For our first classic French recipes of the month, I wanted to feature traditional French starters that you would be unlikely to eat in a restaurant but would be quite standard fare at home. Today’s recipes are easy and quick to make.
Oeufs Mimosa
Ingredients
- one egg per person
- mayonnaise
- lettuce leaves
- black pepper
- Fresh parsley
Method
1. Boil the eggs for 10 minutes. Remove the hard-boiled eggs from the water, cool them down in cold water straight away and peel them.
2. Cut eat egg in half length-wise. Remove the yolks carefully from each half and place them in a bowl. Squash the yolks with a fork before mixing them with a generous amount of mayonnaise. the mixture should hold together well, with just enough mayonnaise for the two tastes to blend without overpowering each other.
3. Put a teaspoon of the yolk mixture back in the middle of the egg whites and place each half on a bed of lettuce leaves. Grind a bit of black pepper over each and decorate with parsley.
4. Eat!
Vinaigrette Classique
This is a recipe for the simplest of vinaigrette. You can make it more interesting by adding some or all of the following: 1 tsp of lemon juice, a clove of crushed garlic, some finely chopped shallots. A shallots’ vinaigrette is particularly great with plain green salad.
Ingredients
- 1 tsp Dijon mustard
- 2 tbsp Vinegar (white wine, red wine or cider vinegar) – whichever one you choose, do not use malt vinegar!
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- a pinch of salt and pepper
Method
1. Whisk all the ingredients together well.
2. If the vinaigrette is too thick for your liking, add a tbsp of water. If it is too sour, just add a little olive oil.
3. Serve mixed in grated raw carrots for the ultimate French classic!
afrogatlarge.wordpress.com 
It’s very strange but I’ve always had a ‘thing’ about making vinaigrette for French friends! They always seem to whip this dressing up so effortlessly. I’ll have another attempt with your recipe.
it’s the easiest thing in the world, I promise!
We eat these all the time in my American home, they’re called “deviled eggs” here. What is the orange stuff on the plate? Carrot salad?
Yes, it’s grated carrots mixed in with vinaigrette, it’s a really common starter.
I started making something like Oeufs Mimosa this year, but in the Midwestern U.S., people often add mustard to their “deviled eggs” and garnish with paprika.
I bet that tastes really nice; I’m sure you could also add curry powder or something like that and it would be a great dish. What you’ll find with French versions of international dishes is that they tend to be ‘stripped down’, the point being to enhance the main ingredient rather than to transform it completely so the point here is to make the egg taste like the best egg you’ve ever had!
I didn’t know about the minimalism of French cooking and I’m glad you explained. Really, I don’t know much about French life at all, so I find your series fascinating.