all the recipes
Just like PILLOWS and INFLATED MATTRESSES ! What interesting puff-pastry architectures indeed ! Originally, the “vol-au-vent” culinary term signified “windblown”, to describe the hollow, light and airy puff-pastry cases or patty cases, prepared and pre-baked, to be later filled with sweet and/or savory fillings, most often...
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...
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...
A “kokkinisto” which means “reddened” is a preparation of meat bathed in a sauce and is usually made with either larger pieces or cubes of stewed meat, when served with starchy accompaniments or prepared with ground meats when incorporated in other oven-baked dishes. This version is something in between and quite...
… with only 2 main ingredients : triple-strained and thickened Greek-style yogurt (as thick as Lebanese labneh but not salty) combined with sweetened condensed milk and a few little extra hints of the flavorings that you choose to use, whether it’s fresh lemon or lime juice, vanilla extract, floral waters such as orange blossom or...
Believe it or not, your final preparations, whatever they may be and if they require any broth or stock, will only be as good as the broth or stock you use and incorporate into your dishes, whether home-made or store-bought. Many view stock or broth as just an ingredient and most often as a cube or two of dehydrated and compressed powders, to...
When an unintended but quickly modified and rather easy dessert idea becomes perfection in its simplicity ! Yes, I am proud of this accident, which is why I tested it again and why I’m sharing this crunchy, fruity and gooey baklava-style apple dessert with you. I had planned to prepare something different. It was going to be a small...
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...
Basic recipes with variations that everyone should know because they’re always part of other recipes, as toppings or as binders for the fillings. And if you follow me, then you know I use them often, so I’d like to make it simple enough to remember without having to look up the recipe all the time and without explaining it (and...
It’s already AUGUST 1st so how about if we prepare enough fillings for 25 VEGETARIAN TACOS to eat for the next 3 days or throw a small intimate party for our family and/or close friends and eat everything tonight ?! And don’t forget the watermelon cocktails and fruit salad … Tacos are so Mexican and yet, the...
I have extremely fond memories of shared winter holiday meals, but many actually took place before or after or in between the official Christmas and New Year’s festivities. They weren’t the fanciest nor the best prepared meals, and to be honest, many were whipped up at the last minute. And yet I remember them more fondly, perhaps...
I’m so sorry kids (from the youngest to the less young too), but there will be no door-to-door trick-or-treating this year, so all you older and wiser parents and grandparents or closest friends and neighbors, be troopers and protectors and not sourpusses and party-poopers and make it an in-house close proximity event with your own...
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...
And I mean instead of TOMATOES ! This fine month of September, many of you may be in the midst of or getting ready to prepare your home-made jarred tomatoes and sauces for the coming seasons until the next summer. Have you ever thought about EGGPLANTS ? Not only as a sauce, but also as a base for other sauces and foods ?! Eggplants, yes....
Nothings says joyful, relaxing and lazy “summer” more than a marinated seafood salad (even though seafood is more plentiful in the colder months) so a summery version must include vegetables, both leafy and water-gorged crunchy ones, to make it both seasonally coherent and complete ! My version is one third seafood, one third...