French home cooking is very different from fine dining restaurant food. Like Italian cooking, it’s all about using good seasonal ingredients and letting them shine by not messing around with them too much. And that’s exactly what I do at home, whether I’m cooking for myself and my wife Gisèle or for friends and family.
I’m not into fuss or fancy frills. Most of the recipes in this book (Michel Roux At Home) are straightforward and give maximum pleasure for minimum effort. It’s the food I was brought up on and that we as a family enjoy.
No fuss or fancy frillsCristian Barnett
There are some recipes in the book which take a bit more time though and that can be fun too. The important thing is to enjoy your cooking.
Spring is almost in the air and with it comes asparagus season.
Argenteuil, just outside Paris, is famous for its asparagus, which has a particularly wonderful flavour.
When asparagus is in season, though, any kind will work well in this classic combination with poached eggs and hollandaise sauce, all encased in a crispy tart shell.
Hollandaise sauce
Ad
Ingredients (makes about 250ml)
250g butter
1 shallot, finely chopped
3 white peppercorns
15ml white wine vinegar
10ml white wine
3 free-range egg yolks
Salt and cayenne
Method
First clarify the butter. Melt the butter in a pan and bring to the boil. Remove from the heat and set aside to rest, then pass the butter through a sieve, lined with muslin or other fine cloth and placed over a bowl, to remove the white solids. Set aside.
Put the shallot, peppercorns, vinegar and white wine in a pan with 50ml of water, bring to the boil, then reduce by half. Remove from the heat and pass the mixture through a sieve. Discard the shallots and peppercorns.
Mix the egg yolks in a bowl, then add the shallot reduction. Place the bowl over a pan of simmering water and whisk until the mixture has become light and creamy. Take the pan off the heat and add the clarified butter, a little at a time, whisking constantly. Taste the sauce and season with salt, cayenne and a squeeze of lemon juice.
Savoury tartlet shells
Ingredients (Makes enough for 4 small (10–12cm) tartlet shells or 1 x 30cm tart case)
200g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
100g unsalted butter, softened, plus extra for greasing
1 free-range egg
1⁄2 tsp salt
Method
Pile the flour onto your work surface and make a well in the middle. Put the softened butter, egg and salt in the well and, using your fingertips, work them together until creamy. Gradually draw in the flour and add a tablespoon of cold water to bring everything together. Do not overwork the pastry. Wrap the pastry in cling film and chill it in the fridge for at least 2 hours before using.
Grease the tin or tins with butter and dust with flour. Roll out the pastry and use it to line the tin or tins, allowing it to overhang the edges. Prick the base with a fork, then line with baking parchment and add baking beans. Leave to rest in the fridge for at least 20 minutes. Preheat the oven to 200°C. Bake the pastry for about 20 minutes, then remove the beans and paper and bake for another 10 minutes.
Take the asparagus and bend the stalk of each one until it snaps, then discard the woody ends. Peel the stalks if you think it necessary.
Bring a large pan of water to the boil and add the coarse salt. Add the asparagus and cook for 2 minutes. Drain the asparagus and refresh it in a bowl of ice-cold water to preserve the colour, then set it aside.
Cut off the top 7.5cm of each spear. Chop the remaining stems, mix them with half the hollandaise sauce and then divide them between the tartlet shells. Lay the asparagus spears over the top so the tips are showing. Preheat the grill.
Bring a pan of water to the boil and add the white wine vinegar. This helps set the white of the egg into a nice shape. Crack each egg into a bowl, start stirring the boiling water, then add the eggs and turn the heat down to a simmer. Poach the eggs for 3-4 minutes, not allowing the water to come back to the boil, until the whites look cooked, then remove the eggs and drain them on kitchen paper.
Top each tart with a poached egg and season with salt and pepper. Carefully spread the rest of the hollandaise over the eggs. Place the tartlets under the preheated grill until lightly browned, then serve immediately.
Recipe featured in ‘Michel Roux At Home’ by Michel Roux, published by Seven Dials (2024). Photography by Cristian Barnett
