Bouquet garni (typical herbs assortment for French stews)

Bouquet garni is a generic term used to talk about aromatic herbs usually used in French one-pot dishes. There is no one recipe for it, but it always contains thyme and bay leaves and is frequently bundled into the green part of a leek leaf, tied with twine.

Here is how I do mine.


INGREDIENTS (for one bouquet):
- 1 piece of green leek leaf
- 2 small bay leaves, or 1 big
- 1 sprig of thyme
- 1 sprig of flat leaf parsley
- cooking twine


RECIPE:
- lay all the herbs into the green leek leaf, roll in a bundle and tie with cooking twine

Note: my leek leaf was a little stiff, so my bouquet ressembled a hobbit packed lunch, but you get the idea ;)
- use as directed in your stew recipe

Spaetzle (European pasta-like dumplings)

Nothing simpler than these little drops of deliciousness known as Spaetzle.

They are a typical European pasta-like dumpling dish, best served slathered in butter (what else?) with stews such as Hungarian Paprikash and Goulash or even German Sauerkraut and Wurst. So good! They truly are the best comfort food ever!



INGREDIENTS (for 2 people):
- 250g AP flour
- 1 egg
- 1 glass of water (about 200ml)
- a pinch of salt


RECIPE:
- mix all ingredients well (try to avoid any lumps) until the batter is tacky and a bit on the runny side and transfer to a pitcher (this will make the pouring a bit easier)

- using a large-holed colander, sieve the batter and dump the droplets in a pot of boiling salted water

- the Spaetzle are cooked when they float to the surface

- drain and serve topped with butter

- Enjoy!!