Cuisine
Naturelle
French Classics Redefined
By
Jean François Meteigner
A lot of people these days still cling to the notion
that French food is high in fat, rich in sauce and
complicated in execution. Jean François Meteigner,
chef and owner of La Cachette in Los Angeles, will
prove you wrong. His Cuisine Naturelle features
more than 140 contemporary, simple updates of French
family-style classics, with a fraction of the fat
and easy to prepare for busy people who don't have
time to slave at the stove for long.
Many
of the recipes have been tested by regular folks in
his Saturday morning classes and thus prove to be
"home-chef friendly." Nothing too fancy—but
sometimes we crave simple, easy, elegant dishes with
a minimum of ingredients such as swordfish with garlic
olive oil and fresh ginger, Belgian endive and Romaine
salad with toasted walnuts and Roquefort, a rustic
peach tart, Mama Meteigner's Sunday After Church Chicken,
potato gratin with garlic and cream or salmon brochettes.
The only drawback: the book has no photos, and we
miss the kind of satisfaction we get after trying
a recipe and finding that what we pull out of the
oven matches its high-gloss cousin to the T. On the
other hand, this is the kind of book that rests on
the counter while you crack eggs and chop chives,
the book that becomes a frequent companion and beloved
even after a few greasy finger prints—as compared
to the kind that looks good on the shelf.
(Updated:
11/11/08 SB)
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