The other morning I was zipping off for a photoshoot and forgot to get dinner started. I started stressing about what to cook when I remember a simple recipe for roast chicken in a mustard sauce that literally takes under a minute to prep. I quickly ran back into the house, got it marinated, then went to my photoshoot confident with the happy feeling that my family would have a nutritious easy-to-cook dinner when I got home that evening.

Poulet au Vinaigre, or chicken in vinegar, is a classic French preparation that you will find in homes as well as restaurants. At the onset, it sounds kind of overpowering and maybe even unappetizing. Rarely do we think of vinegar as an ingredient other than maybe in a vinaigrette. But when you try this poulet en vinaigre recipe you will realize your error and start thinking about vinegar in a brand new light.

Try this easy French chicken in cream sauce dish that was perfected by one of the greatest French women chefs long ago.

Learn how to make one of the easiest and most flavorful chicken dishes you'll ever try. It is a Moroccan chicken dish called chicken k'dra which I adapted from Paula Wolfert's classic cookbook "Couscous and Other Good Food from Morocco". Moist, flavorful chicken simmered with creamy chickpeas and tender turnips.

Coq au vin is as synonymous with French culture as hamburgers are with American. 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.

When I originally wrote about chicken stock prior to Covid-19 changing our world, I described how many people were rediscovering the advantages of healthy home cooking. That more people were eating whole, unprocessed foods and shopping at their local farmers' market. Now that Covid-19 has changed the food landscape, we are heading towards a more depression-era strategy of being thrifty and frugal with our food supply.

The Quest: A Simple, Perfectly Roasted Chicken. A humble, seemingly easy dish that unfortunately is as elusive as a unicorn or a five-leaf clover. I mean, how hard should it be to roast the perfect chicken? Let’s analyze what makes it perfect and figure out how to easily do it every single time.

Coq au Vin is my personal soul food. I started making the current round of coq au vin 4 or 5 days ago. Coq au vin is a dish better suited to preparing at a grandmotherly pace. Like all great stews, it is better done slowly over a longer period of time to allow the full flavors to develop and mature. Coq au Vin is best prepared at home where it retains the patina of its origins rather than in a restaurant setting where it dies a soulless death.