Gluten Free & Great Tasting!
What's For Dinner? - Gourmet Restaurant Meals
Celebrate spring with this creamy risotto infused with the fresh flavors of asparagus and white wine. Serve it up as beautful centerpiece for a vegetarian meal or as a side dish with chicken or fish.
This traditional Provencal dish of artichokes braised in a tangy, garlic-scented broth makes a perfect first course or side dish for chicken or fish. It can also be served chilled as a salad.
Our barley risotto, served with duck sausages, is hearty enough for a one-dish main course on the coldest night of the year. Double the recipe to serve eight. You'll all be enchanted.
A glorious tradtional dish from France: tender beef braised in red wine and our Glace de Viande with mushrooms, onions, and carrots. Serve it with boiled or mashed potatoes, or a crusty loaf of French bread to soak up all the delicious savory juices.
Succulent chunks of beef and earthy mushrooms in a savory cream sauce highlighted with a dill, this traditional dish makes a rich and satisfying dinner served over egg noodles or rice. It is said to have originated in 19th-century Paris, invented by a French chef for the Russian diplomat, Count Paul Stroganov.
This is a favorite recipe of Bill's, aka The SauceDude, with thanks to his buddy Chef Dave for the inspiration. It's a great meal for a gathering of friends and family, is fun to prepare, and quite tasty. Short ribs are one of the most flavorful cuts of beef. Braise them in a little red wine and our Glace de Viande, along with vegetables, garlic, and herbs, and you'll have a feast fit for a hungry crowd.
These tender baby artichokes, gently braised with onions, garlic, and marjoram, make a terrific Spring appetizer or side dish for roast chicken or fish.
Fennel's subtle, delicate anise flavor combines beautifully here with the earthy sweetness of figs for an exceptional side dish to go with roast pork, chicken or beef.
Spicy, fragrant, and silky smooth, green curry sauce is the perfect foil for tender braised fish. Serve it over steamed jasmine rice for a superb dish with the exotic flavors of Thailand.
Morocco … the gateway between Europe and Africa, and a culinary star in her own right. Although Morocco’s culture has been influenced by trade from Europe, the country has still retained her own flavor by using bold, rich spices. Couscous and lamb are staples of Moroccan cuisine, and this recipe adapted from Chef Steve Chiappeti at Viand Restaurant in Chicago incorporates these two essentials into an exotic braised dish.
Belgians are famous for cooking with beer. They also use dried fruits, especially cherries and prunes, in stews. This sweet, rich, and satisfying dish is a splendid example of how cherry beer and dried cherries marry with rabbit or other game meats. The final splash of balsamic really makes the tastes sparkle. Serve it over spaetzle or with boiled potatoes.
This scrod is elegant and impressive, but simple to make. Orange-scented fish stock with a splash of dry vermouth is spooned over the meaty fillets to braise them. At the same time, the bed of sliced fennel and onions becomes tender enough to purée. The liquid is reduced, orange segments are added, and it’s ready to enjoy. Any mild, thick, firm fish fillet can be substituted.
Meaty short ribs, braised slowly with mushrooms in red wine and our savory Glace de Viande Gold, make the perfect cold-weather feast. Serve them up with a side of mashed potatoes, some hearty roasted root vegetables, and a glass of your favorite Cabernet.
An elegant and hearty dish for a chilly evening, tender veal in a red wine sauce studded with mushrooms will wow your guests. Serve it with fluffy mashed potatoes and a glass of your favorite red wine.
These beautifully seasoned, fork-tender shoulder lamb chops are simmered in a heady sauce redolent of vermouth, apricots, sage, tomatoes, and cinnamon. It was inspired by a dish from Spain's Mediterranean coast. The aromatic combination of ingredients harkens back to the Moorish culture that imparted many lush flavors to the international stew pot. Serve the chops on a bed of wide noodles or mashed potatoes.
Chef Michaelangelo (Mick) Rosacci of Tony's Market in Denver created this inspired combination of flavors and textures: tender bison steaks coated with a zesty dry rub of crushed dried jalapeno and spices, grilled, and napped in a silky smooth port wine sauce garnished with sweet tart berries. Kudos to the chef!
Savor chunks of tender chicken and wild mushrooms bathed in a creamy sauce and served up in crisp puff pastry. With some fresh chives sprinkled over the top, you have a dish ready for company or family in short order.
There's nothing as warming and flavorful as a spicy curry dish. This one features tender chicken and tart apples. It's delicious as is with a side of fragrant jasmine rice, or you can offer a selection of tasty garnishes like mango chutney, chopped peanuts or cashews, toasted cocunut flakes, or raisins for a truly festive meal.
