Cookbook: The Country Cooking of France

the appetizer:

Master the art of French cooking this holiday season with The Country Cooking of France by Anne Willan. Recipes include Galettes Bretonnes au Sarrasin (Breton Buckwheat Galettes); Lapin Rôti à la Moutarde (Roast Rabbit with Mustard); and L'Oie Rôtie de Noël (Roast Goose with Apples and Vegetables).

The Country Cooking of France

by Anne Willan

Click to buy The Country Cooking of France

Why is the country cooking of France so compelling, and why does it exert such fascination and evoke so much respect? The answer lies in the terroir of its pays (regions), the fresh produce and specialty foods that are unique to each area and are then transformed into such traditional favorites as Soupe au Pistou and Choucroute Alsacienne.

Anne Willan is well known for her highly respected cooking school in France, La Varenne, founded thirty years ago, as well as her many best-selling cookbooks. She combines her years of experience writing about French cuisine with extensive research, hands-on experience, and a deep appreciation of the current culinary trends in France to create The Country Cooking of France.

More than 235 recipes range from the time-honored La Truffade with its crispy potatoes and melted cheese to the Languedoc specialty Cassoulet de Toulouse, a bean casserole of duck confit, sausage, and lamb. And it wouldn't be a French cookbook without desserts like Crêpes au Caramel et Beurre Salé (crêpes with a luscious caramel filling), Pets de Nonne (deep-fried cream puffs), and Galette Landaise (a rustic apple tart) are beyond delicious.

Dishes with a quintessentially French touch are organized into chapters that focus on each specialty: Fish stews such as Bouillabaisse; rustic sauces that convey a strong sense of place including Sauce Bordelaise au Vin Rouge from Bordeaux and Sauce Vin Jaune et Morilles from the Jura; savory tarts, from an Alsatian Zewelwaï (onion quiche) to Pissaladière from the Pays Niçois, bordering Italy, which reveals it close relationship to Neapolitan pizza; not to mention game birds, frogs, and snails.

Sprinkled throughout The Country Cooking of France are intriguing historical tidbits about individual regions and the people who make French food so irresistible. Plus, more than 275 gorgeous photos of the food markets, villages, harbors, fields, and homes make this a book as beautiful to look at as to cook from.

Award-winning author Anne Willan brings the intoxicating tastes and aromas of France right into your kitchen. Willan provides easy-to-follow instructions on growing, storing, and, most of all, cooking delicious dishes and demystifying the art of cooking authentic French faire.

Using ingredients you can find at just about any supermarket and farmer's market, Willan offers healthy, imaginative recipes. No matter where your readers live, they, too, will be enchanted by the simple delights of cooking delicious French cuisine. Capture the full vitality of this stunning tomb accompanied by beautiful full-color photography by France Ruffenacher. The Country Cooking of France is chock-full of mouthwatering, healthy and easy-to-follow recipes using the freshest of ingredients.

About the Author

Anne Willan is an award-winning cooking teacher, food writer, and cookbook author. Her many accomplishments include time as an associate editor at Gourmet, food editor of the Washington Star, and she currently contributes a column to the Tribune Media Services International as well as writing for the Los Angeles Times. Her television series Look and Cook was internationally distributed, and she has been a regular guest with Martha Stewart. She has written more than 30 cookbooks including the widely acclaimed The Good Cook and From My Chateau Kitchen which introduces readers to life in Burgundy and to Anne's cooking school La Varenne at Chateau du Fey. Her books have been published in two dozen countries and translated into 18 languages.

Anne was honored as Grande Dame of Les Dames d'Escoffier International. The International Association of Culinary Professionals recognized her with their prestigious Lifetime Achievement award, and in Australia at the World Food Media ceremonies she was inducted into their Hall of Fame. At the American Food and Entertainment Awards, Bon Appétit magazine named Anne "Cooking Teacher of the Year." She lives primarily in France at Chateau du Fey.