8 small red potatoes
1/3 cup mayonnaise
1-1/2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon dried dill
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
salt and pepper
water

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil, then add the potatoes. Cook until firm, but can be penetrated with a fork. Drain.
2. Combine mayonnaise, mustard, garlic, dill and lemon juice and season to taste with salt and pepper.
3. Once potatoes have cooled slightly, slice into halves or quarters and toss with prepared dressing. Serve warm or cold.

Makes 4 servings

2 eight ounce flank steaks
1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns
1/2 teaspoon white peppercorns
2 tablespoons butter
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/2 cup beef stock
1 tablespoon peppercorns
2 tablespoons heavy cream
salt

1. Lightly press steaks into a mixture of black and white peppercorns and sprinkle with a bit of coarse salt.
2. Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. When it begins to foam, add the garlic, stirring around the pan, then sear all sides of the steaks.
3. Pour in beef stock and reduce heat to a simmer. Cover and cook until steaks are very tender, about 30-45 minutes.
4. Transfer the steaks to a warm place, add the green peppercorns to the skillet and bring the remaining liquid to a boil. Reduce until thick enough to coat a spoon.
5. Remove the skillet from the heat, allow to cool slightly, then slowly whisk in the heavy cream. Adjust seasoning as necessary and serve over steaks.

Makes 2 servings

16 spears asparagus, trimmed
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 ounces goat cheese, sliced
1 teaspoon lemon juice
salt

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees with an oven proof dish inside.
2. Remove the dish from the oven, rub asparagus with olive oil and put into the dish. Return to the oven, roasting until asparagus is just tender, about 8 minutes.
3. Place goat cheese over the asparagus and drizzle with lemon juice. Season with salt and serve.

Makes 2 servings

When I was visiting Simon in Vancouver we went to a restaurant called Mistral where I had a Steak with Green Peppercorn Sauce. I liked it, it was simple and flavorful and best of all, I could make it. So I sort of shelved the idea in the back of my head and set about my ways. Well, I've kind of been in the mood for some French-style cooking lately and figured this would be a good recipe to try and create. So I did, with fairly positive results.

Unlike Green Curry, green peppercorn sauce is more of a tan or brown color, since it takes on most of its color from the beef, not the peppercorns themselves. Green peppercorns are simply unripe peppercorns, so they have a milder flavor, which is how you can make a sauce of them and not burn your mouth. I used flank steak instead of sirloin or better for this, but only because of financial restraints. A nice seared piece of steak would be equally viable. My addition of black and white peppercorns raised the heat level a little bit and sort of took away from the green peppercorn flavor, which was kind of silly of me, but it was still a nice, peppery sauce to go with the meat.

I also made another dish that may as well be French because it uses Dijon mustard and potatoes, a very simple and very delicious Dijon Potato Salad. I nibbled on this occasionally as I was waiting for the steaks to finish and both Shannon and I were very satisfied with this on our plates and as leftovers. This just wouldn't be the same without Dijon mustard, but it wouldn't be bad, either. There's just a certain oomph that Dijon adds. Finally, just some Roasted Asparagus with Goat Cheese, a very nice compliment with a drizzle of lemon juice and a dash of kosher salt. The goat cheese melts with the lemon juice into a very luxurious sort of dressing.