Serves 6
Cook time: 45 minutes

Heat a large skillet over high heat; add oil and let come to a shimmer (there needs to be about 1/8" of oil, which is why you may need more depending on the size of your skillet.  Pat your fish dry on both sides and salt and pepper.  Carefully add tilapia fillets to skillet - this will probably take two batches for 6 fillets.  Pan fry tilapia on each side - they are ready to flip when they easily release from the bottom of the pan.  Once seared, remove and cover with foil.
Pour off about half of the oil and sautee your leeks until softened and beginning to brown around the edges.  Then add your corn and let it cook until it starts to get a little color on it.
Deglaze with the sherry and allow the alcohol to cook off.  Add the cream and allow to cook for at least 20 minutes, stirring often to prevent it from sticking or getting gloppy in spots; this should be a fairly loose sauce, it's not creamed corn.  Wait until the end to salt and pepper, to taste.
To serve: lay tilapia on a bed of leek and corn cream and put a spoonful of the mixture on top too.

Serves 4 - 6 (half hen each)
Cook time: 1 hour 

Preheat oven to 400.  
Sautee onion, diced garlic, and mushrooms 2 Tbsp. butter until soft and the mushrooms have given up their water.  Salt & pepper, to taste.  Add 1 cup of stock to the vegetable mixture and allow to heat through.  In a large bowl combine torn bread, beaten eggs, and vegetable-stock mixture; bread should be thoroughly wet, but not sopping.  
Put dressing into greased roasting pan or large casserole dish.  Depending on how dry your bread is you may need more than 1 cup stock; also, while dressing is cooking check a few times to make sure your dressing is not too dry - add stock as needed.
Meanwhile melt the remaining 6 Tbsp. butter, grated garlic, and  half the herbs.  Remove any giblets/organs from game hens, flip onto breasts and cut out the backbone, then gently crack the breast bone so the hens lay relatively flat when flipped back over (breast side up).  Pour melted butter and herbs all over hens; salt and pepper, to taste.  
Gently set Cornish game hens on top of the dressing, spaced so they are not touching.  Put in oven and cook until a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the birds (thigh) reads 165.  Once hens have reached 165 (this takes about 45 minutes), remove the hens from the oven and set aside to rest (don't forget to remove the lemon wedges before serving).  Since the dressing has been absorbing the drippings from the birds you want to make sure it is at 165 too.  Insert a thermometer into the dressing where the birds were and put dressing back into oven for the dressing to dry out a little and come up to a safe temperature (10-15 minutes).
Serve hens with dressing immediately.
​


French Onion Soup
I have found that the key to that perfectly melted top is to make sure the mouth of your bowl and the piece of bread you use are roughly the same size.  That's why French Onion Soup has bowls of the same name - a narrow mouth.  You can also use little ramekins - they are the perfect size for a starter course and they have a smaller mouth than a regular-sized bowl.
Serves 4 - 6
Cook time: 1 hour and 20 minutes
4 Tbsp. butter
2 Tbsp. olive oil
4 sweet onions, sliced lengthwise (top to bottom)
4 yellow onions, sliced lengthwise
2 Tbsp. Calvados
1 cup dry white wine, such as chardonnay
8 cups beef broth
1 Tbsp. Worcestershire
2 bay leaves
 a few springs of thyme
salt & pepper, to taste
1 cup Gruyere
4-6 slices crusty bread

Heat butter and olive oil in a medium to large pot over low heat; when butter is melted add onions.  Cook onions about 45 minutes or until they are all brown and caramelized.  Deglaze with Calvados, allow a minute or two for alcohol to cook off and then add the wine; again allow the alcohol to cook off.  Once there are no longer alcohol fumes coming from the pot, add the remaining ingredients.  This needs to cook, covered, for another 30 minutes minimum.
After at least 30 minutes of cooking, ladle soup into bowls, top with bread and cheese and broil until melted.

Serves 6-8
Cook time: 50 minutes

Preheat oven to 375.
Bring stock and milk to a boil over medium-high heat; when it begins to boil whisk in grits, allow to return to a boil and reduce heat to low.  Cook until grits have absorbed liquid, whisking often, about 25 minutes.  Remove from heat, and stir in half the cheese and all the butter.
Whisk together cream,mayonnaise, 4 eggs, salt and pepper in a medium bowl. Stir half-and-half mixture into grits mixture, fold in thawed spinach.  Place in a 4-quart casserole dish or 9x13" baking dish.  Bake  15 to 20 minutes, until grits are set.
Make 8 indentations in the casserole with back of a spoon. Break remaining 8 eggs, 1 at a time, and slip 1 egg into each indentation. Turn oven to broil and broil 3 to 5 minutes until eggs are cooked to desired degree of doneness and cheese is golden. Cover loosely with aluminum foil, and let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Serves 2-3
Cook Time: 5 minutes

For vinaigrette: muddle, or smash with a fork, 1/4 cup raspberries in the bottom of a Mason jar.  Once liquefied, but a little chunky still, add olive oil, vinegar, salt & pepper, and shake till combined.  Refrigerate until ready to use.
Put a handful of greens on each salad plate.  Top with vinaigrette, a few fresh raspberries, and dried blueberries.

