The Little Paris Kitchen (8 page)

TO MAKE THE TOPPING:
Preheat the oven to 400°F. Toss the squash chunks into a large roasting pan and drizzle with olive oil. Roast for 20 minutes or until tender. Whizz to a smooth paste in the blender, then season to taste with salt and nutmeg. Spoon into a piping bag or a heavy-duty food bag.

Cook the potatoes in a large pot of boiling salted water for 15–20 minutes or until tender. In a blender, whizz the parsley (including the stalks) with 3 tablespoons olive oil until smooth. Once the potatoes are cooked, drain and mash until smooth with the milk and butter. Season with nutmeg, salt, and white pepper. Split into two equal portions and mix the parsley paste into one. Spoon each portion of potatoes into a piping bag or heavy-duty food bag.

Fry the shallots, garlic, carrot, bay leaf, and thyme with the olive oil until the shallots are translucent and soft. Add the tomato paste, meat, stock, and sugar; season with salt and pepper; and cook for a further 5 minutes.

To assemble, pour the meat mixture into a large baking dish and cover with piped lines of the different toppings. (If you're using food bags for the piping, cut a corner off each bag and squeeze the potatoes out at the corner.) Bake for 30 minutes or until bubbling and golden. Serve hot.

*
You could use leftovers from a
Pot-au-feu
(see
page 199
).

Preparation time: 45 minutes Cooking time: 1 hour

Pasta is not what comes to mind when you think of French food, but Alsace (the French region bordering Germany) is renowned for its egg pasta. Most pasta is made of hard wheat flour and water, whereas Alsatian pasta is made from hard wheat flour and fresh eggs.

SERVES 4 AS A MAIN COURSE

For the spicy sauce:
*
1 onion, finely chopped • 1 carrot, finely chopped • 1 stick of celery, finely chopped • 1 oz lardons or cubes of smoked bacon • 2 tbsp butter • ¼ cup all-purpose flour • 2 cups veal or beef stock, warm • 1 tbsp tomato paste • ¾ cup red wine • 1 bouquet garni (thyme, bay leaf, parsley stalks, peppercorns) • 2 tbsp cornichons, finely chopped • 2 tbsp capers, finely chopped

• 8 oz ground sausage (or sausage with casings removed) • 8 oz ground beef • 1 tbsp olive oil • 12 oz pasta, preferably Alsatian egg pasta • chopped parsley, to garnish

TO MAKE THE SAUCE:
Fry the vegetables and lardons on a medium heat until golden. Remove them from the pan with a slotted spoon, then add the butter. Melt over a medium heat, sprinkle in the flour, and stir constantly until it turns an almost Coca-Cola color. Turn the heat down to low and slowly pour in the warm stock, whisking energetically. Add the tomato paste and wine and whisk until the paste has dissolved. Pop the fried vegetables and lardons back into the pan, add the bouquet garni, and simmer gently for 15 minutes. Pour the sauce through a sieve and add the chopped cornichons and capers. Taste for seasoning and set aside until needed.
**

Meanwhile, mix together the sausage meat and beef. Form balls slightly smaller than a golf ball. Fry in a large nonstick frying pan with the olive oil for about 5 minutes or until cooked through. Pour the sauce over the meatballs, stir together, and heat through.

Cook the pasta according to the package instructions. Drain and serve with the meatballs in the sauce, sprinkled with a little chopped parsley.

Preparation time: 30 minutes Cooking time: 30 minutes

My butcher makes great sausages. The perfect way to serve them? With mashed potatoes and gravy, in this case
sauce diable
, an
espagnole sauce
with white wine, shallots, and cayenne pepper.

SERVES 4 AS A MAIN COURSE

For the
sauce diable
:
1 onion, finely chopped • 1 carrot, finely chopped • 1 stick of celery, finely chopped • 1 oz lardons or cubes of smoked bacon • 2 tbsp butter • ¼ cup all-purpose flour • 2 cups veal or beef stock, warm • 1 tbsp tomato paste • ¾ cup dry white wine • 1 bouquet garni (thyme, bay leaf, parsley stalks, peppercorns) • a pinch of cayenne pepper

For the mash:
1½ lb baking potatoes (e.g., russet or Yukon Gold), peeled • 4 tbsp butter • ½ to ¾ cup milk, lukewarm • nutmeg • salt

