How we celebrated 14th July...
After Le Tour had finished on Sunday evening, we had a our French inspired supper. It was a good excuse to cook for food for the three generations of our family and bring us together.
I cooked a brie and onion tarte with potatoes, apricot and almond pastries and almond sponges with fruit from the garden and fromage frais.
I worked for a French business before having Little L and used to love the amazing desserts we had in Paris; little tartes and pastries that looked too good to eat. What I love about the French lifestyle is that women can have a dessert and not feel guilt. More on this later. A meal of three courses and coffee is OK and you can enjoy your food. They must be doing something right as they are a leaner nation than us.
I cooked the tarte and pastries in the morning so not to be in the kitchen in the heat of the day. Here recipe for the tarte tonight, desserts coming later.
Recreate for yourself...
Brie and Onion Tarte
Making the pastry the night before and chilling it, makes it shorter and easier to roll. Try it and let me
know if it works for you.
You Will Need -
For the pastry..
200 grams self raising flour
100 grams butter
Cold water to bind
Pinch of salt
For the filling -
100 grams brie
2 red onions
2 white onions
250ml milk
3 eggs
Herbs of Provence
10in tarte dish. This one is Le Cruset (www.lecreuset.co.uk)
Let's Create!
To make the pastry...
Rub together the butter, salt and flour until it resembles breadcrumbs.
Add the cold water slowly to bind the ingredients to make a dough.
Wrap in clingfilm and pop it in the 'fridge over night.
Turn the oven to 180C or similar.
Roll out the pastry, grease the tarte dish and lay the pastry in the dish.
Bake blind (no baking beads) for 10 minutes until golden brown.
Remove it from the oven.
To make the filling...
Saute the onions until soft, add the herbs. A gorgeous smell!
Beat together the milk and eggs until bubbly. Slice up the bric cheese. Then layer the onions, cheese and egg mixture in the tarte case.
Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown.
Serve with new minted potatoes and lots of crispy salad.
Lovely!
Why French Women Don't Get Fat?
As I mentioned earlier, it is a pleasure to eat and enjoy my food in France, dessert and all. You always need an excuse over in the UK to have dessert and why should you? If you eat sensibly and love your food in moderation then it's healthy.
I love the book 'French Women Don't Get fat - the secret of eating for pleasure' by Mireille Guiliano. Check out the website http://frenchwomendontgetfat.com/ . I tried it about eight years ago and it changed the way I eat forever.
Once you have cleansed your palette you then can enjoy food flavours and all. It has kept my weight down and even now I think a little bit of dark chocolate not the whole milk chocolate bar! Dark chocolate is better for you. It is great that my husband has the same philosophy about food.
So I do enjoy my French slow cooking, my champagne now and again and using my pretty French dining ware we picked up on honeymoon to create great food.
I will always remember by French colleague taking bread from the café back to the office to enjoy because it is 'beautiful bread', would we do this in UK? I think not.
So, I hope I have inspired you to take a leaf out of the French culture with my post.
SS x
After Le Tour had finished on Sunday evening, we had a our French inspired supper. It was a good excuse to cook for food for the three generations of our family and bring us together.
I cooked a brie and onion tarte with potatoes, apricot and almond pastries and almond sponges with fruit from the garden and fromage frais.
I worked for a French business before having Little L and used to love the amazing desserts we had in Paris; little tartes and pastries that looked too good to eat. What I love about the French lifestyle is that women can have a dessert and not feel guilt. More on this later. A meal of three courses and coffee is OK and you can enjoy your food. They must be doing something right as they are a leaner nation than us.
I cooked the tarte and pastries in the morning so not to be in the kitchen in the heat of the day. Here recipe for the tarte tonight, desserts coming later.
Recreate for yourself...
Brie and Onion Tarte
Making the pastry the night before and chilling it, makes it shorter and easier to roll. Try it and let me
know if it works for you.
You Will Need -
For the pastry..
200 grams self raising flour
100 grams butter
Cold water to bind
Pinch of salt
For the filling -
100 grams brie
2 red onions
2 white onions
250ml milk
3 eggs
Herbs of Provence
10in tarte dish. This one is Le Cruset (www.lecreuset.co.uk)
Let's Create!
To make the pastry...
Rub together the butter, salt and flour until it resembles breadcrumbs.
Add the cold water slowly to bind the ingredients to make a dough.
Wrap in clingfilm and pop it in the 'fridge over night.
Turn the oven to 180C or similar.
Roll out the pastry, grease the tarte dish and lay the pastry in the dish.
Bake blind (no baking beads) for 10 minutes until golden brown.
Remove it from the oven.
To make the filling...
Saute the onions until soft, add the herbs. A gorgeous smell!
Beat together the milk and eggs until bubbly. Slice up the bric cheese. Then layer the onions, cheese and egg mixture in the tarte case.
Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown.
Serve with new minted potatoes and lots of crispy salad.
Lovely!
Why French Women Don't Get Fat?
As I mentioned earlier, it is a pleasure to eat and enjoy my food in France, dessert and all. You always need an excuse over in the UK to have dessert and why should you? If you eat sensibly and love your food in moderation then it's healthy.
I love the book 'French Women Don't Get fat - the secret of eating for pleasure' by Mireille Guiliano. Check out the website http://frenchwomendontgetfat.com/ . I tried it about eight years ago and it changed the way I eat forever.
Once you have cleansed your palette you then can enjoy food flavours and all. It has kept my weight down and even now I think a little bit of dark chocolate not the whole milk chocolate bar! Dark chocolate is better for you. It is great that my husband has the same philosophy about food.
So I do enjoy my French slow cooking, my champagne now and again and using my pretty French dining ware we picked up on honeymoon to create great food.
I will always remember by French colleague taking bread from the café back to the office to enjoy because it is 'beautiful bread', would we do this in UK? I think not.
So, I hope I have inspired you to take a leaf out of the French culture with my post.
SS x
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