An American Classic a la Francaise

French Fridays with Dorie...Hamburgers this week, and they were terrific!  Thank you, Dorie, for including this one in the book.

Here is my finished product:

No challenge for a food stylist there!  This is a grilled burger, with the oh-so-French additions of red onion marmalade, a cornichon-caper-tomato blend, and shavings of Parmesan (okay, Italian but close).  The verdict:  wonderful!  Two lucky kids even got to take the leftovers for lunch the next day, with nary a morsel left for hungry Mom and Dad.

Here is what I learned from this recipe:

1. Gherkin is the English word for "cornichon."  Yes, I had to look it up.
2. My Cuisinart Mini-Prep food processor is not worth the space it takes up in the cupboard.
3. A vegetable peeler is my new favorite way to slice Parmesan cheese.

Thanks for a great recipe!

French Friday catch-up

Just to be clear, I made this dish last Friday.  I even ate it for lunch on Friday.  But then we went to Alabama, where there is no internet, and I couldn't share it.  Yes, the internet does exist in certain parts of Alabama, but not in the corner we retreat to.

Then I couldn't find the camera cable to share the images of my tasty but unattractive dish.  Then I couldn't find the camera.  Yes, I could have shared my description, but those pictures...so finally, here it is, Eggplant Caviar from Dorie Greenspan's Around My French Table.  Pictures like this make me understand why there was no photo in the book:

Even though this is a food stylist's nightmare, it was very tasty!  Roasted eggplant mixed with garlic, herbs, oil...delicious.  I have had this before--Dorie says it is similar to baba ganoush but I truly didn't see any difference at all.

One thing that the recipe didn't mention:  eggplants give off a ton of water!  I drained my mashed eggplant twice before combining it with the other ingredients, and it was still quite wet.

I'm already looking forward to this week's recipe:  Hamburgers!  My husband requested them especially for his birthday dinner, and they look worthy of a special occasion. 

(This post is part of French Fridays with Dorie, which can also be found on Facebook!)

Cured Salmon? Must be French Friday.

Back again!  Kind of.  I forgot to read ahead.  This week's recipe is "Salmon and Potatoes in a Jar," as always found in Dorie Greenspan's Around My French Table.

This recipe involves very little cooking--great for summer!  The salmon is cured in a salt/sugar mixture, then packed in oil with onion and carrots.  The other jar holds boiled tiny potatoes, also in oil with vegetables.

But.  The recipe takes a couple of days since the salmon is cured, not cooked.  Unfortunately I waited until Friday to find this out!  So here is my salmon at the beginning of the curing stage.

Tomorrow we will pack it in oil and then hopefully try it by Sunday.  I don't think this will be going to the church picnic on Sunday, though!

Updated on Sunday:  We tried it, but...no one liked it!  This wasn't as universally disliked as the Gnocchi dish we made a few months ago, but only the cat liked the salmon.  It was truly beautiful packed in the jar, but really not good beyond that.

The potatoes packed in oil and vinegar were delicious.  I'll probably be eating that for lunch later this week.  Oh, well.  This is what French Fridays are all about!

Slinking back to French Fridays

For several weeks I was blogging recipes from the wonderful cookbook, "Around My French Table" by Dorie Greenspan, keeping up with the gang at French Fridays with Dorie.  Then I fell off the wagon.  But--I'm back!!  And what an easy week to pick:  Slow-Roasted Tomatoes.

Here's the idea:  slice tomatoes, brush with olive oil, cook in slow oven for three hours.  The result: concentrated tomato taste, like a sun-dried tomato but without the leathery texture.  Then these tomatoes can be used as an ingredient in other recipes.

Here are my grape tomatoes, ready to go into the oven.  The rosemary is from my garden.  I didn't add garlic, although that would have also been delicious.

Here is a view after they are done roasting:

See how shriveled they are?  Rather like large raisins, but still juicy.

I tossed them with some pasta, more olive oil, and parmesan cheese.  The verdict?  Simple tomato-y goodness, sweet and bright, and I don't even like tomatoes!  Bill loved them, too.  The kids, um, well.  This really is a little outside the normal range of things they like, so they don't count on this one.

Dorie says you can store these covered with oil in a jar, and then use them over several weeks.  I think they would be great as part of a bruschetta, or in couscous, or as an addition to a salad.  And I'm stopping by the farmers' market this weekend to get more.  These were great!

