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Photography © 2020 Marija Vidal. Food styling by Katherine Knowlton.

Cover: Cassoulet

ISBN: Print 978-1-64611-589-1

eBook 978-1-64611-590-7

R0

To My Dearest Maman Mishou,

Whose passion for life, food, and wine (though not necessarily in that order) has inspired me my entire life.

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

1: CUISINE À LA MAISON

PARISIAN HOME COOKING 101

2: PETIT DÉJEUNER & LES OEUFS

BREAKFAST & EGGS

BOSTOCK

Almond Brioche Toast

PASCADES

Oven-Baked Crêpes

PÂTE À CRÊPES

Basic Crêpe Batter

CRÊPES SUZETTE

Crêpes Suzette

GALETTE DE SARRASIN COMPLÈTE JAMBON OEUF FROMAGE

Buckwheat Galette with Ham, Egg, and Cheese

QUICHE DE BASE

Basic Quiche

FINES HERBES OMELETTE

Herbed Omelet

TROUCHIA

Frittata

OEUFS AU MEURETTE

Eggs Poached in Red Wine

OEUFS PIPÉRADE

Eggs Pipérade

COCOTTE OEUFS, ÉPINARD, ET ASPERGES

Cocotte of Eggs, Spinach, and Asparagus

3: ENTRÉES

APPETIZERS

CRUDITÉS ET SAUCES

Crudités with Four Dips

OYSTERS À LA MORNAY

Oysters Mornay

GOUGÈRES

Gougères

PISSALADIÈRE

Caramelized Onion Tart

SOUFFLÉ AU FROMAGE

Cheese Soufflé

FONDUE AU FROMAGE

Cheese Fondue

BRÛLÉ DOIGTS

Burnt Fingers

ESCARGOTS À LA BOURGUIGNONNE

Baked Snails in Garlic Butter

RILLETTE DE PORC

Pork Rillette

TARTARE DE BOEUF

Steak Tartare

4: LES SALADES ET LES SANDWICHES

SALADS & SANDWICHES

SALADE NIÇOISE

Niçoise Salad

LA SALADE DE POIS CHICHES

Chickpea Salad

SALADE DE LENTILLES

Classic French Lentil Salad

SALADE DE CHÈVRE CHAUD

Warm Goat Cheese Salad with Shallot Vinaigrette

SALADE LYONNAISE

Frisée Salad with Poached Eggs and Bacon

PAN BAGNAT

Provençal Tuna Salad Sandwich

POULET CRUDITÉ

Roast Chicken and Vegetable Sandwich

JAMBON BEURRE

Ham and Butter Sandwich, a.k.a. Le Parisienne

CROQUE MONSIEUR

Croque Monsieur

SANDWICH MERGUEZ

Grilled Merguez Sandwich

5: SOUPES ET RAGOÛTS

SOUPS & STEWS

FOND BLANC DE VOLAILLE

Homemade Chicken Stock

SOUPE BONNE FEMME

Potato-Leek Soup

SOUPE AU PISTOU

Pistou

POTAGE SAINT GERMAIN, PRINTEMPS

Springtime Fresh Pea Soup

POTAGE SAINT GERMAIN, HIVERNALE

Winter Split Pea Soup

SOUPE À L’OIGNON GRATINÉE

French Onion Soup

GARBURE

Garbure

BOEUF BOURGUIGNON

Beef Burgundy

LA DAUBE DE BOEUF À LA PROVENÇAL

Provençal-Style Beef Stew

LE NAVARIN D’AGNEAU

French Lamb Stew

BOURRIDE SÈTOISE

Provençal Fish Soup

BOUILLABAISSE

Bouillabaisse

6: PLATS PRINCIPAL

MAIN COURSES

SOLE MEUNIÈRE

Sole with Butter and Lemon

MOULES MARINIÈRES

Steamed Mussels with White Wine and Herbs

COQUILLES ST. JACQUES

Scallops Gratin

POULET RÔTI

Simple Roast Chicken

COQ AU VIN

Chicken in Red Wine Sauce

DUCK À L’ORANGE

Orange Duck

CONFIT DE CANARD

Duck Confit with Crispy Potatoes

POT-AU-FEU

Boiled Beef Dinner

ONGLET DE BOEUF, SAUCE BÉARNAISE

Hanger Steak with Béarnaise Sauce

GIGOT D’AGNEAU BOULANGÈRE

Roast Leg of Lamb with Herbs and Garlic

CHOUCROUTE GARNIE

Braised Sauerkraut with Pork and Sausage

CASSOULET

Cassoulet

HACHIS PARMENTIER

Shepherd’s Pie

7: LES LÉGUMES ET LES PLATS D’ACCOMPAGNEMENT

SIDES & VEGETABLE DISHES

LES ASPERGES, SAUCE HOLLANDAISE

Asparagus with Hollandaise Sauce

CAROTTES À LA VICHY

Carrots Vichy Style

TOMATES FARCIES

Stuffed Tomatoes

POMMES FRITES

French Fries

PANISSES

Chickpea Fries

POMMES ANNA

Potatoes Anna

GRATIN DAUPHINOIS

Potato Gratin

GRATIN D’ENDIVES AU JAMBON ET À LA BÉCHAMEL

Baked Endive and Ham Gratin

RATATOUILLE

Ratatouille

TIAN PROVENÇAL

Provençal Vegetable Gratin

8: LES DESSERTS

DESSERTS

BEIGNETS AUX POMMES

Apple Beignets

PÊCHE MELBA

Peach Melba

TARTE TATIN

French-Style Apple Tart

TARTE AU CITRON

Lemon Tart

TARTE BOURDELOUE

French-Style Pear Tart

PROFITEROLES AU CHOCOLAT

Cream Puffs with Vanilla Ice Cream and Chocolate Sauce

CLAFOUTIS AUX MYRTILLES

Blueberry Clafoutis

CRÈME BRÛLÉE

Crème Brûlée

POTS DE CRÈME AU CHOCOLAT

Chocolate Pots de Crème

MOUSSE AU CHOCOLAT

Chocolate Mousse

Measurement Conversions

Acknowledgments

About the Author

INTRODUCTION

Bonjour!

I came by my reverence and passion for French food very honestly. I grew up the proud son of two immigrant parents whose French culture and joie de vivre helped shape the person that I am today.

My story starts from the very beginning—actually, nine months before, when I was still deep within my mother’s warm and comfortable womb. My grandfather Pépé insisted on feeding my pregnant mother a hearty French diet of foie gras and black truffles to ensure that, despite living thousands of miles from the French motherland, I would grow up to become a proper gourmand.

The gourmandizing extended just past my first minute on planet Earth. Instead of getting the traditional spank and sip of mother’s milk to herald my arrival, I was handed a flute of bubbles and, with that, a serious addiction to the good life. Well, however embellished, I did start life with a French palate and a deep taste for truffles.

I grew up in Chicago, living life on the fence between two cultures: French and American. My mother came from a Provençal family whose wide roots extended as far north as Alsace. Her palate was educated by a combination of the simple country cooking that appeared nightly on her father’s dinner table and eating at many of the great brasseries in Paris.

It may be very cliché to claim that I learned to cook hanging off my maman’s apron strings, but I really did. My mother was a free-spirited natural in the kitchen who cooked like great jazz musicians riff. It was edible poetry in constant motion. She had a bold and fearless style that was inspired by what she found each day at the market.

Often, she strapped me and my sister to her bicycle and rode to the four corners of the universe in search of ingredients. For the French, the act of sourcing fresh ingredients (and getting fresh baguettes) is monumental. It is the key to the success of any dish.

Together, we shopped daily with my mother, who taught us from a very young age how to pick the ripest tomatoes and best eggplants for her ratatouille. Her ambrosial version, best savored with eyes closed, conveyed the rich tapestry of the Provençal table. French home cooking is simple, unpretentious cuisine based on sun-ripened vegetables and fruits, fragrant herbs, abundant seafood, and pasture-raised meats. My mother schooled me on using the cheaper, secondary cuts that still weren’t popular in America and transforming them into a delectable navarin of lamb or a slow-cooked beef daube.

My mother’s food was imbued with a generous helping of love and passion, typical of any French woman. The scenes from my childhood could have very well played out in any French household in the world. While most kids were out playing games with their friends, I was busy mastering a mustard vinaigrette for a simple green salad.

This is how I learned to cook French food, and it is the very aspect I want to share the most.

Remember, first and foremost, that food is a celebration. We celebrate the changing seasons by the dishes we cook; we celebrate the table, our friendships, and the simple joys of life. My goal is to share my passion for Parisian home cooking and how the French like to eat. I will leave you with one last thought: My first mentor taught me that people do not eat methods, they only eat results. Do not get too caught up or stressed about things like whether you use canned chickpeas or the dried ones that need to be soaked all night. The important part is the final flavor and consistency and the conviviality at your home. Love is always the most important ingredient in any recipe.

Have fun cooking!

Bon chance et bon appetit!

1

Cuisine à la Maison

PARISIAN HOME COOKING 101

Paris is a colorfully diverse and multicultural city. It’s not hard to fall hopelessly in love with all her charms—from the phenomenal art museums, grand architecture, and haute couture to its funky neighborhoods, charming cafés, and vibrant food markets. Paris lingers in our minds, keeping us awake at night as we plot our return. How could anyone forget Paris?

What fascinates me most is the city’s unrivaled gastronomic legacy. Even in a country composed of wildly diverse regions, Paris still reigns as the culinary King. Each different region is represented in age-old bistros, brasseries, and Michelin-starred restaurants. You can enjoy a classic Quiche Lorraine at old haunts like Café Les Deux Magots and Café de Flore, where Ernest Hemingway, Albert Camus, Pablo Picasso, and other intellectuals frequented. Or find a typical Alsatian Choucroute Garnie, at La Maison d’Alsace or steaming bowls of Provençal bouillabaisse at La Méditerranée. Culinary diversity is not limited solely to France. You can savor a traditional Moroccan couscous or lamb Méchoui at Zerda Café, a Parisian staple since 1946. Many different cultures have a seat at the table, including Congolese, Vietnamese, and Lebanese, among many others. Paris will always cater to your tastes, whatever they may be.

TRAVELS TO THE CITY OF LIGHTS

I traveled to France every summer when I was a small child. Each trip began and ended in Paris, the City of Lights, where my mother delighted in introducing me to the city’s gastronomic pleasures. It often started with sentimental favorites, like a pristine raw seafood tower on the Champs Elysées, and ended late at night in some dank Montmartre restaurant with a massive cheese platter teetering on the edge of our table.

During the day, we wandered Paris’s wide boulevards, crisscrossing the Seine several times to stop at a favorite boulangerie for croissants and pain au chocolat or gawk at the endless pastry shops. I vividly remember standing in complete awe, mesmerized by Stohrer, the oldest pâtisserie in the city. Nicolas Stohrer, King Louis XV’s pastry chef, founded the shop in 1730. I looked slack-jawed at the glass display cases brimming with chocolate-glazed éclairs, praline buttercream–filled Paris-Brest cakes, and the legion of colorful macarons sharing precious space with all the other sweets. Even to this day, I cannot pass a pastry shop without looking inside and feeling like a small child at Christmas.

My mother and I would conclude our afternoon walks in the food-centric Les Halles district for lunch at Au Pied de Cochon, a popular brasserie since 1947. In the flower of her youth, she would go there with friends to get a restorative bowl of French onion soup gratinée after dancing her way through Paris’s best nightclubs.

LES HALLES, THE “BELLY OF PARIS”

Les Halles was the old home of the bustling outdoor covered market that had fed Paris for eight centuries. In its heyday, Les Halles covered 84 acres, with 12 giant glass and steel pavilions built by the architect Victor Baltard. Each housed a different food group: exotic fruits and vegetables, meats like Charolais beef and plump blue-footed chickens from Burgundy, seafood from France’s vast coastlines, cheeses, and more. French author Emile Zola is credited with coining the phrase “the belly of Paris” in an 1873 story about an escaped convict who becomes a food inspector at the market. Les Halles was central to Paris’s diet.

After dinner service, Paris’s chefs would arrive at the market to buy food for their next day’s menu. With the shopping complete, they would stop for a glass of wine and steak-frites at any one of the all-night eateries that ringed the market. By early morning, housewives made their way to Les Halles to pick up ingredients for lunch. Whatever was freshest and looked the best was transformed into the day’s meal.

This is the way that the French shop for food, a habit I continue to keep.

THE FRENCH OBSESSION WITH FOOD

The French are completely obsessed with food. They may not have invented eating, but they may very well have perfected it. The French are so passionate that commerce screeches to a halt for two hours at lunchtime. I’ve even heard tales of family members who stopped speaking to one another for years over an argument about what fish to put in bouillabaisse.

French people are constantly talking about the meal they just ate or the next one they are planning. As a visitor, you’ll notice this phenomenon occurring all around you. Every conversation is centered around food, whether at an office, out on the street, or standing in line at the market.

I once stopped at a small butcher shop in a tiny Burgundian village. I asked the butcher for some beef, and he inquired what I was cooking. At first, I found the question a bit awkward; I mean, why was he so interested in my meal? Then, I realized that the question was asked to get a better sense of what I needed rather than to pry. Sensing that I was a foreigner, he guided me. The cut I’d asked for was too expensive for braising; in France, they used a secondary cut that is more gelatinous and better suited to long, slow braising. After a lengthy conversation, I left his shop with not only my beef but also his wife’s secret recipe scribbled on a crumpled piece of butcher paper. To be honest, my best recipes have come from this sort of counterintelligence (pun intended).

How to Shop Like a Parisian

There once lived a woman named La Mère Léa (Bidault), who had a restaurant a few hours south of Paris. She cooked excellent cuisine far into her senior years, long past when most of us would simply retire to enjoy our last days watching waves crash onto a beach. But her amazing longevity wasn’t exactly what she was known for.

Every morning, Léa did the restaurant shopping by herself, armed with a cart that had a special sign mounted to the front that read: “Attention! Poor woman, but strong mouth.” Yes, La Mère Léa was a terror at the market. Despite breaking her back three separate times, she continued to verbally knock people out of the way to ensure that she got the best produce, fish, meat, and cheeses for her restaurant.

You may wonder why I begin with a story like that. Because until I heard it, I thought my mother was crazy; she shopped the exact same way. To many French people, shopping is almost a full-contact sport. It is a daily activity that the French are particularly well-versed at.

Each day, Parisians visit the city’s wonderful markets to buy what they need for that day and only that day. Some theorize that they do this because in the old days there was no refrigeration. Or maybe because Parisian apartments are small and, therefore, so are their refrigerators. While both may be true, I believe the real reason is that the French love food. They do it because putting good, healthy food on the table is a single-minded pursuit. No Parisian would consider buying a baguette or croissant the day before for their morning coffee. Instead, they wake up early and go out and buy it the same morning they intend on eating it.

Having grown up on the fence between two cultures, I see the merits in both approaches. In Paris, it’s easy to shop like this. Practically every neighborhood has its own cheese shops, vegetable shops, butchers, fishmongers, and bakeries. In America, we tend to buy for the week (or, sadly, longer). There are fewer daily farmers’ markets and specialty grocers than in Paris and, more importantly, they are spread farther apart.

But if you’d like to shop more like a Parisian, here are two things you can do:

Cook (and buy) with the seasons. The orange baseballs you find in the winter bear little resemblance to the beautiful tomatoes we see in July. So, skip them until summertime. If you need tomatoes for a daube or a pasta sauce, use canned ones.

Shop locally. Find out where your local markets are and try to shop there every week. As I write this book, it is late fall in the Pacific Northwest, and local farmers are bringing celeriac, sweet potatoes, countless winter squashes, bitter greens, onions, carrots, and more. I get excited thinking of all the great soups and stews I can make. The fishermen who sell their catch have locally-caught coho salmon and black cod. The ranchers are bringing their pork, beef, bison, and more. Cooking seasonally is easy with nature as your guide. As food becomes more popular again, more and more food artisans are appearing to serve our families healthy, local foods.

THE FRENCH PANTRY

If someone asked me what I would take from my pantry if I knew I was going to be shipwrecked, I would probably answer just three things: sea salt, Espelette pepper, and herbes de Provence. Well, four, if you include a glass of wine, which I personally consider central to French living and almost as important as any of the seasonings I listed above. For me, those three things are indispensable for everyday French home cooking. (Though if my wife read this, she would promptly burst out laughing before opening my cabinets and exposing all my lies.)

Pantries are easily filled with items you only use for one recipe before relegating them to the back corners of your cabinet. So, I will start with the basics and provide hints as to where you could keep going, if you were so inclined. Let’s begin with the basic seasonings.

THE HOLY TRINITY OF SALTS

At home, I use three different kinds of sea salt, each with a specific purpose.

La Baleine brand fine sea salt comes from the Mediterranean, and you will find it in every single French home. This is our everyday, all-purpose salt. Think of it as the Morton salt of France. It’s a naturally white sea salt dried using only the power of the sun and wind. It has a fantastic clean flavor that won’t overpower subtle flavors.

Fleur de sel (flower of salt) is made by evaporating seawater, then hand harvesting the large crystals that float to the surface. It’s a crunchy finishing salt that I love to sprinkle over grilled steaks or lamb chops at the last minute. Try using it with caramelized sweets and even chocolate mousse.

Sel gris (gray salt) is a damp, mineral-rich, coarse sea salt from the famed Guérande region of France. Whereas fleur de sel is harvested off the top, sel gris is found in the bottom of the evaporation pits. It is a perfect salt for making duck confit and dishes that need to cook longer.

HERBS AND SEASONINGS

I remember the small window herb box that surprisingly survived the brutally harsh Chicago winters in my mother’s warm and cozy kitchen. It provided a burst of bright, fresh flavor to all the French dishes that we cooked at home. We grew copious quantities of thyme, tarragon, parsley, chives, and rosemary. And in the summertime, we added basil to our garden mix. As you explore the following recipes, you undoubtedly will see the practicality of having your own kitchen herb box.

Espelette pepper is a mildly hot chile pepper that is dried, then ground into a powder. Its characteristic smoky, sweet flavor adds the perfect balance of mild heat to any dish. It has largely replaced black pepper in my kitchen and is essential for Basque dishes like pipérade and Basque chicken. Though traditionally from the Basque region, Espelette can now be found growing all over the world. One of my favorite producers, Piment d’Ville, grows over 10 percent of the world’s supply in Boonville, California and can easily be found online. You can substitute sweet paprika for Espelette pepper, but I recommend adding this flavorful pepper to your pantry. You’ll be glad you did.

Herbes de Provence is a highly useful dried herb blend that usually includes savory, fennel, rosemary, marjoram, oregano, tarragon, and thyme. For some strange reason, most American versions add lavender. It’s probably because most people associate Provence with the vast lavender fields of the Valensole plateau.

Bouquet garni is a bundle of fragrant herbs tied together with a string and used to flavor stocks, soups, and most braises. Tie a sprig of thyme, fresh parsley, and a bay leaf together and, voilà, you just made your first bouquet garni. Feel free to add any herbs that you are growing in your own garden or that you are particularly fond of. I love both summer and winter savory and tend to use one of them as much as I do thyme in a bouquet garni.

My go-to spices are: nutmeg, for creamy potato gratin and an incredible French-style macaroni and cheese gratin; star anise and stick cinnamon, for bastions of home cooking like lentil salad and the quintessential Sunday lunch pot-au-feu; and indispensable saffron, for bouillabaisse. Finally, white and black pepper. French chefs are very opinionated about which pepper they prefer. I use both.

THE THREE FATS OF FRANCE

The American journalist Waverley Root wrote an interesting book entitled, The Foods of France. In it, he argued that French food could be divided into sections based principally upon the fat they cooked with: butter, oil, or lard (animal fat). Largely, I would have to agree that all are very central to the regional cuisines they represent. Though I would caution the overeager reader that while this may be true, not one single relative of mine has them all. In fact, most just use one single fat.

Animal fats, like duck and goose fat and pork lard, are irreplaceable in French country cooking. It is hard to imagine the cooking of southwest France—with its hearty cassoulet, duck confit, and pork rillette—without it.

As you build your French pantry, I would suggest making what I call a “super fat.” Throughout the year, I save rendered pork and duck fat in quart-sized containers in my freezer. Each time I cook my Duck Confit with Crispy Potatoes, I strain the remaining fat and refreeze it. The flavor keeps getting more intense and makes everything cooked in it more delicious. I have had my current batch of super fat for five years.

Butter is, by far, the fat most commonly associated with the French. French butter is golden-hued and contains far less water than typical American butter. Do yourself a favor and invest in a grass-fed French or Irish butter. It may cost a bit more, but the flavor and texture are vastly superior to what we all grew up with. It is perfect for everything from nibbling on crunchy radishes dipped in fleur de sel to quick pan sauces. I only use unsalted butter and will add fleur de sel by hand if I need salted butter.

Oils: I have noticed that, during the summer months, the amount of animal fat and butter I use considerably decreases, while my consumption of olive oil increases. I like to joke that my stomach goes to Provence every summer, where the cooking style is much more vegetable-based and simple grilled meats and fish rule the table. As a self-proclaimed olive oil addict, I can tell you with no uncertainty that I usually have five or six different extra-virgin olive oils on hand, with flavor profiles ranging from tropical bananas to sharper, more peppery notes. I also have a less expensive, everyday cooking olive oil on hand. Tucked away in the far reaches of my pantry is a bottle of walnut oil; I only use it in certain salads like my blue cheese, toasted walnut, and endive salad, but life would be incomplete without it.

VINEGARS

If you only own one kind of vinegar, it should be a real red wine vinegar; I use a considerable amount of it for my daily simple green salad. If you want a larger vinegar selection, I would suggest adding tarragon vinegar, a necessary component of a rich béarnaise sauce (tarragon-flavored hollandaise) and a welcome splash to my favorite chicken with tarragon and mustard recipe. I use sherry vinegar sparingly and the occasional splash of older balsamic on salads.

People may question why those two make the French pantry list. France is a small country that shares its borders with many other nations, and ingredients are not so good at staying within their confines. The culinary borders between Italy and Provence, Spain and the Basque region, and Germany and Alsace are blurs.

MUSTARDS

Not a day passes that my family does not use copious amounts of Dijon mustard in our cooking. In fact, we use so much that I am surprised my favorite mustard company, Fallot, does not wonder why sales plummet when we are on vacation. Fallot is the last independent, family-run mustard mill in Burgundy and makes the best mustard in France. I use their traditional Dijon and coarse-ground mustards; both are fantastic in sauces and salad dressings and as an accompaniment to charcuterie.

One of my favorites, as well as being among the most unique mustards around, is Moutarde Violette de Brive, which horribly translates online as “purple condiment.” It is a purple mustard made with the grape must leftover from wine making. I have savored countless grilled steaks dressed in nothing more than a few flakes of sea salt and a big spoonful of violette mustard.

STAPLE FRUITS AND VEGETABLES

The French culture is one of the thriftiest in the world. Nothing goes to waste. Dried orange zest is used to liven up a daube of beef or bouillabaisse with a bright citrusy undertone. Every time I eat an orange, I trim the peel off and hang it in a dry, well ventilated spot for about five days. I collect all of my dried peels and store them in a jar in my pantry for future use.

I like to stock plenty of lemons. They make a welcome addition to simple roast chicken or when squeezed over a fresh piece of fish. I like lemon zest grated over my asparagus and even sautéed mushrooms. The use of citrus is vital in balancing flavor and mouthfeel.

No self-respecting French kitchen would be considered complete without shallots, garlic, onions, celery, carrots, and leeks. If you can find the famous French fingerling potato known as a Ratte at your farmers’ market, then include it, too. They are incredibly delicious cooked in a spoonful of golden duck fat and crisped with slivers of garlic and chopped fresh thyme.

KITCHEN EQUIPMENT

I will always remember a party for which I once cooked at my cousin’s apartment in a five-story walk-up in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. She let me stay with her for a few weeks while I did a stage (training) for Chef Joël Robuchon. As thanks, I told her I would be happy to cook for a group of her friends. Fourteen people packed into her small apartment with an abnormally small kitchen. I ended up cooking a seven-course feast with nothing more than a toaster oven and a hot plate.

Buying kitchen gadgets is a black hole that I will never fill. There will always be one more time-saving doodad waiting to collect dust on one of my kitchen shelves. With that spirit in mind, let’s discuss what equipment will make life in a typical French home easier.

Food processor: An essential kitchen tool that saves so much time, a food processor is useful for everything from making doughs to shredding cheeses for your fondue. For many years, I subsisted on a four-sided box grater. Now, I will never go back to life without my Cuisinart.

Electric hand mixer: Electric hand mixers are useful devices, good for whipping egg whites or even the cream for a chocolate mousse. If you have a stand mixer, use it in place of the hand mixer.

Rolling pin: For many years, I was a minimalist, using empty wine bottles in place of fancy rolling pins. Now, I keep two kinds of rolling pins in my baking drawer: a French pin with tapered ends and an old-fashioned rolling pin with ball bearings.

Mandoline: The mandoline is one of the most practical kitchen tools you can invest in. It makes perfectly thin potato slices for gratins in a fraction of the time it takes to cut them by hand.

Microplane: Seriously, how did we survive cooking without a Microplane? I use Microplanes for zesting citrus and grating nutmeg for my quiches.

Blender: Blenders are wonderfully useful kitchen gadgets that will help you make your puréed soup velvety, put together hollandaise sauce, or make pascade batter with a single push of a button.

Food mill: You may be wondering why I have listed so many devices designed to affect the consistency of soups and sauces. I can only offer that each has a specific role in the French kitchen that isn’t completely rendered useless by the other device. A food mill is the best way to make the soup base for bouillabaisse. (Although, if you don’t have one, I offer another option for preparing it in the recipe note here.) I prefer it for making mashed potatoes, but a potato masher works well, too.

Fine-mesh strainer: Fine-mesh strainers are an invaluable tool in a French home kitchen for straining stock, sauces, and even duck fat after you are done making a batch of confit.

Sheet pans, wire racks, and silicone baking mats: When I left the professional kitchens, I walked out the back door with a battered stack of half sheet pans. It may be a remnant of my chef days, but I use them for everything from marinating a steak to roasting a whole chicken, and everything in between. A rimmed baking sheet works just as well and is more readily available in stores. Wire racks are functional because they allow hot air to circulate around the entire chicken, ensuring a crispy, golden brown skin. Silicone baking mats have largely replaced parchment paper in many kitchens. The beauty is they are reusable and seem to last forever.

FRENCH WINE

We can’t talk about French food without talking about wine. Many people are intimidated by French wines. The labels are—at best—confusing, the names hard to pronounce, and good wines can be prohibitively expensive. But one of the great joys of dining in France is drinking a perfectly matched wine with a well-prepared meal. I’ve had humble meals elevated to ethereal by an expert pairing of the two. The combination of a simple roast chicken with a white Burgundy, or cheese fondue with a white wine from Savoie can set my heart to fluttering. Moments like these should cause us to give pause to our busy lives and express gratitude to the farmers, the vineyard workers, and the gods.

MATCHING FOOD AND WINE

Matching food with wine should not be a scary process. It should be fun and done to please your own palate and pocketbook. Rather than tell you that a 1982 Château Margaux tastes amazingly delicious with roast leg of lamb, I want to arm you with three basic guidelines—marriages, contrasts, and irreconcilable differences—to keep you moving forward. But first, let’s start with the most fundamental wine rule of them all: Drink whatever you like. Ultimately, life is about pleasure and shouldn’t be taken so seriously. If you like red wine and you want to eat fish, just do it.

MARRIAGES

Just like in life (and cooking), marriages are the union of two similar things that ultimately become one. Acidic wines pair well with acidic foods. Try a glass of Champagne with smoked salmon flavored with a squeeze of lemon juice. The lemon bridges the acids and forms a perfect marriage. That was a bit unfair, because Champagne tastes good with everything. Try matching the intensities of food and wine. Sommelier and wine writer Marnie Old described it perfectly: “When wine and food flavors are mismatched in intensity, the result is like a fight between a featherweight and a heavyweight boxer; the biggest, strongest contender holds an unfair advantage.” Heavier food goes great with bigger wines, such as a cassoulet paired with a rustic wine from Cahors made from the Malbec grape. Pay attention to every component of the dish, including the sauce. Simple roast chicken goes great with a Chardonnay, but spicy curried chicken will not.

CONTRASTS

Undoubtedly, you have heard the saying, “opposites attract.” Contrasting elements like oil and vinegar work incredibly well in salad dressings. The same holds true with wine. When looking for a wine pairing with a rich, fatty food, try a higher-acid wine. Champagne works wonders with a rich, creamy piece of Brie. Younger, more tannic (bitter) wines also pair well with fatty foods. High alcohol wines (those over 15 percent) tend to work well with rich foods. Try a big Zinfandel or Cabernet Sauvignon with barbecued ribs—heaven. Sweet and salty pairings work well, too. An off-dry wine like a Gewürztraminer or a Riesling is incredible with a dish like choucroute.

