Ingredients for the marinade

- 2 TBSP fresh mint (use 1/2 tsp dry mint if fresh is not available)
- 1/2 tsp dry dill
- 1/2 tsp dry basil
- 1/2 tsp ground coriander
- salt
- fresh ground black pepper
- 1 1/2 lbs lamb shoulder (or leg), diced into about 1 inch cubes
- 1 cup red wine vinegar
- 2 large shallots, finely chopped
- 3 TBSP olive oil

Steps for the marinade

- chop the mint and place into a non reactive bowl large enough to hold the lamb cubes
- add the dill, basil and coriander, salt and pepper. Mix well
- cut the lamb into 1 inch cubes and place into the bowl and mix in so the lamb is uniformly coated with the spices
- cover and refrigerate for about an hour
- add the vinegar and shallots, and mix well
- cover and refrigerate overnight

Steps for grilling the lamb kebabs

- heat your grill to high
- while the grill is warming up, place the lamb pieces on the skewers (I prefer to use flat ones, it is easier to turn)
- sprinkle some olive oil on the kebabs
- cook 10 minutes all together (3 minutes one side, 3 minutes opposite side, then 2 minutes each on the last 2 sides) for medium rare
- each time you turn, spread some more olive oil with a brush so the lamb does not dry
- serve immediately
- Enjoy!

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I first had Yakitori – literally translates to grilled chicken – in the smallest place in a back alley in Tokyo. The place could sit maybe 5 people, but the food was sumptuous. They have a tiny grill, and they can’t cook for more than 2 or 3 at a time, and they used ice cubes to clean the grill, quite an experience. So you don’t have to fly to Tokyo, here’s a recipe that should get close.

Ingredients for Yakitori – grilled chicken

- 2 chicken breasts, 8-10 oz. each, skinless boneless (Organic does taste better!)
- a bunch of green onions (scallions), cut into 2 inches segments
- bamboo skewers
- 1/2 cup soy sauce
- 1/2 cup sake
- 1/2 cup sweet rice wine (Mirin)
- 1/4 tsp ground ginger
- 2 garlic cloves, chopped very finely
- 3 TBSP sugar
- aluminum foil

Steps for the Yakitori

- wash the chicken, pat dry with paper towels, and cut crosswise into 1/2 inch strips
- wash and cut the scallions into 2 inches strips
- skewer the chicken strips and scallions onto a pair of bamboo skewers (using 2 makes it easy to turn over). You may also place the scallions on separate skewers as they do not need to cook as much.
- in a small sauce pan, mix in the soy sauce, Sake, Mirin, ginger, garlic, and sugar.
- bring to a boil, then reduce about half till the sauce is a bit sirupy
- set aside about 1/3 of the sauce
- meanwhile, preheat your grill to high
- clean and oil your grate when it is hot enough
- place some aluminum foil to protect the exposed part of the skewers
- place the skewers on the grill
- after 3 minutes, turn the skewers over and brush with some of the sauce
- keep turning the skewers every couple minutes and brush with more sauce
- the whole grilling process should take 8-10 minutes depending on your grill and the thickness of the chicken
- serve immediately with the sauce you set aside
- Enjoy!

Sawada-san, this one’s for you!

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Ingredients for Mustard Lime Steaks

- 2 rib-eyes steadk, 1.5 lbs all together, about 1 inch thick (you don’t want too thick for this recipe so you don’t overcook the mustard)
- 4 TBSP dry mustard (or ground mustard)
- 4 TBSP Worcestershire sauce
- 4 TBSP lime juice (about one juicy lime)
- Kosher salt
- fresh ground black pepper

Cooking steps

- spread one TBSP of the dry mustard on each side of each rib-eye steak (use your fingers, or a fork)
- pour 1 TBSP of the Worcestershire sauce on each side of each steak (it won’t go in at first, so rub it in)
- do the same for 1 TBSP of the lime juice on each side of each steak (it will eventually form a slurry)
- let it marinate on the counter for about 20-30 minutes
- preheat your grill to high
- clean and oil your grate, then place the 2 steaks
- cook for 5 minutes on the first side for rare, rotating once if you want nice criss-crossed marks
- turn over and cool for an other 3-4 minutes
- let the steaks rest for 3-5 minutes and serve
- Enjoy!

