I'll bet any one of you ten bucks that when you
were 19, you were nowhere near as productive as Eléonor Picciotto.
Picciotto, an expat hailing from France and a recent Boston University
grad, is the author of a new cookbook right up my penniless alley: French Cuisine for the Young & Broke. When I graduated high school and packed my
life into suitcases bound for college, my relatives gave me awkward dorm
cookbooks, straight out of the 80s. They were full of ramen, rice and clever ways
to use hot plates, which of course, are now banned. I wish she'd written this
thing sooner.
The recipes, ranging from crêpes to croque monsieurs,
read easy and don't send me loading up on overpriced ingredients at
Shaws--which is exactly the point, Picciotto tells me over the phone from New York in a clipped,
elegant French accent.
"I've always loved cooking and eating good things,"
she says. "When I arrived in the U.S. I was shocked at how badly
people eat. But, the reason is because of a lack of knowledge, not a lack of
money, which is what everyone thinks. If you know how to make a grocery list, which is the hardest part,
you'll be fine."
After a skiing accident took Picciotto, a former
member of the BU Ski Team, off the slopes and landed her in a cast for eight
weeks, her friends suggested putting 
together a cookbook to keep her occupied.
She began to host dinners with friends, affectionately named "Supper
Clubs," during which she would create easy desserts or sauces, much to the
amazement of her guests.
"People couldn't believe the stuff I was making,
and it was all very simple," she says.
About a year and a half later, after impersonating
a teacher to gain entrance into the BookExpo America in New York, finding a publisher, and
revising her recipes seven times, French
Cuisine has become a reality.
Though it's easy to imagine that all French college
students whip up pristine petit-fours
for breakfast, Picciotto says the biggest difference between us and our cousins
across the pond is a sneaky reliance on take-out.
"The big difference is that here, you are used to
ordering in," she says. "We don't do that in France, because there aren't really
places to order from. No matter how late you are, how long a day you've had,
you always cook. Even if it's just pasta, because then you know what's in it!"
Eléonor Picciotto will appear at The French Cultural Center, 53 Marlborough Street, Boston, samples in tow, on Thursday, January 12, 6:30pm-8:30pm. $5. To RSVP, call 617.912.0400.
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