• fprincess on November 06, 2010

  Every recipe in this book has been both authentic, and full of detailed instructions. A very reliable book for French country cuisine. It's full of information about the different regions of France and traditions. A beautiful book.

Notes about Recipes in this book

• Cornish hens in a mustard cream sauce (Petits coquelets Dijonnaise)

  • Breadcrumbs on January 02, 2015

    p. 114 – Perfect dish! This recipe exceeded my expectations and produced a truly scrumptious New Year’s main course. The hens were moist and flavourful but that pan sauce was the true star of the show! I didn’t need to add any of the chx broth as the hens produced a good amount of juices. The red wine balanced some of the richness and pulled the sauce together perfectly. I wouldn’t hesitate to make this again. The only adjustment I’d make would be to the greens. AW has you shred them as finely as possible and I found my collards almost melted away to nothing. Photos here: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/1000517?commentId=9364775#9364775

• Chicken with beer (Coq à la bière)

  • fprincess on March 29, 2013

    Chicken stewed in wine, aka coq au vin, is a well-known French dish. But why not try something different. Chicken with beer (Coq à la bière), the Flemish twist on this recipe, is a very nice stew that does not take a lot of effort to prepare. The chicken pieces are sprinkled with flour and browned in a pan. Then the pan is deglazed with genever which is flambéed (it's hard to go wrong with a recipe that calls for genever AND pyrotechnics!). The chicken is removed from the pan to allow the sliced onions and button mushrooms to cook. The chicken pieces are added back, together with brown beer, and braised for about 45 minutes until tender. Cream is added to the cooking liquid at the end to enrich the sauce. I served it with fingerling potatoes. Photo here: http://forums.egullet.org/topic/140581-cooking-with-anne-willans-the-country-cooking-of-france/?p=1905450

• Fish chowder (La chaudrée)

  • fprincess on February 05, 2011

    First recipe in Anne Willan' wonderful book that was a slight disappointment. It was not bad, just a little bland. After a while I enjoyed its subtle flavor but my husband just thought it lacked flavor. Otherwise it's a simple recipe that requires few ingredients.

• Fish stew with sorrel and leek (Cotriade Bretonne)

  • fprincess on June 18, 2012

    Delicious fish stew which is very easy to make. A great option for week-nights which would also work for dinner parties. More details and a picture here on eGullet: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php/topic/140581-cooking-with-anne-willans-the-country-cooking-of-france/page__p__1881688#entry1881688

• Winemaker's steak (Steak marchand de vin)

  • fprincess on November 21, 2010

    Classic, simple, delicious.

• Boeuf Bourguignon

  • fprincess on October 15, 2010

    It's a little fussier than my standard BB recipe, but the results are outstanding.

• Veal chops with mustard (Côtes de veau Dijonnaise)

  • fprincess on October 20, 2010

    Very nice subtle sauce.

  • twoyolks on July 02, 2020

    I agree that the sauce is very good but I don't understand why I braised the veal chop for so long that it was fully cooked through.

  • Totallywired on September 24, 2018

    Sauce is the business. A good sub for veal chops is braised rabbit.

• Country pâté (Pâté de campagne)

  • fprincess on September 21, 2011

    eG post with pictures http://egullet.org/p1838980

  • fprincess on September 21, 2011

    Recipe is somewhat similar to the one from Les Halles. The meat to fat ratio is about the same (1.7 to 1 versus 2 to 1 in Les Halles), but she uses escalopes in addition to the pork shoulder. Chicken livers are used instead of pig livers, and only a small amount (that would be 0.33 compared to the amount of fat needed in the recipe). Chicken livers are easier to find and their taste is less pronounced than pork, so the change was welcome for me. I used a grinder with a coarse die. I lined my mold with plastic wrap so I would not have to hunt for caul fat . Everything worked well and I was pleased with the end result. I would make the recipe again and maybe add some pistachios next time, and also some cream for spreadability (10% of the amount of forced meat).

• Tapenade

  • fprincess on December 08, 2010

    This recipe is a little less intense and heavy than some of the other traditional recipes. I omitted the canned tuna. I like the inclusion of almonds and bread. It is great as a dip.

• Potato cake with cheese and bacon (La truffade)

  • fprincess on November 06, 2010

    Potatoes, bacon, cheese. What else can I say... Perfection.

• Baked eggs in ramekins with onions (Oeufs en cocotte Lyonnaise)

  • fprincess on November 19, 2010

    Simple. Made in the oven without bain marie but still need to find the optimal cooking temp for that modification.

  • fprincess on April 26, 2012

    Made again; skipped the bain marie and used a low temperature oven (started at 220F, finished at 230F). They were a little overdone.

