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Chicken Chasseur is a savory, rustic French recipe that makes for great comfort food during the colder times of year. The sauce (which itself has plenty of mushrooms and tomatoes) goes nicely over rice, pasta, mashed potatoes, and even a variety of different veggies.

“Chasseur” is actually the French word for “hunter,” though I’m not sure why that word would be associated with chicken. Perhaps it is meant to refer to chicken cooked well enough that even a life-long hunter would enjoy, or perhaps this is the sort of meal that would be prepared for a hunter while he was away and served at the end of a very long hunt. More traditional versions of this recipe leave the skin on the kitchen and even include a bit of cognac. Minus the cognac and with skinless boneless chicken, this version of the recipe is a bit lighter and lower on the calories, but I assure you that it still has a hearty, multi-dimensional, country-style flavor.

Recipe and photo courtesy of 12 Tomatoes

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Quick tip: Discard the bay leaf after cooking.

I think that there might be about as many ways to make great pork chops as to make a tasty chicken dish. This recipe involves a bit of stove-top cooking and a bit of baking in the oven to yield a dish that is savory, earthy, moist, and with just the right amount of soft tartness to draw out the other flavors. This French Onion Pork Chop recipe is a relatively quick and simple way to bring a gourmet meal to your dinner table. It’s great savory flavor, ready in under an hour.

One of my dear cousins is so in love with this dish that he always calls me before he travels to meet us. I can hear it over the phone that he wants to ask me to make this for dinner, but he’s too embarrassed to do so… Until I ask if there’s a favorite dish he’d like to have while visiting us. It’s always this one!

Recipe and photo courtesy of Kudos Kitchen

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Quick tip: If you’re not too fond of Swiss cheese, use your favorite cheese instead!

Yes, believe it or not, chicken can taste delicious when marinated and cooked in red wine. Mixing the red wine with onions, mushrooms, and a few choice herbs gives the dish a savory, earthy flavor.

This recipe is essentially a modern update of a classic French dish that was developed more out of necessity than anything else. French farmers of modest means didn’t really have the plump hens that we have now, back in the day, and what hens they had, they mostly had to keep for egg-laying, so they had to figure out a way to make rooster palatable. They had plenty of wine, onions, and mushrooms to work with, so giving the rooster a good lather of all of that and slowly braising it over a smoky wood fire seemed like a good idea. The resulting great flavor was, you could say, a happy accident.

Recipe and photo courtesy of Saveur

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Quick tip: Leftovers will taste even better the next day!

This French Onion Soup Stuffed Meatloaf recipe is about as far from boring as you can get, for a ground beef-based main course! It’s basically meatloaf au gratin and a rich onion soup rolled into one really hearty recipe – filling enough for a big family meal but gourmet enough to serve for company.

If you and your family think that meatloaf generally equals “blah” or “boring,” you’ll be in for a pleasant surprise if you give this recipe a try. It’s loaded with cheese and savory flavor and manages to be gourmet and hearty comfort food at the same time. With carefully chosen side dishes you can turn this into a festive meal – and your guest will think you have secretly hired a chef!

Recipe and photo courtesy of Cupcakes & Kale Chips

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Quick Tip: Use ground turkey in place of ground beef for a healthier version if you prefer.

Hey, I am a meat eater. But I also love my veggies, and I like having a good go-to option that will satisfy me and my vegan or vegetarian friends (I have a few). This Ratatouille, Julia Child’s twist on a French culinary classic, fits the bill for a quiet home meal or a bustling event. It looks beautiful, tastes great, and cooks in record time!

Many masters of the kitchen have since followed in her footsteps, but Julia Child continues to inspire masters and aspiring amateurs alike. I loved how she honored age-old traditions while making gourmet, Cordon Bleu cooking readily accessible to the masses (as beautifully illustrated in the movie Julie & Julia). And she wasn’t afraid of admitting a mistake or popularizing a variation of a classic recipe when she thought that it would be better for most people, much to the chagrin of the culinary elite in her time.

I love the versatility of her version of ratatouille. It makes for a great meal by itself over a bed of rice or couscous, but it is also great as part of a multi-course vegetarian meal and pairs well with many popular meat dishes. Once the prep is finished, it takes only about 45 minutes worry-free minutes to bake. It doesn’t hurt, either, that it looks so beautiful once you pull it out of the oven.

Recipe adapted by 12 Tomatoes

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Quick tip: If you’re not worried about using dairy, sprinkle some delicious Parmesan cheese on top of the ratatouille!