Main Courses

In many Italian restaurants the menu term “Tuscan Beef” refers to a particular style of serving beef that is always dramatically finished at the table. An extra thick slab of premium beeflarge enough to serve at least four peopleis slowly roasted on a grill and presented to the table with a classic group of ingredients: arugula leaves, extra virgin olive oil, lemon zest and juice, shaved Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, sea salt and freshly cracked peppercorns. The meat is thinly sliced and draped over a salad of sorts. The results are authentically Italian, spectacularly delicious and a great way to satisfy your primal beef craving and show off at your next dinner party.

The humble hamburger can easily be elevated to the heights of cuisine classics with the same attention to detail that any dish deserves. It can also be infinitely varied with lots of your personalized flavours. Ground chuck is your best choice because it has a higher fat content than ground round or ground sirloin.

Long ago, the cooks of the world discovered the efficiency of simmering tough meat in tenderizing water. They also discovered that they could add lots of local flavour to make the results more interesting. Today, beef stews are a part of cuisines and cultures around the globe. This one features the bright familiar flavours of the Southwest.

Nothing gets your guests’ attention at the table, or your attention in the kitchen, like spending nearly a hundred dollars on a piece of meat, but a prime rib doesn’t have to be intimidating. Instead, impress yourself in your own kitchen by cooking it the way the pros do: with a two-step heating process and a few more dollars invested in an accurate meat thermometer.

Short ribs are my favourite type of beef. No other cut has their rich beefiness and melt-in-your-mouth texture. Of course they do have to be slowly braised to release all that rich goodness, but that’s just more time to anticipate the treat to come!

You don’t need a fire blazing in the backyard or a fancy barbecue to cook a great steak. Pan-roasting works well too, especially if you start with a great steak, use lots of butter and finish with browned onions.

The only thing better than a fire-grilled steak is the same steak with a round of flavoured butter slowly melting overtop, forming a rich, tasty sauce as it mingles with the steak’s juices. For the ultimate grilled steak experience, try taking the time to build a hardwood fire in your backyard!

Filet mignon is prized for its extreme tenderness, not for its rather bland flavour. It doesn’t have the rich beefy flavour of a well-marbled steak, but it’s still a rare treat and a great way to show off your kitchen’s best, especially when you add lots of flavour with an easy-to-make blue cheese crust.

You found it! This is the single most requested recipe in my entire repertoire. Maybe its because the sweet, sour, spicy, salty and savoury flavours of Thailand are one of my favourite ways to fill a bowl. They’re seductively addictive, always well balanced and one of the world’s great cuisines. They’re also easy! This is a very simple dish to make.

This classic soup is more than a meal in a bowl. It’s a way to show off the bright spicy flavours of Louisiana and the distinctive cooking style that has made gumbo one of the world’s great dishes.

A pot full of simmering chicken broth is the essence of home cooking: true flavour brimming with hearty goodness, ready to launch a thousand other dishes. Try making a batch, dividing it into easily used amounts and keeping them in your freezer, ready for whatever idea comes along. You can use any chicken, but a stewing hen will have the most flavour.

Smoked salmon is the ultimate party guest. It’s versatile, gets along with lots of other ingredients and always adds a luxurious twist to the proceedings. It’s also easy to work with because you’re limited only by your imagination.