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This recipe would be traditionally served with Harissa, but if you can’t find any, you can make this simple relish with tomatoes, shallots and hot Paprika.

Ingredients for the Beef Kebabs

- 1 1/2 lbs of some lean beef, about 1 inch think, cut into 1 inch cubes (I like to use London Broil, or eye of round, but many variations will do)
- 1 medium onion, grated
- 1/3 cup fresh parsley, finely chopped (or 1 TBPS dry parsley)
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1.5 tsp paprika
- 2 fresh laurel leaves
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp fresh ground black pepper
- 2 TBSP olive oil
- more salt and cumin for serving

Ingredients for the relish

- 2 ripe tomatoes, grated
- 2-3 shallots, grated as well
- 3 TBSP fresh parsley, chopped finely
- 1 TBSP hot paprika
- 1/2 tsp paprika
- 2 TBSP olive oil
- 2 TBSP lemon juice (the juice of a fairly juicy half lemon)
- salt to taste
- fresh ground black pepper to taste

Preparation for the beef

- cut the beef into 1 inch cube, removing any unsightly pieces of fat.
- mix the oninon, parsley, cumin, paprika, laurel leaves, salt, pepper and olive oil into a non reactive bowl
- add the meat and mix thoroughly
- refrigerate overnight (yes, you can do it for only a few hours, but overnight will bring out more flavor!)

Preparation for the relish

- cut the tomatoes, seed them and grate them into a small bowl (using the coarser grate will work just fine)
- peel the shallots and grate them as well and mix with the tomatoes
- mix in the chopped parsley, add the hot paprika, cayenne pepper, olive oil, salt,pepper and lemon juice

This can be prepared ahead of time, even the day before if you refrigerate right away, but serve at room temperature.

Final steps

- place the meat on the skewer (flat metal one preferably, you’ll thank me later)
- preheat your grill to high for direct grilling (about 10 minutes)
- when the grill is hot, clean it with a metal brush, oil it with olive oil on a paper towel
- place the skewers on the grill and cook for about 3 minutes per side, for a total of about 10-12 minutes
- Serve right away with the sauce and I hope you enjoy!

Inspired from the Barbecue! Bible by Steven Raichlen, except I like to cut the meat into bigger chunks, and ad in some laurel leaves.

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I love mushrooms. So if a recipe comes along with mushroom, some cream, some crunchy bits, I’ll have to try it. This makes quite a refreshing starter course, and you can make it look fancy without much effort. What more is there to ask for?

Ingredients for the mushroom salad

- 4 cups sliced mushrooms (about 12 oz)
- 1/2 cup walnut pieces (about 10 walnuts)
- 2/3 cup sour cream
- 1/2 cup scallions, minced
- 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp fresh-ground black pepper
- 8-12 lettuce leaves

Preparation

- In a large bowl, mix the mushrooms, the walnuts, sour cream, scallions, lemon juice, salt and pepper
- you can refrigerate for up to a couple hours, but it will taste better if you mix everything just before serving
- Serve in individual bowl, with a couple lettuce leaves forming a nest for the mushroom mixture

Inspired from Jacques-Pépin in “Fast food, my way”

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Ingredients for the Sauteed Potatoes

- 5 to 7 medium sized Yukon Gold potatoes (but any kind of potato that holds well together after boiling will work, I just like the taste and texture of Yukon Gold). That’s about 1.5 to 2 lbs.
- olive oil
- salt to taste
- fresh ground black pepper to taste

