"Are you a genuine APRIL DAY FOOL if you make your own sardines at home ... or just TOTALLY-BANANAS-CRAZY !?" Well, I’m not so sure. I made a small batch, starting with 1 kg of fresh sardines, cleaning them, salt-curing them for several days, then storing them in olive oil. The first time I tried this, I realized that...
3 THINGS … The 1st : I LOVE RAW OYSTERS, but with nothing (no lemon, no vinegar, no shallots, just the oyster liquid/liquor …) and accompanied with bread and salted butter. So there was obviously no point in publishing a recipe of OYSTERS with NOTHING, even though I would have liked to and would have laughed alot ! The...
I LIKE TO PLAN AHEAD AND FREEZE STUFF … you can thank me later ! Which is why I’m sharing these simple recipes and techniques with you, before spring and summer creep up on us and you totally forget about potatoes and carrots and celery and beets ! Instead of simply boiling everything (and thus losing all those precious...
ACCIDENTAL PROPOSALS sometimes lead to ACCIDENTAL RECIPES . . . so let yourself go and say YES ! I rarely ever buy radishes. I always say “no thank-you” when my sweet & funny greengrocer-lady proposes that I get some. This time, I said YES (I feel bad always saying NO). On that same day, I bought some beautiful...
SHOW-OFF your LOVE, BUILD a "SPECIAL" DESSERT for VALENTINE’S DAY ! This apple-based Valentine’s Day dessert idea is actually a combination and reinterpretation of a few of my latest January and February recipes. One recipe or technique simply led to another … I had dear friends from France and Canada who were...
What can you do with the rest of your chocolate easter eggs (if they’re candy-coated) or extra m&m’s (if you have some lying around) and egg whites (if you have some of those too, as I always do) ? Well, you can make COLORFUL & SPECKLED CHOCOLATE EGG MERINGUES that look like SEAGULL EGGS !!! The idea came to me...
“Oh Danny Boy, the pipes, the pipes are calling …” okay, I’m not Irish, but it is Saint Patrick’s day soon ! And nor is Daniel Gritzer (a chef and the culinary director of the serious eats website) who published this recipe. But when I discovered his version of this irish stew (published on January 7, my birthday)...
*reminder for Friday night : BEER & MUSSELS & (a few) CLAMS & fresh BREAD & maybe some FRIES with MAYONNAISE too ! This is an easy, end-of-the-week dish for two, especially if prepared with fresh vegetables and herbs. Obviously, the official name of this dish is "moules marinières" or...
WEIRD WEATHER, right ?! I don’t how it’s been where you live, but here in Paris, we’ve had a mild winter this year. Then it’s gets cold (as it should), then warm again, like spring or autumn, then cold again … « climate change » weirdness, I guess … This vegetarian soup...
APPLES AGAIN ?! Yes … but with walnuts this time and puff pastry … be BRAVE, another LAST apple dessert recipe this weekend and then nothing until next autumn or winter ! What else was I supposed to do ? I still had a jar of my apple compote in the refrigerator. I still had puff pastry that I had frozen and many, many,...
If you’re going to be celebrating something special, you better have a big fat greek pita pie to share with everyone ! As many have heard, a serious and massive refugee situation is going on in Greece. Despite the difficulties that the Greek citizens have been going through these past several years, not to mention the horrible...
What do you mean by : “WHY AM I BOTHERING YOU AGAIN THIS WEEK” ??? & WHY, WY, Y are we THROWING AWAY our VEGETABLE PEELINGS and SKINS ?!? … because we are wasteful & dumb creatures or perhaps just didn’t know any better … we may be forgiven (if we change our ways now). As I was recently...
February 29 only comes every 4 years, which is why I’m taking this opportunity to show you how to make PERFECT FRIES ! *and pay careful attention, because I’ll only do this type of recipe/technique for you, only once every 4 years. And I’m not talking about the skinny fries you can get at McDonalds, but the...
CRISPY on the TOP, TENDER and MELT-IN-YOUR-MOUTH goodness, right UNDER . . . This is my next phase of experimenting with Asian-style cooking.The first experiment was the Chinese New Year peanut cookies with a Canadian chocolate-cherry touch (see recipe and images here). Now it’s the crispy pork belly with a European touch,...
HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR !!! (which is tomorrow on February 8 and celebrated for 1 week) … and here are my traditional Chinese new year peanut cookies, but with a Canadian touch, a chocolate-covered candied-cherry heart, in the middle … WHY, you ask ? I’m not Chinese as you know, but several of my Canadian friends...