FFWD - Sugar Coated French Toast

For French Friday with Dorie this week, our assignment was Sugar Coated French Toast.  I didn't want to splurge on brioche, so I used Viennese bread instead, and I topped my French toast with natural yoghurt and blueberries.

If you are interested, the recipe is available online here.

This was nice, but not sensational.  As this is only a sometimes treat, it is probably just as well that I didn't think it was amazing.

To see what the other Doristas thought, visit the LYL section of the website.

FFWD - Salty-sweet potato far

For French Friday with Dorie this week, we venture into the intriguing world of salty and sweet, which sounds right up my alley.  This week's recipe is salty-sweet potato far, and the name alone had me intrigued.

The recipe itself is perhaps not so intriguing - it is basically a huge potato cake with prunes added for the sweet part.  It was quite OK to eat, even better  cold, but probably not a repeat for me.  Ah, such promise in the name, but it was not fulfilled for me.

To see what the other Doristas thought of this dish, visit the LYL section of the FFWD website.

FFWD - Chestnut and pear soup

For French Friday with Dorie this week, we were set a challenge that is difficult to achieve on the verge of summer (though you'd never know it with the crappy weather in Melbourne at present) - chestnut and pear soup.  Chestnuts are not common in Australia, even in winter, so to obtain some at this time of year would have required some serious detective work.  However, I did have a can of chestnut puree in the cupboard that I had had forever, bought at a time when every second Tuesday with Dorie recipe seemed to require it.  So, I reasoned, given that the chestnuts had to be cooked until they were mashable, let's skip that and use chestnuts that are already mashed.

I made a half recipe and cooked it for only 30 minutes, given that I didn't have to worry about cooking down the chestnuts, and added a dollop of yoghurt to the top of the finished product.  The soup looks like  all the other soups I have made out of this book - brown and thick with black flecks.  It tasted good, but given the scarcity of chestnuts here, and the fact that I am not a huge soup fan, it probably won't be a repeat.

To see what all the other Dorie cooks thought, visit the LYL section of the FFWD website.

FFWD - Compote de Pommes

This week's French Friday with Dorie recipe is Compote de Pommes - the book provides for the compote to be prepared two ways, but I chose the quickest one only, and made a half batch. 

What is compote de pommes?  Well, it really seems to be just apple sauce prepared by sauteeing the apples with minimal sugar rather than by boiling them up with lots of sugar. 

Instead of the laborious process of straining the soft, cooked apple, I whizzed it up in the food processor. I didn't add any extra sugar other than the tiny quantity that was originally added to the pan, and I didn't add butter.  Accordingly, this apple sauce is primarily just apple.

I have been eating it out of the jar, plonked on top of my breakfast muesli and as an accompaniment to icecream.  All of them are good.  As this sauce is not very sweet, it could also be used for savoury applications eg with roast pork.

To see what the other Doristas  thought of this recipe, visit the LYL section of the website.

FFWD - Hurry-Up-and-Wait Roast Chicken

 

This week's French Friday with Dorie recipe is Hurry-Up-and-Wait Roast Chicken.  It's just a classic roast chicken, rubbed with salt and the cavity filled with lemon and herbs if you like, but cooked rapidly at high temperature and then allowed to rest for half an hour or so to allow the juices to run back into the chicken.

Here is my patiently waiting, upended chicken (I upended it both ways as I was not clear on which way was best): 

 

 

The resulting chicken had crispy skin and was lovely and moist.

 

I served my chicken with stir fried veges and alas, discarded that crispy skin.  I also made the sauce using the pan juices and water, which I thickened with a dessertspoonful of plain flour.

 

What else is there to say - this was roast chicken in the classical way.  To see what the other Doristas thought, visit the LYL section of the FFWD website.



FFWD - Muenster cheese souffle ... sort of

It's French Friday with Dorie  time again, and this week's recipe is Muenster cheese soufflé.  Now, to make a Muenster cheese soufflé, I figure you must use Muenster cheese - am I right?  Umm, unfortunately, I didn't have Muenster cheese, so I used Devondale Light Cheddar Cheese. Hey, it's cheese!

