Celebrate Bastille Day by cooking up a French-inspired meal. Bon appetit!
Tomorrow, July 14, gives us all the opportunity to remember the anniversary of the storming of the Bastille and the rise of the modern French nation. It also gives us the opportunity to indulge in all things French - including some tasty recipes.
The French are responsible for so many culinary delights that it would take chapters to do them justice, so today we are going to focus on just three dishes. First up is the classic croque monsieur - a fried cheese sandwich with ham, mustard, a little cream and a tasty melting cheese. Comte is ideal if you are able to find it, but if not gruyere has good flavour and texture. If you cut a circle in the top slice of bread and drop in a small egg before covering and frying on the grill, it turns the sandwich from masculine to a feminine Croque Madame. Make sure you use good crusty white bread.
Beef bourguignon is the most classic of slowly braised meat stews. Beef, garlic, mushrooms and bacon are simmered with bouquet garni and plenty of red wine to produce a succulent, hearty dish. This is often served with boiled potatoes and parsley, rice or alternatively try buttered egg noodles. Perfect for a winter's evening.
Here in New Zealand we are spoilt with the quality of French- style sausages and terrines available in good food stores and delis. For our third recipe, look out for a toulouse sausage. Made with pork and flavoured with thyme, garlic, parsley and bacon it's delicious combined with snails for this tasty salad.
Snails can get people excited or totally revolted but it depends on how they are cooked as to how they will taste. Cooked gently in the shell with garlic butter makes them deliciously tender morsels. The flavour is earthy and the texture should be juicy. You can buy snails here in a tin, which I used for this salad today. Salt, garlic, water and oil are all the additives involved so the snails retain their true flavour. A Dijon mustard vinaigrette and some sweet roasted shallots with fresh greens makes for a delicious salad topped with slices of the sausage.
