Cheating-on-Winter Pea Soup

French Friday with Dorie

I made this on Presidents' Day since I had the day off and it was a sunny, breezy day - just the kind of day that looks like spring, but still feels a little bit like winter. It turned out to be the perfect kind of day for a bowl or two of pretty green soup. And the best part is that it took no time at all to cook. All you need is some chopped onion, salt and pepper, some broth (I used chicken broth) and a package of frozen peas and you have a delicious soup. I also minced some garlic and threw it in while the onions were cooking to give it a little extra flavor. This soup is supposed to also have romaine lettuce, but I forgot to get some at the store.

It is supposed to be a creamy soup, achieved by either blending it in small amounts in a blender or using an immersion blender. I used an immersion blender, but chose to leave it a little chunky since John prefers chunky soup.

I garnished it with a little bit of sour cream and some fried leftover bits of baked ham.

This was such a delicious soup. The 'fresh' taste of the soup, along with its beautiful, vibrant green color, was just what the doctor ordered on a cool winter/spring day. 

See other versions of this soup over at French Fridays with Dorie.

Boca Negra

Tuesday with Dorie

Contributing Baker: Lora Brody

Boca Negra means "black mouth" and that's exactly what you are going to have when you eat this cake. It is a wonderfully rich and decadent cake - light and moist when warm from the oven and heavy and dense when chilled and then brought to room temperature. The cake consists of 12 ounces of bittersweet chocolate, five eggs, two sticks of butter, a cup and a third of sugar, a half cup of bourbon (I used Kahlua instead) and only a tablespoon and a half of flour. I used the food processor to mix the cake together. I have used the food processor for cakes before and really like how easy it is just to dump everything in the bowl.

I decided that I wanted to make individual cakes, so instead of putting the batter into a 9-inch round cake pan, I used four 4-1/2 inch ramekins and baked them at exactly 30 minutes per the recipe.

The white chocolate cream that is served along with the cakes I made early in the morning so that it was nice and chilled and I also used Kahlua in it instead of the bourbon. It changed the cream from white to a light coffee color. John and I were going to share one of the cakes for a late afternoon treat, so I served it when it was still warm.

The cream started to melt before I could take the photo and when we sliced into the cake it was so moist and tender and so very delicious. The Kahlua wasn't strong in the cake, but you could taste it in the cream and it gave the cake such a lovely coffee chocolate taste.

We enjoyed the cake so much and John said it was one of my best yet. I wrapped one of the other ones and put it into the refrigerator and we had half of it the next day for lunch. We could only eat a small portion because it was so rich and the texture was more like a fudgy brownie. The Kahlua was also more pronounced in the cold cake, but still tasted good - just totally different than the night before. We both agreed that this was delicious served warm or cold, but  tasted its best when served warm with the white chocolate cream melting over it. This recipe is definitely a keeper.

To see what the other bakers thought, visit Tuesdays with Dorie. You can find the recipe over at our host's blog this week  - Cathy from A Frederick Food Garden.

Coeur à la crème

French Friday with Dorie

I had never heard of Coeur à la crème before this month's recipe schedule and certainly had never seen the mold that Dorie mentioned in the intro to this recipe, but as luck would have it when I was at the American Cancer Society Thrift Store a few weeks ago I came across a Coeur à la crème mold. I really don't need another mold to store, but for $3.00 I wasn't going to pass it up. What makes this mold special besides the holes are little feet so liquids can easily drain out of the bottom. If you don't have one of these you can also use a strainer.

You need at least 12 hours of chilling time before serving this dessert, so I made it the night before. You mix the cream cheese and heavy cream with confectioner's sugar, some vanilla and liquor. I used framboise. Once everything is mixed together, you scoop it into the mold that is lined with cheesecloth.

Wrap the cheesecloth overhang and slide it into the refrigerator for 12 hours or overnight.

By the time I served this for dessert it had been chilling in the fridge for at least 24 hours and I had very little liquid drain out - maybe 3 or four large drops. I made some raspberry coulis and Dorie's bittersweet chocolate to serve with it and decorated it with raspberries and mint.

It makes a rather impressive looking dessert.

When we tasted it we both thought that it was just "OK," but nothing to write home about and I have to say that I was a little disappointed. It was like eating whipped cream with some chocolate sauce - certainly nothing exciting. We both felt the raspberry coulis would have been better as a jam on toast. Maybe I should have added some framboise to give it a sweeter taste.