IRRECONCILABLE DIFFERENCES

Irreconcilable differences arise when components—though unbelievably exciting alone—explode (and not in a good way) when they’re mixed together. Wines higher in alcohol content (above 14 percent) and spicy foods are terrible together. Wines that have higher alcohol levels often come from hotter vintage years, when the sweltering sun has raised the sugar levels high in the grapes and pushed the rich, fruity flavors. While we may love to drink a rich Cabernet Sauvignon from a hot year, the higher alcohol content will make pairing the wine with spicier foods harder because both taste hot. Assertively tannic wines do not pair well with dishes with an acidic edge, like one containing tomato sauce.

NOTES ON SIX WINE REGIONS

France is a small country with an incredibly long history of growing grapes in many different regions. Grapes were first planted by the ancient Greeks in 600 BCE when they founded Massilia, Marseille’s original name. Bordeaux was planted in the first century BCE and became a wine powerhouse by the twelfth century due to its location, which facilitated trade with England and other countries.

In the first part, we learned three basic pairing philosophies; here is another. Wines from a particular region tend to go well with food from the same region.

Alsace is in the northeastern part of France and is known mostly for white varietals like Riesling, Gewürztraminer, Pinot Gris (Pinot Grigio), and Pinot Blanc. They also make a small amount of red wine and sparkling wine. In general, the whites are slightly off-dry and go fantastically well with salty pork dishes like choucroute and spicy Asian dishes.

Beaujolais is the country cousin of the more highly esteemed Burgundy to the north. Beaujolais is the land of the Gamay grape and best known for the incredible fruity Beaujolais Nouveau, which is released the third Thursday in November every year. These uber-young wines are intended to be easy drinking. The real treasures of the region are the Beaujolais Villages, which, for me, are the perfect red wines of summer when I want something tasty as well as refreshing. Lighter in body than most reds but still full of flavor, Beaujolais wines can be great matches for a wide range of dishes.

Bordeaux is one of the great wine regions of the world and chiefly produces three wines: deep, bold reds made primarily from Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, and Merlot grapes; delicate, light whites born of Sémillon and Sauvignon Blanc grapes; and incredibly delicious, honey-like sweet wines (think Sauternes) made from Sémillon, Sauvignon Blanc, and Muscadelle grapes. Bordeaux wines go great with hearty foods like game, lamb, duck, and steaks. The whites are particularly good with oysters, especially when eaten with grilled pork sausages.

Burgundy is truly a wine lover’s paradise, and the bottle prices often reflect that fact. Grapes thrive in Burgundy’s chalky soil and perfect climate. It is well known for its Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs. One wine writer called Pinot Noir “liquid chicken” for its ability to pair with just about everything.

Champagne: Just hearing the word makes us feel festive; it is synonymous with celebration. The Champagne region is north of Paris and best known for its sparkling wine, though it also produces still whites and reds. If you want to only buy one wine to go with everything, look no further than Champagne because it is the perfect wine.

Provence’s earliest vines were planted well over 2,600 years ago, making it France’s oldest wine-producing region. In a lot of ways, it is also the least appreciated, which is good for consumers because there are many great wine values to be found. The most famous style emerging from Provence is Rosé. Though uber-trendy now, Rosés have been famous since the second century BCE. Next are the red wines from Bandol and the whites from the port town of Cassis. The reds are often very hearty and pair flawlessly with game dishes, beef stews, and lamb, while the whites work well with seafood.

How to Read a French Wine Label

One interesting fact about the French is that they are usually very familiar with the foods and wines of their own particular region, but they often know very little about those from other areas. I remember once travelling with my Marseille-born cousin, Andre, to a different region, and we stopped at a small roadside restaurant for lunch. He read the menu as if he were in an entirely different country, stopping often to note the curious specialties being offered.

This can make reading French wine labels confusing. The people who live in a region know what grapes grow there, so instead of seeing varietals listed, like American winemakers do, you will see only the village or maybe the region listed. Armed with a bit of basic wine knowledge, we can circumvent that. So, let’s look deeper into deciphering a typical French wine label.

Usually at the top of a label is the property name (look for château, maison, domaine), followed by the region, vintage, and then the producer. Some wines may also include a classification like grand cru, premier cru, villages, etc. These official classifications guarantee that the wines labeled with them are of a certain quality.

HOW TO SERVE WINE

There are a few factors to consider when serving wines at home, like temperature, decanting, and wine glasses. Most white wines and Champagnes taste best between 45 and 55 degrees Fahrenheit, and most reds between 60 and 65 degrees Fahrenheit. White wines that are served too cold will hide their floral aromatics and taste muted. The same applies to reds.

Decanting is the simple process of opening a bottle and pouring it into another container, which can be a fancy decanter or a simple water pitcher. The act of decanting aerates a wine, making a younger wine seem older. There are a lot of different opinions when it comes to decanting, but I would recommend opening a red wine three or four hours before you plan on drinking it.

Bigger is better when it comes to wine glasses. Here’s an idea for your next dinner party: Get two sets of glasses—a five-ounce wine glass and one of those broader, bowl-like goblets. Pour the exact same wine in each glass without your friends seeing, and ask everyone to write down the difference between the two. Most people will swear they are different wines. The bigger glasses work better because the wine aerates more and you can get your nose into it. Taste is based, in large part, on your sense of smell.

2

Petit Déjeuner & Les Oeufs

BREAKFAST & EGGS

I love breakfast in Paris. It is a daily ritual that conjures feelings that are similar to Christmas for me. My nine-year-old son and I wake up extra early and get to the boulangerie when they open the doors at 6 a.m. The air is perfumed with the sweet smells of freshly baked croissants, pain au chocolate, and the morning’s run of baguettes. We always buy an extra croissant to eat on the way home. My wife knows the routine and, thankfully, has long since stopped questioning the buttery golden shards of croissant invariably stuck to our shirts.

Breakfast is called “petit déjeuner,” or small lunch, because for most French people, breakfast is quite simple—maybe even a bit stark by American standards. It might be a tartine (slice of bread) with butter or jam, maybe a sheep milk yogurt, or a piece of fruit, just enough to tide you over to the real meal: lunch.

The true celebration comes on the weekends, when we have time to cook and luxuriate in our pajamas with a giant café au lait and the Sunday newspaper spread out over the breakfast table. This chapter has many great recipes that will be frequent additions to your weekend breakfast feasts.

A bien manger!

BOSTOCK

Almond Brioche Toast

PASCADES

Oven-Baked Crêpes

PÂTE À CRÊPES

Basic Crêpe Batter

CRÊPES SUZETTE

Crêpes Suzette

GALETTE DE SARRASIN COMPLÈTE JAMBON OEUF FROMAGE

Buckwheat Galette with Ham, Egg, and Cheese

QUICHE DE BASE

Basic Quiche

FINES HERBES OMELETTE

Herbed Omelet

TROUCHIA

Frittata

OEUFS AU MEURETTE

Eggs Poached in Red Wine

OEUFS PIPÉRADE

Eggs Pipérade

COCOTTE OEUFS, ÉPINARD, ET ASPERGES

Cocotte of Eggs, Spinach, and Asparagus

BOSTOCK

ALMOND BRIOCHE TOAST

PREP TIME: 15 minutes | COOK TIME: 15 to 20 minutes | MAKES: 8 servings

This is a treat my mother used to make for me on special occasions or when I needed soothing after a particularly hard day at school. The crunchy, golden brown slices of rich brioche, generously slathered with raspberry jam and velvety almond frangipane, always cheered me up and made me smile.

FOR THE SIMPLE SYRUP

½ cup granulated sugar

½ cup water

1 teaspoon orange flower extract or vanilla extract

FOR THE FRANGIPANE

1 cup superfine almond flour

½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature

⅓ cup granulated sugar

2 large egg yolks

½ teaspoon almond extract

TO FINISH

1 loaf brioche (about 14 ounces), cut into 8 thick slices

½ cup raspberry jam

½ cup sliced almonds, toasted (see Tip)

¼ cup confectioners’ sugar

24 fresh whole raspberries

1. To make the simple syrup, in a small saucepan over high heat, bring the sugar and water to a boil, stirring, until the sugar is dissolved, about 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool. Stir in the orange flower extract.

2. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or buttered parchment paper.

3. To make the frangipane, in a food processor, mix the almond flour, butter, sugar, egg yolks, and almond extract together until very smooth, about 30 seconds. If you don’t have a food processor, you can mix it by hand, but it will take much longer and the final consistency will be a little coarser.

4. To finish, lay the slices of brioche on the prepared baking sheet. Brush the tops with the simple syrup, then spread each with 2 tablespoons of the raspberry jam and ¼ cup of the frangipane. Bake until golden brown, 12 to 15 minutes.

5. Transfer to plates, sprinkle with the almonds and a dusting of confectioners’ sugar, and garnish each slice with 3 raspberries.

TIP: To toast the nuts, preheat the oven to 375°F. Spread the nuts in a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake until they are light brown, 3 to 4 minutes, checking on them every minute or so. Remove the nuts from the oven and pour them onto a plate to cool.

VARIATIONS: Bostock is so incredibly versatile. One of my favorite combinations is to use hazelnut flour (in place of almond flour) with peach jam and grilled peach slices.

PASCADES

OVEN-BAKED CRÊPES

PREP TIME: 5 minutes, plus 1 or more hours to rest | COOK TIME: 20 to 25 minutes | MAKES: 2 (12-inch) pascades, 4 servings

My family often used to drive between Marseille and my grandfather’s auberge outside of Périgueux. The highlight of the seven-hour drive was stopping in Rodez, a small city in Aveyron, for pascade. For the uninitiated, a pascade is a thick crêpe batter that is baked in a heavily buttered pan until golden brown and puffed up. In the old days, people ate them garnished simply with herbs. Today, they have become a vehicle for a range of savory and sweet fillings.

3 large eggs

1¼ cups whole milk

5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled to room temperature, divided

⅔ cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon sea salt

2 tablespoons granulated sugar (for sweet versions only)

1. In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs, milk, and 1 tablespoon of the melted butter together.

2. In a large bowl, combine the flour and salt.

3. Slowly pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, constantly whisking until you have a thick batter. Stir in the sugar if you are making sweet pascades. Cover the batter with plastic wrap and let it rest for at least 1 hour, or preferably overnight, in the refrigerator.

4. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Brush a large ovenproof nonstick or cast iron skillet with 2 tablespoons of butter.

5. Pour half the batter into the pan, and then bake on the lowest rack of the oven for 20 minutes. Resist the temptation to open the door and look at your pascade. The rush of cool air will flatten it if it has not cooked enough.

6. After 20 minutes, sneak a peek. If your pascade is golden brown and puffed, it is done. If not, cook another 5 minutes, and then check again.

7. Repeat with the remaining batter and 2 tablespoons of butter. If you have two pans, bake them simultaneously. Or, you can serve one at a time.

8. When the pascade is cooked, serve it in the pan at the table or transfer it to a warmed plate.

VARIATIONS:

EGG, BACON, AND CHEESE PASCADE (PASCADE COMPLÈTE OEUF, BACON ET CHEDDAR): Top each pascade with 2 eggs over easy, 2 strips crisp-cooked bacon, and 1 tablespoon shredded Cheddar cheese.

PIPÉRADE PASCADE (PASCADE PIPÉRADE): Top each pascade with 1 cup of hot Eggs Pipérade and a thin slice of smoked ham.

PORK RILLETTE AND ARUGULA SALAD PASCADE (PASCADE AU RILLETTE DE PORC ET ROQUETTE): Top the pascades with a salad made from Pork Rillette, croutons, and arugula tossed in a simple red wine or balsamic vinaigrette.

CHOCOLATE MOUSSE PASCADE (PASCADE SUCRÉE AU CHOCOLAT): Top each pascade with 2 cups Chocolate Mousse, crowned with a big spoonful of whipped cream and a sprinkling of shaved chocolate.

STRAWBERRIES AND CREAM PASCADE (PASCADE SUCRÉE AU FRAISE À LA CRÈME): Top each pascade with 2 cups sliced strawberries and a dollop of whipped cream.

PÂTE À CRÊPES

BASIC CRÊPE BATTER

PREP TIME: 5 minutes, plus 1 or more hours to rest | COOK TIME: 15 to 20 minutes | MAKES: 8 crêpes

This batter works for both sweet and savory crêpes.

1 quart whole milk

4 large eggs

2¼ cups all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled to room temperature, divided

½ teaspoon sea salt

1. In a blender, combine the milk, eggs, flour, 2 tablespoons of butter, and the salt and blend until smooth. Let the batter rest for 1 hour or overnight in the refrigerator.

2. Heat a 12-inch nonstick sauté pan over medium heat until hot. Dab a paper towel with the remaining 1 tablespoon of butter and carefully rub the inside of the pan. The idea is to very lightly grease the pan—too much butter, and the crêpe will slide around; not enough, and the crêpe will stick.

3. Pour ¼ cup of batter into the pan, swirling as you go so that it evenly covers the entire bottom. Cook until the edges start to brown slightly, 1 to 2 minutes. Flip the crêpe and cook for 1 minute longer. Stack the cooked crêpes on a large plate.

TIP: Cooking crêpes is a lot like cooking pancakes. Don’t worry if the first one looks terrible. Do like I do and eat it before anyone notices. It may take a few crêpes to get the technique down pat, but once you do, you’ll be making them like a pro.

Classic Crêpe Fillings, Sweet and Savory

Some of my fondest childhood memories are of going to La Crêperie in Chicago with my father. It was our father-and-son bonding time and something I really looked forward to. The menu offered every variation possible, divided into savory and sweet. I would frustrate my father by reading each option slowly, even though I always ended up ordering the same one, filled with a creamy chicken and mushroom stew. For dessert, we would share the rich chocolate crêpe topped with a giant dollop of vanilla-scented whipped cream. To this day, it is still impossible for me to eat crêpes without thinking of my father.

How to fill crêpes: There are two schools of thought for how to fill a crêpe: Either fold it into quarters or roll it up in a cylinder. In the first, spread the filling over one half of the crêpe, then fold the other half over the filling, and then fold it again into quarters. For the second, spread the filling across the entire crêpe and roll it up.

Here are some combinations to start your own traditions at home:

Butter and Sugar Crêpes (Crêpes Beurre Sucre): The all-time favorite of small children everywhere. Mix equal parts softened unsalted butter and granulated sugar together, and then spread it over the freshly cooked crêpes. Or, substitute your favorite jam.

Nutella, Banana, and Hazelnut Crêpes (Crêpes Nutella, Banana et Noisette): Spread 1 tablespoon of Nutella over a cooked crêpe. Then, top it with 3 or 4 banana slices and a sprinkle of chopped toasted hazelnuts.

Strawberry and Lemon Curd Crêpes (Crêpes à la Fraise et au Citron): Spread 1 tablespoon of lemon curd on a cooked crêpe. Then, top it with 4 or 5 strawberry slices.

Bacon Crêpes (Grapiaux): This crêpe hails from Burgundy, where it is enjoyed with a glass of wine before dinner. Cook 2 slices of diced bacon in a 12-inch nonstick pan until browned. Pour ½ cup of crêpe batter over the bacon and cook as directed here.

CRÊPES SUZETTE

CRÊPES SUZETTE

PREP TIME: 15 minutes, plus 1 or more hours to rest | COOK TIME: 20 to 25 minutes | MAKES: 8 crêpes

Le goûter is the sweet afternoon snack that every school-aged child looks forward to. It can be as simple as a slice of bread smeared with jam. When I was growing up, if I behaved really well, my mother would make crêpes.

Crêpes Suzette are perhaps the best known of all the crêpes. While its initial creation is somewhat in dispute, the French-born chef Henri Charpentier was responsible for popularizing it in America in the early 1900s.

1 recipe Basic Crêpe Batter

2 tablespoons Grand Marnier or other orange liqueur, divided

Grated zest and juice of 2 oranges, divided

¼ cup (½ stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus extra for greasing

½ cup confectioners’ sugar

1. Prepare the Basic Crêpe Batter through Step 1, adding 1 tablespoon of the Grand Marnier and the zest of 1 orange. Let the batter rest for 1 hour or overnight in the refrigerator.

2. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Butter a 9-by-13-inch baking dish.

3. In a small bowl, with an electric mixer on medium speed or by hand, cream the butter, confectioners’ sugar, and remaining orange zest together until smooth. Mix in the orange juice and remaining 1 tablespoon Grand Marnier.

4. Heat a 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat until hot. Dab a paper towel with soft butter and lightly coat the inside of the pan. Pour ¼ cup of the batter into the pan, swirling as you go so that it evenly covers the entire bottom. Cook until the edges start to brown lightly, 1 to 2 minutes. Flip the crêpe and cook the other side for 1 minute longer. Stack the cooked crêpes on a large plate. Repeat to make 8 crêpes.

5. Smear 2 tablespoons of the orange butter over each crêpe and fold it into quarters. Transfer them to the prepared baking dish. Bake until warm, about 5 minutes.

TIP: Traditionally, Crêpes Suzette are flamed at the table. Warm a few tablespoons of Grand Marnier in a saucepan, dim the lights, then ignite it. It will be dramatic as you pour the flaming Grand Marnier over your crêpes tableside—though, be mindful not to set your house on fire in the process.

GALETTE DE SARRASIN COMPLÈTE JAMBON OEUF FROMAGE

BUCKWHEAT GALETTE WITH HAM, EGG, AND CHEESE

PREP TIME: 10 minutes, plus 1 or more hours to rest | COOK TIME: 20 to 25 minutes (assuming 4 galettes) | MAKES: 4 galettes

In the north of France, they make an ancient form of crêpe out of buckwheat flour called a galette. It is wildly popular in Paris, where you’ll likely encounter it served complet, which means cooked with ham and an egg sunny-side up. Traditionally, galettes are made from 100 percent buckwheat flour and water, but buckwheat can taste very strong, and I like the creamier texture that milk gives. These are sure to be the darlings of your next brunch.

FOR THE BUCKWHEAT CRÊPE BATTER

1 large egg

¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons whole milk

½ tablespoon unsalted butter, melted and cooled to room temperature, plus extra for greasing

¼ cup buckwheat flour

¼ cup all-purpose flour

¼ teaspoon sea salt

FOR THE FILLING

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided

4 large eggs

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

4 slices ham

4 tablespoons shredded Gruyère cheese

1. To make the buckwheat crêpe batter, in a blender, combine the egg, milk, butter, buckwheat and all-purpose flours, and salt. Blend until smooth. Let the batter rest for 1 hour, or preferably overnight in the refrigerator.

2. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or a buttered sheet of parchment paper.

3. Heat a 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat until hot. Dab a paper towel with soft butter and carefully rub inside the pan. The idea is to very lightly grease the pan—too much butter, and the galette will slide around; not enough, and it will stick. Pour ⅓ cup of the batter into the pan, swirling as you go, so that it evenly covers the bottom. Cook until the edges start to brown lightly, 1 to 2 minutes. Flip and cook for 1 minute longer. Stack the cooked galettes on a large plate until you have used up all the batter.

4. To make the filling, wipe out the skillet. In the same skillet over medium heat, melt 1 tablespoon of butter until foaming. Crack 2 eggs into the pan, season with salt and pepper to taste, and cook until the egg whites are solid, about 2 minutes.

5. Lay 2 galettes on the prepared baking sheet. Place a slice of ham in the center of each, then top with 1 egg and 1 tablespoon of cheese. Fold the four edges toward the center, just far enough so the egg is still visible. Repeat Steps 4 and 5 with the remaining galettes. Bake until the cheese begins to melt, about 8 minutes.

TIP: Buckwheat crêpes tend to be a bit more forgiving than traditional flour crêpes. You might want to learn how to cook crêpes with these.

VARIATIONS:

RILLETTE AND EGG BUCKWHEAT GALETTE (GALETTE SARRASIN RILLETTE DE PORC ET OEUFS): Substitute a heaping tablespoon of Pork Rillette for each slice of ham.

SPINACH AND EGG BUCKWHEAT GALETTE (GALETTE DE SARRASIN OEUFS-ÉPINARDS): Replace the ham with ¼ cup of cooked spinach.

QUICHE DE BASE

BASIC QUICHE

PREP TIME: 15 minutes, plus 4 or more hours to rest | COOK TIME: 1 hour, plus 30 minutes to cool | MAKES: 6 to 8 servings

You can take this foundational recipe in almost limitless flavor directions. It provides you with the cornerstones of a successful quiche: a flaky crust and a creamy filling. This crust can also be used for making fruit tarts and rustic galettes. For the filling, only use heavy cream; milk has the potential to curdle when it cooks.

FOR THE FLAKY PASTRY CRUST

2⅓ cups all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon sea salt

½ teaspoon baking powder

1 cup (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, diced into small pieces

½ cup water

FOR THE BASIC QUICHE FILLING

3 large eggs

3 large egg yolks

2 cups heavy cream

½ teaspoon sea salt

¼ teaspoon black pepper

¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg

1. To make the flaky pastry crust, in a food processor, combine the flour, salt, and baking powder. Pulse for a few seconds, just enough to combine well. Add the butter and pulse several times, until the flour resembles coarse cornmeal. Slowly add the water with the motor running. Stop as soon as you have added the last drop of water. Don’t worry, the dough will not be fully mixed at this point.

2. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and mix it by hand until it comes together into a ball. Place in a large zip-top bag and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight.

3. Lightly flour your work surface. Roll the dough out into a giant circle, about 15 inches round and ⅛ inch thick. To transfer it to a 9-inch springform pan, coil it around your rolling pin. Unwind the dough loosely over the pan. Gently push the dough down into the corners, leaving at least 1 inch of dough hanging over the top edge. The outer-upper lip of the springform pan has a curled edge facing outward. Pinch the excess dough tightly around the edge, leaving any excess dough hanging down the outside. It is important to pinch as firm as possible without tearing the dough. This will prevent the crust from shrinking. Refrigerate the crust for 2 hours or more.

4. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Transfer the pan to a baking sheet. Situate the baking sheet in the lower third of the oven. Bake for 10 minutes. Pull the baking sheet out of the oven and use a serrated knife to cut along the top edge of the pan. All the scraggly pastry pieces that were pinched into place will fall off.

5. To make the basic quiche filling, in a large bowl, whisk the eggs, yolks, cream, salt, pepper, and nutmeg together. When the crust is done, increase the oven temperature to 375°F.

6. Pour the filling into the prebaked crust and bake until the filling is firm, about 50 minutes. Let it cool for about 30 minutes before cutting. It needs time to set. You will notice the difference resting makes when you slice it.

VARIATIONS:

QUICK QUICHE (QUICHE RAPIDE): Perfect when you don’t want to fuss too much. Buy a pre-made pie/tart shell. Make the Basic Quiche Filling. Chop up leftover roast pork or chicken from dinner the night before. If you have leftover vegetables, add those, too. Bake as directed in Step 7 and voilà, dinner is served.

SPINACH QUICHE (QUICHE ÉPINARDS): Sauté 1 sliced onion in 1 tablespoon butter until lightly browned. Add 1 pound bagged triple-washed spinach and cook until wilted, about 5 minutes. Sprinkle 1 cup shredded Gruyère cheese in the quiche shell. Top with the onion-spinach mixture, then the Basic Quiche filling, and bake as directed.

MUSHROOM QUICHE (QUICHE AUX CHAMPIGNONS): Sprinkle 1 cup shredded Gruyère in the quiche shell. Then, top with 2 cups of mushrooms of your choice, sautéed in 2 tablespoons butter until tender, then the Basic Quiche filling, and bake as directed.

LEEK, HAM, AND GRUYÈRE QUICHE (QUICHE AUX POIREAUX ET JAMBON): Sauté 2 chopped, well-washed leeks (white and light green parts) in 1 tablespoon butter until soft, then stir in 4 slices of ham, chopped. Sprinkle 1 cup shredded Gruyère in the quiche shell, top it with the leek mixture, then the Basic Quiche filling, and bake as directed.

SMOKED SALMON, SCALLION, AND CREAM CHEESE QUICHE (QUICHE AU SAUMON FUMÉ): Arrange 4 ounces of sliced smoked salmon in the quiche shell. Break 4 ounces of cream cheese into little pieces and arrange them over the salmon. Mix ½ cup of thinly sliced scallions into the Basic Quiche filling, pour over, and bake as directed.

QUICHE LORRAINE: Arrange 8 ounces of cooked, crispy bacon strips (applewood smoked or pepper-crusted are my favorites) in the quiche shell. Top with the Basic Quiche filling and bake as directed.

A Quiche Primer

Quiche originated in the Lorraine region of northeast France on the border of Germany and Belgium. It was a thrifty home dish made by pouring an egg and cream mixture over leftover stale bread and baking it. The modern quiche became popularized after a war broke out with Germany in 1870 that forced many French citizens along the northern border to move south to Lyon. Thankfully, they brought their quiche and other popular dishes with them.

Nowadays, quiches are made with just about every conceivable filling. But before you unleash your inner creativity, there are a few basic preparations you’ll need to master.

THICK OR THIN?

The very first question to answer is whether you should make a thin quiche or a thick one. I love my quiches thick and creamy, almost to the point where it resembles a Chicago deep-dish pizza. I use a 9-inch springform pan instead of the more traditional fluted tart pan. If you opt for the shallower tart pan, you will probably use a little less dough and need to reduce the cooking time to about 30 minutes. Reserve any leftover dough for future quiches.

A ROADMAP FOR ANY QUICHE

Here are a few general rules:

1. Always sprinkle shredded cheese on the bottom of the cooked quiche shell. This will help prevent the quiche crust from getting soggy, though disregard that advice if you are making Quiche Lorraine (see Variations).

2. Never use more than 2 cups of cheese. Too much cheese will prevent the quiche from setting properly.

3. Sprinkle or arrange the solid ingredients evenly over the cheese layer. This ensures that everyone gets some of everything.

4. Always precook and squeeze dry any vegetables before adding them to your quiche. The mixture will not set if there is too much excess liquid.

5. If using meat, be frugal; only use 6 to 8 ounces total.

6. Pour the filling over the vegetables, and then bake immediately.

7. Always let a quiche cool for about 30 minutes before cutting. It needs time to come together and set.

FINES HERBES OMELETTE

HERBED OMELET

PREP TIME: 5 minutes | COOK TIME: 5 minutes | MAKES: 1 serving

It is impossible for me to mention the word, omelet, without immediately thinking of Jacques Pépin, the celebrated French chef. As a new student in cooking school, we all looked up to him. I learned to make an omelet by reading his books over and over, studying the basic technique to the point where I thought maybe I had invented it myself.

The first time I met Jacques, I was in my own brasserie in Connecticut. As I was barking out orders on a very busy evening, I felt I was being watched. I turned to discover Jacques standing not more than five feet behind me. Instantly, I became self-aware and was one step away from the fetal position when he greeted me, his immense graciousness immediately calming me. Decades later, I had the good fortune to cook for him again at two events celebrating his 80th birthday.

This is my rendition of Jacques’s perfect omelet.

3 large eggs

1 tablespoon chopped fresh chives

1 tablespoon chopped fresh tarragon

1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme

½ teaspoon sea salt

¼ teaspoon black pepper

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1. In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs, chives, tarragon, parsley, thyme, salt, and pepper together until well mixed, about 30 seconds.

2. In an 8-inch nonstick sauté pan over medium heat, melt the butter until foamy. Add the eggs all at once and simultaneously beat them with a whisk while shaking the pan. Remove the pan from the heat when the eggs are just turning firm, about 30 seconds.

3. Position the pan with the handle pointing 90 degrees from your body. Slowly lift the handle side up high, keeping the other side down. The omelet will begin to roll towards the low edge. Nudge the omelet with a spoon if it doesn’t want to roll. What you are trying to do is position the curled omelet at the edge of the pan. This compacts the omelet and will help give it a football shape.

4. Lift the handle higher to slowly roll the omelet onto a plate. If you have perfected the technique, your omelet will have no brown color, there will be no wrinkles, the edges will be perfectly tapered, and the center will be soft and almost runny.

VARIATIONS:

CHEESE OMELET (OMELETTE AU FROMAGE): Sprinkle 2 ounces of shredded or crumbled cheese (any variety will work) down the center of the omelet before rolling it.

RATATOUILLE OMELET (OMELETTE À LA RATATOUILLE): Heat ¼ cup of Ratatouille. Spoon it down the center of the omelet before rolling it. Sometimes, I also add 1 ounce of crumbled fresh goat cheese.

RILLETTE OMELET (OMELETTE AU RILLETTE DE PORC): Microwave ¼ cup of Pork Rillette until just warm. Spoon it down the center of the omelet before rolling it.

BASQUE OMELET (OMELETTE À LA PIPÉRADE): Heat ¼ cup of my Eggs Pipérade. Spoon it down the center of the omelet before rolling it. Serve with a slice of smoked ham.

