Introduction

In the twenty years I have lived in France, I’ve had the luxury and good fortune to develop my French cooking skills in the wonderful kitchens of my three French homes. My Paris kitchen is six floors up without a lift, so certainly dictates careful menu planning and shopping - I find myself making lists. Set in the middle of a typically busy part of Paris, I have everything I need at the foot of my building, but those stairs... This kitchen is right in the heart of the innovative French food culture, where shops and new restaurants are opening all the time. My cooking is experimental - here I am looking for taste experiences, I bring ideas home, try out new techniques and different combinations. A new restaurant craze is to make creams and foams, so recently I got out my syphon and experimented on some willing friends. I keep my verrines here, the little glasses I use for serving individual portions, which you see in restaurants and at cocktail parties all over the city. A current favourite is the recipe for verrines filled with sweet potato and crab. My friends gather in my Paris kitchen for long drawn-out evenings with food and conversation. I make an effort with presentation and decor, put flowers on the table, always a tablecloth, and some pretty candles. In my Paris kitchen, I entertain the French way, and you’ll find examples of these kinds of dishes in the POSH chapter of this book.