main courses recipes

I’m going to try to keep it short and simple this time: “HAPPY FIRE ROOSTER CHINESE NEW YEAR” ! . . .  and yes, I’m amazed to know that. It’s interesting how CHINA and the CHINESE CULTURE play such important roles in our lives or at least that we’re so aware of when the Chinese New Year is...

SNOW  in Paris on Monday, November 7th between 8:15 and 8:45 am . . . okay it melted right away but anyways it’s really rare here and it made me nostalgic. As my friend Nicole once funnily said many years ago : “all the little snows get together and make snow . . .” (so cute, she was talking about the...

The 'timing' for this recipe is just ‘right’ . . . The 1st reason is that it’s getting so much colder so  it’s time for some homey-hot-heavy comfort food. The 2nd reason is that the culinary mind that imagined and transformed this initial recipe and presented it in the 90’s to the American public is...

Dried "VEGETABLE FLAKES" are nothing to “snicker” at  . . . (I can almost picture your mocking grins and my hand slowly raising itself and getting ready to give you a little slap) … HOW DARE I ?! It’s that stuff you’ve noticed when face-to-face with a vegetable soup that you add boiling water...

Dearest UNITED KINGDOM … What is this I hear ?! You want to leave US, your EU, your FAMILY, your NEIGHBORS, your CAMARADES ? your CLUB ? I’ve just made a batch of one your national dishes ?! Won’t you reconsider ? We all know that we can’t always get what we want all the time nor please everyone all at once. And sure,...

This dish is called “FASOLAKIA ME KREAS” in Greek and is usually prepared in just one casserole, gently simmering for several hours until so tender that it melts in your mouth and actually becomes a liittle too mushy (if you’re not attentive during the long & gentle simmering) . . . In the summertime, we often make it...

. . . the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month : Remembrance Day - Armistice Day (symbolized by a red poppy in the United Kingdom, the U.S.A., Canada, Australia and New Zealand, while in France, it’s the blue cornflower). The First World War means so much for so many countries that participated, whether directly in their own...

NO PEPPER, NO GARLIC, NO ONION, NO LEMON, NO SPICES, NO DRIED HERBS, NO NOTHING (or almost) . . . but why ? Because it’s easy to appreciate and be grateful & thankful for fancy & wonderful & complex things, but how about the simpler things, or even the SIMPLEST THINGS ?! It all began with HERBS, many, many, many...

. . . of the northern Spanish bean & cured meats stew, as prepared by “PEPA” (a.k.a. Angel’s mama) who is visiting us in Paris for 10 days to see us and cook, cook, and cook ! Here’s the wikipedia definition : fabada asturiana, often simply known as fabada, is a rich Spanish bean stew, originally from and most...

ASPARAGUS are like OYSTERS, they’re better whole or as plain and as simple and transformed as little as possible ... BUT if your asparagus stalks are larger and less tender than the thinner and younger stalks, then you need to play around and try something new. In this case it’s OKAY to slice them into thin strips. People say...

I really-really-really WISHED I could show you all the stuff I’ll be preparing for the holiday meals like : salt-cured foie gras (not ready yet) & salt-cured dried beef (still drying & curing) &  roasted leg of lamb with baby potatoes, onions, mushrooms and maybe chestnuts (the lamb is marinating...

This CHILLY-COLD-COLDER weather needs a WARM-HOTTER-SPICY soup . . .  and in my part of the world, the cold is just beginning . . .  (and I’m not quite ready to deal with it yet) ! It’s quite surprising when we realize the importance and/or obsession most of us have with weather. It obviously affects our mood but...

"CURIOSITY is my prime motivator. MEMORY is my second. EVENTS are my third. It seems that the past 20 months have been punctuated by more events than I care to admit to, mostly tragic and man-made, sometimes naturally catastrophic . . ." My cooking inspirations are sensitive to these events and launch a tumult and churning in my mind,...

Do you know exactly what is in your "HOTDOGS" ?! I DO . . . which is why I decided to make these little guys . . . even though it obviously takes some time, all good things do ! 3rd week of JULY, a time when barbecuing can safely begin and continue until AUGUST and maybe mid-SEPTEMBER, if you’re lucky. The...

There’s been a lot of talk about “MISO-BUTTER” lately … MISO-what ? WHAT-butter ?! Here’s the story: several years ago, chef David Chang from the Momofuku restaurant in New York came up with this rather Japanese approach to asparagus. Roast the asparagus, place it on top of a miso paste & butter sauce...