My Little French Kitchen: Over 100 Recipes from the Mountains, Market Squares, and Shores of France by Rachel Khoo is a delicious journey through six different regions of France.
Disclosure: I received a sample book for review from Raincoast Books. All opinions expressed are completely honest and my own, based on my personal experience. Your experience may differ.
My Little French Kitchen book with my marked recipes! |
Having grown up in France myself, I enjoyed reading about Rachel Khoo's experiences in all the areas of France she visited, especially Provence and Alsace. The adorable illustrations throughout are drawn by Rachel.
Provence ~ I love her illustrations and maps throughout the cookbook |
I chose three recipes to try right away from this cookbook. Each recipe I tested was very well written with clear instructions and always a lovely personal introduction.
Provencal Vegetable Bake about to go in the oven! |
The first recipe I tried was Tian Provencal, which is Provencal Vegetable Bake. Provence is the region I lived from the age of 5 to 18 when I moved across the Atlantic. There are many wonderful recipes I want to make in this section!
The introduction explains that you might remember this dish from Ratatouille. It looks very similar to the dish Remy the rat helps Linguine make for the restaurant critic. A true ratatouille isn't like this dish though, even though it does use the same vegetables. Anyway, this was delicious and very tasty with onions, garlic, zucchini (from my garden!), eggplant, tomatoes, and a bit of fresh thyme (also from my garden).
Ingredients for the Provencal Vegetable Bake (top) ~ Ready to eat! (bottom) |
There were many recipes I wanted to test in this cookbook, so many that reminded me of my childhood!
One I absolutely knew I had to make right away was the Croquettes. These are potato nuggets and a dish my maternal grandmother made regularly when I visited her. It is a great dish to use up leftovers. I made mine very simple with cheddar cheese, but you could add vegetables, meat, and different types of cheese to the mashed potatoes. This recipe was in the Lyon section of the book, but I think this is a dish made all over France. My grandparents lived south of Bordeaux, on a little farm. I loved spending my summers there with them.
One I absolutely knew I had to make right away was the Croquettes. These are potato nuggets and a dish my maternal grandmother made regularly when I visited her. It is a great dish to use up leftovers. I made mine very simple with cheddar cheese, but you could add vegetables, meat, and different types of cheese to the mashed potatoes. This recipe was in the Lyon section of the book, but I think this is a dish made all over France. My grandparents lived south of Bordeaux, on a little farm. I loved spending my summers there with them.
My croquettes weren't picture perfect but they were very yummy. My husband told me I could make these anytime. He really liked them!
Croquettes |
The third recipe I tried was Boules de neige a la noix de coco, which is coconut snowballs. A really great cookie which only uses 4 ingredients: egg whites, lemon juice, sugar, coconut flakes, and a pinch of salt. These are delicious and popular, especially in the Alsace region of France, which was where I was born.
Strasbourg, where I was born! |
Snowball cookies ingredients (top) ~ Ready to eat for our Poetry Tea Time (bottom) |
I can't wait to make more of the recipes in Rachel Khoo's My Little French Kitchen and introduce my family to more dishes I grew up with in France! It will be great to make these with Celeste since she is really enjoying cooking lately! There are several vegetarian recipes and I will make the meat ones for my family. I only became vegetarian 3 years ago so I remember many of the dishes featured in this cookbook.
My Little French Kitchen is a wonderful cookbook that introduces us (or re-introduces) to every day French home cooking!
My Little French Kitchen is a wonderful cookbook that introduces us (or re-introduces) to every day French home cooking!
You can find My Little French Kitchen by Rachel Khoo at:
and check your local bookstore!
Disclosure: I received a sample book for review from Raincoast Books. All opinions expressed are completely honest and my own, based on my personal experience. Your experience may differ.
Comments
Post a Comment