Today is my blog-anniversary! I can’t believe it’s already been 1 year since I started French Cooking for Dummies. Let me tell you I’ve been enjoying it a lot. I don’t always find time to cook and be ready to take a nice picture on the two hours light I get in my dark Parisian apartment a day (on sunny days only, of course)! But all your nice comments always drive me back to it. My blog-anniversary is a great opportunity to thank all of you for your kind words. It’s always a pleasure to get your feedback .

What better recipe for a blog-anniversary than a chocolate cake? It’s a fun adaptation of the molten chocolate cake recipe I posted here some time ago.  This one has a white chocolate melting heart. There are many great versions of this recipe: ganache can be made with other types of chocolate. You want a tip? It’s also pretty good with salted butter caramel…

Preparation time: 15 mn (+ 1h in the fridge/ freezer) Cooking time: 6 to 7 mn

Ingredients (for 4 to 6 cakes)

Chocolate cake

7 oz (200 g) of dark chocolate (70% cocoa)
1/2 cup (110 g) of butter
1/4 cup (50 g) of golden or brown sugar
3 tablespoons of whipping cream
1 tablespoon of flour
1 tablespoon of corn starch
2 eggs

White chocolate ganache

3 1/2 oz (100 g) of white chocolate
1 tablespoon (15 g) of butter
1 tablespoon of whipping cream

Instructions

1/ In a salad bowl beat egg and sugar until mixture gets a lighter color. Add flour and corn starch and whisk.

2/ Heat 1 large saucepan half filled with water.

3/ Prepare ganache: Dice ganache butter and white chocolate and put it, along with the whipping cream, in a smaller saucepan or a metal bowl. Put in (or over, depending the size) the heating water. (This technique is called bain-marie; it’s the best way to melt chocolate without burning it).

4/ Pour white chocolate mixture in an ice-cube tray and leave in the freezer.

5/ Prepare cake: Melt dark chocolate along with butter and whipped cream « au bain-marie » like you did with white chocolate.

6/ Mix molten chocolate in with egg and sugar mixture until it gets smooth. Leave preparation for 1h in the fridge so mixture gets thicker.

7/ Preheat oven to 410° F (210° C / Th 7).

8/ If you’re going to use a muffin mold, grease it. If you have round pastry cutters, line baking tray with parchment paper and place pastry cutters on it. Cut pieces of parchment paper a little bigger than the height of your pastry cutters, circle them and cover pastry cutters sides with it (see picture here).

8/ Fill 2/3 of the pastry cutters with chocolate mixture. Add on top one or two cubes of white chocolate ganache (depending on their size) and push a little with your finger so ganache gets inside.

9/ Heat in oven for 6 to 7 minutes.

10/ Take chocolate cakes out of the oven and pull carefully parchment paper first and pastry cutters next. (If cooking paper doesn’t come out easily, they’re not cooked enough… Don’t break them! Put them back in the oven a minute more).

This baked eggs with salmon recipe is perfect for a brunch or a nice ‘entrée’. As a starter, it would also be great with a glass of good white wine. In French, we call them ‘oeufs cocotte’ which would be translated as ‘chick eggs’ (special thank to Clotilde from Chocolate & Zucchini for her great translation) . Once you’ve tried these ones, don’t hesitate to try new combinations. What about replacing salmon and chives by mushrooms and parsley?!

Preparation time: 5 minutes – Baking time: 6 to 8 minutes

Ingredients (for 4 servings)

4 eggs
7 oz (200 g) of smoked salmon chopped scraps
6 tablespoons of creme fraiche
2 tablespoons of small chives
4 slices of bread
Butter
Pepper

Instructions

1/ Preheat oven to 500° F (260° C/Th 9).

2/ Grease 4 ramekins with butter or margarine and chop small chives.

3/ Dispose salmon chopped scraps in the ramekins. Pour small chives on top keeping some aside for decoration. Add half a tablespoon of cream into each ramekin.

4/ Break one egg into each ramekin and top with creme fraiche and some pepper.

5/ Fill half of an ovenproof dish with boiling (or very hot water) and put ramekins on it. Bake in oven for 6 to 8 minutes depending on how you like your eggs cooked.

6/ Top with some more small chives and serve with toasted bread.

Everyone knows chocolate is great for improving the mood… So why should you refrain from eating it?! Get ready, this molten chocolate cake recipe is a killer! The one on the picture could have been baked a little less so the center would have been more liquid… You’ll just have to try and adjust the cooking time to your own tastes. Whenever the borders are done, you can take them out of the oven. The bigger the ‘uncooked’ area in the center, the more liquid your molten chocolate cake will be.

Preparation time: 15 mn (+ 1h in the fridge) Cooking time: 6 to 7 mn

Ingredients (for 4 to 6 cakes)

7 oz (200 g) of dark chocolate (70% cocoa)
1/2 cup (110 g) of butter
1/4 cup (50 g) of golden or brown sugar
3 tablespoons of whipping cream
1 tablespoon of flour
1 tablespoon of corn starch
2 eggs

Instructions

1/ In a salad bowl beat egg and sugar until mixture gets a lighter color. Add flour and corn starch and whisk.

