Recipes from South West France

These recipes are not those of the "grands chefs" or even those of local restaurants. For the most part they are family recipes passed down from mother to daughter over generations. Sometimes little indications are given concerning the amounts and times of cooking because in the countryside we often make with what we have, and the glance, the smell or the taste remain our best guides.  Bon appétit !!

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•  Curbelets (a variation on waffles)
•  Farinettes tarnaises (the kids will love it)
• Chicken fricassé à la castraise (a cheap and easy recipe)
• Pumpkin cake or pie (two easy-to-prepare recipes)
• Duck with olives (a classical dish from the South West)
• Mustard tart (very simple but excellent)
• Rack of lamb (a personal favorite)
• Braised green peas (a different way of serving peas)
• Tarragon guinea fowl (a delicious dish for those not concerned by cholesterol!)
• Mesturets or pumpkin galettes (a recipe of Granny Léonie)
• Salad with "bleu des Causses" Cheese (a way to freshen up a salade)
• Hot radishes with salted/dried liver (recipe contributed by Céline)
• Aïoli of grouper with late summer vegetables (a recipe to extend summer)
• Duck breast in red butter sauce (beware of the cholesterol)
• Snails with nettles (an ideal dish for autumn)
• Salmon trout (recipe I invented myself!)
• Foie gras and sautéed scampi (a dish for special occasions)
• Haunch of venison with grand veneur sauce (a classical dish ideal with friends)
• Challans duck cooked with pineapple juice (a delicious contrast of meat and sweet)
• Salade landaise (all the richness of South-West cooking in a salad).
• Duck confit with parsley potatoes (so delicious who worries about the cholesterol !)
• Cassoulet (the basic recipe from Castelnaudary with variants from Toulouse and Carcassonne)
• Garlic soup (ideal for keeping the vampires at bay - but seriously its delicious and not as anti-social as some of you might fear!)
• Haunch of young wild boar with "confit" garlic (something special for the year end festivities)
• Duck and prune kebab (for the summer barbeque)
• Beef Cyrano (a speciality from Agen)
• Beetroot soup (unbeatable!)
• Toulouse sausages with mashed apples and potatoes
• Toulouse sausages with potatoes a variation on the first recipe
• Pardailhan Turnips à la crème a recipe from the heart of the Haut Languedoc natural park
• Les Farçous (a prune-based speciality from the Rouergue)
• Les Pascades (a pancake speciality from the Rouergue)
• Le Pounti (another prune-based speciality)
• Tapenade (a tradition olive preparation for the aperitif)
• Croquants de Cordes (the gastronomic symbol of Cordes-sur-Ciel)
• Two recipes using Violets of Toulouse (Violet Syrup for making delicios cocktails and Violet jelly - the kids will love it)
• The 13 deserts of Christmas (A tradition from Pprovence and the Languedoc - including a recipe for the "pompe à huile")
• Black pudding and apple cake (it maybe sounds a little off-putting but it's really delicious)

Useful approximate conversions for those not familiar with metric units

Books on cooking and wines of SW France in association with . 

 

ÓChantal Moret & Mike Briley 1999-2009