Recipe Round Up

I really love belonging to cooking groups, but I don't like posting about foods that have no recipes to go with them, since this is a cooking blog. To that end I started doing a monthly roundup of recipes I made for Tuesday's with Dorie and French Fridays with Dorie. Well, this month I decide to combine both of the monthly round ups into one big round up. The recipes for Tuesday's with Dorie can be found on the weekly host's blog, to which I will include a link, but for French Friday's there is no host, so if it is a recipe that intrigues you send me an e-mail and I will give you more information.

Our Tuesday's with Dorie recipes were the Citrus Currant Sunshine Muffins and the Chocolate Pots de Creme.

Lauryn of Bella Baker chose Citrus Currant Sunshine Muffins. These muffins had a big citrus taste, with a coarse almost chewy texture. We made these three different ways; some plain, some with raisin, and a few with craisins. Everyone liked the craisin version the best. The dried cranberries added a nice sweet/tart taste to an otherwise pretty plain muffin. The raisins were good, adding sweetness, but lacking the balance of the semi-tart craisins.

 Christine of Black Cat Cooking  chose Chocolate Pots de Creme.

  This was an intensely chocolate pudding. Dorie had you cook and cool it in a water bath covered with plastic wrap, but I really don't think this improve the texture of this pudding, and next time I would skip this step. We would make this again for the deep, rich chocolate flavor. As a family we don't usually love chocolate flavored desserts because they tend to be too sweet or completely lacking chocolate taste, but this silky smooth pudding and Dorie's chocolate ice cream have both been winners, so she is definitely on to something with her chocolate treats!

The French Friday recipes we made this month were the salted butter break-ups. The pictures in the book were so fabulous and we were most excited about this recipe, but unfortunately, this was the most disappointing. It was really nothing more than a giant sugar cookie, brushed with egg wash for color. It was fun but nothing special. We were hoping the salt would come through, and even used the higher suggested amount, but it was pretty boring. We even tried dipping pieces in melted chocolate, and when that doesn't save a recipe, you know that it is something you probably won't make again.

Scallops with caramel orange sauce was a quick and tasty way to prepare scallops. Although caramel sounds like s dessert item, this sauce had a nice almost burnt taste that paired nicely with the sweet oranges, and was perfect over mildly sweet scallops. This is definitely a recipe that we will make again. It will be a nice change from a quick pasta or chicken dish on our busy school nights.

Brown butter, dried figs, raisins, pistachios, chives, almonds, Parmesan cheese and orange zest

And finally, the real star of this month's recipes was the Beggar's Linguine. Mimi Jr. and I made this for lunch one day because we were pretty sure that the other Mimi's weren't going to go for this fruity pasta. We even had our doubts as we were putting it together and taking our first few bites. We were really close to just skipping it, but figured that the whole point of the group was to try new things so we went for it. The most surprising thing was that with each bite we liked this strange pasta dish more and more. Somehow, the flavors all come together to create a wonderfully savory pasta that is not the sweet dish we had expected it to be based on the ingredients.What we didn't like were the small bits of fruit and nuts with the long strands of pasta. Mimi Jr. suggested that the fruit and nuts would be good with orzo or couscous as everything would be more similar in size and one forkful could get a little of everything. Since I had all the ingredients we made it the following day with couscous. I used about half the amount of butter, and it was perfect. We loved it at room temperature and think it would also be good served chilled as a salad or a side dish with some well seasoned grilled meats.

This month was full of surprises, with some new favorites, and some disappointments. We are excited to see what April's recipes will bring to the table.

FFWD - February Roundup

 Hard to believe that it is March already and time for our roundup of February's French Fridays with Dorie recipes. Below are the recipes that made it to our table. All were easy, delicious recipes that I would make again.
basque potato tortilla

Simply flavored with olive oil and onions, and served with a salad, this made a fantastic light dinner. I did mine a little different than Dorie, since I have a friend from Spain and her tortilla is surperb, I followed her directions.  I sliced the potatoes instead of cubing them, and cooked them very slowly in olive oil. If you want that smooth creamy texture this is not a process that can be rushed, but it is definitely worth the time.

short ribs in red wine and port

The brasied shot ribs were easy to make and delicious. I used boneless short ribs because that is what I had,  but what makes this dish a stand out is the gremolata of orange peel, parsley and garlic. Don't be tempted to skip this step!

orange-almond tart

Last we made the almond orange tart. Dorie's flakey, good for almost everything crust is perfect for the almond pastry filling. While the oranges were good with the almonds, we all felt that stone fruit would be a better choice for this tart and are waiting for our peaches and nectarines to be ripe so we can make it again.