Normandy is a region in the north of France that borders the English channel. Its rolling hills are home to dairy farms and apple orchards and the region is as famous for butter, cheeses, and cream as it is for apples, cider, and apple brandy. This dish is a Norman classic, combining fall-off-the-bone tender chicken with tart-sweet apples in a luscious, brandy-infused cream sauce.
This hearty seafood stew originated in the Italian fishing community near the wharves of San Francisco, but it can be made anywhere there's an abundance of good fresh fish and shellfish. The seafood is quickly cooked in a flavorful blend of tomatoes, garlic, herbs, green pepper, fennel, and white wine. Serve it with plenty of crusty bread to mop up all the juices--and pass the napkins!
This wine-enriched sauce is traditionally served over beef steaks or beef tenderloin, but it will also add a luscious finish to veal, pork, or lamb.
A classic dish from the Burgundy region of France, which is known for its outstanding red wines. Serve this luxurious stew with garlic mashed potatoes, a butter lettuce salad, and some fine French cheeses with fruit for your dessert.
Braised lamb shanks are wonderfully succulent and versatile, as this mildly-spicy curry dish shows. If you like, once the shanks are tender, cut the meat in chunks off the bone. To keep the theme: serve the meat over red lentils simmered in diluted Glace d'Agneau Gold and mixed with a little butter and some dried currants.
Chunks of wild boar are marinated in gin and vermouth with juniper berries and then braised in a rich broth to make a hearty stew. Sour cream and olives are stirred in at the end to make this soul-satisfying cold-weather dish--serve it with your favorite bold red wine.
Confit is derived from an ancient French method of preserving meat: duck legs are seasoned with herbs and spices and then cooked very slowly in rendered duck fat until they are meltingly tender and deeply flavorful. Duck confit can be served on its own, perhaps on a salad dressed with a tangy vinaigrette or nestled in a bowl of cooked white beans with garlic. In addition, the tasty, succulent meat can be shredded and added to soups, stews, or vegetable dishes, or used to make hash, a filling for ravioli, or an appetizer spread (puréed with a little of the cooking fat--the French call this "rillettes"). Make it once and you'll likely want it to become a staple in your pantry!
If you think sausages are only everyday fare, you haven’t tasted this over-the-top combination. Creamy polenta has to be just this side of heaven. Topped with succulent game sausages and a tangy-sweet balsamic vinegar sauce, the results are sublime.
A special-occasion dish: rich duck with a creamy red wine sauce. Serve it with wild rice and roasted butternut squash with sage for a gorgeous autumn feast!
The duck in this fanciful and flavorful salad is poached in stock without skin, making it succulent and low fat. The same stock adds flavor to the creamy dressing. Those crispy bits of skin, or "cracklings," add a heavenly if not exactly dietetic crunch to the salad. Use as many as you dare!
Tender filet mignon enrobed in a creamy, brandy-scented sauce and garnished with a sprinkle of fresh thyme--now that's luxury! Enjoy this stellar entree with a glass of your favorite Burgundy.
Chinese five-spice powder is a fragrant combination of ground cloves, star anise, fennel seed, Sichuan peppercorns, and cinnamon. In some versions, cumin and ginger can also be included. Here, the spices warm chewy, tender brown rice, in combination with the flavors of garlic, ginger, sesame, rice wine, and almonds, to create a tasty side dish for pork, chicken, or fish. This rice also blends well with roasted vegetables as a vegetarian main dish.
A summer treat from the grill: succulent grilled shrimp and multicolored bell peppers bathed in a rich, smooth coconut sauce accented with curry and a dash of rum. Serve it with fragrant steamed jasmine rice.
Graisse de Canard Gold adds a special touch - a delicate flavor - to these festive potato balls. You can make them ahead and keep them warm in a slow oven.
For an onion soup that lingers in your mind long after the last spoonful is gone, try this creamy blend of caramelized onions that's puréed with Riesling wine and a dash of sherry, along with the robust flavor of Jus de Poulet Lié Gold. Gruyère croutons are a contemporary interpretation of the typical (and often too heavy) cheese topping.
A twist on the classic "Wellington" dish--using lamb instead of beef and won ton wrappers to stand in for the puff pastry (yes, they work beautifully!), but keeping the classic paté and mushroom filling and the red wine and mushroom sauce. This dish will earn raves from your guests as an elegant first or middle course, or you may double it and serve two apiece as a substantial main course.
