French weeknight dinners are simpler than French restaurant food suggests. A soup, a quiche, a pan of pasta, a piece of fish with butter, and then a yogurt, a piece of fruit or some cheese. All of it can be made from a regular Canadian supermarket, as long as you know what to buy in place of a few French staples.
What does a French family eat on a weeknight?
Lunch used to be the main meal in France, so dinner was lighter: soup, an omelette, leftovers. Today dinner is the family meal for most working households, but it stays short. One main dish, often with vegetables in it, then something small to finish. Dessert on a Tuesday is a yogurt, not a cake.
Quick pan dinners
These are on the table in about half an hour.
- [Croque-monsieur](/recipes/croque-monsieur): ham, cheese and béchamel in toasted bread. The French ham guide explains which deli ham to ask for.
- [Steak au poivre](/recipes/steak-au-poivre): a pan steak with a cracked-pepper cream sauce. Fries or a green salad on the side.
- [Trout meunière](/recipes/truite-meuniere): fillets in browned butter with lemon. Canadian rainbow trout is sold everywhere.
- [Moules marinières](/recipes/moules-marinieres): PEI mussels steamed in white wine. Ten minutes on the stove once they're cleaned.
- [Salmon pasta](/recipes/pates-au-saumon): the French student and family staple, with cream and lemon.
- [Buckwheat galette](/recipes/galette-complete): ham, cheese and egg in a Breton buckwheat crêpe.
Cook once, eat twice
French home cooks lean on dishes that reheat well. Make these on Sunday or a quieter evening and the next night is already done.
- Soups: leek and potato or a vegetable soup, with bread and cheese.
- Gratins: cauliflower gratin, endives with ham or hachis parmentier, the French shepherd's pie.
- One-pot dishes: sausages with lentils, stuffed tomatoes or beef and carrots.
- Tarts and loaves: quiche Lorraine, a tomato mustard tart or a ham and olive loaf, which also goes in a lunchbox the next day.
The French pantry, from a Canadian store
Most French weeknight dishes rely on the same handful of ingredients. Here's what to keep in the fridge and cupboard.
- Lardons → thick-cut smoked bacon, cut into batons. See the lardons guide.
- Gruyère or Emmental → both sold at most cheese counters. Grate it yourself; pre-grated cheese is coated to stop it clumping and melts less smoothly.
- Crème liquide → 35% whipping cream. Crème fraîche → see the crème fraîche guide.
- Pâte brisée or feuilletée → frozen pie dough or puff pastry. The pastry guide says which ones are all-butter.
- Moutarde de Dijon → Dijon mustard, sold in every supermarket.
- Jambon blanc → a plain cooked ham from the deli counter, sliced thin.
- A jar of mustard vinaigrette in the fridge turns any bag of lettuce into the French side salad.
A week of French dinners
- Monday: leek and potato soup, bread and cheese. Make a double batch.
- Tuesday: salmon pasta.
- Wednesday: quiche Lorraine with a green salad. Keep two slices for lunch.
- Thursday: the rest of the soup, then croque-monsieur.
- Friday: moules marinières with fries, or trout meunière.
- Weekend: something slow, like beef and carrots or hachis parmentier, with leftovers for Monday.
One weekend shop covers it: leeks and potatoes, a salmon fillet, eggs, bacon, Gruyère, cream, sliced ham, mussels or trout for Friday, and a baguette bought on the day you need it.
How the French finish a weeknight meal
Plain yogurt with a spoon of sugar or jam, a piece of fruit, a square of dark chocolate or a small piece of cheese with the last of the bread. On a cold night, a rice pudding made ahead keeps for three days in the fridge.
