Author: Chef M

This tart is at once simple and sophisticated. The filling is merely nuts bound with caramel, but when you use gorgeous nuts and a rich caramel “jam,” something magical happens. As is always the case when you’re working with just a few ingredients, you need to get it right. Here the critical factor is bringing the sugar to the proper temperature so that after the tart is assembled and cooled, it will slice cleanly and easily. Be sure the nuts you choose are unsalted; if you’re using hazelnuts, the skins should be removed. And in all our pastries we like…

Baked Crab & Shrimp is an étouffée-style crab dish that starts with the holy trinity of Cajun cooking  celery, onion, and green bell pepper. If you don’t have fish stock available, use clam juice. Serve this with rice, corn bread, or a side dish of baked onions.

Bacalaítos are a wonderful treat for any Puerto Rican. You should see the look of excitement on the faces of both Milagros and my husband when you mention these! This batter is so authentic tasting that it is hard to believe it’s not full of gluten. Milagros told me that growing up in the mountainous region of Arecibo in Puerto Rico, she rarely ate seafood. The one exception was bacalao, which is salt-preserved cod. Fresh poached cod will work and is also delicious, but the texture is less dense.

Having slice-and-bake (or icebox) cookie dough in the refrigerator or freezer, ready to bake, is the ultimate sweet convenience. Essentially shortbread shaped into a log, these simple cookies have so few ingredients (just butter, sugar, salt, egg, vanilla, and flour) that imperfections are impossible to hide. With too much flour, the cookies are crisp but dry and bland; go overboard with the butter, sugar, or egg, and the cookies are rich but soft and misshapen. We set out to create a recipe for icebox cookies that would have both a crisp texture and rich buttery, vanilla flavor. First, we added…

Both chicken soup and garlic soup have been lauded as powerful home remedies for cold and flu infections and restorative tonics. Our goal was to combine these powerhouse soups by supercharging our hearty Chicken Broth with a megadose of garlic, before adding tender morsels of chicken. We tested our way through increasing amounts of garlic, starting with what we thought was a hefty amount 2 tablespoons. Much to our surprise and satisfaction, tasters rallied behind a whopping ½ cup of minced garlic, praising its bright yet balanced presence in our full-flavored soup. Mincing and blooming the garlic before adding liquid…

This is the base recipe for a smoothie I have after my early-morning walk. Whether I make it with cavolo nero, curly kale, spinach or sorrel changes with the season but it’s always a bunch out of my garden. And when I have coriander in flower it adds an amazing dimension to the smoothie. As we have an orchard of apples, pears, apricots and peaches I have a particular love of pears but because they all ripen at about the same time, no matter how much fruit we have, there are times during the year when we have to rely…

Light and crispy, they are the children’s favourite. If you do get the chance to taste them, I recommend you eat them when they are still warm from the oven, along with a nice cup of coffee.

This quiche is light on eggs but heavy on cream, so it is incredibly rich a small piece goes a long way. The flax seeds make the crust very tender and give it a deep flavor and color, while the long-cooked onion and fennel take on a deeper caramel flavor. The dough can be made, and the onion and fennel browned, up to two days in advance; store both, tightly wrapped, in the refrigerator. The finished dish will keep three days, but the bottom crust will start to get a little soft. So if you are serving for guests, make…