Deep fried eggplant balls is a classic recipe from the South of Italy, flavoured with basil, garlic and Parmesan, even the fuzziest children will devour those delightful vegetable bites. They are perfect to serve as a starter, on a buffet table or as canapes. Make sure you read the recipe before you make them. Here…
Starters
Black Olives Tapenade Recipe
Tapenade is an olive paste usually served over some crostini bread or bruschette. It is a mix of black olives, anchovies, garlic, capers, thyme, lemon juice and extra-virgin olive oil. This is the traditional recipe from Provence, but ingredients and flavors are added or changed all the times. This recipe has a perfect balance of…
Socca or Farinata: Chickpea Pancakes
Farinata, Socca, Pannella and who knows how many other names, it is a typical street food in many Mediterranean countries simply made with chickpeas flour and water cooked over a wood fire. It seems that its origins are from the Roman Empire in Genova when a ship full of chickpeas flour and oil got caught…
Rissole à la Dauphine
Escoffier uses rissole as a generic term for starters which includes a filling made of salpicon wrapped in a pastry that can be of different kinds: brioche pastry without sugar, puff pastry or short pastry, usually, fried. Salpicon is a generic term for a mix of different ingredients minced and combined with a sauce. I took this…
Vol Au Vent Also Called Bouchée à la Reine
Bouchée à la Reine is what we generically call Vol au vent, which means flying with the wind, named after its light flaky pastry. While the Vol au vent was originally a large pastry to cut in portions and share, the Bouchée à la Reine is small, the size of a bite perfect for a buffet…
Cheese Gougère Bourguignonne
Cheese Gougère Bourguignonne are puff pastries where sugar is replaced by cheese and milk by water. They are perfect for a buffet table because they can be served at room temperature and can be done the day before. I took this recipe from Auguste Escoffier famous book The Gougere Bourgignonne is filled with cheese and shaped…
Pissaladiere Nicoise
Pissaladiere is a traditional recipe from the South of France, sold in many bakeries as a starter or snack. It is a pizza base topped by Mediterranean caramelized onions, anchovies and olives. The name comes from Latin and means salty fish, the anchovies are definitely the main ingredients. The anchovies filets are arranged over the Pissaladiere to…
Spring Starter Flans With Wild Asparagus
As soon as Spring starts, grab a basket and venture into the forest, wild asparagus are shooting up among the dead leaves. Small and with a slightly bitter taste, there are so many ways you can use these unique early Spring vegetables. You can find wild asparagus in the forests of the Cote d’Azur, among…
Puntarelle alla Romana With Anchovies And Garlic
Puntarelle alla Romana is a classic Roman dish, Puntarelle are the shoots of the chicory cut very thin and seasoned with garlic and anchovies paste. Puntarelle are not easy to find here in France but you can replace them with endives. I went to Ventimiglia market to buy them, and beside the puntarelle I found some other unusual…
A Captivating Vegetable Romanesco Recipe
The complexity and beauty of this vegetable are so intriguing, I had to come up with a Romanesco recipe that preserves and enhances its captivating fractal design. This vegetable is a cross between broccoli and cauliflowers. Not only it is beautiful to watch but it is also delicious to eat. It has a sweet nutty…