Laure Joliet

This thick and silky French stew of eggplant, zucchini, sweet peppers, and ripe summer tomatoes will use up your extra vegetables in one fell swoop.

For Valentine’s Day this year we made individual portions of tiramisu in small coffee cups. Soon after that we used our ragtag collection of espresso cups for 3 to 4 bites of some very dense chocolate mousse. Now we’ve fallen in love with individual spoonfuls of crème brulée — we just love the idea of desserts made for one delicious bite.

When the weather outside is chilly and you have a lot of people to feed it’s nice to have some standby dishes that are easy to make, delicious, and unquestionably comforting. Enter Gratin Dauphinois — a recipe born in the French Alps that combines scalloped potatoes, cream, and garlic all baked to perfection.Traditionally Gratin Dauphinois does not include cheese, although its creamy consistency often makes people think there must be some in the dish.

A friend of mine recently started working at a Tea Bar in where they mix up iced tea blends in a Martini shaker and combine unusual ingredients for refreshingly cold tea-based drinks. Jump below for some inspiration to keep summer cool and delicious. Of course, my friend couldn’t reveal their exact recipes for making the tea drinks at the bar, so take these as a jumping off point for creating your own concoctions.

Definitely not a foolproof take-it-to-work lunch, but for those that work from home (or want to save this for the weekend), we love whipping together some crêpe batter the night before, letting it rest and then filling it with whatever we’ve got on hand for lunch the next day. It’s warm, it’s satisfying and it’s quick.We’ve really gotten into working from home and being able to use our kitchen garden for lunches like these.

With May upon us and hot days already starting to hit Los Angeles, we’ve started thinking about backyard BBQs and the abundance of fruit that summer brings. Then when we found blackberries on sale at the market for $1 per container, we decided to get a jump on summer and make some individual blackberry bourbon slumps. What’s a slump, you ask?

Maybe you’re still eating light, or maybe you just don’t like drinking that much. Either way, it can be tough to find non alcoholic cocktails that have complex flavors and feel grown up. So as you plan your Valentine’s Day celebration consider these mixed drinks that skip the alcohol but are still every bit as festive:• Basil Lemon Syrup: a great starter for lots of drinks.

Growing up there was one cookbook that stood out among the rest: the bright yellow tattered copy of La Cuisinière Provençale, a classic French cookbook originally published in 1897 that favored simple recipes without superfluous fuss or drama. One of our favorites is a surprisingly simple recipe for the quintessential French cookie: Madeleines.We learned to make these cookies years ago with our Tante Marie teaching us the way her mother had taught her.

If you’ve ever traveled to the South of France or had the good fortune of trying the local confection Nougat de Montélimar you know that once you take a bite of that chewy bar filled with the heady taste of honey and the crunch of roasted pistachios and almonds, you’re hooked.In France there are 2 kinds of nougat: Nougat de Montélimar, which is on the softer side and white from being made with egg whites, and Nougatine, which is darker and made with caramelized sugar.

Admittedly we’re suckers for any kind of bundt. We love the festive shape and the reaction one will normally garner from a crowd. The problem is that all of our recipes are complicated and rely on a mixer and a lot of eggs. What’s great about this one is you don’t need a mixer and you can basically throw the ingredients together at the last minute and come out with an impressive and delicious cake.

When you hear the word dumpling, what does it make you think of? Asian pot stickers? How about tamales, ravioli or bread pudding? Well according to the authors of The Dumpling, those all fit into the same category, and they set out to show us how through a big batch of Hungarian bread dumplings.The cookbook The Dumpling: A Seasonal Guide sets out to categorize an elusive food that transcends cultures and continents.