We are looking forward to the March recipes and hope to like them as much as we did these recipes!

FFWD

Although it's still January, here in Southern California we have had some fabulous weather. Our days have been in the mid-70's, and our nights have been perfectly cool without being cold. It's a reminder that Spring is just around the corner and now would be  a good time to get that new swing set for your children or grandchildren, and have it all set up and ready for the longer, warmer days ahead. CSN is the place to do your shopping. CSN has over 200 websites and they sell everything from swing sets  and trampolines to patio furniture and cookware. Drop on over and take a look, they seriously have something for everyone.

For the French Fridays Round Up, I'll start with the Chicken B'Stilla. This was our least favorite January recipe. As you can see I didn't use traditional phyllo dough in this recipe. I had shredded phyllo so I made this as a casserole and topped it with the shredded phyllo. This was not a big hit with my family. Maybe it was the combination of flavors from the ginger, lemon, coriander and cinnamon, or maybe the sweet (honey and cinnamon/sugar) and savory combination was what we didn't love. It was hard to pinpoint exactly what it was that turned us off, but there are so many other chicken dinners we like, and so many others we want to try that I probably won't give this one a second chance.

Next up is the Paris Mushroom Soup. As a family, mushroom soup is  a favorite and Dori's soup was good, but it still won't replace our  favorite Mushroom Soup, which has a deep woodsy, earthy flavor from dried porcinis. I might try a combination of the two recipes, and see what I can come up with.

Gnocchi. We all love gnocchi, but not only are they calorie laden but they can be time consuming to make and if you don't have the right touch they are heavy and gummy. These gnocchi were quick and easy to make, and light and fluffy (I followed Dori's advice and whipped the last egg white and folded it into the batter). They still had way to many calories for every day consumption, but they were so delicious that I am just waiting for a good excuse to make them again.  

Our one thought was to add some cheese to the sauce instead of just topping the dish with it, in hopes of infusing the cheesy flavor throughout the gnocchi.

Saving dessert for last, we have Michel Rostang's Double Chocolate Mousse Cake.

The cake was full of rich chocolate flavor without being heavy and dense as many flour less cakes can be. Dori had several variation and we chose Dori's favorite, with the baked then chilled mousse layer. Normally when I make a cake like this we fill the center with fresh ripe berries, but none were readily available, so we went with the classic freshly whipped cream.

For the most part the January recipes are one we will be making again, and we are excited for the recipes ahead!

French Friday Round Up

I hope to get caught up reading all of your blogs soon, but it does take time to read all those posts, bookmark the recipes and wipe the drool off my chin. There are so many post-holiday recipes that I can't wait to try! I thought that I would finish out this week with a round up of the French Friday's with Dorie December recipes. I made four of the five recipes this month.

First up were the Sweet and Spicy Cocktail Nuts.

We love toasted and spiced nuts to snack on and these were delicious, flavored with chili powder and cinnamon for a sweet and spicy snack. I try to cut out sugar when I can so I made a version substituting splenda for the sugar and they were every bit as good as those with sugar.

Sweet and Spicy Cocktail Nuts

Around my French table by Dorie Greenspan

1/2 cup sugar

1 1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoon chili powder

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Pinch cayenne

1 egg white

2 1/2 - 3 cups nuts almond, pecan, cashews

Preheat oven to 300 F.

Spay baking sheet with non stick spray or line with silpat.

Mix sugar, salt and spices together in a small bowl. Beat egg white lightly with a fork in a larger bowl. Toss in the nuts, stir to coat , than add the sugar and spice mixture and continue to stir until the nuts are evenly coated. Spread nuts on prepared baking sheet.

Bake for 30-35 minutes or until the nuts are browned and the coating is dry. Cool breaking apart as necessary.

Next up is the Leek and Potato soup

 

This was everything Dorie said, simple to make and full of wonderful flavor. We pureed half of the soup, so it was a combination of smooth and silky with rustic pieces of potatoes throughout.  The real treat in this photo is that crusty roll. It's from the Cook's Illustrated Holiday baking issue. I will do a post of this recipe very soon.

Now the Speculoos

I haven't had these cookies in years and for the life of me I can't think of a good reason for that. These crispy cinnamon treats were the perfect addition to our cookie boxes this Christmas.  I'm not sure why they have such a wrinkly appearance, but I probably didn't chill the dough long enough. Appearance aside, these cookies disappeared fast.

