Pan-Fried Turbot Fish Recipe

Turbot fish is a flat, bright white-fleshed fish that is well-known in both French and Asian cuisine. The flavor is quite delicate and is perfect if you're looking for a light meal.

I dredged the fish in a little flour and pan-fried it until the surface is slightly crispy. The only trick to preparing turbot is to carefully watch the cooking time. You don’t want the fish to be too dry and over-cooked.

I decided to serve it with fish sauce. You could also accompany the fish with spicy Indian-style salsa (called kachumbar) or a French sauce I often love to pair with fish, called sauce au raifort (horseradish).

Asparagus Tart (Savory Tart Recipe)

Asparagus tart is a delightful, tasty, light meal. It's perfect when you have your girlfriends coming over for lunch. I don't know why, but there is something fancy about these green, long-stemmed vegetables. It's perfect if you're serving a vegetarian meal that contains no egg. And if you're looking for a similar recipe with eggs, you could always make a quiche.

To make the dish, I caramelized leeks and a fennel bulb in a pan, then added Indian-style tomato chutney. I like the kick from the Indian spices and I think they really highlight the asparagus well. This mixture forms the base of the tart. Finally, I topped the tart with roasted asparagus and gave them a light sprinkling of jalapeño cheddar cheese.

I love combining Indian and French cuisine. At first blush, it may seem like these two styles of cooking would clash, but if care is taken, you can really make some special dishes. The trick is to reduce the heat from the Indian components of the dish and to pick French dishes that have bold flavors. This approach works both ways; I’ve made a mustard-based raita that is absolutely amazing with khichdi (rice cooked with coral lentils).

Until I got married, I didn’t really have much exposure to Indian food. So I guess I have my husband Lulu to thank for broadening my culinary horizons! 

Vegetarian Pot Pie with Lentil Pasta

If you’ve wanted to make comfort food healthy, this recipe is for you. As I've told you in the past, I often try to make vegetarian versions of the meat dishes I cook. One of my favorite dishes is chicken pot pie, and today I decided to make a variation of the dish with lentils and pastina pasta. I placed the mixture in mini soup bowls and covered them with puff pastry baked until golden and flaky.

The dish is fairly healthy, yet very flavorful due to the generous amounts of ginger, soy bacon bits, coriander, parsley and cilantro. The flavors and texture are spot on for a cold evening meal.

Mini Keema Burgers in Pate a Choux Buns

What happens when you combine a classic American dish with recipes from France and India? The correct answer is mini pâte à choux keema burgers. These are definitely out of the ordinary, but they are fun and taste great.

Using choux paste, I made standard cream puff shells which I used as the hamburger buns. I filled them with Indian-style, spicy ground beef mixed with diced potatoes, called "keema". To reinforce the idea that this dish is supposed to be a burger, I added a slice of Gruyère and lettuce.

I was very pleased with the presentation; it really looked like an upscale hamburger. The flavors were fabulously sharp and spicy. These special treats will take you around the world with every single bite.

Michael Mina's Butterscotch Pudding (Vol Au Vent Pastry Recipe)

I was browsing through Chef Michael Mina's recipes, looking for one to post alongside the interview, and I stopped on butterscotch pudding. My husband Lulu loves anything butterscotch and I thought it would be a nice treat for him. I didn’t want to serve the pudding by itself in a bowl, and after going through several options in my head (I thought of creating chocolate cups or tart shells), I decided to make a quick puff pastry dough and baked it as a "vol au vent".

I filled the puff pastry with Chef Mina’s butterscotch pudding and sprinkled a little powdered sugar over them. To make the flavors more complex, I sautéed a medley of dried fruits and pistachios in butter and added a splash of rose water. If I had time to do butterscotch three ways, a la Chef Mina, I would also have made a stack of mini crêpes layered with butterscotch cream  and a butterscotch crème brulée. You won’t go wrong with any of these dishes.