  • fprincess on June 14, 2012

    Super simple French comfort food. I used chives instead of scallions. This recipe is very easy to modify by adding all sorts of ingredients: cheese, sauteed mushrooms, ham, smoked salmon, fresh herbs, etc. Picture here: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php/topic/140581-cooking-with-anne-willans-the-country-cooking-of-france/page__p__1881262#entry1881262

• Quiche Lorraine

  • fprincess on November 06, 2010

    Classic quiche lorraine with precise instructions.

  • fprincess on July 16, 2012

    The classic Quiche Lorraine recipe from the book has become my favorite, after using the Alton Brown "refrigerator pie" version for years. This is a really traditional version and therefore it does not contain any cheese, but you get some cheesiness from the cream. The filling is just the crème fraîche, a couple of eggs, some nutmeg, and the slightly browned lardons. It puffed a lot and deflated after I took it out of the oven. I like to think that the tanginess of the crème fraîche cuts through some of the richness of the dish. It's great with a green salad (with a vinegar-heavy dressing). I like prepare a double batch of pastry dough, and keep the second tart pan lined with the dough and ready to go in the freezer, that way I can make quiche again whenever the mood strikes. Picture here: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php/topic/140581-cooking-with-anne-willans-the-country-cooking-of-france/page__p__1884509#entry1884509

• Pepper and tomato purée with eggs (Piperade Basquaise)

  • fprincess on August 02, 2011

    This is an excellent Basque dish. It took much longer to cook that indicated in the recipe - about an hour. Photos here: http://forums.egullet.org/topic/139529-eg-foodblog-frogprincesse-2011/page__st__120__p__1826244#entry1826244

• Cheese puffs (Gougères)

  • fprincess on November 06, 2010

    Fantastic with wine or cocktails. And they can be frozen raw and used for impromptu cocktail parties! Pictures : http://forums.egullet.org/topic/140581-cooking-with-anne-willan’s-the-country-cooking-of-france/?p=2034506

  • fprincess on March 13, 2013

    This recipe DOES NOT WORK when you double quantities! The batter is way too liquid. It works fine for a normal batch size. I had this issue at least twice so I know it was not operator error. More details here: http://forums.egullet.org/topic/136437-perfecting-gougeres/?p=1899969

• Cream of watercress soup (Crème de cresson Tourangelle)

  • fprincess on November 06, 2010

    Ultra simple and classic. Uses cream but you can still taste the peppery/acidic note of the watercress.

• Tomato and garlic soup (Le thourin)

  • fprincess on November 06, 2010

    Simple & tasty garlic tomato soup.

  • twoyolks on July 31, 2018

    I was not a fan. This was bland and the ratio of tomatoes to onions was off.

• Pumpkin and leek soup with foie gras (Soupe de potiron et poireaux au foie gras)

  • fprincess on November 06, 2010

    Wonderful soup elevated by the addition of foie gras!

• Roast monkfish with herb butter (Baudroie rôtie au beurre de Montpellier)

  • fprincess on November 06, 2010

    Very nice roasted fish with herb butter. I made this recipe with cod since monkfish is endangered.

• Breton buckwheat galettes (Galettes Bretonnes au sarrasin)

  • fprincess on February 07, 2011

    These are the traditional galettes (savory crepes) from Brittany. My favorite filling is egg, ham, and cheese (gruyere). They are delicious. I just cook a pile of them, keep them warm, and then reheat them with good quality butter and add the various fillings at the last minute.

• Hot bacon and egg salad (Frisée au lard et à l'oeuf)

  • fprincess on September 29, 2011

    This is a classic French salad. The bitterness of the frisee is a nice counterpoint to the richness of the bacon.

  • fprincess on March 13, 2013

    Still reminiscing about a quick trip to Lyon last month, last night I was in the mood for Salade Lyonnaise. I used Benton's bacon which is a slight twist because bacon (lard in French) in not smoked unlike Benton's which is heavily smoked. The bacon is diced into lardons and cooked until slightly crispy. The rendered fat and bacon are poured over the frisée, which wilts and warms up the salad slightly. Then the salad is seasoned with plenty of black pepper and red wine vinegar. Poached egg on top (I used the Arzak technique). Devour with a slice of crusty bread. Delish! Photo here: http://forums.egullet.org/topic/140581-cooking-with-anne-willans-the-country-cooking-of-france/?p=1912049

• Ratatouille

  • fprincess on November 06, 2010

    Excellent classic ratatouille. Mine took longer to fully cook than the instructions. Makes excellent leftover that can be served with eggs.

