Weeknight Meals

Baking the crust first keeps it from getting soggy beneath the toppings.

When cooking shrimp in boiling water, 2 minutes does the job. Overcooking toughens them.

Rough-hewn elegance is the name of the game here. The mild, clean-tasting snails and the bosky mushrooms share a yielding texture, and the cream sauce (relax, you're in Normandy, remember?) sparkles with fresh herbs.

Give your pan-seared salmon fillets a lemony pop with mustard-herb butter.

Featuring olive oil and the combined herbs and produce of the south of France, this one-dish country dinner will transport you to a café table in Aix in a heartbeat.

Merguez, the spicy lamb sausages of North Africa, are popular throughout France. These nearly labor-free patties are a quick way to re-create them in your kitchen. The sweetness of the raisin couscous contrasts nicely with the meat's deep spice.

Beurre blanc—the classic French butter sauce—is a cinch to prepare and has a tendency to make just about anything taste better. This take on it uses the scallops' juices to add complexity.

With an earthy flavor punctuated by hints of orange and a smooth, velvety texture, this soup is perfect as a simple weeknight supper or as a starter for an elegant party.

Here, a garlic-packed vinaigrette is infused with caramelized sucs—pan drippings—from the roast pork, creating an uncanny fusion of nutty, meaty flavors.

Thin green beans add ribbons of color as well as bite to a celeriac rémoulade.

Adding Dijon to this sauce lends not only a nice kick but also body and richness—without resorting to lots of cream and butter (a shocking idea in an issue that sings the praises of French food, we know).

With golden cheese that yields to an abundance of roasted vegetables, this gratin is an ideal side dish, but it really doesn't need anything more than a green salad to make it a satisfying dinner.

A leek, carrot, and celery mirepoix, cooked until tender with rich white beans, gets a crisp, crunchy texture and delightfully rustic flavor from a garlicky bread-crumb topping flecked with parsley.

Obviously, those who devote their lives to pork are going to have the best recipes for it, which explains why porc charcutière—named after pork butchers—is such a time-honored preparation. This version is lighter and a lot quicker than a traditional one, but its flavors are no less fine-tuned.

While there's no substitute for eating a bowl of mussels on France's Atlantic coast, you'll be surprised at how easy it is to re-create this briny, aromatic dish at home.

An almost mystical combination beloved in France, mushrooms and fortified wines like Madeira elevate everything they touch. The results are exceptionally fine when you put their magic to work on great-tasting (and inexpensive) blade steaks.

Getting rid of the crust for this clever play on quiche Lorraine is a win-win: The cooking process is simplified, and you're left with the very best part of the quiche.

This salad shows how bitterness, punctuated with a zingy vinaigrette, can be supremely refreshing.

Here is a quick and tasty way to cook young artichokes: thin-sliced, slowly braised in a skillet in their own juices, and served with a shower of soft pecorino. The method is simple, and will yield delicious results even with the larger, more mature artichokes you'll find in the supermarket. This dish makes a great vegetarian sandwich, or, for a carnivore, a topping for a juicy hamburger. Artichokes prepared this way are also a great appetizer topped with a poached egg or a thin slice of prosciutto.

This is a great spring salad with two long, lovely green vegetables that have a real affinity for each other. It is delicious as an antipasto or a first course, or as a side dish to grilled meat and fish. You can serve this salad chilled, but I like it at room temperature. If you haven't poached scallions before, be sure to note how nicely it brings out the flavors in a mellow way.