If we can cook it, you can cook it!

Category: French Food

When the Stock Market swoons, it’s time for a Financier

When the Stock Market swoons, it’s time for a Financier

There’s no bad time for these little bits of heaven that use just 6 ingredients and take under 15 minutes to bake Truth be told, in good times and bad, it’s always time for a financier. The little French almond cakes, leavened with egg whites,…

French Butter: It’s hard to beat for the Holidays

French Butter: It’s hard to beat for the Holidays

When Julia Child spoke…America listened and laughed. Julia Child famously said “With enough butter, anything is good”.  And she lived by her word. Butter was an essential part of practically everything she cooked. This took quite a lot of bravery on Julia’s part. At the…

Savory Roasted Tomato Tarte Tatin

Savory Roasted Tomato Tarte Tatin

        A couple of years ago, I read a very detailed recipe for a tomato Tarte Tatin in Bon Appetit. I worked with the recipe and came up with two versions of the dish. Now that Tomato season is in full swing, I revisited this…

Richard Olney’s Zucchini-and-Herb Stuffed Roast Chicken

Richard Olney’s Zucchini-and-Herb Stuffed Roast Chicken

As I was leafing through Food and Wine Magazine from October 2018, I stopped at an article focused on Richard Olney. In the words of Wikipedia, “Richard Olney (April 12, 1927 – August 3, 1999) was an American painter, cook, food writer, editor, and memoirist…

Absolutely the creamiest, smoothest, most spectacular French Lemon Cream Tart from Pierre Hermé

Absolutely the creamiest, smoothest, most spectacular French Lemon Cream Tart from Pierre Hermé

The last time Andrew and I were in Paris, we pretty much went from one spectacular bakeshop or chocolatier to another.  And you can’t really miss those belonging to Pastry Chef Extraordinaire Pierre Hermé.  The man himself is arguably the most acclaimed of all living…

Garlic Confit Toast and the Best Baguette in all of New York

Garlic Confit Toast and the Best Baguette in all of New York

Going through some files as I settle in to our new apartment, I came across a picture that stopped me in my tracks.  It’s the main illustration for this page courtesy of Epicurious. Here were these crispy halves of great French bread topped with a…

Easy Duck Confit…Revisited.

Easy Duck Confit…Revisited.

 It’s been almost ten years since we made this recipe and it’s still as good as it gets. One of the great challenges I face is to constantly look for new recipes, new combinations and new takes on the classics.  When you think about it,…

How to make Cheese a part of every Holiday Celebration

How to make Cheese a part of every Holiday Celebration

There are times when all the work  I put into Chewing The Fat truly pays off.  And certainly this holiday season got off to a great start with the arrival of a sensational group of cheeses from Marin French Cheese, the French-owned California Cheese Company…

Jacques Pépin’s Superb recipe for Spinach and Gruyère Stuffed Pork Chops

Jacques Pépin’s Superb recipe for Spinach and Gruyère Stuffed Pork Chops

If you follow me on Instagram (@montemathews) you know that I have been in Scandinavia all last week.  I boarded Viking Star in Germany and sailed to Denmark and Norway. As soon as I can cook them, I’ll be sharing some wonderful discoveries on my…

A riff on Ina Garten’s Chicken Salad Veronique

A riff on Ina Garten’s Chicken Salad Veronique

One of the best things to have in the refrigerator in summer is a large quantity of chicken salad.  You can serve it on a bed of lettuce or make it into sandwiches.  You make it once and you have it all week. And I…

Chicken Florentine

Chicken Florentine

I spend an inordinate amount of time seeking recipes for that workhorse of the weeknight meal, the boneless, skinless chicken breast. But let’s face it, we could all overdose on chicken breasts. In a writing class I took before launching Chewing The Fat, one of…