STRAWBERRY OMELET (OMELETTE AUX FRAISES): Hull and slice 5 large strawberries, toss with 1 tablespoon of sugar, let sit for 20 minutes, and then spoon them down the center of the omelet before rolling it. Dust with confectioners’ sugar.

TROUCHIA

FRITTATA

PREP TIME: 10 minutes | COOK TIME: 15 to 20 minutes | MAKES: 6 servings

I started making trouchia (pronounced “true she ah”), the Provençal take on the frittata, with zucchini in place of the usual Swiss chard after my garden yielded a bumper crop of zucchini and I did not know what to do with all of them. This has since become a family favorite. Save leftovers to eat at lunch with a salad or a basic tomato sauce.

5 thin zucchini (see Tip)

1 teaspoon sea salt

6 large eggs

½ cup shredded Gruyère cheese

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1. Preheat the broiler.

2. Shred the zucchini on a box grater using the larger holes or with the grating attachment in your food processor. In a medium bowl, stir together the zucchini and salt and let it sit for 5 minutes or more. (The salt draws the moisture out, which will ensure a better frittata.) Grab the shredded zucchini, one handful at a time, and squeeze until all the water comes out of it. Place in a large bowl.

3. Add the eggs, cheese, parsley, and thyme to the zucchini and stir until blended.

4. In a 10-inch ovenproof nonstick skillet over high heat, melt the butter until foamy. Add the eggs and cook until the bottom is lightly browned, about 3 minutes.

5. Place under the broiler and cook until the top is firm and golden brown, about 8 minutes. Cut it into 6 wedges and serve immediately, or let it cool to room temperature before serving, if you prefer.

TIP: Look for zucchini that are no thicker than 1 inch in diameter. They are younger and tend to be sweeter, less fibrous, and have less water inside.

OEUFS AU MEURETTE

EGGS POACHED IN RED WINE

PREP TIME: 10 minutes | COOK TIME: 15 to 20 minutes | MAKES: 4 servings

Eggs Poached in Red Wine is my favorite egg dish to eat at home. It’s luxurious and fabulously decadent. Maybe it’s the glass of red wine that must surely accompany it.

4 tablespoons (½ stick) unsalted butter, divided

4 ounces slab bacon, cut into thick matchsticks

1 shallot or small onion, finely diced

1 garlic clove, mashed

6 ounces button mushrooms, thickly sliced

3 cups red wine, divided 1 cup beef stock

1 bouquet garni

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

4 to 8 large eggs, depending on your appetite

4 slices sourdough bread, toasted

1 tablespoon chopped fresh chives, for garnish

1. In a large saucepan over medium heat, melt 2 tablespoons of butter until foamy. Add the bacon and cook, stirring occasionally, until crisp, about 3 minutes. With a slotted spoon, transfer the bacon to a paper towel to drain.

2. Add the shallot and garlic to the remaining fat in the pan and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add the mushrooms and cook until lightly browned, about 3 minutes. Add 1 cup of wine, the stock, and the bouquet garni. Bring to a boil, scraping any browned bits up from the bottom, and reduce the liquid by half, 5 to 10 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine the flour and the remaining 2 tablespoons butter, mashing them into a paste with a spoon. Slowly whisk the flour paste (called a beurre manié) into the boiling sauce and simmer until the raw flour taste is gone and the sauce coats the back of a spoon, about 3 minutes. If the sauce is too thick, add a few tablespoons of the wine to thin it. Discard the bouquet garni and return the bacon to the pan. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

4. In another saucepan over medium-high heat, bring the remaining 2 cups wine to a boil. Crack the eggs into a bowl, then gently slide them into the boiling wine. Reduce the heat to medium-low and poach until the whites are set, 3 to 4 minutes.

5. To serve, place 1 slice of toast on each of 4 plates. Using a slotted spoon, carefully transfer the eggs to the bread. Drizzle the sauce over the eggs and sprinkle with the chives.

TIP: Using very fresh eggs is important for this dish. The whites in older eggs tend to spread further, making them harder to poach.

OEUFS PIPÉRADE

EGGS PIPÉRADE

PREP TIME: 5 minutes | COOK TIME: 35 minutes total (25 minutes for the pipérade, 10 minutes for the eggs) | MAKES: 4 servings

Pipérade is a classic Basque vegetable medley composed of bell peppers, tomatoes, and smoky sweet Espelette pepper; you will find it in many different guises around Paris. Pipérade is excellent on its own, but my favorite way to eat it is with eggs gently baked with it for a perfect one-pan breakfast dish.

FOR THE PIPÉRADE

2 tablespoons pork lard or extra-virgin olive oil

2 sweet onions, thinly sliced

4 garlic cloves, mashed

1 teaspoon dried herbes de Provence

3 bell peppers, halved, seeded, and thinly sliced

1 tablespoon Espelette pepper or sweet paprika

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes, preferably fire-roasted

FOR THE BAKED EGGS

8 large eggs

1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley, for garnish

1 crusty baguette, warmed, for serving

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F.

2. To make the pipérade, in a large, ovenproof skillet over medium heat, warm the lard (or oil) until melted and hot. Add the onions and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender and translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the herbes de Provence, bell peppers, Espelette pepper, and salt. Cook, stirring often, until the peppers soften, about 10 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for about 10 minutes to allow the flavors to marry. Remove the skillet from the heat.

3. To make the baked eggs, make 8 small indentations in the pipérade and crack 1 egg into each. Spoon a bit of the juices over the eggs to help the whites set.

4. Bake until the egg whites are opaque, 8 to 10 minutes. Sprinkle with the parsley and serve with the baguette.

TIP: I like to cook a large batch of pipérade ahead of time so that I can quickly have this delicious homey brunch dish ready any time.

COCOTTE OEUFS, ÉPINARD, ET ASPERGES

COCOTTE OF EGGS, SPINACH, AND ASPARAGUS

PREP TIME: 15 minutes | COOK TIME: 20 to 25 minutes | MAKES: 4 servings

Every Saturday morning growing up, a farmer from Indiana used to drop off fresh eggs and dairy in glass bottles at our apartment in Chicago. Occasionally, he would also bring seasonal produce he grew. My mother loved to cook the eggs in a cocotte or ramekin with a touch of fresh cream and some of his vegetables. These baked eggs have an almost custard-like texture reminiscent of a savory crème brûlée. Toasted, buttered baguettes make the perfect addition. I sometimes dress eggs cocotte with chopped prosciutto or even slices of black truffle, if I’m fortunate enough to find some, before placing in the oven. You’ll need 4 (8-ounce) ramekins for this recipe.

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided

1 shallot, finely chopped

1 garlic clove, mashed

1 pound baby spinach

¼ cup heavy cream

8 asparagus spears

8 large eggs

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, melt 1 tablespoon of butter until foamy. Add the shallot and garlic and cook, stirring, until lightly brown, about 5 minutes. Add the spinach and cream and cook, stirring a few times, until the spinach is wilted, about 5 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, fill a large saucepan ⅔ full with water and bring to a rapid boil over high heat. Add the asparagus and cook until tender, about 3 minutes; drain. Trim any woody parts off the asparagus stems, then trim the top 3 inches off the spear and chop the remaining stems.

3. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Butter 4 (8-ounce) ovenproof ramekins, each with ½ tablespoon of the remaining butter. Place on a rimmed baking sheet.

4. Evenly divide the spinach mixture and chopped asparagus between the ramekins. Break 2 eggs into each ramekin, top with 2 asparagus tips, and season with salt and pepper to taste. Bake until the egg whites are solid but the yolks are still runny, about 10 minutes.

TIP: I like to use the bags of triple-washed baby spinach that you can find in any grocery store.

3

Entrées

APPETIZERS

Entrée. To enter. The beginning. Every great meal needs a starting point, a place for people to gather together at the communal table to celebrate life. My family’s Sunday lunches used to start at noon and would often stretch out into the early evening. Every meal began with my uncle Pierrot mixing his favorite apéro, or aperitif, for everyone. These are often enjoyed before the evening meal like a very slow-moving cocktail party, with the focus much more on relaxing and talking than on drinking.

Courses arrived slowly; no one was in a rush. The dishes connected us not only to each other and our heritage but to the farms, forests, and oceans, where our food came from. Our shared dishes inspired conversations, created community, and provided fraternity with life and living.

In this chapter, I offer you 10 classic Parisian entrées that will surely appeal to your family like they do to mine. Each dish will take you back to France to connect you to the life force that food and family provides.

CRUDITÉS ET SAUCES

Crudités with Four Dips

OYSTERS À LA MORNAY

Oysters Mornay

GOUGÈRES

Gougères

PISSALADIÈRE

Caramelized Onion Tart

SOUFFLÉ AU FROMAGE

Cheese Soufflé

FONDUE AU FROMAGE

Cheese Fondue

BRÛLÉ DOIGTS

Burnt Fingers

ESCARGOTS À LA BOURGUIGNONNE

Baked Snails in Garlic Butter

RILLETTE DE PORC

Pork Rillette

TARTARE DE BOEUF

Steak Tartare

Crudités with (from top, clockwise): Tomatade, Poischichade, Olivade, Aïoli

CRUDITÉS ET SAUCES

CRUDITÉS WITH FOUR DIPS

PREP TIME: 35 minutes | MAKES: 4 servings

One of my favorite things to do when I visit France is to wander through the open-air farmers’ markets, collecting fresh produce for a simple crudité, or raw vegetable platter.

We became enamored with poischichade (pwah-she-chade), which is basically hummus made without tahini and flavored with a spoonful of cumin. Our son, Beau, became so addicted that he hoarded the first container, muttering something about “my precious” as he dipped a stream of baby carrots and cucumber slices into it.

When we returned to the United States, these four dips became a permanent fixture on our lunch table. One bite of olivade with a chilled glass of rosé, and I am instantly transported back to France.

FOR THE CRUDITÉS

6 new potatoes, boiled until tender and halved

12 cherry tomatoes

12 ounces green beans, trimmed and blanched until crisp-tender

8 small carrots, peeled

1 seedless cucumber, peeled and sliced into rounds

8 radishes, left whole

4 hardboiled eggs, peeled and halved

FOR THE AÏOLI

2 large egg yolks

4 garlic cloves, peeled

2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

¾ cup extra-virgin olive oil

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

FOR THE POISCHICHADE

1 (15-ounce) can chickpeas, rinsed and well drained

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 garlic clove, mashed

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 squeeze of lemon juice

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

FOR THE TOMATADE

1 (12-ounce) jar sun-dried tomatoes in oil, drained (reserve the oil)

1 garlic clove, coarsely chopped

4 fresh basil leaves

FOR THE OLIVADE

2 cups pitted kalamata olives, well drained

¼ cup capers

¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil

2 oil-packed anchovies

8 fresh basil leaves

1. To prepare the crudités, there are very few instructions beyond arranging the vegetables and eggs in a visually pleasing way. As you arrange everything, consider the heights of the vegetables. Maybe add some vibrant green romaine lettuce hearts cut into quarters to tower high above the vegetables. Figuratively, the sky is the limit.

2. To make the aïoli, in a food processor, combine the egg yolks, garlic, and lemon juice and purée for about 30 seconds. With the motor running, very slowly drizzle in the olive oil through the feed tube and process until it thickens. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

3. To make the poischichade, in a food processor, combine the chickpeas, olive oil, garlic, cumin, and lemon juice and pulse until coarsely puréed. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

4. To make the tomatade, in a food processor, combine the drained sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, and basil and pulse until coarsely puréed. Add a touch of the reserved oil to give it a dipping consistency.

5. To make the olivade, in a food processor, combine the olives, capers, olive oil, anchovies, and basil and process until smooth.

TIP: Make sure to pick at least 5 or 6 different vegetables that have contrasting textures and colors. People eat with their eyes as much as their stomachs, so be mindful to arrange everything in a visually appealing way. For the aïoli, in the south of France, people figure 4 cloves of garlic per person; Parisians figure 4 cloves per batch of aïoli. Also, be sure to wash the food processor between making each dip.

OYSTERS À LA MORNAY

OYSTERS MORNAY

PREP TIME: 25 minutes | COOK TIME: 10 minutes | MAKES: 4 servings

There are many great spots to eat or even buy fresh oysters in Paris. Many restaurants in the Les Halles district have large selections out in the streets sitting on giant beds of ice. These classic baked oysters make a special appetizer, especially on a cooler night served with a flute of bubbles.

FOR THE MORNAY SAUCE

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 cup whole milk

½ teaspoon Espelette pepper or sweet paprika

1 teaspoon sea salt

Pinch grated nutmeg

½ cup shredded Gruyère cheese

FOR THE OYSTERS

2 cups sel gris or rock salt

24 live oysters

¼ cup panko bread crumbs

1. To make the Mornay sauce, in a small saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter until foamy. Add the flour and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture is foamy, about 3 minutes. Gradually add the milk, stirring until the mixture is smooth. Reduce the heat to low and cook, stirring constantly, until the sauce is thick, about 3 minutes. Stir in the Espelette pepper, salt, and nutmeg and remove the pan from the heat. Stir in the Gruyère.

2. To prepare the oysters, preheat the broiler. Pour the sel gris on an ovenproof serving tray to create a bed.

3. Shuck the oysters, draining any seawater into the sauce as you go. Arrange the oysters on the bed of salt, discarding the top shells. Evenly spoon the sauce over each oyster and sprinkle with the bread crumbs.

4. Broil the oysters until brown and bubbly, about 5 minutes. Serve immediately.

TIP: Fresh oysters smell like the sea. Look for oysters with a harder shell that is deep-cupped and small. If you are buying from an oyster fisherman or fish market, ask for beach tumbled oysters; these oysters are grown closer to a beach, where the waves constantly tumble the oysters, strengthening the shell and making the oyster grow with a deep cup and more rounded shape. These oysters are far easier to open. Larger-scale oyster fishermen will use a machine that simulates the wave action to get the same results.

VARIATION: Put 1 tablespoon wilted spinach (see Cocotte of Eggs, Spinach, and Asparagus) under each oyster in its shell, top with the sauce, and broil until golden brown.

GOUGÈRES

GOUGÈRES

PREP TIME: 15 minutes | COOK TIME: 45 minutes | MAKES: 36 gougères, 4 to 8 servings

I have noticed a strong resurgence, in recent trips to Paris, of serving gougères at the beginning of a party to nibble on with a glass of wine. For the uninitiated, gougères are billowy, addictively delicious baked cheese puffs made from pâte à choux, the same dough used to make profiteroles, eclairs, cream puffs, and the showpiece dessert of every French wedding and Christmas celebration, croquembouche. Gougères are the perfect vehicle for your culinary imagination. For savory applications, I love to eat them slightly warm or filled with a mixture of cream cheese and chives. For sweet applications, eliminate the cheese and make my Cream Puffs or fill them with a flavored whipped cream. Gougères freeze well and make an easy, elegant start to any meal.

½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter

½ cup water

½ cup milk

½ teaspoon sea salt

⅛ teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 cup all-purpose flour

4 large eggs

1 cup shredded Gruyère cheese, divided

1 large egg yolk

1 tablespoon water

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or buttered sheet of parchment paper.

2. In a large stainless steel saucepan over medium-high heat, combine the butter, water, milk, salt, and nutmeg. Bring to a rapid boil, stirring to combine as the butter melts. Reduce the heat to medium and, using a wooden spoon, stir in the flour all at once. Cook, stirring constantly, until the dough dries out slightly, about 1 minute. This is important—excess moisture will cause your puffs to collapse. Remove the pan from the heat and let the dough cool for 5 minutes.

3. Stir in the eggs, one at a time, until fully incorporated before adding the next. You can mix in the eggs with a mixer, food processor, or a wooden spoon. Beat in all but 2 tablespoons of the Gruyère.

4. Place the dough in a pastry bag (see Tip) fitted with a ½-inch plain tip and pipe golf ball–size puffs onto the prepared baking sheet.

5. In a small bowl, whisk together the egg yolk and water. Brush the tops of the puffs lightly with the egg wash, sprinkle with the remaining 2 tablespoons of Gruyère, and bake for 20 minutes.

6. Reduce the oven temperature to 350°F and continue baking until golden brown and dry, about 20 minutes. Cool on a wire rack. Eat warm or serve later. They will keep at room temperature for a few hours. Reheat in a 375°F oven for 5 minutes before serving.

TIP: Using an aluminum pot to cook the dough will discolor the dough. You can make your own pastry bag by cutting a ½-inch snip off one corner of a large zip-top bag.

4 Classic Cocktails of Paris

Wine is so closely connected to the image of France that it is hard to believe that Parisians have also had a strong mixed drink heritage they are proud of.

Here are four classics that will surely enliven your next dinner party.

French 75 (Soixante Quinze): A very strong drink named in honor of the French 75mm artillery piece known to inflict a high amount of damage in a short amount of time. This cocktail was created by a bartender at the New York bar in Paris in 1915. It was originally crafted from 3 ounces Champagne, 1 ounce gin, ½ ounce lemon juice, and ¼ ounce simple syrup.

Mimosa: The brunch classic reputedly invented at the Paris Ritz around the same time as the French 75. It is made by mixing equal parts of Champagne and freshly squeezed orange juice in a flute.

Sidecar: A drink whose exact origins are still debated to this day. The original Sidecar was named after a customer jumped off his motorcycle with a sidecar attached and ran into a bar for a quick drink. The original proportions were equal parts Cognac, Cointreau, and fresh lemon juice.

The Rose: The Rose is a beautiful pink cocktail created in Paris in the 1920s containing 2 parts vermouth, 1 part kirsch, and 1 part strawberry syrup.

PISSALADIÈRE

CARAMELIZED ONION TART

PREP TIME: 15 minutes, plus 50 minutes to proof dough | COOK TIME: 60 to 65 minutes | MAKES: 8 servings

One of the most ubiquitous appetizers of France, this onion and anchovy tart hails from Nice. A lot of people theorize that, due to Nice’s proximity to Italy, the pissaladière is, in reality, a Provençal pizza. I find it more of a hybrid of the two. Be sure to caramelize the onions fully—there is nothing worse than half-cooked onions on a pissaladière.

1 pound refrigerated pizza dough

¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil

3 sweet onions, thinly sliced

2 garlic cloves, mashed

1 bay leaf

1 tablespoon dried herbes de Provence

1 (4.25-ounce) jar oil-packed anchovy fillets

4 ounces pitted Niçoise or kalamata olives

2 tablespoons fruity extra-virgin olive oil

1. Roll out the dough on a floured work surface to a rectangle about 13 by 18 inches and ½ inch thick, the size of a rimmed baking sheet. Line a similar-size sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper and transfer the dough to the prepared sheet. Let the dough rise in a warm place until almost doubled in height, about 50 minutes.

2. While the dough rises, in a large heavy saucepan, heat the oil over medium heat. Cook the onions and garlic, stirring often, until soft, about 10 minutes. Add the bay leaf and herbes de Provence. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook for another 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. You want the onions to be almost jamlike without having much color. Remove the bay leaf and let the mixture cool to room temperature.

3. Preheat the oven to 400°F.

4. Evenly spread the onion mixture over the dough, leaving a 1-inch border all around. Arrange the anchovy fillets in a diamond-shaped grid over the mixture. Place an olive in the center of each diamond. Bake until the crust is golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes.

5. Let cool to room temperature. Drizzle with the fruity olive oil before serving. You can bake several hours before you intend to eat. Traditionally, pissaladière is cut into squares or rectangles, but cut in any manner you like.

VARIATION:

TOMATO PISSALADIÈRE (PICHADE): Pour 1 cup of thick tomato sauce over the onions, and then top with the anchovies and olives.

The Story of Kir

This most famous of French cocktails is named after Felix Kir, a Burgundian priest who became mayor of Dijon. He was a legend in World War II, helping thousands of resistance fighters escape the Nazis.

Prior to the war, Burgundy boasted at least 80 distillers making cassis, a black currant liqueur. It was so lucrative that many vineyards planted black currants on the edges of their fields to supplement their income.

The German occupation of France devasted the local economy. The cafés of Dijon were almost empty, and local wineries were bogged down with a glut of white wine. When Kir became mayor, he figured out an ingenious way to revive the sagging economy—he gave every visitor to Dijon a complimentary glass of blanc cassis, a local cocktail made with 1 part cassis and 8 parts white wine. The blanc cassis became so fashionable that it was renamed in his honor.

In addition to the classic Kir, there are a host of popular variations:

Kir Bianco: Substitute sweet white vermouth for the wine.

Kir Breton: Use Breton cider instead of wine.

Kir Communard or Kir Cardinal: Make it with red Burgundy instead of white wine, and it is a Communard; use Beaujolais, and it becomes Kir Cardinal.

Kir Impérial: Swap raspberry liqueur for the cassis and Champagne for the wine.

Kir Pêche: Make it with peach liqueur instead of cassis.

Kir Royal: Substitute Champagne for the wine.

SOUFFLÉ AU FROMAGE

CHEESE SOUFFLÉ

PREP TIME: 15 minutes | COOK TIME: 25 to 30 minutes | MAKES: 4 servings

It’s a singularly magical moment in Paris. Tired from walking the streets all day, you stop at a faded bistro for a quick pick-me-up. One glass of wine into your snack, and out comes a beautiful golden brown cheese soufflé. You savor your first bite with eyes closed. Your heart races a bit faster as the feathery light soufflé takes you places. You know your life will never be quite the same. That’s exactly what happened to me the first time I had one on a cool, rainy fall day.

You’re thinking, should I try this recipe? The word soufflé is scary, right? You’ve no doubt heard stories of how they collapse at the slightest knock on the door. I am here to tell you that you can do it. There are pitfalls to avoid, but we can do it together, and the result will be well worth the effort. You’ll need 4 (8-ounce) ramekins for this recipe.

5 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided

4 tablespoons all-purpose flour, divided

1 cup whole milk

2 teaspoons sea salt

1 teaspoon Espelette pepper or sweet paprika

Pinch ground nutmeg

5 large eggs, separated

½ teaspoon cream of tartar

1½ cups (about 6 ounces) shredded Gruyère cheese

1. Position the oven rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat to 425°F.

2. Generously butter 4 (8-ounce) ramekins with 2 tablespoons of butter. Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon of flour, rotating to coat the bottom and sides evenly with it. Discard any excess flour.

3. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt the remaining 3 tablespoons of butter. Add the remaining 3 tablespoons of flour and stir until the mixture begins to foam, about 3 minutes. Pour in the milk, whisking constantly until smooth. Continue to cook until very thick, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat; stir in the salt, Espelette pepper, and nutmeg. Whisk in the egg yolks, one at a time, fully incorporating each one before adding the next.

4. In a large bowl with an electric mixer on high speed, beat the egg whites and cream of tartar until stiff peaks form. Fold one third of the whites into the milk mixture, then gradually and gently fold in the remaining whites until there are no more streaks of white. Fold in the Gruyère.

5. Fill the ramekins to the top with the soufflé mixture, then place them on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake the soufflés until they puff up and are golden brown on top, 20 to 25 minutes. Resist the temptation to open the oven door during the first 20 minutes of cooking. Serve immediately.

VARIATION: Stir in 2 tablespoons of chopped fresh chives to the soufflé mixture for added color and flavor.

12 Tips for Soufflé Success

No other French word strikes more fear in the heart of a novice cook than soufflé. But, anyone can make a soufflé. These tips will guarantee an airy triumph.

1. Use a 6- to 8-ounce ramekin with straight sides. Almost any vessel can be used to cook a soufflé, but straight sides help it rise straight up, not outward.

2. For sweet soufflés, make sure to butter the ramekins well, then refrigerate them until the butter solidifies. Butter them again before coating the sides with granulated sugar. The extra layer of butter ensures the batter will not stick to the sides, helping it rise.

3. For savory soufflés, butter the ramekins twice (as for sweet soufflés), except instead of sugar, coat them with finely grated Parmesan cheese or bread crumbs.

4. The eggs should be at room temperature; this will ensure that you get the greatest volume when you whip the whites.

5. Any drop of fat will keep your egg whites from beating fully. Be very careful when separating your eggs. The egg yolks are fatty and need to stay out of the whites. Also, make sure the bowl you use is absolutely clean.

6. Use cream of tartar (tartaric acid) or even a squeeze of lemon juice when beating the egg whites. Acid helps stabilize whipped egg whites so that they do not collapse as fast.

7. Don’t overwork the soufflé batter when adding the whipped egg whites. Fold them in by thirds just until there are no streaks of white remaining.

8. Do not bang the ramekins on the counter to knock the air bubbles out like you would with a cake.

9. Preheat the oven so it is the proper temperature when you begin baking.

10. Bake the soufflés near the lower third of the oven and leave the door closed for at least 20 minutes after they go in. Cool air can cause the soufflé to fall if you open the oven door too often.

11. Don’t slam the oven door. When your soufflé is puffed up and almost ready, it is a bit like your neighbor who doesn’t like loud sounds. Treat it with respect.

12. While the soufflés are baking, put a paper napkin on each dinner plate. This will prevent them from sliding around as you race to the table before they fall.

FONDUE AU FROMAGE

CHEESE FONDUE

PREP TIME: 15 minutes | COOK TIME: 12 to 15 minutes | MAKES: 8 servings

There was a time in the late 1960s and early 1970s when every city in the United States boasted a great fondue restaurant. They were fun places to eat as a family because you could cook your own food. Many years later, I brought my son to the Alps to have his first fondue Savoyarde. It is a wonderfully interactive dish that will be the hit of any dinner party. Don’t leave out the kirsch; it’s a key flavor in the fondue. You can use the dippers as suggested below or in any combination you prefer.

FOR THE FONDUE

1 garlic clove, peeled

1½ tablespoons kirsch

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1 cup dry white wine (try to find one from Savoie in the French Alps)

2 pounds cheese, shredded (see Tip)

FOR THE DIPPERS

1 baguette, cut into 1-inch cubes and toasted until golden in a 350°F oven

8 ounces broccoli florets, steamed for 1 minute

8 ounces cauliflower florets, steamed for 1 minute

8 ounces small waxy (or new) potatoes, boiled until tender and cut in half

2 apples, cored and cut into wedges

1. To make the fondue, rub the inside of a medium stainless-steel saucepan with the garlic clove, then discard. Whisk the kirsch and cornstarch together in a small bowl until smooth. Add the wine to the pan, then the cornstarch slurry, and bring to a simmer over medium heat, whisking occasionally. Add the cheese and cook, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon to prevent the cheese from lumping up, until it is melted and creamy, about 5 minutes. Do not let boil. If you have a fondue set, pour the fondue into it; otherwise, use the pot you cooked it in.

2. To prepare the dippers, arrange the bread, broccoli, cauliflower, potatoes, and apples attractively on a platter and serve with the fondue.

TIP: For the cheese, I like to use a blend of Gruyère, Emmental, and Comté. Or try any firmer cheese, like an aged Gouda or Cheddar.

BRÛLÉ DOIGTS

BURNT FINGERS

PREP TIME: 15 minutes, plus overnight to marinate | COOK TIME: 15 to 20 minutes | MAKES: 8 servings

Fritture, or fried seafood, is widely popular all over the world, especially in France. It makes a perfect late afternoon snack or shareable appetizer for a dinner party. I love whimsical menu names for popular dishes and, thankfully, France is full of them. The name, burnt fingers (brûlé doigts; say “brew lay dwah”) implies that the fish is served so hot you literally burn your fingers when you eat them. The seafood is fried in three batches to keep the frying oil as close to 350°F as possible. If you overcrowd the oil, the temperature will drop and the seafood will have a soggy crust.

8 ounces cleaned squid bodies, cut into rings

16 smelts

8 jumbo shrimp, peeled and deveined

1 cup buttermilk

10 cups vegetable oil

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon dried herbes de Provence

1 tablespoon Espelette pepper or sweet paprika

1 tablespoon sea salt

2 lemons, cut into wedges, for serving

1 cup Aïoli (here), for serving

1. In a medium bowl, combine the squid, smelts, and shrimp with the buttermilk. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. This tenderizes the calamari and flavors the smelts and shrimp.

2. In a large, heavy saucepan, Dutch oven, or deep fryer, heat the vegetable oil to 350°F.

3. In a large bowl, combine the flour, herbes de Provence, Espelette pepper, and salt.

4. Drain the seafood, discarding the buttermilk. Transfer the seafood to the seasoned flour and toss gently to coat evenly. Shake off the excess flour.

5. Deep-fry about one-third of the seafood until golden brown and fully cooked, about 5 minutes. Using a slotted spoon or spider strainer (see Tip below), transfer to several layers of paper towels to drain. Repeat with the remaining seafood.

6. Serve with the lemon wedges and the aïoli for dipping.

TIP: The spider strainer is one of the most useful kitchen tools ever invented. You can find them in any Asian supermarket or online. I find them indispensable when removing blanched vegetables from water or boiling gnocchi and other round pasta shapes.

