Cecile Delarue - Voilà!: The Effortless French Cookbook: Easy Recipes to Savor the Classic Tastes of France

Copyright 2017 by Ccile Delarue

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Photography Hlne Dujardin

Prop styling by Angela Hall

KirstinMcKee/Stocksy,

Illustrations Tom Bingham

ISBN: Print 978-1-62315-936-8 | eBook 978-1-62315-937-5

A ma famille, et tous les bons repas partager ensemble

To my family, and to all the good meals to come

Contents

Im not a great chef.

Wait. Maybe thats not the best thing to write when introducing a cookbook.

But its true.

I dont own a Michelin-starred restaurant. I have always stayed away from any exclusive and elaborate cooking classes. And yet, in all honesty, I can still say that I cook very, very good French food.

Its always tricky to talk about French cuisine because of all the clichs that surround it. Yes, its one of the most elaborate and famous cuisines in the world (and the one that invented the words chef, restaurant, menu, cuisine, caf, fondant, and so many more). And yet, its not necessarily difficult to make. The French food that I cook, for exampleand the food more than 60 million people in France cook everydayis easy to prepare (and is delicious!).

Dont worry if youre a little nervous about making French foodyou made the right choice by opening this book. Just be warned: youre going to be surprised by how simple and fast it can be!

Im French. One hundred percent. I was raised in a village in the Loire Valley a few miles from the Chteau de Chambord, one of the most beautiful castles in the world. My family has lived there for more than six centuries. They were farmers. Their productsthe vegetables my grandparents grew in the garden, the hens and rabbits my grandmother fed every night, the cows that needed to be milked every day at dawn, the wheat my grandfather harvested every summertook hard work, but these were the best ingredients for what my family thought was one of the most important things: putting something good on the table.

Women in my family have always worked and thus had to squeeze out time to cook for the family and the people who worked at the farm. My parents were the first generation to not be farmers, but every day at lunchtime, my mom made a point to leave the factory where she was working to come home and cook for us. How did these ladies manage to prepare healthy, yummy, satisfying meals in the short time they had? They inherited good, time-tested recipes, and they knew how important it was to share a meal.

French cuisine is not only about preparing and eating amazing dishes. For French people, mealtime is, above all, about sharing something special with others. As my husband, Olivier, always says: Its the one thing you have to do three times a day, so you better make it great! And, as you might have noticed if you have ever spent some time at the table with French people, half the conversation actually revolves around food: remembering a great meal you had previously, discussing how you should cook this or that, or describing what you would love to have in the following days!

I cook French food every day. This book contains the recipes I make on a regular basis for my family and friends. They are the dishes I make when I feel nostalgic, the ones I want to pass on to the next generation. From the that I love making for my gluten-free friends in California, all are classic and easy.

As a French expatriate in the United States for seven years now, I have spent hours adapting family recipes to what I can find at my local grocery store, so I hope it will be easy for you too to cook them in your own kitchen. Please make sure to also follow another great rule of French cooking: cook in season. Using the vegetables and fruits that are naturally growing at the same time of year makes the whole process more interesting, tastier, and healthiertomatoes that actually saw the sun are much better for you and your palate!

And now, lets get started.

Pour yourself a glass of Chablis and repeat the two best French words after me: Bon apptit!