Marie Asselin - French appetizers : enticing bites for a french-inspired cocktail hour

French Appetizers

Marie Asselin

Catherine Ct

French Appetizers

Digital Edition 1.0

Text 2019 Marie Asselin

2019 Catherine Ct

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced by any means whatsoever without written permission from the publisher, except brief portions quoted for purpose of review.

Gibbs Smith

P.O. Box 667

Layton, Utah 84041

Orders: 1.800.835.4993

www.gibbs-smith.com

ISBN: 978-1-4236-5102-4

To my closest friends, with whom Ill gladly share lapro any night of the week. You know who you are.

Acknowledgments

Im grateful to Michelle Branson, senior editor and head of the cookbook team at Gibbs Smith, for trusting me with a second cookbook project. I loved working on this delicious book, and I hope our collaboration will continue to blossom.

Thank you to my recipe testers for putting up with the overwhelmed recipe developer I was during the creation of this book, and for being so extremely helpful with making the recipes as close to perfection as they can possibly be: Isabelle, Marie-Andre, Fanny, Gabrielle, Rachel, Liliana, Lisa, Kim, Samantha, Kate, Suzanne, Paula, Leigh, Lucia, and Sara. Special thanks to my pro recipe tester, Janice Lawandi, for sprinkling your scientific knowledge into my baked goods.

Thank you to my friend and close collaborator, food photographer Catherine Ct, for bringing my recipes to life.

Thank you to my parents, Rjeane and Jean-Luc, for being my biggest supporters and for instilling the love of food and get-togethers in me from a very young age.

Thank you to my close friends, with whom Ive shared so many apros already. There are countless more to come!

And finally, thank you to my partner, Eric, and to my son, Jules, for adding light to my every day. Thank you for being such loving supporters, willing tasters, and gracious critics.

Vous venez pour lapro?

My friends and I exchange this question every week. Calling (or more often now, texting) a friend to ask, Will you come visit for lapro? is a way to invite them over to have a drink and some bites before dinner. Often, lapro lasts only a couple of hours, usually from five to seven, but sometimes itll last all through the night, evolving into a casual dinner.

Lapro is short for lapritif, which is the name of a drink served in the early evening to whet your appetite. In French cities, people have lapro in restaurants and bars, with servers bringing salty snacks to go with your drinks, but this tradition of getting together after work to relax with a drink before dinner is also a full-blown ritual that is often hosted at home, accompanied by a variety of bites or appetizers that can be generous enough to become dinner itself.

Lapro is in my blood: all through my childhood, I watched my parents host it. Even when my mother hosted a sit-down dinner, shed always first gather guests in the living room for lapro. Shed ask my dad to help with the drinks while she served crackers and pts shed saved specifically for such occasions. When I was a young adult, lapro was pretty much code for house party. Id get a bunch of friends over and wed drink and nibble our way through the night against a background of very loud music. When I lived in Paris for a while in 2009, I could enjoy lapro the Parisian way. Id watch friends effortlessly unfold an array of delicious treats theyd gathered at their favorite gourmet stores on the way home from work. Such evenings would invariably stretch far into the nightand sometimes until the wee hours of the morning.

Now that Im a parent, lapro is how I keep connected with friends who have families, too. All parents know having sit-down meals and meaningful conversations can be challenges when kids are around. Lapro relieves you of that stress. Because its served early, kids can get together and play their little hearts out while we, the adults, enjoy a glass of wine and some delicious food. My trick is to serve a mini apro to kids on a play tableveggies, cheese, cured meats, and breadso they can keep busy and eat dinner at their own pace, while adults can (finally) take an hour or two to catch up. That way, everyone goes back home in time for bedtime, with bellies and hearts full.

Lapro is a casual affair. If I invite friends over for lapro, they wont expect me to dress the table or even clean up the house. On the simplest nights, well huddle in the kitchen, share salty snacks, and wash it all down with cold beer or wine. On planned-ahead nights, Ill expand the selection to include a few homemade bites. On celebratory nights, Ill plan a whole menu that features several appetizers to create a full meal called an apro dnatoire, and sometimes go the extra mile to pair each plate with an appropriate wine.

I believe lapro is the best way to host friends and family, and my goal is to convince you of its merits. I filled this book with tips to get you started, menu ideas from the simplest to the most elegant, lots of French-inspired appetizer recipes to help you assemble inspiring meals, and even versatile syrups you can keep at the back of the fridge to shake and stir impressive drinks in the nick of time. Whatever time you have on your hands, whatever the occasion you want to celebrate, I hope youll have friends over for lapro. Sant!

For more recipes and day-to-day inspiration, visit my blog FoodNouveau.com and follow me on Instagram @foodnouveau.

Share the recipes you make from the book at #FrenchAppetizers.

The recipes in this book were inspired by my French-Canadian heritage, the love my parents and my extended family have for everything French, and my frequent travels to France. In the recipes, I use quintessential French ingredients, but also more exotic ones that have become daily staples in France and around the world. Following the same line of thought, I created recipes inspired by classic French dishes, as well as ones influenced by the modern food I see and taste when I travel to Paris. The cuisine of a people is an ever-evolving one after all.

A classic apro features charcuteries, pts, or rillettes served with a sliced baguette and additional nibbles such as cornichons and olives. Modern French apros often include chips, nuts, and even popcorn because theyre so convenient and evendare I saytrendy. Who doesnt like salty snacks with a drink? I like to combine both approaches: Ill start with a combination of store-bought items, such as sausages, olives, and some fancy chips, and add some crudits for good balance. Depending on the occasion, and if time allows, Ill prepare homemade dips and more elaborate bites.

Whatever food you serve, make sure it can easily be eaten in one or two bites. Your guests will likely be standing with a glass in one hand, so you need to make things easy for them. Cut or slice food into bite-size pieces and keep napkins on hand at all times. The appetizers included in this book should usually be served family-stylethat is, placed on a side table, kitchen island, or dining table, along with small plates and utensils, so everyone can help themselves.