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!
Category Archives: Vegetables
Tender but Crunchy Asparagus on Sunday Brunch to fight the hang-over!
Asparagus is in season at last in the Pacific North-West. I have been wanting to replicate the fine local fresh asparagus I ate in Provence at my brother’s about a month ago but my experiment with Mexico grown spears was … Continue reading
Posted in Appetizer, Vegetables, Vegetarian
Tagged Asparagus, food, recipes, verygoodrecipe
3 Comments
Red Lentil Tandoori Dahl with Eggplant to serve with Easter Lamb
It all started about a month ago, Valentine’s day to be exact. I was serving dinner for three couples and the theme was red. So, there I was looking at a bag of split red lentils and wondering how to … Continue reading
Orange Recipes for Halloween Dinner
https://thecookingfrogblog.com/2011/10/30/halloween-squash-or-pumpkin-au-gratin/ https://thecookingfrogblog.com/2010/05/06/carrot-salad-summer-crudite-may6-2010/ https://thecookingfrogblog.com/2011/01/31/roasted-yams-a-la-canadienne/ https://thecookingfrogblog.com/2010/11/02/soupe-a-la-courge-at-aux-chataignes-served-in-a-pumpkin/ https://thecookingfrogblog.com/2010/06/12/stuffed-orange-peppers/ https://thecookingfrogblog.com/2010/06/16/roasted-butternut-squash/ https://thecookingfrogblog.com/2011/03/31/blood-orange-tart-with-pistachios/
Posted in Appetizer, Dessert, Lunch, Main Course, Side, Soup, Starter, Vegetables, Vegetarian
Tagged food, halloween recipe, orange, recipes, squash, verygoodrecipes
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Salsify in garlic butter to satisfy the most delicate palate
I was very surprised today when I saw a familiar vegetable from my youth in France, something I had not seen ever again since emigrating to Canada almost 30 years ago. This root vegetable is slightly larger than a carrot, … Continue reading
Posted in Vegetables, Vegetarian
Tagged food, French cooking, recipe, recipes, root cellar, root vegetable, salsifies, salsify, very good recipe
1 Comment
Peppers of all colours
The Bell peppers are really sweet right now. They are sweetest in July/August when they can fully ripen before harvest. The local red, orange and yellow peppers are the sweetest of all and they also contain the most vitamin C, … Continue reading
Posted in Lunch, Main Course, Vegetables
Tagged bacon, bell pepper, cooking, food, green pepper, orange pepper, recipes, red pepper
2 Comments
Heirloom Tomato Salad
It used to be that there were no really good tomatoes until the middle of summer, the kind that ripened on the plant in dry heat under the hot sun. They were firm, really red, sweet but with still a … Continue reading
Posted in Starter, Vegetables, Vegetarian
Tagged basil, food, French tomato salad, heirloom tomato, recipes, shallot, verygoodrecipe
2 Comments
Wild fiddlehead and fresh Fava bean salad
Tis the season to get in the woods and pick edible greens. Fiddleheads (or crosses de fougères in French) are a delicious vegetables full of vitamins. They must be picked while they are still completely rolled up, and only the … Continue reading
Posted in Starter, Uncategorized, Vegetables, Vegetarian
Tagged crosses de fougeres, fava beans, fiddleheads, food, goat cheese, recipes, salad, verygoodrecipe
2 Comments
Topinambour, the Jerusalem artichoke now called sunroot.
The French is topinambour, in English it used to be the Jerusalem artichoke but stores are now calling it sunchoke or sunroot, maybe because it is neither from Jerusalem nor a member of the artichoke family. It is a tuber … Continue reading
Posted in Vegetables, Vegetarian
Tagged food, jerusalem artichoke, recipes, root cellar, root vegetables, sunchoke, sunroot, topinambour, verygoodrecipe
6 Comments
Edamame, Avocado, Beet salad : satisfy your winter craving for greens
If you scroll down all the way to the bottom of this page, you will notice a new “calorie counter” in the bottom right corner. It is very neat as it will tell you not only calories, but also all … Continue reading
Posted in Starter, Vegetables, Vegetarian
Tagged avocado, beets, calorie counter, Edamame, food, high fiber salad, recipe, recipes, vegetarian salad
4 Comments
Roasted Yams à la Canadienne
You might think that yams are sweet enough, but… if you are Canadian or leave in Canada and have to go through the Canadian winter, you might think that you can’t get enough calories from vegetables alone to keep you … Continue reading
Posted in Vegetables
Tagged food, maple syrup, recipes, roasted yam, Vegetables, vegetarian, verygoodrecipe, yams
3 Comments
Green Bell Peppers stuffed with Fava bean Tahini
It all started at For Good Measure, my local bulk store and a great place. I bought two cups of dried fava bean, because of a sudden craving for bean salad. I was very careful with the fava beans as … Continue reading
Posted in Vegetables, Vegetarian
Tagged bell pepper, Fava bean, food, for good measure, recipe, recipes, stuffed peppers, tahini, vegetarian, vegetarian peppers
1 Comment
Red Swiss chard, a Vitamin K trove.
This is a really nutritious green vegetable and unlike kale, rapini and collard green, it is tender, exquisite and quick to prepare. The green is not really Swiss, it was just called that originally to distinguish it from French Spinach. … Continue reading
Posted in Vegetables, Vegetarian
Tagged chards, food, recipe, recipes, swiss chard, verygoodrecipe, vitamin K
4 Comments
Looking for Cinderella’s pumpkin, is it midnight yet?
