French food isn't just about starred restaurants, culinary textbooks, and expensive, rarefied ingredients. Rather, it is a sate of mind involving slowing down and savoring the pleasures of cooking and eating--a repast any cook, anywhere, can enjoy using their own local ingredients.

Written in a breezy, thoroughly engaging style, French Food at Home focuses on the simplicity, familiarity of ingredients, and ease of technique that make French cuisine unique.

Calder shows how cooking a la Francaise is both practical and easy in such delicious recipes as Carrot Chicken, Basil Beef, Rhubarb Chops, Mon Petit Choux (a French twist on stuffed cabbage), and Fennel Bass. From L'Aperitifs to Desserts, here are more than 100 eclectic dishes that range from easy to less so, from fast to slow, from traditional to contemporary, all set in the context of dinner so that home cooks can plan a meal as basic or as elaborate as they need.