Aug 8

Aug 8 Quenelles

Tonight's dinner was one of those classic French dishes. Quenelles, are a very common dish found in France and are easily accessible at the grocery store. In the U.S, on the other hand, we have to make these by hand if we want to have them for dinner. The best way to describe a quenelle to someone who has never eat them is to compare them to a dumpling. Quenelles are basically a large dumpling, that is eaten year round in France, but really hits the spot during the colder months. We can find plain flavored Quenelles, that can be spiced up with your own sauce, or you can find some that are meat or fish flavored. Quenelles are up there with some of the best comfort foods in France.

The reason we hardly make these at home, is the fact that you can't find them in U.S grocery stores. In France you can find quenelles already pre-made, allowing you to just make the sauce that goes with it. The pre-made ones are just as good as if you were to make them homemade. We have only made them in back in Seattle one or two times. It is a lot more time consuming because you do actually have to make the dumplings. We were always satisfied with the results when we made them homemade, but it is always nice to come to France and find it pre-made. So for tonights meal we cannot give you an exact recipe, because to be honest we didn't hand make a lot of it. But we can give you a good recipe to try, if you are feeling adventurous in the kitchen. Good old Julia Child, has probably the best and the simplest recipe to try and make quenelles back home. We have used her recipe several times, and it was very good! So, like I said, if you feel like giving quenelles a go, whip out Julia Child's cookbook.

Below is a photo of our dinner that we had. We had a simple sauce on our quenelles, consisting of tomatoes, garlic, and onions sautéed in a pan. Then poured over the quenelles, sprinkled with cheese, and put in the oven for about 30 minutes. Props to those who give this recipe a try! As usual, check tomorrow for another post!