Recipes

These are my gold-standard biscuits. My secret? Frozen butter! It’s an old pastry chef’s trick that has served me well. Butter tastes great and when it’s frozen it becomes very easy to shred into the dough. After you try these a few times you’ll be able to bake them in under twenty minutes and clean up the mess too!

This is a tasty side dish that can be banged out in five minutes. Couscous is a tiny type of cracked, granular pasta that’s already been cooked and dried. It’s actually easier to use than other pastas. Just soak it in some boiling liquid and it’s good to go!

I often braise chicken thighs for dinner; they have infinite varieties of preparation and go well with just about any side dish. They are flavour sponges too! In this version I pair the woodsy aroma of rosemary with the subtle flavour of vanilla. Try experimenting with other seasonings for different flavours.

I don’t have a pastry chef on staff at my house so I’m always on the lookout for an easy-to-make dessert like panna cotta. This Italian treat is smooth and light and can be flavoured with any herb, spice or liqueur. It’s so simple to make that it will quickly become part of your repertoire.

This is the pasta sauce I crave more than any other. It’s easy to make and perfect when there’s a finicky eater at the table because the bacon is irresistible. You can combine the simple flavours of a great tomato sauce with crowd-pleasing bacon, and you’re guaranteed a winner.

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.

I’ve been making this dish for a long time. It’s a bit involved but it remains one of the most impressive potato dishes I know. This special occasion treat features the classic trio of potatoes, bacon and cheddar. It will take you a while to make, but the results are more than worth it. It’s the sort of thing that looks complicated until you try it and quickly realize how simple it is to master.

Sharp peppery arugula meets rich buttery eggplant and vibrant roast tomatoes in this wonderful salad.

I’m addicted to chocolate and always look for a way to work it into a treat, especially with coffee. Together they make mocha. This coffee flavoured chocolate cake batter baked in coffee cups looks like a cup of coffee - until you cut into it!

Braising is the ultimate comfort food. This method takes a cheap, tough cut of pork and turns it into a magical stew. You wont believe how simple the spätzle noodles are to make, they’re the perfect way to soak up the juices from the pork.

Every fall when locally grown squash and apples appear in the farmers market I make this dish. It shows how well ingredients that grow together go together. That’s why it tastes so good!

Many of the bright flavours of the southwest are found in this distinctively thick soup. Many cooks in that region toss toasted corn tortillas into a simmering broth where they break down and thicken the liquid. I realized I could simply jump-start the process by using cornmeal, the flour the tortillas are made from.