Now, I'm also trying to go back and pick up some of the past recipes, because I missed some good ones.  Working backwards, I also started the citrus-berry terrine.  "Terrine" is fancy-cooking-ese for fruit in jello.  This was a hoot to make!  I have never used plain gelatin in anything, but I have conquered my fear.

Here is the plain gelatin softening in a little water.

Then I added some sweetened orange juice, stirred to dissolve the gelatin thoroughly.  Then I placed the mixture in the fridge to thicken slightly, after which I was supposed to add fruit.  Except that I took the girls riding and we stayed too long:

This is orange juice gelatin, no fruit!  We all took a taste, which is why it looks lumpy.  And do you know what it tastes like?  Pure orange juice!  It is delicious, a revelation.  (I really do not like Jell-O.)  Just for the record, here is what I was supposed to end up with:

So I am going to try this again, but I think I will try it with the V8Splash I have in the fridge--Cherry Pomegranate--and I also have to go back to the store because the kids scarfed up all the berries.  What a fun surprise, though.  I can also see using a little less gelatin and making popsicles, too.  Less melty and probably less icy, too.  Too bad summer is over...

I think I've had this before...

Back for another French Fridays with Dorie post, finally!  Last week's recipe was the delicious Almond-Orange Tart.  If you could see my calendar right now you'd understand why we didn't get around to it.

This week was easier, and my post will be quick.  We are headed to Montana in about eight hours.  A whole week of great big sky.  Frankly, I'm not feeling like the short ribs are going to get done for next week, either, but I'm scanning the recipe so I can take it with me.  Anyway...

This week was Green Beans with Pancetta.  Or, as my children called them, Green Beans with Bacon.  I think I've had this before, Dorie!  My grandmother always always always put some pork in to cook with her green beans.  There were only two differences between hers and this week's recipe:  first, either we had undercooked beans this week or she completely overcooked hers; and second, she just put her pork (fatback or bacon) on top of the beans while they cooked all day, while we sauteed crispy bits of pancetta.  Oh, and a splash of olive oil.  But the flavor combo of pork and green beans is unmistakable and universally yummy.

Just a couple of pics: 

The pancetta crisping in the pan, and...

the green beans joining them.  The verdict was thumbs up all around.  I really like this quick change to green beans, and we'll definitely add this to our repertoire.  Even if it's just lowly 'Murrcan bacon and not (pinky finger extended) pancetta.

Finally, my sweet friend Mary is a much more faithful blogger than I.  Every Wednesday she's posting a recipe for a great family dinner, usually something simple, quick, and well-loved by the kiddos.  Check her out! 

A bientot and bon voyage to us.  I'll hopefully get to post more next week since we'll be away from the day-to-day craziness.

Cheers! It's Friday!

Whew.  Last week was a killer and I couldn't get to the dish, Chicken P'Stilla.  Plus it was Moroccan and I wasn't really wound up about it. 

But I'm back to "French Fridays with Dorie" with Basque Potato Tortilla this week.  This French egg dish made me think of a frittata, a pretty common light dinner around our house.  We usually eat our frittata with whatever's in the veggie bin, plus a little leftover pasta if it's available, plus some cheese and fresh herbs.

This recipe originates from an area in France near Spain and the Mediterranean.  It's no real surprise, then, that it bears such a close resemblance to Italian food.  Also, the word "Tortilla" in Spain doesn't refer to what we think of in Mexican food, but rather to the same type of egg dish as a frittata.  Anyway.  On to the cooking.

This tortilla is filled with potatoes and onions.  I just used plain old Idaho russets.  Here are the veggies chopped and ready to be browned in a skillet on the stove:

I promise there are onions in there, too.

Then the eggs are added and browned over a stove for a few minutes.  That is my grandmother's cast iron skillet.  I kind of doubt she ever made a tortilla in it, but it has seen more than its share of sausage, catfish and okra.  It is also one of the few items I'd grab if I had to leave my house in a hurry.

Finally the tortilla is run in the broiler to brown the top.  It emerges puffy and beautiful.  Then I of course deflate it a little when I take it out of the pan:

Judging from other people's posts in this little challenge I need to upgrade my serving pieces.  Noted.