I divided the recipe into a quarter so I could make one serve - as the proportions of ingredients are in odd volume measures, this was no mean feat.  (Thanks to Kayte for my teeny tiny Oxo measuring cup.) Apart from my cheese choice, I also lightened this up by using margarine instead of butter, and using skim milk.  I further thumbed my nose at the recipe by using black pepper - who needs two kinds of pepper in the house?

And you know what?  This was delish. I served it for breakfast with a handful of baby spinach leaves (not pictured), and it was really good.  The only hard part was waiting for 25 minutes for the soufflé to cook.

To see what the other Doristas thought of this recipe, visit the LYL section of the FFWD website.

FFWD - Caramel Almond Tart

Me and you and you and me
No matter how they toss the dice, it has to be
The only one for me is you, and you for me
So happy together

The Turtles, So Happy Together

The lyrics above apply to the relationship between caramel and almond - so happy together.  They also describe the relationship between me and Dorie Greenspan's Caramel Almond Tart, the subject of this week's French Friday with Dorie - so happy together.

 

This tart is absolutely delicious, yet so simple to make.  It starts with Dorie's magical sweet tart dough that you press into the pan rather than rolling it out, and which doesn't shrink.  In short, it's a dream! 

Next, you make a caramel cream.  I was little surprised when I made this, as I was expecting caramel - but of course, once you add a large amount of cream to a small amount of caramel, you get caramel cream, which is quite fluid, rather than a viscous caramel.

You then make a caramel custard using the caramel cream, then line the tart shell with toasted almonds, pour on the cream, and bake.  Et voila - a wonderful dessert emerges:

 

Could you resist this?  I sure couldn't - so happy together.  Sigh ...

To see what the other Doristas thought of this tart, visit the LYL section of the website. 

FFWD - Boeuf a la Mode

This week's French Friday with Dorie dinner is Boeuf a la Mode.  What does that mean?  I have no idea.  However, broken down into main components, it  is roast beef and vegetables in a red wine-based sauce.  I served mine with stir fry veg - yes, I know that's a little weird, but it fits in with my current dietary circumstances better than mashed potato and pumpkin.

I found this dish a bit of a pain to prepare, because you have to marinate the beef and veges for 12 hours first, then you have to render the sauce, brown the beef, soften the veg, combine with sauce and brandy, and only then can you cook it - for 3 hours.  It is an all weekend job.

I was also going out on the day after the marination so a 3 hour babysitting session with the beef was not happening.  Instead, I stuck it all in the slow cooker on low for 5 hours - which was probably around an hour too long, but it did the job.

This meal was OK, but not worth the cost in terms of my ultimate enjoyment of it.  My favourite part was the marinated veg.

To see what the other Doristas thought, visit the LYL section of the FFWD website. 

FFWD - Salad Nicoise

 

 

It's Friday again, and for French Fridays with Dorie this week, our dish is a French classic - Salad Nicoise. I only recently learned how to pronounce this, so it won't surprise you that I have never eaten this salad before now.

 

As you can see, it is quite a substantial salad and takes quite a bit of preparation.  My egg is not very visible because I undercooked it and most of the yolk leaked out - but it's there, I promise you.

 

I really enjoyed this for lunch last Saturday - it is the kind of thing I would make again, especially when this non-salad girl is looking for a salad to make in the warmer months.

 

To see what the other Doristas thought of this salad, visit the LYL section of the  FFWD website.

FFWD - Rice Pudding with Caramel Apples

French Fridays with Dorie this week is a dessert - Rice Pudding with Caramel Apples.  You can find the recipe online here.

I always love desserts, but at this point in time, it is a little naughty for me to be eating them.  Accordingly, I only made a quarter of the recipe and cut down on the sugar and cream.  This meant that my dessert was not as sweet as it otherwise should have been, but it meant that I was not breaking the rules of my diet as badly.

I quite liked this, but I liked the rice pudding component the best.  I have always liked rice pudding - Mum used to make for us as kids, and I still ask for it when I go home.

I'd make the rice pudding again, but probably skip the apples.

