Bring French food to class.
Bringing French food to class gives you an opportunity to explore French culture. Make or buy French food for a culture day, a snack or a full potluck. American supermarkets offer imported French brands and the ingredients for cooking just about anything from scratch. You can also buy French food at French bakeries and restaurants. Whether you have expert cooking skills or none at all, you can bring delicious French specialties to class.
Bread and Cheese
Bread and cheese make a simple and satisfying snack. You won't see all the varieties of French cheeses in American stores, but you can purchase the most famous. Look for brie, camembert, comt , roquefort and other blue cheeses. Also try "chevre," or goat cheese. Serve with crusty baguettes, a long, thin French bread that's available in many bakeries and supermarkets.
Baked Goods
Buy French baked goods and pastries.
You can serve a variety of French pastries with "caf -au-lait" (coffee with hot milk), espresso or tea for a French breakfast party. Or serve sweet pastries for dessert. Many supermarkets and bakeries sell croissants and pastries such as "pain au chocolate" (chocolate-filled pastry), "pain au raisin" (a raisin-filled pastry) and fruit tarts. The authentic French tarts usually have a hard crust, a thin layer of custard, fresh fruit (uncooked) and a glaze. If you have baking skills, try making your own "tarte tatin," a sort of French apple pie. You can also buy family or crowd-sized tarts at some bakeries and chain stores.
Quiche
Bring a tomato quiche to class.
Many people think of quiche when they think of France. Bring quiche to class for a snack, luncheon or simple dinner. The French have a variety of these egg and cheese pies. Many quiches contain meat, usually pork, but you can make a cheese-only quiche as well. As a vegetarian alternative, try a quiche with onions, leeks, tomatoes or spinach. You can find many varieties at online recipe sites such as FPSi, as well as in French cookbooks.
Salads
The French eat a variety of salads, often with "sauce vinaigrette," an oil and vinegar dressing. Bring a salad as part of a complete French dinner or potluck. Try a simple tomato salad with oil and vinegar or an endive salad. The French use what Americans sometimes call "Belgian" endive---the long oval, pale endive---not the dark green, curly endive. Look for this endive at upscale grocers.
Main Dish Stews
For a hearty main dish, you can make a traditional French stew such as beef burgundy ("bourguignon"), which consists of beef cooked slowly in red wine. Or try "coq au vin," which is chicken cooked in white wine. In either case, the wine will lose its alcohol during the cooking process, so the resulting dish should conform to American school rules. You can make or bring these dishes in the slow cooker if you like. If you want to avoid cooking, order from a French restaurant.
Tags: French food, food class, French food class, quiche class