Galettes are from France’s western region Brittany but there is no rule saying they can’t be accommodated Mediterranean style! This spring version uses ham, cherry tomatoes, feta cheese and the flavorful « herbes de Provence ».

Quick tip: When using tomatoes as a crepe or galette stuffing, you should always cook them before in a frying pan so the water they contain doesn’t soak your crepe.

Preparation time : 10 mn (+ at least 2 h in the fridge)

Ingredients (for 12 to 15 galettes)

5 cups of buckwheat flour
4 cups of water (more or less)
1 egg
1 pinch of salt
butter

Garniture (per galette)

6 cherry tomatoes (incl. 1 for decoration)
1/8 lbs (55 gr/2 oz) of Feta cheese
1 slice of ham
1 tablespoon of herbes de Provence (rosemary, marjoram, basil, bay leaf, thyme) (Click here to buy Herbes de Provence)
1 tablespoon of olive oil
Salt and pepper

Instructions

1/ Blend flour, egg and salt.

2/ Gradually add water. Stir energetically until smooth. (It has to be liquid)

3/ Leave in the fridge for at least 2 hours.

4/ Heat a large frying pan (diameter of at least 15 inches is best) over medium high heat. Melt butter. (Be careful not to put too much butter, your crepes would be too greasy and not easy to cook) (Click here to buy crepes cooking material).

5/ Pour about 1/4 cup of mixture in the pan making a circle. Then tilt the pan with a circular motion so the mixture fills the pan evenly. (Note: galettes are supposed to be thin, if you make them like pancakes, it won’t be good at all)

6/ Cook galette for about 2mn or until borders peel off and bottom is slightly brown. Turn and cook the other side (1mn should be enough).

7/ Make all galettes at once, you’ll go faster serving your guests later.

Garniture

8/ Heat olive oil in a small frying pan over medium heat.

9/ Slice cherry tomatoes in half and pour them into the pan. Add herbes de Provence mix.

10/ Take most of the tomato juice off the pan. Scrub Feta cheese (keeping some aside for decoration), add to the tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper and take off heat.

11/ Melt butter in a large frying pan over medium high heat. Heat galette quickly on one side (10 sec), then turn it to the other side.

12/ Add cheese tomato mixture, then top with ham. Close borders. Leave on heat for two more minutes.

13/ Serve it topped with a cherry tomato cut in half. Sprinkle with Feta cheese scrubs and herbes de Provence. (It’s best eaten warm, tell your guests to start eating as soon as they’re served to enjoy all the flavors while it’s hot.)

If you’re looking for new flavors, check out the most traditional galette recipe: La Complète!

My French Classics section definitely lacked beef Bourguignon. It’s an easy to make recipe although it will require time. If you have a pressure cooker, you’ll be able to reduce the cooking time. If not, there is no way you’re going to get away with it! Only time gives this wine sauce its amazing flavor

The most common side dish to be served with beef Burgundy is steamed potatoes but you can also serve it with rice or pasta. Fresh tagliatelle will be perfect with boeuf Bourguignon.

Preparation time: 15 minutes – Cooking time: 4 h 30 to 5 hours – Marinating time: at least 5 hours

Ingredients (for 4 servings)

2.2 lbs (1 kg) of beef cut into 2 inches pieces (Rump roast, chuck roast, sirloin tip, top or bottom round…)
3.5 oz (100 g) of bacon
1 carrot
2 onions
6 portobello mushrooms
1 garlic clove
1 bouquet garni (2 bay leaves, 5 sprigs of parsley, 4 sprigs of thyme)
3 cups of red wine (Côtes du Rhone, Bourgogne…)
1 cup of beef stock
2 tablespoons of olive oil (click here to buy online)
1 tablespoon of flour
Salt & pepper

Side

2.2 lbs (1 kg) of potatoes
2 springs of parsley
Salt & pepper

Instructions

1/  The night before (or at least 5 hours before preparing it), rinse and chop thyme and parsley. In a large dish, season meat with salt and combine it with the red wine and the bouquet garni. Cover and leave marinade in the fridge.

2/ Peel and slice carrots, mushrooms and onions.

3/ Dice bacon.

4/ Peel and crush garlic clove.

5/ Heat oil in a large casserole or stew pot over high heat. Add beef pieces moving them so all sides get cooked equally. Keep marinade aside.

6/ Add bacon, carrots, onions and mushrooms. Sprinkle ingredients with flour and stir until flour gets a golden color.

7/ Cover with red wine from the marinade and get to a boil stirring continuously.

8/ Add garlic clove, bouquet garni, beef stock, salt and pepper. Cover and leave over low heat for at least 4 h 30. (Try checking on it and stirring  every 30 to 40 minutes so ingredients don’t stick to the bottom of the stew pot. If your sauce keeps being too liquid, uncover for a while. If it’s not enough, you can still sprinkle a little more flour. Meat is ready when soft.)

9/ 40 minutes before serving, peel and steam side potatoes.

10/ Rinse and chop parsley.

11/ Serve beef Bourguignon with potatoes seasoned with parsley, salt and pepper.

