The Bonne Femme Cookbook

Looking for gift ideas for a foodie? Consider this:

The Bonne Femme Cookbook: Simple, Splendid Food that French Women Cook Every Day is written by Wini Moranville (Harvard Common Press, Oct. 18, 2011, 978-1-55832-749-8, $24.95).

Think French cooking is hard? This book sets out to prove it can be much easier that you ever imagined.

As a teenager, food writer Wini Moranville learned French cooking while living with a host family of modest means in Burgundy. She discovered how exquisite and yet surprisingly simple French home cooking can be. Now that she's lived in France nearly every summer for 20 years, Moranville shares the secrets of approachable French cooking in her new cookbook.

"If we think of French cooking at all, we envision slaving three days over cassoulet, hunting all over town for veal bones for a reduction, mail-ordering a lobe of foie gras, and plunking way too much butter and cream in our creations," she says. "So I want to spread the word about the fresh, vivid, easy-to-master appeal of good French home cooking, the kind of simple cuisine that French families enjoy together."

Moranville reveals that French home cooking starts with a daily ritual: hitting markets, chatting with the butcher, choosing cheeses at the cheese shop and picking up a baguette.

The 337-page book presents 250 recipes in several chapters:
- Nibbles, Amuse-Bouches, and Cocktails Maison
- Les Salades
- Les Bonnes Soupes
- Saute, Deglaze and Serve
- Roast, Stew or Braise
- Casseroles and Pasta
- Les Sides
- Les Tartines, Pizzas and Savory Tarts
- Eggs and Cheese
- Les Desserts
- Bonne Femme Basics

Though you'll spot some French phrases sprinkled throughout the text, you need not read French to use the cookbook: It's written in easy-to-follow English and uses standard American measurements.

Tempting dishes include turkey salad veronique, trout with mushroom-saffron cream, roasted salmon with pernod sauce, celery root and potato puree, fingerling potatoes with walnuts and thyme, leek and cheese tart, pear and walnut tarte tatin and many more.

Moranville writes a monthly wine column for Relish, is the dining editor for The Des Moines Register, and contributes food and wine stories to Better Homes and Gardens, Country Home, Holiday Celebrations and Creative Home. Visit her website for more information.

If you're stumped about what to do with your Thanksgiving turkey leftovers, check out her recommendations.