Cordon Bleu

Something a little nostalgic. The cordon Bleu sadly became the mediocre cantina classic. This is tragic because the dish features goodness wrapped tastiness, if you use the right ingredients this can become a fun alternative to basic chicken breasts. Ingredients: Step 1: Make the bechamel Make the Bechamel: slowly melt the butter, add a little…

Butternut squash risotto

The secret to Risotto is time. The slower you cook it the better. Once you get the cooking right you can adjust the flavor to your liking. INGREDIENTS: 1/4 butternut squash, cut in 1/2 inch pieces. 50g pecorino grated 1 litter chicken stock 2 tbs white wine 150gr arborio rice 1 pinch of safran Butter…

Carrot Lentil soup

Soup sounds boring at first. But I am pretty sure everyone has a soup  they remember fondly. Because soup in general is boring – but a good soup is memorable! To me there is 3 aspects to soup: taste (obviously), color and texture. The right balance of taste especially when it comes to salt is…

The poor woman’s Cauliflower soup

I have had deliciously creamy cauliflower soup in many fancy restaurants. Velvety smooth in a soft white hue. So of course I tried to make it at home… I mean how hard can it be? It is just soup after all… Well apparently cauliflower soup is an advanced art! Every recipe I tried I ended…

Johnny Cake

Another classic recipe from my San Francisco roommate who called “Great aunt Bertha’s Johnny cake”! What I love about this one is that it is not overly sweet so you get to adjust the richness and decadence. You can have it with a little maple syrup as heather liked it or you can be crazy…

Pain Perdu

“French Toast” might sound fancy but in France it is known as “Pain Perdu” (lost bread), essentially it is how you salvage stale bread in order to avoid wasting it. Easy, delicious, on budget no waste philosophy so you can feel good about your sugar rush! Ingredient: sliced bread* (about 4 slices) 1/2 cup of…

Easy Squashy Tagine

Tagine is a Maghreb classic. Unfortunately we don’t all own a nice earthenware pot but one can still approximate the aromatic flavor of this exotic cooking. Now keep in mind this is more of a stew so the preparation is fast the cooking time needs to be long. Warning cooking time: 2-3 hours Ingredients: 2lb…

Happy for BEETS!

I LOVE BEETS! When I was a child I ate at the cafeteria and in France the cafeteria means they serve you something on a plate, that’s your only option it is usually not good but you still have to eat it or the evil staff who hate their life will try to humiliate you…

Heavenly Sweet Potato Gnocchi

Yeah, when you hear the title it just seems obvious. Why did I not think about doing that before! Delicious soft sweet potato meet fluffy tastiness! This recipe comes from “Food and wine” courtesy of Houston chef Johnny Rhodes and I can’t thank him enough for this, what a treat! Pasta, bread, gnocchi, these are…

Harissa Crispy Chicken

Harissa is the spicy ketchup of Maghreb – North Africa. They put it on everything, it is spicy with a little bit of bitterness to it and somehow en vogue in restaurants as of late. So let’s be trendy and resurrect this classic flavor! This recipe I found on “bon Appetit” magazine, I made some…