This post contains affiliate links. I will be compensated for purchases made through these links at no additional cost to you. Thank you for your support!

Alicia here to continue my culinary adventure through France. 

This week I chose Flammekueche, which I have made before, and loved! Flammekueche is from the Alsace region on the Eastern Border of France by the Rhine river. The region has a long and storied history. Many wars have been fought over the region and it has been conquered or just annexed by France and Germany. Alsace even has it's own dialect (language) that is being promoted recently to be learned in schools. Alsace is part of France now, but the region still has German influences in its culture. 

And that's why Flammekueche sounds German, but is a French food. I figure this fusion food is perfect since we have both French and German ancestors (remember we did German food in January).

Flammekueche is a thin crust onion and bacon tarte with a cream base. But in France it's more refereed to as a pizza. And also it's really delicious!!! Full disclosure, I have made this before. Last year Adrian and I did a very similar experiment, and I made Falmmekueche. I haven't stopped thinking about it since. I don't know why I didn't make it again until now. It's actually very fast and easy. It's one of the reasons I love it. I think there's a perception that French food is fussy and difficult, but not all of it is! And this is one of those recipes that can be a regular in your menu line-up!

Last time I think I used ricotta cheese to make the cream. But this time I saw some other recipes that lightened the recipe up by using greek yogurt for the cream base. If you were in France you would probably use something likebreakfast cream, but that is not very common here in America. I decided I would just get a single serving size of 2%  plain Greek yogurt, so I didn't have to have a whole carton of Greek yogurt. It was about 6oz of yogurt and 2 heaping TBS of natural sour cream. 

​This recipe calls for nutmeg and you do not want to skip it. It is so delicious! And it compliments the strong flavor of the onion so well. 

I also used store bought thin crust dough because we were having a really busy day, but usually I use our crust recipe (and I like ours better). But store bought works in a pinch. I accidentally over-baked it the first time around in the oven, but even though the crust was more brown than I would have liked, it still came out quite tasty!

Flammekueche ( Alsatian Pizza)

I hope you'll give this a try.

​And if you want to try out more French recipes, take a look at this awesome class put on by Panna! Panna is like Netflix for cooking videos by Michelin-starred Chefs, and they've just started a new class on French cooking! You can buy just the class (10 lessons) for $60 or sign up for the site for $5.99/month. There's also an option to join for life at $200. They have a free trial period, so you can sign up and if you don't like it, you can cancel your subscription. But I think you'll like it!

This post contains affiliate links.  If you make a purchase after clicking them, we will be compensated, but there is no additional cost to you.  All opinions expressed are our own.  Thank you for your support

So today, in our French ancestors honor we made Gratin Dauphinois (French scalloped potatoes) and roasted chicken.

Usually when I think of scalloped potatoes I think of cheese and potatoes. But to make true Gratin Dauphinois, you DON'T USE CHEESE! I know! I was skeptical at first, but really this turned out so delicious! You still get a crispy brown top from the starch in the potatoes. 

Some tips for make Gratin Dauphinois

• The nutmeg in this recipe was divine. I really loved it. It complimented the subtle flavors of the cream and potatoes so well. I did not miss the cheese at all. So don't skimp on the nutmeg. I added it to the top of my potatoes in the saucepan and gave it a good dusting. I then mixed it in. 
• Some recipes that I saw used leeks or chives. I decided chives were good enough for me.
• I used myfood processor to slice my potatoes. It made it so fast and easy. A mandoline slicer would be useful here as well.

Just look at that beauty. Gratin Dauphinois was so wonderful! And the leftovers are great too. And it was really easy to make. If you con't have cream on hand, I saw some recipes where it could be made with just milk. So if you're craving scalloped potatoes, try Gratin Dauphinois, you won't regret it.

Gratin Dauphinois

To go with the Gratin Dauphinois, I thought a roasted chicken would be delicious. I was just going to buy a rotisserie chicken from the store but then thought it would be fun to try my hand at roasting a chicken. It was so good too!

I did look up how the French roast chickens but I didn't have time nor ingredients for Julia Child's recipe. So I'll just say the flavors are French inspired though not classically French at all.

I don't have a recipe for you, but I rubbed my chicken with butter, and sprinkled it with thyme, salt, and pepper. A squeeze of fresh lemon juice and some extra pats of butter finished up the outside of the bird. I rubbed up under the breast skin with butter and stuck some cloves of garlic up there. Inside I stuffed it with lemon, garlic, and bay leaves. I meant to grab some rosemary from the plant outside but I forgot. I tied the legs together with some baker's twine. Then roasted it at 400F for 20 minutes. After that I reduced the temperature to 375F for another 90 minutes. I had a 5 pound bird that came out with nice crispy skin and beautifully moist meat. It was so delicious.

With the leftovers we made chicken tacos the next night.That's the great thing about this chicken the flavors are subtle enough that the leftovers can easily be transformed.

So I hope you give those Gratin Dauphinois a try. They're so delicious! Best scalloped potatoes I've ever had. If you do let us know in the comments how you liked it!

This post contains affiliate links.  If you make a purchase after clicking them, we will be compensated, but there is no additional cost to you.  All opinions expressed are our own.  Thank you for your support

Alicia back again with another Irish recipe for you. This will be my last recipe for Ireland. Next month we're moving on to French food! This has been a very fun experiment so far. I hope you get the chance to try something like this out sometime.

Today I'll be sharing a recipe for Cottage Pie.

You may be thinking that this Cottage Pie looks a lot like Shepherd's Pie. That's because they are essentially very similar. But one thing is very different between them. Shepherd's Pie has to use ground lamb or sheep meat! Never Beef! This makes sense if you think about how Shepherd's watched over sheep and not cows.

I didn't have ground lamb, however, so I decided to make Cottage Pie withe the ground beef I had i the freezer. And it was so tasty, we "accidentally" ate half the dish in one sitting, going back for thirds. Even my 6 month old daughter was digging it. She is so fascinated by food. Every time we would bring the fork to our mouths she would open her mouth. It was really cute. I ended up giving her some of the mashed potato topping, and she loved it!

Cottage Pie is layered. A delicious beef layer with veggies and gravy, and a topping of champ and cheese. 

Champ is mashed potatoes with diced green onions, lots of butter, and milk. They are mashed until they are really creamy smooth. You definitely don't want any lumps for this dish. So get those potatoes as smooth as you can. 

Because you want it layered, dollop small amounts of the champ on top of the beef mixture, and then gently smooth them together with a fork or spatula. You don't want any holes in the top.

The cheese I used was Kerrygold Dubliner cheese. It's an Irish cheese, and it tastes a bit like Gruyere only a bit sweeter. It's very tasty! 

Irish Cottage Pie

This is such an easy meal to make and pretty inexpensive. I hope you give it a go. Let us know how you like it!