The verdict:  Yum!  But it was very familiar, too.  I served it with salad and a little baked ham, so it kind of seemed like the hashbrowns/eggs/ham breakfast Dorie mentioned.  But it was also just like my frittatas only with potatoes instead of veggies.  Everyone like it.  I think I probably won't make this again straight out of the book, but I'll probably add potatoes as a filling option the next time I make frittata.  And I can also now call it tortilla, evidently.

Anyway, I also felt like I had betrayed the spirit of the challenge last week by not making the chicken p'stilla.  So I also made that on Sunday:

J loved it.  Bill and I also like it very much, and the other kids ate it willingly.  My biggest problem is that I'm just not so big on thighs (chicken ones, I mean).  I'll probably make this sweet/spicy dish again, but with white meat or a mix rather than all dark meat.

And then...there are the nuts.  Lord have mercy, reason enough to buy the book.  I went to a little meeting this past week and needed to bring a munchie, so I thought I'd bring Dorie's "Sweet and Spicy Cocktail Nuts."  These nuts were in the challenge before I joined, and they had gotten great reviews.  They are so wonderful I wanted to give them star billing!  (And I did, right at the top of this post.)

I used all pecans, from my uncle's farm and shelled by my sweet kids.  This recipe is worthy of them.  If you and I attend a function where food is required, I'll bring these.  Sweet, smoky and HOT all at once.  Absolutely habit forming.

So, I don't even know what dish is next, but I cooked a lot this week!  It has occurred to me lately that I like getting to know a cookbook with  distinctive point of view that one author gives.  Dorie has a very particular point of view, and while I don't always agree with her I like knowing where she stands.  Can't wait to see where we go next!

Dang it, late again!

My French Fridays with Dorie posts are rapidly devolving into "French some-days or other whenever I can get around to posting and Dorie probably won't be waiting around for me anyway" posts.  I will point out that I actually made this on Monday/Tuesday of last week.  Was it good?  Double-chocolate mousse cake did not make it past Tuesday at my house.  Yummmmmmm.

The "cake" is actually chocolate mousse, cooked in a springform pan in two stages.  First, the chocolate is melted in a double boiler, and then the coffee, sugar and egg yolks are added.  Here is the dense chocolate mixture after the last egg yolk is added:

Then the egg whites are whipped and folded in.  No pictures, sorry.

At this point you have dee-lish-us mousse, and actually I would have been fine stopping here.  (And eating it all straight out of the pan, thankyouverymuch.) But now you put about 1/3 into a springform ring placed on a cookie sheet:

This bakes into a soft "crust" that forms the basis for the next step.  You can either place the remainder of the mousse into the crust, unmold and enjoy; or place the remainder into the crust, bake, and enjoy; or place the remainder into the crust, bake, chill again, slice and enjoy.  I did the full monty for two reasons: first, it's Dorie's favorite; and second, I'd know if it would be worth the extra steps and time the next time I make this, because there WILL be a next time. 

If you look very closely you can see that there is a bottom "crust" that is more dense than the top part.  I served this with a little dollop of whipped cream.  It is dense and chocolatey, really delicious.  Four thumbs up from the kiddos plus big thumbs up from Bill.  One son said it tasted like a brownie, and he's kind of right.  But this is perfectly smooth, not grainy or gooey at all.  Next time I think I'll stop with the uncooked filling, well-chilled.  It is fluffy and light and so chocolatey.  (Yes, I know about eating raw eggs. I'll eat it all myself, if necessary.) This week was definitely a winner!

Gnocchi Thank You!

Just because all the dishes are dirty doesn't mean the food's worth eating!

A little late this week with my French Fridays with Dorie post, in which I, along with a couple hundred other crazies, am cooking my way through Around My French Table by Dorie Greenspan.  This week:  Gnocchi a la Parisienne.

Right up front:  Fail.  Big time.  But you know how it is--the good dishes are all alike.  The bad ones are each interesting in their own way.  And away we go...

Wow!  Need to use a filter on these pictures...my beater is white!