Finally the Beef Daube

You may have noticed that I don't have a photo for this fabulous recipe. I was behind schedule and no one wanted to wait for a photo shoot, including me.  I foolishly thought there would be left overs that I could shoot after dinner. My mistake. If you want to see what it looks like visit Kim over at Stirring the Pot , she has a great post on this recipe.  Suffice it to say this red wine beef stew is simple to make and has terrific flavor. All of the the December recipes are ones that I will be making again.

French Fridays Round Up

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We were pretty busy at Mimi's Kitchen. Mini Me was home from college, and Boy Mimi had a big soccer tournament, and time just flew by. So I'm just now getting around to posting the French Fridays with Dorie November recipe round up. For November, no specific order was given, so we got to bake at our own pace.  The nice thing about the recipes in this group is that you can often combine one or two into one meal.

First up for us was the pumpkin gorgonzola flan.  I had misgivings about this recipe, but that's what cooking groups do, push you to make something that you may not have tried otherwise.

 For us this flan was a no go.  The texture was good but we just didn't like the combination of pumpkin and blue cheese. It may be because the blue cheese I used was not a mild cheese, like gorgonzola is. We felt the flavor of the cheese was just too overwhelming, but we did like the texture and flavor of the pumpkin part. The honey and creme fresh were not optional in my opinion, as they were needed to balance out the strong flavor of the cheese.

Next up was the chicken.....  I love roasting chicken in my dutch oven so I knew that this was one recipe that we would enjoy. The big treat was the bread at the bottom of the pot. I used 2 small pieces of bread so everyone could have a bite. As strange as it sounds to add this step to a roast chicken, the result was delicious, and I don't think I'll roast a chicken with out it again.

Dorie's potatoes were an easy side dish to make. They were everything you would expect- rich, creamy and satisfying. But I have to say that even though my family liked them, they said they prefer my usual recipe for scalloped potatoes, made with cream cheese and herbs. We did really like the cheesy crust on top, and will probably adapt it to some other potato side dishes this fall.

To finish things off we made the semolina cake. This cake really has potential. We thought the flavor needed a little boost, maybe from some rum with those raisins, or a sprinkling of citrus zest. The cake it self doesn't have much personality, but you can certainty add some with  different fruits or nuts. Although we baked it until a knife came out clean, as Dorie directed, it was still underdone in the middle. The center had a floury, semolina taste, while the outsides had a firmer texture without the taste of undercooked flour, so next time I would bake it until the center isn't so visibly soft, instead of using the knife test.

For the most part, we really liked the recipes for November. I learned a tasty new addition for roast chicken, and although we didn't love the flan, it was fun to make something new and think of ways we could tweak it to make it something we like, and leave it marked as a "try again" recipe. We are looking forward to December's recipes! 

French Fridays Round UP





When the new group formed for Dorie's New book Around My French Table, I wanted to belong. It is a great way to experience a new cookbook, instead of having it decorate my shelf like so many others. In Tuesday's with Dorie, I found that some recipes that I would have never considered were keepers after all.







What I didn't want was for my blog to be just about cookbooks and their associated groups. I love to participate, but I like to do my own thing too. So for French Fridays, instead of posting each Friday, I have decided to do a monthly round up of the recipes. It was an impressive  group of recipes for October. The first time I make a recipe I do it as written, no variations. I want to see just what it is that Dorie is presenting. These were all recipes that I would make again, but with my own twists next time around.

   Our favorite for this month was the Gerard's Mustard Tart. Next time I might add some roasted chicken or cooked shrimp to the tart to make it more of a complete meal. I would also cut the leeks into rounds instead of strips. Although the Hachis Parmentier sounded like a French version of Shepherd's Pie, it was not quite what we expected. We thought the flavor could have used a boost and maybe some veggies. Next time I would double the meat portion of the recipe, add some veggies, and mix the cheeses into the potatoes, which I would make slightly richer and thicker.

The Vietnamese spicy chicken soup had fabulous flavors and since I am not a coconut lover, I was surprised at how much I liked it. With some veggie potstickers, this would make a great meal on a cold day. I did skip the gougeres, so the last thing I made was the Marie-Helene's Apple Cake. It was moist and loaded with big pieces of apple, similar to our family favorite apple cake. You can add little whipped cream and a touch of caramel sauce if you feel the need to dress it up, but most of it was gone before I got a chance to do that.
We really liked the October recipes and Dorie's new book, and we can't wait to see what next month will bring!