Healthy, French, Home-cooking, always fresh, (almost) no cream required!
This is about simple cooking for my kids away from home, family and friends and friends of friends. Not quite recipes, just inspiration.Often, no exact quantities, certainly no scientific potions, but a bit of magic and lots of love! and you could always ask for more details.
Share my love of cooking, enjoy the Pacific West Coast bounty and help me pass along the French Heritage from my Grand-mothers and my Dad who taught me.Salt and Pepper
Even when I don't say so, use Baleine sea-salt and fresh ground pepper from your Peugeot pepper mill, goes without saying!
Monthly Archives: June 2010
Daube de Provence
My maternal grand-mother, Mamie Odette, was born in Molière-sur-Cèze north of Alès in the Gard in the heart of Provence, in 1900. Her father was the guard at the railway crossing and she married a tax collector who was a fine gourmet. … Continue reading
Posted in Main Course
Tagged beef stew, cocotte, daube, food, Le Creuset, pressure coker, Provence, recipe, recipes
4 Comments
Fresh Snap Peas
Snap peas are eaten whole, unlike greens peas that need to be shelled. They are also different from snow peas (pois gourmands) which are flat. They should be really fresh, as peas do not save more than a couple days. … Continue reading
Canard aux olives
This is a roasted duck with green olives. I bought a fresh grade A Canada duck weighing two kg and that was just enough for three. Duck meat is very tasty, rich in nutrients and quite different from chicken. It … Continue reading
Leek salad
Leek salad is a staple of French home cooking coming back to the menu about twice a month. Even children don’t seem to mind eating that vegetable, maybe because of the nice vinaigrette dressing. Choosing the leeks is the most … Continue reading
Posted in Starter
Tagged food, leek salad, leeks, mustard, recipe, recipes, salade de poireaux, vinaigrette
3 Comments
Apple Sausage Bake
This recipe was passed onto me verbally by my mother-in-law just after I got married, it was one of those Campbell soup recipes that encouraged the use of Campbell cans with every dinner, disguised as your own cooking. So I … Continue reading
Posted in Main Course
Tagged apple, campbell tomato soup, food recipe dinner, recipes, sausage
3 Comments
Claziena Mooy’s Ginger Cookies
Claziena, born in Heemskerk, Netherlands, emigrated to Nova Scotia with her husband Cornelus and nine children in April 1939 and they bought a dairy farm in the Annapolis valley. She was an accomplished baker, but her daughter Dora is even … Continue reading
Posted in Baking
Tagged cookies, dutch cookies, food, ginger, ginger cookies, ginger snaps, recipe, recipes
9 Comments
Strawberry delight
The local strawberries are ready for picking almost everywhere in Canada. There are so many good things to make with them, but if you want to really enjoy the amazing strawberry flavour, here is what my grand-mother used to do … Continue reading
Posted in Dessert
Tagged cooking, food, local strawberries, opinel, recipe, recipes, strawberries, yogurt
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Pacific Fanny Bay Oysters in blue cheese sauce
Fanny Bay oysters are farmed on the East coast of Vancouver Island. They are a fairly large and very tasty oyster that is best eaten cooked. You will need an average of four oysters per person as a main course, … Continue reading
Posted in Main Course, Starter
Tagged blue cheese, Fanny bay, fanny bay oysters, food, oysters, recipe, recipes, vol au vent
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Tomato Pie
The tomatoes are starting to have taste and it is going to get even better with the sun coming out for summer. This pie is a very good recipe for very ripe or even over-ripe tomatoes. First, drop 5 tomatoes … Continue reading
Posted in Starter
Tagged food, kalamata olives, quiche, recipe, recipes, sun-dried tomatoes, Tomato pie, tomatoes
1 Comment
Petits pois à la française
French for… green peas a la French! Green peas are a staple of British cuisine. Curiously enough, the French thought they should have their own way of cooking peas and serve them neither steamed nor mushed. This is what they … Continue reading
Posted in Vegetables
Tagged butter peas, dinner, food, France, green peas, peas, petits pois, recipe, recipes
2 Comments
Beurre Blanc sauce on Spring Salmon Steak
Tonight was Father’s Day dinner and we had wild Pacific Spring salmon, also called Chinook or King salmon. It was served with a sauce au beurre blanc, fresh peas, and Ravioles de Romans. Ravioles are a small herb ravioli from … Continue reading
Posted in Main Course
Tagged beurre blanc, chinook, cooking, dinner, food, France, king salmon, recipe, recipes, spring salmon
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Cole slaw
Nice name for a cabbage salad…. which is exactly how it is made. Cut the green cabbage into quarters, remove the white hard core, shred with a knife, a mandoline or a food processor. Make a dressing in the serving … Continue reading
Creamy Hummus with zing!
