Category Archives: French

Homard à la Crème (Lobster with Cream Sauce)

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Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: about 12 minutes
To serve: 2

You will need

1 freshly cooked lobster, about 1 lb
2 oz. butter
2 oz. button mushrooms, sliced
2 tablespoons brandy
2 tablespoons dry Madeira or sherry
salt and cayenne pepper
¼ pint (U.S. ⅝ cup) thick cream

Twist off the claws and with a large sharp knife split the lobster lengthwise down the back. Lay flat the two halves cut side uppermost and discard the stomach bag (from the head) and the black intestinal cord. Remote the tail and claw meat and cut into slant-wise slices.

Melt 1 oz. butter in a saucepan and over low heat cook the mushrooms for 1-2 minutes, remove and keep warm. Add the remaining butter and the lobster to the same pan, cover and heat gently for several minutes. Pour the brandy into a heated ladle, light with a match and pour flaming over the lobster. When the flames die, add Madeira or sherry, a little salt and one shake cayenne. Heat for a minute then add cream and cook gently, stirring frequently, until cream thickens. Return mushrooms to pan and spoon the mixture into lobster shells. Serve hot. Garnish with parsley, if liked.

©️Shufunotomo Co., Ltd., Japan 1968. English text ©️The Hamlyn Publishing Group Ltd., 1968

Pissaladière (Pizza, Provençal Style)

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Ingredients:
1 pound yeast dough
4 pounds onions, chopped fine
¾ to ½ cup olive oil
2 cloves of garlic
1 fresh sprig, or ½ teaspoon dried thyme
1 bay leaf
12 anchovies, well desalted
12 black olives
freshly ground black pepper

Instructions:

  1. Spread the dough with your hands on a greased baking sheet or pizza-pie pan. Heat the oil over low heat, add the onions and whole cloves of garlic. Salt lightly. Add the thyme and bay leaf. Cook for amout [sic] 20 minutes. Do not brown. Remove the garlic and spices.
  2. Pour the onion purée over the dough. Garnish with the anchovies and olives. Let rise in a warm place for 1 hour.
  3. Bake for 15 minutes in a hot oven. Sprinkle with freshly ground pepper.

The real pissaladière is made with yeast dough. You may be able to purchase some at your baker’s. If not, here is a recipe:
Prepare a leaven with ½ teaspoon of yeast, 1 cup flour and 1 teaspoon salt. Place the flour in a bowl, make a well and pour in the yeast dissolved in ¾ cup of warm salt water. Mix until bubbles form on the surface. Let the dough rise until at least double in bulk (from 1 to 3 hours). You may prepare the leaven the day before. Add 3½ cups flour, salt and about ½ cup warm water to make a firm, sticky dough. Knead until the dough becomes smooth and elastic (about 15 minutes). Form dough into a bowl, coat with flour, place in a bowl, cover with a cloth topped by a plate or with a plastic wrap and set in a warm place to rise until double its bulk, about 1 hour. Punch down and let rise again, until double its initial bulk. This should take about 30 minutes. The dough is now ready to use. You may also use dough made form pizza-pie mix.

©️ Shufunotomo Co., Ltd., Japan, 1971. Published in the United States and Canada by BOBLEY PUBLISHING, a division of Illustrated World Encyclopedia, Inc. Printed in Japan.

Rice à la Royale (French Rice Pudding)

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¾ cup rice
2 cups milk
4 tablespoons sugar
Pinch of salt
Pears poached in syrup
Whipped cream

Custard
4 egg yolks
4 tablespoons sugar
4 tablespoons cornstarch
2 cups milk
Vanilla extract
1 tablespoon gelatine
6 tablespoons heavy cream
1-2 tablespoons Kirsch

Simmer rice in milk, sugar and salt until tender. Cool.

To make custard: combine egg yolks and sugar, and beat well. Add cornstarch and blend until smooth. Heat the milk slightly, with vanilla extract to taste, and pour on to egg mixture. Return mixture to saucepan and cook until thick and smooth, stirring constantly. Cool. Stir gelatine, dissolved in a little water, into custard, and when cool add cream and Kirsch. Leave to thicken slightly.

Stir in rice mixture and turn into a wetted mold. Refrigerate for several hours. Turn out and decorate with poached pears and whipped cream. Serve very cold. Serves 4 to 6.