Steps

- clean the potatoes
- place the potatoes with the skin on in a 2 quarts pan (or bigger) with enough cold water so that all the potatoes are under water, and bring to a boil
- boil for 20-30 minutes (this part really depends on the potatoes and their size, so using potatoes roughly the same size helps) till a pointy knife can go through a potato without much resistance, but before the skin starts to crack and peel off.
- place a generous amount of olive oil in a large frying pan and heat on medium high. You want the potatoes to absorb some of that oil, but not too much!
- cool down the potatoes under cold running water
- if still too hot to peel, let them rest for a little while, then peel
- cut the potatoes in roughly 1 inch cubes (no need to be too exact here)
- once the oil is hot (but not smoking!), start placing the potatoes in one single layer (don’t use more potatoes that can fit in that single layer, so use a second pan if needed)
- every 3-4 minutes turn the potatoes so each side gets a chance to brown and get a nice golden color
- the whole process should take about 10-15 minutes.
- if you are not quite ready to heat, you can turn the heat to low and keep them warm for a little while

This recipe goes great with a grilled meat, sausages, or dried meats like prosciutto.

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Ingredients for the chicken breasts

- 2 organic chicken breasts, boneless, skinless (about 8 oz each), cut into 1 inch cubes
- 2 tbsp flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp finely chopped garlic (2 large cloves)
- 3 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter (at room temperature, or microwave for 10s to soften)

Directions

- rinse the chicken breasts under cold running water, then dry with paper towels
- place flour, salt and pepper onto a plate, mix
- coat the chicken with the flour, salt and pepper
- mix in the garlic and parsley with the butter
- heat the olive oil in a large frying pan till very hot (but not smoking!)
- sauté the chicken for 4 minutes, turning every often
- add the butter and garlic and parsley mixture
- sauté for 1 more minute
- serve immediately with some vegetable or rice (or both!)

Inspired from Fast food, my way, Jacques-Pépin

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There are many types of skewers, metal or bamboo, but for meat, my favorite choice is to use the flat metal ones. The flat section helps ensure that the items on the skewer will not turn more than you turn the skewer! That tends to be frustrating and awkward!

Ingredients for the Shish Kebabs

- 1 1/2 lbs of meat, about 1″ to 1 1/2″ thick that you can cut into cubes. Sirloin, london broil, chateaubriand are good candidate, but eye of round will also work great.
- 8oz white or brown mushrooms
- 8oz large cherry tomatoes
- 8oz small sweet onions, peeled
- 2 TBSP olive oil
- salt to taste
- fresh ground black pepper

Steps for preparing and cooking the Shish Kebabs

- preheat your grill to high
- cut the meat into cubes of roughly 1″ to 1 1/2″ cubes
- wash the mushrooms, the small onions and the cherry tomatoes
- assemble the shish kebabs by alternating mushrooms, meat, small onions and tomatoes
- mix the herbs, salt and pepper into the olive oil
- rub the oil mixture onto the meat and veggies
- clean your grill, and rub it with vegetable oil using a paper towel (I use olive oil)
- place the kebabs onto the grill and cook on all sides, about 10-12 minutes all together
- serve immediately

Variations

There are endless variations to this recipe. Use sweet red peppers, green peppers, asparagus, etc…

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Ingredients for the Rub

- 2 chopped garlic cloves
- 1 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper (coarse)
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper (coarse)
- 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 3 tablespoons salt (kosher)

Steps for the Rub

- Mix together all ingredients in a small bowl.

Ingredients for the Basting Sauce

- 1/3 cup red wine vinegar
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- 2 chopped garlic cloves

Steps for the Rub

- Whisk together vinegar and oil in a small bowl.

Cooking instructions

- Rub each sides of the tri-tip with the seasoning.
- Leave the meat out for 30 minutes (if you don’t feel comfortable leaving the meat out, you can put it back in the fridge, but keep in mind you may need to cook it a bit longer)
- Preheat the grill to high for 10 minutes
- Cook for 10 minutes, turning once. Baste after you turn using the Basting Sauce
- Then reduce heat to medium, and cook for 10 minutes more, turning and basting each time, at least till the internal temperature reaches 120+ F
- Cover with foil for 10 minutes.
- Slice and enjoy!

Turning often is the key to a perfect TriTip: you need to turn often so that the heat does not suck up all the juice out the top.