ESCARGOTS À LA BOURGUIGNONNE

BAKED SNAILS IN GARLIC BUTTER

PREP TIME: 15 minutes | COOK TIME: 10 minutes | MAKES: 4 servings

Is there any dish more uniquely French than escargots in garlic butter? I think not. My nine-year-old son became a hardcore devotee on a recent trip to Paris. We took a side trip to Burgundy and stopped in a small bistro where every table seemed to have escargot sitting on it. My son was curious and decided to give it a go. Now, it is a dish we make often at home.

FOR THE GARLIC BUTTER

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature, divided

6 garlic cloves, mashed

1 shallot, diced

¼ cup chopped fresh parsley

¼ cup chopped scallions

1 tablespoon pastis or other anise-flavored liqueur, such as ouzo, Pernod, or Herbsaint

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

2 teaspoons sea salt

2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves

FOR THE ESCARGOT

24 snail shells (see Tip)

24 canned escargot snails, rinsed and patted dry

1 baguette, warmed in the oven, for serving

1. Preheat the broiler.

2. To make the garlic butter, in a small saucepan over medium heat, melt ¼ cup (½ stick) of butter in a small saucepan. Add the garlic and shallot and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 3 minutes. Transfer to a food processor; add the remaining butter, as well as the parsley, scallions, pastis, lemon juice, salt, and thyme and purée until smooth.

3. To prepare the escargot, place the garlic butter in a pastry bag (see Tip) fitted with a ¼-inch plain tip and pipe half of it evenly into the escargot shells. Place an escargot into each shell, then pipe the remaining garlic butter into the shells.

4. Place the shells on a baking sheet. Broil until the escargots are hot and the garlic butter is bubbling, about 6 minutes. Serve immediately with the baguette.

TIP: Luckily, specialty food sellers both online and in bigger cities sell both escargot and escargot shells. Try using this garlic butter on top of grilled steak, tossed with shrimp, and in other dishes.

RILLETTE DE PORC

PORK RILLETTE

PREP TIME: 10 minutes | COOK TIME: 6 hours 30 minutes | MAKES: 8 to 10 servings

Pork rillette is an addictively delicious shredded pork spread, and it is thankfully easy to make. For the perfect flavor and texture, use a blend of 60 percent lean meat to 40 percent fat. Because this takes a long time to cook, make a large batch (as we do in this recipe) and freeze it in small containers, ready to pull out whenever you want it. My favorite way to serve rillette is with toasted baguette or sourdough bread slices, Dijon mustard, and cornichons, letting everyone serve themselves. You’ll need a standard 8½-inch loaf pan for this.

1½ pounds boneless pork shoulder, cut into 1-inch pieces

1 pound skinless pork belly, cut into 1-inch pieces

1 pound pork lard

8 ounces slab bacon, cut into 1-inch pieces

2 cups white wine

5 teaspoons sea salt

1 heaping teaspoon ground white pepper

½ teaspoon ground nutmeg

2 star anise

2 fresh thyme sprigs

1 cinnamon stick

1. Preheat the oven to 300°F.

2. In a large Dutch oven or ovenproof stockpot over high heat, combine the pork shoulder, pork belly, lard, bacon, wine, salt, white pepper, nutmeg, star anise, thyme, and cinnamon stick. Bring to a boil, stirring until well combined and the lard had melted. Cover and braise in the oven until the meats fall apart, about 6½ hours.

3. Remove from the oven. Place a large fine-mesh strainer over a large bowl and strain the solids, reserving the liquid. Discard the star anise, cinnamon stick, and thyme. Let the meat and liquid cool to room temperature. The fat will separate out from the rest of the liquid.

4. Shred the pork, then firmly pack it into a 4½-by-8½-inch loaf pan. Pour only the liquid fat over the top until you have about a ¼-inch layer. Cover and refrigerate for 5 days before digging in. This will let the flavors further marry together.

TIP: You can also pack rillette into 8-ounce jars, then cover them with the fat and freeze for up to 6 months. They are perfect for quick meals, impromptu picnics, hors d’oeuvres, and holiday gifts.

TARTARE DE BOEUF

STEAK TARTARE

PREP TIME: 15 minutes | MAKES: 4 servings

One of the first written mentions of steak tartare was in a Jules Verne story in the late 1870s. It is a wonderful dish that is easy to make at home. A good steak tartare has a careful balance of flavors based around the beef. There is richness from the raw egg yolks and walnut oil, and saltiness from the anchovies and capers.

12 ounces beef tenderloin

1 very fresh egg yolk

5 to 6 cornichons, finely diced

3 oil-packed anchovies, minced

2 shallots, finely diced

1 to 2 tablespoons Cognac

1 tablespoon finely chopped capers

1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh parsley

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon sriracha hot sauce

1 teaspoon sea salt

½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil

Drizzle of walnut oil (optional)

1. Trim the tenderloin of fat and silverskin; cut into small cubes, about ¼ inch. No need to be too precise—you just do not want to grind the meat into mush or have the pieces so big that they don’t really come together with the rest of the ingredients.

2. In a large bowl, combine the beef, egg yolk, cornichons, anchovies, shallots, Cognac, capers, parsley, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce sriracha, salt, pepper, olive oil, and walnut oil (if using). Mix until it has the consistency of potato salad. It will be liquidy but still firm enough to hold its shape.

3. Divide into four portions. Use a large round cookie cutter or metal ring to act as a mold and pack the mixture into it onto 4 chilled plates. If you cannot find a metal ring, then form it into a thick patty. Serve immediately.

TIP: It is important to use very fresh beef for this dish. Some people like to serve a raw egg yolk on each portion. I generally don’t for dinner parties because some people are put off by raw eggs.

4

Les Salades et Les Sandwiches

SALADS & SANDWICHES

Much ado has been made about how the French eat. Despite the seemingly richer food and wine, the French are among the healthier nations of the world. Some attribute it to their Mediterranean diet or to resveratrol, a compound found in grape skins (and red wine) that combats inflammation and helps improve blood health. I would add to these theories two of my own. The French have a healthy dose of joie de vivre, or joy of life, and they know when to eat. Happiness and eating well are keys to a long life.

Most French people eat their larger meal at lunchtime rather than in the evening. Unless you are going out for the night, dinner is simple fare: a bowl of soup or a big salad. Recent research on circadian rhythms has corroborated that this is a healthier way to eat. Your body digests better earlier in the day and needs 12 hours to fast between dinner and breakfast.

The French absolutely adore salads of all kinds, from simple green salads dressed with a thin veneer of vinaigrette to more elaborate salades composée (composed salads).

Eating sandwiches in France is a newer concept, though still firmly rooted in the past. They serve one of two functions: either as something healthy you eat on the run, like my Poulet Crudité (Roast Chicken and Vegetable Sandwich), or served more as a snack. One of the biggest exceptions is my absolute favorite sandwich of all time, the Croque Monsieur.

SALADE NIÇOISE

Niçoise Salad

LA SALADE DE POIS CHICHES

Chickpea Salad

SALADE DE LENTILLES

Classic French Lentil Salad

SALADE DE CHÈVRE CHAUD

Warm Goat Cheese Salad with Shallot Vinaigrette

SALADE LYONNAISE

Frisée Salad with Poached Eggs and Bacon

PAN BAGNAT

Provençal Tuna Salad Sandwich

POULET CRUDITÉ

Roast Chicken and Vegetable Sandwich

JAMBON BEURRE

Ham and Butter Sandwich, a.k.a. Le Parisienne

CROQUE MONSIEUR

Croque Monsieur

SANDWICH MERGUEZ

Grilled Merguez Sandwich

SALADE NIÇOISE

NIÇOISE SALAD

PREP TIME: 10 minutes | MAKES: 4 servings

A debate is raging in Nice over what is a “correct” salade Niçoise. To the purists, the rules are very clear: no vinegar, no lettuce, no fresh tuna, and absolutely no boiled vegetables, like potatoes or green beans. If you try to add any of these, you will be labeled as a heretic and sent to hell for your sins. That said, I have witnessed every possible mutation of this salad on restaurant menus throughout Nice.

Salade Niçoise began its life as a household catch-all salad based on what was available from the garden and the canned tuna packed in olive oil sitting in the pantry. My mother always added cooked potatoes and green beans, but then she is from Marseille, where the purists wage their wars over bouillabaisse!

4 ripe tomatoes, sliced

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 green bell pepper, seeded and cut into thin strips

8 radishes, trimmed and thinly sliced into rounds

1 seedless cucumber, peeled and thinly sliced into rounds

8 oil-packed anchovies

8 ounces canned tuna packed in olive oil

½ cup pitted Niçoise or kalamata olives

10 fresh basil leaves, shredded

4 hardboiled eggs, peeled and cut in half

¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil

Arrange the tomatoes on a large platter. Season them with salt and pepper to taste. Over the tomatoes, arrange the bell pepper, radishes, cucumber, anchovies, tuna with the oil, olives, and basil in that order. Decoratively arrange the hardboiled eggs around the salad and drizzle with the olive oil.

VARIATIONS: Above is the purist’s version of the Niçoise Salad. But I say anything goes. My suggestions would be to add all or any combination of the following to the traditional base: 2 romaine hearts, bottoms trimmed and separated into leaves; 8 new or small waxy potatoes, boiled until tender and cooled; 24 green beans, blanched until crisp-tender and cooled; 1 cup chopped celery; ½ cup fresh-cooked or canned fava beans; and 1 cup fresh-cooked or canned baby artichokes or artichoke hearts, cut in half.

LA SALADE DE POIS CHICHES

CHICKPEA SALAD

PREP TIME: 10 minutes | MAKES: 4 servings

This is the perfect salad; it’s quick to make, extremely forgiving, and perfect for those of us who live hectic lives but want to eat healthy foods. I think that is why my mother made this salad so often for me when I was growing up.

It’s satisfying on its own, but I often serve it as a quick side for roast chicken, grilled lamb, or almost any cooked fish. All of my aunts used to make a variation that they served next to a couscous or Grilled Merguez Sandwich for parties.

1 (15-ounce) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

½ cup pitted Niçoise olives

1 red onion, diced

1 bell pepper, seeded and finely diced

1 seedless cucumber, peeled and diced

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil

2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

2 teaspoons dried herbes de Provence

1 teaspoon sea salt

¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

In a large bowl, combine the chickpeas, olives, onion, bell pepper, cucumber, olive oil, parsley, basil, lemon juice, herbes de Provence, salt, and black pepper and toss to mix well. Adjust the seasonings to your taste.

TIP: This is a dish that begs for variations. When I am in France, I like to walk through the open-air vegetable markets and pick whatever looks best to add. Try adding chunks of fresh tomatoes or crumbled creamy feta cheese, or change up the beans, substituting black beans or great northern for the chickpeas.

5 Quick and Easy Vegetable Salads

In France, the word crudité, has a double meaning: It can refer to a platter of raw vegetables or a series of raw vegetable salads served as an accompaniment to a meal. These salads are traditionally made from pantry ingredients that are typically on hand all the time. My mother often made these salads for us when I was growing up, and now my wife and I very often make three or four to enjoy with a simple roast chicken on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

Celery Root Rémoulade (Céléri Rémoulade): Peel and shred 1 celery root (also called celeriac), then mix it together with 1 cup of mayonnaise, 1 tablespoon each of Dijon mustard, chopped capers, fresh lemon juice, chopped fresh parsley, and sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.

Grated Carrot Salad (Carottes Rapées): Shred 5 or 6 carrots and mix them with 3 tablespoons of olive oil, 1 tablespoon of Dijon mustard, 1 teaspoon of red wine vinegar, and salt and pepper to taste. To give it a Moroccan feel, add 1 tablespoon each of chopped fresh mint and fresh parsley, 1 teaspoon sugar, and a pinch each of ground cinnamon and cumin.

French-Style Potato Salad (Salade de Pommes de Terre): Toss together 10 new potatoes, boiled until tender, with 3 tablespoons of olive oil, 1 tablespoon of chopped fresh chives, 2 teaspoons of red wine vinegar, 1 teaspoon of chopped fresh thyme, and sea salt and pepper to taste.

Roasted Beet Salad (Salade de Betteraves): Drizzle 4 medium beets with a little olive oil, sprinkle them with sea salt, wrap them in aluminum foil, and bake at 300°F until tender, about 1 hour. When they’re cool enough to handle, peel and slice. Toss them with 3 tablespoons of olive oil, 1 tablespoon of chopped fresh chives, 1 teaspoon of red wine vinegar, and sea salt and pepper to taste.

Cucumber and Onion Salad (Salade de Concombre Vinaigrette): Toss together 1 peeled and thinly sliced seedless cucumber, half of a thinly sliced red onion, 1 mashed garlic clove, 2 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil, 2 teaspoons of apple cider vinegar, and sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.

SALADE DE LENTILLES

CLASSIC FRENCH LENTIL SALAD

PREP TIME: 10 minutes | COOK TIME: 40 minutes | MAKES: 4 servings

Once called “poor man’s caviar,” lentils have been farmed in France for about 2,000 years and are an important part of the French diet. French families will serve them as a main course with sausages or ham; mixed with goat cheese, walnuts, and walnut oil; or even as a side for pork chops. This salad is equally delicious served cold, room temperature, or warm. The bacon is simmered in water before browning to remove some of the fat.

1 cup dried French Puy lentils, picked over

4 cups water, divided

2 ounces slab bacon, diced

1 carrot, diced

½ cup finely diced red onion

2 garlic cloves, mashed

¼ cup chopped fresh parsley

2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh thyme

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1 teaspoon sea salt

¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1. In a medium saucepan over high heat, bring the lentils and 3 cups of water to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer until tender, about 25 minutes. Drain well through a fine-mesh strainer. Transfer to a large bowl.

2. In the same saucepan, bring the remaining 1 cup of water to a boil. Add the bacon and simmer for 5 minutes. Drain.

3. Transfer the bacon to a medium skillet over medium heat and cook, stirring, until lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Add the carrot, onion, and garlic and cook, stirring, until the carrot is tender, about 5 minutes. Add the carrot mixture to the lentils, along with the parsley and thyme.

4. In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, vinegar, mustard, salt, and pepper. Add to the lentils and toss to mix well. Serve warm, room temperature, or even chilled.

TIP: Lentils do not need to be soaked ahead of time. The only rule of cooking lentils is to use 3 cups of liquid (water or broth) to each 1 cup of lentils.

SALADE DE CHÈVRE CHAUD

WARM GOAT CHEESE SALAD WITH SHALLOT VINAIGRETTE

PREP TIME: 5 minutes, plus 1 or more hours to sit | COOK TIME: 10 minutes | MAKES: 4 servings

This quintessential Paris bistro salad is simple to prepare and makes an elegant starter or main course to any home-cooked meal.

¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus 2 tablespoons

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

1 shallot, finely diced

1 teaspoon sea salt

¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 (8-ounce) log fresh goat cheese

1 cup panko or regular bread crumbs

8 ounces baby salad mix (see Tip)

1. In an 8-ounce jar with a tight-fitting lid, combine ¼ cup olive oil, vinegar, shallot, salt, and pepper. Cover, shake well, and let sit at room temperature for an hour or even overnight. The shallot flavor will intensify the longer it sits.

2. Dip a small paring knife into hot water and cut the goat cheese into 8 equal rounds. Place the panko on a plate and dredge the rounds in it, making sure to fully coat all sides. You can do this step up to one day ahead; cover and refrigerate the cheese.

3. In a nonstick skillet over medium heat, warm the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Add the cheese and cook until golden brown, about 3 minutes. Carefully flip with a spatula and cook until browned, another 3 minutes.

4. Toss the salad mix with the shallot vinaigrette and divide onto 4 plates. Carefully slide 2 goat cheese rounds on top of each salad and serve.

TIP: My favorite version of this salad is made with mâche, also known as lamb’s lettuce, which has a sweet and nutty flavor. Mâche grows in the springtime and is available in some grocery stores and farmers’ markets. You can also use butter lettuce.

VARIATIONS: Try adding sliced roasted beets, toasted or candied walnuts, apple slivers, or dried cherries. Instead of breading and sautéing the goat cheese, you can set it on a slice of toasted baguette or peasant bread and run it under the broiler until browned.

SALADE LYONNAISE

FRISÉE SALAD WITH POACHED EGGS AND BACON

PREP TIME: 5 minutes | COOK TIME: 10 to 15 minutes | MAKES: 4 servings

Salade Lyonnaise originated in the city of Lyon, long considered the belly of France. This classic salad is found on virtually every bistro and bar menu in Paris and in most homes. It is simple to make and very filling.

2 cups water, plus 2 quarts

4 ounces slab bacon, cut into strips (lardons) about ¼-inch thick

2 teaspoons plus 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar, divided

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

8 ounces frisée

3 large eggs, at room temperature

1. In a small saucepan over high heat, bring 2 cups of water to a boil. Add the bacon and cook to remove some of the fat, about 3 minutes. Drain.

2. Wipe the pan clean, then cook the bacon until lightly browned on both sides, 3 to 5 minutes. Transfer to a paper towel.

3. In a medium bowl, combine any bacon fat left in the pan, 2 teaspoons of the vinegar, and the mustard. Slowly drizzle in the olive oil, whisking constantly, until all the oil is incorporated. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Add the bacon and frisée and toss until mixed and coated with the dressing. Divide the salad between 4 plates.

4. In a large saucepan over medium-high heat, bring 2 quarts of water and the remaining 1 tablespoon of vinegar to a rapid boil. Crack the eggs, one at a time, into a ramekin, adding each to the water. Reduce the heat to medium-low and poach the eggs until the whites are set, 3 to 4 minutes.

5. Using a slotted spoon, place an egg on top of each salad and serve.

TIP: This salad is fantastic with the addition of boiled potatoes or toasted brioche croutons.

PAN BAGNAT

PROVENÇAL TUNA SALAD SANDWICH

PREP TIME: 10 minutes | MAKES: 4 servings

Pan bagnat literally translates to “soaked bread” and originally was a thrifty way for housewives to use leftovers and what was available from the garden. Pan bagnat (say “pahn bahn yay”) has become a go-to sandwich found all over France, especially in Paris. Much like my Salade Niçoise, there are rules to adhere to, but I say forget them and think of pan bagnat as a juicy salad in sandwich form, which means it’s messy. The bread should be soaked and almost mushy.

1 loaf ciabatta bread, cut in half lengthwise

4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided

2 large ripe tomatoes, sliced

1 seedless cucumber, peeled and thinly sliced into rounds

1 bell pepper, seeded and thinly sliced

8 ounces canned tuna packed in olive oil, undrained

2 hardboiled eggs, peeled and sliced

1 romaine heart, bottom trimmed and separated into leaves

8 fresh basil leaves, torn into pieces

10 pitted black olives

1 garlic clove, mashed

1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Set the bread in front of you. Rub 2 tablespoons of olive oil over the cut side of the bread.

2. Arrange the tomatoes, cucumber, and bell pepper over the bottom half of the bread in that order. Break the tuna up over the vegetables, then top with the eggs, romaine, basil, and olives.

3. In a small bowl, whisk together the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil, the garlic, lemon juice, and salt and pepper to taste until well mixed, then pour it over the sandwich. Top with the other half of the bread. Cut into quarters and dig in.

TIP: If you want to further anger the purists, spread Aïoli (here) over the bread after rubbing it with the olive oil before assembling the sandwich.

POULET CRUDITÉ

ROAST CHICKEN AND VEGETABLE SANDWICH

PREP TIME: 5 minutes | MAKES: 4 servings

I usually do a lot of driving when I visit France. Almost every trip begins and ends in Paris, but I always take my family on a cross-country road trip to visit relatives. It never ceases to amaze me that this nation completely stops everything, wherever they are, to enjoy a good lunch, and that includes when they are on the road. This involves stopping at any of the Relais Routiers, or truck stops, that dot the highways or having a roadside picnic, complete with tablecloths and cutlery.

Usually, we haven’t had time to pack a proper picnic lunch, so we stop at one of the rest stops and grab a poulet crudité, the Parisian version of a chicken salad sandwich.

1 baguette, sliced in half lengthwise

¼ cup mayonnaise

1 tomato, sliced

4 romaine leaves

1 seedless cucumber, peeled and thinly sliced into rounds

1 pound leftover Simple Roast Chicken, sliced (2 to 3 cups)

Lay the cut baguette out in front of you and spread the cut sides with the mayonnaise. Layer the bottom half with the tomato, romaine, cucumber, and chicken. Top with other piece of baguette, then cut into 4 pieces and serve.

TIP: French people love sandwiches that have more vegetables than meat. Think more of a salad served in a sandwich than a traditional chicken sandwich from an American standpoint. You can also use leftover roast pork or roast beef to create your own sandwich.

5 Quick Tartines

In its humblest form, a tartine is a slice of bread (the literal meaning of the word), but that slice is a flavor vehicle with endless possibilities for exploration. Tartines are, in essence, open-faced sandwiches.

In France, children returning home after school are given a quick snack (le goûter) to tide them over until dinner. My mother usually served me a slice of toasted bread thickly smeared with Nutella.

Tartines are perfect for when unexpected guests show up and you need something quick to serve with an aperitif. More elaborate tartines appear at dinner parties.

Here are five tartines that I love to serve at home:

Fig, Goat Cheese, and Lavender Honey Tartine (Tartine aux Figures, Fromage de Chèvre, et Miel): Spread 1 tablespoon of fresh goat cheese on a toasted slice of bread, top with a thick slice of fresh fig, drizzle with lavender honey, and serve. This tartine is even better if you pop it in the oven to warm it up slightly.

Tartine with Whipped Ricotta, Favas, and Radishes (Tartine à la Ricotta, Fèves, et Radis): One of my favorite spring foods is fresh fava beans, which you can find at large supermarkets or farmers’ markets. Shuck them from the outer hull, then drop them in boiling water for 1 minute, drain, and slip their skins off. Serve on a toasted tartine spread with whipped fresh ricotta and topped with radish slices.

Pork Rillette Tartine (Tartine au Rillette de Porc): Classic and simple. Put a heaping tablespoon of room temperature Pork Rillette on a piece of toasted bread and garnish with thinly sliced cornichons.

Avocado and Shrimp Tartine (Tartine à l'avocat et Crevettes): Think avocado toast with steamed baby shrimp on top. You can get as elaborate as making guacamole or simply mash an avocado with a touch of lime juice and olive oil.

Tomato, Mozzarella, and Basil Tartine (Tartine aux Tomato, Mozzarella, et Basilic): Some may complain that this one belongs to France’s neighbor, Italy, but we enjoy the combination just as much. Top a toasted slice of bread with a ripe tomato slice, sprinkle with flaked sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, then add a slice of fresh mozzarella and a basil leaf. Summertime in one bite.

JAMBON BEURRE

HAM AND BUTTER SANDWICH, A.K.A. LE PARISIENNE

PREP TIME: 5 minutes | MAKES: 1 serving

Jambon beurre, or ham with butter, is the most widely served sandwich in France. “Le Parisienne,” as it is also known, started its life as a snack for the Les Halles food market laborers.

The beauty of a perfect jambon beurre is that it is made with only four ingredients: a thin baguette known as a ficelle (or “string”), butter, Dijon mustard, and boiled ham. Nothing else—simplicity at its absolute best. Be sure to use quality ingredients like real French butter, Fallot Dijon mustard, and a French-style boiled ham like Madrange ham, which is well marbled and nitrate-free.

1 (12-inch) section ficelle or 1 (6-inch) section baguette, cut in half lengthwise

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

2 slices French-style boiled ham

Lay the bread out in front of you and slather the cut sides with the butter, then the mustard. Cover the bottom half of the bread with the ham, followed by the top half of the bread.

TIP: This is the perfect sandwich to take when you’re on the go. If you want to feel like a Parisian, wrap it in parchment paper and tie it with a piece of raffia. If you like cheese, add slices of Brie or Gruyère.

CROQUE MONSIEUR

CROQUE MONSIEUR

PREP TIME: 5 minutes | COOK TIME: 15 to 20 minutes | MAKES: 4 servings

The French really know how to supersize a sandwich. This delectable ham and cheese sandwich slathered in a creamy béchamel sauce can be found all over Paris, in both restaurants and homes.

FOR THE BÉCHAMEL SAUCE

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1½ cups whole milk

½ teaspoon ground nutmeg

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

FOR THE CROQUE MONSIEUR

8 slices French boule (see Tip)

8 slices boiled ham, preferably French style or prosciutto cotto

1 cup (4 ounces) shredded Gruyère cheese

1. To make the béchamel sauce, in a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter until foamy. Add the flour and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture is foamy, about 3 minutes. Gradually add the milk, stirring until smooth. Cook, stirring, until the sauce is thick, about 3 minutes. Stir in the nutmeg and salt and pepper to taste.

2. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or a sheet of parchment paper.

3. To make the Croque Monsieur, place 4 slices of the bread on the prepared baking sheet and spread about ¼ cup of the béchamel sauce over each. To each, add 2 slices of ham and 2 tablespoons of the cheese. Top with the remaining slices of bread. Spread the remaining béchamel sauce over the top and sprinkle with the remaining cheese.

4. Bake until the cheese is bubbling and golden brown, 10 to 15 minutes. Eat immediately, though, bear in mind, it is hot; this is a fork-and-knife sandwich rather than a handheld kind of sandwich.

VARIATION:

CROQUE MADAME: Make a Croque Monsieur. Top each sandwich with a fried egg when you pull them out of the oven.

TIP: The ultimate bread for a Croque Monsieur or Madame is a large, round French boule made with a small percentage of rye flour. This chewy, almost sourdough-like bread is exactly what I was brought up eating. Most good bakeries have their own variation. Sourdough or even white bread makes a suitable replacement.

SANDWICH MERGUEZ

GRILLED MERGUEZ SANDWICH

PREP TIME: 5 minutes, plus overnight for the merguez to marinate | COOK TIME: 5 minutes | MAKES: 4 servings

Paris is a melting pot of different cultures. Many of France’s former colonies, like Morocco, are well represented both in the general population and in French cuisine. Merguez, Morocco’s addictive spicy lamb sausage, has become synonymous with quick French food and can easily be found in most grocery stores in Paris.

I am sharing a simplified and slightly toned-down version of merguez that my mother taught me to make. You can roll this mixture into a sausage shape or form it into patties. I love to grill it rare just like a hamburger over hot coals. There is something special about the smoky flavors mingling with the charred bits of lamb.

FOR THE MERGUEZ SAUSAGE

1 pound ground lamb

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 garlic cloves, minced

4 teaspoons mild chili powder

1½ teaspoons sea salt

1 teaspoon ground fennel seed

¾ teaspoon ground cumin

½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

½ teaspoon hot Hungarian paprika

FOR THE SANDWICH

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar

1 garlic clove, mashed

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 red onion, thinly sliced

1 seedless cucumber, peeled and thinly sliced into rounds

¼ cup Aïoli here

4 hamburger buns, toasted

1. To make the merguez sausage, in a large bowl, combine the lamb, olive oil, garlic, chili powder, salt, fennel seed, cumin, pepper, and paprika until well mixed. Cover, refrigerate, and let the flavors develop overnight if possible. Then, either hand roll into 4 long sausage shapes or form into 4 hamburger-style patties.

2. Preheat the grill or broiler.

3. To make the sandwich, in a medium bowl, whisk together the olive oil, vinegar, garlic, and salt and pepper to taste. Add the onion and cucumber and toss to mix well.

4. Grill or broil the sausage to your desired degree of doneness, turning once, 4 to 5 minutes per side for medium-rare. Transfer to a plate.

5. Spread 1 tablespoon of aïoli over the toasted sides of each bun. Place a sausage on the bottom half of each bun, arrange the cucumber salad over each, top with the other half of the bun, and serve.

TIP: There are many times where I do not feel like making merguez at home and will look to specialty butchers and grocery stores to find premade sausages. If you cannot find merguez where you live, by all means substitute any spicy sausage—I promise it will still taste incredibly delicious.

5

Soupes et Ragoûts

SOUPS & STEWS

At heart, the French are a nation of soup eaters. La soupe expresses something deeply visceral to the French home cook—it is part of their being. From a time long before King Henry IV proclaimed, “If God keeps me, I will make sure that no peasant in my realm will lack the means to have a chicken in the pot on Sunday,” soup has represented life, conviviality, and nourishment.

Generally, soups are served as an evening meal. It is something hot and comforting, yet light and easy on the digestion. More often than not, a pot of soup will be found quietly simmering in the corner of a home kitchen. As children, my sister and I wholeheartedly attacked bowls of Soupe au Pistou and Potage Saint Germain.

Soups and stews are perfect marriages; they are the union of many different flavors that need time to develop and grow together as one. Both are best made one day and then eaten the next. I like to keep a variety of soups on hand for when I don’t feel like cooking by making large batches and freezing them in convenient one-quart jars.

Stews are the perfect Sunday meal. For the most part, they all are one-pot wonders that connect us back to our mothers and grandmothers. While each of the five stews in this chapter represent the regions they were born from, each has become part of the national table.