Here is a recipe for the last fish stock I made using sea bass. The ingredients I used are the ones I had on hand; keep in mind you can add any herb or flavorful vegetable to a stock. In this recipe, I used fennel trimmings because my fish stock was made to be used in a fennel puree but I could have used celery instead for example. Sometimes I even add it a glass of dry white wine, it gives it a great taste

Once you’re done, there are plenty of uses for your homemade fish stock. You can use it to cook pasta or rice (when making a seafood risotto for example). It’s also a great base for making a flavorful sauce for a fish or seafood. Don’t be shy, experiment with it

Preparation time: 5 minutes  – Cooking time: 30- 35 minutes

Ingredients (for 12 cups of stock)

1.1 lbs (500 g) of fish heads, bones and fins
16 cups (4 l) of water
1 thyme branch (or 3 tablespoons of dry thyme)
3 tablespoons of tarragon
2 tablespoons of parsley
2 tablespoons trimmings from a fennel bulb
2 tablespoons of chervil
1 bay leaf
2 shallots
1 carrot

Instructions

1/ Rinse fish pieces and dip them in 3 cups of salted water so all the remaining blood gets out.

2/ Peel shallots and carrot. Cut them by half.

3/ Fill a casserole with 13 cups of water. Add all herbs, fennel trimmings, shallots and carrot and get to a boil.

4/ When water is boiling, add fish pieces and reduce heat. Leave covered for 20 to 25 minutes.

5/ Take fish, carrot and shallots out and filter passing your stock through a strainer.

That’s it! Let it cool down and  freeze or refrigerate (if you’re going to use within a few days).

I hadn’t had cuttlefish for so long I almost forgot how good it was! This recipe was made with a fresh cuttlefish, but if you’re a beginner you might rather use frozen pieces… I must admit that cleaning it was pretty disgusting although the result was totally worth it

Preparation time: 20 mn  Cooking time: 1 h

Ingredients (for 4 servings)

3,3 lbs (1.5 kg) of cuttlefish
3 garlic cloves
2 1/2 cups of white wine (dry)
2 onions
2 bay leaves
1 can of diced tomatoes
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 tablespoon of thyme
1/8 cup of Cognac
Saffron
Salt & pepper

Instructions

1/ Clean and dice cuttlefish.

2/ Pour olive oil in a frying pan and heat it over medium heat. Add cuttlefish.

3/ Peel and chop garlic and onions.

4/ When all the water from the cuttlefish has evaporated, add garlic, onions, bay leaves, thyme and a small amount of saffron.

5/ Add Cognac. (If you’re an advanced cook, you can ‘flamber’ which means setting the alcohol on fire for a short amount of time. In this case you need to warm Cognac before adding it to the pan, take pan off heat, then lit it on fire).

6/ Pour diced tomatoes and wine into the pan. Add salt and pepper.

7/ Get to a smooth boil for approximately 5 minutes then reduce heat and leave covered for 1 hour.

8/ Serve with rice or tagliatelle pasta.

Here is an original and very tasty winter soup recipe. I’m sure you’ll love the slight cumin flavor and the lime marinated mushrooms… I use dried chickpeas because they taste better (in my humble opinion) and are more nutritional than canned ones but they definitely ask for more organization You’ll need to soak them overnight before cooking your soup. So if you don’t have time, go for canned chickpeas and reduce considerably cooking time.

Preparation time : 30 mn (+1 night soaking of dried chickpeas) – Cooking time : 2 h

Ingredients (for 4 servings)

2/3 lbs (310 g) of chickpeas
1 large onion
1 bay leaf
10 to 12 cups (2, 5 to 3 l) of water
1 cup (25cl) of sour cream (crème fraiche)
1 pinch of cumin powder

Marinated mushrooms

1/2 lbs (310 g) of portobello mushrooms
3/8 of cup (10 cl) of olive oil
1 lime
1 tablespoon of fresh chopped cilantro
1/2 pinch of red chilli powder

Toasted bread

4 bread slices
1 garlic clove
1 tablespoon of olive oil
Salt and pepper

Instructions

1/ Rinse chickpeas until water comes out clear, then soak them in about 12 cups of water overnight. (Add cooking salt and a tablespoon of baking soda to it: it helps soften the cheakpeas).

2/ Peel and slice mushrooms. (When cleaning mushrooms you should try to avoid using water, they would get soaked and loose taste). Combine olive oil, cilantro and chilli pepper.

3/ Clean lime, grate zest and squeeze it. Add zest and juice to marinade. Add salt and pepper. Pour mushrooms in marinade and set aside.

4/ Get water to a boil. Peel and slice onion. Pour onion slices, bay leaf and chickpeas into boiling water. Cover (leaving some air coming out so it doesn’t boil over) and leave until chickpeas are tender.

5/ Mix it in a food mixer; add creme fraiche and season with cumin, salt and pepper. (Try it and add seasoning if needed).

6/ Peel garlic clove. Heat olive oil in a frying pan, add the whole garlic clove. Get the garlic all around the pan so the oil gets garlic flavour. Add bread slices cut in half. Leave 1 or 2 minutes on each side.

7/ Serve chickpea soup adding marinated mushrooms on top with bread on side.

Enjoy!