Preparation: 10 minutes
Marinate: 30-60 minutes
Cooking: 20-30 minutes depending on size (about 20 minutes for 1.5lbs)

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A smooth and yummy herbs and leeks soup

Just a few days ago, Anne of Papilles & Pupilles published a recipe for a Soupe aux herbes or as I prefer to call it, an Herbs and Leek velouté (a thick, velvelty soup). Somehow, the combination of fresh tarragon and leeks seemed hard to resist, so I made my own version today.

Here’s what you’ll need:

• 2 lbs of potatoes (about 6 medium potatoes)
• 2 leeks
• 4 twigs of fresh tarragon
• 1 bunch of parsley
• 2 chicken stock cubes (vegetable stock ok too)
• 4 cups milk
• pepper, to taste
• 2 tbsp butter

Wash, slice and cut the leeks
Cook covered in a large pot for 5 minutes with the butter
Then add the potatoes (diced so they cook faster), chopped parsley and tarragon, chicken stock cube and the milk (add a fifth cup for a thinner soup)
Add pepper to taste (the chicken stock is quite salty already).
Simmer for 15-20 minutes

puree everything using a blender

Overall, it took a bit longer than the 15 minutes Anne mentioned (but she may have it down better than I do)

Yields about 10 cups of soup

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Roasted garlic is really something special. The roasting will softened the taste, almost to the point where it becomes sweet (the sugar caramelizes) while intensifying its distinctive flavor.

And even though it takes a while to cook (about 90 minutes), it is well worth the wait!

Ingredients:

- One garlic bulb

- a teaspoon of olive oil

- salt and pepper

To get started, cut off the first 1/2 inch of the top the garlic bulb, so that it will be easy to spoon off the garlic later on (see picture above).

Put in a pan, drizzle with the olive oil, add salt and pepper and cover.

Place in a cold oven and set the temperature at 350F for 45 minutes

Uncover and bake for an other 45 minutes

If you have one of these special terra cotta garlic baker, use it, otherwise, you can use a pyrex pan, and use aluminum foil to cover it for the first 45 minutes.

Variation: you can add a teaspoon of white wine at the same time you put the olive oil.
This is ideal as the base for many recipes. Or as an apetizer with the right spoon, or as a spread if you puree it.

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here’s a quick and tasty summer treat.

What you need:

• 2 small baskets of strawberries
• 2-3 Tablespoon of sugar
• the juice of one lemon

Takes about 10 minutes to prepare.

Cut the strawberries in small chunks (cut small ones in half, the bigger ones into 4 pieces) and put them in a bowl.

Spread the sugar on top of the strawberries

Cut the lemon in half, remove the seeds, and squeeze the lemon on top of the strawberries. Mix everything till the sugar is melted. Over the next 30 minutes, mix in the juice and enjoy!

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Total preparation time: 45 minutes

Ingredients:

• 2 table spoon Butter
• 1/2 table spoon finely chopped garlic
• 3-4 shallots (makes a generous half cup) finely chopped
• 4 cups of coarsely chopped mushrooms
• salt and pepper
• 1/2 cup red wine (Carbernet Sauvigon works)
• 1 cup beef broth

First, start off by cleaning the mushrooms and chopping them coarsely. You don’t want to cut them too small as they will shrink quite a bit and it is nice to have something to sink your teeth into once you get to eat them. You can use any mushrooms that you have available. If you can’t find fresh one, you can use dried mushrooms. Just soak them in warm water for 20-30 minutes before starting.

If I can find them, I like to use 1 cup of morels, 1 cup of chanterelles, 1 cup of porcinis, and 1 cup of portabello mushrooms. The nice part about this recipe is that you get to experiment which combination of mushrooms you like best. Tell me what works for you!
Chop the garlic and the shallots.

In a large flat bottom pan, melt 1 table spoon of butter over medium heat. Once the butter is melted, saute the garlic and shallots for about 3 minutes till the shallots get soft.

Add the mushrooms, add salt and pepper and cook for 7 minutes.

