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This little canape is one of those go-to classics in my repertoire that I often rely on when I need a known crowd pleaser for a cocktail party. The weather has been bright and sunny lately, and this canape is perfect for the season because it is so light and fresh. There are many different variations on the classic blini, which
Spring is finally in full swing and great local Quebec products are showing up all over the markets. Crab is easily one of my favorite foods. That's why fresh snow crab, pulled straight from the Atlantic, is a pretty exciting sight to me. Local asparagus is just coming into season too here in Quebec, which is perfect timing, because asparagus just happens to be a
If you take the time to make the homemade gnocchi from my previous post, this simple dish is a perfect vehicle to show off your hard work. A rich coating of butterperfectly complements the gnocchi's soft, melting texture and the flavour of the sage is a perfect match for the potato pasta. Gnocchi works well with simple sauces, and this one is about as simple as it gets. It
Making gnocchi is one of my favorite jobs to do a work. In fact, with some good classical music playing in the background, it doesn't feel like work at all. The big payoff is that once you invest an afternoon in making gnocchi, you can have plently of quick meals ready for you anytime in the freezer. This recipe makes enough gnocchi for several portions, so you can easily freeze half and save
I am a true oyster aficionado. I adore their salty, briny ocean flavor. I also love the whole sub-culture that is built around this humble little bivalve. Over the years I've gone to a few oyster festivals & shucking competitions and let me tell you they are a freakin' ball. The people who devote their lives to this mollusk - be they farmers or professional shuc
Beef & Barley. It is the king of soups. Honestly, I couldn't think of a more tasty, delicious, satisfying soup. Slowly braised melting beef and hearty toasted barley are just made to go together. The barley soaks up the fat & juices of the beef, and all the other ingredients are just there to let the beef & barley shine. Usually, I like
Pork belly. It is simply one of the tastiest cuts of meat you will get from any beast. It is of course the source of the almighty bacon, but if that's the only way you ever eat it, you are missing out. A nice big piece of pork belly, slow cooked, is a little melting piece of heaven. Leave the skin on and cook it right, and it will be a crispy, crunchy, soft-in-the
This tasty little side is one of those recipes that has been in my repertoire for a long time and don't think I'm ever going to stop making it. I learned how to make it at the first restaurant I ever work at and I still use it today. I'm a big fan of cabbage in all it's guises - coleslaw, sauerkraut & braised - and this is one of my favorite ways to cook it. Cabbage works best whe
If you're looking for a last minute hors d'oeuvre to serve at your New Year's Eve party, meatballs are a pretty safe and easy option. They're dead simple to make and everybody loves 'em. Italian meatballs with tomato sauce are a bit been-there-done-that, so why not go the Swedish route? A while back I spent a bit of time in Sweden and I fell in love with their meatballs. Over there i
Most people's go-to option for snacks when hosting a dinner party is to offer a cheese platter. Nothing wrong with that - I loves me some cheese & crackers. This little hors d'oeuvre is good choice if you want to offer something just a bit more interesting. Serving brie cheese warm and melting really awakens it's flavours and the tart balsamic onion jam takes it to t
This canapé is delicious and just a little fancy - perfect for a New Year's Eve party. It's also a good way to use up any leftover cranberry sauce you might have from Christmas dinner. Duck and cranberries go so well together, and I put some tangerine in my cranberry sauce, which make it perfect dressing for duck rillette.
