Category: French Cooking

  • French recipe: Creamy Leek and Potato Soup

    French recipe: Creamy Leek and Potato Soup

    To quote Elizabeth Gilbert, since living in France, “I’ve been doing rude things to my body.” However, it seems unlikely that this leek and potato soup will help. While Liz made sweet love to pizza and pasta and gelato in Rome over the course of four months in her book ‘Eat, Pray, Love’, I have…

  • How to Build a French Charcuterie Board

    How to Build a French Charcuterie Board

    It was during my first visit to see Gaylord in France that I realised how seriously the French take charcuterie. While it took me another year to eat snails, then a whole year after that I finally encountered frogs legs, charcuterie has been a weekly snack since my plane touched down in 2020. As you…

  • French recipe: Spiced Apricot Tarte Tatin

    French recipe: Spiced Apricot Tarte Tatin

    I’ve never kept it a secret that I’m a winter girl at heart. My favourite foods usually involve pastry or suet, I mean, I love lard for goodness’ sake. However, I will admit defeat in favour of summer fruits. This season can claim proud responsibility for the best fruits of the year. One of those…

  • French recipe: Crab Soufflés

    French recipe: Crab Soufflés

    To conclude February, my food bucket list of 2022 begins, commencing with these light, creamy crab soufflés, an easy yet outrageously decadent lunch for you to treat yourself! In case you missed it, I’ve chosen 10 delicious recipes to make this year – a hopefully easy-to-achieve number, especially as I’ve waited until 27th February to…

  • French recipe: Tartiflette

    French recipe: Tartiflette

    I’ve eaten an eye-watering amount of processed meat recently. They say a diet of processed meat is bad for you, but when push comes to shove, I bet whoever ‘they’ are would submit to that meat coma with the rest of us. I emerged from this pork-induced fog after eating four-days’ worth of rillettes, saucisson,…

  • The 7 things I’ve learnt in France

    The 7 things I’ve learnt in France

    Last October, I moved to France. In the grand scheme of things, it was incredibly low-key. It was a mere skip over the English Channel (the sea which I have since learnt – but it somehow didn’t make it onto this list – is not called le canal d’anglais, but La Manche which just reads…

  • What are the best pastries in Paris?

    What are the best pastries in Paris?

    It sounds rather dreamy, doesn’t it? Paris and pastries! The picture-perfect image: sitting in front of the Eiffel Tower with a couple of eclairs. I’m going to have to abruptly halt this fantasy to say there were no visits to the Eiffel Tower this time *sob*. We did mooch around the eerily quiet city on…

  • French Road Trip: Ardèche to Paris

    French Road Trip: Ardèche to Paris

    A month ago, Gaylord and I filled the car, lowered the flat’s squeaky shutters, and drove off on our holiday, leaving the Bonsai plant to fend for itself (it didn’t and Gaylord is now in mourning). The plan was to take a long drive to Paris, with stops along the way in Ardèche then again…

  • French recipe: Cherry Clafoutis

    French recipe: Cherry Clafoutis

    And so, finally, six months later, I’m back in France! It’s almost unbelievable to think the last time I saw my boyfriend was on a dark, wet morning in December as he dropped me off at the airport, our last kiss between two face masks. At long last – Christmas, a birthday, and, oh yeah,…

  • French recipe: Raspberry and Hazelnut Crème Brûlées

    French recipe: Raspberry and Hazelnut Crème Brûlées

    A crème brûlée is one of those delicate French desserts which we Brits adore and worship from afar but probably never attempt to make. Add it to the collection along with soufflé, mille-feuille and croquembouche. Even the name ‘crème brûlée’ doesn’t help (does it really need this many accents?!). I’ve started taking French lessons. I…