FOND BLANC DE VOLAILLE

Homemade Chicken Stock

SOUPE BONNE FEMME

Potato-Leek Soup

SOUPE AU PISTOU

Pistou

POTAGE SAINT GERMAIN, PRINTEMPS

Springtime Fresh Pea Soup

POTAGE SAINT GERMAIN, HIVERNALE

Winter Split Pea Soup

SOUPE À L’OIGNON GRATINÉE

French Onion Soup

GARBURE

Garbure

BOEUF BOURGUIGNON

Beef Burgundy

LA DAUBE DE BOEUF À LA PROVENÇAL

Provençal-Style Beef Stew

LE NAVARIN D’AGNEAU

French Lamb Stew

BOURRIDE SÈTOISE

Provençal Fish Soup

BOUILLABAISSE

Bouillabaisse

FOND BLANC DE VOLAILLE

HOMEMADE CHICKEN STOCK

PREP TIME: 5 minutes | COOK TIME: 6 hours | MAKES: 3 quarts

Buying a whole chicken is smarter and more cost-effective than purchasing stock at the supermarket. From one chicken, I get six servings of meat plus about three quarts of stock. The value of the stock alone is $12.

I learned this tip from a French home cook: Place a stainless-steel bowl in your freezer, and every time you peel a carrot or an onion, add the peelings to it. When it’s full, make stock. The most common ingredients in my home are fresh herbs (thyme, tarragon, chives, and rosemary), celery, garlic, tomatoes, and onion peelings. This recipe is made with carrots, celery, onion, and garlic if you don’t have a freezer full of peelings to use.

1 chicken carcass, including all the trimmings and fat

6 carrots, roughly diced

4 celery ribs, roughly diced

2 onions, diced

1 head garlic, cut in half

1 bunch fresh thyme

1 bay leaf

20 black peppercorns

1. In a large stockpot, combine the chicken carcass, carrots, celery, onions, garlic, thyme, bay leaf, and peppercorns. Generously cover with cold water and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer until the flavors deepen and marry, about 6 hours.

2. Place a fine-mesh strainer over a large bowl and strain the stock into the bowl. Discard the carcass and vegetables. Let the stock cool, and then freeze it in airtight containers for up to 6 months.

SOUPE BONNE FEMME

POTATO-LEEK SOUP

PREP TIME: 5 minutes | COOK TIME: 30 minutes | MAKES: 4 servings

What I love most about this soup is the absolute simplicity of it. It’s a subtle reminder that, sometimes, the simplest things are the most flavorsome. The famed French chef Louis Diat, who trained in Paris kitchens before moving to New York City, claims he “invented” vichyssoise in 1917, basing it on his mother’s recipe for soupe bonne femme.

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 sweet onion, diced

3 leeks (white part only), diced and washed well (see Tip)

1 garlic clove, mashed

8 ounces Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and sliced

4 cups Homemade Chicken Stock or water

Sea salt and ground white pepper

1 cup heavy cream (optional)

1. In a large saucepan over low heat, melt the butter. Add the onion, leeks, and garlic. Cook, covered, until the vegetables are very tender, about 10 minutes. Add the potatoes and stock and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to low and simmer until the potatoes are tender, 10 to 15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

2. Stir in the cream (if using), heat through, about 4 minutes, and serve.

TIP: Many home cooks use water instead of stock for soups. Let your own taste buds be the judge.

VARIATIONS:

CREAMY POTATO-LEEK SOUP (SOUPE AUX POMMES DE TERRE ET POIREAUX): Purée in a blender and serve hot, garnishing with a spoonful of sour cream and a sprinkling of chopped fresh chives. Serve it chilled, and it’s vichyssoise.

SOLFERINO SOUP (POTAGE SOLFÉRINO): Add 3 diced tomatoes along with the potatoes and stock in Step 1. Purée the finished soup and garnish each serving with a boiled baby potato.

SOUPE AU PISTOU

PISTOU

PREP TIME: 10 minutes | COOK TIME: 45 minutes | MAKES: 4 servings

Soupe au pistou is much more than just a soup. Contained within this hallowed bowl is the edible history of the arrière-pays, or the hinterlands of Provence, where rural farmers have long tended their fields, growing some of the most amazing vegetables and legumes. It is a homey soup to be passed freely with accompanying bowls of shredded cheese and a pesto-like basil purée confusingly also called pistou. Soupe au pistou connects us to the earth in a celebration of life.

There are several different versions of this soup. Those made near Nice tend to be more tomato-based, almost like a good minestrone, compared to the ones near Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, which barely even have tomato. Mine is based upon what I learned hanging from my mother’s apron strings, though she would be quick to say she did not use canned ingredients. I find both the canned beans and tomatoes suitable replacements when fresh great northern beans and tomatoes are not available.

FOR THE SOUP

¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil

4 carrots, diced

1 sweet onion, diced

1 leek (white and light green parts), diced and washed well (see Tip)

4 garlic cloves, mashed

2 thin zucchini, diced

½ (14-ounce) can San Marzano tomatoes, undrained

2 quarts water

1 (15-ounce) can great northern beans, undrained

1 cup green beans, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces

2 Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cubed

1 bay leaf

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

FOR THE PISTOU

3 garlic cloves, peeled

1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

1 cup extra-virgin olive oil

4 ounces fresh basil leaves

TO SERVE

2 cups cooked vermicelli

1 cup shredded Gruyère cheese

1. To make the soup, heat the olive oil in a large Dutch oven or stockpot over medium-high heat. Add the carrots, onion, leek, and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 10 minutes. Add the zucchini and cook until lightly browned, 3 or 4 minutes. Squeeze each of the tomatoes in your hand until they pop, then add them and their juices, as well as the water, beans, green beans, potatoes, and bay leaf to the pot and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer until the vegetables are tender, about 30 minutes. Taste the soup and season with salt and pepper to taste.

2. To make the pistou, combine the garlic, Parmesan, and olive oil in a food processor. Pull a cube of cooked potato from the pot and add it to the food processor. Process until creamy and smooth. Add the basil and pulse just until the basil is fully incorporated.

3. To serve, ladle the soup into 4 warmed bowls, divide the vermicelli between them, add a dollop of pistou, and sprinkle the Gruyère over each.

TIP: I add a small bit of boiled potato to the pistou for two reasons: One, it makes the consistency creamier, and two, it helps the basil keep its bright green color.

VARIATIONS: This soup has been at the center of my family’s table my entire life. I recently visited my cousin Andre in Provence, where he and his wife, Laurence, served pistou with blue cheese. This is neither typical nor Provençal, yet it tasted so good and it felt completely at home with the soup. Feel free to simmer the broth with a ham bone in it. There are no rules, just do what pleases you.

POTAGE SAINT GERMAIN, PRINTEMPS

SPRINGTIME FRESH PEA SOUP

PREP TIME: 5 minutes | COOK TIME: 20 minutes | MAKES: 8 servings

This soup has different versions depending upon the season. In spring it is made from fresh sweet peas and tender young lettuces.

½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, divided

2 leeks (white and light green parts), diced and washed well

4 cups Homemade Chicken Stock

2 cups water

2 (10-ounce) packages frozen sweet peas

2 ounces green Bibb lettuce

2 ounces fresh spinach

½ cup heavy cream

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

8 small fresh chervil or curly-leaf parsley sprigs, for garnish

1 cup croutons (see below)

1. In a large Dutch oven or stockpot, melt ¼ cup (½ stick) of butter over medium heat until foamy. Add the leeks and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, 5 to 8 minutes. Add the stock and water and bring to a rapid boil over high heat. Add the peas, lettuce, and spinach, reduce the heat to low, and simmer until the peas are cooked, about 5 minutes.

2. In the blender, working in batches, carefully purée the soup until very smooth (see Tip). As you are blending, add the remaining ¼ cup of butter and the cream. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

3. Divide the soup among 8 bowls and garnish each with a sprig of chervil and 2 tablespoons of croutons.

TIP: Be careful when blending hot soup because as you do, the air expands, creating pressure, which can lead to an explosion of hot soup everywhere. Loosen the feeder cap, the plastic center of the blender lid. Cover the lid with a large kitchen towel and pulse the blender a few times to allow the initial hot air to vent.

Croutons

Dice 4 pieces of thick-sliced white bread, then cook in 2 tablespoons of the fat of your choice in a skillet, tossing frequently, until browned, about 5 minutes. So long as it has a little heft, you can use most any kind of bread. I usually use olive oil but like to use pork or duck fat for croutons going into a heartier soup. You can also add dried herbs to the croutons as they brown.

POTAGE SAINT GERMAIN, HIVERNALE

WINTER SPLIT PEA SOUP

PREP TIME: 10 minutes | COOK TIME: 1 hour 10 minutes | MAKES: 8 servings

This interpretation of Potage Saint Germain relies on dried peas and is made heartier with the addition of a smoked ham hock.

3 tablespoons unsalted butter or pork lard

2 carrots, sliced

1 leek (white and light green parts), washed well and diced (see Tip)

1 onion, diced

2 cups split peas, rinsed and picked over

8 cups Homemade Chicken Stock

1 smoked ham hock (about 1 pound)

1 bouquet garni

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley, for garnish

1. In a large Dutch oven or stockpot over medium heat, melt the butter or lard until foamy. Add the carrots, leek, and onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, 5 to 8 minutes.

2. Add the peas, stock, ham hock, and bouquet garni and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer until the soup is thick and the peas are fully cooked, about 1 hour; they should be very soft to the point of falling apart. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

3. Remove the ham hock. Cut off the meat, coarsely chop it, and add it to the soup. Serve garnished with a sprinkling of the parsley.

TIP: There is nothing worse than eating gritty leeks, but I learned a trick for easily cleaning them. Dice the leeks and cover them with cold water in a large bowl. Add 1 tablespoon of salt and agitate the water. The salt acts as an abrasive, and the dirt and sand will settle to the bottom of the bowl. With a slotted spoon, scoop the leeks out of the water. Do not pour the leeks and water through a strainer because you would just be pouring the sand back over the leeks.

SOUPE À L’OIGNON GRATINÉE

FRENCH ONION SOUP

PREP TIME: 10 minutes | COOK TIME: 2½ hours | MAKES: 8 servings

French onion soup is perhaps the most iconic and well-traveled of all French dishes. Worldwide, it has seduced more stomachs than even our beloved New England clam chowder, which, incidentally, is based upon another French export. I once read that onion soup was “invented” by Louis XV. In this histoire, Louis was out hunting with the boys when they returned to the hunting lodge and found nothing but a couple of onions and a bottle of Champagne in the cupboards. What was a poor monarch supposed to do but improvise?

The truth is that onion soup has been simmering in farmhouse kitchens since the birth of time; it is a dish born of frugality and circumstance. There are many versions, and mine is the remembered flavors from my youth—the way my family made it. Please feel free to substitute my Homemade Chicken Stock for beef broth or even water. The real flavor comes from the deep caramelization of the onions.

The croutons and cheesy topping are key to the success of any onion soup. I like to use Emmental and mozzarella in a three-to-one ratio. The mozzarella really adds a beautiful molten quality. Add as much cheese as you want.

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 strips bacon, diced

4 sweet onions (2 to 2½ pounds total), sliced paper thin

4 garlic cloves, mashed

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour (optional)

10 cups Homemade Chicken Stock, beef stock, or water

1 cup red wine

1 fresh thyme sprig

1 bay leaf

16 baguette slices

6 ounces Emmental cheese (or Gruyère, Swiss, or Cantal), shredded

2 ounces mozzarella cheese, shredded

1. In a large Dutch oven or heavy stockpot over medium heat, melt the butter until foamy. Add the bacon and cook, stirring often, until lightly browned, about 4 minutes. Add the onions and garlic and cook, stirring often, until the onions are soft and lightly browned, about 30 minutes.

2. Reduce the heat to low and cook, stirring frequently, until the onions are very brown, about 1½ hours. Adjust the heat even lower, if necessary, to keep them from burning. The sweetness and richness of flavor comes from this step.

3. Sprinkle the onions with the flour (if using; this addition gives the soup a bit more depth and body). Add the stock, wine, thyme, and bay leaf and simmer until golden brown with a rich taste, about 30 minutes.

4. While the soup is simmering, make the croutons. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Place the baguette slices directly on the oven racks and bake until lightly browned, about 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and preheat the broiler.

5. In a small bowl, combine the cheeses. To serve, ladle the soup into 8 ovenproof bowls, and then top each with 2 bread slices and ¼ cup of the cheese. Working in batches if necessary, set the bowls on a baking sheet and broil until the cheese is golden brown, about 5 minutes.

TIPS: The weight of the pot you use to cook the onions matters greatly; the heavier it is, the lower the chances of scorching the onions during the low and slow cooking, which will take about 2 hours total.

Most French restaurants use a particular kind of porcelain bowl when serving onion soup. At home, I use whatever bowls I have—as long as they are ovenproof. I have tried everything from ramekins to regular bowls to a beautiful Lodge mini cast iron pot. The main two criteria should be that they are resistant to heat and they are tall and narrow rather than wide and shallow.

GARBURE

GARBURE

PREP TIME: 10 minutes | COOK TIME: 1¼ hours | MAKES: 8 servings

Garbure is much more than a stew; it is a meal. It has been said that a good garbure should be so full of ingredients that your ladle stands straight up in it. Like many great French soups, it is sometimes served in two courses: first the broth is served over toast, and then the meat and vegetables. My version is made with a ham bone, but by all means, enhance your garbure with pork sausage or even leftover duck confit.

2 tablespoons duck or goose fat, pork lard, or vegetable oil

2 carrots, diced

2 leeks (white and light green parts), diced and washed well

2 turnips, peeled and diced

1 large onion, diced

3 garlic cloves, diced

2 quarts water

1 (15-ounce) can great northern beans, undrained

1 ham bone

1 fresh thyme sprig

1 bay leaf

1 bouquet garni

8 ounces Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and sliced

1 head Savoy cabbage, cored and shredded

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

¼ cup chopped fresh parsley

1. In a large Dutch oven or stockpot over low heat, melt the fat. Add the carrots, leeks, turnips, onion, and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, about 10 minutes.

2. Add the water, beans, ham bone, thyme, bay leaf, and bouquet garni. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer for 45 minutes to let the flavors develop.

3. Add the potatoes and cabbage and simmer until the potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes.

4. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle with the parsley and serve. For the best flavor, let the stew cool, cover, and refrigerate overnight. Reheat and enjoy the next day.

BOEUF BOURGUIGNON

BEEF BURGUNDY

PREP TIME: 15 minutes, plus overnight to marinate | COOK TIME: 3 hours 20 minutes | MAKES: 6 servings

This is, perhaps, Burgundy’s most iconic dish, a rich beef stew made famous in America by Julia Child. It undoubtedly started its life as a humble peasant dish used to cook tougher pieces of beef. It is prepared with beef simmered in the red wine it marinates in overnight, along with pearl onions, bacon, and mushrooms.

One of the joys of food shopping in France is the unsolicited advice you will receive. The French love talking about food and offering sage advice. This excellent recipe was given to me by a butcher in a small French village.

2 pounds beef chuck, cut into 2-inch pieces (see Tips)

1 (750 ml) bottle red Burgundy wine or other Pinot Noir

1 bay leaf

1 fresh thyme sprig

1 tablespoon rendered pork lard, duck fat, or unsalted butter

4 ounces slab bacon, cubed

16 pearl onions, peeled (see Tips)

8 ounces small button mushrooms, trimmed

Sea salt

Cracked black peppercorns

2 celery ribs, finely diced

2 carrots, diced

1 tablespoon flour

2 cups beef stock

8 garlic cloves, peeled

Chopped fresh parsley, for garnish

1. In a large nonreactive bowl, combine the beef, wine, bay leaf, and thyme. Cover, and marinate in the refrigerator a minimum of 6 hours, preferably overnight.

2. Heat the lard in a large Dutch oven or stockpot over medium heat. Add the bacon and cook until lightly browned, stirring, about 5 minutes. Add the onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned, about 10 minutes. With a slotted spoon, transfer the onions and bacon to a plate. Add the mushrooms to the pot and cook, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned, about 3 minutes. Remove to the plate with the onions and bacon.

3. With tongs, remove the beef from the marinade, reserving the marinade. Pat it dry with paper towels. Season with salt and cracked peppercorns to taste. Turn the heat to medium-high. Working in batches, brown the beef on all sides, about 10 minutes per batch. Transfer the beef to a plate.

4. Add the celery and carrots to the pot and cook until soft and lightly browned, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes. Sprinkle the flour over top and stir into the vegetables. Add the reserved marinade, as well as the stock, beef, and garlic and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to a simmer, cover, and cook for 2 hours. The meat should remain partially submerged in liquid; if it starts to look a little dry, add more water, red wine, or stock.

5. If you want a more refined dish, transfer the beef to a plate; place a fine-mesh strainer over a large bowl and strain the sauce, discarding the carrots, celery, and garlic. Return the beef to the pot. Add the mushrooms, bacon, and onions. Simmer until the beef is fork tender, about 1 hour.

6. Serve sprinkled with parsley.

TIPS: An easy way to peel pearl onions is to trim off the root end, drop them into boiling water for 30 seconds, drain, transfer to a bowl of ice water, and drain again. You should then be able to squeeze them right out of their peels.

What cut of beef is best to use? Avoid what most stores call “stew beef”; it is usually devoid of fat and cartilage, two things necessary for stewing. I generally use meat from the shoulder (like chuck), oxtail, short ribs, or shanks. Traditionally, a calf’s foot is included; the considerable collagen it contains makes for a deliciously rich and unctuous result. You can find them in Asian or Mexican markets.

LA DAUBE DE BOEUF À LA PROVENÇAL

PROVENÇAL-STYLE BEEF STEW

PREP TIME: 10 minutes, plus overnight to marinate | COOK TIME: 5½ hours | MAKES: 4 servings

A daube is a slow-cooked stew you will find simmering at a grandmotherly pace in kitchens all across France. Traditionally, they are made with lamb or beef, but you’ll also find pork, rabbit, and even octopus daubes. Classically, they are cooked in the embers of a dying wood fire in a special potbellied pot called a daubiere fashioned from copper or clay. The lengthy cooking time combined with the bulbous shape of the pot creates a convection action where heat from the bottom rises up in the form of steam, hits the cooler top, then rains back down over the simmering meat. This action allows the collagen in braising meats to turn into gelatin and provides a silky mouthfeel to the finished dish. Many cooks claim it is next to impossible to make a proper daube without a daubiere, though some, including me, will begrudgingly admit that it is. If daube making becomes a passion, there is still one potter left in France making daubieres.

Never eat a daube the same day it is made; let the stew mature, its flavors marry and blossom into the work of art that humble peasant cooking is. Serve it with boiled or mashed potatoes, spätzle, potato gratin, or buttered noodles.

4 bone-in beef short ribs

Zest and juice of 1 orange (see Tip)

1 cinnamon stick

1 star anise

2 cups Cabernet Sauvignon

¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil

3 medium carrots, sliced into rounds

1 sweet onion, diced

¼ cup mashed garlic cloves

4 ounces slab bacon, diced

1 tablespoon flour

1 (14-ounce) can San Marzano tomatoes, undrained

1 cup low-sodium beef stock

Big pinch saffron threads

6 oil-packed anchovy fillets, chopped

1 cup Picholine olives

1. In a large nonreactive bowl, combine the beef, orange zest and juice, cinnamon, star anise, and wine. Cover and marinate overnight in the refrigerator.

2. Place a fine-mesh strainer over a large bowl and strain into the bowl, reserving the liquid. Discard the orange zest and spices. With paper towels, pat the short ribs dry.

3. In a large Dutch oven or stockpot over high heat, heat the oil. Add the short ribs and cook, turning frequently, until browned on all sides, 5 to 8 minutes. Transfer the meat to a plate.

4. Add the carrots and onion to the pot and cook, stirring occasionally, until lightly softened, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and bacon and cook until the bacon is browned, about 5 minutes. Stir in the flour. Squeeze each of the tomatoes in your hand until they pop, then add them and their juices, the stock, and reserved marinade to the pot. Stir in the saffron, anchovies, and olives.

5. Return the beef to the pot. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer until the meat is insanely tender, about 5 hours.

6. Serve directly from the pot.

TIP: Take the zest off the orange in strips using a vegetable peeler.

LE NAVARIN D’AGNEAU

FRENCH LAMB STEW

PREP TIME: 15 minutes | COOK TIME: 1¾ hours | MAKES: 8 servings

This is a springtime stew best made with young, tender vegetables and delicate spring lamb. The word, navarin, is synonymous with stew, though this dish most likely got its name because of the inclusion of turnips (navets). Like all great French dishes, there are home and restaurant interpretations. This more rustic version is the way home cooks generally make it.

2 pounds boneless lamb shoulder, trimmed and cut into 1-inch cubes

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 sweet onion, diced

2 garlic cloves, mashed

2 tablespoons flour

8 cups Homemade Chicken Stock

1 bouquet garni

12 pearl onions, peeled (see Tip)

8 small turnips, peeled and left whole or 4 medium turnips, cut in half

8 small new potatoes, peeled

8 young carrots, peeled

½ cup fresh or frozen peas

¼ cup chopped fresh parsley, for garnish

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Season the lamb with salt and pepper to taste.

2. In a large Dutch oven or ovenproof stockpot over medium heat, melt the butter until foamy. Working in batches, add the lamb and brown on all sides, about 10 minutes per batch. Transfer to a bowl.

3. Add the onion and garlic to the pot and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft and browned, about 10 minutes. Sprinkle with the flour and stir until blended. Add the stock, bouquet garni, and lamb and braise in the oven, uncovered, until the lamb is tender, about 1 hour.

4. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the lamb to a plate and keep warm. Discard the bouquet garni. Add the pearl onions, turnips, potatoes, and carrots to the broth, cover, and simmer over medium-low heat until tender, 15 to 20 minutes.

5. Stir in the peas, return the lamb to the pot, and heat through for about 5 minutes. Serve garnished with the parsley.

BOURRIDE SÈTOISE

PROVENÇAL FISH SOUP

PREP TIME: 10 minutes | COOK TIME: 1 hour | MAKES: 4 servings

There are two main variations of bourride. The simplest form is a soupe de poissons with fish fillets poached in it, redolent with saffron and tomatoes. The other is this creamy version, made with potatoes and leeks and flavored with tarragon. Both are finished by whisking raw egg yolks and aïoli into the soup and are popular in Sète, a major port city in southeast France.

FOR THE BROTH

¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil

2 onions, thinly sliced

2 leeks, (white and light green parts), diced and washed well (see Tip)

2 celery ribs, diced

1 carrot, diced

1 fresh thyme sprig

1 fresh tarragon sprig

1 quart water

2 cups white wine

1 pound fish bones (see Tip)

2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

TO FINISH THE SOUP

4 Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cut into ½-inch-thick slices

2 pounds monkfish fillets, cut into 20 pieces

2 large egg yolks

2 cups Aïoli

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

¼ cup fresh parsley, chopped

20 croutons

1. To make the broth, heat the olive oil in a large Dutch oven or stockpot over low heat. Add the onions, leeks, celery, carrot, thyme, and tarragon and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft and tender, about 10 minutes. Add the water, wine, fish bones, and lemon juice and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to simmer and cook for 20 minutes.

2. Place a fine-mesh strainer over a large heatproof bowl and strain the broth into the bowl. Discard all the solids. Rinse out the pot and return the broth to it. Bring to a simmer over low heat.

3. To finish the soup, add the potato slices to the broth and cook until tender but not falling apart, about 15 minutes. Remove 4 potato slices from the broth and place one in each serving bowl.

4. Add the monkfish fillets to the broth and cook until firm and opaque, 8 to 10 minutes. With a slotted spoon, transfer the monkfish to a heatproof plate and keep warm.

5. In a medium bowl, whisk the egg yolks together with the aïoli until smooth. Slowly add 1 quart plus 4 cups of the broth to the mixture, whisking constantly.

6. Slowly add the egg mixture back to the pot, whisking constantly, which will purée the potatoes left in the soup. Turn the heat as low as it will go and gently heat through; never let the bourride boil or it will separate. The broth should be creamy and thick, without any lumps. Taste and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.

7. To serve, divide the monkfish pieces evenly between the bowls, setting the pieces on top of the potato slices. Pour the broth over and garnish with the parsley and croutons.

TIP: Many fish counters at grocery stores will give you fish bones for free. If you cannot find any bones, replace the water with store-bought seafood stock or canned clam juice.

BOUILLABAISSE

BOUILLABAISSE

PREP TIME: 25 minutes, plus 40 minutes or more to marinate | COOK TIME: 45 minutes | MAKES: 8 servings

Bouillabaisse is France’s most argued-about stew. Adherents to the cult of bouillabaisse will argue until they are blue in the face about what fish are permitted to go into it, whether or not potatoes are allowed, and how to serve it. Even the name itself is a contradiction: Bouille means to boil hard, and baisse means slow and easy.

At its core, bouillabaisse is an assertively flavored, richly textured, saffron-laced seafood stew. It’s not a dish to throw together on a Wednesday night. Rather, it is a celebration, so invite friends over and have a party—this is what life is truly about.

I add sriracha to this recipe because it’s a readily available hot sauce and I like how it adds heat without being overbearing.

TO MARINATE THE SEAFOOD

1 pound halibut fillet

1 pound rockfish or red snapper

1 pound cod, sole, or another flaky fish fillet

2 Dungeness or blue crabs or frozen snow crab clusters, outer shell removed and cut into quarters

1 pound manila clams or mussels, scrubbed and rinsed

1 cup extra-virgin olive oil

½ cup pastis or other anise-flavored liqueur

½ cup fennel fronds, chopped

1 teaspoon saffron threads

FOR THE BROTH

½ cup extra-virgin olive oil

3 sweet onions, sliced

1 fennel bulb, sliced

1 head garlic, left unpeeled and roughly chopped

4 tomatoes, diced, or 1 (28-ounce) can San Marzano tomatoes, undrained

2 bay leaves

½ cup pastis or other anise-flavored liqueur

Big pinch saffron threads

1 strip dried orange peel (see Tip)

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1 (4-pound) whole rockfish, red snapper, or sea bass, cut into 5 or 6 pieces

FOR THE ROUILLE

4 large egg yolks

3 garlic cloves, mashed

3 tablespoons sriracha hot sauce

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

1 tablespoon paprika

2 big pinches saffron threads

1 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

8 Yukon Gold potatoes, boiled until tender, skins removed, and sliced

FOR SERVING

3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

1 baguette, sliced and toasted

1 cup Rouille (see above) or Aïoli (here)

4 garlic cloves, peeled

1 cup shredded Gruyère cheese

1. To marinate the seafood, in a large bowl combine the halibut, rockfish, cod, crab, and clams. Add the olive oil, pastis, fennel fronds, and saffron and toss to coat well. Cover and let marinate in the refrigerator for at least 40 minutes (overnight is even better) while preparing the rest of the dish.

2. To make the broth, heat the olive oil in a large Dutch oven or stockpot over medium heat. Add the onions, fennel bulb, and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are tender, about 5 minutes. Squeeze each of the tomatoes in your hand until they pop, then add them and their juices, as well as the bay leaves, pastis, saffron, orange peel (if using), red pepper flakes, and rockfish to the pot. Cover with 1 inch of cold water and bring to boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to low and simmer until fully cooked and the fish fillets are disintegrating into the soup, about 30 minutes.

3. To make the rouille, while the broth simmers, in a blender or food processor, combine the egg yolks, garlic, hot sauce, vinegar, paprika, and saffron and purée until smooth, about 30 seconds. With the machine running, slowly drizzle in the oil through the hole in the lid or the feed tube until the mixture is thick like mayonnaise. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Place in a serving bowl, cover, and refrigerate until ready to serve.

4. Place a fine-mesh strainer over a large heatproof bowl. Strain the soup. Remove and discard the hard crab shells. Place a food mill (see Note) over the bowl and crank it until all the juice is squeezed out (the body of the soup comes from what gets passed through the mill and added back to the broth). Return the broth to the pot and bring it to a rapid boil over high heat. Add the marinated seafood and juices and sliced potatoes. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes.

5. To serve, you have two options. If you want to do as restaurants do, using a large slotted spoon, carefully transfer the seafood and potatoes to a deep platter and keep warm. Ladle the broth into bowls and sprinkle with the parsley. Rub the toasted baguette with the garlic cloves, then smear it. Smear the toasted baguette with rouille or aïoli. Sprinkle it with cheese and drop into the soup. Once you have eaten enough broth on its own, serve the seafood and eat with the same accoutrements. Or to serve it more simply—as French fishermen do—put the whole pot in the middle of the dinner table and let guests serve themselves as they wish.

TIP: The French home cook is frugal and does not waste anything, even orange peels. For dried orange peel, peel an orange and hang the peel to dry in a breezy, cool, and dry place until fully dry, which will take about 5 days. The dried peel lends an intense, concentrated orange flavor to everything it is cooked with.

NOTE: If you do not have a food mill, don’t despair; your soup will be equally delicious. Put everything in a food processor and pulse a few quick times. The idea is not to make it smooth but rather to chop everything up finer. Strain the soup through a fine-mesh strainer, pressing hard on the solids to extract as much liquid as possible.