Coeurs de Céleri en Salade (French Celery Appetiser)

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2 heads celery
1 chicken stock cube
1 level tablespoon salt
½ pint well-flavored Vinaigrette sauce (see card 5 in this set)
½ level teaspoon paprika
Cayenne pepper
¼ pint double cream
4 hard-boiled eggs
4 tablespoons finely chopped parsley

Trim heads of celery, cutting off top third of branches and outside stalks; cut each head in half; put celery in a saucepan with trimmings, chicken stock cube and salt; cover with cold water and bring slowly to a boil. Simmer for 10 minutes; remove from heat. and leave in hot water for 5 minutes; drain and cool. Arrange celery in a flat serving dish; spoon over half of the Vinaigrette sauce and allow celery to marinate in this mixture for at least 1 hour.

Combine remaining Vinaigrette sauce with paprika, a pinch of cayenne pepper and the double cream; mix well. Separate yolks from whites of eggs, and rub each separately through a wire sieve.

To serve: place blanched celery hearts on a serving dish; cover each celery half with dressing; garnish on-third of each portion with sieved egg white, one-third with sieved egg yolk, and remaining third with finely chopped parsley. Serve immediately. Serves 4.

Sukiyaki

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ingredients:

½ pound spinach
8 leeks, white parts only
2 onions
½ cup mushrooms
celery stalks
10 ounces bamboo shoots
1 pound 5 ounces slightly marbled beefsteak
3 Tablespoons peanut oil
4 eggs
For the sauce:
½ cup beef bouillon
½ cup soy sauce
4 teaspoons sake (Japanese rice wine)

instructions:

  1. Peel and wash all the vegetables. Chop the onions, mushrooms, celery, and bamboo shoots. Cut the meat into very thin slices.
  2. Prepare the sauce: Mix the bouillon, soy sauce, sake and sugar.
  3. At the table: Heat the oil in a pan. Add the onions and meat. Stir. Add the celery and mushrooms. Sprinkle with ⅓ of the sauce. Add the bamboo shoots and other vegetables, then another ⅓ of the sauce. Cook for 10 minutes and add the rest of the sauce. Cook for 5 more minutes and serve.
  4. Give each person a bowl containing a beaten egg yolk to be sued as a sauce to dip each morsel of meat or vegetable.

All preliminary steps of preparing the vegetables and sauce are done in the kitchen. The final cooking is done at the table in a chafing dish. In Japan, the frying pan is shallow and very large; the sukiyaki ingredients vary according to the season. Vermicelli is sometimes added.

©️ Shufunotomo Co., Ltd., Japan, 1971. Published in the United States and Canada by BOBLEY PUBLISHING, a division of Illustrated World Encyclopedia, Inc. Printed in Japan.

Caneton aux Olives (Duckling with Olives)

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ingredients:

1 2-pound, 10-ounce duckling
1 Tablespoon butter
8 lean bacon slices
1 cup chicken broth
1 teaspoon thyme
½ a bay leaf
salt and pepper
½ cup green olives

instructions:

  1. Clean the duckling. Put aside the liver, heart, and gizzard.
  2. Saute the duckling in butter with the bacon in a round or oval casserole until golden brown on all sides.
  3. Empty the gizzard. Cut into thin slices. Slice the heart as well. Add both to the casserole, together with chicken broth, thyme, and bay leaf. Add salt and pepper. Cover the casserole and let simmer for 20 minutes.
  4. Meanwhile, pit the olives. Mash the liver with a fork. Mix all this in with the duckling and cook for another 15 minutes. Serve with fried bread croutons.

Mashed turnips will enhance this dish.

©️ Shufunotomo Co., Ltd., Japan, 1971. Published in the United States and Canada by BOBLEY PUBLISHING, a division of Illustrated World Encyclopedia, Inc. Printed in Japan.

Féra du Léman (Cold Lake Fish)

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ingredients:
1½ pounds féra, land-locked salmon, or several small fish
2 onions
2 shallots
2 cloves garlic
1 Tablespoon butter
1 cup broth
salt and pepper
1 teaspoon mustard
1 egg yolk
¾ cup vegetable oil
½ teaspoon vinegar

Instructions

  1. Clean and wash the fish.
  2. Finely chop the onions, shallots and garlic and sauté them slowly in butter until they begin to brown. Place the fish over them; add the broth, salt and pepper. Cook the fish over a high heat, 6 minutes on each side.
  3. Remove the fish to a serving platter and allow it to cool. reduce the cooking liquid over low heat.
  4. Meanwhile, prepare a mayonnaise: Mix the mustard and egg yolk in a bowl. Add the oil dry by drop, beating with a wooden spoon. Salt, pepper and add the vinegar. (You may make the mayonnaise in a mixer; place the egg and mustard in the small bowl of your mixer, set the speed to high and let it run 1 minute. Reduce the speed to medium and add the oil teaspoonful by teaspoonful, making sure that each teaspoonful is thoroughly blended. End with the vinegar and 1 tablespoon of boiling water.)
  5. When the cooking liquid has become very thick, cool and carefully fold in the mayonnaise.
  6. To serve, cover the cold fish with the sauce.

