Welcome to France! According to Google, France has a population of 67.06 million people, and the capital is Paris. I was nervous about French cuisine, simply because of all of the pastries and breads that I have heard about. I was certain that something like eclairs or a fancy pastry was going to be the national dish. Their national dish is...
Pot au Feu!
It literally means "pot on the fire". It is a French beef stew made with meat, potatoes, and any veggie that you can find. There are several variations that I found when I was doing research, including some with turnips, white wine, or tomatoes. I read that it is a stew that is put on at the beginning of the day, and then you just keep spooning it out, and adding more veggies to it, so it literally stays "on the fire" all day. And then, for dessert, we made creme brulee, because yes. Here's what I did:
- Heat oil in a pot over medium heat. Add garlic and onions, and saute until soft.
- Add the beef to the pot.
- Add broth, water, salt and pepper.
- Cover and bring to boil, and then lower the heat to low.
- Cook for 45 minutes, then add the chopped carrots and celery.
- Cook for 1 hour, or until the beef is tender.
- Add potatoes, tomato paste, and a splash of lemon juice.
- Cook until the potatoes are fork-tender.
- Enjoy!
- Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
- Boil a pot of water.
- In a medium bowl, mix the egg, egg yolks, and 1/2 cup sugar until combined.
- In a small sauce pan, scald the cream until it is very hot, but not boiling.
- While stirring the egg mixture, slowly add the scalded cream and continue mixing until full.
- Add the vanilla.
- Put ramekins into a baking dish and pour mixture into ramekins until almost full.
- Pour boiled water into the pan so that it comes up halfway up the sides of the ramekins.
- Bake the creme brulee for 35-40 minutes, or until they are set when gently shaken.
- Remove the ramekins from the water bath, cover, and refrigerate until firm (we like ours warm, so we usually skip this step).
- When ready to serve, sprinkle about 1 tbsp of sugar on top of the creme brulee.
- Using a blowtorch, heat until the sugar is caramelized. (You can also use the broiler function of your oven, but this will heat up the custard.)
- Allow the caramel to harden, and enjoy!