Increase the heat to medium high and pour the wine. Cook for 2-3 minutes to reduce the wine to less than half what you put.

Reduce the heat to low, add the broth and simmer for about 25 minutes. Most of the liquid should be gone.
The last step is to add the remaining table spoon of butter and your are now ready to serve and enjoy!

It will reheats nicely so you may prepare in advance.

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Fois-gras is always something I look forward to! And along the way, I’ve found a few things you can do to make the experience even more pleasurable. Fois-gras is a delicacy that carries quite a bit of controversy. More proof to that is the recent ban enacted in Chicago.  Fortunately, as I understand it, this is limited to restaurants, but still!  How can someone decide what I can and can not relish in? This is too unfathomable. At least you can still enjoy it at home.
Duck or Goose?

This is one you’ll have to decide for yourself. There is a distinct difference, and I have a small preference for goose, but duck is still a close second in my book.

Serve the fois-gras at room temperature

For the longest time, I had been serving fois-gras right out the fridge. What a mistake that was. One day, dinner was late and the fois-gras had been sitting on the table for longer that I thought it should have. But what a difference it made. The flavor was awesome!  I guess the cold puts your taste buds to sleep and hides the full flavor!  Since then, I take it out of the fridge at least an hour before serving. One thing where the cold helps is to remove the fat. A lot easier and less messy to do when the fat is solid.

Serve with lightly toasted white bread

My preference goes for sliced Country White French Bread (as close to “pain de mie” as I found). Somewhat halfway between sour white bread and regular white bread. And it only needs to be lightly toasted so it starts to turn golden brown and the surface is a bit hard.  It is easier to put a piece of fois-gras and hold it flat.  Presumably, you are not supposed to spread fois-gras on your toast, just cut chunks of it and put it on your toast (I suppose,  this is as opposed to pate that is meant to be spread, and to remind us that fois-gras is so much more than pate. If anyone knows, would you let me know?).

Serve with chilled Sauternes

As if fois-gras was not good enough, add a chilled Sauternes. This is sure to turn your ravishing experience into pure decadence   A nice Sauternes and fois-gras go so well together this is truly unbelievable.  If you’ve never had sauternes, you should try it, even by itself. Sauternes is a late harvest, quite sweet, white wine from the Sauternais, near Bordeaux in France, and they use a special method to achieve that unforgettable taste (plus is usually ages really well to bout).  Even though a Chateau d’Yquem is really out of this world (including the price), there are good values and I like the Coutet very much.

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When I was a kid, back when I lived in France, the only time when I would have Celery Root Remoulade (pronounce “ray-moo-lad”) would be at the school “cantine” (that’s french for Cafeteria). My mom never made that dish, and I was always looking forward to have some when the school would serve it.

Celery root picture from manthatcooks’ photostream

Growing up, Celery Root was the sort of thing I thought was growing in cans, or at best, in glass jars, and most convenient of all, I figured that this was something that was growing like grass, in little stick like things. Little did I know that in fact celery root remoulade is made from an actual root, and can be described as anything but pretty looking (see picture on the left side). It can be quite unsightly, and even intimidating for some. But in fact, it is fairly easy to clean and prepare, and best of all, is very very tasty!

To prepare the root, just wash it thouroughly under cold running water to remove any dirt and bugs. Then select the biggest and heaviest knife you have. You’ll want to use the weight of the knife to help you cut through it. First remove the whole outside skin to reveal the white root (somewhat yellowish for some). You’ll also want to remove as much of the darker bits as you can without wasting too much, not that they are necesarily bad, but just won’t look as nice in the finished dish. Then cut the root in large chunks to prepare for the shredding.  To shred it, I use a mandoline as I think that’s what works best, but if you don’t have one, or are too afraid to cut yourself, you can use a food processor. The goal here is to shred the celery root into small sticks of about 2 inches long, and maybe 1/8 square.

Once everything is shredded, the rest is quite simple.

Celery Root Remoulade Recipe:

Servers 4-6 as an appetizer.

