Curried Butternut Soup
This is one of those soups that tastes more complicated than it actually is. I like to doctor mine up with extra hot sauce to temper the sweetness of the butternut squash an [...]
Leek Condiment
Weird name, I know. But I’ve kept it because it’s the closest translation to the original created by Ryoko Sekiguchi then popularized by François-Régis Baudry, host of the t [...]
Velvet Scallops
When I first read about velveting scallops in Grace Young’s fabulous cookbook, Stir-Frying to the Sky’s Edge, the promise of ‘luxuriously smooth and dense’ scallops made me t [...]
3-Ingredient Winter Squash Velouté
It worked! After a late season batch of 3-Ingredient Zucchini Soup had me longing for more (but there were no more local zucchinis to be found), I decided to try the recipe w [...]
Medlar Jelly
My medlar jelly journey began with a lone, wild medlar tree growing by a cliffside field near my home in Cancale. I clocked it (inveterate forager that I’ve become), tasted o [...]
Mashed Potatoes with Preserved Lemon
I first tasted this combo at Le Coquillage restaurant in Cancale/Saint-Méloir. The restaurant’s écrasé de pommes de terre was redolent with butter and was served alongside 2 [...]
4-Ingredient Fennel Soup
Fresh fennel’s distinctive, delicate flavor makes this soup taste a lot more sophisticated than it actually is. You can always doctor it up with crême fraiche, yogurt, or a s [...]
Green beans almondine
When I came to France for the first time as a teenager, I thought green beans almondine were the quintessence of French culinary sophistication. They’re still pretty fab. I a [...]
Zucchini Pickles
After polishing off the better part of a friend’s jar of zucchini pickles all by myself, I set about to make my own. Hers were a touch too sweet for my taste, so I halved the [...]