I strive to master simple dishes. I don’t aspire to be a person of whom one says, “What an ambitious cook!” or “She should really open her own restaurant!”

No. I want to be someone who can be trusted to prepare a good, well-rounded, home-cooked meal. A meal that has personality, yes, but one that doesn’t try too hard, and relies chiefly on good taste and good technique.

This is why I had long been frustrated by my limited potato roasting skills. Oh, I’d roasted my share of potatoes, but I had never been able to make perfect roasted potatoes, golden and generously crusty on the outside, moist and tender on the inside.

By the time the chunks had developed enough of a crust, the flesh had begun to dry up inside, and I was left with something a bit cardboard-y. Not inedible — it takes considerable effort to render a potato inedible in my book — but not my platonic image of the roasted potato, either.

And then some years ago, my friend Pascale* shared the recipe she uses for pommes de terre rôties, which she learned from her British mother-in-law. I have blind kitchen faith in Pascale — she has never steered me wrong — and I was very excited about her technique, a classic in British cooking that was unknown to me at the time.

Here, let me show you in this video:

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Who’s with me in the I heart September camp? I enjoy the summer so much, and love it when Paris empties out and we get the city all to ourselves. But this is all to set the stage for that magical month of September: the good resolutions, the exciting new projects, and the very best, most bountiful time for French produce.

I have been cooking up a tornado with my fab assistant Anne, developing and testing five to six new recipes each week for my upcoming book, Tasting Paris. It’s been a lot of fun, we have been eating really well, and I can’t wait to share with you. (In the meantime, you can follow along through my Instagram stories!)

Best Eats this September

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France is such a beautifully diverse country, I want to make sure you see and taste the best it has to offer! When it comes to Paris I’ve got you covered, but there are many other cities with exciting and delicious things for you to experience. So I’ve asked a team of French bloggers from different cities to share their favorite spots, and I am offering them to you in this series.

In Lyon, Quentin recommends…

Our guide to Lyon is Quentin Caillot. A lover of food and travel, Quentin created the blog Geek and Food, which focuses on culinary trends, dining recommendations, and urban agriculture. He is also the co-founder of a communication and culinary creation agency, and the first culinary coworking space in Lyon, La Food Factory.

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Over the summer, Maxence and I spent a few blissful, brightly sunny days hiding out in my parents’ vacation house in the Vosges mountains. One day, we took a day trip to Alsace, the region just on the other side of the mountain famous for its wines, its storks, and little houses with pointy roofs and exposed beams.

We went on a pilgrimage to Niedermorschwihr, the Alsacian village where Christine Ferber, whom I’ve mentioned before, officiates. This is where the Jam Fairy makes the best French jams, and this is where she sells them, in a little bakery named Au Relais des Trois Epis.

I had been dying to go there ever since I learned about it, and grew increasingly excited as we neared the village. We parked on the tiny church square, got out of the car and were instantly knocked off our feet by the intense fruit smells. They were coming out of a small ground floor window in the back of the shop, through which we could see the lab where the magic happens.

Somebody’s pet is hiding in the picture. Can you spot it?

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