Author: Chef M

A simple fruit tart becomes elegant when made with excellent ingredients and care. Here the filling is an almond cream topped with sliced fruit; you can use any fruit you like: peaches, apples, whatever is in season. We use plums because their color is so beautiful, and because they can be a little tart that sweet-sour mix offsets the sweetness of the rich almond cream. (As always, we’re careful about making desserts not overly sweet. To our tastes, many desserts in America are just too sweet. You shouldn’t be overwhelmed by the sweetness. We use sugar judiciously, to keep all…

Pan-Seared, Pecan-Crusted Fish can be cooked outside; just be sure to place the pan on a grate over a low fire and follow the directions from there. Serve with roasted potatoes or spaghetti squash. You can’t go wrong either way.

I remember visiting Puerto Rico about six months after going Paleo and being so excited that I could purchase alcapurrias from street vendors without any worry of gluten contamination. I remember how luxurious it felt to be able to eat a meat-stuffed fritter that was naturally Paleo. The blend of green banana and malanga yields a dough that is soft in the middle and crisp on the outside.

Homemade versions of pecan sandies can run the gamut from greasy and bland to dry and crumbly. Here’s what they should be: buttery shortbread cookies with a tender but crisp texture, a sandy melt-in-the-mouth character, and loads of nutty pecan flavor. Because it’s in the name, nailing the sandy texture was key. Some recipes try to achieve that sandiness by substituting vegetable oil for butter; while oil did help limit the amount of air that formed in the cookie dough, the flavor was abysmal and the cookies were greasy, so we decided to stick with butter. For nice praline flavor…

The appeal of a chopped salad is that all the ingredients are cut to a uniform size and tossed together, permitting a taste of everything in each bite. Virtually any ingredients may be used, yet most chopped salads are uninspired, laden with deli meats and cheeses and drowned in dressing. With a world of options at our disposal, we steered our salad in a Mediterranean direction, starting with escarole. A member of the chicory family, this underutilized leafy green is loaded with vitamins and has a mild bitterness that pairs well with bold flavors. Next we added chopped cucumbers and…

If you’re a nut lover you’re in luck here, as long as you prepare this muesli the night before. The combination of nuts, seeds and apple gives a great mix of sweetness and acidity, and the dried pear halves I’ve already waxed lyrical about are just great eating. You might think I’m the nut but I always feel quite virtuous when I’ve been organised enough to make this for the next day’s breakfast.

This cake is named after a famous street in Paris: le Faubourg Saint-Honoré. A Chiboust cream is the traditional filling for the cake but a Chantilly cream can be used instead.

I love to serve these pretty little cookies with tea or a cup of afternoon coffee. They are delicious filled with the fresh raspberry filling or on their own. Don’t make the sandwiches until just before serving because the filling will make the cookies soggy and cause them to crumble. Make the dough and filling up to two days in advance; store both, tightly wrapped, in the refrigerator.