A friend of mine recently gave me a fabulous book on how to make all kind of spreads. This particular raspberry and black pepper curd recipe picked my curiosity… Raspberry and black pepper, really?!

Well, let me tell you these two perfectly match! Used in the right proportions, black pepper amazingly enhance raspberry’s taste. And if you’re not convinced, you can just skip the pepper part and enjoy a delicious raspberry curd

You can spread it on bread or sweet buns, mix it with plain yogurt, use as a pastry case and so many more. Amongst other pastries, I used it to make individual fig tartes tatin that came out wonderful. Unfortunately they were all gone before I could take pictures!

This recipe is a perfect basis for tons of desserts. Stay tuned; I’ll definitely post a bunch of recipes using this raspberry curd.

Here is a link to the original book « Pâtes à tartiner » by Rachel Khoo on Amazon.

Preparation time: 10 minutes – Cooking time: 20 minutes

Ingredients (for about 1 lb / 450 g)

0.6 lb (300 g) of fresh or frozen raspberries
0.4 lb (200 g) of sugar
3,5 oz (100 g) of butter (at room temperature)
3 eggs
2 tablespoons of water
1 teaspoon of freshly grounded black pepper
1 pinch of salt

Instructions

Hint: In order to easily sterilize the jars you’ll be using, just put them in a cold oven, set heat to 350°F (180°C – Th 6). Once temperature has reached, leave the jars for 20 minutes in the oven. Let them cool down, you’re done! Ready to be filled.

1/ Heat a medium pan over low heat, add raspberries, water, sugar, eggs, ground black pepper and salt. Stir with a wooden spoon.

2/ Dice butter into small pieces.

3/ When raspberries begin to break and mixture is starting to bubble, add butter and stir until it has melt.

4/ Increase heat and keep stirring the curd mixture until it thickens. (Your raspberry curd should coat the wooden spoon, not staying liquid)

5/ Rub immediately through a sieve (prefer a plastic one, a metallic one would spoil fruit flavor), and pour into an airtight container or a sterilized pot.

You can keep it for 3 weeks in the fridge.

Have fun making more recipes with it

Here are some cute savory flans really easy to make. They’re a perfect side dish for fish or meat and you can find thousands of variations. This recipe features Parmesan, goat cheese and spinach. Once you’ve mastered them you can let your imagination fly and try broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, eggplants or any vegetable you like with all sorts of cheeses. It’s a great recipe, very useful whenever you don’t have much in the fridge

Preparation time: 20 minutes – Cooking time: 20 minutes

Ingredients (for 2 to 3 servings)

1 lb (450 g) of fresh spinach leaves
2 1/2 oz (75 g) of goat cheese
1 1/2 oz (45 g) of grated Parmesan
2 eggs
2 tablespoons of heavy cream
2 teaspoons of butter
Salt & pepper

Instructions

1/ Wash and dry spinach leaves thoroughly. Pinch off the stems.

2/ Melt 1 teaspoon of butter in a frying pan over medium-low heat. Add spinach leaves and stir regularly until they’re soft.

3/ Preheat oven to 350° F (180° C/ Th 6).

4/ Dice goat cheese.

5/ Break eggs in a large bowl and whisk them with a fork. Add heavy cream, Parmesan, goat cheese and spinach. Add salt and pepper and whisk again.

6/ Grease individual ramekins with butter and pour flan mixture into them.

7/ Bake in oven for 20 minutes and serve right away.

Bechamel sauce is a basic in French cooking. It’s a thick sauce made of butter, flour, milk and nutmeg that adds creaminess to a lot of famous French dishes. You can use it for making veggies au gratin with spinach, egg plant, Belgian endives or anything you like! Bechamel is often used in lasagna and eggs mimosa. You can even subsitute creme fraiche with Bechamel when making quiches! Explore

Bechamel sauce is also used in the famous Croque-Monsieur served in Parisian brasseries. Coming soon…

Preparation time: 15 to 20 minutes

Ingredients (for 2 cups)

1.4 oz (40 g) of butter
4 tablespoons (1.4 oz/ 40 g) of flour
2 cups (50 cl) of milk
1/4 teaspoon of grated nutmeg
Salt & pepper

Instructions

1/ Dice butter and melt it in a small pan over low heat. (Be careful not to let your butter get burnt! Once it gets a brownish color, it’s too late… The taste has changed and it’s pretty bad for health eating it like that. If it happens to you, best choice is to throw it out and do it again with new butter.)

