The amount of butter and gruyère I have gone through this month. Woo-wee! Melissa Clark really puts her own American spin on these French-inspired recipes, making them very accessible to home cooks like me! I loved that some of these recipes called for store-bought ingredients (like puff pastry) or included ingredients that could easily be subbed for a store-bought version (like the meringues or aioli). This makes them great for quick, weeknight dinners.
Dinner in French includes a lot of unique recipes while still having a few classics sprinkled in. The headnotes and “Thinking Ahead” sections on each recipe were helpful, insightful and often heartwarming. Melissa tells us how the dish is traditionally served in France, suggestions for serving, family recollections, or valuable tips and techniques. I would highly recommend this book to any novice home cook!
My favorites of the month were the Asparagus Goat Cheese Tart and the Twice-Baked Cheese Souffle!
You should buy this cookbook if…
You need some new dinner ideas.
You like French food but you’re scared to make it.
You’re not afraid of dairy.
August Cookbook: Dinner in French by Melissa Clark
The cod with aioli (pg. 153) is a simple dish, but sometimes that’s all you need. Since cod is a very mild whitefish, the garlicky aioli really carries the team here.
The strawberry champagne soup with fleur de sel meringues and mint (pg. 205) sounded very interesting. A dessert soup?? It was worth a try. I ended up using store-bought meringues from Trader Joe’s out of pure laziness. I honestly think they taste just as good, if not better, as making them yourself. This dish felt a little bit like eating strawberry baby food, but I did enjoy it! The crunchy meringue cookies are an absolute must. I think this would be a fun, healthy dessert for anyone with young children! (Minus the champagne, of course.)
I made the phyllo brie with hot honey (pg. 56) because come on, look at that thing! Plus, I’ve had a thing of phyllo dough sitting in my freezer for months from when I bought it on accident. Ideally, this would be great for when you have a bunch of friends over. Not so much in the middle of the workday for lunch. Which, looking back now seems obvious.
Next up, the sweet potato aligot with fried sage (pg. 44). Aligot is a fancy way of saying “cheese mixed into mashed potatoes”…okay, heaven alert!!! If you have a NYT Cooking subscription, you can also find the recipe here. This would make an amazing Thanksgiving side dish! I’d love to try this method with regular potatoes as well. Maybe for my next Friendsgiving. 👀
It wouldn’t be a french-inspired month if I didn’t get to pull out the blow torch! The pumpkin brûlée tart (pg. 292) is a nice spin on an American classic. We love pumpkin pie and we love crème brûlée – so why not combine them!
In other news…
Apparently whole milk is back?
I learned that eating a hot dog can take 36 minutes off your life. Whatever, I’m here for a good time not a long time. 😤 💯 🌭
I had some leftover Ritz crackers so it only made sense that I make this:
Thanks for reading, sweeties! 🍎
Laughing at the "strawberry baby food" but as a person who as an adult used to buy jars and jars of plum baby food just because I liked it, I'm intrigued.
Also, I really enjoy your links to bizarre articles I'd never find on my own like the edginess of drinking real milk. Looking forward to next month when maybe I will recognize some of the ingredients.
One question: What's the difference in philo and puff pastry? I didn't know they were different things.