It may be just one bowl of food, but every part of the recipe you are layering in flavour and love and they will shower it right back at you. Plus, I see this appropriatley pink dish, pairing very well with a nice glass of champagne.

Starting from scratch (where scratch is one very much alive Dungeness crab), all the way to two bowls of a hearty crab risotto, takes a smidge over 2 hours. This is because you need to cook the crab, pick the meat from the shells and then make the crab stock before you can even start on the risotto. That said, once you have the crab and crab stock all ready to go the risotto takes less than 45 minutes so if you would like you can do this over two days. This risotto recipe was created from Dungeness crab, but that isn’t native to everywhere, I am sure it would work with other crabs as well.

Crab Risotto made from Homemade Crab Stock

This recipe was designed for Dungeness crab but should work for other kinds of crab as well. It was meant to go hand in hand with the crab risotto recipe. From one cooked crab you can make the stock, the risotto and even have some stock leftovers, perfect for saucing a pasta or forming the base of a bisque!

Wanna lose some of that holiday jiggle? I suggest big rice bowls packed full of whole grains, leafy greens and lean meats. This shrimp and black bean recipe has protein-packed quinoa along with spinach, tomatoes, avocado and peppers. To add fragrance and flavour I used the shrimp shells to make a quick stock which I folded into the quinoa.

Although, this black bean quinoa bowl is full of wholesome, real food, you may be looking to further reduce the calories and fat, if so try swapping the olive oil for a cooking spray. Don’t omit the avocado though, the warm avocado combined with the tomato and shrimp is worth every calorie.

I cook at home a lot so I don’t get tons of praise unless something stands out. Not only did my husband comment on it while he was eating it (“this is so good, I am just shovelling it back. Seriously this may be the best salmon dish I have ever had…”), but he remembered and mentioned it the next day.

A fish recipe getting praise the day after it is eaten is as usual as…. well, I’ll let you know if it ever happens again.

Now, as a former vegetarian I used to find a little fish face looking up at me from a dinner plate very daunting, that is until I started to appreciate the flavor that fish bones impart and the delicacy of fish necks and collars. By steaming fish on its hundreds of little bones the flesh will be extra moist and flavorful. By keeping the face and tail intact you can enjoy the fish with very little waste.

This recipe has been tested two ways: first with a whole fish, and second by using fish fillets. If doing a large whole fish you will either need a very big steamer or to fashion something in a wok with a lid. In the above picture, I used a whole tilapia which is small enough to fit in a medium steamer. The recipe below is enough for two small fillets or one small fish, if doing a big fish then double the garnish and sauce.

Yes, this recipe does call for topping fried shrimp with a mayonnaise and ketchup mixture. Yes that really is how they make it, and no it isn’t health food. However, this is a fun and easy appetizer recipe that can easily be a conversation piece for your next party. Serve with cold beer.

This petrale sole is my new favourite fish! It is buttery and light and has a firmer texture then the typical sole I get. To cook it I very lightly breaded it and fried it in butter then finished it with lemon. I served alongside some quick and easy soba noodles and it was a huge hit.

After making this lemon sole recipe about four times I decided it was time to share it. This is reflection of the sort of healthy comfort food that I like to make regularly on weeknights.

Most of the tuna you find at the grocery store is canned in water, the next time you are in a Mediterranean grocery or specialty market take a look around and see if you can find some tuna which is canned in olive oil. In olive oil is the standard way to can tuna in Italy, and it has a lovely softening effect on the flavour of the fish.

This classic Italian tuna pasta recipe is meant to address a weeknight emergency that can easily be pulled from the depths of your pantry. Don’t skip the chili flakes they brighten up the flavours of what could otherwise be a flat sauce.

I can be a stubborn creature. Before culinary school, a beurre blanc wouldn’t have appealed to me at all. I either thought it was too rich, too bland, or just old-people food. (Sidebar: I am not sure I had ever actually had a beurre blanc before.) Though certainly rich, a good beurre blanc is anything but bland. The day we made it at school it was a revelation. What a beautiful butter sauce it is when perfectly smooth and balanced!

This particular beurre blanc recipe is not the classic simple sauce, but rather one aromatized with orange as the citrus — rather than the typically lemon — and chives for a bite. The bright orange colour is a great place to sit some fresh shrimp. Make sure you serve this alongside some crusty bread for dipping and a glass of light Chardonnay.

This tuna recipe is a variation with a more citrusy twist. The raw onions are soaked in water briefly to take the edge off (a great trick for Greek salad by the way). The only complaint I received was that there wasn’t enough — even though this was only the appetizer.

Rather than doing it in a pan, this tuna recipe can also be done on the grill and served immediately. By doing it in a pan and freezing it briefly before slicing it is simply easier to get a clean cut. Feel free to do it a few hours ahead of time, store it in the fridge, then slice and served cold when you are ready for it.