Culinary Adventures Around the World - France

We are cooking our way around the world and have finally arrived in France.  Since I started this long-term project over a year ago (you can read here about how it all began), long before I had a blog, most of the countries do not yet have posts done on them.  So far these are the countries I have made a dinner for:

• Ireland (see the recipe here)
• England
• Norway (see the recipe here)
• Russia
• The Ukraine
• Poland
• Germany
• Switzerland
• Italy (see the recipes here)
• and now France

I made two recipes from France - Salade Nicoise and Seafood Stuffed Crepes.  They both were very highly rated by everyone in the family, so I'm sure I'll be making them again, especially the salad.  I'm not sure why I never made the Salade Nicoise before, as it is anything but complicated, but now I have.

I used a Salade Nicoise recipe from MediterrAsian.com (What a fabulous site - chock full of heart-healthy recipes.)  Here is the recipe:

SALADE NICOISE

Salad Ingredients:

2 small potatoes - peeled and cut into bite-sized pieces

16 green beans - ends trimmed and halved

4 cups lettuce leaves 

14 oz (420 g) canned light tuna in olive oil - drained and broken into chunks

2 tomatoes - cut into wedges

1/4 red onion - thinly sliced and rings separated

4 anchovy fillets -halved lengthways and cut into pieces

3 eggs - hard-boiled, peeled and quartered

16 black pitted olives

For the dressing:

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons white wine vinegar

1 clove garlic - minced

1/2 teaspoon dijon mustard

salt and pepper to taste

Method:

Cook the potatoes until tender (10 minutes), adding the beans for the last 5 minutes of cooking, then set aside to cool.

Arrange the lettuce, potatoes, beans, tuna, tomatoes, onion, anchovies, eggs, and olives on plates.

Place all the dressing ingredients in a jar and shake well.

Pour the dressing over the salad and serve.

I had a little more difficulty with the seafood stuffed crepe recipe as I had to put together a few different recipes, so I'll give you what I made, since it worked really well.

CREPES (from The Canadian Living Cookbook, 1987).

Ingredients:
3 large eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup water
2 tbsp melted butter
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt

Directions:
1. Combine all ingredients and blend until smooth in a food processor.
2. Cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour.  Stir before cooking.
3. Heat crepe pan (or frying pan) over meduim heat, brush pan with butter before cooking each crepe.  Use a 1/4 cup measure to pour batter into pan, tilting pan so batter covers bottom.
4.  Cook about 1 minute or until lightly browned, turn and cook other side 30-60 seconds or just until lightly browned.
5.  Stack crepes as they are cooked.  Use immediately or store at room temterature for a few hours, or wrap and store in refrigerator for up to 3 days, or place wax paper between crepes and freeze for up to 2 nothes.
Makes 12-16, 7-8 inch crepes.

SEAFOOD STUFFING

Ingredients:
1 pkg  salad shrimp (fresh or frozen, with tails removed)
2 lbs (900 gm) haddock fillets, cut into bite-size pieces
1 pkg scallops
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp flour

Method:
Melt the butter in a frying pan.
Stir in flour, mix, and cook for 1 minute.
Then add seafood and cook for a few minutes until scallops and haddock are cooked.

SAUCE

Ingredients:
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups chicken stock
1 cup milk
1 cup shredded cheese (I used a French cheese)
salt and pepper to taste

Method:
Melt butter in a frying pan and add flour.
Cook for 2 minutes.
Whisk in chicken stock, milk, and salt and pepper.
Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer, stirring often until thickened, for about 8 minutes.
Remove from the heat and whisk in the cheese until smooth.

Assembling the crepes:
Spread about 1/2 cup sauce in the bottom of a greased 9 x 13 inch baking pan.
Spoon about 1/3 cup of seafood stuffing onto the centre of each crepe.
Roll up and arrange in a single layer in prepared pan.
Drizzle remaining sauce over the crepes.
Bake in 375 (190 C) oven until golden, bubbly and heated through, about 35 minutes.
 

Bon Appetit!

Linked to Recipe Party at Remodelaholic