Savory Cheese and Chive Bread

Again....French Fridays with Dorie (and Hannah and Joshua). So thankful for my grandchildren and the opportunity to spend time with them each week. Add to the mix the desire to participate in the cooking "challenge"....I seem to have found a way to make it even more challenging.

BTW...have another daughter who is pregnant with her first child and we are celebrating with a baby shower (don't know if it is a boy or girl yet) next weekend. I am cooking!

Therefore there are two baking adventures detailed here. One mine, one Hannah's.


I decided to add scallions and sundried tomatoes along with the gruyere cheese in my version of the bread. I liked it, thought I could have baked it longer.



The recipe called for an 8 x 4 inch pyrex preferred pan. Mine is 9 x 5 and I made the assumption (as stated) that it would be done sooner...and was sidetracked by the other baking adventure. Did the knife test in a few places and it seemed to come out done, did not want to overbake. The center core, however, was not completely done and the top could have been more golden.



Also, I see what she meant by not beating the dough aggressively in fear of the end result having a doughy taste...I tried to restrain myself in the beating but still thought it a bit "doughy". All in all not a favorite with the children but adults liked it.


Dough with the addition of scallions and sundried tomatoes. Did not mix aggressively at this point.

Finished product....too lightly colored....

Cupcake experiment with Hannah. Found this large cupcake mould by Nordicware and wanted to see what the size of the finished cake would be, quantities etc. Purchased two having measured an 8" cake pan and thinking that each mould was the equivalent. (In photo sitting on a salad plate.)

Then had Hannah help me by making a box chocolate mix. She was happy to do all the mixing herself. Even let her break one the eggs.

At the end of the day my husband came home from a trip and brought these flowers. Could not resist adding....great surprise...wonderful man!

short ribs in red wine and port

I actually made this out of order thinking we were making it last Friday rather than the last. Good thing, though, I had already planned on company for dinner. My daughter and I had recently attended a cooking class in Chicago at the Chopping Block where Nick walked us through preparing a meal roughly based on recipes from Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking. The main dish was a Beef Daube served over celery root puree. Never had celery root before and it was absolutely an amazing addition.

I even bought the celery root thinking I'd do that with this recipe but didn't. The sweetness of the sauce seemed as though it would not go well with the celery root.

In the end, I made roasted potatoes....

Chopped vegetables.

Browned short ribs.

Dorie recommended a shirah and I found this at the local Binnys.

Boiling and reducing the vegetables and wines, and then adding the ribs.

Covered the pot with foil and covered to place in the oven. Two hours with the lid and then an additional hour without.

For this beautiful result! I made them the night before and next day removed the ribs and strained the sauce. Ribs in the broiler for about 6 minutes while reducing the sauce a bit more.

Now the bad news, forgot to take a picture. I was watching grandchildren again and got dstracted to the final result is not captured but was absolutely delicious. Here is my only question and will read the other blogs to see what others thought...but next time I think I'll return the ribs to the strained and reheated sauce to warm and forget the broiler part. Cannot see the real value in that step.

Lazy Sunday Cooking

I came late to this French Fridays with Dorie group/project/diversion/blog and....found as I looked through the recipes there were many the group had already made and reported on that I thought I'd try. So...Hachis parmentier and Marie-Helene's Apple Cake!

We go to church Sunday mornings so the alternative of placing meat and aromatics along with water into a crock pot seemed like a perfect solution. I also took advantage of the suggestion to use cubed steak....it was packaged in a way that made it seem cheap ($4.49/lb). Because it was going in the crock pot I only used 3 cups of water rather than 6 cups. Still had more broth than needed.

Cooked in crock pot for 6 hours and removing all the veggies give me this:

Adding sausage (used mild Italian sausage) and frying before adding meat and garlic (optional), one cup of broth.

Made mashed potatoes according to the recipe with a potato ricer...great consistency.

Emmenthaler cheese and a little Parmesan...dotted with butter and into the oven.

Emil Henry pie pan I never use for pies ;)

Yielded this!

We liked it. My husband finished it for lunch on Monday. One suggestion: the cubed steak was dry and flavorless. Next time I think I'll jazz it up with hot Italian sausage or a combination of hot and mild and forget the beef. (Italian husband believes everything must have oregano and garlic to taste good!)

Marie-Helene's Apple Cake....phenomenal. Used granny smith and honey crisp. I seem to be one of the few people that actually own an 8"spring form pan. Have had it for years and did not realize it was an unusual size. Took a little longer than 1 hour to cook through.

Served with lightly sweetened whipping cream.

Best purchase recently and purchased specifically for the size of the Dorie cookbook is visible here.