To see what everyone else thought of this pudding, visit the LYL section of the website.

FFWD - Tuna Stuffed Piquillo Peppers - er Mini Capsicums

This week's fishy French Fridays with Dorie offering is Tuna Stuffed Piquillo Peppers.  I couldn't be stuffed finding the piquillo peppers to stuff, so I bought mini capsicums instead and stuffed them with the tuna mixture:
 

I served the stuffed capsicums with a bright array of stir fried vegetables, making for a colourful lunch.

The tuna filling was a little too fishy for me - I would have preferred some ricotta in with the fish, or for something else to break up the tuna-ishness of the ensemble.  Not a repeat for me.

To see what everyone else thought of this dish, visit the LYL section of the FFWD website.

FFwD - Veal Chops with Rosemary Butter

Today's French Friday with Dorie dish is veal chops with rosemary butter.  It is as sweet and simple as it sounds.

The sauce on the plate is made with the pan juices, chicken stock and white wine - I liked it but I used too much stock by misreading the recipe, so it wasn't as thick as it should have been.

My chops may have been slightly on the rare side, but they were good.  I served them with stir fried veg, as mash is off the cards for me at the moment while I go low-carb to try and shift some of my belly.

 To see what the other Doristas thought of these chops, visit the LYL section of the website.

FFwD - Fresh Tuna, Mozzarella, and Basil Pizza - sort of

This week's French Fridays with Dorie recipe was Fresh Tuna, Mozzarella, and Basil Pizza.  And I made it - sort of.

I did use fresh tuna that I cut into mangled slices.  I did use puff pastry, albeit a seemingly smaller size of round than was asked for.  I used cheddar instead of mozzarella, I used baby spinach instead of basil, I used whole tomatoes instead of cherry tomatoes and I skipped the fresh ginger and olives because I didn't have any.  Ummm ... so I guess that makes mine a Fresh Tuna, Cheddar and Spinach Pizza.

My reasoning for all of this innovation is that I didn't want to buy a whole heap of stuff that I wouldn't otherwise use and then be stuck with leftovers that would go to waste.  Also, I had to buy baby spinach for another recipe and I already had cheddar and I don't eat lots of cheese.  Simple.

The pizza still tasted good to me as Sunday lunch.

To see what the other Dorie cooks thought, visit the LYL section of the website.

FFwD - Floating Islands

This week's French Fridays with Dorie recipe is Floating Islands.  Floating Islands is not as romantic as it sounds - normally it comprises quenelles of poached meringue floating in crème anglaise.  I really don't like that version of floating islands much. 

However, this week's version of floating islands is a little different in that the meringue is baked.  This small change lifted the flavour out of the stratosphere - I liked this so much better.

Instead of crème anglaise, I made custard with good old Foster Clark's custard powder.  Yum!

To see what everyone else thought of this week's pick, visit the LYL section of the website.

FFwD - Boulevard Raspail Corn on the Cob

We've made it to Friday again - my favourite day of the week.  For French Fridays with Dorie this week, we have not so much a recipe as a cooking technique - for corn on the cob.

This technique, named "Boulevard Raspail" after the name of a street market in France that sells organic produce, from whence Dorie got the idea, involves roasting corn in the husk in the oven for 40 minutes, then peeling off its "pajamas" and liberally dousing the corn with butter, salt and pepper.

I have done something very similar using a microwave for 3 minutes instead of oven roasting - I found that idea on the Internet. 

What can I say - the corn tastes  good this way, but corn tastes good boiled, or dare I say it, in the microwave.  However, if you are already roasting some veges, chuck in some corn as well - you get yourself a nice one pot dish.

To see what the rest of the FFwD group thought, visit the LYL section of the website. 

FFwD - Duck with Peaches

For French Fridays with Dorie this week, we were assigned Duck Breasts with Fresh Peaches.  Fresh peaches being few and far between here at this time of year, I used canned peaches.  My poultry vendor, bless, also does not sell or does not understand the difference between a duck breast and a duck leg.  Being the carefree, go with the flow kind of gal that I am (ha!), I threw caution to the wind and bought the duck leg.

