Author: Chef M

For a fresher take on three-bean salad that would feel at home on any picnic spread, we kept things simple but ditched the mushy canned string beans and sugary vinaigrette. Instead, we steamed fresh green beans to crisp-tender perfection. We tested various combinations of beans and settled on chickpeas and kidney beans to round out the trio for an appealing mix of color, texture, and flavor. Most recipes rely on a syrupy dressing made from sugar and vinegar; we opted for a bright vinaigrette, with just a hint of honey sweetness to recall the classic formula. To keep the sharpness…

While the green smoothie is my everyday one, in winter this smoothie is a real tonic and the more variety we have in our food the better. I confess I’m stuck in bit of a rut with the routine of coming back from my walk and picking the greens from the garden as I go past without thinking, so sometimes I have to remind myself just how special this winter smoothie is and make sure I have the ingredients on hand to treat myself.

These brioches are only slightly sweet. They are traditionally eaten for breakfast but they could also be served toasted as a starter with foie gras and a nice salade gourmande.

These supercheesy and rich cakes are creamy on the inside with an impossible-to-resist crispy outside. Serve with roasted pork chops or chicken or over sautéed kale for a vegetarian meal. Caper berries are the slightly larger fruit of a caper bush, while capers are the small immature buds. Look for them in specialty grocery stores or order a jar online. If you can’t find caper berries, substitute one tablespoon of capers. The polenta can be made, hardened, and cut into rounds two days in advance; store in an airtight container, in the refrigerator.

Here is our American version of calzones, with a filling of spicy pulled pork. You can buy pulled pork, slow-smoke it, or even cook it in a slow cooker. We use just a bit of Parmesan cheese in each of the calzones, even though you might not normally think of pairing cheese and barbecue.

Have you ever tried a croque monsieur? It’s a crisp, buttery, fried ham and cheese sandwich popular in French bistros. Here, thin slices of ham and Swiss are layered between focaccia dough for the ultimate stuffed sourdough sandwich. The surface is painted with piquant Dijon mustard and dolloped generously with creamy ricotta to finish. Serve warm, and invite everyone you know to gather round for a thick-cut wedge straight from the oven. This, my friends, is sourdough heaven. About the Dough: The trick to making stuffed focaccia is all in the sandwich-style shaping. For best results, as you layer the…

Hippogriff s are powerful and very intelligent creatures who are half-eagle, half-horse. Immensely proud, they cannot be enslaved and choose whether to tolerate the company of wizards or not. This earns them the fierce hatred of black magicians, who have no qualms about turning them into a festive dish. That is, if they can manage to catch them!

I am rather excited about this. Completely on its own, it is a little too powerful both in flavour and alcohol content but over ice, in a martini or even in a forager’s mojito, it is something special. In summer, it would make a very interesting addition to a refreshing granita too.