May 2, 2012
Tartine is a French way of saying open face sandwiches. “shall I make you a tartine” is so much more alluring than “shall I make you an open face sandwich”, is it not? Don’t they understand romance? Tartines look so beautiful and are flavourful and satisfying. When making tartines I prefer to use Poilane bread if possible, imported from France, or another good quality country loaf, home made or from a good bakery. Poilane is... View Article
April 18, 2012
This is a nice salad, pretty and refreshing with many layers of flavours and textures. Use baby frisée and pick only the inner leaves to use in this salad. The endives are slightly bitter and benefit from a drizzle of honey just before serving. You can garnish it with chive flowers or edible flowers if you have them. The caramelized nuts are a must. If you don’t make them yourself you can easily buy good... View Article
April 15, 2012
For apple lovers only. A heart-warming country style dessert to end a fall or winter dinner. Serve it floating on vanilla pastry cream or with a scoop of ice cream and caramel sauce. 1 apple per person (gala, empress, honeycrisp or other firm apples) Brown sugar Crushed granola Butter Vanilla cream (see recipe) Or: Caramel sauce: 1 cup sugar 2 tablespoons water 2 tablespoon butter 1 cup cream Cut the top off the apple and... View Article
April 13, 2012
Chestnuts – Winter Chestnuts roasting on an open fire. Isn’t it an alluring imagery? Roaring fire, Hermes wool blankets, a good glass of wine and warm, sweet soft chestnuts. Even winter has its blessings. Chestnuts are truly seasonal and don’t really appear in the markets here until late September or even October. Thankfully, they stay until the end of January so we have a few months to enjoy this delicacy. If you are lucky and... View Article
April 13, 2012
A simple dish of white potato Gnocchi tossed with butter, sage and Parmesan. To add a touch of colour I still chop up a bit of flat leaf parsley for garnish. When making this recipe for just two people I use half to make the gnocchi with sage and Parmesan and freeze the other half, uncooked, to use another day. Ingredients: 1 recipe gnocchi made with white skinned potatoes 3 tablespoons butter 4-5 sage leaves,... View Article
April 13, 2012
Here is a recipe for basic potato gnocchi. Some gnocchi recipes call for russet (baking) potatoes, some for white skinned ones. I prefer regular boiling potato variety. You do need the potato ricer though. It helps mash or rice the potatoes into perfect texture for making the gnocchi. See image in the general entry about gnocchi and under the kitchen Gear tap above. Ingredients: 1 1/2 lb. potatoes (about 2-3 potatoes, depending on the type... View Article
April 13, 2012
Every culture has its dumpling and they form an integral part of their peasant cuisine. They are inexpensive to make, hearty, filling and bring home cooked comfort to your palate and your soul. Jewish mazzo ball soup is made with mazzo ball dumplings (kneidlach), Hungarians make their delicious spatzle, grated directly over a pot of boiling water, Chinese have their pot stickers, Ukrainians their perogies and Italians have their gnocchi. All these little treasures begin... View Article
April 13, 2012
The tangy goat cheese adds a wonderful element of flavour to the polenta and combines nicely with the mushrooms and spinach. Serve this as a main course vegetarian dinner followed by a roasted vegetables salad or a green salad for a lighter meal. A glass of crisp white wine is in order here. Ingredients: 1 recipe basic polenta but using goat cheese instead of Parmesan (see posting in this category) 2 tablespoons butter 2 tablespoons... View Article
April 13, 2012
Polenta is simply cooked cornmeal of various textures (fine, medium or coarse grind). Traditionally it was cooked in a large copper lined pot over the hearth and when ready, the polenta was spilled onto a wooden board near the fire to be scooped into your bowl together with the meat or vegetables it was served with. As romantic as this sounds, polenta can be easily cooked on top of the stove in a regular pot.... View Article
April 13, 2012
This is a delicious but less familiar winter squash. If you haven’t tried it I suggest that you do. It is easy to handle, cook relatively fast because it is smaller and the rind softens as it cooks and becomes an edible part of the squash, unlike any other. For this dish I combine the roasted squash with roasted chestnuts and parsnips. The deep flavours were similar and complimentary. I drizzled over a wonderful little... View Article
April 13, 2012
A match in flavour, colour and texture, carrots and parsnips are a treat to cook together. I leave the carrots whole and then cut the parsnips to match. Try and match the shape and size of the vegetables so they cook at the same time. If you don’t have baby carrot use regular carrots and cut them in half lengthwise, keeping some of the green tops if possible. I especially like to roast them as... View Article
April 13, 2012
Red lentils make a wonderful soup. They cook to a creamy consistency creating a hearty, full-bodied soup. I usually add some grain to this soup, often brown rice but sometimes barley. This recipe has tomatoes but I don’t always use them. The red lentils also lend themselves to a variety of spices, as you see here. Ingredients: 2 tablespoons olive oil 1 small onion, chopped 1 clove garlic, minced 1 /2 teaspoon cumin 1/2 teaspoon... View Article
