Just a French Guy Cooking Read online

  Title Page

  Introduction

  Eggs

  #HACK – Wine pairing for dummies (aka normal people)

  Soups

  #HACK – A crash course in ramen

  Salads

  #HACK – 6 fresh herbs and 6 dried herbs

  Snacks

  #HACK – 12 dried spices that will make you a chef

  Pizza & quiche

  #HACK – A crash course in making Neapolitan pizza

  Carbs

  #HACK – 6 French cheeses & 21 alternatives from around the world

  Pancakes

  #HACK – How to fool everyone into thinking you’re a French chef

  Meat & fish

  #HACK – Chef vs street – how do you chop an onion?

  Veggies

  #HACK – The 5 essential kitchen knives you need

  Sweet!

  #HACK – 6 magical microwave winners… & 1 epic failure

  Index

  Copyright Page

  Foreword

  It’s such a joy to be writing the foreword to my good mate Alex’s beautiful book. We first met when I was looking for a fresh Food Tube star to join the family a few years ago, and as soon as I saw Alex’s ‘French Guy Cooking’ videos I knew we’d discovered a hidden gem. Since then, Alex’s channel has become super-successful. And he still cracks me up every time we cook together!

  Alex’s food is fantastically fun. It’s simple but delicious, and always delivered in his brilliantly quirky way. He’s a self-taught genius, and he knows exactly what home cooks really want to make. You can’t watch him in the kitchen without smiling, and that’s what the recipes in this lovely book are all about.

  From the French treats you might expect, like the cheat’s croissants and the epic ‘magic-crust’ quiche Lorraine to delights such as ramen four ways and street lamb shish kebab, Alex gets to the heart of joyful, happy cooking. For me, these recipes tick all the big boxes: simple, exciting and ultimately ‘eat-me’ food!

  It’s food to spark the imagination of beginner and pro cooks alike, with lovely chatter and helpful tips from Alex running throughout. And with the step-by-step pics, too… well, you can’t go wrong!

  So guys, turn the page, dive into this bright and colourful collection of gorgeous dishes, and start choosing what you’re going to have for dinner! I’ve got a feeling you’ll come back to this lovely book time and time again.

  Alex, what can I say mate? You’ve absolutely nailed it. It’s a beaut.

  Jamie Oliver

  “Salut” guys and thank you for getting my book!

  Remember: my recipes are here to inspire you and bring you confidence but they need a chef to cook them... that’s YOU!

  Alex

  Cheeky shakshuka

  Just writing this recipe makes my mouth water. It’s the combination of the freshness of the tomato, the umami of the tomato purée, the sweetness of the peppers, the smoothness of the onions, the kick of the harissa and the decadence of the egg running over everything at the end that I find totally irresistible.

  Serves 4

  a little olive oil

  2 onions, chopped

  2 merguez sausages or, if not available, 225g [8oz] chorizo, cut into small pieces

  2 red and 2 green [bell] peppers, deseeded and thinly sliced

  4 ripe tomatoes, cut into strips

  1 Tbsp tomato purée [paste]

  1 tsp harissa (personally I add 1 Tbsp)

  4 garlic cloves, crushed

  salt and pepper

  4 eggs

  Heat a non-stick sauté pan or deep frying pan [skillet] over a medium heat, add a little olive oil and fry the onions and pieces of merguez or chorizo. Once the onions are soft and lightly golden, add the peppers and tomatoes.

  Stir in the tomato purée and harissa. Pour in 225ml [1 cup] hot water and add the crushed garlic. Season with salt and pepper.

  Cover the pan and leave to cook for about 10 minutes. If necessary, add an extra 115ml [½ cup] water.

  Once the sauce has thickened, make 4 indentations in the mixture with the back of a ladle and crack an egg into each. Cover the pan and cook for 2 minutes or until the eggs are done just how you like them.

  Harissa – storebought or homemade?

  Good harissa certainly has a spicy taste but is also sweet and well balanced. It is a beautiful, brilliant red colour and is not at all bitter. So, if the only harissa you can find in your local supermarket is not up to scratch, make it yourself. To do this, remove the stalks from a handful of mild red chillies and blitz them to a paste with 3 garlic cloves, 1 tsp salt and a pinch of ground coriander. Keep in a jar in the refrigerator, covered with olive oil.

