Featured Recipe
Bœuf à la Mode – French Pot Roast
Monday, October 12, 2026| |
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Bœuf à la Mode is a classic French pot roast braised in red wine, herbs, and aromatics. The rich, fork-tender beef is seasoned, seared, and cooked low and slow for 3-4 hours, depends on the cut of beef you use. This is a delicous yet very easy recipe for when you're too lazy to do much cooking. If you have time, marinate the beef roast with red wine, stock and bouquet garni for a few hours. Don’t skip or rush the initial browning of the beef. This step creates the Maillard reaction, developing deep, complex flavours that form the foundation of the classic French dish. Bon appétit!
Vinegar-Braised Chicken with Leeks and Peas
Tuesday, October 06, 2026| |
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This French bistro-inspired chicken recipe from Food and Wine delivers everything you want for a low effort yet delicious and comforting weeknight meal. The bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs are browned until golden, then nestled into a luscious sauce brightened and balanced with white balsamic vinegar and finished with herbs and crème fraîche. Sweet, meltingly creamy leeks and bright green peas add freshness and balance the richness of the dish. If you don’t have tarragon, use fennel fonds or add a tiny pinch of anise seed to replicate its signature sweet, licorice-like flavour.
Poulet Rôti au Vin Rouge
Friday, September 18, 2026| |
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Poulet Rôti au Vin Rouge, aka Rachel Khoo's Roast Red Wine Chicken : tender, juicy chicken thighs slowly braised in red wine together with sweet Dutch carrots and herbs. Everything cooks together in one tray making it a fast and simple meal with easy preparation and barely any washing up. I personally prefer bone in, skin on chicken thighs, but feel free to use a whole chicken as the original recipe calls for. I skipped the potatoes and used Dutch carrots, which are young, small, and slender carrots sold in bunches with their green tops attached.
Chicken au Poivre
Thursday, July 02, 2026| |
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This playful and elegant take on French bistro classic steak au poivre features bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs that are pan-fried until golden then simmered in a peppery pan sauce until tender and juicy. Cognac is a vital flavour component in au poivre to create a rich, complex, and velvety pan sauce. If you don’t want to use alcohol, just use more chicken broth with a splash of Worcestershire sauce instead. Crème fraîche and Dijon mustard add a lush creaminess and tang that temper the heat of the peppercorns. If crème fraîche isn’t at hand, use full fat sour cream or heavy cream and finish with a squeeze of lemon juice or splash of sherry vinegar.
Brioche Challah Buns
Tuesday, May 05, 2026| |
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Those brioche challah buns are pillowy soft, fluffy and slightly sweet. They are perfect for breakfast, afternoon snack or served as dinner rolls. It’s fun to braid the dough into small challah buns, but you certainly can shape the dough into a large round challah or even just a standard loaf. I made these buns straight through in a few hours, but you can cold-ferment the dough for 12-18 hours if you want to break up the process to fit your time schedule.
Chicken Provençal
Monday, December 15, 2025| |
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A delicious and simple recipe for the classic Chicken Provençal, a one-pan dinner made with bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs, green olives, capers and lemons in a luscious white wine sauce flavoured with herbs de Provence. Chicken Provençal is ready in an hour, making it a great dinner option any night of the week. Serve with a green salad, lots of crusty bread for sopping up that delicious garlicky pan sauce, and a glass of wine, if you'd like.
Herbs de Provence is an aromatic, all-purpose mixture of dried herbs and spices in the Provence region of France, which traditionally includes rosemary, thyme, marjoram, oregano, basil, tarragon and bay leaf. However, there is no standard recipe for this Provençal herb blend. The mixture varies depending on the preferences of the manufacturers or chefs. Herbs de Provence sold outside of France usually include lavender while traditional French blends and those sold in France typically do not. The reason for this is probably that many people associate Provence with lavender fields and the addition of this herb was and is considered to boost sales.
