FRENCH MARKET RECIPES
French Market Recipe 2026 02 Oranges givrees au Grand Marnier Frosted oranges with Grand Marnier
This week’s recipe is an easy, refreshing dessert recipe for lunchtime on a hot summer’s day. It does not require much skill and the iced orange juice with the hint of Grand Marnier is most refreshing. Pair with a glass of Grand Marnier and some macarons.
French Market Recipe 2026 01 Gazpacho Chilled tomato soup
A chilled soup is perfect for this hot sunny weather so for my recipe this week I am sharing a recipe for a quick and easy chilled tomato gazpacho made with some Fallot mustard. See recipe below. Pair with a glass of Tio Pepe Fino Sherry available at our shop.
French Market Recipe 2025 45 Galette des Rois by Chef Raymond Blanc Kings’ Cake
Today’s recipe is a Galette des Rois (The Kings’ cake) from one of the great French chef’s Raymond Blanc. Raymond decided to become a chef when he looked through the window of the Michelin starred restaurant, Le Palais de la Biere, and saw a waiter flambéing a crepe Suzette, he was so intrigued that he made the decision to learn to be a chef at that moment. What I so admire about Raymond is that he worked his way up from washing dishes to being one of the most recognised chefs in the world. Inheriting his mother’s love of cooking good food, made with fresh produce grown in the surrounding French countryside, he took his passion and created a world class restaurant Belmond Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons, which has been recognised with a 2 Michelin star for years.
French Market Recipe 2025 44 Buche de Noel aux marrons Gluten free Christmas Log cake made with chestnut puree
We have lots of chestnut products in stock for your Xmas recipes, unsweetened puree, sweetened puree and whole cooked chestnuts. Chestnuts make a good alternative to flour. This week I am sharing a recipe for a gluten free Buche de Noel made with chestnut puree, butter and chocolate.
French Market Recipe 2025 43 Bouchee a la Reine The Queen’s mouthfuls
For easy canapes you can use our readymade “Bouchée a la reine” (mini sized vols aux vents cases with a savoury filling) to make an easy, bite sized treat to accompany cocktails. In the 1700s the chef of French Queen Marie Leszczynska created these bite sized treats for the queen to enjoy and called them “Bouchee a la Reine” (the queen’s mouthful). The larger size vols aux vents (fly in the wind) can be used to make a main course. Whilst you can make any filling, here is one with ham, cheese and mushroom in a bechamel sauce.
French Market Recipe 2025 42 Le vrai Pudding de Noel The real Christmas pudding
For my recipe this week I am sharing my favourite traditional Christmas Pudding recipe. It should be made well before Christmas, so the flavours develop. Most important is a good Cognac, try some of our Cognac Frapin 1270. It is smooth and has a great depth of flavour, you can also have a swig or two of the Cognac as you prepare the pudding. Pairing is easy – a glass or 3 of Cognac.
French Market Recipe 2025 41 Saumon sauce citron beurre Salmon with lemon butter sauce
For my recipe this week I am sharing an easy dish of fillet of fried salmon with a beautiful lemon and French butter sauce. The sauce is made from thin slices of fresh lemon, salted capers and basil tossed in French butter. This is quick to make and tastes great. You can accompany the dish with steamed noodles made from courgettes or a side dish of mashed potato if you want a meal with more substance.
French Market Recipe 2025 40 Souffle à l’Emmental Emmental Cheese souffle
For my recipe this week I am sharing one of my favourite dishes, a cheese soufflé made with Emmental. The secret to a good soufflé is to ensure that you don’t get any yolk mixed in with the egg white prior to whisking the egg whites. The bowl you use for whisking must be dry and wide. Suggest you try pairing with a glass of Le Mesnil Blanc de Blanc Champagne.
French Market Recipe 2025 39 Croustade de chevre et tomates Goat’s cheese and tomato toasts
For my recipe this week I decided to share a quick and easy recipe for grilled Buche de Chevre, goat’s cheese and baby tomato toasts. This can be served as an aperitif or as a light main course. I suggest pairing this with a glass of Cheval Noir Sauvignon Blanc, a regional wine produced by Mahler Besse in Bordeaux.
French Market Recipe 2025 38 Crumble de framboises Raspberry crumble
For my recipe this week I thought I would use seasonal fresh raspberries which are easy to find now as the weather warms up. This is an easy crumble with raspberries instead of apple. It only takes a few minutes to prepare and tastes delicious. Serve it with a slice of Triple Cream delice and a glass of Dry Prosecco available at our store.