2/ Heat a large saucepan half filled with water.

3/ Dice butter and 5 oz of chocolate and put it, along with the whipping cream, in a smaller saucepan or a metal bowl. Put in (or over, depending the size) the heating water. (This technique is called bain-marie; it’s the best way to melt chocolate without burning it).

4/ Mix molten chocolate in with egg and sugar mixture until it gets smooth.

5/ Leave preparation for 1h in the fridge so mixture gets thicker.

6/ Preheat oven to 410° F (210° C / Th 7).

7/ If you’re going to use a muffin mold, grease it. If you have round pastry cutters, line baking tray with parchment paper and place pastry cutters on it. Cut pieces of parchment paper a little bigger than the height of your pastry cutters, circle them and cover pastry cutters sides with it (as shown on picture).

8/ Fill 2/3 of the pastry cutters with chocolate mixture. Cut the 2 oz of chocolate you have left into small pieces and add on top of the chocolate dough; push it a little with your finger so it gets inside.

9/ Heat in oven for 6 to 7 minutes.

10/ Take chocolate cakes out of the oven and pull carefully parchment paper first and pastry cutters next. (If cooking paper doesn’t come out easily, they’re not cooked enough… Don’t break them! Put them back in the oven a minute more).

11/ Serve right away alone or with vanilla ice cream or custard.

You want to add it a white chocolate melted heart? Check the Dark and white chocolate molten cake recipe!

I love making brunch on week-ends. You get out of bed too late to have breakfast and still be hungry at noon. Or you get up at noon, it’s too late to call it breakfast but you’re still not ready to have lunch . This soft cooked egg and bacon salad is a perfect brunch recipe but, of course you can have it with any other meal! I usually skip mustard in the seasoning sauce when I make it in the morning, it’s less aggressive when you just woke up!

Preparation time: 10 mn  Cooking time: 10 mn

Ingredients (for 4 servings)

4 eggs
4 slices of bread
3 1/2 oz (100 g) of bacon
3 1/2 oz (100 g) of corn salad (you can also use arugula if you prefer)
6 tablespoons of olive oil
1 tablespoon of Dijon mustard (Click here to buy online)
1/2 lemon
Salt and pepper

Instructions

1/ Preheat oven to 410° F (210° C / Th 7).

2/ Get water to a boil in a saucepan.

3/ Brush bread slices with olive oil (3 tablespoons) and bake in oven for 5 minutes on each side.

4/ When water is boiling, add eggs carefully. (I usually put the egg in a tablespoon, it’s much easier to get it gently to the bottom of the saucepan). Leave them in boiling water for 4 minutes. When they’re done rinse them with cold water and leave aside.

5/ Heat a frying pan over medium heat and add bacon slices. Cook for 3 minutes on each side, or until bacon looks crispy.

6/ When bacon is done, leave it in a plate covered with a napkin to drain its fat.

7/ Dice bread and cut bacon into pieces.

8/ Squeeze lemon in a bowl and whisk mustard, 3 tablespoons of olive oil, salt and pepper with it.

9/ In 4 plates, arrange corn salad, bacon and bread pieces. Serve on top lemon sauce.

10/ Carefully remove egg shells and place a soft cooked egg on top of each plate. Break it for the egg yolk to flow.

11/ Serve right away.

Here is a recipe I like to make often. It’s fast, easy and really tasty! I love Mediterranean flavors and these ones really enhance a good beef meat. I used green olives, but it’s only a matter of taste, you can replace them by black olives if you prefer. Replace capers by sun-dried tomatoes and you have a new Mediterranean meatballs recipe .

Preparation time: 20 mn  Cooking time: 15 mn

Ingredients (for 4 servings)

18 oz (500 g) of ground beef meat
5 tablespoons of stoned green olives
5 oz (140 g) of feta cheese (1 1/2 oz for topping + 3 1/2 for mixture)
4 tablespoons of dried breadcrumbs
7 tablespoons of milk
4 tomatoes
2 eggs
3 tablespoons of olive oil
1 big onion
2 teaspoons of capers
Salt and pepper

Instructions

1/ Soak breadcrumbs in milk in a small bowl.

2/ Peel and chop onion.

3/ Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a pan over medium heat. Add onion and let it melt gently.

4/ In a salad bowl combine meat, eggs and breadcrumbs. Add salt.

5/ When onions are translucent and soft, take them off heat and let them cool down.

6/ Chop olives and feta cheese. Combine with meat mixture.

7/ When onions have cooled down a little, add to mixture along with capers.

8/ Shape into meatballs. (Don’t make them too big, they would be more difficult to keep in one piece. A good size is slightly  bigger than the tomato slice you’re going to add on top )

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

10/ Heat in a pan over medium/high heat 2 minutes on each side.

11/ Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil to an ovenproof dish and dispose meatballs.

12/ Rinse and slice tomatoes.

13/ Add a tomato slice on top of each meatball. Top with feta cheese, 1 tablespoon of olive oil, salt and pepper.

14/ Bake in oven for 15 minutes or until feta cheese has a nice golden color.

Serve with gratin dauphinois,  green asparagus, mushroom baked potatoes or spinach soufflés.