• Zucchini gratin (Tian de courgettes)

  • fprincess on April 21, 2011

    Nice flavors; a little on the dry side

• Roast butternut squash with herbs (Potimarron rôti aux herbes)

  • fprincess on October 23, 2015

    Simple and pretty basic, but it's very tasty. Picture here: http://forums.egullet.org/topic/140581-cooking-with-anne-willan’s-the-country-cooking-of-france/?p=2034500

  • TrishaCP on November 29, 2015

    A simple and serviceable roasted squash recipe. My squash came out perfectly roasted, and the herbs (a ton of rosemary, thyme, and bay leaves) were not too strong.

• Pound cake (Quatre quarts)

  • fprincess on October 23, 2015

    The French take on the pound cake. I used high quality butter and freshly milled flour. A tad dense but the nutty flavor from the flour was very nice. Best enjoyed with jam and a cup of tea. I liked that the outside was almost caramelized. Pictures: http://forums.egullet.org/topic/140581-cooking-with-anne-willan’s-the-country-cooking-of-france/?p=2034515

  • fprincess on July 24, 2017

    Made again. I used regular flour this time. I love the detailed instructions. This is one fantastic pound cake! Very delicious with jam. https://forums.egullet.org/topic/155077-your-daily-sweets-what-are-you-making-and-baking-2017-%E2%80%93/?do=findComment&comment=2110558

• Puff pastry galette with almond filling (Gâteau Pithiviers)

  • fprincess on October 27, 2010

    This is the traditional "galette des rois". It's great and best eaten still warm.

  • fprincess on January 20, 2012

    eGullet post with pictures here: http://egullet.org/p1859222

• Crêpes with salted butter and caramel filling (Crêpes au caramel et beurre salé)

  • fprincess on February 16, 2012

    I made a triple batch. The batter was a little bit thick so I added some milk. The yield for the triple batch was 24 large crepes (based on the recipe I was expecting at last 30).

• Honey madeleines (Les madeleines de commercy au miel)

  • fprincess on August 24, 2011

    The recipe is a little involved but I like the result better than my normal recipe. The texture and rise were really good. Make sure to use high quality butter and honey.

• Butter cookies (Galettes Bretonnes)

  • fprincess on January 10, 2011

    These are traditional butter cookies from Brittany. The thickness is important as they become dry if less than 1 cm (about 1/3 in). Picture: http://forums.egullet.org/topic/140581-cooking-with-anne-willan’s-the-country-cooking-of-france/?p=2034514

  • twoyolks on December 13, 2016

    I did not care for this cookies. They're rather dry. They don't have a lot of flavor. And the instructions in the recipe are poor.

• Alsatian onion quiche (Zewelwai)

  • fprincess on July 16, 2012

    Traditional quiche from Alsace. It's a bacon-less version of quiche lorraine, which can sound pretty sad... However the bacon is replaced with plenty of slowly-cooked onions and so it's full of flavor. Picture here: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php/topic/140581-cooking-with-anne-willans-the-country-cooking-of-france/page__p__1884733#entry1884733

• Rum babas (Babas au rhum)

  • fprincess on April 24, 2011

    Good classic baba au rhum recipe. I used popover molds and they were way too big. I forgot to take into account that the babas almost double in size when they soak up the rum syrup.

• Gâteau Breton

  • fprincess on October 27, 2010

    Simple and excellent. Use the best butter you can find for this recipe.

  • twoyolks on September 07, 2020

    Nice but quite rich cake. The flavoring was heavy on the butter without anything to complement it.

• Rich almond cakes (Financiers)

  • fprincess on October 27, 2010

    A good recipe to make if you have leftover egg whites.

  • ashallen on September 28, 2020

    I agree with fprincess that this is an excellent recipe to use up egg whites since it uses quite a few (1 cup/~8) and comes together quickly. Very nice almond-butter flavor. We also really enjoyed the texture which was a a bit crispy-chewy on the outside and moist-tender on the inside. These bake at a relatively high temperature (425F) and it's good to keep a close eye on them - the cakes in my lighter-weight muffin tin were ready a few minutes before the time specified in the recipe. Stated recipe yield is 12 cakes, but I think that might be a typo because there was enough batter to fill 24 standard-size muffin tin cups halfway as specified in the recipe (yay - more cakes!). Butter the tins generously - the cakes stick a bit.

• Roquefort and caramelized onion tart (Quiche au Roquefort et aux oignons)

  • fprincess on May 20, 2011

    The quiche is good but was a little "wet" even though I had baked the crust separately. I used a mix of red onions and baby green onions as I was out of yellow onions. I used foie gras fat instead of goose :-) and I substituted blue d'auvergne for the roquefort.