I did not expect to enjoy this - the last time I tried to cook duck, I did so as a newbie and without a recipe.  The result was pretty horrid.  However, on this occasion, with Dorie's guidance on cooking and the beautiful sauce recipe, this duck was a doddle to make and delicious to eat.  In the sauce, I subbed red wine for port, as I wasn't going to buy a bottle of port for two tablespoons to put in this sauce.

If I happen to come across some duck again, I would definitely cook it like this.  To see what the other Dorie cooks thought, visit the LYL section of the website.

FFwD - Tzatziki

This is a fabulous French Friday with Dorie.  It's not because of the weather in Melbourne today - after the most glorious week of warm weather we've had in ages, it turned today, and it is rainy and cold and windy.  No, it's because I have been on leave this week, spending time with my family who are visiting from Queensland.  It has been a wonderful week and I am sad that it has drawn to a close so quickly.

For FFwD this week, we had to make Tzatziki.  I was not excited about this, as I have only tasted commercially made tzatziki  that is sour and horrible.

However, this tzatziki was a revelation - it was creamy and smooth and very tasty with crackers.  I have a whole new perspective on tzatziki.  I substituted the dill for chives and left out the mint - I really don't think it mattered.

To see what the other Doristas/Doristos thought of this dish, visit the LYL section of the FFwD website.

FFWD - Dieter's Tartine

Welcome to another French Friday with Dorie. This week's recipe is Dieter's Tartine.

This dish is comprised of toasted sourdough topped with cottage cheese (I left out the sour cream), cucumber , tomato, salt and pepper and chives. It tasted really good - better than I had thought it would. I would never have tried this on my own.

To see what the other Doristas thought, visit the LYL section of the website.

FFWD - Mediterranean Swordfish sans Frilly Herb Salad

It's Friday again - I am glad to have made it.  Highlights of this week were enjoying a Mad Mex beef burrito and a Corona with Tim before seeing a free screening of Before Midnight courtesy of Mimco, going to an excellent talk on Social Media and the Law at one of the law firms,  and enjoying a single caramel dome chocolate from Ganache Chocolate as a lunchtime treat.

Friday also means French Fridays with Dorie, and this week, our recipe is Mediterranean Swordfish with (or in my case, without) Frilly Herb Salad.

 I have never had swordfish before, and can't even remember seeing it at the supermarket.  Accordingly, after a visit to the dentist, I walked up to swanky Hawksburn Village to see if I could buy some there - I figure that the cashed up end of town would be more likely to have swordfish than anywhere else.  Sure enough, I found my swordfish - at $5.10 per 100g. Ouch!  Needless to say, I only bought one swordfish steak for the princely sum of $10.20.

In the end, although this was a pricey dine at home option, I found the marinated swordfish, cooked until just opaque, to be absolutely delicious.  It sure beats the rubbery flake option that I sometimes indulge in at home.  The fish had a delicate flavour  complemented by the lightly spiced marinade, and it melted in your mouth.  Fabulous!

There was no way I was going to spend about $9 on herbs to make a salad that I didn't really want in the middle of winter, so I went the more traditional route of fish and chips. The chips were so so because they have been living in my freezer for quite a long time, but they plumped out the meal.  If they had been fresher, I think that this upmarket fish and chips would have been totally grouse. 

To see what the other Doristas thought of this week's pick, visit the LYL section of the website.

Finally, I wish you a lovely weekend, and share the following video with you, with a message that I need to remember:

FFwD - Whole Cherry Clafoutis

We have reached the end of another working week, which coincides with French Friday with Dorie.  This week's recipe is Whole Cherry Clafoutis.  Why?  Because unusually, the recipe contains cherries, pits and all.

I ended up using a combination of pitted and unpitted frozen cherries because I didn't have enough of either to use just one type.

My clafoutis took about double the time stated in the recipe to cook (~1 hour in total), but I think it turned out all right in the end: 

It was custardy inside, like it should be, so I think that's all that matters.

To see what the other FFwD cooks thought of this recipe, visit the LYL section of the website.