On Thursday, chefs worldwide will be taking part in Goût de France, an event celebrating French gastronomy, where guests can enjoy a French-style menu

When I first started touring Europe with my husband many years ago, of all the countries we visited or stayed in France always left me with some of the happiest memories. They were not brought about solely by travelling through the beautiful countryside, but more when ambling through those lovely French markets in search of good food.

Can you think of any other country in the world that holds food and its preparation in such high regard as France? Whether it is the simple plat de jour in a country bistro or an elaborate menu from one of the haute cuisine establishments in Paris or Lyon, cooking is considered an art form and good food is very much a part of everyday life in France.

A lot of the classic dishes come from humble beginnings rather than grand restaurants. An ancient rooster tenderised with a bottle of wine evolved into succulent coq au vin, and a tough old hen, simmered to tenderness in a pot with whatever vegetables came to hand, was transformed into poule au pot.

The largest country in the EU, France is divided into administrative regions or départements, with dishes from every region contributing to the rich French culinary heritage. There is wonderful seafood from Brittany, dairy produce and that fiery apple brandy Calvados from Normandy, magnificent wines, enormous escargots and Dijon mustard from Burgundy. And from Alsace, with its German influence, comes sauerkraut, quiche Lorraine, flambéed onion tarts and kugelhopf cakes.

Bordeaux also has great wines, as well as Cognac and Armagnac, and in its forests grow those strange, secretive and hugely expensive fungi, truffles. In the south, garlic and herbs, tomatoes and olive oil are synonymous with Provence, as is bouillabaisse, the famous, rich fish stew, while Languedoc is the home of cassoulet, a casserole of haricot beans, meat, poultry and sausages – truly one of the great dishes of France.

And then there is cheese. General de Gaulle once famously remarked to Winston Churchill that nobody could successfully govern a country that had 265 varieties of cheese (although that number changes depending on who is quoting it), but his total appears to be a little on the conservative side.

According to conventional reckoning, there could be anything from 450 to 750 named varieties of cheese, from the internationally renowned Roquefort and Camembert, to cheeses that travel only a kilometre or two from the farm gate to the local market. Churchill was obviously thinking of another famous French product that was close to his heart when he said during the war: “Remember gentlemen, it’s not just France we’re fighting for, it’s Champagne!”

During our travels it became increasingly clear that nowhere are the pleasures of the table taken so seriously or enjoyed so much as in France. This is reflected in an important event taking place on Thursday, when France is inviting the world to take part in a gastronomic journey.

On the day, more than 1,300 chefs from five continents will be showing off their expertise and knowledge of French cuisine to prepare a French-style menu, which will include a traditional French aperitif, a cold starter, a hot starter, fish or shellfish, meat or poultry, a French cheese (or cheeseboard), a chocolate dessert, French wines and digestifs. The chefs will also be encouraged to source local seasonal produce for their dishes to emphasise healthy eating and to highlight their own culinary traditions and cultures.

The event is being organised by renowned chef Alain Ducasse and the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Development, but the original initiative was first inspired by Auguste Escoffier who, in 1912, launched the idea of serving the same menu on the same day to as many diners as possible in several cities around the world.

Seven restaurants in Malta and Gozo are taking part: Bacchus, De Mondion and the Medina Restaurant in Mdina; Pegasus Restaurant at the Phoenicia Hotel, Floriana; Cordial Chez Cyrille and Malata restaurants in Valletta; and Chez Amand in Gozo. Each will be encouraged to donate five per cent of their proceeds from the event to a local NGO promoting health and the environment.

Recently, I was privileged to be invited to a working lunch with French Ambassador Béatrice Le Fraper Du Hellen and the embassy’s cultural counsellor Laurent Croset. The food was excellent and the conversation stimulating and entertaining.

The embassy was kind enough to supply me with several recipes to try, all of them simple to prepare and delicious to eat. The first, vol-au-vent de fruits de mer, a puff pastry case filled with seafood and anointed with a cream and dill sauce, made a wonderful starter, but one of the seafood ingredients, praires, was new to me. It translates into English as a ‘warty Venus’, a clam known in Malta as gandoffla, which is apparently a fairly expensive delicacy in France. I used easily obtainable prawns, mussels and vongole in my vol-au-vent.

For the fish course, my fish-loving other half adored the loup grillé aux herbs – grilled spnott stuffed with fennel, parsley and coarse sea salt, which was juicy and succulent.

