French

This recipe is made to accompany Almond Cookie Cups with Sauternes-poached Apples and Frozen Sauternes Mousse

(Green Salad with Roquefort Toasts) Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Ragoût de petits L
égumes au Parmesan et Vinaigre Balsamique Also nice as a meatless entrée—with some crusty French bread, of course.

This recipe originally accompanied Frozen White Chocolate and Hazelnut Dacquoise .

This recipe can be prepared in 45 minutes or less. The secret to this take on salad lyonnaise is very fresh eggs. If the slab bacon you're using is particularly lean, add 1 tablespoon vegetable oil to the skillet when cooking.

(Salade Verte à la Vinaigrette) This is a basic recipe, one that should be part of every culinary repertoire. On the farm it is an everyday salad that changes according to the season, depending on what greens are fresh in the garden. In winter I am a slave to escarole, which I occasionally combine with Belgian endive. In spring and summer I mix greens, using green or red oak-leaf, mesclun (a fragrant mix of young greens), arugula, and fresh herbs.

(Poulet aux Echalotes de Mme. Lascourrèges) This is an interpretation of a recipe given to me by Denise Lascourrèges, whom our son christened "Madame Châtaigne." It was she who revealed to us the marvelous Gascon woods, which were so full of chestnuts we had to dodge those falling from the trees. Mme. Lascourrèges raises her own chickens and ducks, and the appear frequently on her table. At her house I found ways of preparing chicken that departed from the norm. This recipe, which relies on the sweet heat of shallots and the bite of vinegar, intrigued me most of all, and I've made it often since I returned from her farm. I use the oven most often, though occasionally I cook it on the grill, which is the way Mme. Lascourrèges usually makes it. In general, French farm cooks use a lot of shallots, which here turn dark and caramelized — some turn almost black — but they don’t get bitter. Instead, their flavor intensifies. The vinegar adds a pleasant tartness; the oil smooths all. At the last minute I like to add parsley, which scents the whole dish with its slight anise flavor. Consider it an option — it is my addition to Mme. Lascourrèges’s recipe. Try this with a lightly chilled dry red Bordeaux, or a Chinon. Watch how to cut a whole chicken into parts to use in this recipe.

Dark chocolate never goes out of fashion, but white chocolate was all the rage in the eighties. Foodies couldn't get enough, enjoying it in truffles, tarts and sumptuous ivory-colored mousses like this one.

Salade de Cresson et Endive Active time: 10 min Start to finish: 10 min

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

One of the most memorable meals of my vacation in Provence was at the one-star Auberge la Fenière," says Jacqueline Ross of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. "Set in the Lubron hills outside the town of Lourmarin, it's a remarkable place owned by one of France's celebrated female chefs, Reine Sammut. I'd love to re-create my first course there, a chilled tomato puree with roasted eggplant."

This is a very near replica of the small cheese quiches Madame Fromage sells each Saturday at the Louviers market.