Recipes from home

Influenced by the Normandy bocage, the regional cuisine of Villedieu-les-Poêles is strongly marked by its farming heritage and by the three flagship products typical not only of La Manche but also of Lower Normandy: andouille, apple and camembert. Here are a few local recipes for a 100% Normandy menu that will delight your guests’ taste buds.

Watercress soup à la paysanne

Easy to cook, wild watercress was gathered by our grandmothers from the banks of ponds. They could also be cultivated in small, purpose-built basins called “cressonnières”. You can still see some of these ponds near Saint-Pois, on our “Butterfly along the water” trail. Download this hiking trail here or go to the Tourist Office to pick up the topoguide.

Recipe:

In a large saucepan, melt a knob of butter and add a handful of watercress and half a kilo of potatoes. Add a liter of water and cook for an hour. Pass through a food mill, season with salt and pepper and serve with a generous spoonful of cream and croutons fried in butter.

The quiche with andouille sausage and apples

A traditional Normandy delicatessen par excellence, andouille is a complete blend of different pork cuts. Located in Gavray, near Villedieu, Andouillerie de la Baleine offers local andouilles and other typical cured meats all year round. This recipe also features apples. The Elstar apple is preferred, an excellent knife apple that also has the advantage of holding up well to cooking.

Recipe:

Line a quiche tin with shortcrust pastry. Place 300g diced andouille sausage and 3 diced Elstar apples on top. Pour in the quiche mixture (25cl milk, 250g cream, 3 eggs and salt). Bake at 150 degrees for one hour. Serve warm with a glass of cider.

La Teurgoule

A traditional Norman dessert that can still be found in some bakeries, teurgoule is a thick, creamy, nutritious rice pudding that was mainly served “au quatre heures”. Its secret lies in the lengthy cooking process, carried out in an earthenware bowl. Its name, which may make you smile, comes from the Norman expression “se torde la goule”. Barely out of the oven, people would rush to taste this still-burning, mouth-twisting dessert.

Recipe:

Preheat oven to 150°C. Boil a liter of milk in a saucepan with a vanilla pod, split in two. Leave to cool off the heat. Pour 100g of rice, 125g of sugar and the cinnamon into your dish. Mix well, then gently stir in the milk, vanilla pod and butternut. Cook for 3 hours (or 4 if necessary) over a very low heat. Eat warm (when you’ve just made it, it’s best) or cold afterwards.

Teurgoule Normande Philippe Julie Andrieu 9

La Bouillie buckwheat

For a long time, buckwheat porridge was the main dish in Normandy. Nutritious, inexpensive and easily transportable in a bowl, it was an almost daily meal for workers. In fact, Villedieu-les-Poêles takes its name from the famous pans for making bouille, a best-seller in the 19th century.

Recipe:

In a large cast-iron casserole dish, mix 500g buckwheat flour and 500g wheat flour with water and milk. Bring to the boil while stirring. As it cooks, the mixture hardens. Keep stirring vigorously. Once boiling, cook for 10 minutes, stirring more moderately. Adjust the consistency to your taste by adding more or less milk. Serve immediately in a shallow dish. Make a crater in the middle to accommodate a large knob of butter.