• One celery root, shredded (see above). Comes out to 10-12 ounces
• 1/2 cup of mayonnaise
• 1/4 dijon mustard
• 1/8 to 1/4 cup red wine vinegar depending on your taste
• salt, pepper to taste
• a small cornichon, or some parley for garnishing

Total preparation time (including the shredding): about 30 minutes.  Maybe a bit more the first time around.
Put the shredded celery root into a large bowl (the large bowl makes it easier to mix everything without making too much of a mess). Add all the ingredients, and then mix till you have a smooth, almost milky looking sauce that coats the celery root evenly. And that’s it!

I like to let it rest and marinate a bit in the fridge for at least 2 hours, but if you can’t wait, that will be quite tasty already, so go ahead!

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Don’t you love salads? Ever tried Arugula? Arugula is a very tasty treat. Arugula, also known as roquette in Europe, is not a lettuce, but an herb, and is a member of the mustard family. If you can not find any, it is quite easy to grow yourself. If you really can’t find any, you could replace it with red leaves lettuce.

This recipe also uses artichoke hearts. The preserved ones come in 3 kinds: in water, brine or oil. I prefer the ones prepared in brine as I think the added acidity works well for this recipe. If you are lucky enough to be near San Francisco, you can find the best marinated artichokes I’ve had at Molinari Deli. If you are up to it, you could prepare the artichokes yourself, and you should check how to trim an artichoke to get you started. However this will significantly increase the time required to prepare this recipe.

To prepare the prawns, you have several options. You can buy them peeled and deveined, or you can do it yourself. It is not that hard. One method you can use is to do it with the Shrimp Butler. At around $30, it may sound expensive, but when you factor in the cost difference to buy the prawns ready to use, this will quickly pay for itself. A more low-tech approach is to use special scissors, or an Endurance Shrimp Peeler & Deveiner. Last resort, is to do it using your fingers after you’ve cooked the prawns. Only problem of doing it after they are cooked is that they won’t look as good, but will taste just the same though.

Here’s how to prepare the Prawn Salad with Arugula:
Per person, for a main dish (for 4 people, multiply everything by 4):

Salad

• 5 medium to large Prawns, peeled and deveined
• 6 kalamata olives, pitted and sliced in half
• 3 small tomatoes (small cluster tomatoes work best)
• 2 artichoke hearts
• 1/2 ounce goat creamy goat cheese
• 1 ounce Arugula

Dressing

• 1/2 table spoon lemon juice
• 1/2 table spoon extra virgin olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation: 20-30 minutes

Remove the pits from the olives, and slice them in half, wash and rinse the tomatoes, and cut them in small chunks (remove as many seeds as you can). Cut the artichoke hearts in 4. Dice the goat cheese if it is creamy enough, otherwise crumble it.

Wash and rinse the arugula. Save a few olives and artichokes pieces that you can use later to garnish the plates. Mix everything else in a large salad bowl.

To prepare the dressing, mix the lemon juice, the olive oil, salt and pepper, and mix thoroughly.

Up to this point, everything can be prepared ahead of time. The last step is to cook the prawns in a small frying pan. Put some olive olive oil in the pan, heat it up over medium heat. When the oil is hot, put the prawns, add some salt and pepper and cook the prawns a few minutes on each side till they have a nice orangy color.

When the prawns are done, mix the dressing with the salad, and serve immediatly. You can server as an appetizer or an entree by varying the quantities.
Enjoy!

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Related Articles:

• Asparagus au gratin
• Deviled Eggs
• Marinated Mushrooms
• Crab Souffle
• Scallops with Butter and Lemon

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Here’s an easy to do recipe, and you’ll get lots of satisfied fans for it.

For 6 adults, you will need:

• 36 asparagus
• about 3 ounces of prosciutto, sliced very thinly
• 2 ounces of parmesan, grated coarsly
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• Cracked pepper to taste

Wash and cut the asparus so they’ll fit in a 8×12 (inches) oven safe glass (pyrex) pan.

