my first Gourmet

My Christmas present from my aunt and grandmother this past year was a year's subscription to Gourmet, my favourite American food magazine. The first issue finally arrived today, and I heartily dived in.

This month's issue is dedicated to French cuisine. My (not so healthy) favourite was profiteroles with coffee ice cream. And a lovely spring-inspired Meyer lemon cake with lavender cream. And a pear and almond tart. (The French do know their desserts, don't they?)

But there are plenty of tantalising dishes that seem quite healthy too. For example, the zucchini rice gratin, full of plum tomatoes, courgettes, garlic, eggs, and thyme, shows off the best of Provencal cooking. It calls for way too much olive oil in my opinion (6 1/2 tablespoons for 4-6 servings!), but despite that, it's still pretty good. Even better, it only takes 25 minutes to cook.

Other recipes I can't wait to try:

Creamy celery-root (celeriac) and haricot vert (green bean) salad, a lovely fresh late-winter salad with mayonnaise and lemon juice.

Merguez lamb patties with golden raisin couscous, made with lamb mince and a host of wonderful spices (fennel seeds, harissa, garlic, cumin, coiander and cinnamon). I'm not QUITE sure about the raisins yet though. Food for thought.