3 Stunning French Recipes Claude Monet Would Cook at Home in Giverny (2024)

The Impressionist painter Claude Monet has become almost synonymous with his series of paintings of water lilies, but of course he painted many masterworks on various subjects, including mouthwatering still lifes of food, one of his passions, as befits a Frenchman.

A genial host, Monet, once installed in his house in Giverny, entertained from a dining room painted in two shades of yellow and hung with Japanese prints. This was connected to a blue and white tile kitchen that boasted many copper pots from which emerged hearty, middle-class fare. Monet “appreciated simple dishes made of fresh ingredients and prepared according to very basic yet authentic principles,” writes Florence Gentner, a museum consultant and author, most recently of The Monet Cookbook: Recipes From Giverny. This beautiful volume is illustrated with memorabilia, reproductions of the artist’s work, and photographs by Francis Hammond that were styled by Garlone Bardel. Organized into four sections, the rustic recipes are inspired by Monet’s culinary journals. Here, we share three of them, each a perfect addition to a lazy Sunday meal.

The Monet Cookbook: Recipes From Giverny, by Florence Gentner, with photographs by Francis Hammond (Prestel), $35, is now in stores.

Eggs Orsini
6 eggs
40 g (3 T) grated cheese
Butter
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

Serves 6
Preparation time: 10 minutes. Cooking time: 30 minute.

Separate the eggs, keeping the yolks in their shells and removing as much of the whites as possible without breaking the yolks. Tip the whites into a large bowl. Prop up the shells with a scrunched-up dish towel so they remain upright

Preheat the oven to 180ºC (gas mark 4, or 350ºF).

Season the egg whites with salt, then whisk until they form very stiff peaks (they should be firm enough to withstand the weight of a small spoon without sinking in).

Liberally grease a tray with butter, and pour the egg whites onto it in one fluid motion. Smooth pit with a wooden spoon. Make 6 reasonably deep hollows a good distance apart, and then carefully place an egg in each one. Season with pepper, then sprinkle with grated cheese and butter shavings.

Carefully place at the back of the oven. After about 30 minutes the top should be crispy and golden, and the yolks just set. Serve immediately.

TIP: This simple dish is almost impossible to get wrong, but it cannot be allowed to stand.

Potato Pie
For the pastry:
500 g (4 cups) flour
250 g (17 T, or a bit more than 2 sticks) butter, at room temperature
2 egg yolks
Salt

For the filling:
6 (1.2 kg, or 2 1/2 lbs. in all) firm, medium-sized potatoes
3 onions
1 small bunch parsley
150 ml (5 fl. oz., or a bit more than 1/2 cup) heavy cream
1 whole egg
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

Serves 8
Resting time for pastry: 2 hours. Preparation time: 30 minutes. Cooking time: 2 hours.

Start by preparing the pastry: Cut the butter into small cubes and place in a bowl; add the flour with 1 pinch of salt, then mix together with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Mix in the egg yolks and shape the dough into a ball.

Place the dough on a lightly floured work surface. Press out the dough with your palm, working from the center to the side to obtain a smooth dough. Repeat the process several times until the dough is even. Shape it into a ball again, wrap in plastic wrap, and leave to rest in the fridge for two hours.

When you are ready to use the pastry, preheat the oven to 180ºC (gas mark 4, or 350ºF).

Peel the potatoes and slice into rounds. Soak the potato slices in cold water. Peel the onions and cut into rounds. Dice the parsley.

Take the pastry out of the fridge and divide it into two uneven-sized pieces. Place the larger piece onto a floured surface and roll it out into a circle large enough to line the bottom and sides of a shallow, round, earthenware dish. The pastry should slightly overlap the sides. Roll out the second piece of dough into a circle just a little larger than the dish.

Drain the potatoes and dry them with a clean paper towel. Arrange them in the dish in a single layer and scatter with the onion rings and diced parsley. Season with salt and a generous amount of pepper, then add the cream. Cover with the second circle of pastry, pinching the two sheets of pastry together to seal the edges.

Make a hole in the middle of the pastry (to let the steam escape while cooking), and carefully insert a funnel made by rolling up a small piece of thick paper. Beat the whole egg, then brush the pastry with it before it goes into the oven. The pie should take 2 hours to cook. If it turns golden before then, cover it with a piece of lightly greased parchment paper.

Strawberry Mousse
250 g (1 1/2 cups) strawberries
20 g (1 1/2 T) superfine sugar
4 egg whites
1 T butter for greasing the dish
Salt

Serves 4
Preparation time: 10 minutes. Cooking time: 10 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 150ºC (gas mark 2, or 300ºF).
Mash the strawberries into a purée and pass through a sieve. Sweeten the strained purée to taste: You will need more or less sugar depending on the quality of the strawberries.

Whip the egg whites into stiff peaks with a pinch of salt, then carefully fold in the strawberry purée. Pour the mixture into a greased dish and cook in the oven for 10 minutes. Serve immediately.