6

Plats Principal

MAIN COURSES

In France, even a simple home-cooked meal will likely follow a long-established dining formula: You start with an entrée, followed by a plat, then finish with either cheese or dessert. It may be confusing for some that the French use the term “entrée” to indicate an appetizer rather than the main course. The best way to think of entrée is “to enter” or “to begin.” Plat, on the other hand, signifies the principal plate of a meal, the dish the rest of your meal is balanced around.

This chapter contains 13 classic dishes that were born on home ranges long before they appeared on the menus of Paris’s great restaurants. For the most part, they can be made ahead of time, allowing you, as the cook, to sit and enjoy the meal as much as your family and friends.

SOLE MEUNIÈRE

Sole with Butter and Lemon

MOULES MARINIÈRES

Steamed Mussels with White Wine and Herbs

COQUILLES ST. JACQUES

Scallops Gratin

POULET RÔTI

Simple Roast Chicken

COQ AU VIN

Chicken in Red Wine Sauce

DUCK À L’ORANGE

Orange Duck

CONFIT DE CANARD

Duck Confit with Crispy Potatoes

POT-AU-FEU

Boiled Beef Dinner

ONGLET DE BOEUF, SAUCE BÉARNAISE

Hanger Steak with Béarnaise Sauce

GIGOT D’AGNEAU BOULANGÈRE

Roast Leg of Lamb with Herbs and Garlic

CHOUCROUTE GARNIE

Braised Sauerkraut with Pork and Sausage

CASSOULET

Cassoulet

HACHIS PARMENTIER

Shepherd’s Pie

SOLE MEUNIÈRE

SOLE WITH BUTTER AND LEMON

PREP TIME: 5 minutes | COOK TIME: 10 minutes | MAKES: 4 servings

This is probably the most classic sole dish of all time and prepared as frequently in French homes as it is in Parisian restaurants. Meunière translates to “in the miller’s wife style,” in reference to the flour dusted over the fish.

FOR THE SOLE

8 sole fillets (3 to 4 ounces each)

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

½ cup all-purpose flour

½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter

FOR THE SAUCE

¾ cup (1½ sticks) unsalted butter

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

1. Preheat the oven to 300°F.

2. To prepare the sole, lightly season the fillets on both sides with salt and pepper to taste. Place the flour on a large dinner plate and dredge the sole in it, shaking off any excess.

3. In a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat, melt the butter until foamy. Add half of the fillets and cook until golden brown, about 3 minutes. Flip the fillets over and cook until golden brown, about 2 minutes. Transfer the cooked fillets to a large plate and keep warm in the oven. Repeat with the remaining sole. Wipe the skillet clean.

4. To make the sauce, melt the butter over medium heat in the same skillet and cook until nut brown, about 2 minutes. Immediately stir in the lemon juice and parsley.

5. Arrange 2 sole fillets on each dinner plate. Pour the butter sauce evenly over the sole and serve.

TIP: The flour forms a crust when it’s cooked in butter. Of course, you can leave it out if you are gluten free.

VARIATIONS:

SOLE WITH ALMONDS (SOLE AMANDINE): Add ¼ cup of toasted sliced almonds to the sauce with the lemon juice and parsley.

SOLE IN THE STYLE OF GRENOBLE (SOLE GRENOBLOISE): Add 2 tablespoons of capers to the sauce with the lemon juice and parsley.

MOULES MARINIÈRES

STEAMED MUSSELS WITH WHITE WINE AND HERBS

PREP TIME: 10 minutes | COOK TIME: 5 minutes | MAKES: 4 servings

This is the simplest and tastiest way to cook mussels. From start to finish, moules marinières will take no longer than 10 to 15 minutes to prepare. Once you master this simple preparation, you can easily add a few different ingredients (see the Variations at the end of the recipe) to create new versions to savor.

Be sure to serve this dish with toasted baguettes for dipping into the flavorful broth. In the north of France, they smartly serve mussels with Pommes Frites (here).

5 pounds mussels

1 cup white wine

½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter

1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme

3 shallots, diced

1 garlic clove, mashed

¼ cup chopped fresh parsley

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Clean the mussels within an hour of cooking them. Tap any open mussels on the counter to see if they are still alive; discard any that do not immediately close. Wash and scrub the mussels with a small brush to remove anything that clings to the shell. Pull off the beard that sticks out from between the shells. (This is how the mussel clings to rocks and various things in the ocean.)

2. In a large stockpot over high heat, bring the wine, butter, thyme, shallots, and garlic to a rapid boil.

3. Add the mussels, cover, and cook until they open, about 3 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, remove the cooked mussels to a large bowl or shallow individual bowls. Discard any with shells that won’t open.

4. Stir the parsley into the broth, then ladle the broth from the top of the pot over the mussels, leaving any grit behind in the pot. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

VARIATIONS:

MUSSELS IN CREAM SAUCE (MOULES À LA CRÈME): Add ¼ cup of heavy cream along with the wine in Step 2.

MUSSELS IN SAFFRON SAUCE (MOULES AU SAFRAN): Add a big pinch of saffron threads with the cream to the Mussels in Cream Sauce variation.

MUSSELS IN CURRY SAUCE (MOUCLADE): Add 1 teaspoon of curry powder with the cream to the Mussels in Cream Sauce variation.

MUSSELS WITH PROSCIUTTO (MOULES AU PROSCIUTTO): Add 1 sliced and caramelized onion, 2 ounces of diced prosciutto, and 2 tablespoons of sliced fresh basil along with the wine in Step 2.

MUSSELS PROVENÇAL (MOULES PROVENÇAL): In Step 2, replace the butter with ½ cup of tomato sauce, add 1 tablespoon of pastis or other anise-flavored liqueur, and a big pinch of saffron threads. Increase the garlic to 2 cloves and slice them; omit the thyme and shallots.

COQUILLES ST. JACQUES

SCALLOPS GRATIN

PREP TIME: 15 minutes | COOK TIME: 10 to 15 minutes | MAKES: 4 servings

This dish brings me straight back to Chicago in the early 1970s. My mother loved to entertain and would often make classic French dishes for anyone lucky enough to eat at our table. My favorite was her coquilles St. Jacques. She would pull out scallop shells she had saved and fill them with poached scallops covered in a healthy spoonful of Mornay sauce, then broil them until golden brown. You’ll need four large scallop shells or small ovenproof gratin dishes for this recipe.

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

1 shallot, finely diced

4 button mushrooms, finely diced

1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme

2 tablespoons, plus ½ cup white wine

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 pound sea scallops

1 recipe Mornay Sauce

4 tablespoons panko or regular bread crumbs

1. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, melt the butter until foamy. Add the shallot, mushrooms, thyme, and 2 tablespoons of wine and cook, stirring occasionally, until the shallot is soft, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste and spoon the mixture into the shells or gratin dishes.

2. Preheat the broiler to high.

3. In a large saucepan over high heat, bring the remaining ½ cup wine to a boil. Add the scallops and poach for 3 minutes, turning them once. With a slotted spoon, remove the scallops and divide them evenly among the scallop shells or dishes.

4. Add the Mornay sauce to the cooking liquid and whisk together well. Spoon the sauce over the scallops and sprinkle each with 1 tablespoon of the panko. Broil until golden brown and bubbly, 6 to 7 minutes.

TIP: The word, coquilles, means shell. If you’re using shells, be sure to balance them on a small pile of coarse sea salt.

POULET RÔTI

SIMPLE ROAST CHICKEN

PREP TIME: 5 minutes | COOK TIME: 1 hour 20 minutes, plus 15 minutes to rest | MAKES: 4 servings

A perfect roast chicken is one of the great joys of life that few other foods can satisfy in the same way. Most French households like to serve a roast chicken with a simple green salad and maybe a potato gratin. Over the decades, I have developed a recipe to ensure a perfect roast chicken at home every time. The lemon perfumes the bird in such a pleasant and nuanced way. Cooking is about building subtle layers that are almost imperceptible.

1 (3½-pound) chicken

1 tablespoon flaked sea salt

1 tablespoon dried herbes de Provence

2 teaspoons Espelette pepper or sweet paprika

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

½ lemon

1 head garlic, cut in half

1 bunch fresh thyme

1 fresh rosemary sprig

1. Preheat the oven to 425°F. Set a wire rack on a large rimmed baking sheet.

2. Season the chicken with the salt, herbes de Provence, Espelette pepper, and black pepper. Be sure to heavily salt around the opening of the cavity. Stuff the lemon half, garlic, thyme, and rosemary into the cavity. Set the bird on the rack, breast-side down, and roast for 40 minutes.

3. Flip the chicken breast-side up and roast until golden brown and the juices run clear at the thigh, another 40 minutes.

4. Remove the bird from the oven and stand it up with its legs in the air for 15 minutes before cutting it. The juices will redistribute throughout the bird, making it juicy beyond imagination. After proper resting, cut it into serving pieces. If desired, reserve the carcass for my Homemade Chicken Stock.

TIP: Did you know that the best part of the chicken is referred to as the oyster, and if you are smart you will quickly eat both of them before anyone notices? They are located on the back, where the thigh bone connects to the spine. The French call them sot l’y laisse, or “the part the idiot leaves behind.”

COQ AU VIN

CHICKEN IN RED WINE SAUCE

PREP TIME: 20 minutes, plus overnight to marinate | COOK TIME: 1½ hours | MAKES: 4 servings

Coq au vin is as synonymous with French culture as hamburgers are with America. It’s a dish I grew up eating quite a bit and still find very satisfying and comforting when I’m longing for my mother and dreaming of France. The sauce is packed with flavor and begs for a starchy vehicle to soak it up. Classically, boiled or mashed potatoes are served with it, but I think spätzle, noodles, or a creamy potato gratin work better.

1 (3½-pound) chicken, cut into 8 pieces (2 breasts, 2 thighs, 2 legs, 2 wings)

3 carrots, diced

2 celery ribs, diced

1 onion, diced

4 garlic cloves, mashed

3 fresh thyme sprigs

1 (750ml) bottle red wine

4 ounces slab bacon, diced

1 pound small button mushrooms, trimmed

2 to 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided

2 cups Homemade Chicken Stock

16 pearl onions, peeled

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

1. Place the chicken, carrots, celery, onion, garlic, and thyme in a large nonreactive bowl. Pour over the wine, cover, and marinate in the refrigerator overnight.

2. When ready to cook, place the bacon into a cold skillet over low heat and cook, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned. With a slotted spoon, transfer the bacon to a plate. Add the mushrooms to the fat in the pan and cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned, about 5 minutes. If you need more fat, add 1 tablespoon of the butter. Transfer the mushrooms to the plate with the bacon.

3. In a small saucepan, bring the stock to a boil. Add the pearl onions, reduce the heat to low, and simmer until the tip of a paring knife easily pierces the onions, about 20 minutes. With a slotted spoon, transfer the onions to the plate with the bacon and mushrooms. Reserve the stock.

4. Remove the chicken from the marinade and pat dry with paper towels. Place a fine-mesh strainer over a large bowl and strain the marinade into the bowl; discard the vegetables.

5. Heat 2 tablespoons of butter and the olive oil in a large Dutch oven over high heat until bubbly and very hot. Working in batches if necessary, add the chicken, skin side down, and cook until browned, 8 to 10 minutes. Turn and cook until lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Remove the chicken to a plate and sprinkle the flour into the pot. Whisk in the reserved stock and marinade and bring to a rapid boil. Add the chicken legs, thighs, and wings to the pot, reduce the heat to low, cover, and cook, turning once, for 20 minutes. Add the chicken breasts, bacon, mushrooms, and pearl onions and cook, uncovered, until the chicken is fully cooked, 25 to 30 minutes longer.

6. Serve at the table right from the pot.

TIP: It’s important to let the chicken marinate overnight so the wine and aromatics can fully penetrate it. Like all great stews, flavors continue to develop as they sit, so resist the urge to eat it immediately. I always let mine sit for a day or two.

VARIATIONS:

CHICKEN IN RIESLING (COQ AU RIESLING): Replace the red wine with a fruity white wine like Riesling or Gewürztraminer.

CHICKEN IN CIDER OR CHICKEN IN BEER (POULET AU CIDRE OR POULET AU BIERE): Replace the red wine with either hard cider or your favorite craft beer.

DUCK À L’ORANGE

ORANGE DUCK

PREP TIME: 15 minutes | COOK TIME: 3 hours | MAKES: 4 servings

Because of its richness, duck à l’orange always has a celebratory feel to it. The basic roasting technique is applicable to any of the other classic duck recipes found in the canon of French home cooking (see the Variations for other versions of this classic).

1 large onion, diced

2 carrots, diced

1 (5- to 6-pound) duck, thawed if necessary

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 head garlic, cut in half

½ orange

2 fresh thyme sprigs

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 cups Homemade Chicken Stock

1 cup white wine

1 cup freshly squeezed orange juice

½ cup orange marmalade

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Arrange the onion and carrots over the bottom of a deep roasting pan.

2. Prick the duck skin all over with a fork. (This will help release the fat stored beneath the skin while the bird roasts slowly.) Season liberally with salt and pepper both inside and out, then stuff the cavity with the garlic, orange half, and thyme. Set the duck, breast-side down, in the pan and roast for 1½ hours.

3. Transfer the duck to a baking sheet. Very carefully, pour off as much duck fat as possible from the pan into a heatproof bowl or measuring cup. Sprinkle the flour into the pan, then stir in the stock and wine. Return the duck to the pan, breast-side up. Continue to roast until golden brown, about another hour.

4. Transfer the duck back to the baking sheet. Place a fine-mesh strainer over a saucepan and scrape the dripping and vegetables from the roasting pan into the strainer. Discard the solids. Add the orange juice and marmalade to the saucepan. Bring to boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to low and simmer until it reduces to a sauce consistency (see here), about 10 minutes.

5. Cut the duck in half along the backbone using poultry shears. Cut along the breastbone to split it into two pieces. Trim any parts of the rib cage off. Separate the legs from the breast. You can also separate the legs and thighs and slice the duck breast if you are inclined to do so.

6. Divide the duck meat between four warm dinner plates, spoon the sauce over, and serve.

TIP: Ducks have a lot of fat that gets rendered during the long, slow cooking process. Make sure to use a deep roasting pan so no fat spills. Strain the duck fat into an airtight container, let it cool, and then refrigerate it. The fat will keep for months. Use it for my Duck Confit with Crispy Potatoes, for cooking potatoes, and other dishes.

VARIATIONS:

DUCK IN CIDER (CANARD RÔTI AU CIDRE): Replace the orange juice with fresh apple cider and serve with sautéed apple slices.

DUCK WITH GREEN PEAS (CANARD RÔTI AUX PETITS POIS): Substitute an equal amount of stock for both the orange juice and marmalade. Add 12 ounces of cooked green peas, thawed if frozen, to the final sauce.

DUCK WITH TURNIPS (CANARD RÔTI AUX NAVETS): Substitute an equal amount of stock for both the orange juice and marmalade and add it all in Step 3 along with 12 small peeled turnips (or 6 large turnips, halved) and the chopped turnip greens.

CONFIT DE CANARD

DUCK CONFIT WITH CRISPY POTATOES

PREP TIME: 10 minutes, plus 3 days to cure | COOK TIME: 3 hours initial cooking time; 30 minutes to finish | MAKES: 4 servings

If I were able to choose my last meal on Earth, duck confit would surely be it. There is something utterly delicious about obscenely crisp duck skin mixed with tender duck meat.

This confit is not a dish you decide to make at the spur of a moment on a work night. It requires patience and time, but in the end, you are richly rewarded for your efforts. Confitting a duck is a lengthy process that originally was how rural people preserved it. First, you cure the duck legs for three days to extract any excess water. Then, you slow cook the legs in a golden pool of duck fat and store it in crocks. Finally, you crisp the skin before serving it. My recipe includes the best side dish possible: potatoes cooked in duck fat. I consider the two inseparable.

FOR THE CONFIT

4 duck leg quarters

¼ cup coarse sea salt

1 tablespoon black peppercorns

1 bunch fresh thyme

1 bunch fresh rosemary

1 sweet onion, unpeeled, thinly sliced

1 head garlic, unpeeled, coarsely chopped

1 quart rendered duck fat or pork lard (see Tip)

FOR THE POTATOES

1 pound Yukon Gold or Ratte (see Tips) potatoes

1 bay leaf

1 fresh thyme sprig

1 head garlic, cloves peeled, 2 smashed and the rest thinly sliced

1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. To make the confit, in a large bowl or 9-by-13-inch baking dish, toss the duck legs with the salt, peppercorns, thyme, rosemary, onion, and garlic. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 3 days.

2. Preheat the oven to 300°F. Rinse the legs and discard the salt mixture. Place the duck in a large Dutch oven and cover with 1 inch of the duck fat. Bake until the meat just barely falls off the bone, about 3 hours.

3. Remove the duck from the oven and let it cool in the fat. To serve later, freeze in individual portions with a small amount of fat (for the express purpose of having it ready when you need to brown the skin) and serve it at another time. Save any remaining fat for another use.

4. To crisp the duck legs, warm a generous dollop of duck fat in a large nonstick skillet over low heat until it melts. Add the duck legs, skin-side down, and cook until the skin starts to crackle and turn brown, about 10 minutes. Low and slow is the preferred method here. Transfer to a plate and keep warm. Set the skillet aside.

5. To make the potatoes, in a medium saucepan, combine the potatoes, bay leaf, thyme, and the 2 smashed cloves of garlic and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil and continue to boil until the potatoes are easily pierced with a small knife, about 10 minutes. Cut the potatoes in half lengthwise and add them to the skillet you cooked the duck in. Cook over low heat until golden brown, about 10 minutes. Add the sliced garlic and cook, stirring constantly, until it’s light amber, about 2 minutes. Pour the potatoes and garlic into a fine-mesh strainer over a bowl to remove the duck fat. Reserve the fat for another use. Return the potatoes and garlic to the skillet and stir in the chopped thyme, salt, and pepper. Serve the potatoes alongside the duck confit on warmed plates.

TIPS: Ratte are a variety of French fingerling potatoes with a nutty flavor. You can find them online, in farmers’ markets, and at specialty food stores. If you don’t have enough rendered duck fat on hand to cover the legs and you prefer not to use lard, you can substitute olive oil. I usually cook 20 duck legs at a time, then vacuum pack them in family-sized amounts so we can easily enjoy them anytime we want.

POT-AU-FEU

BOILED BEEF DINNER

PREP TIME: 10 minutes | COOK TIME: 4 hours | MAKES: 8 servings

Pot-au-feu is the quintessential boiled meat and vegetable Sunday meal for most of France and has as many variations as it has cooks. Whatever version you make, the constants remain the same: The broth is served first and the meat and vegetables second, with toasted baguette slices and various condiments.

I have eaten pot-au-feu prepared with lamb, chicken, and even a version that more resembled the ingredient list for a proper cassoulet. The version included here is how my mother cooked it several times a year. It is made with three different cuts of beef: shank, short rib, and brisket.

FOR THE BEEF AND BEEF BROTH

3 pounds beef short ribs or oxtails

2 pounds beef shanks

2 pounds beef brisket

1 sweet onion, peeled and studded with 10 cloves

2 bay leaves

1 bunch fresh winter savory

1 tablespoon dried herbes de Provence

1 tablespoon sea salt

1 teaspoon black peppercorns

3 star anise

1 cinnamon stick

1 head garlic

1 large fresh thyme sprig

FOR THE VEGETABLES

4 leeks, (white and light green parts), cut into 3-inch lengths, halved, and washed well (see Tip)

8 medium carrots, halved and cut into 3-inch lengths

8 small turnips, peeled and left whole, or 4 medium turnips, cut in half

8 small Yukon Gold or red potatoes

8 (4-inch) pieces beef marrow bones

FOR THE HORSERADISH SAUCE

½ cup heavy cream

2 tablespoons mayonnaise

2 tablespoons grated fresh horseradish or prepared horseradish, or to taste

1 teaspoon sea salt

½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

FOR SERVING

1 baguette, cut into slices and toasted

Fleur de sel

¼ cup chopped fresh parsley

Whole-grain mustard

Dijon mustard

Cornichons

1. To make the beef and beef broth, in a large stockpot, combine the short ribs, shanks, and brisket, cover with cold water, and bring to a rapid boil over high heat. With tongs, remove the meat to a large bowl and discard the water (this is done to create a clear broth). Rinse out the pot, return the meat to the pot, and add the onion, bay leaf, savory, herbes de Provence, salt, peppercorns, star anise, cinnamon, garlic, and thyme. Add cold water to cover everything by 1 inch. Bring to a gentle boil over medium-high heat. As soon as it boils, reduce the heat so it is barely simmering (see Tip). Cook until the meat is so tender that a knife passes through it with no resistance, about 3 hours.

2. Place a fine-mesh strainer over a large bowl and strain the meat, keeping both the liquid and the beef. Discard the vegetables. Transfer the beef to a platter.

3. To make the vegetables, return the broth to the pot, add the leeks, carrots, turnips, potatoes, and marrow bones, and simmer over low heat until the vegetables are tender, about 45 minutes. Return the beef to the pot and simmer to heat through, about 10 minutes.

4. To make the horseradish sauce, while the vegetables simmer, in a medium bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed, whip the cream to stiff peaks. Fold in the mayonnaise, horseradish, salt, and pepper. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

5. To serve, remove the marrow from the bones using a paring knife. Coarsely chop the marrow, spread it over the baguette toasts, and sprinkle with a few flakes of fleur de sel. Slice all the beef ½ inch thick, keeping the different cuts separate. Arrange all the vegetables and meat on a serving platter. Traditionally, the broth is served first with the marrow toasts and parsley sprinkled over the broth and toasts. Then, the meat and vegetables are passed around for everyone to help themselves. More broth is ladled over, and diners may customize their bowls as they like with horseradish sauce, mustard, and cornichons.

TIP: The object here is to cook the meat and broth so ridiculously slow that the stock remains crystal clear. Boiling tends to make broth cloudy.

ONGLET DE BOEUF, SAUCE BÉARNAISE

HANGER STEAK WITH BÉARNAISE SAUCE

PREP TIME: 15 minutes, plus 2 hours to sit | COOK TIME: 25 minutes, plus 10 minutes to rest | MAKES: 2 servings

We don’t eat beef very often at my home, but when I do, I crave a perfectly cooked hanger steak. Serve it with a spoonful of béarnaise for a classic pairing. And, of course, don’t forget my Pommes Frites!

FOR THE BÉARNAISE SAUCE

¼ cup white-wine vinegar or tarragon vinegar

1 shallot, diced

2 tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon

1 teaspoon cracked black peppercorns

3 large egg yolks

1 tablespoon water

1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and kept warm

Sea salt

Ground white pepper

FOR THE HANGER STEAK

12 to 16 ounces hanger steak

1 garlic clove, minced

1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme

1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary

1 teaspoon flaked sea salt

½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

½ teaspoon Espelette pepper or sweet paprika

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1. To make the béarnaise sauce, in a small saucepan over medium heat, bring the vinegar, shallot, tarragon, and cracked peppercorns to a boil and reduce until 1 tablespoon of liquid remains.

2. Place the egg yolks, water, and lemon juice in a blender and purée until well mixed. With the motor running, slowly pour the warm butter through the hole in the lid. The sauce will thicken up. Transfer to a small bowl and season with salt and white pepper to taste. Whisk in the tarragon mixture. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

3. To prepare the hanger steak, place the steak on a baking sheet. Season liberally on both sides with the garlic, thyme, rosemary, salt, black pepper, and Espelette pepper, then drizzle with the olive oil. Let it sit at room temperature for 2 hours.

4. Turn the kitchen fan to high because it is about to get smoky. Heat a large cast iron pan over high heat until extremely hot. Carefully lay the steak in the pan and cook until well browned, turning once, about 3 minutes per side. Finish the steak by cooking to your desired degree of doneness. Medium-rare takes about 9 minutes total. It is important to flip the steak every few minutes to ensure even cooking.

5. Transfer the steak to a cutting board and let it rest 10 minutes. Then, cut it into thick slices and arrange on two plates. Serve the béarnaise sauce on the side.

TIP: Hanger steaks used to be the cut that you could never buy because each cow only has one and the butcher used to keep it for himself. Hangers are as flavorful as rib eyes and almost as tender as tenderloins. Substitute a rib eye steak if you cannot find a hanger steak.

The Art of the Pan Sauce

One of the biggest differences between everyday home cooking and what you may eat in one of Paris’s many restaurants is the appearance of a pan sauce. In its simplest form, it is made by adding a liquid (wine, beer, stock, water) to your roasting pan, skillet, or sauté pan after your steak or roast has cooked and scraping up all the flavorful bits stuck to the bottom of the pan (called deglazing) while you bring it to a boil—essentially you are making a quick fond, or stock. You will, then, reduce the fond to sauce consistency, which means it is thickened to the point that it will coat the back of a wooden spoon.

With basic ingredients found in the typical French pantry, you too can create different sauces to elevate your dinner game. The good news is many of these work with more than one protein. For instance, the mustard and tarragon sauce is my go-to when I roast a chicken, but it is also delicious with pork, steak, and salmon.

Here are a few of my favorite quick pan sauces:

Red Wine, Shallot, and Thyme Sauce (Sauce au Vin Rouge et Échalotes): After you finish cooking a steak, chop, or roast (or leg of lamb), add 1 tablespoon of unsalted butter and 1 or 2 diced shallots to the pan. Deglaze the pan with a glass of red wine, and then add some chopped fresh thyme. Reduce to sauce consistency.

Mustard and Tarragon Sauce (Sauce à la Moutarde à l’Estragon): When you are done roasting a chicken, pour the excess fat out of the pan. Add 1 cup of chicken stock, bring it to a boil, and continue to boil, stirring often, until it reduces to sauce consistency, 3 to 5 minutes. Strain through a fine-mesh strainer into a small saucepan and bring it back to a boil. Stir in 1 tablespoon of Dijon mustard, 1 tablespoon of chopped fresh tarragon, and ¼ cup of heavy cream. Heat through, and then season with salt and pepper to taste.

Creamy Green Peppercorn and Cognac Sauce (Sauce au Poivre Vert): A classic pairing for steak. Deglaze the pan with 1 tablespoon of Cognac over high heat (you may want to do this away from the heat to keep it from flaming up). Continue to cook over high heat, add 1 cup of chicken or beef stock and ¼ cup of heavy cream, and reduce it to sauce consistency. Stir in 1 tablespoon of crushed green peppercorns. This is also great made with bourbon instead of Cognac.

GIGOT D’AGNEAU BOULANGÈRE

ROAST LEG OF LAMB WITH HERBS AND GARLIC

PREP TIME: 15 minutes | COOK TIME: 1 hour | MAKES: 8 servings

This lamb dish hearkens back to the old days when households would bring their roasts to be cooked in the bread baker’s communal oven.

2 onions, thinly sliced

2 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, sliced ½ inch thick

3 fresh rosemary sprigs 3 fresh thyme sprigs

1 (4½- to 5-pound) leg of lamb, shank attached if possible

¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil

5 garlic cloves, mashed

1 tablespoon dried herbes de Provence

1 tablespoon flaked sea salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 cup red wine

1 cup Homemade Chicken Stock

1 tablespoon cornstarch

¼ cup water

¼ cup (½ stick) unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Layer the onions, then the potatoes in a deep roasting pan. Set the rosemary and thyme sprigs on top.

2. Rub the lamb leg with the olive oil and garlic, then sprinkle it with the herbes de Provence, salt, and pepper. Place the lamb in the pan and bake for 20 minutes. Turn the lamb over, pour the wine and stock into the pan, and roast for another 20 minutes. Turn the lamb again and roast until medium-rare (see Tip), about 20 minutes. Transfer the lamb to a warmed platter and surround it with the onions and potatoes.

3. In a small bowl, whisk the cornstarch into the water to make a slurry. Scrape the roasting pan, loosening any browned bits stuck to the bottom. Place a fine-mesh strainer over a small saucepan and strain the liquid from the roasting pan into the saucepan. Bring it to a boil and add just enough of the cornstarch slurry to thicken the sauce, stirring. Finish the sauce by whisking in the butter, 1 tablespoon at a time, and then tasting and adjusting the seasonings.

4. Carve the lamb off the bone into slices at the table and serve it with the sauce on the side.

TIP: Lamb generally needs 10 to 12 minutes per pound to cook to medium-rare, though it is best to check the temperature. For rare, cook until it reaches 115° to 120°F; medium-rare, 120° to 125°F; medium, 130° to 135°F; medium-well, 140° to 145°F; and well-done, 150° to 155°F.

CHOUCROUTE GARNIE

BRAISED SAUERKRAUT WITH PORK AND SAUSAGE

PREP TIME: 10 minutes | COOK TIME: 3 hours on day one; 2 hours on day two | MAKES: 8 servings

My maternal grandparents came from Alsace. Alsace is a region that has shifted between Germany and France many times over the centuries, and its cuisine is a blend between the two cultures.

