Charred Cabbage with Creamy Miso Mushrooms
Charred cabbage wedges topped with creamy miso mushrooms make a luxurious and flavourful vegetable dish. The cabbage turns tender with deeply browned edges while the mushrooms soak in a rich, umami sauce. This is anything but a mere side kick on the dinner table!
Beef Bourguignon (French beef stew in red wine sauce)
A French beef stew made with red wine, tender beef, mushrooms and carrots in a rich and glossy sauce. It is comfort and decadence in every bite. Serve with mashed potatoes, egg noodles or crusty bread.
Dill Pickle Bacon Pasta Salad
This Dill Pickle Bacon Pasta Salad is a flavour-packed summer main or anytime side dish — combining crunchy dill pickles, smokey bacon bits and a creamy pickle brine dressing tossed with tender pasta. It’s always a winner with my people and at every gathering!
Boursin Basil Crepe Rolls
Basil (and parsley) crepes rolled around creamy, herby Boursin with pops of briny ikura on top, these are beautiful savoury bites to serve for an elevated brunch or party appetizer, just in time to celebrate the warmer season ahead.
Confit Garlic and Scallion Dip
This Confit Garlic and Scallion Dip is a creamy, savoury dip that combines the rich, mellow sweetness of confit garlic with the bright punchiness of scallions. It’s the kind of thing that has everyone digging in and then asking you for the recipe.
Crunchy Air Fryer Mac and Cheese Bites
When the crunchy panko topping on a pan of mac and cheese is sooo good, you put it on 6 sides instead of one 😉 Super cheesy on the inside and super crunchy on the outside, the format of these Crunchy Mac and Cheese Bites is so great as a party appetizer or as an element on a charcuterie board. Both adults and kids devour these!
Sweet Potato Stacks
These Sweet Potato Stacks have all the vibes of a classic sweet potato casserole presented in irresistible mini stacks with a crumby streusel topping and deeply caramelized edges aka the best part of roasted sweet potatoes imo!
Pommes Anna Layered Potatoes with Garlic Herb Butter
Pommes Anna (or Potato Anna) is a classic French dish of buttery sliced potatoes stacked into a cake-like form that is baked until tender on the inside and crisp on the edges. The signature presentation of a Pommes Anna is flipped over onto a serving dish where the golden brown bottom becomes the top. You must have a really good non-stick pan or a really well-seasoned cast iron pan to pull it off. Do practice this dish before serving it to guests at a dinner party. Once you can comfortably pull this off, it is a rather satisfying culinary triumph!
Brown Butter Apple Streusel Cake
This BROWN BUTTER APPLE STREUSEL CAKE is tender, brown buttery, and apple-forward thanks to the generous chunks of apples in the batter. It is essentially a classic French Apple Cake where melted butter is replaced with nutty brown butter, and topped with a chunky almond streusel topping. Because if there are two truths I believe in, is that brown butter and streusel are always good ideas!
Crispy Potato Stacks with Garlic Herb Butter
These Crispy Potato Stacks with Garlic Herb Butter come out of the oven with ruffle-y, crispy edges around a tender and creamy centre. They are the perfect side dish for the holidays or for hosting dinner guests you really want to impress.
Green Beans with Miso Butter Onions
This GREEN BEANS WITH MISO BUTTER BRAISED ONIONS is side dish perfection. Onions are cooked until nearly melt-in-your-mouth in a simple but flavourful 3-ingredient braising liquid of butter, miso paste and water. To serve, the tender onions are served over green beans, under a blanket of the umami-rich, unctuous sauce.
Easy Shrimp Spring Rolls
These are the easiest spring rolls you will ever make! No filling to prepare and cool before assembling, these Easy Shrimp Spring Rolls are inspired by one of my must-get dim sum items — but simplified. Golden and crunchy exterior with a succulent bite of shrimp inside, you won't be able to stop at one or two or three!
Mouclade mussels in saffron cream sauce
MOUCLADE is a divine dish of steamed mussels in a mild saffron curry cream sauce kissed with cognac. It originated from La Rochelle in south western France and is my favourite way to enjoy fresh mussels! In my version, it is a bit lighter (and almost dairy-free) by using oat milk instead of the traditional heavy cream. Lighter, but ever so luscious and flavourful. A fresh, crusty baguette is a must for sopping up all the saucy goodness.
Shanghai Spring Rolls
These SHANGHAI SPRING ROLLS are exactly the kind I grew up eating so they are, hands down, my favourite type of spring rolls! My paternal Shanghainese grandmother used to make it and my dad makes it. We usually make a big pot of simple meatless congee to go with it for a weekend lunch everybody looks forward to!
Honey Cardamom Meringue Roulade with Mandarin Curd { gluten-free }
A light and airy dessert featuring a spongy meringue rolled around whipped cream kissed with honey and orange blossom water, dribbles of luscious mandarin curd, and fresh juicy mandarin segments. The only word to describe it is sublime.
Apple and Tahini Frangipane Tart
Shatteringly flaky puff pastry, rich decadent tahini frangipane, sweet apple slices and crunchy almonds. Altogether, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts! And one of the easiest bakes to have in your repertoire.
Whole Roasted Duck with Plum Butter Glaze + Slaw
May I interest you in an epic recipe perfect for the holidays? Actually, it is ideal for any dinner party at any time of the year, for that matter. Yes? I’m so glad! Because today I’m sharing this recipe — the second of my six-recipe collaboration with All-Clad Canada — a succulent Whole Roasted Duck with Plum Butter Glaze + Slaw made with All-Clad Canada’s Large Roaster with Rack. This was such a fabulous meal that everyone loved. I highly recommend this recipe if you’re into impressive, delicious, and NOT the same-old-same-old!
Spanish Tapas Party! { gluten-free, dairy-free, paleo + Whole30 options }
Last week I threw a little tapas dinner party and it was sooo much fun. Not to mention, utterly delicious! I made some of the greatest hits and you know what, they are all surprisingly easy to prepare, as you'll see in the recipes below. Are you ready for this epic, six-recipe blog post featuring some of the most popular and best loved tapas? I promise the deliciousness you're about to encounter will make your tastebuds extremely happy!
Peppermint Chocolate Mousse with Meringue Kisses
SPOILER ALERT: This dairy-free and vegan chocolate mousse involves NO tofu, NO avocado, NO aquafaba and NO praying that the coconut cream will whip up properly. It is luxuriously rich with that dreamy fluffiness of traditional mousse. It is SUBLIME.
When I set out to make a dairy-free and vegan chocolate mousse, I deep-dived Google and Pinterest and came across a multitude of recipes using one of the four aforementioned ingredients: avocado, silken tofu, aquafaba (brine from canned chickpeas) and whipped up coconut cream. But I really, really wanted to create a version that steered clear of all of them. I wanted a recipe that uses more conventional dessert ingredients AND a fool-proof method, while still achieving a mousse that delivers the same intense chocolate flavor with a billowy texture that slightly melts on the tongue. No compromise.
Blueberry Swirl Meringue Cookies from Oh Sweet Day Cookbook
Light as air and delicately crisp, meringue cookies melt on your tongue like sweet little clouds. The blueberry sauce adds a little depth in the form of fruity tartness which balances nicely with the sweetness of meringue. It also makes a fantastically stunning presentation.