Delicious French Recipes

RATATOUILLE (serves 4-6 people)

Ratatouille is a dish original from the region of Provence, France. Its ingredients make ratatouille a healthy dish great for diabetics and vegetarians, although it could also be served with seafood or meat. 

Ingredients
4 tbsp. Olive oil
2 white onions (sliced)
6 garlic cloves (minced)
3 tbsp. herbes de Provence (a mix of thyme, basil, sweet marjoram, oregano, tarragon, fennel, rosemary, and laurel) the herbes must be dried up           1 red bell pepper (chopped)
2 green bell peppers (chopped)
2 eggplants sliced into medium cubes
2 zucchini (cut into rondelles)
3 tomatoes (cut into rondelles)
1 tbsp. of tomato paste
Salt and pepper to taste
3 tbsp. of fresh basil

Directions

1. Heat the olive oil into a large pot. Add the onion until it turns almost see- through, add the garlic and the herbs and cook for about two minutes.

2. Add the bell peppers and cook for another 5 minutes stirring accasionally. 3. Add the rest of the ingredients and cook for 15 more minutes approximately. Season with salt and pepper and serve with basil.

CREPES

Nothing says France more than a crepe; this classic recipe from France can be made both savory or sweet, but since I have an extremely sweet tooth, let me show you the basic recipe to make crepe for sweet fillings and the very delicious recipe for Crepes Suzette.

Basic Crepes for Sweet Fillings (makes 24 crepes in an 8” pan)

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 ½  cups milk

4 large eggs

¼ cup melted butter

2 tsp. sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

Directions

1. Blend all the ingredients at a medium speed. Pour the batter into a mixing bowl, cover and let rest for an hour before using. In an 8” pan heat the batter to make the crepes.

CREPE SUZETTE (makes 4)

Ingredients

1/3 cup fleshly squeezed orange juice

¼ cup butter

2 tbsp. sugar

¼ tsp. grated orange zest

12 crepes for sweet fillings

¼ cup Grand Marnier

Directions

1. In a 10” skillet heat orange juice, butte, sugar, and zest until the butter melts over low heat.

2. Fold crepes into quarters and arrange overlapping in the pan; simmer over med-low heat for 10 minutes.

3. Pour Grand Marnier into the center of the pan (do not stir); heat for one minute. Flambé by touching it with a flame from a long-handle lighter. As soon as the flame dies down the crepes can be served. Crepes Suzette taste great when accompanied with vanilla ice cream.

ICE CREAM

One of my very favorite blogs is called Scoop Adventures and as its title implies, the creator of this blog strives to discover the perfect scoop by experimenting with different flavors. There are dozens of ice cream recipes in this website, but the one that I choose for today’s post is the Lavender Honey Ice Cream recipe; French lavender fields decorate the landscape of Provence every year which is why I thought this recipe was appropriate for today's post.  

Ingredients

2 cups whole milk

1 tbsp. + 1 tsp. corn starch

3 tbsp. softened cream cheese

1 ¼ cups heavy cream

1 tbsp. dried lavender

2/3 cup of honey

1/8 cup corn syrup

¼ tsp. pure vanilla extract

¼ tsp. kosher salt

1. Fill a large bowl with ice water. In a small bowl, mix 2 tbsp. of the milk with the cornstarch. In another large bowl, whisk the cream cheese until smooth. Set a fine mesh sieve over the bowl and set aside.

2. In a large saucepan, combine the remaining milk with the heavy cream, lavender, honey and corn syrup. Bring the milk to a boil and cook over moderate heat until the sugar dissolves (4 min.). Once the mix is off the heat, gradually whisk in the cornstarch mixture. Return to a boil and cook over moderately high heat until the mixture thickens (about 1 minute).

3. Gradually pour the hot milk mixture (through a sieve) into the cream cheese and whisk until smooth. Whisk in the vanilla extract and salt. Set the bowl into an iced water bath and let stand for about 25 minutes stirring occasionally.

Chill the mixture overnight. Once chilled, pour into an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Place a piece of plastic or parchment over the ice cream and freeze until firm (at least four hours). 

I hope you find these recipes to your liking; although they might seem hard to make, the recipes are rather easy, but the more you practice the better you will be in the kitchen. I believe the next blog shall be about the beautiful Berne in Switzerland, a towns that has been declared a World Heritage site.