  You’ve-been-doing-it-all-wrong scrambled eggs

  I have nothing against traditional scrambled eggs that consist more or less of eggs stirred fairly aggressively in a red-hot saucepan so they spin round a few times. Accompanied with some scorched bacon, they do the job! However, there are also mornings when you’d like to wake up in a luxurious, palatial bedroom and eat a huge posh breakfast. Here is the recipe – expensive – for just those mornings.

  Serves 1

  3 organic eggs

  1 Tbsp very cold butter, diced into small pieces

  salt and pepper

  Serving suggestions

  1 Tbsp chopped smoked salmon trimmings

  1 slice of toast, buttered

  1 tsp finely chopped fresh chives

  1 tsp salmon roe

  Place a saucepan over medium heat and fill it one-third with hot water.

  Break the eggs into a heatproof bowl that has a rounded base and is wider than the saucepan. Sit the bowl on top of the saucepan, making sure the boiling water doesn’t touch the bottom of the bowl.

  Stir constantly, ideally moving your spatula in a figure-of-eight motion, until the mixture thickens. At this point, add the butter to stop the eggs cooking any more and to make them a bit creamy and glossy. Season with salt and pepper.

  If you wish, you can also add 1 tablespoon of finely chopped smoked salmon and 1 teaspoon of finely chopped chives at the same time as the butter, mixing them in well. Remove from the heat, spoon onto a slice of buttered toast, and top with 1 teaspoon of salmon roe (and more chives, if you like).

  Omelette, Pépin-style

  Jacques Pépin is a French celebrity chef who for a long time has been an icon in the US. Very talented, a bit cheeky and with an accent you can cut with a knife don’t look at me!, he is particularly famous for his incomparable omelettes. This is my take on how he makes them.

  Serves 1

  3 eggs

  pinch of fine salt

  a drizzle of neutral flavoured oil

  1 tsp butter

  Equipment you must have

  non-stick frying pan [skillet], 22–24cm [9–10in] in diameter

  a wooden spoon

  First of all, beat the eggs, but only lightly as they must not be frothy. Add a pinch of fine salt.

  Place a frying pan over a medium-high heat and add the oil and butter. If you cook the omelette over a low heat, it will be solid and cooked evenly all the way through. It’s also important to add just enough fat to the pan so the omelette fries but doesn’t brown. The mix of oil and butter should ‘sing’ when it comes into contact with the pan, but not ‘scream’.

  Pour the eggs into the pan. Shake the pan from front to back holding the handle with your left hand and, with your right hand, use the wooden spoon to stir the eggs in a circular movement (I’m right-handed). The flecks of cooked egg that progressively appear allow the heat to be distributed throughout the omelette and not just remain at the bottom. Gently pull the sides towards the centre.

 
; When the omelette starts to set, i.e. there is almost no liquid egg left in the pan, tilt the pan away from the handle and carefully roll the omelette over itself using the spoon. By tapping the handle lightly but firmly with the palm of your hand, you’ll release the omelette and it will go to the back of the pan. At this point you can add a filling (cheese, ham, etc…) or just fold it over.

  Change to holding the handle of the pan with the palm underneath facing upwards and turn out the omelette onto a plate, lifting the plate and tilting it with your right hand. The omelette should be plump and shaped like a half moon.

  Making my body remember

  Every Saturday lunchtime for about a year, I made an omelette at home. Sometimes with a filling, sometimes without, but always trying to improve my technique. Smoother, more pointed, less golden, more golden, lightly cooked, more cooked... all because I wanted my body and not my head to remember the movements necessary to achieve success. And, also, because without doubt I’m mad.

  4 omelettes

  An omelette is rather like a blank canvas that you can imagine painting on in a thousand and one ways. But, to be a little more down to earth, an omelette is basically a very efficient way of giving a new lease of life to ingredients that have been sitting around in the refrigerator for a bit too long...