On Christmas Day, my mother always served a traditional choucroute garnie. In the old days, cabbages were harvested in the late fall, then shredded, salted, and packed into wooden barrels, where they fermented and turned into what is commonly called sauerkraut (choucroute). At about the same time, the farmers would slaughter their pig, conserving the meat in sausages and by salting. Choucroute garnie is the marriage of these fall harvests.

If you have ever ordered choucroute garnie in Paris at Maison d’Alsace or been lucky enough to dine in someone’s home who is from Alsace, you may be surprised by the amount of food served. This is a hearty dish meant to be eaten at lunch and enjoyed over jovial conversation with bottles of off-dry Gewürztraminer.

¼ cup rendered duck, goose, or pork fat or extra-virgin olive oil

1 large onion, finely diced

2 Granny Smith apples, cored, peeled, and shredded

2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped

2 quarts sauerkraut, drained

20 juniper berries, smashed with the flat side of a heavy knife

¼ teaspoon caraway seeds

2 bay leaves

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

2 cups Riesling or Gewürztraminer

1 pound smoked pork belly or slab bacon, cut into 8 pieces

2 smoked ham hocks

2 pounds Polish kielbasa

8 skinless hot dogs

4 weisswurst or bratwurst

8 slices smoked pork loin, about 4 ounces each

2 pounds small Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled

½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Assorted mustards, for serving

1. Preheat the oven to 300°F.

2. Melt the fat in a large Dutch oven or stockpot. Add the onion, apples, and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the sauerkraut, juniper berries, caraway seeds, and bay leaves, then stir in the pepper. Add the wine, pork belly, and ham hocks, cover, and braise in the oven for 3 hours. Refrigerate overnight to allow the flavors to marry together.

3. Preheat the oven at 300°F. Return the Dutch oven to the oven and braise for 1 hour. Thirty minutes before you are ready to eat, bury the sausages and pork loin into the choucroute and cook until they are just hot, about 15 minutes.

4. Meanwhile, place the potatoes in a large saucepan and cover with salted water. Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce the heat to medium-high, and cook until very soft, about 25 minutes. Drain. Add the butter to the pan and melt over low heat. Return the potatoes to the pan and toss until coated with the butter. Toss with the parsley.

5. Arrange the sauerkraut on a large serving platter with the sausages and meats set on top along with the potatoes. Serve with an assortment of mustards.

TIP: To rinse the kraut or not? Most cooks will tell you to wash the brine off the sauerkraut, but I think, unless it is very strong, you need some of that fermented acidity to balance the richness in the dish. It acts as an emulsifier when combined with the rendered belly fat in the pot and will add complexity to the palate. I drain but never rinse my kraut. But do what works best for you!

CASSOULET

CASSOULET

PREP TIME: 8 hours | COOK TIME: 6 hours | MAKES: 8 servings

Cassoulet has been thought to have Moorish roots, though no one is certain. The name comes from cassole, an earthenware dish glazed on the inside. Cassoulet is an easy but time-consuming dish to cook. Look upon it as a delicious culinary project.

People argue about what makes an authentic cassoulet as much as they do about what makes a real bouillabaisse. There are three primary versions of cassoulet in France: Castelnaudary, Carcassonne, and Toulouse. Castelnaudary is the simplest and purest in flavor, made with beans, fresh pork, ham, sausages, and fried pork skins. Carcassonne adds lamb to Castelnaudary’s version and sometimes partridges. Toulouse’s version contributes lamb, bacon, sausage, and goose confit to the mix. After you try mine, feel free to create your own version, adding different meats and sausages to suit your taste.

FOR THE BEANS

1 pound dried white beans or Tarbais beans (see Tip), picked over

1½ pounds pork belly, with skin attached

1 onion, stuck with 10 cloves

3 carrots, cut into large pieces

1 celery rib, cut into 3 pieces

4 garlic cloves, mashed

2 quarts Homemade Chicken Stock

2 tomatoes, diced

FOR THE MEATS

½ cup rendered duck or goose fat or pork lard (see Tip)

1 onion, diced

1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves

1 pound boneless pork shoulder, cut into large pieces

1 pound lamb or pork ribs, cut into individual ribs

4 Duck Confit leg quarters (here), each cut into leg and thigh

1 pound garlic sausage, cut into thick slices

1 cup panko or regular bread crumbs, divided

1. To make the beans, in a large bowl, soak the beans overnight with a generous amount of cold water to cover. Remove the skin from the pork belly and set aside.

2. Drain the beans and place them in a large Dutch oven with the whole onion, carrots, celery, garlic, pork skin, and pork belly. Cover by 2 inches with the stock and bring to a rapid boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer until the beans are tender, 1½ to 2 hours. Place a fine-mesh strainer over a large bowl. Drain the beans, saving the liquid, meat, and vegetables. Place the beans in a bowl and stir in the tomatoes. Dice the vegetables from the beans and add them to the bowl. Cut the pork belly into ¼-inch slices and set aside. Wash and dry the pot.

3. To prepare the meats, heat the duck fat in the Dutch oven until smoking hot over high heat. Add the diced onion and thyme and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, about 5 minutes. Working in batches, brown the pork shoulder and lamb ribs on all sides, about 10 minutes per batch. When everything is browned, return it to the pot, pour in the reserved bean cooking liquid, and bring it to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer for 2 hours. Drain, reserving the meat and cooking liquid.

4. Preheat the oven to 350°F.

5. In the same Dutch oven, lay the pork belly skin-down first. Layer half the beans over the skin. Arrange the duck, pork shoulder, lamb, and sausage over the beans. Top with the remaining beans. Arrange the sliced pork belly on top. Pour in the reserved cooking liquid and bake for 1 hour.

6. Stir the crust that has formed into the top layer of the beans. Sprinkle the top with one third of the panko and bake 20 minutes. Stir the crust into the top layer of the beans, sprinkle with half the remaining panko, and bake another 20 minutes. Repeat the process with the remaining panko and cook for another 20 minutes, this time leaving the crust intact. Serve from the pot, making sure each diner gets some of everything.

TIP: Tarbais beans are preferred for a traditional cassoulet; I order mine online from Rancho Gordo.

HACHIS PARMENTIER

SHEPHERD’S PIE

PREP TIME: 10 minutes | COOK TIME: 1 hour | MAKES: 8 servings

Hachis parmentier, better known as shepherd’s pie (the literal translation is “hash pie”), is one of the great family dishes of France. This comforting classic is absolutely perfect for using leftover cooked beef, pork, or lamb, but you don’t have to wait for leftovers to make it.

2 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1 sweet onion, diced

2 carrots, finely diced

2 garlic cloves, mashed

2 pounds ground beef

½ cup white wine

1 tablespoon tomato paste

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

½ cup whole milk

Pinch ground nutmeg

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

½ cup shredded Gruyère cheese

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly oil a 9-by-13-inch baking dish.

2. Place the potatoes in a large saucepan and cover with salted water. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to medium-high and cook until very soft, about 25 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion, carrots, and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, 5 to 7 minutes. Add the beef and cook until well browned, breaking up any clumps with a wooden spoon, about 5 minutes. Stir in the wine and tomato paste and cook for 2 minutes. Remove from the heat.

4. When the potatoes are cooked, drain and place in a bowl. With a potato masher, food mill, or ricer, mash the potatoes. Mash in the butter and milk and season with the nutmeg and salt and pepper to taste.

5. Spread the meat mixture in the prepared baking dish. Gently spread the potatoes over the meat. Sprinkle with the Gruyère. Bake until bubbly and the top is golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes.

VARIATION: My wife and I once ate this at a small bistro in Paris, prepared with duck confit instead of beef. It was one of those unforgettable moments in life. Since then, I have been recreating the dish at home any chance I get. Hand chop the meat from 4 confitted duck legs and substitute for the ground beef.

7

Les Légumes et les Plats d’accompagnement

SIDES & VEGETABLE DISHES

When you travel to France, you will completely understand the French obsession with vegetables. Vegetables are everywhere, from bistro menus to the open-air markets that brim with every possible color and permutation of vegetable, all arrayed in eye-catching displays.

Vegetables are the stars of a meal; the more time you spend in France, the more you witness this. Each vegetable makes its appearance on the table like an ephemeral piece of art. When it is in season, it must be appreciated in a multitude of ways. While most Americans may have a recipe or two for any given vegetable, the French have dozens.

LES ASPERGES, SAUCE HOLLANDAISE

Asparagus with Hollandaise Sauce

CAROTTES À LA VICHY

Carrots Vichy Style

TOMATES FARCIES

Stuffed Tomatoes

POMMES FRITES

French Fries

PANISSES

Chickpea Fries

POMMES ANNA

Potatoes Anna

GRATIN DAUPHINOIS

Potato Gratin

GRATIN D’ENDIVES AU JAMBON ET À LA BÉCHAMEL

Baked Endive and Ham Gratin

RATATOUILLE

Ratatouille

TIAN PROVENÇAL

Provençal Vegetable Gratin

LES ASPERGES, SAUCE HOLLANDAISE

ASPARAGUS WITH HOLLANDAISE SAUCE

PREP TIME: 5 minutes | COOK TIME: 10 minutes | MAKES: 4 servings

Eating fresh asparagus in the spring is one of life’s great joys. Most of the year, I prefer medium-sized asparagus about the diameter of your finger. In the spring, look for fat, new-season asparagus. All over France, you can find asparagus weighing as much as four ounces per spear. They appear in America as well; look for them in specialty markets, where they are called AAA asparagus.

In France, asparagus is almost always served with eggs in one form or another. Eggs have long symbolized new birth and fertility and were associated with pagan rites of spring. In this case, they make a showing in the form of hollandaise sauce—a snap to put together using my easy blender method.

FOR THE HOLLANDAISE SAUCE

3 large egg yolks

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1 tablespoon water

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and kept warm

Sea salt and ground white pepper

FOR THE ASPARAGUS

1 pound green or white asparagus

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

Sea salt and ground white pepper

1. To make the hollandaise sauce, place the egg yolks, lemon juice, and water in a blender and purée until well mixed. With the motor running, slowly pour the warm butter through the hole in the lid. The sauce will thicken up. Season with salt and white pepper to taste.

2. To prepare the asparagus, bring a large saucepan of salted water to a rapid boil over high heat. Add the asparagus and cook just until tender, 1 to 2 minutes. Drain.

3. Place the butter on a plate and roll the asparagus in it. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve with the hollandaise on the side.

TIP: If the asparagus has woody stems, cut the bottom inch or so off, but don’t throw it away just yet. Cook it very slowly in a half pound of butter until it is infused with asparagus flavor—then you can discard the trim. Use the butter to make an asparagus-flavored Hollandaise or melt it over a piece of grilled fish.

VARIATION: Instead of hollandaise, top the asparagus with a chopped hardboiled egg, or add a sliced of good ham and a green salad to the dish.

CAROTTES À LA VICHY

CARROTS VICHY STYLE

PREP TIME: 5 minutes | COOK TIME: 30 minutes | MAKES: 4 servings

This is a simple way to prepare carrots at home, glazed in butter with a touch of sugar. Vichy references that, traditionally, the carrots would be simmered in the mineralized spring water of Vichy, France. To get a similar flavor, you can add ¼ teaspoon of baking soda to the cooking water. Whatever way you cook them, these carrots are a delicious accompaniment to any dish.

1½ pounds carrots, sliced into ¼-inch rounds

2 cups water

½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

Sea salt and ground white pepper

1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

1. In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, bring the carrots, water, butter, and sugar to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the carrots are tender and most of the liquid has evaporated, 25 to 30 minutes.

2. Season with salt and pepper to taste, toss with the parsley, and serve.

TIP: Look for younger, slender carrots. Their flavor is sweeter and more desirable.

TOMATES FARCIES

STUFFED TOMATOES

PREP TIME: 10 minutes | COOK TIME: 45 minutes | MAKES: 8 servings

One of the most endearing of all Provençal dishes is petits farcies, or stuffed vegetables, also known as lu farçum in the Niçard (Nice) dialect. They can be served hot, cold, or warm. Though best in the summer, when so many great vegetables are available, they can be made any time of year.

Growing up, we ate tomates farcies the most. My mother would serve them with grilled steak, a bowl of rice, or even over pasta.

8 large tomatoes

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 sweet onion, finely diced

3 garlic cloves, mashed

8 ounces ground beef, pork, or lamb

2 slices white bread, torn into small pieces

½ cup milk

1 large egg, beaten

1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil

1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves, chopped

¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F.

2. Cut the tops off the tomatoes and set aside. Carefully scoop out the insides with a spoon, leaving a hollowed-out shell. Chop the tomato innards and set aside.

3. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, heat the olive oil. Add the onion and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the meat and cook, stirring, until browned and fully cooked, about 5 minutes. Stir in the reserved chopped tomato and remove the pan from the heat.

4. In a small bowl, soak the bread in the milk to soften, about 2 minutes. Add the soaked bread to the meat mixture with the egg, basil, parsley, and thyme and mix well. Divide the mixture among the tomatoes, stuffing them carefully to avoid breaking through the skin. Place in a 9-by-13-inch baking pan and sprinkle with the Parmesan.

5. Bake until the stuffing is lightly browned, about 30 minutes. Cover with the tomato tops and bake another 5 minutes.

VARIATIONS: Many French households make tomates farcies with stuffing that uses chopped leftover roast, daube, or rice. I love them with seafood as well, like fresh crabmeat, sautéed shrimp, or flaked cooked halibut.

POMMES FRITES

FRENCH FRIES

PREP TIME: 10 minutes, plus 2 or more hours soaking time | COOK TIME: 10 minutes | MAKES: 4 servings

Is there anyone who does not love French fries? In Paris, there are many “fast-food” restaurants that specialize in fries and serve frites with practically every dish: steak frites, merguez frites, lamb chop frites, mussel frites, etc.

Making perfect French fries at home is not hard; there are just a few important steps to follow to get your fries super crunchy on the outside with a good cooked-potato texture and flavor on the inside. The first step is to be sure to use russet (baking) potatoes, not waxy potatoes. Follow these recipe steps for perfect fries every time.

1 pound russet potatoes

2 quarts vegetable or peanut oil

Sea salt

1. Peel the potatoes and put them in a bowl of cold water to keep them from turning brown. Cut the potatoes lengthwise into ⅜ -inch-thick slices (if you have a mandoline, use it). Cut the slices into fry shapes. Soak them in cold water for 2 hours or overnight. The longer the potatoes sit in water, the more starch that will come out of them, and the crispier your French fries will be.

2. In a large, heavy saucepan, Dutch oven, or deep fryer, heat the oil to 300°F.

3. Drain and completely dry the fries (see Tip). Working in batches, drop them into the hot oil and cook until a crust forms on the exterior, about 5 minutes. The fries will still be the same color at this point. Using a slotted spoon or spider strainer (see Tip), transfer the fries to paper towels to drain.

4. Once all the potatoes have been fried, increase the temperature of the oil to 375°F. Again, working in batches, cook the fries until golden brown and crispy, 2 to 3 minutes. As you remove them from the oil, carefully shake to drain off excess oil. Then, transfer the fries to a warm serving dish, toss generously with salt, and serve.

TIP: There is nothing more dangerous than putting something very wet into hot oil. Make sure you dry the potatoes thoroughly before adding them to the oil. When you’re finished frying, let the oil cool to room temperature. Then, you can pour it through a fine-mesh strainer and save for future frying. I label my fry oil so I do not mistakenly use it for a salad dressing or some other dish.

The Origins of the Fried Potato

Pommes frites are universally loved for their golden crispy goodness. Many people theorize where they originated from, and three countries have laid claim to inventing them. The French maintain that they have been frying potatoes near Paris’s oldest standing bridge, Pont Neuf, since the late 1780s. Belgium claims they invented fried potatoes in the 1600s, when their main source of nourishment, fish, was frozen under a sheet of ice and impossible to catch. Not to be outdone by either of their adversaries to the north, Spain—whose love for frying foods is world renowned—says they were frying potatoes on the boats coming back from the New World, where potatoes were discovered. French fries arrived in the United States with America’s first foodie, Thomas Jefferson, though they remained largely a curiosity until the late 1880s.

Whatever history you care to believe, everyone agrees they are delicious and can be enjoyed on their own or with some kind of sauce. The French love to dip them in the béarnaise sauce that accompanies steak frites; Belgians dip them in mayonnaise; and, in America, we love them with ketchup.

PANISSES

CHICKPEA FRIES

PREP TIME: 2 minutes, plus overnight to set | COOK TIME: 20 minutes | MAKES: 8 servings

Panisses, or chickpea fries, are a staple of Southern France. They are made from a thick porridge of chickpea flour and water that is poured into an oiled pan and left to cool and set overnight. The following day, the mixture is cut into thick, finger-sized shapes and deep fried. Scented with cumin, they are delicious! If you can’t find chickpea flour in your supermarket, it is available online and in Indian food stores (sold as besan).

2 cups chickpea flour

3¾ cups water

2 teaspoons ground cumin

2 teaspoons dried herbes de Provence

1 teaspoon Espelette pepper or sweet paprika

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

2 quarts vegetable oil

½ cup finely grated Parmesan cheese

1. In a blender, combine the chickpea flour, water, cumin, herbes de Provence, Espelette pepper, and salt and black pepper to taste. Pulse until it is smooth and thoroughly mixed together.

2. Pour the batter into a Dutch oven or stockpot and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until it is thick and bubbling, about 15 minutes. It will thicken considerably as it cooks and start sputtering; be careful.

3. Coat the bottom and sides of a 9-by-13-inch baking pan and the outer bottom on another 9-by-13-inch baking pan (set aside upside down) with the olive oil. Pour the chickpea mixture into one of them, spreading it evenly. Set the second pan, oiled-side down, on top of the chickpea mixture to weigh it down. Let firm up overnight in the refrigerator.

4. The next day, flip the panisses onto a cutting board and cut them into 3-by-½-by-½-inch fries.

5. In a large heavy saucepan, Dutch oven, or deep fryer, heat the vegetable oil to 350°F. Working in batches, deep fry the panisses until golden brown, about 5 minutes. Using a slotted spoon or spider strainer (see Tip), transfer to paper towels to drain. Toss with the Parmesan and serve.

TIP: Panisses are the perfect snack food and are frequently served with a dipping sauce like Rouille (here) or Aïoli (here) spiked with harissa. They make a great accompaniment to roast chicken, lamb, beef, and seafood—basically everything!

POMMES ANNA

POTATOES ANNA

PREP TIME: 10 to 15 minutes | COOK TIME: 40 minutes | MAKES: 6 servings

This is a classic French dish of sliced potatoes layered in a pan with butter (lots of butter), browned on the stovetop, and finished in a hot oven until crispy. On my first job as a cook, I had to make 200 servings of Pommes Anna every single night, six days a week, for six months. I still adore Anna potatoes, which tells you how good they are!

¼ cup (½ stick) unsalted butter or rendered duck fat

6 or 7 medium Yukon Gold potatoes (about 2 pounds total), peeled

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme

1. Preheat the oven to 450°F. Generously grease a 10-inch ovenproof nonstick skillet with the butter.

2. Slice the potatoes 1/16 inches thick (if you have a mandoline, use it). Layer the potato slices in a circle in the prepared pan, overlapping them slightly. Every few layers, stop and season with salt, pepper, and some of the thyme.

3. Heat the pan over medium heat until the edges start to turn golden brown.

4. Transfer the pan to the oven and bake for 15 minutes.

5. Use a spatula to hold the potatoes firmly in place as you pour off all of the excess fat. Using a large metal spatula, flip the potatoes over like large pancakes and cook until they are tender, about another 15 minutes. The top should be golden brown, and you should be able to pierce the potatoes easily with a sharp knife.

6. Cut into six wedges and serve.

TIP: For this recipe, do not soak the potato slices in water; they need their starch to stick together. You can prepare this dish several hours in advance, then reheat in a 350°F oven.

VARIATIONS: When you have layered half the potatoes, stop and cover them with a layer of thinly sliced Fontina or Gruyère cheese, then continue with the potatoes. Sometimes, I like to add slow-cooked leeks or even black truffle slices.

GRATIN DAUPHINOIS

POTATO GRATIN

PREP TIME: 15 minutes | COOK TIME: 1½ hours | MAKES: 8 servings

This simple potato dish will capture the heart of everyone you serve it to. The best part is that you can make it a few hours in advance, then gently reheat at the last moment. I love its subtle flavors of nutmeg and thyme. The creamy, cheesy layers partner perfectly with roasted birds and meats.

5 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature, divided

4 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled

1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves

1 tablespoon flaked sea salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

4 ounces Parmesan cheese, grated, divided

2 cups heavy cream

1. Preheat the oven to 300°F. Generously grease a 9-by-13-inch baking pan with 2 tablespoons of butter.

2. Slice the potatoes 1/16 inches thick (if you have a mandoline, use it). Arrange two overlapping layers of potato slices in the prepared pan. Sprinkle them with some of the thyme, salt, pepper, nutmeg, and Parmesan, reserving at least 2 ounces of the cheese for the top. Continue to layer the potatoes, stopping every two layers to sprinkle with more of the thyme, salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Pour the cream over the top layer, then sprinkle it with the remaining cheese. Dot with the remaining 3 tablespoons butter.

3. Bake until the gratin is hot and bubbly and a knife easily pierces through all the layers, 60 to 75 minutes.

TIP: If you want to get a bit fancy, make this the day before and refrigerate it. Then use a cookie or biscuit cutter to cut out individual rounds and microwave them to heat through before serving.

GRATIN D’ENDIVES AU JAMBON ET À LA BÉCHAMEL

BAKED ENDIVE AND HAM GRATIN

PREP TIME: 5 minutes | COOK TIME: 1½ hours | MAKES: 6 servings

Sometimes, you rediscover a childhood favorite completely by accident. One day, I was sitting in my dining room, thinking about what I wanted to cook. I grabbed an old cookbook I hadn’t looked at in a long while. I stopped on one recipe—endive and ham gratin—and I was instantly transported back to our old kitchen painted in a beautiful ochre hue with hand-painted blue tiles covering the floor. I was flooded with vivid memories of my mother loudly singing along with a Georges Brassens song while making this dish and the wonderful smells of the gratin crisping in the oven.

Endive and ham gratin is the macaroni and cheese of French kids. I recently made this for my finicky nine-year-old son. At first, he was skeptical, cautiously tasting the smallest spoonful. I left the table momentarily and returned to catch him sneaking a big spoonful of the crispy, baked-on bits stuck to the sides of the gratin dish.

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

6 Belgian endives

1 teaspoon sugar

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

6 slices boiled ham

1 recipe Béchamel Sauce (here)

¼ cup shredded Gruyère cheese

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Generously grease a 5-by-9-inch gratin dish with the butter.

2. Trim ¼ inch off the bottoms of the endives and remove any discolored outer leaves. Arrange the endives in the prepared dish in a single layer. Sprinkle with the sugar and season with salt and pepper to taste. Cover with foil and bake for 1 hour.

3. Wrap each endive in 1 slice of the ham and place it back in the dish. Top with the béchamel and sprinkle with the Gruyère. Bake until it is hot and bubbling, about 30 minutes.

TIP: Endive is the perfect winter vegetable because it prefers to grow in the dark rather than bright light. When exposed to light, the leaves turn from snowy white to yellow and, finally, green. Color is a good way to judge how long the endives have been sitting in your grocery store’s produce section. Also, the longer it is exposed to light, the more bitter it gets.

VARIATION: Gruyère is the classic cheese for this gratin, but it’s also excellent with a white cheddar like Tillamook extra-sharp.

RATATOUILLE

RATATOUILLE

PREP TIME: 10 minutes | COOK TIME: 1 hour | MAKES: 4 servings

I have made ratatouille in a variety of ways over the years, but now I have settled on this method. In my chef days, I’d dice each vegetable into microscopic pieces and sauté them separately, combining them only in the end. Visually and texturally, each micro piece was its own entity. It photographed well. I thought I was at the height of my game as a professional chef. But my Provençal mother complained that it was not as good as hers. I insisted I knew better—until one day, she made me a ratatouille the way she learned at home in France. One bite, and I realized that mother knows best.

Ratatouille goes well with whatever you are serving, from roast chicken to grilled lamb chops to a simple piece of fish. Feel free to add ingredients like green beans or even potatoes and olives.

2 Japanese eggplants, diced

½ cup extra-virgin olive oil

1 sweet onion, diced

2 green bell peppers, seeded and diced

3 thin zucchini, diced

4 tomatoes, skinned and diced

4 garlic cloves, mashed

1 cup fresh basil leaves, chopped

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Submerge the diced eggplant in ice cold water and let it sit for 10 minutes to remove any bitterness.

2. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook the onion and bell peppers over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until soft and translucent, about 10 minutes.

3. Drain the eggplant well and add it to the skillet. Cook, stirring occasionally, for another 10 to 15 minutes. The eggplant won’t be fully cooked but will be on its way.

4. Add the zucchini, tomatoes, and garlic. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the eggplant and zucchini are tender, about 30 minutes.

5. Stir in the basil, season with salt and pepper to taste, and cook 5 minutes to blend the flavors.

TIP: Many cooks will claim that salting an eggplant will remove its bitterness, but I learned from a Japanese friend that soaking it in cold water works better. Sometimes, I like to burn the skins off the bell peppers to introduce a smoky flavor to the ratatouille; you can do this on a grill or gas stove.

TIAN PROVENÇAL

PROVENÇAL VEGETABLE GRATIN

PREP TIME: 15 minutes | COOK TIME: 45 minutes | MAKES: 8 servings

Many of us have watched the movie, Ratatouille, and believed the dish they served was ratatouille; in reality, it was a tian. The word, tian, confusingly has two meanings: it is both an earthenware dish and whatever you are preparing inside of your tian. Every French person I know has their family favorites. In my family, it oscillated between a Swiss chard tian and this layered vegetable tian. A super colorful dish, it will be the star of any meal. It’s a perfect accompaniment to roast chicken or leg of lamb or on its own with a big green salad.

¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil

2 sweet onions, thinly sliced

2 bell peppers, seeded and thinly sliced

3 garlic cloves, mashed

10 fresh basil leaves, roughly chopped

1 teaspoon dried herbes de Provence

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 pound thin zucchini, cut into ¼-inch-thick rounds

1 pound Japanese eggplant, cut into ¼-inch-thick rounds

1 pound plum tomatoes, cut into ¼-inch-thick slices

¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F.

2. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over high heat. Add the onions, bell peppers, and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 10 minutes. Stir in the basil and cook for 3 minutes. Stir in the herbes de Provence and season with salt and pepper to taste. Spread one quarter of the mixture in a 9-by-13-inch baking pan.

3. Bring a large saucepan of salted water to a boil. Blanch the zucchini for 30 seconds; use a slotted spoon or spider drainer (see Tip) to remove them from the water, and then blanch the eggplant for 30 seconds.

4. Arrange the slices of zucchini, eggplant, and tomatoes in alternating layers over the onions and peppers, with the slices overlapping. Continue making layers until all the vegetables are used up. Sprinkle with the Parmesan and bake until the vegetables are tender, about 30 minutes.

TIP: I am very picky about selecting vegetables at the farmers’ market. For my zucchini, I am on the lookout for long, thin ones, as opposed to the baseball bat–size ones. The thin ones are far more delicate and tender with fewer seeds than the larger ones. I choose thin eggplants for the same reason.

8

Les Desserts

DESSERTS

French people never consider a meal complete without ending it on a sweet note. In most Parisian homes, you will likely find the classics being served to you at the conclusion of a meal: crème brûlée, lemon tart, or maybe even a simple chocolate mousse. French home cooks have a wide repertoire of desserts to draw from. These ten desserts will give you a good foundation to build upon.

Some people believe that making French desserts at home is too complicated or time-consuming and, therefore, should not be done. These recipes will dispel that notion and quickly transform you into a confident pastry cook. In a few cases, I have provided shortcuts for making these same great desserts even quicker.

BEIGNETS AUX POMMES

Apple Beignets

PÊCHE MELBA

Peach Melba

TARTE TATIN

French-Style Apple Tart

TARTE AU CITRON

Lemon Tart

TARTE BOURDELOUE

French-Style Pear Tart

PROFITEROLES AU CHOCOLAT

Cream Puffs with Vanilla Ice Cream and Chocolate Sauce

CLAFOUTIS AUX MYRTILLES

Blueberry Clafoutis

CRÈME BRÛLÉE

Crème Brûlée

POTS DE CRÈME AU CHOCOLAT

Chocolate Pots de Crème

MOUSSE AU CHOCOLAT

Chocolate Mousse

BEIGNETS AUX POMMES

APPLE BEIGNETS

PREP TIME: 15 minutes, plus 2 or more hours to marinate and 30 minutes to rest | COOK TIME: 15 minutes | MAKES: 4 servings

French home cooks are wonderful at capitalizing on the seasons for all their dishes. Desserts like this one start to appear in the fall, when the harvest starts.

