Montbéliard Winter Roast – A Hearty Oven Dish with Potatoes, Mushrooms & Sausages

Winter calls for warmth, comfort, and hearty flavors, and this oven-baked dish with Montbéliard sausages, potatoes, and mushrooms has become a staple in my home. Originally, I created it as a side dish for cheese fondue, thinking of those who couldn’t enjoy melted cheese due to intolerance or preference. But it quickly took on a life of its own—loved by everyone, requested again and again, and now a winter classic in my kitchen.

I hope that this effortless and flavorful Montbéliard Winter Roast, brings the same warmth and joy to your table. Try it, and let me know how it turns out!

French brioche bread variations

I share in this blog one of the most amazing recipes for French Brioche Bread, that if you have not tried it yet, now is the time! 

I have just added some variations that will motivate you even more: cinnamon rolls and pralina snail. With Valentine's day ahead, the last one in a heart shape might be a smash ;) 

French chocolate king cake (Galette des rois au chocolat)

You know those days that you have the crave to bake a cake but not enough of an ingredient? 

This is one of those days that I wanted to bake a french king cake (my original recipe) but missing some almond powder. So, the idea to try for once a chocolate version seemed very inspiring and one deeeply appreciated from the youngsters here :) 

I had 100gr of almond powder instead of 140gr, so I replaced the 40gr missing with cocoa powder.

I encourage you to try it!

*Not knowing how it will turn out, I did not use the egg yolk on top, which was not bad either although it was missing some sparkle, so better not to skip :)

February 2 the day of crepes in France!

In France, February 2 (yesterday) is the day of crepes.
They call this day "Chandeleur" (Candlemas in english) and it is linked to religion (commemorate the purification of Virgin Mary and the presentation of baby Jesus)
but practically, people are making and consuming lots of crepes. 
You won't believe the amount of Nutella, and rest of ingerdients that are consumed those days.
As this is the weekend the closest to the Chandeleur, here's a recipe reminder to succeed your crepes and here is one for pancakes if you are too lazy for crepes :)

Happy Chandeleur!!!

French orangettes

Orangettes is a traditional french food gift during Xmas. It is actually candied orange peel stripes dipped in dark chocolate that if you like the combination of orange and chocolate you will get addicted to it!
I would like to thank the teacher of a school that I am a volunteer that proposed me to help with doing them this year in order to finance the school trip of their class by selling them to a Christmas market.

I have never done them before, so it was a challenge for me but also a heavy responsibility. So I had to make them first at home to be sure that I am well trained.
End of year period is very busy so I did not have enough time to get nice photos but I did my best given the circumstances. 

The result though was delicious !!!  but be prepared... it takes time too !!!

I can share the recipe with you and here it is the original recipe that we were based on.

Happy 2018 !

Happy New Year to all !
Cook more, less war in this world ...

How about starting the year by making this delicious french Epiphany cake (Galette des rois)?
I think that my 2018 version is the best that I have ever done :)

Truffade auvergnate (sort of :)

Sometime ago, I was honored to accompany my son's class to a field trip in Auvergne (a french region), more precisely in Cantal a department in south-central France, with its capital at Aurillac.
We spent a dreaming week in a farm surrounded by animals, warm-hearted people and a beautiful, green scenery thanks to the volcanoes that the region is known for.
One of the last dinners, we had the chance to try one of their typical dishes, the delicious "Truffade Auvergnate" which is a sort of a thick pancake made with sliced potatoes, garlic and cheese (more precisely the variety called "fresh tomme" or Cantal jeune). For more information, search the web, for example wikipedia. After some scooping on the web, I've found that there exists also a similar recipe, "The Aligot", but I have never tried it yet. Maybe the next time that I will visit the region :)
Cheese is one of the typical products there, with Cantal cheese (one of the oldest in France, from the time of Gauls) but also Saint- Nectaire and Salers.
Cantal cheese is a firm (semi-hard) cheese, made from raw or pasteurized cow's milk from the Salers breed. According to the time of aging, it can be found in three varieties:

• Cantal jeune (1-2 months aged)
• Cantal entre deux (2-6 months)
• Cantal vieux ( more than 6 months)

In the recipe that I will provide you today (easy but so tasty!), I have used Cantal entre deux, that was the only one that I could find easily (sorry Celian for not being too concentrated the day that you proposed me to buy some when we were there, but I can now admit that I have some intolerance and that kind of cheese it always scares me :) 
Here it goes ....