when served with chunky chips (fries) and grilled tomatoes for a hearty Bistro style main course. Sacré Bleu!!
I love the distinctive tastes of gruyere cheese, chicory and ham together and regularly make this in the winter as a main course to warm everyone up from top to toe when the rain is lashing down outside and they come in from the cold, … hearty comfort food 🙂 Gruyere cheese gives this recipe a flavour all of its own. Enjoy!
A classic French Bistro recipe, and one that is SO easy to cook; the lamb in this recipe is cooked after 5 or 6 hours, but 7 hours is the traditional French timing for ‘gigot a la cuillère’ – a joint that can be carved with a spoon, hence its name! You will need a very large ovenproof casserole with a lid or a large, deep roasting tin, which you can cover tightly with tin foil – or, this can be cooked with GREAT success in the crock-pot. This lamb is just divine when served alongside gratin Dauphinoise and steamed haricots verts. I add lots of garlic for quite a pungent flavour – adjust the garlic and seasonings to personal taste.
Belgian endive or chicory is not a vegetable that will be liked by everybody. It being slightly bitter puts it in the category for an acquired taste. The recipe is based on 2 pieces per serving, so if you buy the endive heads and they are large or thick and you will halve them buy less heads. You can also make a bechamel sauce to which you add cheese and nutmeg, pour that over the ham wrapped endive, add more cheese on the top and bake. Bread crumbs can be mixed in the cheese for the topping. In Holland we usually serve this with mashed potatoes.
