Vegging out in the South of France

At Chez Maison Bleue we are seeing increasing numbers of vegetarian and vegan guests.

They commonly complain that outside Paris, France just does not cater for vegetarians and vegans who fare even worse.

The most common meal that they are both offered is an omelette!

The term vegan was coined in 1944 as a word to... [more]

An eggcellent dish!

Here at Chez Maison Bleue we like to source our produce locally.

We get our eggs from two suppliers. The main one is a man on Mirepoix market who has a small holding.

The reserve supplier is our neighbour here in Sonnac sur l’Hers, and were it not for the walnut tree in the farmers garden we could actually see the hens from... [more]

How to make the perfect meringue

I have been surprised at how popular pavlova and other meringue based desserts are here at our holiday cottage in the South of France.

Most of our guests seem to love them but say that they could never make them.

The reality is that provided you take some simple precautions they are very straightforward, but I’ll come back to... [more]

Cooking the Books

The trouble with having worked in the UK and then moving to France is the need to sort out quite complicated tax rules.

So I had to bite the bullet and visit an accountant. It was whilst getting stuff ready to take that it reminded me that I needed to do a blog about cookbooks.

As a chef I have a passion for cookbooks, I can happily... [more]

Tolerance of food intolerance

When catering for people it is necessary to ensure that you provide the right kind of food. That is a statement of the obvious.

 What is not so obvious are the solutions.

There is increasing awareness of food allergies and intolerances and these provide a challenge to the chef.

An increasingly common condition is celiac... [more]