These sweet-tangy pastries are ideal for easy holiday entertaining. Bake them straight from frozen for instant hot hors d'oeuvres or pair them with a crisp salad for an elegant first course. Make sure to cut the apple into paper-thin slices so you have enough to garnish each tartlet.
Flank steaks are large, thin cuts of beef that cook within minutes on the grill. Paired with grilled beans and radishes, and elevated with a punchy Dijon dressing, this is an easy dinner worthy of any Paris bistro.
Wild mackerel is an affordable and sustainable chpice. Scoring the fish skin with a sharp knife keeps it from curling and makes it extra-crispy.
To round out this elegant main course dish, serve it with buttered baby new potatoes. Freshly snipped pea sprouts or pea tendrils make a lovely garnish.
Our Acadian ancestors prepared many of their dishes with fresh, salted or dried seafood. The dishes had to use what was available locally from the sea and land and be fairly easy to prepare. My inspiration for the Acadian Seafood Chowder comes from the culinary creative legacy of these early acadian ancestors. The chowder is served in large clear glass soup bowls accompanied by cheese/garlic butter toped grilled french baguette slices and a glass of canadian riesling wine.
This recipe is simple and makes a nice, moist rice-based stuffing. It takes less time to bake than a large bird and there is no carving. Just cut each hen in half and arrange over the mounded stuffing.
Fresh rabbit is available at many butcher shops and grocery stores. Because rabbits are small, you will need two for six people. Rabbit with mustard sauce is a classic of French cooking that is still popular in New France. Thanks to Andrew Chase for this recipe.
Flattening (a.k.a. spatchcocking) a whole chicken makes it easier to carve and helps it cook quickly and evenly throughout. Once you become comfortable with this method, customize the recipe by switching up the herbs and seasoning.
This is a great alternative to a whole bird for an intimate holiday dinner. You will need about a 2-1/2 lb (1.125 kg) bone-in skin-on turkey breast to yield the right amount of meat. Ask your butcher or the meat department of the grocery store to bone it for you if you don't feel comfortable doing it yourself.
There is nothing quite like salmon skin cooked to crispy perfection. I regularly make this for dinner parties and have converted many a fish-skin hater. The secret to the crispness is cooking the fish 90 percent of the way through on the skin side (in a nonstick pan!); the key to maintaining it is serving the fish skin side up so that the moisture from the fish and vegetables doesn't turn it soggy. Don't try to turn the salmon too early; if it's sticking to the pan, it's not ready to turn. – Annabelle Waugh, Food director