It is great. Not only does it hold the cookbook but the nature of the "arms" allows you to check easily back and forth between two recipes.

http://www.amazon.com/Prodyne-M-979-Stainless-Steel-Holder/dp/B000I64732/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1297795003&sr=8-5

Orange Almond Tart (page 460)

This Friday's recipe was the Orange Almond Tart. The tart uses a Sweet Tart Dough (page 500). I was babysitting for ages 4 and 3 who would not sleep so I cheated and used a pre-made pie crust. Horrible mistake. The crust is so key to this dessert and the pre-made one became tough and almost inedible. (Pillsbury).

Peeled and sliced the oranges...took so long with toddlers! And then left them to drain for several hours.

Have not attempted segmenting oranges before and it was not as difficult as I thought it would be. Used a new paring knife that was really sharp. The recipe called for more oranges than I needed. Recipe says 4 and I think I could have gotten by easily with 3...perhaps 2.

Made the Almond Cream. Almond flour at the local grocery (Jewel) was almost $12.00. I need to find more uses! I don't even think it was a pound. Came together easily and the consistancy and flavor were wonderful.

Smoothed the Almond Cream into the tart and arranged the orange slices.

Beautiful.....Almond Paste tasted great...the oranges were an interesting taste contrast. Just sick about the pie dough substitute. Will try again with the proper base!

Also made the Chicken Tangine with Sweet Potatoes and Prunes (page 212). Had all the ingredients and I thought it was great. My husband is a garlic and tomato kind of guy and did not care for the subtle seasoning.

basque potato tortilla and mussels and chorizo with or without pasta (pg 316)

Must begin by saying that I have a fondness for Spanish Tortilla and have made it often...Using both family, Penelope Casas, and Jose Andres recipes.

Frankly, I prefer the sliced potato to the cubed version. It has a consistancy I am more comfortable with and prefer. The addition of the piment d'Espelette was interesting. It seems to be a good compromise between cayenne and red pepper flakes. Glad I purchased and will use again.

The only thing I did differently was to use the Spanish, double frying pan for Tortilla rather than put it under the broiler. (I have also flipped a tortilla into a large plate and back into the pan but the double unit works well (latienda.com).

However....the mussels and chorizo were amazing! Just the right smoke-y Spanish pimenton (paprika) flavor.

We also make mussels often. Most recipes have you make a "sofrito" of onion, tomato, garlic and white wine. The difference here is Dorie's addition to the sofrito of red pepper and the chorizo.

I'll make this again! and again! and again! It smelled so good we forgot to take a picture until we'd almost finished!

Seaoning a black cast iron frying pan

Okay....I have had this pan for many years and used it successfully. In the last years, I have married and my husband loves to do the dishes for me and has repeatedly washed it and left it to dry....he has scrubbed off most of the years of built up seasoning...not to mention rust. I finally just put it in a cabinet in the laundry room. Out of sight, out of mind.

Today got the bug to get it out because of a comment on the Chowhound Forum.

I have it in the oven with crisco at 400 for an hour. Believe that will do the trick.

Should have done a before and after picture.

Don't get me wrong. My husband is a gem and most of the time I am greatful for the ways he chips in without being asked to help clean. Just need to keep him away from the cast iron!

chicken b'stilla

Okay....it's Friday and I am making chicken b'stilla from the "around my french table" by Dori Greenspan. I am totally unfamiliar with this dish and idea. From her introduction I understand there is Moroccan influence in this dish and there is also in some of the Spanish food I have more experience preparing.....great flavors and smells.



I am also using a new "dutch oven". I have been coveting the Le Creuset 5 qt but the least expensive price I've seen is still about $200.00. Searching at Bed Bath and Beyond I found a Frontenac by Staub for $99.00 and with my "never expiring" 20% off coupon I purchased this one for about $70.00. Not made in China....made in France. The pot seems as heavy as the Le Creuset, but the lid needs to be moved to make sure that it completely covers the pot.


Began by chopping onions, garlic, removing the skin from the chicken thighs, measuring spices.




Placed all ingredients in the pot with the onions and put in the refrigerator to marinate for a few hours while I ran errands.




In the meantime, I also made broth from backs and wings I'd been saving in the freezer.





Returned home....allowed the chicken to warm to room temperature, strained and added the chicken broth.









So far pot seems to be reacting the same as the Le Creuset. Nice, slow, even boil.







Ready to go into the oven...filo sheets are 9 x 14 and we were called to make a 10 - 11 inch circle of the filo to cap the b'stilla. Felt challenged....


Notes: was glad for the hint by another member (sorry for not identifying cannot remember) to put a cup of water into the pan before I added the broth to have an idea of the 1 cup reduction volume. Still adding the lemon, and then egg and honey (slowly, continuously whisking for 5 minutes) and waiting for the sauce to thicken so that I could see the trail of the whisk did not happen even after 8 minutes or more. Gave up and added the chicken. Perhaps I just don't know what a whisk trail should look like.



Just checked at the 20 minute mark....turned down the heat to 350 and needed to cover with foil. Browning quickly....











Tasted great. Thank you fo rthe suggestion!