Cook the asparagus in boiling water for 7-8 minutes. They don’t need to fully cook, just enough so they get tender. Then dry the asparagus with paper towels. I put 2 paper towels on a plate, then put the asparagus on the paper towel, then pat the asparagus on top till most of the water has been absorbed.

Then taking 3 asparagus a time, roll a slice of prosciutto around them to make a little bundle, and lay it flat on your glass pan. For 12 bundles, a pan 8 inches by 12 inches should do. Repeat for the rest of the asparagus.

Then grate the parmesan coarsly over the asparagus. Sprinkle with the olive oil and put some freshly cracked pepper. Don’t use salt, there is enough in the parmesan and the prosciutto.

Then put the pan in the oven under the broiler (I use the low setting, with the top of the asparagus about 3 inches from the brolier) for 4-6 minutes. Timing is really going to depend on your oven, and you have to keep an eye on the asparagus till you reached that golden brown color, and take the asparagus before it is too late.

Serve immediatly.

Besides being very tasty, one of the nice thing about this recipe is that you can prepare things ahead of time and put the pan in the broiler 5 minutes before serving. This makes preparing a big meal less of a juggling act.
Enjoy!

For more recipes with asparagus, join the Asparagus Aspiration month!

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And you can adjust the quantity very easily. It just depends on the number of hard-boiled eggs you want to use.

• Hard boiled eggs (as desired)
• 2 teaspoon of Mayonnaise per egg
• Fresh cracked pepper to taste

Boil the eggs as described in the deviled eggs recipe. Peel them and cut in half lenghtwise. On each half egg, scoop about a teaspoon worth of Mayonnaise (and I suppose, if you don’t feel like it, you can use ready made Mayonnaise, otherwise, you can you the recipe for Mayonnaise). Then crack some black pepper on the eggs. Enjoy!

You can substitue the black pepper with other spices like Paprika, a mix of red, green, white pepper, or your spice of choice.

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Easter is here, and I bet you are going to have a lot of hardboiled eggs, or maybe you are looking for a snazzy appetizer. Deviled eggs are sure to please. This recipe is very easy and anyone can make this.

This recipes lends itself to a lot of variations. You can use sour cream instead of mayonnaise, vinegar instead of worcestershire sauce, or tabasco sauce for example. And you can also vary the spices.

Here’s my favorite variation.

• 12 eggs
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 2 tablespoon dijon mustard
• 1 teaspoon worcestershire sauce
• salt and pepper to taste
• a pinch of Paprika

Cooking time 25 minutes.

Ready in 30 minutes.

Boil the eggs. There are many ways to do that. Use which ever method you are comfortable with, or do what I do.

Put the eggs in a pan, put water so that the eggs are immersed in water, with 1 inch to spare. Bring to a boil, and then cover, and take off the heat. Let them seat for about 20 minutes, then plunge then in ice cold water (they will be a lot easier to peel this way).

Peel the eggs and cut in half lengthwise.

Remove the egg yolks with a small spoon and put in a small bowl. Mash the egg yolks with a fork, then mix in the mayonnaise, the mustard, the worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper. Once smooth, spoon back into the egg whites evenly. For a more dramatic look, use a decorating bag with a nicely shaped nozzle.
Sprinkle with Paprika.

This can be prepared up to a few hours before serving.

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• 1 cup of water
• 1/2 cup of vinegar
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped red bell pepper
• 3/4 teaspoon mustard seeds.
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon whole black peppers
• 1/4 teaspoon sugar
• 2 gloves of garlic, sliced or chopped.
• 1 pound of whole mushrooms (small to medium size)

Total time: 25 minutes

Ready the next day.

Brush the the mushrooms and wash them. Cut a 1/2 of the stem off. Combine everything but the mushrooms into a pan and bring to a boil. Add the mushrooms and boil covered for 10 minutes. Refrigerate overnight. Serve as an apetizer or as part of an antipasti plate.
To avoid wasting the rest of the red bell pepper, why not make marinated red bell peppers at the same time?

Looking for an alternative to marinated mushrooms? Try Mushrooms a la grecque.

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