This Provençal pork stew is ideal for chilly days when you crave a comforting meal. Traditionally, daubes were prepared in the fading embers of a wood fire using a distinctively shaped pot known as a daubière. The extended cooking time and the pot’s rounded form facilitate a convection process, where heat rising from the bottom transforms into steam, meets the cooler top, and condenses back down onto the simmering meat. This cycle helps the collagen in the braising meats convert to gelatin, giving the final dish a smooth and silky texture.

Our only task of the day was to eat the first serious meal of our trip — lunch at Chez Hugon, an old-fashioned bouchon. Something I had been looking forward to since I last paid the check at the very same restaurant 4 years prior.

A daube is a slow-cooked stew you will find simmering at a grandmotherly pace in kitchens all across France, though the best known come from southern France.

Choucroute is one of the world’s great celebratory meals that, like bouillabaisse, is impossible to cook solely for only a handful of people. If you have never eaten one you may be surprised, no, overwhelmed, by the sheer volume of food served. Traditionally it is made with at least 3 different sausages, smoked pork loin, and pork belly all slowly simmered in sauerkraut surrounded by a legion of potatoes.

I slow-cooked the jambonneau in a golden pool of home grown Tarbais beans semi submerged in a rich broth specked with carrots, onions, and aromatics. In the final cooking stages I sprinkled toasted breadcrumbs over the top to soak up the juices and help form a crunchy crust. Somebody not quite familiar with the particularities of cassoulet might mistake my preparation for the genuine article.

Pommes Anna is the classic French dish of sliced potatoes layered in a pan with butter (lots of butter), browned on the stovetop, and finished in a hot oven until crispy. It is a dish I have made countless times over my career and still LOVE to eat today.

Pebronata (Peh-Bro-Nah-Tah) is a Corsican daube or stew generally made from goat meat, although it is often made from beef, veal, or pork. There are 3 distinct steps in the creation of an authentic pebronata: cooking the pork, preparing the tomatoes sauce, and sauteing the sweet peppers. Pebronata is the perfect Fall dish to celebrate the end of peppers and tomatoes growing in your garden and the changes in the weather.

This easy tuna spaghetti is perhaps my sister Anne’s greatest contribution to the culinary arts. It’s an easy-to-make, quick pasta that literally takes less time to prepare the sauce than it does to cook the pasta. Perfect for busy families on the go. What I love about it is its versatility. You will notice in the ingredient list a number of optional items. Add those, don’t add those. If you don’t like tuna try adding shrimp to the mix or just eat it on its own. Dinner shouldn’t be complicated!

My apple trees are completely covered with ripe fruit ready to pick. As I started pulling a few off I began thinking about how to best use them. When I was a small child my mother use to make a really simple dessert that I adored. She would peel and core an apple then roll it in cinnamon sugar, stuff it with sweetened butter, wrap it in a thin skin of pie pastry, and bake it. It had all the great characteristics we love about apple pies but was quicker to make.

Confession Time. I planted way too many tomatoes this year and I was looking for the best, most tasty way to use them. I ended up making a Provençale Vegetable Tian - which is sort of a super healthy vegetable casserole.

A few years ago our family visited my cousins Andre and Lolo at their beautiful home in Southern France. The highlight of the visit was when my cousin Lolo made her famous olive bread. It was the best olive bread I had ever eaten. This kind of olive bread is also called cake salé, or savory cakes. Think of a savory coffee cake.

Trouchia is a flat omelet similar to frittatas that your family will never tire of; especially when your garden is producing more zucchini than you can eat.

The best thing about tomato tarts is they are very forgiving and can be modified easily based on what you have on hand. I have baked this tart with slices of tangy goat cheese or even shredded gruyere cheese sprinkled over. Or even pulled the hot tart out of my oven and dropped a ball of creamy burrata right on top.

Quiche Lorraine is perhaps the most famous of all quiches. Purists will tell you that only bacon, cream, and eggs are allowed. Though it is common to find other ingredients like Gruyere cheese, caramelized onions, and even chives. The original quiche Lorraine may not include cheese, but I won’t tell anyone if you decide to add one cup of shredded Gruyere to the mix.

Carottes Rapées and other quick single vegetable salads like potato, celery root, beet, or cucumber, were made from pantry ingredients that were typically on hand. They are simple, quick, and healthy to eat.

Learn how to make steamed mussels the French way. The best moules marinières or 'sailor-style mussels' ever. The mussels are simply steamed in white wine and herbs. From start to finish, moules marinières will take no longer than 10 to 15 minutes to prepare.

Coq au vin is as synonymous with French culture as hamburgers are with American. It’s a dish I grew up eating quite a bit and still find very satisfying and comforting when I’m longing for my mother and dreaming of France. The sauce is packed with flavor and begs for a starchy vehicle to soak it up. Classically, boiled or mashed potatoes are served with it, but I think spätzle, noodles, or a creamy potato gratin work better.

Pot-au-feu is a slowly simmered meat and vegetable dish that appears on most home tables in France. Pot au Feu, which literally translates to ‘pot in the fire’, started its life in working-class homes as a way to make less expensive cuts of beef more tender and palatable. Think the original crockpot. The long slow cooking resulted in 2 dishes: a clear nourishing broth and a rich meal of beef and vegetables.

One of the great benefits of the last year has been to rediscover cookbooks I had forgotten about. Lately, I have been diving deep into Michel Guerard's classic Cuisine Gourmande. Two dishes I have made lately have been his Pot au Feu that he made famous in his 1960s Parisian restaurant also called 'Pot au Feu'. The second dish is this incredibly simple and delicious Lentil Salad with Anchoïade Croutons.