2 apples, cored, peeled, and cut into ½-inch-thick slices

1 cup Calvados brandy or applejack

1 cup plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar, divided

1½ cups all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon sea salt

2 large eggs, separated

1 cup sparkling cider or beer

¼ cup plus 2 quarts vegetable oil, divided

1 cup confectioners’ sugar, for topping

1 pint caramel ice cream, for serving

1. In a large bowl, toss the apples, Calvados, and 1 cup of granulated sugar together until well coated. Cover and let marinate in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours or overnight.

2. About half an hour before you make the beignets, in another large bowl, combine the flour, salt, and remaining 1 tablespoon granulated sugar. In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, cider, and ¼ cup of oil. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and whisk until smooth. Wash out the other bowl and dry well. Add the egg whites to a clean bowl and, with an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat to medium peaks. Fold the whites into the batter until no streaks of white remain. Let it rest for 30 minutes at room temperature.

3. In a large, heavy saucepan, Dutch oven, or deep fryer, heat the remaining 2 quarts oil to 300°F.

4. Drain the apples and reserve their marinade (see Tip). Dip the apples in the batter, coating them fully. Fry them in batches until golden brown, about 5 minutes, flipping the slices to brown evenly. Using a slotted spoon or spider drainer, transfer them to paper towels to drain.

5. Divide the slices between 4 plates. Dust them with the confectioners’ sugar and top them with a scoop of caramel ice cream. Serve immediately.

TIP: Save the leftover marinade to make a quick pan sauce for pork. After cooking the pork, deglaze the pan with the marinade, add some heavy cream, and reduce to sauce consistency.

PÊCHE MELBA

PEACH MELBA

PREP TIME: 5 minutes | COOK TIME: 2 minutes | MAKES: 4 servings

Peach Melba was invented by France’s most well-known chef, Auguste Escoffier, for the Australian opera star, Nellie Melba, in 1892. Peach Melba is the perfect dessert because of its simplicity—ripe peaches served over vanilla ice cream in a deep red pool of fresh raspberry sauce.

2 ripe peaches

1 tablespoon plus ½ cup confectioners’ sugar, divided

2 cups raspberries

4 scoops vanilla bean ice cream

1. Fill a large bowl ⅔ full with ice water. Bring a small saucepan of water to a boil. Carefully drop the peaches into the boiling water and blanch for 1 minute. Remove them with a slotted spoon and place them into the ice water to cool quickly. Using a small paring knife, slip off and discard the peach skins. Cut the peaches in half and discard the pit. Place the peaches in a medium bowl and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon of confectioners’ sugar. Set aside.

2. In a blender, combine the raspberries and the remaining ½ cup confectioners’ sugar and purée until smooth. Place a fine-mesh strainer over a bowl and strain the purée into the bowl to remove the seeds.

3. Make a pool of raspberry sauce in the center of 4 dessert plates. Top each with a scoop of ice cream and a peach half.

TIP: This dish can be made even quicker by using high quality canned peach halves.

The Cheese Course

In Brillat-Savarin’s book, The Physiology of Taste, he boldly states: “A dessert without cheese is like a beautiful woman who has lost an eye.” To the non-French, this aphorism may sound a bit extreme, but, to the French, it points to the importance of cheese.

French president Charles de Gaulle once remarked, “How can anyone govern a nation that has 246 different kinds of cheese?” It is a great question, but he was off in his assessment of how many cheeses France has. There are literally hundreds more.

Like anything French, there are several unspoken rules to abide by when putting together a cheese board at home.

QUANTITY AND VARIETY

I recommend serving at least three different cheeses—though I have served many memorable meals featuring just one exceptional cheese, like a ripe Vacherin or a perfect runny farmhouse Brie. I generally choose a soft cheese, a firm cheese, and a funky cheese, but I sometimes opt for a goat cheese, a cow’s milk cheese, and a sheep’s milk cheese, each representing different textures and styles.

For soft cheeses, I like to pick a Camembert, Brie, Saint Marcellin, or goat cheese. For the firmer cheeses, I love the great mountain cheeses like Cantal, Comté, Beaufort, Brebis, or even a Cheddar like Mimolette. For the funkier cheeses, I tend to think more in terms of blue-veined cheeses, such as Roquefort or Fourme d’Ambert, or maybe a stinky cow cheese like a fully ripe Munster, Epoisses, or Vacherin (Mont d’Or).

HOW TO SERVE

Cheese should always be served at room temperature. This is especially important for soft, runny cheeses, which should be served oozing all over the place. The temperature is important because cold blunts flavor. As the cheese warms up, its flavors bloom.

You should start with the mildest cheese and work your way up to the strongest. If you do it the other way around, the stronger cheeses will coat your mouth and completely overpower the flavors of the milder cheeses.

Use a wooden cutting board to serve the cheeses. Not only is it more attractive, but cheese is also a living thing, and organic, natural surfaces are always preferable.

WHAT TO DRINK

I generally prefer to serve a higher acid white wine with a cheese course. The high acid and rich fat form a wonderful contrast (see Matching Food and Wine). If you prefer red wine, Bordeaux and Burgundy are excellent choices. Try a strong-flavored, somewhat salty Roquefort with a glass of Sauternes or Port for a great match.

ACCOMPANIMENTS

In general, a cheese course is best served just with bread to heighten the appreciation of the cheese. But as with all things, there are exceptions. I once had a red pepper compote served with goat cheeses at a friend’s home in Provence that was superlative (see my version below). Another time in Paris, I was served a mountain cheese with a small ramekin filled with raisins that had been soaked in Cognac for a few weeks. The combination was a delight. Fig jam with goat cheese and cherry jam with an aged sheep cheese are wonderful pairings. Some people like to include fresh fruit like apples, pears, and grapes; I do that when the cheese course is serving more as a nosh than a course in a multi-course meal.

POIVRONADE

ROAST PEPPER RELISH

PREP TIME: 15 minutes | COOK TIME: 5 minutes | MAKES: 4 servings

2 red bell peppers

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

½ sweet onion, minced

1 garlic clove, mashed

½ teaspoon apple cider vinegar

4 fresh basil leaves

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Place the bell peppers directly over a gas burner or under a broiler, turning occasionally, until the skins are blackened. Wipe away the charred skin. Seed and finely dice the peppers.

2. Heat the olive oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add the broiled bell peppers, onion, and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 minutes.

3. Transfer to a food processor along with the vinegar and basil. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Pulse to the consistency you prefer. (I like it a little chunky.)

4. Serve in a small bowl alongside the cheese. Store it in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

TARTE TATIN

FRENCH-STYLE APPLE TART

PREP TIME: 10 minutes, plus 1 or more hours to rest | COOK TIME: 45 minutes | MAKES: 6 to 8 servings

In the late 1800s, Caroline and Stéphanie Tatin took over the family hotel after their father, Jean, passed away. Caroline managed the books while Stéphanie cooked. Her specialty was an apple tart, served perfectly crusty and caramelized, that reputedly melted in the mouth.

Hotel Tatin was always busy during the hunting season. One day, Stéphanie was running late because she had been flirting with a handsome hunter. She rushed into the kitchen; threw the apples, butter, and sugar in a pan; and then rushed out to help with the other duties. The strong odor of caramel filled the kitchen, and Stéphanie realized she’d forgotten about the apples. She decided to put the dough over the top of the apples and pop the pan into the oven to cook.

Raves for the new dessert reached Paris, where Curnonsky, the famous gastronome and writer, heard about it and declared the tarte a marvel. Making it at home is easy. Try preparing it with other fruits like pears, pineapples, or plums. It’s delicious topped with vanilla ice cream or sweetened whipped cream.

FOR THE DOUGH

2⅓ cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

¾ teaspoon sea salt

1 cup (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cubed

¼ to ½ cup ice water, as needed

FOR THE APPLES

¼ cup (½ stick) unsalted butter

¾ cup granulated sugar

8 Granny Smith apples, cored, peeled, and cut into ⅛-inch slices

Zest of 1 orange

Pinch ground cinnamon

Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting

1. To make the dough, in a food processor, pulse the flour, baking powder, and salt together. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture looks like coarse cornmeal. With the motor running, add just enough ice water through the feed tube so that the dough forms into a loose ball. Gather the dough into a ball and cover it with plastic wrap. Let it rest for 1 hour or overnight in the refrigerator.

2. Preheat the oven to 500°F.

3. To prepare the apples, in a large, heavy ovenproof skillet over medium heat, melt the butter until foamy. Add the granulated sugar and cook, stirring occasionally, until it starts to caramelize and turn light brown, about 5 minutes. Stir in the apples, orange zest, and cinnamon until the apples are well coated. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the apples start to brown, about 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and arrange the apple slices in circles in a 10-inch round nonstick pan.

4. On a floured work surface with a floured pin, roll the dough out to a 12-inch circle. Top the apples with the dough, tucking the edges in around the side of the pan. Bake until the crust is golden brown, 10 to 15 minutes.

5. Let it cool for 20 to 30 minutes. Flip the tarte over onto a serving plate, dust with confectioners’ sugar, and serve immediately.

TIP: Be careful not to overmix the dough, or else the crust will be tough. Gluten acts like a muscle—the more you work it, the harder it gets. Similarly, when you let the dough rest, it will become softer.

TARTE AU CITRON

LEMON TART

PREP TIME: 20 minutes, plus 2 or more hours to rest | COOK TIME: 45 minutes | MAKES: 1 (9-inch) tart; 8 servings

This is a simple home version of a Parisian restaurant classic. The lemon flavor is very refreshing, especially after a rich meal.

FOR THE DOUGH

½ cup confectioners’ sugar

¼ cup (½ stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 large egg yolks

1¼ cups all-purpose flour

FOR THE FILLING

3 large eggs

3 large egg yolks

⅔ cup granulated sugar

½ cup fresh lemon juice (from about 3 lemons)

Zest of 2 lemons

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Pinch sea salt

1. To make the dough, in a food processor, combine the confectioners’ sugar, butter, and vanilla extract and process until well mixed. Add the egg yolks and process until blended. Add the flour and pulse several times. Do not worry if the dough does not form a ball. Press the dough together and cover it with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours or, even better, overnight.

2. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the dough to an 11-inch circle about ⅛ inch thick. Wrap the dough around the rolling pin and unwind it over a 9-inch tart pan. Press the dough deep down into the corners, letting ¼ inch hang over the edges. Crimp the edges tightly, and then let the dough relax for 30 minutes in the refrigerator.

3. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Bake the tart shell until very lightly browned, about 10 minutes.

4. To make the filling, in a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, yolks, granulated sugar, lemon juice and zest, butter, and salt until smooth. Pour the filling into the pre-baked tart shell and bake until just set, 30 to 35 minutes. Let the tart cool to room temperature before slicing.

TIP: Consider serving this with the raspberry sauce from my Peach Melba, whipped cream, or confectioners’ sugar sprinkled over the top.

TARTE BOURDELOUE

FRENCH-STYLE PEAR TART

PREP TIME: 5 minutes | COOK TIME: 30 minutes | MAKES: 4 servings

This is one of my favorite desserts, and you will find it in pâtisseries all over Paris in various forms. The original was created at La Pâtisserie Bourdeloue by Paul Coquelin in the early 1900s. It is made with the same dough as my Tarte Tatin and the same almond filling used in my Bostock. Traditionally, the pears are poached in a plain sugar syrup; I use red wine instead of water because I like the color and flavor it brings.

2 cups granulated sugar

2 cups red wine

1 vanilla bean, split in half lengthwise

1 cinnamon stick

2 Bosc pears, peeled, halved, and cored

1 recipe dough from Tarte Tatin, rolled into a 9½-inch square and cut into 4 (4½-inch-diameter) circles

1 large egg yolk

1 teaspoon water

1 recipe frangipane from Bostock

1. In a large skillet over high heat, bring the sugar, wine, vanilla bean, and cinnamon stick to a rapid boil. Add the pears, reduce the heat to low, and simmer, turning the pears frequently, until tender when tested with a sharp knife, about 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool in the syrup for about 45 minutes.

2. Preheat the oven to 425°F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or sheet of parchment paper. Place the Tarte Tatin circles on the prepared baking sheet.

3. In a small bowl, beat together the egg yolk and water. Brush the egg wash lightly over the dough. Spread 2 tablespoons of frangipane in the center of each circle. Lay a pear half over the frangipane, then bake until golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.

TIP: You can also serve the red wine–poached pears on their own with a touch of the syrup and maybe a dollop of vanilla ice cream.

PROFITEROLES AU CHOCOLAT

CREAM PUFFS WITH VANILLA ICE CREAM AND CHOCOLATE SAUCE

PREP TIME: 5 minutes | COOK TIME: 50 minutes | MAKES: 4 servings

Profiteroles are the perfect home dessert and guaranteed to please everyone, from small children to adults. I remember watching with bated breath as my mother slowly poured the hot chocolate sauce over the ice cream–filled cream puffs. Try filling them with a variety of different ice cream flavors.

1½ cups water

1 cup heavy cream

8 ounces bittersweet chocolate chips

½ cup granulated sugar

1 recipe Gougères, made without Gruyère cheese (here)

1 quart vanilla ice cream, slightly softened

1. In a medium saucepan, combine the water, cream, chocolate chips, and sugar and bring to a boil over medium heat, whisking constantly. Reduce the heat to low and simmer until it develops a sauce-like consistency, 5 to 7 minutes. Keep warm.

2. Cut the Gougères in half. Fill the bottom half with a spoonful of ice cream, then press the other half on top. Arrange them in a pyramid shape on a large serving platter. Drizzle with the warm chocolate sauce at the table and serve.

TIP: You can find premade profiteroles online and in some supermarkets. Keeping a box on hand will guarantee that you can make this dessert anytime you crave it. If you want to get ahead on prepping it, pre-scoop the ice cream and place on a parchment paper–lined baking sheet in the freezer until needed.

CLAFOUTIS AUX MYRTILLES

BLUEBERRY CLAFOUTIS

PREP TIME: 5 minutes | COOK TIME: 45 to 60 minutes | MAKES: 8 servings

I like to think of clafoutis as a French home cook’s cobbler. It is a quick and easy dessert that you can make with almost any fruit. It is the perfect dessert to make for last-minute dinner parties.

1 tablespoon unsalted butter, at room temperature

4 large eggs

1¼ cups whole milk

¾ cup all-purpose flour

⅔ cup granulated sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

2 cups fresh blueberries

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter a 9-by-12-inch oval gratin dish.

2. In a blender, combine the eggs, milk, flour, sugar, and vanilla extract and purée until smooth. Pour the batter into the prepared baking dish. Sprinkle the blueberries evenly over the top.

3. Bake until puffed and golden brown, 45 to 60 minutes. Serve immediately.

TIP: This dessert is also delicious made with pitted cherries, raspberries, or sliced fresh strawberries. Like a good cobbler, it is wonderful served with whipped cream or ice cream.

CRÈME BRÛLÉE

CRÈME BRÛLÉE

PREP TIME: 5 minutes, plus overnight to chill | COOK TIME: 45 minutes | MAKES: 6 servings

Crème brûlée is truly one of the world’s great desserts, with both England and France claiming to have invented it. The beauty of crème brûlée is that it is perceived as a fancy dessert, yet it is easy to make at home. You will need 6 (8-ounce) ramekins for this recipe.

1 quart heavy cream

1 cup granulated sugar, divided

6 large egg yolks

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Pinch sea salt

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F. Line a roasting pan with 1 section of a newspaper (the newspaper will not affect the flavor and acts as a heat diffuser to help the crème brûlée cook more gently). Place 6 (8-ounce) ramekins in the pan.

2. In a medium saucepan, bring the cream to a rapid boil over high heat, then immediately remove from the heat.

3. In a large bowl, whisk together ½ cup of sugar, the egg yolks, vanilla extract, and salt until well blended and smooth. Slowly add the hot cream to the egg mixture, whisking constantly, then pour the mixture through a fine-mesh strainer set over a large heatproof measuring cup. Divide the mixture between the prepared ramekins.

4. Fill the roasting pan with hot water so that it comes about halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Bake until the centers are set but still jiggly, about 45 minutes.

5. Carefully remove the roasting pan from the oven. Lift each ramekin out of the water and refrigerate them for a few hours or overnight. As the crème brûlées cool, they will get firmer.

6. When ready to serve, sprinkle the tops evenly with the remaining ½ cup sugar. Using a propane torch (see Note) held at a 45-degree angle, heat the sugar until it starts to brown and melt. Serve immediately.

TIP: Some people may tell you to cook crème brûlée in shallow containers. Resist this urge. The beauty of this dessert is the contrast of the burnt sugar topping and cold, creamy center. A shallow baking dish makes that nearly impossible to achieve.

NOTE: Propane torches are less than $20 and a great addition to any kitchen. They are widely available in hardware and big box stores. If you don’t have a torch, you can place the ramekins on a baking sheet and slide them under the broiler—but be sure to watch and rotate them. This method is less desirable because it can warm the custard too much.

POTS DE CRÈME AU CHOCOLAT

CHOCOLATE POTS DE CRÈME

PREP TIME: 5 minutes | COOK TIME: 10 minutes | MAKES: 6 servings

Where chocolate mousse is light and airy, chocolate pot de crème is dense and rich, almost pudding-like. In France, there are special little porcelain pots made to serve these, but I like to use whatever I have on hand, including colorful porcelain coffee cups. This dessert is delicious served with fresh raspberries or a shortbread cookie and whipped cream. You’ll need 6 (8-ounce) ramekins for this recipe.

1⅓ cups semisweet chocolate chips

2 cups heavy cream

¼ cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

6 large egg yolks

1. Place the chocolate chips in a medium heatproof bowl.

2. In a small saucepan over medium-high heat, bring the cream and sugar to a rapid boil. Remove the hot cream from the heat and pour it over the chocolate. Add the vanilla extract and whisk until smooth.

3. Place the egg yolks in a medium saucepan. Slowly whisk in the chocolate mixture until blended. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens and is heated through, about 5 minutes.

4. Pour into 6 (8-ounce) ramekins, cover, and chill overnight.

VARIATION: This is another dessert that is open to variations. Sometimes, I like to add 1 teaspoon of instant espresso powder to the hot cream or toasted hazelnuts right before pouring it into the ramekins to give a contrasting texture.

MOUSSE AU CHOCOLAT

CHOCOLATE MOUSSE

PREP TIME: 10 minutes, plus 2 or more hours to chill | COOK TIME: 3 minutes | MAKES: 6 servings

You will find chocolate mousse served in every home, café, and bistro in Paris. It is the most quintessential dessert of them all. It is wonderful served in a glass cup with whipped cream and a shortbread cookie to contrast the creamy texture.

8 ounces bittersweet chocolate

½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut into tablespoons

2 large egg yolks

4 large egg whites

1 tablespoon plus ¼ cup granulated sugar

½ cup heavy cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. In the top of a double boiler over simmering water, melt the chocolate, stirring until smooth. Remove it from the heat and whisk in the butter. Whisk in the yolks until well blended. Set aside.

2. In a medium bowl, using an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat the egg whites until they begin to form medium peaks. Add 1 tablespoon of sugar and beat 30 seconds longer. Gently fold the egg whites into the chocolate mixture just until no white streaks remain.

3. Wash and dry the bowl and beaters. Add the cream and remaining ¼ cup sugar and beat at medium-high speed until medium peaks form. Mix in the vanilla extract, then fold into the chocolate mixture until no white streaks remain.

4. Divide the mousse between 6 serving dishes. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or up to 2 days.

TIP: Make sure to use high-quality chocolate. My barometer for quality is that it is a chocolate I would eat on its own.

MEASUREMENT CONVERSIONS

VOLUME EQUIVALENTS (LIQUID)

US STANDARD

US STANDARD

(OUNCES)

METRIC

(APPROXIMATE)

2 tablespoons

1 fl. oz.

30 mL

¼ cup

2 fl. oz.

60 mL

½ cup

4 fl. oz.

120 mL

1 cup

8 fl. oz.

240 mL

1½ cups

12 fl. oz.

355 mL

2 cups or 1 pint

16 fl. oz.

475 mL

4 cups or 1 quart

32 fl. oz.

1 L

1 gallon

128 fl. oz.

4 L

VOLUME EQUIVALENTS (DRY)

US STANDARD

METRIC (APPROXIMATE)

⅛ teaspoon

0.5 mL

¼ teaspoon

1 mL

½ teaspoon

2 mL

¾ teaspoon

4 mL

1 teaspoon

5 mL

1 tablespoon

15 mL

¼ cup

59 mL

⅓ cup

79 mL

½ cup

118 mL

⅔ cup

156 mL

¾ cup

177 mL

1 cup

235 mL

2 cups or 1 pint

475 mL

3 cups

700 mL

4 cups or 1 quart

1 L

OVEN TEMPERATURES

FAHRENHEIT (F)

CELSIUS (C)

(APPROXIMATE)

250°F

120°C

300°F

150°C

325°F

165°C

350°F

180°C

375°F

190°C

400°F

200°C

425°F

220°C

450°F

230°C

WEIGHT EQUIVALENTS

US STANDARD

METRIC

(APPROXIMATE)

½ ounce

15 g

1 ounce

30 g

2 ounces

60 g

4 ounces

115 g

8 ounces

225 g

12 ounces

340 g

16 ounces or 1 pound

455 g

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

A huge round of thanks goes to my wife, Lisa, who had to put up with my coffee-fueled temper tantrums while writing this book. During the course of its writing, I think we both gained 10 pounds. I am not sure if there’s a direct correlation between our weight gain and her asking me to test and retest several of the desserts to ensure they would work in everyone’s home kitchen. I am thankful for having her as a partner in crime in filming our video cooking classes and for all the work she does on our food blog, Pistou and Pastis.

I wish to thank my little son, Beaumont, who offered unbiased critiques of all the dishes we made, often two or three in a single night. My little sous chef was extremely helpful in caramelizing the crème brûlées, making the clafoutis batter, and eating an entire jar of rillette when he thought I wasn’t watching.

I have to thank my beautiful maman, Micheline, whom I lovingly called Mishou—without her, this book could never be. She is the most amazing mother any child could ever hope or dream for.

Above all, I want to thank my father, Real; even in death, I can feel his hand guiding mine when I begin to stumble and doubt myself. God knows that happens all too often. His love of food played a huge part in making me what I am today.

Lastly, I want to thank everyone who has spent time reading my blog posts. I have become good friends with several of my readers and enjoy the countless comments and feedback, which hopefully has led to me becoming a better writer in the process.

I have to thank the countless people who have inspired me throughout my career and pushed me to be better. In particular, three of my early mentors: Chef Michel LeBorgne, Chef Franklin Biggs, and Chef Louis Szathmary. We are all apprentices in life, and when our time comes, we should gladly step up and share the knowledge with the next generation just as these three did for me.

To all the cooks throughout history who have carried the torch (known to the French as le feu sacre, or the sacred fire) from one kitchen to the next, I thank you. It is the true unwritten history of mankind and food carried through time immortal, both professionally and at home.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

François de Mélogue grew up in a very French household in Chicago. François has over 30 years of culinary experience and brings a deep knowledge of culinary history combined with a unique French cooking style. He graduated from the highly esteemed New England Culinary Institute at the top of his class and began his career in a number of acclaimed kitchens across the country, including Chef Louis Szathmary’s restaurant The Bakery in Chicago, Old Drovers Inn in New York, and Joël Robuchon’s Gastronomie restaurant in Paris. He then opened the award-winning restaurant, Pili Pili, in Chicago, rated one of the Top Ten New Restaurants in the World by Food & Wine magazine in 2003.

François lives in Vancouver, Washington, with his wife, Lisa, and nine-year-old son, Beaumont, who has proclaimed himself the family saucier. François and his wife conduct personalized culinary vacations to France, teach video cooking classes, and write a blog dedicated to French food called Pistou and Pastis.

Connect with François!

SimpleFrenchCooking.com

Blog: PistouAndPastis.com

Instagram: @PistouAndPastis

Facebook: @PistouAndPastis

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright Page

Dedication

Contents

Introduction

1: Cuisine à la Maison / Parisian Home Cooking 101

2: Petit Déjeuner & Les Oeufs / Breakfast & Eggs

Bostock: Almond Brioche Toast

Pascades: Oven-Baked Crêpes

Pâte à Crêpes: Basic Crêpe Batter

Crêpes Suzette: Crêpes Suzette

Galette de Sarrasin Complète Jambon Oeuf Fromage: Buckwheat Galette with Ham, Egg, and Cheese

Quiche de Base: Basic Quiche

Fines Herbes Omelette: Herbed Omelet

Trouchia: Frittata

Oeufs au Meurette: Eggs Poached in Red Wine

Oeufs Pipérade: Eggs Pipérade

Cocotte Oeufs, Épinard, et Asperges: Cocotte of Eggs, Spinach, and Asparagus

3: Entrées / Appetizers

Crudités et Sauces: Crudités with Four Dips

Oysters à la Mornay: Oysters Mornay

Gougères: Gougères

Pissaladière: Caramelized Onion Tart

Soufflé au Fromage: Cheese Soufflé

Fondue au Fromage: Cheese Fondue

Brûlé Doigts: Burnt Fingers

Escargots à la Bourguignonne: Baked Snails in Garlic Butter

Rillette de Porc: Pork Rillette

Tartare de Boeuf: Steak Tartare

4: Les Salades et les Sandwiches / Salads & Sandwiches

Salade Niçoise: Niçoise Salad

La Salade de Pois Chiches: Chickpea Salad

Salade de Lentilles: Classic French Lentil Salad

Salade de Chèvre Chaud: Warm Goat Cheese Salad with Shallot Vinaigrette

Salade Lyonnaise: Frisée Salad with Poached Eggs and Bacon

Pan Bagnat: Provençal Tuna Salad Sandwich

Poulet Crudité: Roast Chicken and Vegetable Sandwich

Jambon Beurre: Ham and Butter Sandwich, a.k.a. Le Parisienne

Croque Monsieur: Croque Monsieur

Sandwich Merguez: Grilled Merguez Sandwich

5: Soupes et Ragoûts / Soups & Stews

Fond Blanc de Volaille: Homemade Chicken Stock

Soupe Bonne Femme: Potato-Leek Soup

Soupe au Pistou: Pistou

Potage Saint Germain, Printemps: Springtime Fresh Pea Soup

Potage Saint Germain, Hivernale: Winter Split Pea Soup

Soupe à l’Oignon Gratinée: French Onion Soup

Garbure: Garbure

Boeuf Bourguignon: Beef Burgundy

La Daube de Boeuf à la Provençal: Provençal-Style Beef Stew

Le Navarin d’Agneau: French Lamb Stew

Bourride Sètoise: Provençal Fish Soup

Bouillabaisse: Bouillabaisse

6: Plats Principal / Main Courses

Sole Meunière: Sole with Butter and Lemon

Moules Marinières: Steamed Mussels with White Wine and Herbs

Coquilles St. Jacques: Scallops Gratin

Poulet Rôti: Simple Roast Chicken

Coq au Vin: Chicken in Red Wine Sauce

Duck à l’Orange: Orange Duck

Confit de Canard: Duck Confit with Crispy Potatoes

Pot-au-Feu: Boiled Beef Dinner

Onglet de Boeuf, Sauce Béarnaise: Hanger Steak with Béarnaise Sauce

Gigot d’Agneau Boulangère: Roast Leg of Lamb with Herbs and Garlic

Choucroute Garnie: Braised Sauerkraut with Pork and Sausage

Cassoulet: Cassoulet

Hachis Parmentier: Shepherd’s Pie

7: Les Légumes et les Plats d’Accompagnement / Sides & Vegetable Dishes

Les Asperges, Sauce Hollandaise: Asparagus with Hollandaise Sauce

Carottes à la Vichy: Carrots Vichy Style

Tomates Farcies: Stuffed Tomatoes

Pommes Frites: French Fries

Panisses: Chickpea Fries

Pommes Anna: Potatoes Anna

Gratin Dauphinois: Potato Gratin

Gratin d’Endives au Jambon et à la Béchamel: Baked Endive and Ham Gratin

Ratatouille: Ratatouille

Tian Provençal: Provençal Vegetable Gratin

8: Les Desserts / Desserts

Beignets Aux Pommes: Apple Beignets

Pêche Melba: Peach Melba

Tarte Tatin: French-Style Apple Tart

Tarte au Citron: Lemon Tart

Tarte Bourdeloue: French-Style Pear Tart

Profiteroles au Chocolat: Cream Puffs with Vanilla Ice Cream and Chocolate Sauce

Clafoutis aux Myrtilles: Blueberry Clafoutis

Crème Brûlée: Crème Brûlée

Pots de Crème au Chocolat: Chocolate Pots de Crème

Mousse au Chocolat: Chocolate Mousse

Measurement Conversions

Acknowledgments

About the Author