all the recipes

“I TOLD YOU I WAS GOING TO TRY to be more VEGETARIAN !” (at least more regularly and/or occasionally). So this is what I’m doing and maybe I’ll continue with a whole month of a series of vegetarian recipes (this is the 2nd one). A good vegetarian dish takes more time than a carnivorous one . . . This is how I see it :...

"YEAH, GO STEAL A LEG OF LAMB TODAY !" (a whole lamb would be too much to ask, but you are forgiven) . . . ARNI (lamb) KLEFTIKO (stolen) is the name of this dish. I can almost picture the scene : me stealing a lamb from a farm in the countryside and dragging the thing back to my Parisian apartment by bus, train, subway … A pilot...

This is the “SOUP of SOUPS” . . . a flavorful chicken & vegetable broth yet light & clear, slowly & patiently thickened with an ‘AVGOLEMONO’ sauce made with whipped egg whites combined with fresh lemon juice & egg yolks, coddling poached YUVARLAKIA (or giouvarlakia or yiouvarlakia, who knows how it should...

Sometimes, LOVE requires some work to get past that "shell". What are some of the words attributed to LOVE ? LOVE can be sweet, gentle and tender. LOVE can be bitter, harsh and tough. LOVE can be fragile, complicated and vulnerable. LOVE can be solid, reassuring and comforting. LOVE can be hard, protective and...

“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...

SPA-NA-KÒ-RI-ZO (it just means spinach with rice in greek) . . . I hadn’t actually tried making this simple meat-less peasant dish myself that I grew up with, until a month ago and usually only having it when I visited my parents in Montreal. A friend’s wife asked me for the recipe a few months ago so I called my mother and...

Even though they’re SMOKY-SALTY-TOASTY-CRUNCHY, it breaks my heart to publish a chocolate holiday recipe today. As you may have noticed on the social networks, I’ve spent a few on-and-off working and vacationing weeks experimenting with different bread doughs, simply or in weird combinations. Like I said, the weeks that I’m off...

RED & RED & RED & RED . . . the predominant color of my past 4 recipes this February and each is infused with “heart” and “warmth”. But why George, why ? Because RED has become my reaction to “GRAY & BLUE”. RED is the opposite of the freezing icy weather we’ve been having here in...

SALT COD RECIPE N°5 . . . and 2-3 more to come (but most probably next winter). It’s cold out there and it’s going to get colder next week so just eat some POTAGE or STEW or a good thick SOUP now ! This is more of an early spring dish in Spain but salt cod is a staple for me (but you know that already). I still remember my...

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...

PULLING APART THE LAYERS & NO SLICING, PLEASE ... that’s all that matters to me when eating this type of sweet aromatic bread, whether rolled, braided or twisted. The mere idea (and this is just my sincere & humble opinion) of taking a knife to a “tsoureki” horrifies me and literally annihilates the...

YELLOW yet CRUNCHIER version TESTING 1-2-3 . . . I had a craving for shortbreads at the same time that I had a craving for cornbread and polenta. I needed to do some math, so as to figure out what makes a shortbread what it is and what happens if you modify this tried-and-tested basic recipe. A basic shortbread is truly basic : 1 part sugar, 2...

The ever-changing dates of Chinese New Year are like the never-changing dates of Christmas on December 25th, New Year’s Day on January 1st, Valentine’s Day on February 14th and Saint-Patrick’s Day on March 17th . . . it doesn’t matter what day it will be on this year nor what your ethnic origins or cultural or...

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)...

A home-made version, all CUBIC & COPPERY & DARK, with a cocoa & coffee crunchy puff-pastry dough, a rich chocolate, hazelnut and chestnut creamy filling and very dark chocolate squares to crown it all . . . and it tastes a bit like a "BROWNIE" ! SO WHY FLOCK TO ALL THOSE FANCY CATERERS & PASTRY SHOPS for this...