Wine

It depends on what type of dish you serve. As the law is now very strict on the amount we can drink if we drive, most people only have one glass during dinner. The best is thus to find one type of wine that goes with all the dishes. Basically, you don't serve red with fish or seafood, neither do you serve white with beef. Cheese is supposed to be best appreciated with red but it depends on the type of cheese you serve. If it's a formal, very special, exceptional occasion, then you may be tempted to serve only champagne throughout dinner. It goes with everything!

 

Starters

Keep them light and well-presented.

You don't ask your guests to help themselves. You bring the plates to the tables and ideally speaking, each plate is an identical twin of the others.

I'm offering two very different recipes – the quiche and a dish of shrimp, oranges and avocados. I'll add others to the list in due time.

 

Main Course

There are many of them of course. We now do borrow a lot from other traditions but the most traditional ones were, and still are, stews.

These are easy to use in a meal with many guests because like Chili, for example, you cook them in advance and the more they simmer, the better they taste.

Plus you can relax with your guests instead of being constantly stranded in your kitchen (which is forbidden territory, I should add. Never let any guest help you. It's considered polite of them to offer their help but impolite of you to accept).

I'll give you two recipes, one with poultry and the other with veal. For more casual events where everyone helps themselves, ask me for more recipes like the fondue or raclette, both recipes using cheese.

 

Cheese

As I said earlier, once you've cleared the plates and cutlery from the main course, put a smaller plate and a knife in front of each guest and set a plate with three different types of cheese and a knife in the center of your table. Refill the bread basket and your guests' glasses with wine if need be. Everyone will help themselves and you'll have time to stack the dishwasher as they do.

Funny things happen when people are not well-acquainted and try to find a way of being polite with each other, handing the plate to the eldest or on the contrary tothe youngest... We had a lot of these (in hindsight) hillarious episodes in my family. We kids usually ended up being served first because cheese was the moment when adults needed a little peace and quiet and then we would eat, up and leave to their delight!

Green salad is very much appreciated with cheese. You can serve it with a vinaigrette made orfsunflower oil, vinegar, salt, pepper and chopped chives, for instance. If you can find or make raspberry vinegar, it's really yummy. And also, do not use iceberg salad. Rather go with less crispy ones like lettuce, oak leaf lettuce, rocket or even some chicory with blue cheese and walnut.

 

Dessert

Dessert is a magical moment so don't forget to clear your table of all unneccessary objects like the bread basket. Also, we do not have a pot of coffee ready for any occasion during the day, except in Northern France, but we do like to be offered a cup of expresso with our dessert or later on, so don't forget to ask who'd like to have some.

You are allowed not to make a main dish worth a cordon bleu's but if you don't offer great dessert, people won't come back. Better do easy but yummy stuff than fail at an enticing-looking dessert only my granny would be able to prepare after slaving away in the kitchen for hours on end.

Of course, you can serve an arrangement of ice cream, fresh fruit and some cookies. If you use crumbled meringue, it's called a Vacherin and it's heavenly. In England, they call that dessert Eton Mess. It's close to Pavlova as well.

You can also prepare one of those verrines we were talking about for apéritif. We use the same idea as for the vacherin – some sort of cookie crumble, fruit and ice cream or some sort of custard.

You can also decide to prepare a Café Gourmand. It can also be a Thé Gourmand. Prepare a nice cup of coffee or tea for each guest on a small plate and add an assortment of miniature desserts – home-made cookie, a custard cream of some sort and a fruity thingy. For more information, ask me.

Anyway, if you go for some traditional dessert like a pie or cake, don't attempt to bite more than you can chew. We never try to make pastry only bakeries can master so we never serve éclairs for example except if we buy them.

I'll give you a few of my own recipes that always work wonders and are easy to make namely the Apple Tart, the Tarte aux Marrons, the Clafoutis, my own recipe to make Crêpes for dessert and finally Mousse au Chocolat and those wonderful small cookies my granny used to make – the Palet des Dames.

 

Well, I hope you've enjoyed the ride! I know serving a real French dinner is much more difficult than having a BBQ but it can be a lot of fun. I never mind the hours I spend in my kitchen if I really please my guests and make them discover new tastes or rediscover old ones from their childhood.

Now, if you don't feel up to it or don't have the time, follow my father's advice. He was a real Parisian and used to say a real French meal in Paris was simple and to the point – roasted chicken and French fries (which, by the way, were invented by the Belgians!), camembert and green salad and a good old-fashioned apple tart. Bon appétit!