Showing posts with label European Union. Show all posts
Showing posts with label European Union. Show all posts

Saturday, February 02, 2008

France, the member of European Union. Famous France soups.

There is no one country in the world where eating and drinking represent such a strong reflection in culture.
One of France's first gourmets Grimond de la Reyniére (1758-1838) said in his calendar for gourmets that a soup was to a meal what a beautiful entrance hall was to a house. Until the middle of that century (for the country population at least) soup was the main and only warm meal of the day. A pot with soup hung over the fire, any available vegetables added together with water (without broth, because meat was afforded only by the minority), and it would be left to cook by itself for several hours. A slice of bread was placed n the plate and the soup poured over, as is still the tradition with Bouillabaisse. So it is no accident that French call their evening meal souper, a soup in which the bread was dunked. The bourgeoisie didn't want to be remind of those thin soups and they also didn't wish to be deprived of its beneficial effects, so they served up potages ( thick soups).

France soup

Today the soups became a part of every menu in France and they are not only a beautiful hall but a the basic foundation of a good meal.

Famous France soups:

  • Bouillon - Clear meat, fish or vegetable stock
  • Bisque - Soup with crayfish, lobster or other shellfish
  • Créme - Soup thickened with flour and potatoes or dried vegetables
  • Consommé - Very concentrated meat stock made from ground beef boiled with root vegetables.
  • Gratinée - Soup baked with grated cheese.
  • Potage - Either a thick creamy soup with pureed vegetables and with meat stock base.
  • Potée - The name for the cabbage soup.
  • Soupe - Soup with substantial ingredients, not pureed.
  • Velouté - Smooth, very creamy soup made from single vegetable and thickened with egg yolk and often flour.


Read more ...

Thursday, March 15, 2007

Meat and vegetables Italian Lasagna.




Here is my favorite dish which I love to cook and to eat. Italian lasagna with beef meat, beacon, grated Parmesan cheese, onion, celery root ,tomatoes, carrots, sauce bechamel (white sauce), garlic and lasagna noodles. When I don't have time I use ready lasagna noodles if not make a dough by myself.

Fresh, home-made pasta, pasta fresca, is typical of nothern Italy, European Union member. As early 1300 a Florentine cookbook made note of the first recipes for fresh pasta from wheat flour, eggs and salt. The speed and dexterity of the women making hat-shaped parcels from fresh pasta is unbelievable. They then fill them with various vegetable or meat sauces or with spinach or Ricotta cream cheese. No medding, christening or Christmas dinner is really an occasion without fresh, filled pasta parcels..Every town in Nothern Italy boasts its very own carefully preserved shapes and fillings. There nare more tham 110 different recipes for tortellini, and more than 50 recipes of lasagna.

Basic recipe for pasta fresca (fresh pasta dough):

ingredients
  • 500 g wheat flour
  • 5 eggs
  • 1/2 tsp salt
Sieve the flour onto the work surface. Make a well in the middle, break the eggs into it and add salt. Gradually work in the flour from the edges until a rough dough is produced. Knead the dough for 15 minutes by nahd until it is shiny and elastic. Wrap in hahdy wrap and leave to stand for 1 hour. Dust the work surface with flour and roll out the dough until it is very thin and cut into large equal-sized rectangles. Bring enough salted water with a little olive oil to the boil and boil the sheets of lasagna for 5 minutes. Carefully remove from the water and drain on kitchenroll.

Here is very Italian recipe of this delightful lasagna cozypan.com






Read more ...