This is a two-part dish.  The "gnocchi" are really a pate a choux, the same dough used in the gougeres and cream puffs and eclairs.  Here is the glossy dough.  Can you hear it?  It's saying, "Make the pastry cream!  Ganache, too! We'll be ready!" Sadly, though, it was not to be.  The gnocchi are made by dropping little pieces of the dough in hot salted water for a few minutes, like pasta, and then scooping them out to dry.  I tasted one.  It was a little doughy, with a cooked exterior.  Then I had to taste several more, and even though they were oddly habit forming I can't say they were good.  Rather what a boiled flat cream puff ought to taste like.

The little gnocchi are coated with the second part of the dish, the bechamel.  Bechamel is one of the classic four mother sauces and is made by making a paste of flour and butter, cooking it, and then adding hot milk.  Then I added nutmeg, salt and pepper.  It was very, very thick, more like a paste or goo than an actual sauce.  I don't think that was right but I figured I'd take a chance.

Run away, little gnocchi!  The Bechamel is coming!

Here is a picture of the gnocchi being attacked covered by the blob of bechamel.  This dish was not looking good.  I forged ahead.  At this point about 3/4 of the pots that I own were dirty, so why not?  (This is one of the recipes that makes it obvious that Dorie has someone else cleaning her dishes.)  So there was a topping of cheese, grated Emmentaler and Parmesan in my case.  And a further dotting of butter. 

Just out of the oven,  lovely!  Dorie called it kind of a French version of mac-and-cheese, comfort food.  But I found it heavy, too rich and a sad waste of choux paste.  As for the kids, J loved it, but he loves almost everything.  D was lukewarm on it, while for M and P one bite was plenty.  And Bill, he just said, "That was the most complicated macaroni and cheese I've ever seen." 

No gnocchi in our future.  But that's what this FFwD is all about, stepping outside my comfort zone.  I think very little of this was due to the my cooking; it just wasn't the kind of food we like.  What do we like?  How about this mac and cheese recipe, for starters.  Oh, and it all goes down better with a Winter Mojito.  Cheers!

French Friday with Mushrooms

I'm back with my next recipe from Around My French Table by Dorie Greenspan.  This week it was Paris Mushroom Soup.

This is how my girls sliced the 1-1/2 pounds of mushrooms that go into the soup.  The egg slicer makes quick work of the mushrooms with no risk of little fingers getting sliced.

Once the soup has simmered a while, making the whole house smell warm and yummy, you can either use an immersion blender or place the soup into blender.  This was the inaugural job for my new RED immersion blender.  While it was chunkier than it would have been had I used the blender, it was super fast and only made one dish dirty.

This is the finished soup.  The book doesn't have a photo (that I saw) and I think I know why.  It isn't very appetizing looking!  But the taste:  wonderful!  Musky and warm, perfect for an overcast and cold winter evening.  All the kids tasted it and enjoyed it.  J had two full bowls and M had one.

We served this with a small green salad, and the leftovers of roast chicken from the night before.  Delicious.  I'll make it again!

First French Friday on the Last Day of the Year

I got an awesome Christmas gift (no, not the iPad):  Around My French Table by Dorie Greenspan.  As I was looking at the book, trying to decide which yummy recipe to make first, I decided to check out Dorie's website.  Turns out there's a "cook-along" of sorts going on, one recipe a week, "French Fridays with Dorie."  Sounds good.  So now every Friday I'll share my version of our week's dish.  Unless I don't.

This week I actually made two things and they were both great.  First up were the Gougeres, a cheese pastry.  That's not a good description.  It's "choux paste" which is the pastry part of eclairs or cream puffs, but with grated cheese added to the dough before you bake it.  The dough has lots of eggs in it so it puffs up beautifully in the oven.  Unfilled, they are these puffs of chewy cheesy bread.  Here's the dough in my mixer:

And then here the gougeres while I was switching the pans in the oven:

Finally, lunch.  Frankly, I love Dorie because most of her recipes seem to start with "These are really great with Champagne," but I had mine with tomato soup.  Also pretty tasty:

Now, finally, the recipe of the week, "Spiced Butter-Glazed Carrots."  I suppose these would also be good with Champagne, but we just had them with our dinner of pork tenderloin, rice, and sliced fruit.  These are cooked with sliced fresh ginger, onion, garlic, cardamom and butter.  A little more trouble than steamed carrots, but a whole lot more flavor.  The kids really loved them, and so did the grownups.  Thanks, Dorie!

And thanks to my sweet husband who knows that I just loved eating in France and is helping me hold onto the illusion for a little while longer...