• 2 tbsp butter • 4 shallots, finely sliced • 8 sausages

TO MAKE THE SAUCE:
Fry the vegetables and lardons on a medium heat until golden. Remove them from the pan (try and keep as much of the fat as possible in the pan), then add the butter. Melt over a medium heat, sprinkle in the flour, and stir constantly until it turns an almost Coca-Cola color. Turn the heat down to low and slowly pour in the warm stock, whisking energetically. Add the tomato paste and wine and whisk until the paste has dissolved. Pop the fried vegetables and lardons back into the pan, add the bouquet garni, and simmer gently for 15 minutes. Pour the sauce through a sieve, add the cayenne, and taste for seasoning. Set aside until needed.
*

TO MAKE THE MASH:
Put the potatoes on to boil in salted water for 15–20 minutes until tender.

Drain the potatoes, put back into the pan, and heat, stirring constantly, until dry. Once the potatoes have stopped steaming, push them through a potato ricer or food mill. Mix with the butter and add enough warm milk to make a smooth, creamy mash. Season with nutmeg and a little salt.

Meanwhile, melt the butter in a large nonstick frying pan and fry the shallots until soft. Add the shallots to the sauce and use the same pan to fry the sausages for 6–8 minutes or until cooked through. Turn them occasionally so that they become evenly browned on all sides.

To serve, reheat the sauce and pour over the sausages and mash.

*
The sauce will keep for several days in an airtight container in the fridge, and it can also be frozen.

Preparation time: 30 minutes Cooking time: 45
–
50 minutes

Snacking between meals is not really the done thing in France. Even French food adverts come with a slogan:
Pour être en forme, évitez de grignoter dans la journée
(to stay in shape, avoid snacking during the day). However,
le goûter
is an exception. Similar to the British afternoon tea, it's a little less formal—no cream teas with scones here. A simple sweet or savory snack around 4 p.m. lets the French
avoir la pêche
(“have the peach,” or be in great form).

My first job in Paris taught me a thing or two about the way of life in the City of Light. Working for a French Scottish family, looking after two girls, gave me a great insight. They were more than happy to show me the French way of doing things, and I quickly learned that
le goûter
is an essential part of daily life, especially for French kids. Mothers, grandmothers, and nannies would be waiting at the school gates with a snack in hand or would pop by the local
boulangerie
to pick one up.

Le goûter
is not just for kids, though; adults need their afternoon pick-me-up too! I love all the recipes in this chapter, but a particular favorite snack has to be a simple
pain au chocolat
—not the flaky croissant type more usually eaten for breakfast but, quite simply, a piece of bread (fresh crusty baguette works best) stuffed with a piece of good-quality chocolate (dark or milk, follow your taste buds, it doesn't really matter). This is something I came across during my time as a nanny and it's probably not the healthiest snack, but then
le goûter
is also about indulging oneself a little. And the French are the absolute masters at that . . .

Croque Monsieur
is essentially a toasted cheese and ham sandwich. Put a fried egg on top and you've got a
Croque Madame
(the egg is supposed to resemble a lady's hat). What makes the difference between a toasted cheese and ham sandwich and a
Croque Monsieur
is the cheese—in a
Croque Monsieur
it comes in the form of a creamy cheese sauce. And boy, does this make a difference!

My version of
Croque Madame
uses the bread as a muffin cup to contain the delicious cheese sauce and egg. Great as a snack, or have it with a green salad and fries, as they serve it in French cafés.

MAKES 6

For the Mornay (cheese) sauce:
1 tbsp butter • 1 tbsp all-purpose flour • ¾ cup plus 1 tbsp milk, lukewarm • ½ tsp Dijon mustard • ½ tsp nutmeg • ¼ cup grated Gruyère or mature Comté cheese (or a strong hard cheese like Parmesan or mature Cheddar) • salt and pepper

• 6 large slices of white bread, no crusts • 3 tbsp butter, melted • 2½ oz ham, cut into cubes or thin strips • 6 small eggs

TO MAKE THE SAUCE:
Melt the butter in a pan over a medium heat. Add the flour and beat hard until you have a smooth paste. Take off the heat and leave to cool for 2 minutes, then gradually add the milk, whisking constantly. Place the pan back over a medium heat, add the mustard and nutmeg, and simmer gently for 10 minutes, whisking frequently to stop the sauce burning on the bottom of the pan. Once the sauce thickens and has the consistency of a thick tomato sauce, take it off the heat. Add the cheese (keep a little for the garnish) and taste for seasoning. If the sauce is too thick, add a little more milk. If it's lumpy, pass it through a sieve.