Then came three meat dishes: chateaubriand au poivre, tournedos Rossini and filet mignon de porc à la moutarde. As good quality beefsteak is imported, I left the chateaubriand and tournedos to the chefs and opted for our home-reared quality pork fillet. It was very quick to cook and with its creamy mustard sauce, was tender and delicious. It would go very well with a sauté de carottes et de courgettes aux épices (a sauté of carrots and zucchini with spices). And finally a tarte au citron, a perfect ending to a perfect French meal.

• In my last article I talked about Huevos rancheros, or Mexican eggs, but unfortunately, the paper did not include the recipe. If you would like it, please e-mail me on jacks@go.net.mt. Also, the wrong picture accompanied the soufflé omelette recipe.

Vol-au-vent de fruits de mer

(Serves 4)

750g fresh mussels, well-scrubbed and debearded
White wine
400g small vongole, scrubbed
300g small fresh prawns
20g butter
1 shallot or ½ small onion, chopped
Flour
150ml cream
1 tbsp chopped fresh dill
Salt and ground black pepper
4 large individual vol-au-vent cases
Dill sprigs for garnish

Cook the mussels in a splash of white wine until they open, then drain them, reserving the liquid, take out the meat and discard the shells. Cook the clams the same way but keep about half in their shells. Cook the prawns in boiling water until they turn pink, then drain, cool and shell them.

Melt the butter in a pan and fry the shallot until softened. Stir in just enough flour to absorb the butter, then gradually blend in 100ml of the reserved juice from the mussels and the cream. Bring to the boil, lower the heat and simmer for two minutes. Add the chopped dill and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Put the vol-au-vent cases on to serving plates and pack them with about half the mussels and the shrimps and the shelled clams. Drizzle over the sauce, top with prawns and dill sprigs and scatter the remaining shellfish around the plates.

Loup grillé aux herbs

(Serves 4)

2 large or 4 smaller spnott (sea bass), gutted
1 small head of fennel, trimmed
Handful of parsley, roughly chopped
2 tsps coarse sea salt
Ground black pepper
Olive oil

Trim the fins from the fish and rinse the insides. Halve and slice the fennel as thinly as possible and mix it with the parsley, salt and a good grind of black pepper. Stuff the fish with this mixture, then slash them three times each side with a sharp knife.

Preheat the grill, line the grill pan or a baking tray with foil and brush it with olive oil. Sit the fish on the tray, sprinkle them with salt and ground pepper and cover the tails with a small piece of foil to prevent them from burning. Grill the fish for about five to seven minutes or until it flakes easily when tested with a sharp knife, then carefully turn the fish over and grill the other side until done. Serve on a warm platter and brush with a little olive oil.

• Alternatively, cook the fish in a preheated 220˚C oven for about 15 to 20 minutes until it flakes easily when tested with the point of a sharp knife.

Filet mignon de porc à la moutarde

(Serves 4)

1 tbsp sunflower oil
15g butter
1 large well-trimmed pork fillet, about 600g
1 onion, finely chopped
200ml dry white wine
200ml cream
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
1 tbsp wholegrain mustard
Salt and ground black pepper

Heat the oil and butter in a deep frying pan with a lid. When the butter is foaming, add the pork fillet and cook, turning, until it’s well browned, then transfer it to a plate. Add the onion to the pan and cook gently for five minutes until softened, then add the wine and return the pork to the pan.

Bring to the boil, cover the pan and simmer over medium heat for 20 minutes, turning the pork occasionally, then transfer it to the plate once again.

Stir the cream into the pan juices, together with the two mustards and a seasoning of salt and ground black pepper, and mix well.

Bring to the boil, then lower the heat to a simmer. Cut the pork into one-centimetre slices, add them to the pan and baste with the sauce.

Cook gently for two to three minutes, then serve on warm plates.

Tarte au citron

(Serves 6)

180g plain flour
Pinch of salt
90g butter
1 tbsp caster sugar
1 egg yolk
4 eggs
200g caster sugar
1 tbsp cornflour
Grated rind of 3 lemons
200ml carton cream
150ml fresh lemon juice

Sift the flour and salt into a bowl, rub in the butter and stir in the tablespoon of sugar. Add the egg yolk and one tablespoon of cold water and mix to a dough.

Knead lightly, then roll out the pastry to line a 23cm fairly deep tart tin. Chill for at least 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 200˚C. Line the tart with crumpled greaseproof paper and baking beans and bake for about 15 minutes. Remove the paper and beans and continue to cook until golden. Reduce the oven temperature to 160˚C.

To make the filling, whisk together the eggs, sugar, cornflour, lemon rind and cream, stir in the lemon juice, then pour the mixture into a jug. Put the pastry case on to a baking tray and pour in the lemon mixture. Bake for about 30 minutes until it is just set but still a bit wobbly in the centre. Allow to cool, then dust with icing sugar.