Happy St. Patrick's Day!

A few sweet treats that would make a leprechaun “green” with envy. Sorry, couldn’t resist. Happy St. Paddy’s Day everyone!

Ficelle Picarde Recipe (Crepe Gratin)

Ficelle picarde, which literally translates to "Picard string" in French, sounds like a fancy dish, but really, it's just a savory crêpe gratin filled with sautéed chopped mushrooms (called duxelles). It's a specialty from the region of Picardy, located in the North of France. The authentic dish is made with ham but I replaced it with soy chorizo to make it vegetarian. First, mushroom stuffed crêpes are rolled, then placed in a casserole dish, covered with Mornay mushroom cream sauce and sprinkled with Gruyère cheese. The last step is 5 to 10 minutes in the oven until bubbly and golden.

Crêpes are a fairly frequent dish at our home. The batter can be prepared in advance and you could also store pre-cooked crêpes in the freezer for faster assembly time. Whether they are served as a savory dish or as a dessert (or both!), we always find a new way to pair them with interesting combinations of flavors.

Masala Burger Recipe

Here's a new take on the American burger classic! Spice up your traditional barbecue menu by adding flavors from India.

Masala burgers would make a perfect addition to your spread this Memorial Day weekend. They're a welcome change from regular beef burgers. I've made fusion burgers in the past, including keema burgers made with Indian-style ground beef. This time, I flavored hamburger patties with garam masala, ginger garlic paste, turmeric and red chili powder. I also changed the condiments; I substituted kachumbar (Indian salsa), my own concoction of raita (Indian yogurt sauce) and tamarind sauce for the ordinary ketchup, mayo, mustard and pickle relish.

Blue Cheese Pasta Sauce Recipe

Blue cheese sauce isn't what you would call low-calorie, but it's certainly very tasty. Instead of the usual Gruyère cheese, I used roquefort cheese in a Mornay sauce, which is basically a béchamel (creamy sauce made of flour, butter and milk) with cheese. It's not the authentic French sauce but my husband Lulu and his little sister Sunny loved the strong flavor of blue cheese.

I poured the blue cheese sauce over riccioli pasta and topped with a brunoise, which is a blend of similarly-sized and shaped diced vegetables (I used orange bell peppers, crimini mushrooms, zucchini, jiacama and carrots). The addition of the jicama adds body and crunch to the vegetarian pasta meal. I also finished the dish with crumbled blue cheese as a reminder of the flavor from the creamy pasta sauce.