Never again will left-over turkey be thought of as mundane once you feast on this delectable risotto. Sautéed white mushrooms and onions along with Arborio rice become creamy yet al dente as turkey stock is slowly stirred into this traditional Italian dish. Then add splash of white wine, diced turkey, and Parmigiano. If you're in a flamboyant mood, you might shave on fresh white truffles. For the rest of us mortals, this is already a heavenly celebration that must be served immediately.
There’s nothing old style about this quiche. A flaky cornmeal crust holds a bounty of American harvest: salmon, leeks, bell pepper, and corn. If you have small pieces of left-over salmon, what a way to dress it up! So satisfying and flavorful, simply add a mixed green salad and crusty bread for a great lunch or dinner.
Take it from us: there's nothing more tempting than a luscious steak with a French wine-butter sauce. However, butter sauces often have mounds of butter. We find that if the wine and stock are well reduced, you'll only need about a tablespoon of butter per serving. Because everything counts in this minimalist preparation, choose fine wine, butter, meat, and, of course, stock.
Sweet pears are balanced by tangy goat cheese and savory pancetta in this creamy risotto. It makes the perfect side for roasted meats or poultry, as well as a satisfying yet light main dish.
Do you feel like indulging? This sumptuous pasta dish can be easily prepared by blending our Essence de Champignon Gold with sherry and some cream. We sauté bacon with shallots, add fresh thyme and, once the penne is cooked, stir in the morels. Top with Parmesan cheese. You could use the same sauce over rice or couscous, as well. This recipe is easily doubled or quadrupled.
Juicy venison chops with a crunchy, cracked pepper crust played against the taste of sweet venison meat and woodsy morels are definitely worth celebrating. With our Glace de Gibier, this heady sauce is ultra simple! Sautéed carrots and steamed broccoli florets, or Brussels sprouts, would nicely complement this luxurious dish.
This classic, rich, slow-simmered dish combines a hearty bean stew with a savory pork and sausage stew, all topped with a crust of bread crumbs drizzled with our Graisse de Canard Gold. Cassoulet is quintessential French country cuisine, a labor of love, so set aside an afternoon to make it and serve it to friends and family warm and fragrant from your oven.
This magical blend of caramelized balsamic vinegar and Glace de Veau Gold makes a contemporary drizzle of sauce that is clean and enticing to the palate.
Frankly, it almost doesn't matter what you put underneath this ambrosial sauce… Even if it won't make a silk purse of a sow's ear, the full-flavored combination of dried cherries, port, and Jus de Poulet Lié Gold certainly transforms mundane pork cutlets into celebrity fare. Serve this sauce with turkey, chicken, veal, or duck, as well.
One of our favorite simple game dishes is pan-fried pheasant breasts served with this tangy sauce. It is also excellent with pan-fried venison cutlets and roast partridge.
This delicious recipe is adapted from award-winning chef and food writer Jennifer McLagan. It's a variation on the classic Pommes Anna, a "cake" made with thinly sliced potatoes drizzled with butter and baked in a pan. This version is made with sweet potatoes, butternut squash, and apple, in addition to potatoes, with with our Graisse de Canard instead of butter. The rich, complex, sweet and savory flavors make this dish sing. It's the perfect partner for roasted poultry or meat and can be prepared in advance and reheated in the oven.
The sunny flavors of Provence come to mind in this fragrant veal stew simmered with fennel, sweet bell peppers, olives, and orange zest. Serve it over wide pasta noodles, boiled potatoes, or couscous.
This recipe was shared with us by our friend Diana Baur, innkeeper of the Baur Bed and Breakfast located in the idyllic, rolling hills and vineyards just outside Acqui Terme in the Piemonte region of Italy. This region is a cooks’ treasure: terrific wines, black truffles, hazelnuts and of course risotto. Folks here have a real passion for cooking. We love this recipe and hope you will too. Thanks, Diana!
Rabbit braised in red wine is a classic. Here we add the subtle flavor of rosé and balsamic vinegar to the gently simmering liquid. Fond de Poulet seamlessly melts into all of the liquids to impart a rich, perfectly balanced taste to complement the rabbit. A final flourish of crème fraîche creates a deliciously complex sauce with pearl onions, mushrooms, and dried currants.
A springtime specialty from Venice--creamy rice with tender peas, savory pancetta, and Parmesan cheese.
A simple, classic Italian risotto traditionally served with Veal Osso Buco. Flavored with saffron and Parmesan cheese, it also makes a great accompaniment to fish or chicken dishes.