2/ Once butter is melted, add all flour at once and stir energically with a wooden spoon until mixture is homegeneous.

3/ Let mixture cook for about 5 minutes stirring often so it doesn’t get burnt. (You’ll see it bubbling; mixture should keep its white color at all times.)

4/ Pour a small quantity of milk and stir. Repeat operation until you get a nice creamy texture. (If it is too liquid, just leave it for a while over low heat, it will thicken.)

5/ Season with grated nutmeg, salt and pepper and stir again. (At this point, you should taste your bechamel and adjust seasoning if needed.)

6/ That’s it! Ready to use

This is the simplest recipe you can make when craving for a fresh salad on a hot summer day. It’s extremely easy to prepare and you might even have all the ingredients at hand already

It’s a very typical Mediterranean bean salad recipe. A very good basic you’ll be able to play with. Try replacing vinegar by lemon juice, add chopped cilantro, parsley and small chives and you’ll get into a whole new world!

Preparation time: 5 minutes – Refrigeration time: 10 minutes

Ingredients (for 4 servings)

1 can (15 oz/ 425 g) of white navy beans
1 medium sized green bell pepper
1 medium sized red bell pepper
1 red onion

Vinaigrette

1 tablespoon of red wine vinegar
3 tablespoons of olive oil
Salt & pepper

Instructions

1/ Peel red onion. Dice it finely. Plunge onion dices into a glass of water. (Before using raw slices of onion in a salad, you should always plunge them into fresh water for a while so they don’t taste too strong.)

2/ Wash and dry red and green pepper. Remove the core, pith and seeds. Dice pepper.

3/ Rinse and drain white beans.

4/ In a salad bowl, combine white navy beans, onion, red and green pepper. Season with salt and toss ingredients together.

5/ Prepare vinaigrette: In a small bowl, pour vinegar and oil. Stir energetically until vinaigrette is homogeneous. Add salt and pepper and stir again.

6/ Sprinkle two pepper and bean salad with vinaigrette. Refrigerate for 10 minutes. Serve cold.

This recipe is a huge classic. French supermarkets sell tons of the frozen version everyday. But let’s face it, these industrial substitutes are pretty much awful. Nothing compared to the real flavor and most important: you never really know for sure which meat is in it!

It’s one of the easiest recipes I know and the result is always a big hit. Don’t look for it, there is no excuse not to make them from scratch

Preparation time: 10 minutes – Cooking time: 12 minutes

Ingredients (for 4 servings)

4 chicken breasts (boneless, skinless)
4 slices of ham
4 slices of Emmenthal cheese (Swiss cheese)
1 egg
6 tablespoons of bread crumbs
3 tablespoons of flour
1 tablespoon of olive oil
Salt & Pepper

Instructions

1/ Unfold one chicken breast, season with a pinch of salt and place it between two pieces of waxed paper or plastic wrap. Flatten the breast by  pounding it with a meat mallet (or the bottom of a heavy pan) until it’s about 1/4 inch thick. Repeat with the other chicken breasts.

2/ Place one slice of ham on each chicken breast and top with a slice of cheese. Ham and cheese slices must have the same size than the flattened chicken, cut any sticking out part.

3/ Simply fold chicken breasts so ham and cheese are inside the chicken.

4/ Pour in three different plates the the flour, the egg and the bread crumbs. Beat the egg with a fork.

5/ Carefully dredge each chicken cordon bleu into the flour first (eliminate excess but make sure it’s entirely covered with flour). Then dredge it into the beaten egg and finish with the breadcrumbs.

6/ Heat a frying pan over medium heat, add olive oil.

7/ When olive oil is hot, add the chicken cordons bleus and cook 6 minutes on each side or until they have a golden color. Season with salt and pepper.

Serve with some greens.