all the recipes

I had a craving for a greek dish called “SARMADES” or “LAHANODOLMADES” which is a northern greek version of cabbage leaf rolls, stuffed with a mixture of rice and minced meat, strongly-flavored with lemon and cumin, that are time-consuming in their assembly, each one roll and piled on top of one another,...

Here’s a MEDITERRANEAN-ASIAN 'garnish' (to commemorate the Chinese New Year) that you could grate or thinly slice, the way you would with hard cheeses, on top of a preparation. 'Bottarga' is the salt-cured & dried fish roe that you may be familiar with but here we're using chicken egg yolks . It’s an...

The holidays were GREAT, the eating was FANTASTIC and the drinking was AWESOME. The PARTY’s over. Time to pull yourself together and detoxify (yeah, again) ! I can’t decide if it’s fashionable, (or not), to detoxify your system (and admit to it). Even though it isn’t not cool nor sexy (in my world), your body (and mine) are...

This 50-ingredient holiday recipe is like singing that well-known and quite long “THE TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS” carolling song, once you begin, you simply have to go on until it’s all sung and you’ve reached the end … It’s never easy convincing anybody (and this includes friends & family) about preparing a...

It takes TIME (not active time but waiting time) but it’s worth it. It’s what holiday preparations are all about : Something SPECIAL for a SPECIAL occasion. Imagine a beautiful choice-cut piece of BEEF (preferably filet mignon or a very mini-roast), pre-marinated with red wine vinegar for 1 hour and then cured...

TICK-TOCK because I’m running late ! TICK-TOCK because the beauty of these strawberries (pretending to be roses) is fleeting and with a very short lifespan, before just re-melting and disappearing ! I love their “ephemeral” aspect, almost like real roses fading (but at super fast-forward) … but I hope your...

This is a BREAD & CHEESE BOMB so BOOOOM !!! What could be better than  a "reinterpretation" of a CHEESE FONDUE (hot and melty) with some great BREAD (warm too), during this super-cold weather and icy winds we’re having and when you’ve chosen to experiment with not eating any meat in the past...

This "L-A-S-A-G-N-A" may be ultimately DECADENT & SHAMELESS in its creation, and perhaps INDECENT & SHAMEFUL in its consumption … but for me, the 2-week holiday period begins on December 24th until January 1st and ends on January 7th (my birthday and the Orthodox Christmas). I end the...

That CHRISTMAS SPIRIT ? How can we re-kindle that ? Sometimes that ‘holiday thought’ is just hanging around (or hiding) in the back of your mind and maybe in your heart, (because you still have one, you know, even when you’re too busy to remember). If you’re like most people, the holiday spirit is most often directly...

It’s as easy as 1-2-3, or to be more precise 3-2-1. It’s all MATH, 3 PARTS prepared (boiled & peeled) CHESTNUTS (from a jar or a can) + 2 PARTS SUGAR + 1 PART WATER or 1 PART CHESTNUTS + 1 PART CHESTNUT SYRUP (instead of the sugar & water) … I’ve decided to take it easier this year by using canned or jarred...

A “USE EVERYTHING & WASTE NOTHING” hearty WINTER MEAL, resembling a lasagna (but there’s no pasta here), with winter vegetables and some chicken. All the ingredients are pre-roasted before assembling them, using only 1 mixing bowl, 1 roasting dish, 1 casserole and 1 baking sheet and nothing else (okay,...

Poor CELERY ROOT, always sitting in a cold corner of the fridge after only a fraction of you has been used as part of one dish or another (just like it often happens with more ordinary celery branches too). Please don’t take it badly, you’re just so BIG and usually weigh almost 1 kg and even if I use half of you, it’s still a lot...

I adore having close friends come over IN-BETWEEN-THE-HOLIDAYS. To be more precise, after the family Christmas festivities but before New Year’s Eve and sometimes between New Year’s Day and my birthday on January 7th, so ideally December 28th or January 4th. Those days tend to be the safest days for everyone, no more indigestion, nor...

Holiday OPTIONS & Holiday POTIONS (same letters in a different order = different words = magical coincidences). N°1 is “WARM & WOODY & SPICY” & N°2  is “FRESH & ZESTY & RESINOUS”. Both are super-SWEET obviously ... What could be better than having 1 or 2 homemade...

It’s nevery easy trying to describe a new kind of autumnal THANKSGIVING celebratory recipe or any newer kind of thing, for that matter. The title could have actually been longer like “butter, sugar and apple juice poached apples, stuffed with dried fruits and nuts and then crusted (or coated) in crushed spiced cookies and then...