  Cheese omelette

  When you are ready to roll the omelette over itself, fill the centre with grated cheese. Ideally, use a mix of different types of cheese, such as a mild one that melts easily, like Emmental or mozzarella, and a strong one such as Parmesan, Cheddar or Comté.

  Cheat’s tortilla

  Heat a couple of tablespoons of olive oil in a frying pan [skillet] and add a crushed garlic clove and a finely chopped onion. When the onion becomes translucent, add some leftover, chopped boiled potatoes. Season with salt and pepper and fry for a few minutes.

  For a 24-cm [9-in] frying pan, you will need about 5 eggs. Beat the eggs vigorously and pour them into the pan. Cook for 5–10 minutes until the eggs are set and are golden brown underneath and then upturn the omelette out of the pan onto a large plate. Wipe out the pan with kitchen paper [paper towel] and heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in it. Slide the omelette off the plate back into the pan and leave it to cook until it is evenly golden brown on both sides.

  Omelette aux fines herbes

  The ‘fines herbes’ are four in number – fresh parsley, chives, chervil and tarragon. Or, rather, that’s the ideal combination but use what you have. Chop the herbs as finely as possible without bruising them (a very sharp knife will make this job a lot easier) and add them to the eggs before you beat them, so the herbs are evenly distributed throughout. Pour the eggs into the pan, cook until just set and then fold the omelette in half before sliding it out of the pan onto a serving plate.

  Cheat’s omurice (Japanese stuffed omelette)

  Heat a little oil in a wok or frying pan [skillet] and fry leftover rice with a roughly chopped onion until the rice is lightly golden. Add whatever seafood you have to hand such as crab, prawns [shrimp] or canned tuna and stir for a minute or two to mix it into the rice. Take the pan off the heat and add some chopped chives and 1–2 teaspoons of light soy sauce.

  Beat 3 eggs together. Heat a little oil in a 26–28-cm [10–11-in] frying pan and pour in the eggs. The idea is to cook the eggs until they are set in a thin omelette and then spoon the rice mixture into the centre. Fold in the sides towards the centre, doing your best to shape the omelette into an almond – an oval that is slightly pointed at each end.

  Crisp-fried eggs, Thai-style

  This takes fried eggs to whole new level but, at the same time, doesn’t lose sight of what a simple dish they really are.

  Serves 1

  3 Tbsp neutral flavoured oil, such as rapeseed

  2 large free-range eggs

  2 Tbsp Thai sweet chilli sauce

  1 tsp light soy sauce

  a squeeze of lime juice

  1 tsp toasted sesame seeds

  leaves from ¼ bunch of fresh coriander [cilantro], mint or basil

  ½ red or green chilli, sliced into very thin rings

  Heat the oil in a frying pan [skillet] – see my cooking tip below – over a high heat until it starts to smoke.

  Crack in the eggs and fry them for 2–3 minutes until the whites have become crisp and golden around the edges but the yolks remain runny. Lower the heat.

  Divide the chilli sauce and soy sauce between the eggs and baste them with the oil in the pan so the flavours are well mixed together.

  Remove the eggs from the pan and serve with the lime juice squeezed over and sprinkled with the sesame seeds, herb leaves and chilli rings.

  COOKING TIP

  For best results, use a small, heavy-based frying pan. The level of oil will be higher in a small pan so the eggs will fry rapidly and the white become really crisp. Also, the egg will look good as they will be neat

  Picture-perfect eggs meurette

  A traditional dish made with a sauce from Burgundy that, without doubt, has THE most traditional cuisine in France, which incidentally is THE most traditional country when it comes to cooking. And ME, what do I do? I cheat the thing. Am I crazy? Perhaps... but what the hell, it’s so good!

  Serves 4

  2 glasses of full-bodied red wine

  350ml [1½ cups] beef stock

  1 Tbsp brown sugar

  1 Tbsp oil

  6 small shallots or the white parts of spring onions [scallions], halved

  175g [6oz] lardons

  175g [6oz] button mushrooms, quartered

  2 Tbsp butter mashed with 1 Tbsp plain [all-purpose] flour

  salt and pepper

  a dash of vinegar

  4 mega-fresh eggs

  5 slices of bread

  1 large garlic clove, halved

  a few chive stems

  Put the wine and stock in a saucepan over a medium heat, add the sugar and simmer until the liquid has reduced by half. If you want to have a bit of fun (and you know how to do this sort of thing safely), flambé the wine.