• Shallot sauce with white wine and cream (Sauce Bordelaise à la crème)

  • fprincess on January 24, 2012

    A more robust (and stable) alternative to beurre blanc. Very good with fish. Review and picture here on eGullet: http://egullet.org/p1859757

• Gratin of Swiss chard with cream (Gratin de blettes à la crème)

  • fprincess on February 08, 2011

    My gratin was a little soupy (too much sauce for the amount of chard that I had) and I had to skip the mushrooms since I did not have any. I added some homemade ricotta with the gruyere. The flavor was very good.

• Mediterranean marinated mushrooms (Champignons à la Grecque)

  • Aggie92 on April 13, 2017

    I had high hopes for this recipe. It ticks all the boxes with ingredients I love, but sadly it fell flat. The marinade is very one-dimensional and that is because the coriander seeds overwhelm everything and the bright lemon flavor fades fast. Oh well, you win some and you lose some. I'll keep trying to find that elusive marinated mushroom recipe that tastes as good as the ones from the olive bar at the grocery store.

• Cherry batter pudding (Clafoutis Limousin)

  • TrishaCP on June 01, 2016

    The flavor is great with sour cherries and kirsch, but it suffered from weeping, so I probably won't be repeating this version.

• Braised sailor's steak with anchovies (Grillade marinière de Valence)

  • caniacwino on October 08, 2020

    Very pleased with this method. Used house cured anchovies that may have been stronger than processed. Recipe stated 5 - wasn't sure if that meant 5 halves or 5 whole so being we only did a half portion I used 3 halves. Could certainly taste the anchovies but flavor grew on you. Very different method that I am glad we tried. Would make again.

• The real coq au vin (Le vrai coq au vin)

  • twoyolks on January 16, 2017

    I wanted to like this a lot more than I actually did. I'm not convinced the marinating actually did anything. There was too much sauce after cooking and it was too thin. The garnishes were a bit bland. I like the version from Mastering the Art of French Cooking much better.

• Gratin Dauphinois

  • twoyolks on March 10, 2017

    This is a gorgeous, delicious, and rich potato gratin. It takes awhile to make but it's worth it. This potato gratin is more about the cream than it is about the cheese.

• Mussels with cream (Moules à la crème)

  • twoyolks on January 08, 2016

    The sauce is flavorful with just a hint of the mussels.

• Chicken breasts in tarragon cream sauce (Suprême de poulet à l'estragon)

  • twoyolks on February 21, 2019

    This is pretty quick to make. I really liked the sauce for the chicken and the recipe makes plenty of it. The chicken itself was a bit dry after too long of a cooking. I have a similar recipe that uses a whole chicken that I like better.

• Flat goat cheese gougère (Gougère plate au fromage de chèvre)

  • thekitchenchronicles on July 24, 2017

    This is such an impressive appetizer for company- and super easy to throw together. It's like eating a cream puff covered in tangy goat cheese, fresh herbs and baked garlic. One of my favorites. Written up here: http://www.thekitchenchronicles.com/2017/07/17/flat-goat-cheese-gougere-gougere-plat-au-fromage-de-chevre/

• Poached eggs in red wine sauce (Oeufs en meurette)

  • wodtke on December 07, 2016

    This is good and not difficult. I've had it as a starter in Burgundy, but it is a bit much for that; here in California, I used it for a light supper. It is not a pretty dish, but look at the components -- how could it not be good?

• Turbot with apple and cider sauce (Turbot Vallée d'Auge)

  • lkgrover on June 11, 2016

    This is excellent. My turbot broke apart (when I used tongs to move it from the dutch oven after poaching), making the recipe like a creamy fish stew. I used a Granny Smith apple, which remained firm.

• Roast leg of lamb with white beans (Gigot d'agneau à la Bretonne)

  • lkgrover on June 26, 2018

    Good, flavorful roast lamb with white beans & tomatoes side dish.

• Pork stew with red wine, bell peppers, and tomato (Pebronata de porc)

  • lkgrover on January 23, 2021

    Excellent pork stew. I substituted chicken broth for veal broth.

• Seared prawns with sea salt (Gambas grillés au sel de mer)

  • Totallywired on December 02, 2018

    Love this recipe. So easy and delicious. Just colour the shrimp, finish with salt and a good amount of pepper, or pimenton, or espalette, or sumac.

• Warm lentil salad (Salade tiede de lentilles)

  • Totallywired on October 16, 2018

    Nicely balanced dish with good vinegar finish for a richer side. Lentils do not over cook and are fine room temp. Served with roasted pork tenderloin with garlic confit/anchovy/pickled pepperoncini pan sauce

• Stuffed pasta with tomato coulis (Ravioles Niçoises)

  • MarciK on August 06, 2019

    Stuffd spelled wrong. Should be stuffed.