The best thing you can give me is food I can eat. Well, maybe love. I'd have to be pretty heartless to say, "Keep your feelings to yourself" – especially if you're coming to my house for dinner and I've cooked a birthday meal and I'm lactose and gluten intolerant, thus making … [Read more...] about Chicken with Wild Mushrooms and Salicorne
Main Dishes
Halibut with Currants, Harissa and Sherry
This sweet and sour sauce soaks into the halibut, playing off the silky, savoury onions and crispy crusted but tender fish.The harissa gives it a smoky, mildly spicy, tomato base. A quick sear and a gentle braise is all it takes. Halibut with Currants, Harissa and Sherry 3 … [Read more...] about Halibut with Currants, Harissa and Sherry
Sakezuke Miso-Maple Chicken Thighs with Roasted Carrots
When you make sake, what's left over are the lees – bits of steamed sticky rice mixed with koji, the bacteria used to ferment the rice into alcohol. Like juicing, you end up with tons of this stuff. And like juicing, it'd be a shame to throw it out. It's full of all sorts of … [Read more...] about Sakezuke Miso-Maple Chicken Thighs with Roasted Carrots
Sweet-and-Sour Meatballs (The Easy Way and the Complicated Way)
Me: "Do you have ground lamb?" Friendly Guy at Boucherie de Tours: "Sure." Me: Turkey? FGBT: "Breast or thigh?" Me, realizing they grind everything to order and appreciating that the butcher even cares to ask when most ground meat is a mix of whatever fatty bits are left … [Read more...] about Sweet-and-Sour Meatballs (The Easy Way and the Complicated Way)
What Do I Do With That Zucchini?
If you're like me, zucchini have taken over your life. Maybe you don't have a community garden plot with four enormous zucchini plants, blossoms so big you thought they were squash and baseball bat-sized green summer squash hiding under thick green branches and enormous lily … [Read more...] about What Do I Do With That Zucchini?
Seared Duck Breast with Orange and Star Anise
Don't be intimidated by duck breast. All it needs is a good spice rub and a quick sear followed by a little rest from the exertion and you've got yourself a restaurant-quality meal for half the price. The orange and star anise sauce is just the icing on the cake. And sure, duck … [Read more...] about Seared Duck Breast with Orange and Star Anise
Summery Sweet Potato and Arugula Salad
Do you ever crave sweet potatoes? I'm not talking, "Oh, I think I'd like a sweet potato, perhaps." I'm talking a physical need for a sweet and soft, creamy and warm sweet potato, steamed and drizzled with lemon, baked with chile pepper flakes and paprika or roasted with … [Read more...] about Summery Sweet Potato and Arugula Salad
How to Cook Mussels With White Wine and Mushrooms
Why are these hairy mollusks so intimidating? I firmly believe that everybody should be making mussels. Things mussels have going for them include: They make their own sauce when they open. All they generally need is a quick scrub and a toss in boiling liquid. Cooking them … [Read more...] about How to Cook Mussels With White Wine and Mushrooms
Clef des Champs: Mushroom Tarts, a Summer Day Trip From Montreal and What You Didn’t Know About Medicinal Plants
You might have heard of Clef des champs. They're my go-to local company for tinctures — bottles of distilled organic herbal combinations that do anything from easing digestion to improving your immune system to helping you relax. But I didn't know that they had a terraced … [Read more...] about Clef des Champs: Mushroom Tarts, a Summer Day Trip From Montreal and What You Didn’t Know About Medicinal Plants
$6.99 a Pound Lobster with Sage Butter
Sound fancy? It's not. Insects of the sea, these. I wouldn't eat them until age 19. Me, a girl from Newfoundland. And then I got over the whole antennae and eyes phobia and got on with the eating. First, I treaded carefully (or, rather, biked). Then I went on a killing … [Read more...] about $6.99 a Pound Lobster with Sage Butter