Summer time is here and the need for healthy snacks to take sailing or to parties. My version of hummus is easy, all the ingredients are readily available, completely healthy. It is very low-fat, and check that zing! Chop three … Continue reading
Posted in Appetizer
Tagged appetizer, chick peas, cooking, dip, food, hummus, low-fat, recipes
3 Comments
Les Frites
When my brother finished his degree at the Lausanne Hotel school, he had to report for compulsory military service in France for one year. Like all new recruits, he had to do “les classes” or new recruit break-in for three … Continue reading
Roasted Butternut squash
We seem to have had a cold snap with fierce winds here in Victoria and felt like a lamb roast dinner to warm up. One of the vegetables was a roasted butternut squash. I used to make this the traditional … Continue reading
Posted in Vegetables
Tagged butternut, cooking, dinner, food, maple syrup, recipe, recipes, roasted squash, squash
6 Comments
Tarte aux poireaux
Leeks are so tasty and so healthy that, in France, cooks almost always add one or more leeks to vegetable soup. As a filling for the tart, they have an intense flavor and are a nice way to get all … Continue reading
Chocolate tea biscuit brick
This is another recipe from my childhood. Biscuits Brun had a gigantic tea biscuit factory on the outskirts of town. The Brun family built it in 1883 primarily to make biscuits for the military. The first war made them a … Continue reading
Posted in Dessert
Tagged biscuits brun, chocolate, cooking, food, lu, recipe, recipes, tea biscuit
3 Comments
Morel cream sauce on Roast Chicken
In Ontario, we used to go Morel picking in the Ganaraska Forest and come back with baskets full of the delicious spring fungi. My luck has not been good here in BC, I have not found my own spots and … Continue reading
Posted in Main Course
Tagged chicken, cooking, dinner, food, morel, morel cream sauce, morels, recipe, recipes
2 Comments
Stuffed orange peppers
This is an easy thing to make, it looks amazing, the ” but” being that it takes time to make. Mostly time to cook though, not a lot of work, so a pretty good menu choice. Most people will eat … Continue reading
Posted in Main Course
Tagged cooking, dinner, easy, food, orange peppers, recipe, recipes, sausage, stuffed peppers
5 Comments
Baby white turnips
They are irresistible right now, so fresh and sweet. Vantreight Farm grows them in Sanichton, just north of Victoria on Vancouver island and I keep buying more at the” Root Cellar” produce stand. I have had them as a side … Continue reading
Posted in Appetizer, Vegetables
Tagged appetizer, baby turnip, baby white turnip, cooking, food, recipe, recipes, root cellar, turnip, vantreight farms, vegetable, white turnip
1 Comment
Macédoine de légumes or Russian Salad
The question is : have you eaten your seven vegetables today? The answer is likely negative unless you had Macédoine de légumes for lunch. Let me explain, the name comes from Macedonia, the country formed by a bunch of smaller … Continue reading
Posted in Lunch, Vegetables
Tagged carrot, cooking, corn, food, green bean, lunch, macédoine de légumes, mayonnaise, nutirtion, peas, recipe, recipes, turnip
5 Comments
Onion Quiche (really tarte à l’oignon)
I got help today. When my husband makes apple pie, there is always enough pastry left for a small quiche for lunch the next day. The dish is only 8 inches in diameter and the amounts given below for the … Continue reading
Posted in Lunch
Tagged cooking, food, lunch, onion, onion quiche, onion tart, quiche, recipe, recipes, tarte a l oignon
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Sweet salmon dinner in 15 minutes
Running late today and a million excuses for it. The best one is that I got a new PC and I am still setting it up, so bear with me. That does not count as a valid excuse for not … Continue reading
Posted in Main Course
Tagged dinner, food, main course, mango, orange peppers, recipe, recipes, salmon
3 Comments
Duck noodle soup
No one is sick but I don’t like freezing much, so after the duck, comes the soup. I still had both carcasses, the wings, and necks so I cooked them in the pressure cooker with a clove garlic … Continue reading
Posted in Soup
Tagged duck soup, food, health, nutrition, recipe, recipes, soup, udon noodle
4 Comments
Canada duck with cherry jus
The simple way to make duck is to roast it in the oven exactly like the roast chicken from May 27th, except longer, much longer… and even then my last duck was not tender. So unless you are cooking magrets … Continue reading
Posted in Main Course
Tagged cooking, duck, duck fat, food, jus, matsutake, pine mushroom, recipe, recipes
2 Comments
Fanny Bay Oyster shot
Last night for a small dinner party at home, I thought I should have an appetizer other than a cheese tray (kills your appetite) or cold cuts (I had made the country pâté* for first course), so I chose something … Continue reading
Posted in Appetizer
Tagged cooking, digby scallop, Fanny bay, food, oyster, recipe, recipes, scallop, watercress
2 Comments
Mousse au chocolat des écoliers
There used to be no school on Thursday afternoon in France when I was a kid. Usually, we celebrated by having a dessert at lunch that was not just a fruit like the other days. Most popular were mousse au … Continue reading
Posted in Dessert
Tagged chocolat, chocolate mousse, cooking, dessert, food, grand marnier, mousse au chocolat, poulain, recipe, recipes
2 Comments
Country pâté : home-made at half the fat
Pâté is always a successful appetizer, it goes well with any wine and it can be made well in advance for a party or to bring to a potluck. In fact, it tastes better after 48 hours. The recipe below … Continue reading
Posted in Appetizer
Tagged chicken liver, cooking, country pate, fat, food, health, nutrition, pate, recipe, recipes
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B.C.’s free lunch:Dungeness crab with garlic butter
Who says there is no free lunch? Well there is in BC if you get a tidal waters fishing licence for $21/year. With a licence, you may catch and bring home four Dungeness crabs every day for lunch or dinner … Continue reading
Posted in Main Course
Tagged cooking, crab, dungeness, fishing, food, Le Creuset, recipe, recipes, stock pot
3 Comments
Poulet à la sauce diable (qui pique!)
In a cocotte brown the chicken legs, breasts, thighs in olive oil, skin removed. Add a large chopped onion, 2 cloves garlic, one small bayleaf, fresh thyme, 1 tbsp Dijon mustard, 1/4 cup red wine vinegar, 1 tbsp lemon juice, … Continue reading
Posted in Main Course
Tagged chichen, cooking, culture, Dijon, food, french, mustard, poulet, recipe, recipes, sauce diable, vinegar
2 Comments
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