To me, it's not Christmas without cranberry sauce. It's as essential as turkey & stuffing and goes great on Christmas ham too. When I was young, we used to get that canned cranberry sauce that holds the shape of the can after you pour into the bowl. I loved it as a kid and it still kinda holds a special place in my heart. But one year my mother decided to make her own using fresh cranberries a
Poor, misunderstood brussles sprouts. They are the cartoon characture of foods kids hate. There's also no shortage adults who refuse to eat them. I can understand why most kids hate brussels sprouts because they have a strong flavour with a bitter edge to them. To me that bitter, punchy edge is exactly what gives them their adult appeal. I also get why plenty of adults ha
This dish is an example of how just a few ingredients, cooked from scratch can make a quick and satisfying meal. I love pairing fennel with fish, and the lemon flavoured rice makes for a perfect accompaniment. This dish is very similar to my recipe for baked cod in a wasabi crust with braised fennel, but much simpler. The lemon rice is very straightforward and the
It's getting cold here in Montreal fast and I'm in full comfort-food-mode now. Last week I posted a recipe for braised lamb pasta because I was craving something rich & hearty. I'm keeping up the meat 'n starch theme of that last dish here. We added a bunch of hearty winter dishes on our new menu at Chez Ma Grosse Truie Cheri and this recipe is inspired by one of them. We are serving braised l
This dish is about as "comfort food" as it gets. It's like meat & potatoes without the potatoes. It's really simple, but if you make every thing from scratch it's pure love on a plate. With a dish as simple this, fresh pasta noodles make all the difference. I posted the recipe for how to make the buckwheat pasta last month - you can
This side dish is a twist on the classic potato gratin, aka scalloped potatoes. I've given the dish little touch of fall by including some butternut squash and sweet potatoes. When it comes to which cheese to use, Gruyere or Parmesan are both good choices, but I decided to go a little off the beaten path and went with Pecorino. Pecorino is similar to Parmesan
Recently I proclaimed beets my favorite vegetable, but I actually had to think about that for a minute, because at the back of my mind I could hear a little voice crying out: "What about Squaaassshhh?!?" Yes, I do love squash in all of it's marvelous varieties. Right now the markets, vegetable shops and grocery stores are overflowing with all kinds
While I'm not so thrilled to see summer fade away and I'm certainly not a fan of cold weather, I do love cold weather food. Comfort food. It's the kind of food I love to cook and the kind of food I love to eat. This dish is just the kind of thing I start to think of when the cold winds start blowing. It features what I call "the Fall Spices" - cinnamon, cloves an
Beets are probably my favorite vegetable. They have a delicious earthy flavour and are really versatile. They are easy to grow at home and local varieties are plentiful at any grocery store or vegetable market. It's fun to make your own pickled beets and pickling is a great way to preserve any surplus from a home vegetable garden. This salad is a slight twist on a c
I consider myself very lucky because I love my job. I get paid to do what a lot of people do as a hobby. I love cooking. There is a real satisfaction to making something with your own hands. As one chef once said to me "Cooking is not an art, it's a craft." I think that's what I like about it so much. There is a certain amount of artistry that goes into the job, but also the c
This recipe is definitely a bit of work, but it's a great dish for when you are having a small number of friends over for dinner and you want to impress them. The vibrant colours should get some oohhs & ahhh's and the rich flavours will have your guests swooning. If you find the dish as a whole a bit too daunting to take on, you can try making just one element at a
This ice cold melon soup is a bowl of pure refreshment on a hot day. It's a play on the classic combo of prosciutto and melon, but with a little twist. I first saw my friends Max do this dish a few years ago, and I thought this re-invention was pure genius. The pureed melon is smooth and delicious and the prosciutto chips add a nice salty crunch
We're just getting into mid August now, and these are the real Dog Days of summer. No surprise, this has been a particularly hot one. I was trying to think of some refreshing cool dishes to post and this came to mind. After all, what's cooler than a cucumber? This cucumber & shrimp salad is easy to make and super tasty. The small pink shrimp are delicious slathered in
