French

For years, I’ve made smooth pureed pea soups; they’re always a hit at my restaurants. Recently, I was inspired by my mom to try something new. While visiting New York with my dad, she made a chunky pea and carrot stew with slab bacon and cabbage. I decided to go vegetarian here—doing away with even the chicken stock and creating a tea-like herb infusion instead—and to puree only part of the ingredients, making a light pureed soup with whole peas and sliced carrots scattered throughout. The result is a bowl of spring.

When I lived near Nice in the sunny south of France, I discovered that everyone there has a version of this summer salad. By tasting ones made by everyone from legendary chefs to humble housewives, I came up with my own. My sun-dried tomato vinaigrette makes this version distinctive. The perfumed sweetness of elderflower cordial highlights the concentrated sweetness of the tomatoes. Be sure to use the best sushi-grade bluefin or yellowfin tuna you can find.

This is something I grew up with, a dish my grandmother and mom always served family-style. For me, this combination—a fluffy, snowy mountain of shaved Gruyère with sliced sweet-tart tomato—is home. In Alsace, we sometimes mixed wine vinegar with honey and spices for the dressing, but sherry vinegar has a similar nuanced sweetness that works very well here.

My grandmother used to take whatever extra livers we had—calf, chicken, goose—and cook them with bacon and a splash of Cognac. She chopped the mixture with a mezzaluna, creating a rustic spread. I swap pancetta for the bacon and puree the mixture in a food processor to create a creamy mousse.

This is the sort of appetizer for a gathering of close family and friends. Picking the artichoke leaves with your fingers and sucking off their flesh encourages (requires?) intimacy. Because artichokes have a strong green flavor, they’re difficult to pair with wine, but a dry Alsatian white should work here.

This simple starter always brings me back to Provence, where I trained as a young chef. There, we served this sea-salty dip with scallions and red bell peppers, but now fennel is my favorite. This dip is so good, it works with any combination of vegetables; pick from my suggestions below. And if you think you don’t like anchovies, you have to try this. The milk mellows the intensity of the fish and the garlic and makes the dip incredibly creamy.

Here is a salad I enjoyed on my first trip to Paris. It was part of a fantastic, produce-filled lunch in a private residence in Montmartre, overlooking much of the city. The key to this simple salad is to use the best possible ingredients—specially the green beans. Serve as a first course with slices of crusty, whole-grain baguette or Italian bread.

I adore Paris. When I need to assuage my longing for this lovely city, I serve my family assiettes (referring to a generous platter of a number of components) like those typically served in the city’s vegetarian restaurants. The menus of these restaurants are not as extensive or innovative as those in the United States or Britain, but they do offer delicious, fresh food prepared with French flair. Seitan is a common offering. This one is an amalgam of seitan dishes I enjoyed at Le Potager du Marais, near the Georges Pompidou Center, and Les Cinq Saveurs D’Ananda in the Latin Quarter. For tips on creating Parisian-style assiettes, see the box preceding the recipe.

This is the quintessential quiche dish and certainly one of the most popular in the store. French farmers in the Alsace-Lorraine region of France used to enjoy this quiche as a lunchtime meal, and it’s clear why. The smoky bacon floating amid a creamy cheeseinfused filling is enough to keep you going all day long.

This recipe is a perfect way to use day-old or store-bought croissants.

These traditional French cakes, usually baked in rectangular tartlet pans, are named for their resemblance to bankers’ bars of gold.

These moist almond cakes are glazed with a thin layer of white chocolate and then topped with crisp White Chocolate Cutouts. Feel free to use your imagination when it comes to shaping and decorating—customize your cakes with a favorite cookie cutter, or adjust the color of the glaze to suit your color scheme.

The dark, crunchy crust of a cannelé gives way to a delicate, pudding-like center. Cannelés are baked in specially designed three-inch-deep molds made of copper, tin, ceramic, or silicone. If you do not have eighteen molds, bake the cakes in batches.

In place of the almond flour, you can substitute two ounces (about 1/2 cup plus two tablespoons) blanched almonds, finely ground in a food processor. Feel free to vary the flavoring by replacing part or all of the lemon zest with orange zest, or omitting it altogether and adding one teaspoon of vanilla extract.

For the flakiest crust, make sure all ingredients (including the flour) are cold before you begin.

Because brioche is made with a large amount of butter, it is important to use the best quality you can find. Remember: The butter and eggs must be cold, or you may end up with something that resembles cake batter, rather than bread dough. If this happens, chill the dough until it becomes workable. Never add more flour, which toughens the dough.

Instead of making two large loaves, divide the dough into four equal pieces for demi-baguettes.

This classic French loaf is traditionally formed into a leaf. You can scatter the dough with fresh herbs, such as thyme or rosemary, before baking.