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.

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!

Eggs cocotte are perfect for every meal! That’s what I love about them. Perfect for brunch when served with a yogurt, a fruit salad and a croissant. Great with a salad or a soup as a light lunch or dinner. Egg cocotte is also a traditional entrée in many French restaurants.

It’s mushroom and ham version is called ‘oeuf cocotte à la parisienne’ (Parisian shirred egg) so I guess it’s been imagined in the City of Light. It’s incredibly tasty AND easy to make. Don’t be afraid to experiment around this recipe, baked eggs are fun to play with!

Next time try adding chives, chervil and tarragon along with the parsley. This herb mix is called ‘fines herbes’, it’s a nice twist on the Parisian shirred eggs original recipe. Don’t be afraid to try them with chicken or veggies, they taste great with a lot of different ingredients.

Preparation time: 10 minutes – Baking time: 6 to 8 minutes

Ingredients (for 1 serving)

1 egg
1 oz (30 g) of ham
2 portobello mushrooms
1 small garlic clove
1 tablespoon of chopped parsley
2 teaspoons of creme fraiche
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 slice of bread
Butter
Salt & Pepper

Instructions

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

2/ Peel and slice mushrooms. (You should never wash portobello mushrooms, they would get soaked with water and loose taste as a result. Just grate stalk if there is mud and slice off the end part. Then peel off the cap by grasping the white edge with a knife and pull to peel strips off the mushroom.)

3/ Rinse parsley and peel garlic clove. Chop both.

4/ Heat a frying pan oven medium high heat, add olive oil. When it’s hot, add garlic. Move it around the pan for about one minute so the oil gets a garlic flavor.

5/ Lower to medium heat and pour mushrooms into the pan. Add parsley and a pinch of salt. Leave for 5 minutes stirring from time to time.

6/ Grease 1 ramekin with butter or margarine.

7/ Chop ham scraps and dispose some of them in the ramekin. Alternate with a layer of mushrooms and 1 teaspoon of creme fraiche. Repeat operation once. Add salt.

8/ Break the egg into the ramekin and top with a pinch of pepper.

9/ Fill half of an ovenproof dish with boiling (or very hot water) and put ramekin on it. Bake in oven for 6 to 8 minutes. (It’s ready when white is done but yolk remains liquid.)

10/ Serve with toasted bread.

Looking for a salmon alternative for this baked eggs recipe? Click here.

On Frebruary 2nd Candlemas is celebrated in many parts of the world eating pancakes. In France, we eat crepes. There already is a sweet crepes recipe on this site, Candlemas is the perfect occasion to share with you the most famous galette (crepe made with buckweat flour) : la complète. Very simple; ham, cheese and egg… but you can always add it mushrooms, tomatoes or all kinds of cheese. You can basically put whatever dish you want in a galette, it goes from the simplest ham & cheese to more elaborated ones with scallops, salmon or duck! Galettes are from Brittany (north-western France) and were originally a dish made by poor families to replace bread. They wrapped inside all the leftovers. The original recipe only counts with buckwheat flour, salt and water. I usually add it an egg, it makes it easier to prepare

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)

1 egg
1/8 lbs (55 gr/2 oz) of grated cheese
1 slice of ham

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.

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

9/ Add egg and grated cheese. When egg is cooked and cheese melted, add ham, salt and pepper and close borders.

10/ Serve it and repeat for the next guest! It’s best eaten warm, so don’t wait for everyone to be served in order to start enjoying!

As I said before, you can put whatever ingredient you want in a galette. Just remember to adapt your ingredients cooking time. In that one, you can add mushrooms. If you cook them appart before (with some garlic and parsley for example), then you add them at the end. But if you add them rare, better putting them at the begining… Nothing very complicated