Hillary Davis - French comfort food

If one could describe heaven, for me it would be having a meal in a French restaurant and being able to have all my favorite dishes. There would be an intoxicating fragrance curling up towards my nose, a warmth spreading through me with each bite, a glow from the wine that I drink, a lack of a care in the world while I drag great hunks of warmed baguette through the most amazing sauces and devour each one, and it would have a generous dose of nostalgia. As a result, I would feel content and very happy. The only thing that could make it better would be sharing it with friends and loved ones.

This is what I call comfort food, heavenly when it is good, and totally satisfying.

Some of the best comfort food is French, and it is not that hard to make at home. In fact, many of the dishes are ones French families make every day because they are economical, hearty, and easy to prepare. Yearning for meatballs or shepherds pie? The French have their own versions. Beef stew over noodles? The French have a recipe for that, too. Mac and Cheese? Yes, again! Paul Bocuses recipe for gratin de macaroni s has become a hugely popular recipe that French families make at homeminus the truffles! And when we get to desserts, well, theres nothing quite as satisfying as dipping your spoon into a big bowl of dark chocolate mousse then running your finger along the inside of the bowl to capture every last bit, snacking on clairs , or delving into a rich tarte Tatin covered with warm melted caramel sauce.

I would go so far as to say that the French raise the bar on comfort food as we know it. They take mashed potatoes to a whole other level by whipping it with melted cheese to make a dish called aligot . They grill ham and cheese sandwiches, but then go one step further and top them with an egg that you pierce so it drips down over the cheese and ham in luscious rivulets.

There are dishes in every region of France that stand out as superb soul-soothers, the ones you would reach for on a gloomy day that are not well-known and not easily found in cookbooks. Theres the ancient dish, crespou , a stunning vegetable omelet cake standing high on a plate surrounded by a glorious sauce you swipe your fork through. Or the potato, bacon, and melted cheese wonder from the alpine region of Savoy called tartiflette. What could be better than watching snowflakes fall while you tip your fork into this meltingly delicious casserole? Quite possibly, it could be another heartwarming, rich tasting casserole found in southwest France, called cassoulet, made with sausages and beans and duck. Once I tasted it, I fell in love and found myself searching for it in restaurants wherever I went. Now I have a way of cooking this labor-intensive dish at home in a slow cooker, and have included the recipe for you to try for yourself. And what about riz lImpratrice, a luscious rice pudding made with fruit; all the Normandy cider-apples-and-cream dishes; or Brittanys butter cakes and cookies; French Alpine fondues; Alsatian quiches; Burgundys buf bourguignon and garlicy escargots; or the sun-drenched Midis much-loved fish soups and vegetable tians ?

When I travel throughout France, I always read the menus of restaurants I pass by. When I spy dishes lancienne (made the old-fashioned way), grand-mre (made the way grandmother made it), or en crote (baked in a buttery crustI love anything wrapped in dough and baked), I walk in. I know Ill find the kind of dishes I yearn for, cooked in glossy earthenware and served in shiny copper pots, the kind of dishes that have no ambition other than to please the eye and warm the heart. If Im delighted by a dish, I write down my impressions about how I think it might be made in my notebook, or I ask the chef if I can have guidance on how to make it.

The friends and acquaintances Ive made over the years while living in France enjoy cooking and have been hospitable in sharing with me recipes handed down from their mothers and grandmothers and great-grandmothersas well as their modern family remakes of the originals. Some of the recipes are nothing more than memories on paper, captured words that their mother used, like a little of this, a pinch of that, then bake until done. I have always collected family recipes wherever I have traveled or lived, because its my way of discovering the essence of a country, through its people and their food.

So with these resources, plus referring to my hundreds of well-worn cookbooks, I have brought together within these pages my favorite comfort food recipes from France. I hope they will inspire and charm you, reminding you of just how fabulous good home-cooked food from France can be. Come join me at the table! table!

The comfort foods found in the different regions of France may not be well-known or even made in the rest of the country because of each area having a different climate or geography, but also because some are located on a border with another country where culinary influences produce a cuisine that is a blend of the two cultures.

In Alsace, for example, which is in the northeastern part of France sharing borders with Germany and Switzerland, the cuisine is French with a predominantly German accent. Having been shuffled back and forth between France and Germany as a possession so many times, Alsace developed its own particular flavor of cooking that is not typical of home cooking in the rest of France. To experience the cuisine of Alsace, one must either go there or go to Paris, where Alsatian brasseries sprung up at the end of the nineteenth century when Germany annexed Alsace and so many of its residents moved to Paris to open restaurants like the ones at home. Brasseries became extremely popular and remain so today, beautifully decorated in lavish Art Nouveau or Belle Epoque style and celebrating the regions most beloved dishes.