Apéritif maison - enjoy a drink and a few nibbles at home and share with family and friends. In this post, you will find a Kir, Palmiers salés, crevettes and a pâté.
Salut mes amis!! It’s been a while since the last time I did this kind of post. I hope you’ve been enjoying the recipes I’ve been posting and that you’re finding the lessons and worksheets helpful for learning French. This week the weather here is like being back to winter and it has discouraged me to go out and enjoy some good food. I could pass on being stuck at home but I couldn’t pass on the good food. Therefore, I decided to plan an apéritif à la maison (aperitif at home). The aperitif is serving drinks and nibbles before having dinner. The following are some of the nibbles I thought would make a great apéritif to enjoy with guests.
Ingrédients
Pour le Kir
- vin blanc
- crème de cassis
Crevettes au beurre
- des crevettes
- ail
- beurre
- piment
Palmiers salés
- 1 pâte feuilletée
- 2 c.à.s pâte de tomate
- de Brie
- de salami
- herbes mélangées
- sel
- poivre
Ingredients
For the Kir
- white wine
- Crème de Cassis
Buttered prawns
- prawns
- garlic
- butter
- chilli
Savoury Palmiers
- 1 sheet of puff pastry
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- Brie
- salami
- pinch of mixed herbs
- salt
- pepper
Pâté de champignons
- fromage à la crème
- 1 c.à.s vin blanc
- 3 c.à.s beurre non salé
- oignon haché
- 200gr champignons de châtaigne
- 1 c.à.c poivre
- 1 c.à.s persil
- une baguette
Autres choses
- salami
- Brie
- olives vertes
Mushroom pâté
- cream cheese
- 1 tbsp white wine
- 3 tbsp unsalted butter
- chopped onion
- 200gr of chestnut mushrooms
- 1 tbsp pepper
- 1 tbsp parsley
- a baguette
Other stuff
- salami
- Brie
- green olives
What does an apéritif consist of?
La boisson - The drink
You can't have an apéritif without a drink that's main aim is to get your appetite going. When it comes to an aperitif, the French have a fair few to choose from. An aperitif is usually an alcoholic drink to stimulate the appetite. I chose a classic drink; Kir. It’s made with 3 parts white wine and 1 part crème de cassis. Crème de cassis is a sweet blackcurrant liqueur. Pour the crème the cassis first and top up with white wine, usually a Bourgogne Aligoté.
Kir - a popular French cocktail made with crème de cassis, a blackcurrant liqueur topped up with a white wine. In France, this is usually drunk as an apéritif before a meal.
Palmiers salés
Next, I made some palmiers salés. These take absolutely no time to make. In fact, all you need is some ready rolled puff pastry, tomato paste, salami and some kind of cheese. You flatten your puff pastry, smother with tomato paste, add the salami and cheese on top, sprinkle some herbes de Provence and start rolling from the sides until you get to the middle with a scroll-like roll. Then cut into chunky slices and place on a baking sheet. Bake in an oven at 180ºC for about 10 minutes.
Palmier - a French pastry in the shape of a palm leaf made from puff pastry. These could be sweet or savoury.
Les amuse-bouches
Let’s talk about the nibbles. There are a few simple and straightforward things you could put on your table without having to prepare anything like green olives, sliced salami and pieces of your favourite French cheese. I decided to go for some Brie as it’s one of my favourite ones.
Les crevettes - King prawns
Next on my list is another favourite nibble of mine; les crevettes. For this aperitif, I decided to cook these prawns in some garlic and chilli butter and voilà you have another topping for some toasted baguette or you could also use crackers.
Pâté de champignons - Mushroom dip
Now, what’s a French apéritif without a pâté? I’ve made a few different pâtés in my life and I always want to try new ones. So, this time I made a pâté de champignons (mushroom pate). All it requires is melting some butter/oil in a pan, add a chopped onion and let it sweat. Then, add the mushrooms (I used chestnut mushrooms) and let them cook for a few minutes. In a food processor, add some cream cheese and a splash of white wine or brandy and mix. Then, add the mushroom mixture to it and mix again. Place in a serving dish and refrigerate for a few hours. When it’s time to serve, sprinkle some parsley on top and serve with a toasted baguette.
Pâté is a mixture of cooked ground meat and fat minced into a spreadable paste. Other versions are made with a kind of vegetable, as we're doing today. Wine or brandy is added to the mixture to give it more taste. A pâté can be served either hot or cold, but its flavour is at its best after a few days of chilling.
I hope you enjoy preparing this quick and easy aperitif and enjoy sharing all of this goodness with your family. Let me know what other things you would include in your apéritif maison and if you make any of these dishes tag me along on Instagram #thelanguageskitchen or Facebook as I'd love to see your creations.
Now go have a look at today's important topic in French. We have an introduction to the past tense in French. Then, practice with the worksheet attached to the lesson below.
