One of the great benefits of the last year has been to rediscover cookbooks I had forgotten about. Lately, I have been diving deep into Michel Guerard's classic Cuisine Gourmande. Two dishes I have made lately have been his Pot au Feu that he made famous in his 1960s Parisian restaurant also called 'Pot au Feu'. The second dish is this incredibly simple and delicious Lentil Salad with Anchoïade Croutons.

Learn how to make Bostock (a.k.a. Bostok), or toasted almond brioche in English. This is the ultimate dish for a quick and easy breakfast or brunch dish that is guaranteed to impress your guests. In the recipe from my new cookbook, French Cooking for Beginner's, the crunchy, golden-brown slices of rich brioche generously slathered with raspberry jam and velvety almond cream (frangipane) are topped with toasted almonds and fresh raspberries.

No other dish better defines Provence than soupe au pistou, the famous vegetable, bean, and pasta soup. Within a bowl you will discover the edible history of the ‘arrière-pays’, or hinterlands of Provence. A region where thrifty farmers have long tended their fields, growing some of France’s most amazing vegetables and fruits. It is a soup born from austerity and frugality; making the best use of what is in season and what is on hand.

Croque Monsieur was invented in Paris in the early 1900s. It appeared on the first menu in 1910 at the Bel Age, a bistro on the boulevard des Capucins in Paris. The exact origin story will never be known and quite frankly who cares. Two quickly researched theories suggest that either a French worker accidentally left his lunch pail near a radiator and it melted his Jambon Beurre, creating the world’s first Croque monsieur.

The other theory is far more elaborate and may involve cannibalism. The story begins with a resourceful brasserie chef who unexpectedly ran out of baguettes, so he substitutes pain de mie, the French equivalent to our white bread. He toasts the bread because the horror of horrors no self-respecting Frenchmen could ever eat bread without a crust. One guest was so enthusiastic about this creation that he inquired the chef about it. The chef sarcastically pointed towards the town butcher, who is conveniently eating at a nearby table and mutters: “that’s Monsieur’s meat”. At the time, Bel Age was rumored to serve human meat so perhaps this story came from an early fake Yelp review.

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.

Chickpea Fries, also known as panisses, are a staple food from the south of France and parts of Italy. Panisses are made by slowly cooking chickpea flour and water into a thick porridge, pouring it onto an oiled pan, and cooling overnight, then cut into finger-sized shapes and deep-frying.