main courses recipes
Did you know that it is possible to buy a fresh ball of bread dough from your bakery ? Just simply ask for a ball of dough that weighs about 200-250 grams, the same weight as a baguette and there you go ! The idea behind this recipe is to to be able to enjoy a last minute urge and the speed of making an almost home-made pizza. Of course, we will...
It’s time for my favorite Spanish stew, but with a Belgian touch. This is one of those comfort foods I absolutely adore and that I can eat for several days (because I make a lot) and it gets just gets better and better with time. A stew that is usually made in Spain in order to feed many family members all at once, combining veal (I used...
The outdoor market had pretty lovely seafood so I obviously bought some. The tartlets were prepared with a more exotic and Asian flavour, because of the wonton wrapper shells, holding it all together. Mixed in with some julienned vegetables, some coconut milk and coriander and ginger root too ! An explosive flavour that is addictive…...
Time is not always on our side. One more day until the next outdoor market in my neighborhood here in Paris (which is, by the way, chilly this week) and I still have loads of greens and vegetable leftovers and yes they are taking up a lot of space in the refrigerator… half a cabbage, lots of celery, green onions, parsley, dill, a few...
"Keftedes" is the mediterranean version of a meatball and quite often (when larger) the meaty part of a juicy home-made hamburger . . . A comfort-food as well as a simple and easy dish whether prepared as a bite-sized appetizer or as part of a main dish, served up with fries and a tzatziki sauce (yogourt, cucumber and garlic...
A nice and tasty vegetarian and vegan version of a dish often prepared with ground beef and also mixed with rice. With this rice & herbs stuffed zucchini dish, the zucchini pulp replaces the meat and the fresh aromatic herbs give it those extra green flavours. You can also prepare this dish with bell peppers (very easy because they're already...
Or rather when Belgium meets Quebec… This my friends was freaking amazing ! A readaption of the typically simple and delicious mountains of mussels in their shells (cooked in white wine, beer and sometimes cream) with a side-order of fries and mayonnaise like we eat in northern France and further north-east in Belgium (where it originates)....
"The robot-kids are coming over and bringing along their non-robotic parental units. They're good kids, they don't say much or even look up much. They're watching their mobile phone screens and staying connected and texting and/or updating their statuses". . . I could just send them a text message to get their attention...
I really thought I could stay away from my traditional Greek recipes but the spinach and leeks and green onions and dill caught my eye at the outdoor market today… I was helpless. The pack of rolled filo dough waiting for me in the fridge didn't help much either. The filling is simple enough to prepare and can easily be varied. I...
"There are two kinds of people in this world… there's them and there's us." …funny words surprisingly uttered to us by a then-waitress now-kind-of-superstar living in London, while sitting in a Greek-run coffee shop in Montreal, sometime in the late 80's. "Us" Greeks (also known as "my...
Bifteki is not a hamburger. Bifteki is not a steak. Bifteki it's something in between ! When I was young boy, we would always go to my uncle's diner in northern Greece, in Thessalonike, to have a wonderful bifteki ! Bifteki is a very simple beef recipe with no extra herbs or flavours. You can prepare it beforehand and keep it in the...
The first time I tasted matcha (green tea) ice-cream, probably around 20 years ago, it was heavenly. It felt as if I was tasting the cream made from the cow's milk as well as the grasses it fed on in order to create this milk. This is the idea behind my hay and twig roasted leg of lamb. A lamb prepared in a traditionally Greek manner but...
Feeling weak ? Feeling hungry ? Feeling carnivorous ? Raw meat… mixed in with more raw stuff, this is the original "steak tartare" in France. Raw, fresh quality ground beef (sometimes hand-cut) served with a selection of condiments and an egg yolk that you mix in yourself (or sometimes pre-mixed) alongside a simple green salad and...
I keep forgetting how much I appreciate salty-fishy flavours. Fish eggs, tarama dip, anchovies, sardines and now "bacalhau". A portuguese staple (or so it seems), I was fortunate enough to discover this dish having dinner 2 summers ago with my gorgeous cousin Angie and her portuguese husband Gil and my niece Kayla. In their version, they had...