  In the meantime, heat the oil in a pan and fry the halved shallots or spring onions, the lardons and mushrooms for about 10 minutes.

  When the wine and stock have reduced, whisk in the butter and flour mixture until you have a smooth and shiny sauce. Season with salt and pepper. Taste and adjust the seasoning, if necessary.

  Bring a saucepan of water, with a dash of vinegar added, to a gentle boil. Break 1 egg into a ramekin and slide it gently into the water. Repeat with the other 3 eggs and leave to cook for 3 minutes, turning the eggs over carefully. Drain the eggs from the pan using a slotted spoon and place on a sheet of kitchen paper [paper towel].

  Toast the bread slices. Rub 1 slice with the cut sides of the garlic clove and cut into small croûtons. Place an egg on top of each of the remaining slices and spoon over the onions, lardons, mushrooms, the sauce and the croûtons. Snip some chives into short lengths with scissors, scatter a few on top of each serving – and that’s it!

  WHY PICTURE PERFECT?

  The traditional recipe tells you to mix the sauce with the toppings and also to poach the eggs in the wine. That sounds fine, but if I’d made it like that for the photograph, you’d have been disgusted and never, ever tried the dish. #babyvomit

  4 eggs en cocotte

  I’ve always found that baking something in the oven impresses guests far more than cooking it in a pan on the hob. It’s more ‘chef-like’... Bizarre, hey? To give you an example: if you cook an egg en cocotte in a pan, everyone will think it’s good but nobody will exclaim "wow". Whereas do it in the oven...

  With cheese

  Butter small, individual ovenproof dishes and put a little grated cheese in the bottom of each, hollowing the centres to make a nest.

  Break an egg into each nest, trying to centre the yolk as much as possible so that it stays nice and runny.

  Add 2 teaspoons of crème fraîche to each, 1 teaspoon either side of the yolk, and sprinkle som
e grated cheese on top.

  Preheat the oven to 200ºC/180ºC fan/400ºF/Gas 6, bake the eggs for 10 minutes – and that’s it!

  With mushrooms

  Finely chop a shallot and coarsely chop some mushrooms. Fry them in a little butter in a pan over a medium heat for 7 minutes, seasoning with salt and pepper.

  Put 2 tablespoons of the shallot and mushroom mixture into each individual ovenproof dish, crack in an egg and top with 1 teaspoon of cream. Sprinkle over some grated Comté or Cheddar cheese and bake in the preheated oven as described above.

  With kimchi

  Dry-fry a bit of bacon in a frying pan [skillet] and, just before it’s cooked, add some kimchi. Take the pan off the heat and coarsely chop the bacon and kimchi. Use this mixture as a base for your new-look eggs en cocotte, dividing it between individual ovenproof dishes and hollowing the centres. Crack an egg into each dish and, as well as grated cheese, sprinkle a few chopped chives or spring onions [scallions] on top. Bake as described before.

  Like a carbonara

  If you have any leftover bacon, chop it roughly with some cooked pasta. Mix together with freshly ground black pepper, a little cream and grated Parmesan. Spoon into individual ovenproof dishes and hollow out the centres. Crack in the eggs, dust with grated Parmesan and bake as described before.

  #HACK

  Wine pairing for dummies (aka normal people)

  Let’s be clear – I have never smelt ‘smoked-crystallized-fruits-from-the-undergrowth-on-a-bed-of-fresh-moss’ when drinking a glass of wine. Never, ever. Personally, I’ve just enjoyed it and, according to the top oenologists, that’s how you appreciate wine.

  Having said that, choosing the right wine can sometimes be a bit of a minefield and, if you don’t want to go beyond what you enjoy, I’d advise you to drink wine the same colour as the food you’re eating. It’s weird but it works pretty well.