An elegant starter to a company meal, or a quick and delicious dinner when simply accompanied by a salad and bread. Making a shellfish bisque from scratch is time-consuming, what with boiling the shells for flavor, straining them out of the stock, etc. Starting with Perard’s Lobster Soup makes preparing a creamy bisque a snap: add chunks of poached lobster, a touch of cream, and a decadent sprinkle of minced black truffles to creates a stunning dish in minutes.
Light, cool and crunchy, fennel is a perfect complement to rich autumn dishes. Grapefruit and mustard add piquancy to the mellow, mildly licorice flavor of the fennel. The salad will be different if prepared with a mandoline vs hand-slicing the fennel: shaved, the fennel becomes thin enough to drape in succulent ribbons over the citrus and greens; sliced, it makes a crisp counterpoint to the buttery lettuce and juicy grapefruit.
Fresh English peas combine well with all the mint family herbs: basil, mint, oregano, etc. Here they transformed into a chunky puree accented with scallions and fresh mint. The crostini use French mini-toasts as a base — they are fine-grained and lightly crisp, a better complement to the delicately flavored peas than a coarse Italian or French-style bread.
Perfectly ripe, juicy summer fruit needs only a few simple accompaniments to be transformed into a gala dessert. And a gala dessert that requires no baking on a hot summer day? Even better! Macerating the fruits in a mixture of sweet wine and lavender honey perfumes them, plus creates a richly-flavored syrup for soaking ladyfingers, used as a lighter alternative to the traditional biscuit-type shortcake. A dollop of creme fraiche and a drizzle of lavender honey complete the shortcakes— or use French vanilla/honey yogurt, if a lighter dessert is desired.
Scallops’ delicately sweet taste pairs brilliantly with fragrant French cider, particularly when said cider is reduced to a luscious glaze that clings to each bite. The scallops are placed atop a bed of spinach studded with crisp bacon and sauteed mushrooms, then generously napped with the unctuous sauce.
Ebly is made from whole durum wheat grains. Like pearl barley, it’s been partially cooked and hulled, then dried. As a result, it cooks in 10 minutes, versus the 40 minutes required to cook whole wheat berries. It has a light, deliciously wheaty taste and readily absorbs flavor from ingredients cooked with it. Here it’s accented with rich caramelized onions and a sprinkle fresh thyme sprigs. If you can get it (or grow it!) flowering thyme adds a lovely touch to the dish.
Fresh English peas have an all-too-brief season in early summer. Barely cooked in a stock scented with leeks, then pureed to creamy smoothness, they make a lively green soup with paradoxical qualities: rich and flavorful, yet light and fresh.
Bruschetta (from the Italian word ‘bruscare’ meaning ‘to roast over coals‘) are substantial slices of bread, grilled or toasted, then rubbed with garlic and drizzled with olive oil. With a hearty topping such as sardines they make a quick dinner, great for busy nights when you don’t feel like spending a lot of time cooking. Sardines are a superhero food: loaded with calcium and omega-3 fatty acids, high in protein and iron. As an added plus, they are low on the food chain, so are a more sustainable source of these nutrients than a carnivore fish such as tuna. Pair them with juicy-ripe summer tomatoes for a fast and flavorful bruschetta.
A variation on the wildly popular ‘No-Knead Bread’ recipe introduced by Mark Bittman. Mild-flavored beer and vinegar are added to the basic ingredients to contribute complex, artisanal notes to the flavor. This recipe produces wonderful bread — crackingly crisp crust, moist and chewy crumb, rich flavor — with a minimum of effort. The hardest part is waiting for it to cool completely before slicing it! It’s best eaten the day it’s baked, but can be wrapped in aluminum foil and stored in a cool, dry place for up to 2 days.
Macarons are the petite jewels of the dessert set. Dainty, yet decadent. At once crunchy and chewy. Delicately tinted or neon-hued to indicate the flavor combinations, filled with tart jams, decadent buttercreams, tangy citrus curds, rich ganaches… the variations are endless, and delicious. Macarons aren’t difficult to make, given a good recipe, proper equipment, and the right technique, so this recipe gives detailed info on how and why to do things. Allez, let’s make some macarons!