La Cocotte Verte

A very easy recipe for a very elegant entrée. Vary it by using lump crabmeat, lightly sauteed shrimp, or other seafood instead of scallops.

When roasted at high temperature, broccoli develops nutty sweetness and delicious crispy bits here and there, while still retaining a slightly crunchy texture. Garlic and Maldon salt roasted with the broccoli deepen its flavor; a little lemon zest and juice add freshness and color, and pungent freshly-ground pepper adds the finishing touch.

Foie gras is not difficult to cook, but it must be cooked quickly otherwise it will dissolve into a puddle of expensive melted fat. Its unctuous richness pairs nicely with sweet, juicy pears and nutty mâche leaves.

A Charlotte is a classic French dessert composed of a mold of liqueur-soaked ladyfingers and filled with a Bavarian cream or mousse filling. Delicious, but fiddly to make, what with trimming all those ladyfingers to fit and getting (and keeping!) them positioned in the mold just so. This recipe solves that problem brilliantly: fuse the components of a decadent chocolate-rum Charlotte with the assembly technique of an English trifle.