Serves 2-3
Cook time: 10 minutes

The night before: peel thawed shrimp and grate garlic with a microplane (you could finely mince if you do not have a microplane).  Mix garlic with 1 Tbsp. olive oil; toss in shrimp, cover, and let marinate overnight.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil; once it is at a rolling boil, add a handful of salt.  Angel hair pasta is very thin and does not take long to cook, so I add the pasta right before I deglaze the pan.  
In a small food processor, chop shallots with 1 Tbsp. olive oil until they become one, chunky, paste.  If you do not have a small food processor, you can finely mince the shallots, or grate them.
In a medium-hot pan, add 2 Tbsp. olive oil and shallot mixture.  Sautee mixture until shallots are translucent and soft, do not brown.  Add butter to pan and allow mixture cook with the melted butter.  At this point I would add the pasta to the boiling water.
Deglaze pan with sherry and let the alcohol cook off (once alcohol fumes are no longer strongly coming off the pan, the alcohol has cooked off).  
Add the shrimp mixture to the pan and toss to coat in the sauce.  Juice 1/2 the lemon and add to the pan.  Add the slices of lemon to the pan too.
Pull 1 cup of water out of the pasta water and set aside.  Check your pasta for doneness and drain if al dente.  
At this point, your shrimp should be pink, but not overcooked.  Remove from heat (keep in mind that if you are using large or jumbo shrimp they will take a little longer to cook than medium, small, or baby shrimp).  Using a slotted spoon remove about half the shrimp and set aside.  Toss the drained pasta in the pan and coat with scampi sauce; thin with some of the pasta water if necessary (I usually use at least 1/4 cup of the pasta water).
Put scampi on a platter and top with the shrimp you set aside earlier.  Garnish with chopped parsley and serve immediately.

*Alternatively, you can serve this with garlicky toasted bread.  In that case, I would serve it from the same bowl and dip my bread in the bowl- this is a great way to serve a crowd and use this recipe as an appetizer.  I would leave the tails on if you are serving with bread.

Makes one 9"X 13" pan
Cook Time: 8 minutes
​Refrigeration Time: at least 4 hours

Red Velvet "Ladyfingers"
Preheat the oven to 375 and line a large jelly roll pan with parchment paper, set aside (you need a large pan with a deep lip, it doesn't have to be a jelly roll pan, any baking sheet with high sides will do) .
Separate the eggs, placing the yolks in a large bowl and the whites in a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment; whisk whites until foamy, add cream of tartar, and and whip until soft peaks form.  With the mixture running add 1/4 cup sugar 1 Tbsp. at a time; whisk until stiff peaks form; mixture will be stiff and a little glossy.  Transfer meringue into a bowl.
Now with the stand mixer, whip the egg yolks with the remaining sugar, until pale and fluffy, then beat in the vanilla and food color.  Transfer from mixer to a large bowl.
Using a large spoon, gently fold the egg whites into the egg yolk mixture, folding in 1/3 of the mixture at a time.  Once the egg white mixture and yolk mixture are almost combined sift the flour and cocoa over the batter.  Continue to gently fold until all of the flour is incorporated.  Spread batter onto prepared jelly roll pans.
Bake for 8 minutes, or until just beginning to darken around the edges.
Allow to cool fully before using; this large ladyfinger will be best if allowed to dry out for a day or two, but in a pinch you can make the entire tiramisu at the same same (it really is better if you let the "ladyfingers" dry out though).

Cheesecake Filling
In a double boiler over medium-low heat, beat yolks with 1/2 cup sugar; whisk vigorously for 8-10 minutes until the mixture resembles lemon pudding.  Remove from heat and set aside to cool.
Meanwhile, whisk cream until stiff peaks form; transfer to bowl.  Then beat cream cheese and remaining sugar on low until soft and smooth; add vanilla.  Beat egg yolk mixture into cream cheese mixture.  Transfer to large mixing bowl and gently fold in whipped cream in a few batches.

Red Velvet Tiramisu
Each large "ladyfinger" should be cut in half, crosswise; each "ladyfinger" will make one two-layered tiramisu.  Allow espresso or coffee to cool and pour into a large baking sheet or casserole dish; quickly dunk each "ladyfinger" sheet into the espresso or coffee - the "ladyfingers" are very fragile and will absorb liquid quickly, they may even fall apart a little, so be slow and patient, and just piece them back together in their dishes if you need to.  In the bottom of a 9"X 13" dish goes one "ladyfinger", then half the cream cheese mixture, the other doused "ladyfinger", then the remaining cream cheese mixture.  Using a fine mesh sieve, heavily sprinkle the top of each tiramisu with cocoa.  Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours; overnight preferred.