If the French don't love freedom, why is their food so frickin' good?

My lent-observing in laws came over for dinner last night, and since I was limited to fish, I decided to go with the classics: Sole Meuniere with the traditional accompaniments. "sole meuniere" sure do sound fancy, don't it? Au contraire, mon frere. If you can find sole, buy it, dry it off and salt it and let it sit for 5 min., dredge it in flour and pan fry it with a mixture of a TBSP of oil and a TBSP of butter. If it's thin, it will only need to cook for about a minute on each side. Put it in a warm oven while you add a couple more TBSP of butter, a TBSP of lemon juice, chopped parsley, and capers to the pan. Pour it over and that's it. Mmm.

That was served with potatoes Anna, which is potatoes sliced thin, layered in a cast iron pan with s&p and butter between each layer. Again, so simple, and so good.

But that wasn't the revelation of the night. While a Mimosa is a good way to nurse a hangover, it's also a classic french treatment for asparagus. You make a vinaigrette with vinegar, tarragon, a little mustard and oil, toss the cooked asparagus (I used green beans instead), then finish with a hard boiled eggs garnish- the egg is pressed through a mesh strainer and it becomes this fluffy, pretty yellow love that soaks up the vinaigrette. Here's a recipe:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/recipe_views/views/236717

So simple, really easy, and frickin' good. Vive la France!