all the recipes

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...

HO-HO-HO & NO-NO-NO . . . it’s not too late ! It’s actually just the right time (and time is something I seem to running out of because I haven’t quite decided exactly what I still want to or don’t want to make for this weekend’s holiday meal), but there’s a good reason for that. Instead of packing our...

No, you’re not mistaken, this recipe takes 7 DAYS, and they’re officially called “MARRONS GLACES” . . . even though “mine” resemble small stones and seashells of different sizes found somewhere out there in nature (and not like the amber-colored and glittering ones we can buy) . . . BUT, (and please...

WHY 5 ?! Because this experimental recipe is also a precise mathematical equation. It requires 5 times the amount (or weight) of thinly sliced round apple slices (cored and peeled) as compared to the rest of the 5 other main ingredients which are precisely equal amounts of butter, sugar, eggs, milk and flour (with small additions of...

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...

TICK-TOCK & DING-DONG & JINGLING BELLS & HO-HO-HO & LITTLE KIDS GIGGLING & GROWN-UPS CLINKING-CLANKING GLASSES and ME, STILL GETTING ALL EXCITED ABOUT HOLIDAY MEAL PREPARATIONS (even at my age) and when it comes to preparing all that stuff, I’m a lot of things but I’m definitely not lazy ! IT’S A...

It all began last winter, because of a FOIE GRAS. Here, the FOIE GRAS is served with small and thin toasted slices of white bread or brioche. I guess it’s so the bread doesn’t compete with the taste and texture of the more delicate foie gras / duck liver pâté . It’s also served with some kind of jam and/or jelly...

ALL THOSE PUMPKIN LEFTOVERS & “WASTE NOT WANT NOT” . . . or a story about what's inside all of those pumpkins. All those stringy and pulpy filaments & seeds just like “GUTS”, usually just tossed out after that first difficult cut separating the two halves of a pumpkin, then the scooping and the...

“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...

“NEIGHBORS, THEY COME AND THEY GO”. . . BYE-BYE & FAREWELL (perhaps) & BEST OF LUCK dearest EVELYNE B. (a.k.a. our quiet, discreet, sophisticated, generous and quite adventurous and  travelling next door neighbor for the past 15 years who just recently moved far away exactly 7 days ago on December 21st, 2017 to return...

MANY OF YOU ARE FAMILIAR with "FOIE GRAS" & SOME OF YOU ARE NOT … SOME OF YOU LIKE IT & SOME DON’T ... SOME LIKE IT and ACCEPT IT & SOME USED TO LIKE IT BUT NO LONGER EAT IT NOW ... it's CONTROVERSIAL ! «FOIE GRAS» which literally translates to «FAT LIVER» is a...

. . . INSTEAD OF BUTTER ! Why ? Because I wanted to eat DUCK CONFIT LEGS and THIGHS (that are preserved in a lot of duck fat) that I had recently bought, so instead of preparing fries or oven-roasted potatoes with onions and garlic cooked in that same duck fat, why not seize the opportunity to make these tender melt-in-your-mouth smaller...

All RECIPES don’t have to be “FANCY”. . . BASICS such as CONDIMENTS are a “rite of passage”. Here’s the continuation of the CONDIMENTS series : 1 main ingredient, some salt, some spices, some elbow grease and much patience. SAUERKRAUT is something everybody is familiar with and it’s...