Picard, My Secret Sous-Chef

My French friend, Marie, tells me that "No French woman would be caught without a freezer full of Picard. Picard is our little secret." Yes, it may be sexist but, hey, how many Frenchmen are cooking their family dinners (probably even fewer than American men...)? Popular as it here, Picard may just be the worst-kept secret around.

Picard could best described, at least to Californians and people in urban hipster environments, as the frozen section of Trader Joe's on steroids. Without the steroids. That is to say that virtually all of the ingredients and meals are flash frozen, without preservatives, strange-sounding chemicals, or crazy hormones. Much like with Trader Joe's frozen foods, the ingredients are easily recognizable and generally what you would use to make it from scratch, if you had the inclination. Some are organic, but not all.

You can find a Picard pretty much anywhere in the country, and in Paris there seems to be one in each neighborhood. The stores aren't flashy or fancy -- pretty much just a big white room filled with freezers. Like Trader Joe's, they have a variety of ethnic foods. Frankly, possibly even more than what you find as restaurants choices. For example, in the freezer case above you see American cheeseburgers and Moroccan pastilles next to goat-cheese tartes, gougères, and crêpes. Below are some of the lunches I make for myself when we run out of leftovers and salad ingredients, including a little something to remind me of India (and yes, of course I add my own hot sauce. This is, after all, still made for a French market that is pathologically averse to spicy food).

One of the things that really sets Picard apart from Trader Joe's is not just the sheer variety of offerings, but also the way single ingredients are treated. Meaning: instead of a single frozen block of spinach that you have to thaw then separate, the bag contains ice-cube-sized chunks. So you can just shake out the amount you need and keep the rest frozen. Brilliant! On days when I just need a tiny little something and/or forget to thaw, it's perfect. Below, sauteeing frozen spinach and onions for a base, and cubes of pumpkin puree to help thicken a soup.

Many of the meals are quite good. Picard makes some of the better frozen lasagna I've ever tried, and some of the best pizza (period) that I've had in France, which frankly says less about the quality of the Picard frozen pizza and more about the quality of pizza in France. One dish that comes out looking exactly like the package (yet nobody in our family actually likes) is the mushroom-and-chestnut-stuffed guinea fowl. So if you see this on your hostess' table (including mine...) and she tells you she slaved for hours, don't believe her.