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5 of My Favorite French Dishes

I love all the dishes the French prepare, ok nearly all. In this post I want to share with you my five absolute favorite dishes. 

 Dishes I ate so many times in restaurants in Paris and during my vacations in the South of France but I also prepared at home and enjoyed with friends and family.
1. Plateau de Fruits de Mer (Seafood Platter)
A plateau de fruits de mer is a seafood dish of raw and cooked shellfish served cold on a platter, usually on a bed of ice.
On the plateau you have periwinkles,oysters, mussels, clams, prawns, sometimes a crab and langoustines. If you are in a festive mood you can always order a plateau de fruits de mer with lobster too. The dish is always served with lemon wedges and two or three cold dipping sauces such as a garlic mayonnaise, cocktail sauce and when there are oysters on the dish, sauce mignonette. In France this is a sauce traditionally served with raw oysters and made of wine vinigar, shallots and pepper.
With a glass of chilled Chardonnay, the plateau de fruits de mer is the perfect Sunday lunch at the sea-side!

2. Steak au Poivre (Pepper Steak)

My favorite steak dish. Traditionally served with green beans and off course with crispy fresh baguette. This dish is one of the classic dishes you can order in restaurants and brasseries in Paris and throughout France. 
Steak au poivre or pepper steak is traditionally a filet mignon, a high quality steak coated with loosely cracked peppercorns with a sauce sauce with cognac and heavy cream. 
Try the recipe out and surprise your partner with a nice steak and a good red Saint Chinian wine from the Languedoc region in the south of France.

3. Blanquette de Veau (Veal Stew)

Blanquette de veau (veal stew) is what I call the mother of all French dishes. It’s the ultimate French home cooked meal, so traditional, bourgeois yet simple. But also every restaurant or brasserie has this really traditional dish on the menu.
Prepared with lean cubes of veal, carrots, leeks, celery, onions and delicious fresh mushrooms in a creamy sauce with a lemony touch. 
Traditionally served with rice but I prefer mine with mashed potatoes and baguette of course.
For me blanquette de veau is a dish for winter evenings or for a lazy Sunday family lunch. During my Paris days it was one of my favorite dishes as lunch in the restaurant across the bank.
A glass of good Chardonnay or a Petit Chablis from the burgundy region. Happy days!

4. Andouillette 

I know that not everybody will like this, most of all those who never dared to taste!

A sausage originating in the Champagne-Ardenne region and made of selected intestines and stomach of pigs. It’s a big solid sausage prepared by butchers and ‘charcutiers’ whom know what they are doing.

To guarantee the quality of this marvelous sausage the ‘AAAAA’, the Association Amicale des Amateurs d’Andouillette Authentique (association of authentic andouillette lovers) was created in 1970 by meat lovers whom wanted to protect their regional product with a quality label. Nowadays the Andouillette AAAAA is sold everywhere in France.

Long before I lived in Paris I enjoyed eating this sausage during our vacations in Saint Chinian but it was one of my favorite lunch dishes and I am not the only one. It's a dish you can find on nearly every restaurant menu in France.

There are different ways to prepare this sausage. Some like it grilled with a salad, other ones like it prepared in the oven with tomato and potatoes but I like it the most pan seared with a classic white wine and mustard sauce served with good (Belgian) fries. And some bread to dip the sauce.

A glass of white wine or a good cold beer. The perfect dish.

And by the way, don’t believe those blog posts and comments that andouillette has a strong odor, that you will taste urine and more of those stories. 
Next time you are in France give it a try. Your taste buds will be thankful!

Recipe: http://anamateurchef.com/2014/10/andouillette-a-la-moutarde-ancienne.html


5. Coq au Vin (Chicken in a red wine sauce)

Although the word "coq" in French means "rooster" or "cock", and tough birds with lots of connective tissue benefit from braising, today most coq au vin recipes simply call for commercially produced chicken. 
Coq au vin  is a dish I like to prepare and once a month it is on the family menu. I use good Burgundy wine for the braising, lardons (salt pork or bacon), button mushrooms, onions, carrots, garlic, and some cognac. 
Salt, pepper, thyme, parsley and bay leaf.If needed the sauce is thickened with a roux at the end.
And with this dish you have to serve the same burgundy wine as you have used for the preparation. I like it with mashed potatoes and crispy baguette because I don't want to leave any of the sauce on my plate.
Try it out yourself and enjoy your dinner!

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