How to eat like you’re in Paris for the Olympics

By Dorie Greenspan, The New York Times

For those living in Paris over the past few years, the opening ceremony for the Olympic Games may feel more like reaching the finish line than toeing it, exhausting for organizers and Parisians alike. Spiffing up the city for the Games has been like trying to complete all of Hercules’ labors at once, with so many miles of torn-up streets, capricious metro closings, bus detours to parts unknown and monuments swaddled Christo-style.

Having spent so much energy getting ready, it’s terrific that the best way to celebrate it is also the easiest: apéro dînatoire, the French meal that’s part living room picnic, part cocktail party — and the perfect TV dinner. It’s the least stressful meal with a French name that I can think of, and it’s fun for everyone, including the host. It’s what my Paris pals will be making as they watch the Games — and what I’ll be making 3,500 miles away in my corner of Connecticut.

Apéro dînatoire is more about shopping than cooking, about buying good things and arranging them on platters. Simply. Forget Instagram-worthy boards — you want food that’s easy to reach for when you’re marveling at Simone Biles’ moves. You don’t have to set the table, you don’t have to serve, and you don’t have to be in the kitchen for long spells because no one expects anything hot or homemade, even if I always make a few dishes. Can’t help myself.

For a medal-worthy Olympic-watch party, keep to Parisian tradition for the first round of nibbles — cherry tomatoes, olives, nuts, cold radishes in a bowl with soft butter and sea salt, deviled eggs, a nod to France’s beloved oeufs mayo. To my own, I’ll add gougères, my make-ahead house specialty. Then there should be plates of charcuterie and cheese with pickles and mustards and lots of bread and crackers. They serve as kind of the main course in a meal without real courses.

I’ll also clear a place for one of my favorite dishes: salmon rillettes, the fish version of the spread normally made by cooking pork, duck or goose in its own fat. My rillettes — so much lighter and so pretty — are a mixture of quickly cooked salmon (you can use frozen) and chopped smoked salmon. Mashed with a little mayonnaise and butter, sharpened with mustard, lemon and capers and finished with herbs — I like dill and, unusually, cilantro — they get made a day or two in advance and stowed in the fridge. The dish really only needs rounds of baguette or, to make it à la New Yorkaise, bagel chips, but I’ll also put out cucumbers and pickled beets, for color and crunch.

For dessert: cookies and ice cream — cherry, vanilla and blueberry, red, white and blue, conveniently the colors of both the French and American flags. I thought about homemade hot fudge sauce, but between the gougères and rillettes, I’ll have broken the no-cook rules of the game twice. I wonder if the judges would mind?

Honey Mustard Salmon Rillettes

By Dorie Greenspan

Salmon rillettes are the perfect party food for several reasons: They come together quickly and are easily made ahead, best served chilled and happy to be tinkered with. While classic French rillettes are prepared by cooking pork, duck or goose in its own fat for hours and hours until the meat is so soft that it’s spreadable, these rillettes wink at tradition. They’re adapted from the version in “Everyday Dorie: The Way I Cook” (Harvest, 2018) and include a mix of fresh and smoked salmon that are mashed with mayo and a bit of butter, then brightened with mustard and capers. The fact that they sound fancy only makes them more fun to serve super casually with bread and bagel or potato chips.

Yield: 6 servings

Total time: 1 hour 10 minutes

Ingredients

• 2 scallions
• 1 lemon
• 1/2 cup white wine or white vermouth
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 (6- to 8-ounce) fresh or thawed frozen salmon fillet (see Tip)
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 1 small shallot, minced (about 1 tablespoon), rinsed and patted dry
• 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• 2 tablespoons grainy Dijon mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon honey
• 1 tablespoon capers, rinsed, patted dry and finely chopped if large
• 4 ounces smoked salmon, cut into thin strips or small squares (see Tip)
• 2 tablespoons minced fresh dill, plus more for serving
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh cilantro, plus more serving
• Sliced baguette, chips, cucumbers or pickled beets, or a combination, for serving

Preparation

1. Trim the scallions, then mince the white and light green parts and set aside. Toss the dark green parts into a medium saucepan, add a thin slice of lemon, the wine, 1/2 cup water and a pinch of salt and bring to a boil.