Like most people, I consider mayonnaise a minor miracle. A thick smear of mayo in a B.L.T is pure heaven. A lobster roll would be lost without it. What I find most miraculous about mayonnaise is that it's luxurious taste and texture come from mixing together just 3 ingredients: eggs, vinegar and water. A little bit of lemon juice and mustard will help give it that extra little
This dish is the culmination of my last couple of posts. The spicy whiskey & chipotle bbq sauce is perfect for grilled pork chops. The sweet & tangy grilled corn salsa goes great with the spicy bbq pork chop. To round things out, I serve the chops on a bed of sauteed collard greens. The bitterness of the greens cuts
This salsa is pretty much just a bowlful of summer. Sweet corn, bright flavours and a little smokiness from the grill. This salsa makes a good topping for almost any grilled dish, whether it's beef, pork, chicken or even fish. I made it to go along with a grilled pork chop with collard greens. The freshness of the salsa was the perfect match for the s
There are few sauces I enjoy making more than homemade barbecue sauce. Sure it's not as fancy or chic as The Classic French Sauces, like Beurre Blanc or Demi-Glace, but it's as delicious a sauce as they come. What I love most about a good barbecue sauce is that it will hit on all the types of flavours at once: sweet, salty, sour, spicy, bitter and umami. Making a good barbecue sauce is a true bala
Summer is official here, and one ingredient that is synonymous with summer to me is rhubarb. It wont be long before those delicious red stalks disappear from store shelves, so now is the time to take advantage of them. Around this time last year, I posted a recipe for apple maple rhubarb jam as well as a recipe for breaded pork chops to go with it. This
This dish is a perfect example where less is definitely more. Lobster is such and amazing ingredient that you really don't want to do too much to it, so that you can enjoy it's great flavor. I love the classic lobster salad with mayo and so here I've taken that idea and moved it just a small step forward by using a tangy homemade
This is a great little dish that really takes advantage of seasonal ingredients. I adore fiddleheads, so when they start appearing in markets I make sure to grab them while I can. Fiddleheads are the tips of young ferns and can only be harvested in the spring, so once they are gone, they're gone. The season for fiddleheads is incredibly short, so if you see them, grab them
As Donkey once said in Shrek: "Who doesn't love parfait?" I certainly do. This recipe is officially the easiest one I've posted so far. The reason for that is that it's Mother's Day tomorrow and this one is something that the kids can whip up for Mom, without having to touch the stove. The only element that involves cooking is the strawberry coulis. You can find the recipe for that i
French toast is a great brunch classic. It's so easy to make, but if it's done right it can be a real luxury. The key to good French toast shouldn't surprise you - it's all about using the right bread. Avoid using pre-sliced white bread, which truth be told, is good for for pretty much nothing. What you want to use for French toast is either brioche, or a good quality egg bread such a
Clams Casino is an old American classic. I absolutely love that other American baked shellfish classic, Oysters Rockefeller, and this dish is just as tasty. I got the idea to make this dish based on what I happened to have in my fridge that day. I had some clams leftover from when I made Pompano a la n
One of my favorite ways to serve fish is "a la nage." It's a classic French dish whose name simply means "swimming." In this recipe, fillets of pompano are swimming in a clam broth. A nage is a good dish for the spring and summer because it's nice and light. Almost any fish can be served this way. Black cod and salmon are two good choices. I originally planned on making this with stri
I love smoked salmon, and I particularly enjoy eating it for breakfast. I already posted a recipe for smoked salmon crepes and I also posted instructions for how to make your own homemade smoked salmon. These omelettes are easy to make and are really satisfying. You only need a few ingredients, and they are ready in minutes. The cream cheese filling is nice
It's Easter this weekend, and that means it's time for a feast. For many families, Easter dinner is all about lamb, so today I'm posting a recipe for grilled lamb T-bones. Now that winter is gone and spring is officially here, it's a good time to fire up the barbecue and get grilling. Because of their small size, lamb T-bones are perfect for sharin