Oxtail Ragout with Celery
Wednesday, December 10, 2025| |
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Richly caramelized oxtails are simmered low and slow with vegetables in a wine sauce until the meat comes off the bones. It can be eaten on its own or served mashed potatoes (cauliflower puree if you are on keto), bread dumplings and pasta.
A ragoût is essentially the same as a stew, except that most recipes for ragout are originally French, and often chunks of meat and vegetables cooked together at a low heat for a few hours until tender. But it also can be made with fish or just vegetables. A ragù is an Italian pasta sauce that is usually made with minced meat and/or vegetables.
Poulet Basquaise - Basque-style Chicken
Saturday, November 08, 2025| |
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Poulet Basque/ Basquaise or Basque chicken is a classic chicken stew from the Basque region in Southern France and a small area of northern Spain. This recipe from Anthony Bourdain (via Food and Wine) is more French. There are many different regional versions of this dish, but they all have one thing in common: they start with a sauce made with red and green peppers, onions, garlic, tomatoes and piment d’Espelètte, simmered slowly and the white (chicken) and red and green (peppers) represent the Basque flag. The most common side to serve with Basque chicken stew is rice, but you could also serve it with a salad, sauteed potatoes or a loaf of crusty bread.
Piment d'Espelètte is a mild, fruity chilli powder with intense aroma from the Basque region of France, specifically from the area around the village of Espelètte. I ordered it from Amazon, and it’s a little bit pricey, but you can easily replace 1 teaspoon of piment d'Espelètte with ¾ teaspoon of Aleppo pepper or ¾ teaspoon of paprika with a large pinch of cayenne pepper. However, they won’t be exactly the same, but should do the trick.
Chicken Normandy
Wednesday, October 15, 2025| |
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A hearty French casserole that is perfect for a late-summer or fall weeknight meal. Normandy is a region in Northern France noted for its dairy, pastires and signature fruit – apple. So, rather than cooking chicken in chicken broth like many typical one-pot chicken meals, we used Calvados and apple cider for the recipe. If you don’t have Calvados at hand, just use regular brandy. For Chicken Normandy, firm, tart apples that can hold their shape during cooking are the best. I used Boskoop, but Braeburn, Granny Smith or Pink Lady are equally great.
Pumpkin Mousse Terrine
Sunday, September 28, 2025| |
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The savoury pumpkin mousse terrine is the perfect combination of fluffy, creamy texture and piquant flavours. This dish cleverly balances the sweetness of pumpkin with savoury ingredients. It is ideal as a starter, with a salad, or for sandwiches and goes wonderfully with an autumn menu.
If you don’t have French Noilly Prat vermouth, use Italian Cinzano or even a white wine instead. Admittedly, this is somewhat time-consuming to make, but it never ceases to amaze. Try it, you'll be blown away! Use a pretty triangular terrine mould if you happen to have one, otherwise, a cake pan lined with plastic film works just as fine.
Easy Chicken Cassoulet
Wednesday, August 20, 2025| |
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A quick and healthier take on the traditional French dish Cassoulet with affordable bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs, drumsticks and canned black beans. The name comes from cassolle, the partially glazed earthenware dish that it is traditionally cooked in. Without typical pork, mutton or sausages, this modified version is definitely leaner but still full of flavour. If you are a food snob, a purist or a perfectionist, then please don’t feel offended because this is not an authentic cassoulet. I should have just named it Chicken with Black Beans. Anyway, it is not a traditional cassoulet per se, but makes great weeknight meals and just as rich, delicious and comforting as the original. You can use other kinds of canned beans or lentils.
Raspberry Meringue Tarts
Monday, July 07, 2025| |
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A highlight of French pastry! The buttery sweet shortcrust pastry base is filled with a velvety, fruity raspberry curd, which is then covered with airy, delicate meringue flamed off with a kitchen blowtorch at the very end. If desired, garnish them with some chopped pistachios or crush some freeze-dried raspberries over the top. This tart not only tastes delicious, it also looks elegant: a great dessert idea for celebration or just because.


