From the Big World
French MPs from France's National Assembly agreed to feature in a new cookbook, 'La Cuisine de la République', without any mention of their political persuasion.
"Around the table, there are no parties,"
said Françoise Branget, MP for Doubs from President Nicolas Sarkozy's UMP party, who compiled the recipes out of nostalgia because since taking up her post in 2004, she no "longer has time to cook."
"There is no Left or Right cuisine," said Françoise Branget. "It is a national duty to eat well.
"We MPs are all representatives of 'terroir' (local French soil), and I wanted to find a way to bring out their value in a tour of France's gastronomy but also MPs' personal tastes."
The result has been a chorus of Gallic cockerel crows as each MP delights in waxing lyrical about their favourite dish.
The reader is treated to 'cagouilles charentaises', a dish from the southwestern Charente region
French MP's recipe for snails in sauce
Cagouilles charentaises by Martine Pinville, MP for Charente
Preparation
Time: 45 mins plus 2h rest time
Cooking time: 3h
Ingredients for 4 people:
6 dozen petit-gris snails
250g (8.8oz) sausage meat 1 spoon flour
50g (1.8oz) butter 2 carrots 1 onion speared with cloves
200g (7oz) shallots
4 sprigs of parsley
1 bouquet garni
6 cloves of peeled garlic
A bottle of heavy red wine
1 soup spoon vinegar
200g (7oz) plus 1 soup spoon coarse salt
1 spoon peppercorns
Salt and pepper
Place the petits-gris snails in a large-holed sieve and mix with coarse salt, flour and vinegar. Let them disgorge for 2h then rinse under cold water .
Cut carrots and onion, place them in pot half full with salted water with the bouquet garni, 2 cloves of garlic and the peppercorns.
Put snails in boiling water Cook for 1h then strain and keep the stock Chop shallots, the remaining garlic and parsley Cook shallots in butter until golden, then the chopped garlic, parsley and minced sausage meat.
Cook for 10 minutes squashing with fork
Add snails and wine
Add some stock, season
Cover and simmer for 2h, stirring regularly
Kindle ebook: 'Twenty Four Little French Dinners' by french-recipes-to-love (0.70p) See inside
The French Recipe Cookbook: 200 Authentic and Inspiring Dishes, Shown Step-by-Step - See More