This little-known recipe from Savoie is an excellent dish that is easily adapted to any sort of fish. All the ingredients must be at room temperature and the utensils must be spotlessly clean if the mayonnaise is to succeed.

© Shufunotomo Co., Ltd., Japan, 1971 Published in the United States and Canada by BOBLEY PUBLISHING, a division of Illustrated World Encyclopedia, Inc. Printed in Japan.

Lamprey Eel, Boradeaux Style (Lamproie à la Bordelaise)

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ingredients:
3-pound lamprey, or eel
1 bottle red wine, preferably Bordeaux
16 leeks
4 carrots
4 shallots
1 cup chopped ham
½ cup oil
1 Tablespoon flour
salt, pepper
1 thyme sprig (or ½ teaspoon dried thyme)
1 bay leaf
12 croutons (fried bread cubes)
1 clove garlic (optional)

Instructions:

  1. Bleed the lamprey by cutting two inches off its tail. Mix the blood with a cup of wine.
  2. Scald the fish and scrape off the skin. Make an incision around the neck below the gills. Pull out the central nerve through this opening.
  3. Cut the lamprey into 2-inch slices. Put them into a deep bowl, cover with wine, and set aside.
  4. Peel and wash the leeks; use the white part only. Scrape, wash, and slice the carrots. Mince the shallots and chop the ham.
  5. Heat the oil in a saucepan. Add the ham and vegetables, and when they start to brown, sprinkle with the four. Stir well and brown for a few minutes.
  6. Pour in the remaining wine. Add salt, pepper, thyme, and bay leaf. Cover and let simmer for about 30 minutes.
  7. Add the lamprey slices, and the wine in which they were marinated. Cook for 15 minutes.
  8. Arrange the lamprey and leeks on a platter. Remove the pan from the heat and thicken. thesauce with the blood and wine mixture. Pour over the lamprey. Serve with the croutons, which may be rubbed with garlic.

The lamprey is a rare fish. In France it is available only in the Dordogne and Garonne areas, where they are plentiful from April to June. Eels may be used as a substitute.

© Shufunotomo Co., Japan, 1971. Published in the United States and Canada by BOBLEY PUBLISHING, a division of Illustrated World Encyclopedia, Inc. Printed in Japan

Salade de Pâtes Roses (Pink Noodle Salad)

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ingredients:
8 ounces “rigatoni” noodles
3 ½ ounces boiled ham
4 tomatoes, puréed
1 teaspoon prepared French mustard
1 lemon
salt and pepper
½ cup safflower oil
1 Tablespoon heavy cream
3 ½ ounces olives

instructions:

  1. Cook the rigatoni for 20 minutes in boiling salted water. Drain and cool.
  2. Dice the ham and set aside. Scald the tomatoes to remove the skin, seed them, and purée them.
  3. Mix the French mustard together with the lemon, salt and pepper; gradually add the oil, stirring continuously. Blend in the tomato purée and heavy cream.
  4. Mix the pink dressing with the noodles. Place in a serving dish, sprinkle with the ham, and garnish with the olives.

You can use elbow macaroni, “bow-knots,” or shell-shaped macaroni – the shape does not matter.

Children will enjoy this unusual entrée, particularly during the summer months. Complete the meal with carrot juice and fresh fruits.

© Shufunotomo Co., Ltd., Japan, 1971. Published in the United States and Canada by BOBLEY PUBLISHING, a division of Illustrated World Encyclopedia, Inc. Printed in Japan.

Snails in Garlic Butter

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1 can snails, with shells (7 ½-oz can; 1 ½ dozen shells)
½ cup soft butter or margarine
2 or 3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 shallot finely chopped
1 ½ tablespoons finely chopped parsley
1 tablespoon lemon juice
¾ teaspoon salt
¾ teaspoon dried chervil leaves
⅛ teaspoon nutmeg

  1. Several hours before serving: Wash snail shells, and drain well on paper towels. Drain snails thoroughly; set aside.
  2. In medium bowl, combine butter with remaining ingredients; mix well.
  3. Place a generous 1/4 teaspoon of butter mixture in each shell. Push a drained snail into each shell; cover with more butter mixture.
  4. Arrange shells carefully, open ends up, in flat baking dish or special escargot (snail) dishes. Cover and refrigerate.
  5. To serve: Preheat oven to 400F. Bake snails in shells, uncovered 8 to 10 minutes, or until butter mixture is very bubbly. Serve immediately.

Makes 4 first course or 6 to 8 hors d’oeuvre servings.

© Copyright 1973 by The McCall Publishing Co. All rights reserved. Printed in U.S.A.