all the recipes

It’s only MID-SEPTEMBER so STOP YOUR WHINING because you can still fire up that barbecue (that’s probably still out lying there in the yard or balcony) and pretend it’s still SUMMER … because it is technically ! Here’s an  easy, no-fuss, no-mess, delicious and tender IRISH that has become kind of MEDITERRANEAN...

And here’s part 2 (of 3) of the summer tomato mini-series, called “REVENGE IS A DISH BEST SERVED COLD” (but does that refer to picnic food and cold starters too ?!) . . . One of my dearest, darling, overseas cousins that I spoke to last night had mentioned over the phone that the no-cook & hand-crushed heirloom...

APRICOTS are my SUMMER SYMBOLS, wherever I may be (or dream of being) especially while enjoying glorious summer holiday mornings, if possible, close to the Mediterranean Sea (or at least close enough to feel and smell a salty sea breeze). That freshness, crispness, clarity and transparency in the air as you’re having breakfast, ideally...

So you want to make a PIZZA ? I mean a real home-made pizza ? Are you going to make the PIZZA DOUGH from scratch ? Are you going to make the PIZZA SAUCE from scratch ? Will you prepare the TOPPINGS ? Yes, my friends, toppings also need to be prepared because you probably don’t have a professional commercial restaurant pizza-oven at home...

I went to MARSEILLE. I came back from MARSEILLE . . . with a HUGE BAG OF FRESH FRUITS AND VEGETABLES. They were being sold in the Gare Saint-Charles train station by local organic farmers who are there every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon and it’s not expensive. I got some huge beefsteak tomatoes, a bouquet of baby...

THIS IS HOW YOU DO IT . . . because even though I do not claim to have imagined nor invented this yogurt-version of a traditional well-known dessert, it seemed like an “intervention” was necessary (even when on my vacation) because all the existing versions that were brought to my attention by my friends were wrong ! Why ? Because one...

PART 1 (of a summer mini-series) of 3 episodes ! ... Here’s a story about how refreshing and surprisingly vibrant RAW & UNCOOKED (and yet still slightly prepared) FRESH & RIPE HEIRLOOM TOMATOES can be and how you can accentuate these same flavors and prepare them without cooking (I mean without applying heat) during a...

Another TEMPURA-STORY . . . again ! Even though we talked about this about 6 weeks ago when we were focusing on stuffed & deep-fried zucchini flowers that I brought back from Marseille (see the recipe here) I’m still rather obsessed with this method, so here we go again. So JAPANESE, right ?! And yet so PORTUGUESE, right ?!...

I was in AIX-EN-PROVENCE where they make the original CALISSONS d’AIX. It’s a candy made of a thick layer of candied melon paste (and some candied citrus) and almond paste, flavored with some orange blossom water and then shaped like an oval eye or almond or a ‘weaving shuttle’ (but it actually represents the...

PA-XI-MÀ-DIA is just the word that designates the Greek version of BISCUITS or BISCOTTI and this is a ‘staple product’ in my parent’s home (I mean the sweeter version and not the neutral ones resembling rusks). This is my adaptation of my mom’s version that just about everybody that I know and their friends have...

And finally PART 3 which wraps up the summer tomato mini-series. Yup, it’s about time ! This time, the “freshest hand-crushed & no-cook heirloom tomato sauce and/or spread” (see the last 2 posts here & here) is strained to its maximum to utterly become a chunky "spread” that is used as a topping for...

OK, I’m just playing with words ! . . . ALLIUM is the family of onions, garlics, shallots, chives and leeks & CAPSICUM is the family of sweet and hot peppers and CITRUS of course you already know. By the way, sea breams, also called gilt-head bream, are part of the SPARIDAE family and are marine fish (at least you learned something...

The days are longer (especially for those furthest away from that imaginary and yet ever so present dividing line called the «equator») and even though cocktails may begin earlier than usual and suppers and dinners inevitably end later than usual too, you probably won’t be having that ESPRESSO at the end of your summer meal . . ....

A re-adaptation of a recipe for BOLHINOS DE BACALHAU from Portugal (and perhaps similar versions in Spain and probably Brazil too). I’ve been jumping from country to country in my latest recipe posts. PORTUGAL is geographically not a MEDITERRANEAN country, physically facing the rougher Atlantic Ocean on one side and bordering Spain on the...

MU-HAM-MA-RA my love, a reinterpreted recipe from the war-torn & devastated land of SYRIA, previously known as the “culinary pearl of the middle-east and the levant”. May peace & harmony & genuine support come to you soon . . . This dip or spread is usually made with a roasted red peppers paste (like a caviar...