Easy French Recipes to Add a Little Romance to Your Palette
- 23 Sep 2016
- Noel Alex
- Features
The words that come to mind when we think about French cuisine are butter, wine and romance- and no, that’s not a stereotype. The French have a reputation for adding an extra helping of love and luxury to their dishes.“You are the butter to my bread,and the breath to my life” a quote from Julia Child, our favorite American Chef who decoded the French Cuisine.
For us Kochiites, we have our favorite neighborhood chef,- Dipu Nair, to help us out with some easy French recipes you must try.
A Word about the Chef
Dipu is a seasoned food professional with 8 years of experience from different parts of the world and he is literally sailing the world being a Chef at the Holland American Cruise Line. He spends his vacation time sharing recipes with the help of his wife Vidya. Dipu is planning to do research in molecular gastronomy in the future.
He can help you make easy Mexican dishes here or impress your family with these easy Italian recipes. Check out his page for more stories.
Skillet-Toasted Corn Salad
French cuisine has the reputation of being too rich and by rich we mean in terms of both money and the calories. Fear not for Chef Dipu has the perfect recipe for this. Skillet-Toasted Corn Salad is a dish which is very cheap and simple to make and is also a very healthy salad.
Les ingrédients:
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon olive oil, divided
1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
3 to 4 dashes of hot pepper sauce
3 cloves of garlic,minced
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
6 ears sweet corn, husked and kernels removed
4 red,yellow and/or green peppers,coarsely chopped
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1 head romaine lettuce, cut crosswise into 1-inch pieces
1 tomato
Method:
In a jar with a tight-fitting lid, combine 1/3 cup oil, lemon juice, sauces, garlic, salt and pepper. Cover and shake well; set aside. Heat remaining oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add corn; sauté for 5 minutes, or until corn is tender and golden, stirring often. Remove from heat; keep warm. Combine corn, peppers tomato and cheese in a large bowl. Pour olive oil mixture over top; toss lightly to coat. Serve over lettuce.
Makes 6 to 8 servings.
Chicken Cordon Bleu
But let’s not kid ourselves, French food is rich food and should make you feel like royalty. This is exactly what our Chef thinks about this dish. It reminds me of the blue ribbon which was worn by members of Royal families, he says.
Ingredients
1 each - skinless chicken breast, butter flied
3 slice - gruyere cheese (any cheese)
3 slice smoked ham
1 - whole eggs scrambled – eggwash
2 tablespoons - bread crumbs
2 teaspoons – flour
Salt and pepper to taste
Method:
Flatten chicken breast, season with salt and pepper and fill each breast with one slice ham and cheese fold it over and seal it well.
Dredge in flour then whisked eggs and finally in bread crumbs.
Pan fry it slow to get a golden brown texture and finish in the oven at 350(°F) or 175 (°C) for 10 minutes.
Garnish as per your wish
Soup- Cream of Five Onion
The onion soup is a French Classic, but classics are always better with a little twist. Here is a variation of the soup which is creamy and filled with love, which is why it’s no surprise that it is the favorite of our Chef’s wife
Ingredients:
1/2 kg - finely chopped yellow onions
5 each - white leeks
250 gms -shallots
100 gms red onions
50 gms scallions, finely chopped (Spring Onion)
5 pieces garlic- chopped
1 litre - chicken stock
2 tablespoons - thyme, dried
3 each - Bay leaves
1 cup - heavy cream
salt and pepper to season
butter
Chives, finely sliced
Method:
Melt the butter in a pot and add yellow onions, red onions, leeks, shallots, scallions and garlic
Cover the pot with a lid and cook over a low heat until the onions, leeks and scallions are tender and are lightly colored. This will take approximately 25 minutes, season with salt and pepper.
Add the chicken stock, thyme and bay leaves. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and cook partially covered for 20 minutes. Pour soup through a strainer, reserving the liquid.
Transfer half of the onions and half of the liquid to a food blender and blend until smooth. Make sure you remove the bay leaves before blending.
Mix together the blended onions and liquid with the reserved onions and liquid.
Whisk in the cream and heat up nearly to boiling point, DO NOT BOIL THE SOUP AS IT MAY SPLIT. Pour into a soup cup and sprinkle the finely sliced chives on top of the soup.
Chocolate Soufflé
The words Chocolate Cake were presented to a group of Americans and the top word association was “Guilt”. Meanwhile a group of French people collectively gave the response ‘Celebration’. Chocolate is a nostalgia dish for our Chef and he never fails to impress his wife with this dish. So guys follow our chef’s lead and learn to prepare this dish the next time you find yourself in trouble with your lady.
Ingredients:
60 gram sugar
40 gram butter
40 gram flour
2 dl. Milk
80 gram chocolate coverture (Coverture is a term used for chocolates rich in cocoa butter)
4 egg yolks
6 egg whites
Method:
Place the chocolate coverture in the milk and bring it to a boil. Melt half amount of the butter, mix with the flour and the hot milk. Add the sugar and bring it back to a boil. Let it cook for a while before you add the egg yolks and the rest of the butter to the mixture. Do not boil anymore. Whisk the egg whites and fold slowly under the mixture. Butter a soufflé dish, sprinkle sugar to it and fill it up with the mixture. Bake in the oven at 350(°F) or 175 (°C) in a bain-marie i.e. (water bath) for 25 to 28 minutes
Note: make sure preheat the oven
Instead of chocolate you can use vanilla as well
