I’ve taught myself how to use good, fresh ingredients and to prepare them as simply as possible by cooking only to enhance their intrinsic flavors.
Anyone who tries to make brownies without butter should be arrested.
I’m really a scientist. I follow recipes exactly – until I decide not to. And then I’ll follow something else exactly. I may decide I could turn this peach tart into a plum tart, but if I’m following a recipe, I follow it exactly.
I don’t like sitting at a table that’s too large, where everyone is too far apart. That’s a party killer.
The most overrated tool: a pasta maker. Why make it when you can buy it? It’s a lot of work!
The most important thing for having a party is that the hostess is having fun. I’m very organized. I make a plan for absolutely everything. I never have anything that has to be cooked while the guests are there. The only thing I might have to do is take something out of the oven and carve it.
I always have music. I love it to be very upbeat. When you’re having drinks, I like something like Cesaria Evora. During dinner, I like the much more traditional – old Frank Sinatra and things like that.
Take one flower that you like and get lots of them. And don’t try to ‘arrange’ them. It’s surprisingly hard to do a flower arrangement the way a florist does one. Instead, bunch them all together or put them in a series of small vases all down the table.
I like almonds as a snack – keeps your energy up but doesn’t fill you up.
I use other cookbooks for inspiration. I must say I tend to cook from my own cookbooks for parties.
In the summer you want fresh, light and sort of quick things; in winter you want things that are comforting, so your body really tells you you want to go towards potatoes, apples, fennel, things that are warm and comforting. And loin of pork.
I absolutely adore Thanksgiving. It’s the only holiday I insist on making myself.
I measure everything, because I always think that if I’ve spent so much time making sure this recipe was exactly the way I want it, why would I want to throw things into a pot?
If it’s a cocktail party, I generally make five or six different things, and I try to choose recipes that feel like a meal: a chicken thing, a fish or shrimp thing, maybe two vegetable things, and I think it’s fun to end the cocktail party with a sweet thing.
The dirty little secret is that I grew up in a household where there were no carbohydrates allowed, ever. No cookies, no bread, no potatoes, no rice. My mother was very extreme in terms of what she served. Since I left home more than 40 years ago, I’ve been making it right for myself.
When I wrote ‘Barefoot in Paris,’ I wanted to make simple recipes that you could make at home that tasted like French classics.
I love to take something ordinary and make it really special.
My extravagance is my garden – it’s the first thing I look at every morning when I wake up. It gives me so much pleasure.
My favorite fall or winter lunch is big steaming bowls of soup. I usually invite people for around 12:30 and have two hearty soups like shrimp corn chowder and lentil sausage soup, which can be made a day or two ahead.
You don’t have to do everything from scratch. Nobody wants to make puff pastry!