Recently I posted a recipe for making your own smoked salmon at home. Here is a great way to enjoy your homemade smoked salmon. These crepes are so tasty, you will want to try them even if you don't smoke your own salmon. Served with a runny poached egg and maple syrup, this dish makes for a pretty luxurious brunch. Cooking a perfect p
Making your own smoked salmon at home is easier than you might imagine. The transformation of raw salmon into delicate strips of melting smoked salmon might seen magical, but it basically only involves two steps: curing & smoking. The curing part is easy. Just cover the salmon in a mixture of salt, sugar & spices and leave it in the fridge overnight. The smoking part c
Spring is already here and it's time to start bringing out the lighter dishes. This simple version of veal scallopini is perfect for a light lunch on a warm spring day. Lightly breaded veal is topped with a simple salad of watercress and parmesan shavings, dressed with just olive oil and lemon juice. The bitterness of the watercress is balanced nicely by the tang of the lem
St. Patrick's Day is coming up, so I just couldn't resist the temptation to post the typical cliché for the holiday: Irish Stew. I'm half Irish after all, so I had to take this dish on eventually. About 10 years ago, I spent a year in Ireland and a couple of times when I had stew there it was served on a plate rather than a bowl. I liked eating it that way because it ma
Black cod, aka sablefish, is a wonderful fish to cook with. Its flesh is rich & buttery and melts in your mouth. One of the best ways to prepare black cod is to glaze it and bake it in the oven. For this fatty fish, a thick, sweet glaze works best. Sometimes I'll use a blend of miso and maple syrup. For a quick glaze, you can simply mix hoisin with lemon juice. For this rec
Roasted marrow bones are one of the most overlooked delicacies of the culinary world. To my mind, bone marrow is just as delicious and luxurious as fois gras, yet it's a fraction of the price. I like to eat it straight out of the bone, roasted and served with just a sprinkling of sea salt and a simple parsley salad. In a world of boneless, skinless chicken breasts, where som
As a proud Quebecer, born and raised, I love Quebecois cuisine. It's mostly hearty, farmer style food, which I love eating. There's is also a lot of game used in Quebecois cooking, which I love. Very soon it's going to be maple syrup season and to me the food found at a cabane á sucre is the epitome of Quebecois cooking. That's why I thought this would be a good time to post a recipe for tha
http://www.instructables.com/id/Eggs-Benedict-Spaghetti/ I recently wrote a recipe for the site Instructables.com It's a cool site that has all sorts of how-to guides on everything from how to build an electric guitar to how to build a robot! The site also has a section devoted to food with tons of easy to follow, step-by-step recipes. &nbs
Pin It In honor of Valentine's Day, I'm posting the recipe for this cute little dessert. Usually I like to assure people that the recipes I post are easier than they look, but I'm afraid I can't say that about this one. There are definitely easier ways to make a raspberry mousse than the recipe I'm giving here, but I just love the t
Pin It Once you try making your own homemade marshmallows I promise you will never go for the store bought variety again. These perfect little clouds are springy and chewy, melt-in-your-mouth delicious. The flavour of homemade marshmallow is so much better than the packaged variety. The big difference is in the vanilla used to flavor them. Most store bought marshmallows are made with artific
Valentine's Day is fast approaching and if you're looking for something fancy to make for your special someone, this recipe is for you. You could go out to a restaurant and deal with the crowds and spend a lot of money, but I think it shows more thought and care to make something nice at home. So buy a bottle of your loved one's favorite white wine, light some candles and turn your own home into a
Fennel is a wonderful ingredient to work with because it's very versatile. In the summer I like to eat it raw, thinly shaved and mixed into salads. In the winter I like making braised fennel. Searing the fennel gives it a rich caramelized flavor and after a gentle simmer, the fennel takes on nice melting texture. Braised fennel goes well with veal, pork or chicken, but I l
On a cold February night, I, like most people, often crave a big dish of meat & potatoes. I guess the cold weather brings out the inner caveman in me. Braised lamb shank is the perfect comfort food for times like this. There is nothing fussy about it - cooked and served on the bone with some simple roasted potatoes. Once cooked, the meat freezes well when taken off th
