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 recipe was inspired by a mashed potatoes soufflé recipe from French magazine ‘Elle à table’. It’s called soufflé because of the puffy texture the purée gets when being baked in oven. Good news is it doesn’t involve any beaten egg white! It’s such an easy recipe, I invite you to try it with any mashed veggies you like.

Preparation time: 10 minutes – Cooking time: 30 minutes – Baking time: 20 to 25 minutes

Ingredients (for 4 servings)

1.1 lbs (500 g) of broccoli
4 big potatoes
1 tablespoon of creme fraiche
1 oz (30 g) of butter
1 pinch of nutmeg
Salt & Pepper

Instructions

1/ Peel, rinse and dry potatoes.

2/ Rinse and dry broccoli.

3/ If you have a a pressure cooker, steam potatoes in it for 10 minutes after water starts boiling. Then, steam broccoli for 5 minutes. If you don’t, get water to a boil in two separate saucepans. Boil potatoes for 30 minutes and broccoli for 10 minutes. In all cases, add some salt.

4/ Preheat oven to 450° F (230° C/Th 8).

5/ Mash potoatoes and broccoli in a food processor. Add creme fraiche, half of the butter. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg.

6/ Grease 4 ramekins with butter or margarine.

7/ Pour broccoli purée into the ramekins. Top with a piece of butter.

8/ Fill half of an ovenproof dish with boiling (or very hot water) and put ramekin on it. Bake in oven for 20 to 25 minutes.

Serve right away.

This is a special recipe for me, one of my top 5 favorite. Again, nothing very recommended for a strict diet but believe me duck parmentier is succulent

It’s a French classic, the classy version of ‘Hachis Parmentier’ (Shepherd’s pie). The original recipe doesn’t use Comté cheese, you can replace it by parmesan cheese or simply skip the cheese part.

Preparation time: 15 minutes – Cooking time: 30 minutes – Grill : 10 minutes

Ingredients (for 4 servings)

2 legs of duck confit (Click here to buy online)
1.6 lbs (750 g) of potatoes
1.4 oz (40 g) of Comté cheese (Click here to buy online)
3 tablespoons of crème fraiche
2 tablespoons of parsley
1/2 tablespoon of butter
1 pinch of nutmeg
Salt & pepper

Instructions

1/ Peel potatoes and cut them into 2 or 4 pieces depending on their size (bigger pieces will need more time to be done).

2/ Boil potatoes into salted water for 30 minutes (they’ll be easier to mash if overcooked). Drain water and let them chill.

3/ Meanwhile,  take duck legs off their fat and separate meat from bones and skin.

4/ Rinse and dry parsley. Chop it.

5/ Heat a pan over medium-low heat, fry duck meat  with a little bit of duck fat from the can. Add parsley and leave for 10 minutes stirring often.

6/ Mash potatoes (you can use a a food mill or potato ricer, if you don’t have any use a potato masher or heavy fork.) Pour mashed potatoes into a pan heated over low heat. Add butter, cream, nutmeg, salt and pepper. Stir well.

7/ You can use either an ovenproof dish or individual round pastry cutters. Whatever you’re using grease it with a little bit of butter and add a layer of duck topped with a layer of mashed potatoes.

8/ Grate Comté cheese and sprinkle on top of duck parmentier.

9/ Heat oven on grill position and bake for 10 minutes or until cheese has a golden color.

10/ Serve right away with a salad. (If you used individual round pastry cutters, separate melted cheese with a knife and carefully take cutter out.)

Forget your instant mashed potatoes mix… Making authentic mashed potatoes is fast, easy AND tasty! Some like their mashed potatoes with a more liquid texture, don’t hesitate to add milk if they don’t look smooth enough for you.

Preparation time: 10 mn  Cooking time: 30 mn

Ingredients (for 4 servings)

2.2 lbs (1kg) of potatoes
1/2 cup (120ml) of milk
3 tablespoons of creme fraiche
2 tablespoons of butter
1 pinch of  nutmeg
Salt & pepper

Instructions

1/ Cut potatoes into 2 or 4 pieces depending on their size (bigger pieces will need more time to be done).

2/ Boil potatoes into salted water for 30 minutes (they’ll be easier to mash if overcooked). Let them chill.

3/ Peel and mash potatoes (you can use a a food mill or potato ricer, if you don’t have any use a potato masher or heavy fork.)

4/ Pour mashed potatoes into a pan heated over low heat. Add milk, butter, cream, nutmeg, salt and pepper. Stir well.

5/ That’s it, ready to serve! Easy, right?

Have you ever tried Comté cheese? It’s a cooked cheese like Gruyère although it is much tastier. It has a great nutty flavor which makes it perfect for a zucchini gratin. If you can’t find any, don’t worry, zucchini marries much more cheese varieties You can make this zucchini gratin recipe with swiss cheese or cheddar if you like.

Preparation time: 15 mn  Cooking time: 30 mn

Ingredients (for 4 to 6 servings)

2.2 lbs (1 kg) of zucchini
2 eggs
6 oz (20 cl) of creme fraiche
1/4 lb (125 g) of Comté cheese
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 pinch of nutmeg
Salt & pepper

Instructions

1/ Peel zucchini and slice top off.

2/ Cut zucchini into thin slices. (If you slice them too thick, they’ll take a long time to cook.)

3/ Heat a pan over medium heat. Add oil and cook zucchini covered for about 15 minutes stirring regularly. Add salt and pepper.

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

5/ In a bowl, mix eggs, creme fraiche, half of cheese, nutmeg, salt and pepper.

6/ Pour 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a baking pan. Then add a layer of zucchini topped with creme fraiche and cheese mixture. Repeat with another layer of zucchini, the rest of the mixture and finish with cheese.

7/ Top with salt and pepper. (Zucchini have a pretty sweet taste, they need to get more salt than other vegetables. Don’t hesitate to try and season according to your own taste.)

8/ Bake in oven for 15 minutes or until your gratin has a nice golden color.

9/ Serve right away.

It’s a perfect side dish for lemon stuffed chicken or fish for example. For a vegetarian meal, you can serve this zucchini and Comté cheese gratin with a carrot and orange soup and a nice salad.