Tourtière - Traditional French-Canadian dish

Tourtière - Traditional French-Canadian dish 

Ingredients 
(for 2)

1 ready-made pure butter puff pastry cut into half
300g of boneless meat ( I used duck, but the traditional recipe is usually made of minced meat, veal, or beef)
100g of mushrooms
1 onion
3 cloves of garlic
1/2 cup of red wine
1 1/2 tablespoon of flour
400ml of chicken / beef stock
1 bay leaf
Thyme
Salt and pepper
Butter


Instructions


Heat up a pot with butter.
Stir in chopped onions and garlic and fry until slightly browned.
Add meat and stir in flour and continue to stir fry until meat changes colour slightly.
Add in mushrooms.
Add in stock, red wine, bay leaf, thyme, salt and pepper.
Leave to simmer on low heat for 20 minutes or until meat is tender.
Preheat oven to 200 degrees C.
Scoop meat mixture into 2 oven proof casseroles and cover with puff pastry, sealed down at the sides.
Bake in oven for 30 minutes or until golden browned.


Serve with your favourite salad.

Bon appétit!

Updated
 

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Cannelloni stuffed with tomato sauce

Cannelloni stuffed with tomato sauce

Ingredients

(for 2)

6 cannelloni

500g of peeled tomatoes (available in cans)

1 small white onion 

1 carrot

200g of minced meat

100g of prawns

100g of calamari

1 bay leaf

oregano

Shredded mozzarella cheese

Salt and pepper

Olive oil 

Instructions

Preheat oven to 200 degrees celsius.

Prepare cannelloni as indicated on the packaging

Clean and cut prawns and calamari into small pieces (to fit into the cannelloni).

Peel and dice onion and carrot and fry in heated up pan with olive oil.

Add in minced meat, prawns and calamari and fry until fragrant.

Smash peeled tomatoes with a blender until creamy and pour into pan with cooked ingredients.

Add bay leaf, oregano, salt and pepper and leave to simmer.

Remove from heat once tomato sauce is rich and thick.

Stuff filling into individual cannelloni, and lay on baking tray.

Finish with a layer of tomato mixture and sprinkle generously with mozzarella cheese.

Bake in preheated oven at 200 degrees celsius for 15 minutes or until browned and cannelloni are cooked through.

 

Serve hot.

Bon appétit!
To purchase the herbs for this recipe, please contact us at herbsfromfrance@gmail.com

Valentine's Day Special - Plat Principal

Plat Principal - Blanquette de Veau (Stewed veal served with rice)

We recommend pairing the meal with dry white wine


Ingredients
(for 2)

400g shoulder of veal
1 carrot
1 leek (only the white part)
1 onion
1 clove of garlic
1 shallot
200g of fresh mushrooms
1 egg yolk
1/2 lemon
1 glass of dry white wine
1 tablespoon of flour
2 tablespoons of fresh cream
30g of butter
Bay leaves
Thyme
Salt and pepper
Olive oil

Instructions

Cut the veal into pieces.
Cut the mushrooms, carrot, leek and onion into pieces.
Dice the garlic and shallot.
In a pot filled with boiled water, soak the veal meat for about 1 minute to remove impurities and also to make the veal meat firmer.
Drain off the water, and run the veal meat under cold water.
Replace the veal meat in a heated pot with olive oil, stir fry them a little without browning and add in chopped carrots, leeks, onions, garlic, shallots, bay leaves, thyme, white wine and season with salt and pepper.
Add water to cover all ingredients and bring to a boil.
Leave to simmer for 1 hour 30 minutes.
In a heated up pan with 15g of butter, cook the mushrooms and season with lemon juice. Cook for around 10 minutes.
In another pan, melt the remaining butter and add in the flour. Stir continuously with a whisk and let cool.
When the veal meat is cooked, drain off and keep the clear stock.
Add the stock to the flour mix, whisking continuously, and bring to a boil.
Put the meat and vegetables into a pot after removing bay leaves, thyme, and garlic. Add in the mushrooms, the sauce and cool for another 10 to 15 minutes.
Just before serving, in a bowl, mix egg yolk with fresh cream. Pour into sauce and stir to mix evenly without bringing into a boil.
Add in a few drops of lemon juice.

Serve hot with rice.

Happy Valentine's Day!

To purchase the herbs for this recipe, please contact us at herbsfromfrance@gmail.com 

Bay Leaves - Laurier - Laurus nobilis (EN)

English - Français

Bay leaf, also known as Bay Laurel (the only one edible which is widely used in our cooking), is one of the most frequently used herbs in French cuisine. It is one of the three components which form the bouquet garni (French for 'garnished bouquet', it is a bundle of herbs usually tied together with string and used to prepare soup, stock, and various stews. The bouquet is boiled with the other ingredients, and is removed prior to consumption), and it is also famous in Italian cooking (essential ingredient of the tomato sauce).

From a small living tree in the Mediterranean, reaching 2 to 6 meters tall, the bay laurel was very important both symbolically and literally in both ancient Greece and Rome. It was the practice to offer a wreath made of bay leaves to the winners and poets.

Bay leaves have many properties that are believed to be useful for treating high blood sugar levels, headaches, bacterial and fungal infections, and gastric ulcers.

How do we use bay leaves in our cooking?

- For the famous Italian tomato sauce, smash peeled tomatoes (available in cans) and add one bay leaf. You can also add a few pinches of oregano while cooking. Season with salt and pepper. Leave to simmer and remove bay leaf before serving.

- To accompany boiled fish (1 bay leaf per 200 grams of fish)

- To flavour pan fried potatoes with garlic

- Infuse bay leaves in hot water to aid digestion

For more recipes and instructions, check out Our Recipes and recipe4all.

Bon appétit!

If you would like more information or if you are interested in this product, please contact us at: herbsfromfrance@gmail.com

Bay Leaves - Laurier - Laurus nobilis (FR)

Français - English

Le Laurier (Celui utilisait en cuisine, qui est le seul comestible, est appelé Laurier Sauce ou vrai Laurier) est un des aromates les plus utilisés dans la cuisine française (un des 3 éléments du bouquet garni) est italienne (ingrédient indispensable de la sauce tomate).

Provenant d'un petit arbre vivant dans le bassin méditerranéen, pouvant atteindre de 2 à 6 mètres, le laurier a une très longue histoire. A l'époque antique, les grecs et les romains posaient une couronne de laurier aux vainqueurs et aux poètes.
Ces feuilles, qui restent vertes en hiver, en font pour les chinois un des 2 composants de la lune (avec l'Immortelle).

Comment utiliser le Laurier en cuisine ?

-Pour la fameuse sauce tomate italienne, utiliser toujours une feuille de laurier sauce dans un coulis de tomates ou des tomates pelées qui auront été préalablement mixées. Vous pourrez aussi ajouter quelques pincées d'Origan en cours de cuisson.
Laissez la feuille entière mijoter dans la sauce et retirez là avant de servir.

-Pour accompagner la cuisson d'un poisson cuit à l'eau par exemple (plongez 1 feuille de laurier pour 200 grammes de poisson)

- Pour aromatiser les pommes de terres sautées, avec un peu d'ail, ajouter quelques feuilles de laurier en fin de cuission

-Les feuilles de laurier sauce peuvent aussi être infusées pour aider à la digestion

Pour les francophones, retrouvez d'autres recettes avec du laurier : Our Recipes, Marmiton

Bon appétit!

Si vous voulez plus d'informations ou si vous êtes intéressé par ce produit, n'hésitez pas à nous contacter à cette adresse : herbsfromfrance@gmail.com