appetizer

The kick-off to patio season has to be celebrated with a great appetizer, right? Which is why today’s recipe is perfectly suited. This Ham, Olive and Cheese Bread is very popular in France, and a French aperitif favorite. Known in French as a “cake salé” (savory cake), you’ll often find this type of rustic bread/loaf served at friendly get-togethers or for pre-meal snacks and drinks in France. They come in all variations and are traditionally cut in thin slices or cubes for guests to pick at, while mingling before dinner. …

here are no rules about French pâtés. Pork, chicken, rabbit or duck. Breast, cheek, belly or tripe. Squelched in a baguette sandwich with a few “cornichons”, baked “en croûte” in a flaky pastry crust or delicately seared and served atop a succulent filet mignon. In a ploughman’s lunch bag or on a Michelin star table. Sometimes rough, sometimes a delicacy, pâté has seduced, seduces and will seduce generations of French families for decades to come. And for how many ways there are to eat it, you can find a way …