Suzy made Gougeres. And I am so glad she did. Dorie Greenspan describes gougeres as cheese puffs. But don’t be confused with thoughts of those neon orange, styrofoam-resembling Cheetos products… these are wondrous balls of dough that when baked puff up into airy, cheesy bites of goodness. I could have stood there popping these treats into my mouth until the whole basket was empty.

Riley made Tzatziki. It is a traditionally Greek and Middle Eastern yogurt and cucumber dip, and I struggled to find something among all the French food to eat it with. I stole an endive and a chip from the other dishes to scoop some of the tzatziki up. It tasted much like other tzatzikis I’ve had before.

I made Tuna Rillettes. I chose this recipe for two reasons – 1) it called for nothing more than blending tuna, cream, shallot, curry powder, and allspice in a food processor; and 2) I happened to have tuna that I had caught and canned myself. The recipe suggests that you let it sit for at least an hour after mixing, which I’d say is a must… I was amazed how the spice flavors came forward to make a really wonderful spread.

Kat made Sardine Rillettes. I was curious to see if this would seem like a sardine version of the tuna rillettes, but was happy to find that it was a dish completely its own. Whereas in the tuna rillettes the fish was the main component with other ingredients as seasoning, this spread had more of a cream cheese base with sardines as really nice flavoring.

Diana made Black Olive Tapenade. She served it with endives, baby greens, and cilantro butter. I am a big fan of olive tapenade, and this was a solid rendition though not particularly distinct from other tapenades in my mind. It went really nicely with the cilantro butter, which I don’t think was from either of the cookbooks.

Jenny made Roasted Beet Salad. I like roasted beets and I enjoyed this salad, but again there was nothing to make this beet salad stand out from many others I’ve eaten. Though I’m always happy to eat beets that someone else wants to make, to save me the hours and mess of roasting them myself.

Shayna made Cauliflower-Bacon Gratin. Perhaps in a meal that wasn’t so filled with other rich, creamy dishes I would have liked this better. In this meal, it didn’t especially stand out for me.

Brian made Pumpkin Stuffed with Everything Good. “Everything Good” in this context is bread, cheese, garlic, bacon, and cream… which I would generally tend to agree with. Again however, with so much soft, cheesy, creamy food around, I wasn’t as happy eating this as I think I should have been. It did have a fun aesthetic that was very inviting.

Drew made Quiche Lorraine. Bacon, onion confit, cream, eggs, and cheese in a pastry crust! I was really excited about this dish, especially since it was a Thomas Keller recipe. Apparently I was on creamy, cheesy overload, because I was disappointed to find it didn’t blow me away.

Marisol made Hachis Parmentier. It’s like a French shepherd’s pie – meat and mashed potatoes… and of course cheese and cream. As I am not a big fan of mashed potatoes and as previously mentioned had shockingly reached my limit of cheese and creaminess (I didn’t even think that was possible!), this dish was doomed not to be a favorite for me.

Yvonne made Leek and Potato Soup. While not as rich as many of the other dishes, this dish had similar flavor profile to the rest of the meal. I found myself wishing it had a hit of acidity to brighten the flavors. And I wanted more leeks!

Yvonne also made Roast Chicken. I imagine this chicken would have been great when more freshly out of the oven, but I think it suffered from sitting for quite awhile due to us starting to eat quite late. By the time we got to it, the chicken was cold and what looked like a once wonderfully crisp skin had softened. I’d like to try making this and see what it’s like when hot!

Erin made White Sausage with Prunes and Potato Puree. Another soft, creamy dish. I knew I wasn’t going to be raving over the pureed potato, but I had high hopes for the flavor pop that the spiced prunes would add to the complexity of this dish. The prune flavor turned out to be more subtle than I was hoping for, and white sausage tends to be a soft sausage so I found myself wanting some chew or crunch to sink my teeth into.

Cindy made Lamb and Dried Apricot Tagine. This was my favorite dish of the night, perhaps because it had spice and sweetness in contrast to the rich creaminess of almost everything else. I could imagine myself happily eating a big bowl of this spooned over some rice.

Fiona made My Go-To Beef Daube. The chunks of beef were cooked in a lot of red wine and some brandy… and you can taste it. This is not a complaint, as I really enjoyed the winey flavor. It made me realize I don’t have a go-to beef stew, but this might be a solid option.

Laura made Speculoos. These are spicy (cinnamon, ginger, clove) brown sugar cookies. I’ve had store-bought Speculoos, but never homemade before. They will never be my everyday cookie of choice, but there’s something about them that is great with strong hot coffee at Christmastime.

Anthony made Vanilla Pastry Cream. He combined this with yellow cake and chocolate sauce (not from the cookbooks) to make his version of Boston Cream Pie. The cream was good, Anthony’s cakes are always deliciously moist, and I really liked that the chocolate sauce was more darkly bitter with just a touch of sweet.