Making a French cheese tart is — dare I say it? — as easy as pie. And it can also be creative if you put your own imprint on this classic dish by combining the cheeses of your choice. Of course, if you want to keep it French, then Comté is the cheese most often used over here — either on its own or mixed with another French cheese. For example, chèvre (goat cheese), Epoisses (a Burgundy cheese) or Roquefort, as shown in the photo.
Tarte au fromage / Savory cheese tart
Preparation is quick, particularly if you use store-bought pâte feuillétée (puff pastry) — although you’ll get more oohs and aahs if you make the pastry yourself, preferably a pâte brisée (all-butter savory crust). Once the pastry is in the tart pan, you merely need to grate or crumble the cheese(s), mix together some eggs, milk and cream, add a dash of salt, pepper and nutmeg, assemble the tart and pop it into the oven.
You may be wondering why I’m calling this a tart and not a quiche. Good question. The answer is that a French quiche tends to be deeper and fluffier, while a savory tarte is thinner and denser. And let’s not forget about the tourte — a French pie with a top crust.
Regular readers of this blog may have noticed that this is my first post in quite a while. I’ve been absent due to circumstances beyond my control — three broken vertebrae. This has limited my activities in the kitchen. I had originally been planning a more complex dish for this post, namely bo bun, a Vietnamese beef-noodle salad that is wildly popular in Paris. That will come next time. This time, I chose to make something simpler.
I guess it was a success because barely had the cheese tart come out of the oven when my daughter and her friends went on the attack. I quickly took a photo before they demolished it entirely, and also placed a slice on a plate to be photographed later, when I had time. I stashed the slice at the back of the fridge, hidden under foil, but when I went to retrieve it, it had already disappeared. Had to laugh about that…
This cheese tart is versatile. You can serve it as the main course of a light meal, perhaps accompanied by a salad; as the starter of a more substantial meal; or cut into thin slices or squares as a palate-teaser at cocktail hour. It is best served warm, and will be enhanced by wine, for example a hearty red or a fruity white from the region of one of the cheeses.
Happy cooking.
Is there a truly French version of eggs Benedict, or is this dish — which has taken Paris by storm — just a copy of the American original? The basic recipe of poached eggs, Canadian bacon, English muffin and hollandaise sauce has been ‘Frenchified’ over the years. The most surprising variation, oeufs bénédictine, was created by the great chef Auguste Escoffier in 1903 and consists of truffled 
Sea bass and finocchio marry well. In this combo from Provence, fillets of roasted sea bass are served with a tian of potatoes, finocchio, garlic and fresh thyme. But what, you may ask, is a tian? Well, it’s two things. First, it’s the name of an earthenware cooking dish typical of Provence. Second, it’s the food cooked in the dish, generally sliced veggies drizzled with olive oil. Happily you do not need a tian (dish) to make a tian (baked veggies).
If serving the sea bass with the tian, you’ll want to get that going first. The potatoes and finocchio are finely sliced and layered into a baking dish with minced garlic, salt, freshly ground black pepper and thyme. I highly recommend using 
This deeply flavorful, earthy dish of rice, lentils, caramelized onions and spices can be found at Lebanese market stalls and restaurants in Paris and is easy to make at home. The ingredients are cooked separately, spices are added and everything is combined at the end, with more fried onions on top. I’ve served it twice recently — with shawarma chicken and with 
Let’s see off the winter with a bowl of creamy mushroom soup, a classic French recipe lightened in this version by using a mixture of cream and milk instead of pure cream. A dash of lemon juice adds tang, and herbs also brighten the flavor. The soup is hearty enough to make a fine main dish at lunchtime, perhaps followed by a salad, and can be served as a first course at dinner or in small glasses as a palate teaser at cocktail hour.
So, yes, velouté de champignons is comfort food. Never mind the calories, we still need comfort food here in Paris, having just gone through 
Le crumble is hardly a French invention, yet it has become wildly popular in this country, with apple crumble topping the list of favorites. So in honor of Valentine’s Day I’m offering you this delightful dessert — sweets to the sweet, dear readers. The recipe is simple: peel the apples, chop them, pile into a baking pan, add a butter-flour-and-sugar topping, and bake. When the crumble comes out of the oven, you’ll find that 
Mussels filled with garlicky parsley butter and baked until bubbly and golden make a great start to a meal. They may be served with cocktails as a palate teaser (amuse-bouche) or as a first course at the table. By taking care not to overcook the mussels, you will ensure that each mouthful not only bursts with flavor, but is tender as well. And this dish is fun to make. Pop the mussels into the oven as your guests are arriving and prepare for applause.
Coq au Riesling is chicken in a creamy mushroom sauce made with Riesling, a dry but slightly fruity wine from Alsace. While the dish was traditionally made with rooster (coq), chicken is now commonly used. For one thing, roosters are far tougher than chickens and take a long time to cook. For another, it’s not always easy to find a rooster — even in France, where it’s the national symbol! Meantime, today marks the start of an innovative herbal collaboration between EFC and a climate-aware online garden shop. Details below.
For our first collaborative foray, 
When walking in Paris in winter, one is likely to encounter a café chalkboard proposing grog au rhum, the French version of a rum toddy. This ubiquitous drink is popular not only because of its alleged healing qualities – it is said to be a remedy for the common cold and associated ailments – but also because it is warming and tasty, a great pick-me-up in nippy weather. And the beauty is that it may be made at home in a matter of minutes.
And so we end the year with an ultra French, ultra elegant starter of sea scallops in Champagne sauce to grace your table during the festive season. The scallops are sautéed in butter, deglazed with Champagne, bathed in a creamy, buttery Champagne sauce and decorated with fresh herbs. The amount of Champagne needed is equivalent to about one flute, so you can serve the rest of the bottle to your guests to get the festivities off to a merry start.
