main courses recipes
BRINY & SALTY & FISHY FLAVORS : shredded SALTED COD, smothered with mashed POTATOES and OLIVE OIL, to be transformed into something creamier and with (of course) my additions like the crispy scalloped potato topping and those BLACK OLIVES (inside and out), adding more depth and intensity (if that’s even possible)...
TICK-TOCK & DING-DONG & JINGLING BELLS & HO-HO-HO & LITTLE KIDS GIGGLING & GROWN-UPS CLINKING-CLANKING GLASSES and ME, STILL GETTING ALL EXCITED ABOUT HOLIDAY MEAL PREPARATIONS (even at my age) and when it comes to preparing all that stuff, I’m a lot of things but I’m definitely not lazy ! IT’S A...
GOOD-BYE MONTREAL & HELLO PARIS ! *and I'm gonna have a little nap now . . . I’m ending my short trip to Montreal and return back to Paris with one of my favorites which is a complete meal too (even though this type of recipe or assembly of diverse and slightly messy elements may not even deserve to even be a recipe...
In 1953, Dean Martin sang : “when the moon hits your eye like a big(ga)-pizza-pie, that’s amore . . .” I don’t know if Mr. Dean Martin was talking about this kind of pizza-pie or not. But I do know that I don’t often write the funniest or most clever stories. Those usually require a particularly well-developed...
“FILO” isn’t just for making GREEK STUFF you know (or Turkish or Armenian or Lebanese stuff for that matter) ! And I think it was also time that I publish some very quick & easy recipes after all my complicated and/or time-consuming recipes, that may scare some of you or perhaps just make you roll your eyes back at me,...
“I MISS FAMILY-FOOD-MAKING-DAYS” . . . I miss making sausages with them every winter back in Montreal. I miss the hand-operated manual machine we used to have and that big wooden board we had to attach it to, in order to have an appropriate workspace and to avoid damaging the rest of the kitchen installations. I miss the ache of all...
« A PIZZA FOR EACH SEASON » . . . or how to take advantage of the last zucchinis & eggplants of the season, before you actually start making & preserving jars of your own home-made tomato sauce for the colder autumn & winter months upon us already ! Seriously ? Are you actually planning to do...
“PICNICKING” mediterranean-style . . . yeah, I love all of that ! I wasn’t planning to publish a “PISSALADIERE” recipe but because it’s picnicking season and because I’ll be talking about PICNICS and how to organize them very-very-very soon (in the next few days perhaps), it just made sense to include...
1, 2, 3, 4 - cheeses white pizza to wrap up part 4 of the ‘pizza series’. I’m not gonna lie to you, an all-white cheesy pizza is good, but a reddish tomato-sauce all-dressed pizza with all the toppings is better, but this is a nice & easy & quick recipe option and thus ‘deserving’ of being...
Get yourself a KITCHEN SCALE (digital and precise if possible please) ! A PASTA-MAKING MACHINE would also be lovely, but I must admit that I broke my cheap model after using it twice and finally ended up using a ROLLING-PIN and ELBOW GREASE (everything is possible, especially ‘old school’ methods) … Making RAVIOLI...
I HAVE BEEN SO LAZY ever since the end of all the holidays followed by my birthday too and taking down all the Christmas decorations (boo hoo) and this cold weather and those grey skies . . . It’s a miracle that I even have the energy to type all of this up ! I just want to take it easy and eat “leftovers” or dream that there...
STELLA is my darling sister in Montreal. This recipe is for HER. We all call her STELLA-WELLA (because it rhymes) or STELLITSA (which signifies little Stella in greek). She is tall & thin & pretty and very organized with a good head for business and finances (which is why she works for a branch of the UN international...
This “THING” appeared on my table a few weeks ago when I was on assignment and in a fancy restaurant with some charming guests. This “THING”, individually prepared & served is so lovely to look at. This “THING” is simple in its flavors and in its assembly. This “THING” can be prepared in...
MAYBE you’ll understand and MAYBE YOU WON'T ?! I’m obsessed with the pizza of my childhood, my teenage years and my younger to older adult life . . . It’s all memory-related. Ordering an XL PIZZA from our favorite neighborhood pizzeria was always a moment of joy and homey comfort. To this day, the first thing that my...
A 'POTEE' is a huge french-style winter brothy stew usually made with a whole green cabbage, potatoes, carrots, turnips, some onions and various pork meats and many variations of this dish exist throughout France. It’s also usually a quite large dish because a cabbage is a big thing and you have to slice it up into at least 8...