main courses recipes
What else would you eat in this freezing weather ? Something hot, something you can chew on but also slurp, something meaty (unless you’re vegetarian and you add beans instead) and served in a large bowl that you can wrap your hands around to warm them up ! It’s just a simple rustic vegetable soup with cabbage and smoked...
A savory cake that’s like a pre-assembled sandwich, made with cured meats and cold cuts, cheeses, some marinated vegetables, fresh aromatic herbs and some salad leaves too, all nestled comfortably in a baked aerated batter that is almost like a dough and simply sliced and eaten at room temperature or even toasted and warm ? A fine practical...
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,...
The simplified method for this traditional preserving method for seasonal duck meat could easily become an alternative for an easier do-ahead prepared holiday meal. The method, that involves pre-salting, some waiting and then preserving the salted meats in fat seems simple enough but sometimes we get the ratios wrong so here’s how I do it...
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...
Here’s a reinterpreted soup from my childhood days growing up in Quebec, Canada where it is still very popular and available in every restaurant but pea soup is international and existed in Ancient Rome and Greece around 500 B.C. and was even sold in the streets by vendors during that era ! Could this be the most ancient soup in the world...
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...