French Market Recipe 2025 38 Pommes de terre Duchesse Duchess potatoes
For my recipe this week, I am sharing a side dish which I will serve with my asparagus recipe from last week. This is Pommes de terre Duchesse, a classic French recipe for mashed potato. This is a great side dish for a creamy main course.
French Market Recipe 2025 38 Canapes de concombre et caviar Cucumber and caviar canapes
For my recipe this week I am sharing with you a light canape (cocktail snack) to serve with drinks, especially if this is before dinner, because guests can lose their appetites if they have too much before the meal. Also good for guests who are watching their carb intake as the cucumber base makes a great substitute for a bread or pastry base. This canape is quick and easy, using cucumber bases topped with a mixture of avocados and cream cheese, topped with caviar which we have in stock at the shop. It takes only a few minutes to assemble, looks most attractive, and tastes great. You can substitute the caviar with our Keta wild salmon pink roe, or the Black Lumpfish roe instead of the caviar. See recipe below. Pair this with a glass of Louis Roederer Rose champagne, it is delicious and its available in our shop.
French Market Recipe 2025 37 Asperges blanches à la sauce de Cantal White asparagus with Cantal sauce
This week’s recipe is white asparagus coated with a delicious creamy, fondue style sauce made with some tart flavoured Cantal cheese and a dash of Kirsch (Eau de Vie from black cherries). I recommend that you mop up the sauce with chunks of baguettes and pair it with a glass of De La Doucette Pouilly Fume, as the unique flinty flavour in this sauvignon blanc wine pairs well with the earthy flavour of the asparagus.
French Market Recipe 2025 36 Blanc de poulet à la crème d’artichaut Chicken breast with artichoke cream sauce
For my recipe this week I have to share a recipe with artichokes while we are in the heart of the season. This recipe is very simple and has subtle flavours. I combined artichoke hearts with fresh cream and a lemon, to make a delicious sauce for chicken breasts. It is easy to make, and the taste is very delicate. This dish goes beautifully with fresh tagliatelle or roast potatoes.
French Market Recipe 2025 35 Cuisses de canard au Cassis Duck legs with Cassis
We have plenty of frozen Confit de canard in stock, this is slow cooked ducks legs in duck fat. We are offering a special discount on the 4 leg packs. One of my favourite meat dishes is duck in any form or shape. This week’s recipe is slow cooked ducks’ legs in a red wine marinade then basted them with blueberry jam. This recipe can be prepared the day before serving, then the duck is reheated and basted prior to serving. I used sweetish vegetables to accompany the dish, baby carrots in honey and mashed potato mixed with puree of chestnuts. I suggest you pair this dish with a Kir (glass of chardonnay flavoured with a spoonful of Crème de Cassis).
French Market Recipe 2025 35 Vols aux vents aux poisson Vols aux vents with fish filling
For this week’s recipe I decided to share a really easy dish using our ready-made vols aux vents from Holland and a creamy fish filling. I suggest pairing this dish with our dry rose from Languedoc made by Gerard Bertrand.
French Market Recipe 2025 34 Feves aux lardons Broad beans with bacon
My recipe this week is a seasonal dish made with broad beans. Feve is the name for a broad bean in French (it can also mean a token) this dish is really easy, combining fresh broad beans served with lardons (chunky little pieces of bacon) topped with a poached egg. Pair with a glass of Gustave Lorentz Riesling from Alsace.
French Market Recipe 2025 33 Posset de citron Lemon Posset
My recipe this week is made with the beautiful lemons that are currently in season in the Western Cape. This Posset recipe harks back to Medieval times, when a hot drink was made with milk or ale and spices, and was often served as a medicinal drink to help one sleep. From the 16th century Possets were made with cream and lemons and have stayed the same ever since. This is an ancient but simple recipe for a delicious, thick creamy dessert. It can be served in an attractive cocktail glass or shot glass. It is easy to prepare and has a wonderful texture with a fresh, lemon flavour from our organic lemons. It can be served on its own or accompanied by sweet biscuits such as our Biscuits Roses from Rheims. Pair with a glass of Louis Roederer Rose champagne.
French Market Recipe 2025 32 Biscuits sales au Comte Comte cheese biscuits
My recipe this week is crunchy Comte cheese biscuits that you can take on your picnic. Very quick and easy to make and really delicious. I love the taste of toasted cheese combined with the flavour of sesame seeds. The best cheese to use is a strong, hard cheese, I prefer Comte or Gruyere. You can keep the raw pastry in the freezer until you need it, when you have unexpected guests drop in. You can increase or decrease the quantity in this recipe as long as you use equal quantities of the ingredients. I would pair these with the Louis Latour Valmoissine Chardonnay.