The second night we gave it another try and it tasted so much better. By this time it had been in the fridge for at least 48 hours. I found that I really liked it with the whole raspberries and chocolate sauce the best. John put some in his hot chocolate and declared it a winner. I made a note in the cookbook for when I make it again to serve this after a minimum of 48 hours of chill time.

I am curious to see what the rest of the group thought. You can also check their results out over at French Fridays with Dorie. Have a great weekend!

Great Backyard Bird Count Goes Global

Exciting News! For the first time ever, bird lovers around the world can count birds for the Great Backyard Bird Count - all they need is access to the Internet. The count takes place February 15 - 18, 2013 and all you have to do is watch birds for at least 15 minutes on one or more of the count days, estimate the number of birds of each species that you can identify, and enter your tallies online. For more information go to www.birdcount.org. GBBC is hosted by the Cornell Lab, Audubon, and Bird Studies Canada.

Fresh Orange Pork Tenderloin

French Fridays with Dorie

Thank goodness it is Friday. After work today, I will be thankful for a long weekend. I have to say that I am much happier about the recipes so far for February than the January recipes. This week's dish has so much flavor from just a few ingredients. After cutting the pork tenderloin into four pieces, I browned them in some butter and canola oil. Once they were browned I added the juice from a couple of oranges, some zest, sliced scallions and seeds from four crushed cardamom pods. I added the orange segments the last few minutes of cooking. Since I am a little leery about cooking pork, I tested it for doneness with an instant read thermometer.

The end result is the most flavorful dish. The sweetness from the orange slices combined with the earthiness of the cardamom makes such a wonderful sauce that is delicious served over rice. This is definitely a keeper recipe and like the brown-butter squash and brussels sprouts, it is a recipe that I will make often.

See what the rest of the group thought about it over at French Fridays with Dorie.

Focaccia

Tuesday with Dorie

Contributing Baker: Craig Kominiak

It's a good thing I made this ahead of time because you can't be in a hurry to make this bread. The dough is easy to make, but you need to let it rise the first time for an hour and a half and the second time for an hour. It then goes into the refrigerator for 24 to 36 hours before you bake it. That's the hardest part of this recipe - letting it rest for that long. I made half of the recipe and had two good size discs of dough to work with. 

When I took the dough out of the refrigerator, there were lots of little bubbles in the dough like the recipe said, but not very many large gas bubbles. After gently pressing the dough into a rectangular shape, I brushed the top of the dough with olive oil infused with rosemary and thyme and then topped with chopped fresh rosemary and thyme and sprinkled with fleur de sel. It baked to a nice golden color in 15 minutes. I then brushed the loaf again with the infused olive oil.

After letting it cool, I made ham, cheese and spinach sandwiches for lunch. They were the most delicious sandwiches. The taste of the rosemary, thyme and salt and the crunchy crust was perfect. There was enough focaccia left over to make a sandwich for me to take to work the next day and it was just as good as the first day. This would be perfect bread to make sandwiches for a picnic with because it holds up well and doesn't get soggy.

Visit Sharmini of Wandering Through to see her beautiful focaccia and to get the recipe. You can also check out the focaccia made by the rest of the bakers at Tuesdays with Dorie. 

Brown-Sugar Squash and Brussels Sprouts en Papillote

French Friday with Dorie

'En papillote' means to cook in paper or parchment paper. This method steams the vegetables, meat or fish in squares of parchment or parchment paper and often lined in foil and then folded into packets and put into the oven. I used my Martha Wrap which I mentioned in my long slow cooked apples post a few weeks ago. Martha's wrap is foil that is already lined with parchment paper. Here in California you can buy it at Safeway, but you can also purchase it through Amazon.

For this recipe, the butternut squash, brussels sprouts and one apple are tossed in some olive oil, sprinkled with brown sugar and topped with a sage leaf before wrapping and putting into the oven.

After about 25 minutes the packets are ready to be opened and they are so very fragrant when you open them. Along with the steam that escapes you get the wonderful smell of sage.

Everything was perfectly cooked and had so much flavor. The brown sugar added just the right amount of sweetness to the brussels sprouts and a bite of apple along with the butternut squash or brussels sprouts made the vegetables taste even better. If you have kids or other family members who don't care for brussels sprouts, you should try cooking them this way. Even though I usually roast my vegetables during the winter months, we really loved the taste of the vegetables cooked en papillote and will be making this recipe again. Check out French Fridays with Dorie to see what the rest of the group thought about cooking the vegetables 'en papillote'.