The Great Chef

A southern european cannot be away from the region's classic flavors and ingredients for too long and that is one of the reasons why there are a list of ingredients that always have a constant presence in our cooking. Elements like lemon, fresh herbs, peppers, tomato and olive oil never disappear from our pantry and refrigerator which means that, even on the less inspired days, we can serve vibrant and flavorful meals in a blink of an eye. The recipe I am about to share with you today is a recipe that will take about 20 minutes to prepare, that will bring fresh flavors to your table, and that uses two of those " habitues " of our fridge - flat leaf parsley and lemon. A scaloppine  is a very thin cut of meat (usually veal, although chicken can also be used) coated in flour, sauteed and served with a tomato, wine, or lemon and cappers sauce (aka piccata ). The sauce used at this recipe skips the cappers (and I thank Mrs. Marcella Hazan for that) and uses a beautiful lemon a...

Everything that might suggest that I am on "stew mode" is pure coincidence. I am not even a fan of mediterranean style stews where all the ingredients are cooked together. In fact, I cannot stand such stews because since the meat or fish are cooked along with all sorts of vegetables, the pleasure of enjoying different flavors in one dish is lost. Almost invariably, everything tastes like the meat or fish, depending on what is being used. And that is one of the worst things I have ever tasted. It doesn't pleases me at all. But I must admit that there are some types of meat that I really like and that only make sense cooking in a stew. One of those types of meat is ox tail. Properly cooked, it rewards any foodie with a flavorful and melting meat course. Plus, it is really cheap! So, yesterday, I decided to cook ox tail for dinner. It is not a fast dish to cook. If you want to try cooking it and you work late, I suggest that you choose the weekend to do it because you will h...