Day 2687 (Wednesday) 16th October 2024

This is Place Massena in Nice

and this is Villefranche-sur-Mer.

I was preparing my lesson this morning and Badger decided to go to sleep on it.

It was a really horrible this morning, it rained a lot and I felt sorry for the passengers on this cruise ship but they still kept coming ashore – good for them. 

I was quite sad to see the port people removing the pier from where the rental boats go – it’s beginning to look like winter.

Huw carried on with his painting and decorating and I did a class with Veronique. By this afternoon it had brightened up considerably and the sun really tried to come out but didn’t quite manage it but at least the passengers saw some of Villefranche’s beauty.

Here are the rest of the classic French dishes – we’ll have a new topic tomorrow I promise.

Ratatouille

Ratatouille: The colourful, tangy vegetable dish is a Provençal specialty (and also a great movie).

 

Among so many heavy hitters featuring beef and poultry in the French culinary tradition, there is still one famous entrée suitable for vegetarians: ratatouille. From the French word touille, meaning “to toss,” ratatouille originated in the Provence region but quickly gained popularity throughout France for its use of fresh summer vegetables.

Featuring a colourful collection of eggplant, zucchini, peppers, onion and tomatoes, ratatouille can be prepared by either baking all the vegetables like a casserole or sautéing them with olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper. The resulting stew can be served hot or cold.

It pairs great with a crusty baguette topped with an egg, Parmesan, or both.

Profiteroles

Profiteroles: What's better than a cream puff? A cream puff covered with chocolate. 

Beautiful, sweet and small enough to eat more than is probably advisable, profiteroles come in any assortment of flavours. Filled with vanilla custard, cream or even ice cream, these little cream puffs can be topped with chocolate sauce, fruit or just served plain.

The airy, delicate pastry is pâte à choux, or choux pastry. One of the backbones of French patisserie, choux is the dough used for éclairs, beignets, the Paris-Brest and more. It’s made by cooking flour with water, milk and butter before mixing in the eggs. The resulting dough is wet and pipable and puffs up when baked.

Because of their simplicity, profiteroles are a common dessert taught young in French homes. French cooking is very technique oriented and pâte à choux is a very easy technique to master.

Sole meunière

Sole meunière: This fish dish showcases one of France's most iconic ingredients: butter. 

This fish dish is fit for a king – literally. Sole meunière is said to have been a favourite of King Louis XIV during the late 1600s. The deceptively simple dish has few ingredients, but the flavour profiles are complex due to the specific techniques used to cook the fish.

For the most classic preparation, the Dover sole is the fish of choice because of its firm flesh and fresh flavour. The sole is breaded with flour and sautéed in butter until delicately crisp and golden, then topped with parsley and sizzling brown butter, or beurre noisette, which has a rich, nutty flavour.

Terrine

Terrine: A loaflike shape defines this dish, but you can experiment with many flavour combinations. 

A terrine is the great dish for the most creative of chefs. Named after the earthenware pot used to mould its distinctive, loaflike shape, this dish has a specific look, but the flavour combinations are almost limitless. Make a terrine rustic with ingredients such as pork and beans or go lavish with ingredients such as rare game and truffles. The dish can be made with poultry or fish, or even entirely of vegetables.

The most important feature for any ingredient? Big flavour.

Not to be confused with other popular charcuterie elements such as paté or rillettes, a terrine is made by layering forcemeat with any combination of additional ingredients in a terrine mould to cook slowly in a water bath. This dish can be dense enough to serve as an entrée or makes a great hors d’oeuvre with crusty bread and cornichons, which are tiny crisp pickles.

Steak frites

Steak frites: This simple and universally loved meal of steak and fries pairs well with red wine. 

Try to name a more classic combination than steak and potatoes. Since its origins in France and Belgium, steak frites has been a centrepiece of brasserie and bistro menus throughout Europe – and for good reason. The elements are simple and universally loved: a sizzling cut of beefsteak with a side of piping-hot, crispy fries.

The steak is often served with a side of creamy béarnaise. Made from clarified butter, herbs and egg yolks, the sauce creates a rich accompaniment to the juicy cut of rib eye or porterhouse.

Paired with a nice red wine to cut through the heavy flavours, this dish becomes the ultimate casual dinner entrée.

Jambon-beurre

Jambon-beurre: Assemble good-quality ham, butter and a baguette -- nothing more and nothing less. 

The jambon-beurre is exactly what it claims to be: jambon, or ham, layered on a coating of beurre – butter – between two slices of bread, nothing more and nothing less. The simplicity of this sandwich forces its maker to use only the best ingredients because every element is as important as the last.

The bread, always a baguette sliced neatly down the centre, must be freshly baked to perfection with a crunchy crust and a chewy interior. The ham is best if it’s jambon de Paris, sourced directly from the French capital, sliced thin and free from additives and preservatives. The butter, ideally directly from the northwestern Normandy region, should be lightly salted and spread generously.

Also known as the Parisien, the jambon-beurre is used as a marker of sorts for the popularity of classic French cuisine among the country’s residents. According to Maryann Tebben, an annual index measures the number of jambon-beurres purchased compared with the annual number of hamburgers, lest the country stray too far from its roots.

Blanquette de veau

Blanquette de veau: Tender meat in a creamy, comforting sauce is a go-to dish for French home cooks. 

A favourite of home cooks across France, blanquette de veau is a veal stew prepared en blanquette, meaning neither the meat or the butter is browned during cooking. This process produces a dish of tender meat and mellow flavours with a creamy, comforting sauce coating it all.

The white sauce is made using one of France’s biggest contributions to cooking techniques worldwide – combining melted butter with flour to create a roux. The flour acts as a thickening agent, creating a denser base, and also acts as a bonding agent between the roux and other ingredients such as cheese or cream.

Pot-au-feu

Pot-au-feu: The beef and vegetable stew is the perfect cold-weather dish. 

Move over chicken noodle soup. There’s another dish that makes a strong claim for the perfect cold-weather dish. Pot-au-feu (meaning “pot on fire”) is a warm, simple and flavourful slow-cooked meal.

Considered a national dish of France, pot-au-feu has no definitive recipe, and many regions of France have their own versions.

It’s generally made with meat, root vegetables, herbs, spices and bone marrow, which are prepared together but served in separate courses: the marrow starter, followed by the broth and then finally the meat and vegetables.

A large helping of pot-au-feu is thought to epitomise the spirit of French cooking – that sharing food, wine and conversation with a table full of loved ones is what makes life worth living.