main courses recipes

I use these heirloom tomatoes like a "spell that I cast", to bring back the almost non-existent Parisian summer that eluded us this year, while the sun continued relentlessly hammering so many other countries ! Needless to say, I bought these beautiful heirloom tomatoes at the outdoor market. And to top it all off, my father in...

Both an African (Angola & Mozambique) & European (Portugal) recipe, this succulent preparation with a whimsical sing-song name, refers to the sauce prepared with small bird’s eye or bird’s tongue chilis called PIRI-PIRI (or peri-peri or pili-pili), generously slathered on chicken most often but also used on shrimps and usually...

Could this smaller and easier-to-handle yet handsome, home-made and hearty preparation be an eventually possible option for a small Easter or other spring celebration meal for 4 people (in this unusual era and year of lockdowns, curfews and limited-number gatherings) to replace the more usual gigantic leg of lamb or other...

SIX LAYERS IN ALL. Two alternating layers each of sliced brie cheese, fried mushrooms with leeks and aromatic bechamel sauce (made with the vegetable leftovers), all wrapped up in an over-the-top and high whole-wheat crust ... Mushrooms and leeks are pretty inexpensive this time of year and I think I’ve included mushrooms in my...

Oooh, how I love stuffed cabbage with lemony flavors, especially when heightened and accentuated with extra-tartness with the magical and surprising addition of  “sour salt”, also known as "citric acid" (which you are familiar with if you make food preserves and jams or clean your home ecologically). This is my...

It’s a good time to show you this improved recipe for northern Greek BIFTEKI since it’s my dad’s 85th birthday this weekend and he’s healthy, strong and happy and with the appetite of a young man ! My family back in Montreal will probably be having a few people over to celebrate with lots of preparations and I...

In an ideal world, everybody would celebrate everybody’s holidays together, discovering similarities and understanding differences. All of this often happens quite easily when sharing a traditional holiday meal, around the same table, especially when it’s COUSCOUS. Couscous, instead of rice or pasta, is the easiest thing to do. I...

ONIONS are not just something to be added to dishes as a flavoring. They can be the star of the dish because they’re flavor bombs, especially after partly roasting.  Just as a PIE CRUST is not just a bland vessel to contain the pie fillings because it too can make the dish memorable, through its exceptional (and hopefully not soggy)...

Are you feeling the 2020 Christmas and/or Holiday Season spirit yet ? I know what an unusual year it has been for all of us. I wish things had been different but they’re not. But all is not lost. You can try to bring that holiday joy back, even though the preparations for this year’s joys will be limited to smaller numbers and smaller...

A TRIPLE-MOUSSAKA means using all 3 customary vegetables such as 1 layer each of fried or roasted potato slices, zucchini slices and eggplant slices with 2 layers of triple-meat sauce (not ground meats this time but braised & shredded meats with beef, veal and lamb) and 1 layer of a béchamel/mornay sauce. So in all, 6 lovely layers for...

A special seasonal dish prepared “once every summer holiday” (or maybe twice) made up of 6 layers of pasta, 4 individual & separate layers of roasted vegetable slices (1 layer of zucchini + 1 layer of eggplants + 1 layer of peppers + 1 layers tomatoes), each layer of which is slathered with some ratatouille-style tomato sauce,...

A humble wintery cream of leek and potato soup can be brightened up with springy lemony & herby flavors and dressed up with windowpane (or sandwiched semi-transparent layers of) oven-baked crispy leek & potato chips, filled with more fresh herbs too. All of this is because here in France, we thought that spring had already placed a...

Every country, every region and perhaps also every neighborhood and every household has their own versions of lentil soups, but this one, called «LENTEJAS CON CHORIZO» is my favorite. An intense, spicy, smoky, herby and hearty version with sliced chorizo and extra paprika. It’s a full meal for these colder months,...

In these uncertain times, how can you extend a delicious winter dish with salt cod to 4 servings (when it was initially intended for only 2) and add flavor by hardly increasing its cost ? Use the de-salting water of the salt cod as the brine for preparing all the extras ! I’ve made this dish before (for the blog), using the same amount of...

Six layers in all. Three layers of extra thick roasted eggplant slices and 2 layers of chunky braised & shredded “kokkinisto” triple-meat sauce and one layer of thickened bechamel topping (so it doesn’t slide off), all stacked together thickly and cooked individually for an impressive presentation. It reduces the need for...