This text is aimed at anyone who has aspired to haute cuisine but have been scared by the culinary intricacies. The recipes are based on traditional French dishes, but draw their inspiration from a wide variety of cuisines. Recipes include root vegetable and haggis soup, gratinated oysters with black beans and garlic, shallot tarte tatin with sauteed chicken livers, and rice pudding ice cream with fruit compote. The recipes demonstrate that simple ingredients, simply prepared, can give a result as good as using ingredients that are more expensive.