French Market Recipe 2025 31 Crumble aux pommes et Cognac Apple crumble with Cognac brandy
This week I decided to share a really simple recipe for a winter warming dessert, an apple crumble, the secret to achieving the best flavour is by using French butter in the recipe, then dousing the apples in Cognac. Pair this with a glass of our excellent Frapin Cognac 1270. It will warm you up on a chilly winter day.
French Market Recipe 2025 30 Lentilles de Puy aux œufs mollets et Parmesan Puy lentils with soft boiled eggs and parmigiano
For my recipe this week I am sharing a winter warming dish made with one of the unique produces grown in France, the green lentils from Puy. These are my favourite lentils because they have a lovely peppery flavour, they don’t go mushy when cooked and they make me feel healthy because they are rich in protein. Their uniqueness comes from the valley where they have been grown since pre-Roman times, Le-Puy-en-Velay in the Haute Loire, which has a microclimate with low humidity due to the surrounding old volcanoes. They are naturally cultivated without extra watering or fertilisers. Unlike other lentils their skin is very thin due to the lack of humidity, so they do not need to be soaked beforehand. Because their uniqueness is due to their origin, they are certified both AOC and AOP. This week I am sharing a simple country dish made with fresh herbs and topped it with our 18 months aged Parmigiano Reggiano and medium soft-boiled eggs (mollet).
French Market Recipe 2025 29 Amuse-Bouche de vols aux vents au Brie Mini pastries filled with Brie & Amuse-Bouche chevre cremeux au truffe noir Creamy goat’s cheese with black truffle topped with truffle honey
For my recipe this week I am sharing two more easy to make Amuse bouches (bite sized treats). One is the delicious Picandou creamy goats’ cheese flavoured with truffle, topped with toasted walnuts and drizzled with truffle flavoured honey from Italy. The other Amuse bouche is small chunks of brie baked in mini vols aux vents, then topped with a fig and truffle preserve. These are really easy to make!
French Market Recipe 2025 28 Amuse-Bouche de La Truffe Noir d’hiver & d’œuf mayonnaise a la moutarde de Truffe
This weekend my friends and I made one of our amazing wine pairing meals. I was delegated to make the starters. With our locally grown fresh black winter truffles in season, I used truffle flavours as the theme. I created 4 amuse bouches (bite size portions) from ingredients in my shop. The first was slices of fresh baguette topped with a thin layer of our salt crystal butter from Brittany, topped with a thin slice of fresh black winter truffle. According to President Mitterand, this is the best way to enjoy the flavour of a fresh truffle. The second amuse bouche was egg mayonnaise made with our free range, pasture raised farm eggs and mayonnaise made with truffle flavoured mustard. Spread on a slice of fresh baguette and sprinkled with truffle flavoured salt. They were delicious. I will tell you about the third and fourth recipes in my next newsletter.
French Market Recipe 2025 27 Amuse-Bouche de Brie et moutarde à l’ancienne Deep fried Brie with old fashioned wholegrain mustard dip
Amuse Bouche is the French name for a tasty nibble, literally something that entertains your mouth. For my recipe this week I decided on a winter warmer Amuse Bouche that can be served as a nibble around the fire or as a starter course, this recipe is deep fried balls of Brie served with a tangy dip of Edmon Fallot’s traditional wholegrain mustard. The brie is coated with breadcrumbs and quickly deep fried in oil. It is crunchy on the outside and gooey on the inside. The gentle flavour of the Brie pairs well with the tangy taste of the mustard. I suggest pairing with a glass of Bollinger Cuvee Special.
French Market Recipe 2025 26 Topinambours rotis Jerusalem artichokes roasted
The Jerusalem artichokes are back in season, these are also called Topinambours in French, possibly derived from the name of a Brazilian tribe that visited Paris. Widely grown in North America they were introduced to France in the 1600s. Apparently, they are popular in recipes for diabetics as they contain Inulin which converts to fructose instead of glucose. I decided to do a really simple recipe roasting sliced Jerusalem Artichokes with garlic served with a side dip of mayonnaise. It is delicious and so easy to make. See recipe below. I suggest pairing with the Gustave Lorentz Riesling from Alsace available from our shop.