Yolaine Corbin keeps her French connection strong with her Frenchilicious Kitchen.
Loulabelle's FrancoFiles episode 74
Guest: Yolaine Corbin
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Yolaine Corbin was born and grew up in Orleans south of Paris, but now describes herself as a “Frozzie”! That is a French born/Australian settled. Yolaine is the owner of fabulous French food company here in Melbourne “Frenchilicious Kitchen”. She’s a chef, an official Thermomix recipe creator and a maman to 3 gorgeous girls.
Growing up in Orleans Yolaine dreamed of travelling and tried to learn English by listening to pop music on the radio which was mostly in English! After her school years had finished she decided to take off to Australia to travel around for a year in order to get her English speaking to a proficient level. It was a struggle at times with the Aussie accent being so different to the UK accent she learned with back home growing up in France.
Yolaine now has a wonderful catering company specialising in French inspired dishes and lately she has taken a particular interest in Basque cuisine as well. But her food journey here was not always smooth. Yolaine didn’t plan to work in the food industry initially but got a job at a French crepery before taking off to travel around the country. After another stint at the crepery on her return to Melbourne, Yolaine’s year abroad in Australia was over and she had to return to France.
Yolaine felt there was unfinished business for her in Australia so she returned and lucky for us that she did! Firstly when Yolaine came to Australia for the second visit she studied cookery at the William Angliss College which is well known in Melbourne. Cooking in a commercial kitchen after her formal training was not all Yolaine expected though and she ended up working in a hand made biscuit shop! This shop turned out to be her happy place and she stayed for 8 years!
Yolaine had some lovely French food influences growing up in France. She liked to experiment with foods and recipes. That helped enormously in her more recent job as a Thermomix magazine recipe creator.
Yolaine entered and won a cooking competition on Australian television show The Chef’s Line (SBS) which inspired her to open her own catering company. She now runs her Frenchilicious Kitchen focusing on large catering functions and does full menus for special occasions such as Mother’s Day and Christmas with wonderful picnic boxes for other special events like the AFL Grand Final!
Yolaine has a special offer for Loulabelle’s FrancoFiles listeners! Mention that you heard her on the Loulabelle’s FrancoFiles podcast and she will throw in a bag of macarons with your order!
Since living here in Australia Yolaine has returned to France with her children. She tries to keep their French fluency to a high standard. She explains though that it take commitment to ensure the family speaks in French to make the kids bi-lingual.
Yolaine’s favourite region to visit back in France is the Pays Basque. She adores traveling to St Jean de Luz and even describes her favourite day as starting with a visit to a French food market in the south west French town. I’m looking forward to enjoying some Basque dishes coming out of her Frenchilicious Kitchen in the future!
Yolaine Corbin’s links:
Website Frenchilicious Kitchen
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/frenchiliciouskitchen/?hl=en
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/frenchiliciouskitchen/
Yolaine’s winning Basque style Cassoulet recipe from The Chef’s Line: click here
Yolaine’s first cookbook by Ginette Mathiot:
Musique
Les Rita Mitsouko -Marcia Baïla
Recette
Yolaine will order Steak Tartare every time she sees it on the menu!
Below is Yolaine’s Thermomix recipe for Steak Tartare.
Herbed and spicy steak tartare
Time 50 seconds in the Thermomix; 1 to 1.5 hours semi freezing of the meat
Serves 4—6
2 shallots
5 springs parsley, leaves only
1 sprig basil, leaves only
1 tablespoon capers
6 cornichons (small gherkins in vinegar)
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon wholegrain mustard
2 teaspoons tomato ketchup
1 egg yolk
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons brandy (optional)
½ teaspoon ground cumin
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
a few drops Tabasco sauce
a few drops worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon cracked black pepper
2 tablespoons chives, finely chopped
650 grams porterhouse or eye fillet steak, cut into 3 centimetres cubes and semi frozen for 1 to 1.5 hours
To serve
1 raw egg yolk per person (optional)
Chives sticks
1. Mince the shallots 3 seconds/speed 7. Scrape the sides of the bowl, add parsley, basil, capers and cornichons and blitz 3 seconds/speed 6. Scrape sides and repeat.
2. Add mustards, ketchup, egg yolk, olive oil, lemon juice, brandy (if using), spices, Tabasco and worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper and emulsify 30 seconds/speed 5.
3. Add half the semi frozen mean and mince 8 times/turbo/0.5 seconds to your preferred consistency. Pour this mixture into a large bowl.
4. Without washing the bowl, repeat the mincing process with the second half of the meat. Once done, add to the previous batch along with the chopped chives and stir well to allow the seasoning to coat all the meat evenly.
5. Mound the tartare onto serving dishes, poke a small well in the middle if you wish to garnish with an egg yolk and sprinkle some chives.
6. Serve with (preferably home made) frites, green salad with French vinaigrette and toasted bread/croutons.
