Profiteroles are the perfect home dessert and guaranteed to please everyone, from small children to grown adults. And once you master the dough for profiteroles you can easily make several other classics like a feather-light beignet, gougères, and crispy potato puffs known as Pommes Dauphine.

Pot-au-feu is a slowly simmered meat and vegetable dish that appears on most home tables in France. Pot au Feu, which literally translates to ‘pot in the fire’, started its life in working-class homes as a way to make less expensive cuts of beef more tender and palatable. Think the original crockpot. The long slow cooking resulted in 2 dishes: a clear nourishing broth and a rich meal of beef and vegetables.

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.

A really simple dish that has all the classic flavors of Provence hidden in the layers. Roasted red peppers stuffed with creamy goat cheese and basil and topped with an anchoïade sauce. This makes a great meal served with nothing more than a big green salad and a glass of rose wine. Anchoiade is an interesting Provencal sauce. French people will revel at its wonderful briny flavors while most Americans recoil in terror at the mere mention of anchovies. I promise you will love this sauce.

One of my favorite Provençale dipping sauces is called Anchoïade. It is an anchovy sauce that marries perfectly with raw and lightly cooked vegetables, smeared on tartines and served with a classic lentil salad, or drizzled over roasted red peppers stuffed with creamy goat cheese and basil.

Like many old dishes, the exact origins of blanquette de veau are not known though many speculate its birth occurred near Lyon. Blanquette is more a preparation technique rather than a specific dish. The name implies the dish will be white-colored. In Robert Courtine’s book ‘The Hundred Glories of French Cooking’ he states: “ In the kitchen, when we say ‘a blanc’ we mean a clear veal or poultry broth, or a court bouillon whitened with flour, and the blanquette is a white dish in both these senses.” A blanquette therefore can be made with chicken, rabbit, lamb, or even seafood.

‘There is no dish in the Southwest of France more iconic, cherished, and controversial than the cassoulet. Not only is it the best pork and beans dish you can imagine, but it’s also a definitive dish of French country cooking — one that, to this day as you noted, stirs up fierce debate over what makes it authentic! When most travelers go on a trip to France, they bring back photos, or maybe a copper pot; some even smuggle a Camembert or saucisson in their luggage. Me? I bring back recipes.’

Today I want to teach you how to make Richard Olney's delicious Chickpea and Spinach gratin from his classic cookbook ' Simple French Food'. It is a classic Provencal vegetarian preparation that is easy to make and will impress your friends.

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.