Any good French Recipes you wanna share?

M&M's Mommy

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#1
Our company has another cooking contest. This time, it has an "International cruisines" theme, and my department was assigned "French Cruisine". No one in my department is French, so we're little bit worry :eek:. We've put "French Toast" & "French Fries" on our entry form ;), but we still need to come up with something ... French!

We need to make 1 appertizer (we're thinking crepes), 1 main dish (we're clueless right now), and 1 desert (we're thinking flan or creme brulee).

Do you have any suggestion/receipe for French food that you can share with me?

PS: By the way, we got second price on our last Chili Cook-off :) - and we want to win first price this time :eek:

So please help!
 

M&M's Mommy

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#3
OOOOOhhhh.. Thank you veryyyyyy much!

This time I'll make sure to take pictures. Last time, our Chili was soooo good. I thought it deserved first price :eek: - but some said it's a little too spicy :eek: & we thought Chili's supposed to be spicy.. but oh well, hopefully we'll do better this time!
 

Charliesmommy

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#7
Coq au vin is really yummy. It is just chicken cooked in wine. (Anything can be french if you just give it a french name!)

Here's a recipe I googled:

Ideally a rooster, or 1 or 2 chickens (1.5kg, 3.5 lb), cut into 8 pieces or more
1/2 bottle of full-body Burgundy red wine (or Cotes du Rhone)
6 bacon slices (5 oz), diced
0.5 lb (250g) button mushrooms
A dozen small white onions
2-3 cloves of garlic, mashed
2 carrots, peeled and quartered
Sunflower oil, unsalted butter
Bouquet of herbs: 2 sprigs of thyme and 1 bay leaf, tied all together with string
Parsley
Salt and pepper

If cooking the same day, add:
1/4 cup of cognac or brandy
Buy ingredients at the grocery and gourmet store




Coq au Vin Recipe (serve 6)

Step 1: A day in advance, clean and cut the rooster/chicken in 8 pieces or more. Pour half a bottle of red Burgundy wine over.

Step 2: Add the small white onions, the quartered peeled carrots and the herbs. Cover and put in the fridge.

Step 3: The next day, remove and drain the chicken and vegetables. Put the wine aside for later use.

Step 4: Brown the chicken pieces with oil in a skillet. Remove the chicken. Using the same skillet, add garlic to the vegetables and heat for a couple of minutes

Step 5: Put the chicken and the vegetables in a large sauce pan. Pour the wine and add salt and pepper

Step 6: Bring to a boil at moderate heat.

Step 7: Cover and cook at low heat for 1 or 2 hours

Step 8: Heat bacon, onion and mushrooms in a skillet until brown (10 minutes)

Step 9: When the chicken is ready, add bacon, onion and mushrooms in the pan, cook and stir for 2 or 3 minutes. Taste and correct the seasoning,

Step 10: Add parsley to the chicken when finish. Prepare rice or potatoes to serve with Coq au vin.

Alternate version for cooking the same day:
In step 5, do not pour the wine in the pan now. Pour instead cognac or brandy over the chicken. Ignite the spirit with a match. Be extra careful the heat is off and your face away. Shake the pan for a few seconds. You can now pour the wine in the pan and follow the recipe as indicated.
 

bubbatd

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#8
^^^^ a good choice .... but I'd use Cornish Hens . Wild rice too !
 

Barb04

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#9
OK, I think I need another cup of coffee because all that came to my mind this morning was French Fries! Sorry, I guess it's the morning air.
 

Fran27

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#10
Yeah the stuff on that site isn't so easy lol.

Coq au vin is what came to my mind too. Fondues are easy too though, but not sure it would work to make at a company.
 

Dizzy

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#13
I think of France and nothing really springs to mind as a typically french dish.... Not sure why.

I associate france with bread more than anything else.

They do have amazing produce... The veg is usually so tasty.
 

ToscasMom

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#14
How about beef_bourguignon? Here is Julia Child's recipe and I have done it. It's a little work but it is absolutely delicious.


