10,000 icing recipes

Brunch roast beef hash made from leftover roast beef and potatoes with onion, green pepper, and a touch of tomato, fried until brown and crusty, then folded omelet-style. The tastiest way to use up Sunday's roast.

Hearty South American vegetable soup with tomatillos, black beans, chayote, pattypan squash, corn, and a smoky chipotle kick. A filling, plant-based bowl loaded with Latin spices.

Apple-bacon quiches layer Canadian bacon and tender sliced apples with Swiss cheese in a savory caraway-and-mustard custard, baked in individual tart shells. A brunch crowd-pleaser.

Smooth pureed yellow split pea soup with potato, celery, caraway, mace, and bay leaf. A vegan family-recipe soup with subtle warm spice notes setting it apart from typical green split pea.

So to start off with the first post, I decided to make a meal that screams of comfort food. Whilst it does take a bit of a while to get the meal done, once you take that first bite, heaven couldn’t seem closer if you were Adam trying to touch God’s finger in the “Creation of Adam” fresco created by Michaelangelo. The meal I speak of is Cottage Pie. There is much debate as to what exactly a cottage pie is and how it is different to a Shepherd’s pie...I don’t know. The dominant theory is that Sheperds pie uses lamb mince, whilst a cottage pie uses beef mince. I don’t know about you, but the term “Sheperds Pie” does not get my tastebuds going quite as well, so I prefer the term cottage pie. Besides, comparing the price of ground (mince) beef to ground lamb, a student would pick up the beef mince in a heartbeat without even so much as glancing at the lamb in the meat section. This cottage pie that I made is full of flavour, and just makes you want to cuddle up next to a fire and watch TCM movies all day either by yourself, or with a significant other. Here is the recipe:

Pinto bean salsa with three dried chiles, dark beer, blackened tomatoes, and caramelized onion, pureed and re-fried in smoking-hot peanut oil. A deeply smoky, complex Mexican condiment.

New England fish chowder with haddock, cod, bacon, and potatoes in a creamy milk and evaporated milk broth. A classic, no-frills chowder that tastes even better the next day.

Chinese-style chicken in plum sauce with fresh ginger, sherry, carrots, and celery. Bite-sized chicken simmered in a glossy, sweet-tangy plum gravy thickened with cornstarch.

Delicious spread -- so creamy. I used pecans instead of walnuts and it was great. Wonderful with slices of apple or pear. Toss fruit slices with lemon juice to keep them from browning.

Chilled fruit gazpacho with tomatoes, honeydew, cantaloupe, mango, nectarines, and cucumber in fresh orange juice with basil, mint, and a jalapeño kick. A stunning summer starter.

Portuguese kale soup (caldo verde-style) with linguica or chourico, kidney beans, cabbage, and potatoes. A hearty New England-Portuguese immigrant classic.

Don't let your crockpot sit in the corner this winter, instead try this succulent dish that you will have you savoring every bite!

There are hundreds versions of this very Polish soup. Here you have an original proposition of mine. I used to cook it on the base of my favorite duck and chicken stock. The cream is a must to create wonderful pink color. Optionally you may add a quarter or a half of hard boiled egg to your bowl. By the way, I change my recipe sometimes, for instance by adding dried California prunes instead of sugar, or by adding some white vinegar instead of lemon juice.

Rustic fish stew with tilapia, white wine, clam juice, zucchini, red pepper, and Roma tomatoes. A light Mediterranean-style one-skillet stew ready in 35 minutes.

Jokai bableves is a traditional Hungarian smoked pork and bean soup thickened with a paprika roux and finished with sour cream. Hearty, smoky, and deeply satisfying.

Classic Italian minestrone loaded with great northern beans, spinach, cabbage, zucchini, potatoes, tomatoes, and elbow macaroni in a herb-scented broth. The ultimate hearty vegetable soup.