I bought a pumpkin at Dan’s Farm that may be what you are looking for. It is a French pumpkin – here is some info from a website that sells the seeds: “The Pumpkin French Cinderella, ‘Cucurbita maxima’, is a … Continue reading
Posted in Side, Soup, Vegetables
Tagged Cinderella pumpkin, cooking, food, oxo potato peeler, pumpkin, recipe, recipes, thanksgiving
5 Comments
Brussel sprouts that you will love! and so green!
Brussel sprouts are not to everyone’s taste and that’s because, most of the time, they are not cooked properly,and are reduced to a mushy, smelly, yellow or even brown, horrible food instead of a bright green, delicious vegetable. Right now, … Continue reading
Posted in Side, Vegetables
Tagged brussel sprouts, chou de bruxelles, food, recipes, thanksgiving dinner, thanksgiving vegetable
9 Comments
Golden beets, grown down the street
Carolyn and Paul down my street grow an amazing selection of vegetables, and they have generously brought me Romaine lettuce, green onions, heirloom tomatoes and a magnificent specimen of golden beet. Maybe it is the sea view, but most likely … Continue reading
Posted in Vegetables
Tagged beets with sage, betteraves, cooking, food, Golden beet, recipe, recipes, roasted beets, root cellar
4 Comments
Six root vegetable gratin
Thanksgiving dinner is coming up soon and although mashed potatoes are always high on the request list, the root vegetable gratin would be a seasonal dish that would go very well along with a turkey. It requires no work when … Continue reading
Posted in Vegetables
Tagged Celery root, cooking, food, gratin, parsnip, recipe, recipes, root vegetable, thanksgiving dinner, turnip, yam
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Roasted Zucchini with cheese
Sharon gave me this odd colour zucchini from her Oak Bay garden explaining that this European seed produced a much tastier vegetable than the local produce, and it did! This one was hand-picked and harvested by Richard on September 15th. Growing … Continue reading
Posted in Little help from my friends, Vegetables, Vegetarian
Tagged Asiago, cooking, food, recipe, recipes, Zucchini
3 Comments
Cream Spinach
Another favorite at Chez Solange Restaurant in London in the seventies where I started as a waitress with a French accent. It is often served with a roasted ham with tomates provençales on the side for a colorful plate. Interesting … Continue reading
Posted in Vegetables
Tagged cooking, cream spinach. Epinards a la creme, food, recipe, recipes
1 Comment
Fresh Peas in artichoke hearts, a highlight of French cuisine
I had not eaten this in years and years. Typically, you would not eat this at home, as it takes some trouble, but it used to be a classic in restaurants in France on the Sunday menu as a side … Continue reading
Posted in Vegetables
Tagged artichokes, food, food photography, France, french cusine, peas, photography, pictures, recipe, recipes
2 Comments
Sorrel not spinach!
Gardeners, I am telling you, this is the most rewarding crop you will ever plant in your garden. Sorrel looks likes a bit like lettuce, a bit like spinach, grows easily, and is the tastiest vegetable. It can be added … Continue reading
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
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
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
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
Cauliflower au gratin (gratin de chou-fleur)
This is to me the ultimate French vegetable cliché, as it is so often on the menu of French restaurants abroad along with coq au vin and escargots. I used to serve it at Restaurant Chez Solange in London where … Continue reading
Posted in Vegetables
Tagged calcium, cauliflower, food, gratin, Le Creuset, recipes, sauce blanche, Vegetables, verygoodrecipe
6 Comments
Braised endives au jambon
This is a traditional light dinner entrée in France, not always that popular with children, but a nice combination of flavors in a pretty dish which is very easy to make. Clean two endives per person and remove the ends, … Continue reading
Posted in Vegetables
Tagged endives, food, gruyere, jambon, Le creuset gratin, recipe, recipes
1 Comment
Tomates Provençales
I am picking this recipe for today to get in the mood of France; the tomatoes have to be hand-picked as they must be both ripe but still firm, and if possible roughly the same size for even cooking. Cut … Continue reading
Braised Celery
Celery is under-rated as a vegetable in North America, and that is too bad. It tastes really good, it is available anywhere, anytime and it is easy to prepare. So let’s do like in Europe and actually use it as … Continue reading
Posted in Vegetables
Tagged braised, butter, celery, cocotte, gruyere, Le Creuset, Peugeot pepper grinder, vegetable
1 Comment
Ratatouille
The best thing about Ratatouille is that the whole house will smell as if you are in Nice. Therefore, make it sort of at the last minute so that when the dinner guests arrive, they will become instantly ravenous. Most … Continue reading
Posted in Vegetables
Tagged cocotte, eggplant, Le Creuset, peppers, Provence, ratatouille, recipes, verygoodrecipe, zuchini
3 Comments
Green Bean salad
This is a nice side to lamb chops or a lamb roast and brings color to the plate. It also goes well with Gratin Dauphinois. Fresh green beans are best. Remove the ends. Boil a lot of very salted … Continue reading
Posted in Side, Vegetables, Vegetarian
Tagged balsamic, Dijon, food, green bean salad, green beans, recipes, salad, yellow beans
1 Comment
Gratin Dauphinois, the original
This is a very easy dish to serve when you have guests as it requires no work at the last minute. It also goes well as a side to most meats. Of course, it is a kind of scalloped potatoes … Continue reading
Posted in Side, Vegetables, Vegetarian
Tagged food, gratin, gratin dauphinois, Le Creuset, Peugeot pepper grinder, recipe, recipes
2 Comments
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