6 oz of blanched bacon
2 to 3 Tbsp cooking oil
4 lbs trimmed beef chuck, cut into 2-inch cubes
Salt and freshly ground pepper
2 cups sliced onions
1 cup sliced carrots
1 bottle of red wine (such as a zinfandel or Chianti)
2 cups beef stock or canned beef broth
1 cup chopped tomatoes, fresh or canned
1 medium herb bouquet (tie 8 parsley sprigs, 1 large bay leaf, 1 tsp dried thyme, 2 whole cloves or allspice berries, and 3 large cloves of smashed garlic together in cheesecloth)

Beurre manié for the sauce: 3 Tbsp flour blended to a paste with 2 Tbsp butter
For the garnish: 24 small brown-braised white onions and 3 cups sautéed quartered mushrooms (sautéed in butter and oil, start with at least 4 cups of raw quartered mushrooms, about 1 lb and a half)

1 Blanch the bacon to remove its smoky taste. Drop bacon slices into 2 quarts of cold water, bring to a boil, and simmer 6 to 8 minutes. Drain, rinse in cold water, and dry on paper towels.

2 In a large frying pan, saute the blanched bacon to brown slightly in a little oil; set them aside and add later to simmer with the beef, using the rendered fat in browning. Brown the chunks of beef on all sides in the bacon fat and oil, season with salt and pepper, and turn them into a heavy casserole pan. Add the bacon to the casserole pan as well.

3 Remove all but a little fat from the frying pan, add the sliced vegetables and brown them, and add to the meat. Deglaze the pan with wine, pouring it into the casserole along with enough stock to almost cover the meat. Stir in the tomatoes and add the herb bouquet. Bring to a simmer, cover, and simmer slowly on the lowest heat possible, either on the stove or in a preheated 325°F oven, until the meat is tender. Check at about 40 minutes.

4 Remove all solids from the sauce (except the beef) by draining through a colander set over a saucepan. Return the beef to the casserole. Press juices out of the residue into the cooking liquid, then degrease and boil down the liquid to 3 cups. Off heat, whisk in the beurre manié, then simmer for 2 minutes as the sauce thickens lightly. Correct seasoning and pour over the meat, folding in the onions and mushrooms. To serve, bring to a simmer, basting meat and vegetables with the sauce for several minutes until hot throughout.

Serve with rice, bread, or potatoes (unless you are doing the low-carb version!).
 

Fran27

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#15
Serve with rice, bread, or potatoes (unless you are doing the low-carb version!).
Never ever seen that served with rice! Potatoes definitely though.

Some typical French dishes would be cassoulet and choucroute, but good luck finding the right sausages here.

And veal oscar, never eaten it in France either.
 
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#16
Other than French dressing on the French fires, my mind is blank. You could just throw a roast in a slow cooker, dump a bottle of French dressing on it and cook it on low for 6 hours - then give it a French name.
 

Dizzy

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#17
There's always charcuterie.

That's often on the menu's.

And cheese.

They also have McDonalds every 100 yards. I'd say that was typically french now :)

I do love France though... Hopefully it'll be a home from home in the not too distant future ;)
 

M&M's Mommy

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#18
Thanks for all the suggestions. I will present them to our meeting next Monday & will let you guys know if any recipes get picked by everyone in my department - We have 9, including myself.

We were so envy with other department in the company that were assigned Italian, Chinese, Philippino, Mexican, Greek, & Indian Foods. French seems to be the hardest & just by pure luck, it got assigned to us (by drawing)!

I work for a pharmaceuticals company, but one of the VPs used to be a head chef, so she really likes cooking :) - Thus we have many cooking-related contest over the years. This contest will be on Halloween day, coupled with the costume contest :)

I guess we prove that doctors & scientists can have fun, too :eek:
 

Fran27

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#19
Other than French dressing on the French fires, my mind is blank. You could just throw a roast in a slow cooker, dump a bottle of French dressing on it and cook it on low for 6 hours - then give it a French name.
And none of them are French, by the way.
 

Gustav

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#20
Potatoes Dauphinoise, Cassoulet, Obviously Escargot (Snails) and Cuisses de grenouilles (frogs legs), Depends on the region to be honest, because in the Limousin they make this amazing thing called.. Pâté aux pommes de terre.. It's YUMMM! Oh, and Clafoutis! Oh, oh.. Drooling now.. Chicken Provençale, I could go on forever..
 

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