Potato Timbale (Potato Cup Recipe)

Timbale means "drum" in French. Potato timbale is just a fancy name for a potato dish baked in a drum-shaped round mold. What I like about this dish is that it's very convenient when we host dinner parties because the servings are individual. Plus it makes a nice, appealing presentation.

Potatoes are par-boiled, sliced and placed in the shape of a round mold. Then, it's filled with whatever you like. I packed the potato cups with braised fennel, water chestnuts and blue cheese. This is what I call true comfort food if you want to serve a feast ("un repas de fête" in French) for Christmas.

Mashed Purple Potatoes

My husband Lulu and I are spending the holidays with my family and friends in Paris. We just arrived and have enjoyed our first couple of days in the City of Lights, despite the cold weather. The sights are wonderful, but the real treat is the wonderful products and ingredients that France has to offer. We went to an open air market this morning and brought back some Vitelotte potatoes.

You might know them as purple Peruvian fingerling potatoes, négresse or truffe de Chine. They are small-sized waxy potatoes, with a skinny and oblong shape. The flesh is dark-violet blue surrounded with a white rim. The texture is quite flour-y and have a different flavor than regular potatoes. I prepared them by boiling, mashing and then mixing the potatoes with butter, cream and milk. I flavored the mashed potatoes with blue cheese and dill. It was a delicious way to start our Parisian vacation!

Gratin de Christophine (Chayote Squash Recipe)

Gratin de christophine originates from the French island of Guadeloupe and Martinique. Whether it's called chayote in English, christophine in Creole and French or trái su su in Vietnamese, the vegetable is from the same family as squash. I steam them with apples for added sweetness, then mix in creamed pearl onion sauce and finally bake until golden.

If you're looking to spice up your Christmas meal, you should try this Creole dish. It’s familiar and fresh all at the same time.

Hasselback Potatoes

Hasselback potatoes are a variation on roasted potatoes. The potatoes have a crispy outer skin with a delicious, soft inside. The cooking technique isn't different from common baked potatoes, with the exception of being thinly sliced into an accordion shape.

A blend of butter and garlic creates a crunchy outer crust that is perfectly seasoned. To guarantee that the potatoes are cooked through, I parboiled them for a few minutes, cut them into a fan shape, dried them in the oven, then smeared them with a generous amount of garlic-flavored butter.

The accordion potatoes have a fancy presentation, but really, the dish isn't complicated at all. I'm thinking of serving hasselback potatoes for Thanksgiving this year instead of the roasted potatoes I typically make. As an added bonus, they go great with meat or poultry, making them perfect for turkey day.

Quinoa and Brown Rice Side Dish Recipe

Cooking quinoa is as easy as cooking rice: count one part uncooked quinoa to 2 parts water. However, brown rice takes a little longer to cook, so I parboiled the brown rice first and then added the quinoa for the remainder of the cooking time. Since quinoa is pretty bland by itself, I added a little kick using a paste made from tomato paste and Serrano peppers.

The addition of grilled summer vegetables and garbanzo beans completed the meal. I served the quinoa and brown rice medley as a side dish with escalope de dinde (turkey scallopini).